Agent of Change

Some things you have to do because they are your job. At just before midnight tonight I was out making lots of people unhappy. Some years ago myself and Ian created the instation software for the Humber Bridge toll management system. It is our code which tots up the amounts paid and prints out all the shift summaries. And tonight the tolls go up. The system is designed to take this in its stride, and automatically upgrade to the new values when the old ones expire.

But because the tolls have not changed for a while it has not been used in anger for a few years. So tonight I went in so that I could watch some numbers update and convince myself that all was well.



These are the numbers before they go up.



This is the view from the control room.



..and this is the view as I went back to my car. The update went fine, but I'm glad that I went anyway. Perhaps next time I'll trust it to work by itself...