The season of pathetic excuses?

First signs of frosty leaves on the line and the train companies are back with delays, cancellations and excuses - or at least they should be.
London Midland, who took up the challenge of making the west coast rail network worse than Silverlink, managed to avoid giving any reasons for delays yesterday. The ticket office at my local station had no idea why the trains were delayed other than that they were. No other reasons were given except by one character who blamed the impending London Transport tube strike.
Sadly the majority of passengers seemed to accept the fact that it was cold and frosty, therefore the trains would be late. In the past we have all poured scorn on excuses of frozen points, leaves on the line (too late autumn is over) and snow. It's going to be challenging to see how we can ridicule 'they're delayed because they're delayed'.

Well now that's a fascinating fact

For as long as there have been shops, some clown has usually decided that leaving the door open in winter is an excellent idea because potential customers will rush in to purchase. Now scientists have discovered that a violent difference in temperature between the inside of a shop and the pavement causes problems when the door is left open ie energy costs rise. Stunning isn't it.
Anyone who has the misfortune to work in retail, and be subject to the stupidities of senior management who insist that the door remains open on pain of death, could have saved the scientist costs a thousand fold.
Perhaps more useful research would be to measure the difference in common sense between the people who manage the shops and those who bask in heated offices issuing fatuous instructions.