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Volume 3 as the debate dribbles on.
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Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 27 Mar 12 at 21:02
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Little update.
I did contact Anglian Water and posed the question of whether I can work on domestic properties.
I lifted this quote from their info pack regarding exemptions - 'This includes small business who rely on the use of a hosepipe for, for instance, cleaning windows or cars on domestic properties.'
Sounds like me I thought. Then I ring up and the answer is 'Dont know'. We will ring you back.
A week later, nothing, so having had to make no firm bookings for next month, I rang again today.
This time I was told 'We havent decided, your situation has been put to us by many similar businesses and we are in discussions about the exemption situation'.
So basically me and others like me are in limbo while we wait for them to make up their minds on a policy they should have decided on before they announced the ban! Morons!
Im already planning to get around the ban should it apply as using slightly different tools and different chemical applications, I can still do 90% of car washing without hose/pressure washer, though it takes longer to get a satisfactory result and I wont be able to clean something extremely dirty.
Ive already got my eye on a 10 litre watering can and maybe a trolley on which to carry it ( my back cant do more than one watering can without stopping me in my tracks ) as the tap can sometimes be 50ft from the car.
Im just astonished that they decided on a ban without having a firm policy, business has been picking up of late and I dont want to turn any jobs down.
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If they cant decide on the rules for businesses like yours, then they cant prosecute you for breaking them! After all, you cant break that which does not exist.
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Its not me they will prosecute, its my customers, which isnt a position id like to be in tbh.
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You have asked the required questions, they have provided you with the answer that the policy is not decided, as you have that on record then you can work as you like until they do decide.
You can't be prosecuted for something they have stated they currently have no policy for. You have a documented trail that you have tried to comply with policy.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 21 Mar 12 at 19:27
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>> I can still do 90% of car washing without hose/pressure washer, though it takes longer to get a satisfactory result
Why not get one of those industrial garden sprayers that that you pressure up the container by pumping the handle up and down? The sort that parks groundmen use for watering flowers, applying weedkiller, etc (but obviously not at the same time). IIRC, the dispensing end can be adjusted from a fine mist to a jet spray.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 21 Mar 12 at 19:03
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I should add that the policy consultation will end on the 3rd Apr, so one assumes if you phone on the 4th, one can get an answer. Leaving me barely a day to plan alternative arrangements as id rather not spend £££ on equipment if I dont need it.
Im just astounded they didnt consider these things or that they apparently have, but now arent sure. I thought the text from their drought plan was quite clear, just it seems they have now decided on it being a grey area.
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Not looked at site but if consultation is open for responses until 3 April I doubt they'll have an answer by 4th. In fact if they did I'd suspect foul play.
Any half decent consultation builds in some time to analyse the responses and agree a conclusion.
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I was told that they will finalise the exclusions before the ban came into force, that much she did say.
The impression I got was that while they have the framework, they are just looking at the grey areas ( of their own making ) to decide which way they are going.
The lady I spoke to, infact both times, said that they had valeters calling up asking the same questions as me. I sent in my two pence worth via email.
www.anglianwater.co.uk/_assets/media/Drought_Pack_Ruthamford.doc.pdf
Heres the link to the stuff they have put out so far.
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>> www.anglianwater.co.uk/_assets/media/Drought_Pack_Ruthamford.doc.pdf
>>
>> Heres the link to the stuff they have put out so far.
>>
It still doesn't give their definition of a hosepipe. Do I have to remove the 18" length of hosepipe that I have attached to our outside tap to make filling buckets and watering cans easier?
:-)
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 22 Mar 12 at 09:00
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Here is an the legislation under which Anglian Water have introduced introduced the ban.
In the absence of a definition of "hosepipe" I think you would take the everyday usual meaning of the word which I think would exclude 18 inches of pipe. Would be an interesting court case though!
Anglian Water are making a great play that they are "allowing' us to water gardens with a watering can but as you can see from the legislation they can only actually prohibit specified uses and using a watering can is not one of them. It would need the government minister to do this.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/29/section/36
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I got a response.
"Thank you for your email.
