Stranger than fiction

[The Q]

Well they filled in the hole in the end of our road, ..
And then dug a hole 100 yards away in the main (B class) road, with three way traffic lights...
That's the route of the marathon, and only about  3.5 miles after the start..
They've changed the signs from road closed to beware marathon runners in the road..
It's going to be interesting  when the lights turn green and a bunch of runners come the otherway...

It won't affect me though, once this muggacoffee is finished, I'm heading out to the sailing club before the chaos..

[Bad Raven]

So, you get a fixed budget, and your bonus and maybe your job depends on not blowing it.  So you manage the funds keeping a prudent reserve, because you MUST NOT go over.

Then if you are lucky, nothing dire happens and towards the end of the budget year, you can relax a little and spend what you have kept back "in case".

Little to do with budget retention year on year, more to do with job retention year on year..........................