Friday Review: Sunshine and showers

It rains a lot here in the U.K. Around 145 days per year, according to the World Meteorological Organization. So imagine my incredulity when I arrived at the station, in the rain, this morning to hear the following announcement: "The 08.36 is delayed by approximately six minutes due to slippery rail conditions." You're kidding, right? Noone at the train company had the foresight to wonder whether all that water pouring mysteriously from the sky might make the tracks slippery? Then again, it's a pretty unusual experience, having to deal with all that unforeseen precipitation; it hasn't rained here since... ooh, I don't know, yesterday maybe. Sheesh. But, as we have seen in the telecoms space this week, accurate forecasting can be a tricky business. Ben Verwaayen on Friday reduced Alcatel-Lucent's full-year guidance after a weak quarterly results announcement. "Given market uncertainties…