I appreciate your concern regarding this matter and unfortunately your situation I still under consultation. We have taken this to the national body with the intentions that your business should be exempt; however at the moment there has been no definitive answer. You should still be able to continue your business as normal with a pressure washer /hosepipe up until the 5TH April we will have provided an answer by this date.
Kind Regards
Anglian Water Customer Services"
Please note, whoever wrote this doesnt fully have a grasp of proper english.
Still, the promise of an answer, in writing, means it was worth firing off the email anyway - you always suspect it just goes in their junk mail :-)
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Stu, when i was mobile valeting (some time ago now) and there was a hosepipe ban on car washing I was in a similar position with Southern Water in that they were unable to give me a definate answer. I got around it by carrying some 25l containers of water and using a length of hose so that the pressure washer siphoned out of them. It was best to prime the pressure washer by filling the intake hose with water before placing it into the water container, but it worked fine.
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hosepipe, buckets, archemedes screw....its still using water what ever method
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Can I ask you "FOR", if I attempt to book you to come round to wash/valet my car, and I don't have an outside tap, what do you do then. Do you turn me down?
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>> Can I ask you "FOR", if I attempt to book you to come round to
>> wash/valet my car, and I don't have an outside tap, what do you do then.
>> Do you turn me down?
>>
Use an inside tap?
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>>Use an inside tap?<<
:-D
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>>Use an inside tap?<<
Yes and no. The back pressure from hooking up to a pressure washer tends to blow those attachments for domestic taps off, hence I always use outside taps as not only do they have a proper threaded attachment, but if it does blow off, you only get the garden wet, not somebodys kitchen.
Occasionally people have outdoor type types in utility rooms and tack rooms in larger estates, but its not common.
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>>Can I ask you "FOR", if I attempt to book you to come round to wash/valet my car, and I don't have an outside tap, what do you do then. Do you turn me down?<<
Yes. In ten years doing this self-employed, ive turned down 4 jobs on account of no exterior water supply.
I dont know if you know anything about business and how it works, but you dont spend money on kit to serve a handful of customers a decade.
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Cheers for the info Skip.
Id been mulling it over, but tbh, the cars that I do these days are done weekly for the most part so they arent that dirty to start with, meaning using a watering can wont make much odds, other than my patience.
My business customer, who throws all sorts of knackered company cars at me, isnt currently affected by the ban.
See how we get on I think, my customers already know whats coming up and their attitude is just to do what I can, they know ill try and match the usual standard anyway.
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Why should I not be able to water my hanging baskets with a hosepipe (since I'm unable to do it with a watering can) whenpeople who can afford to employ Stu can have their cars washed with a hosepipe.
Surely there's a moral issue here?
Does the car really need washing if we're not getting any rain?
I'm going to have stickers printed saying 'I'm saving Britain from drought' and I shall stick them on each of my dying hanging baskets.
Maybe I should sell them to people to proudly stick on the dirty cars there SHOULD be around.
Pat
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>> Does the car really need washing if we're not getting any rain?
I want to wash my car with a hosepipe at least once more before the ban so that I can wash road salt out of the wheelarches.
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>> I want to wash my car with a hosepipe at least once more before the
>> ban so that I can wash road salt out of the wheelarches.
I did that the other day when it rained hard. I just went for a drive and deliberately drove though some puddles.
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I stand a rotary lawn sprinkler under my car to wash the winter carp & salt off.
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So say for instance I come round to you as a valeter with bucket and chamois, because of the hose ban, as you want someone else to do it FOR you. Logical. Then I say, where is your outside tap so I can begin. Hang on, whats the difference between you using the hose from your tap and the valeter. None whatsoever. A ban is a ban so surely the home owner would expect a fine. But if it's okay for the valeter, why not the customer. We would be using the same water supply and same quantity. Just because I run a business doesn't ration the use of the supply.
The only compromise for mobile valeters visiting domestic addresses is to invest in a vehicle that has a self contained tank that is filled up at the valeters own premises. Thus taking the onus away from the domestic customer, and making the valeter pay for what he uses.
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The difference between me and a domestic customer is that I am a business and the water companies, at this stage, dont want to hurt business.
No doubt there is some regulatory pressure somewhere along those lines and conditions they must meet as there is no restriction on businesses whatsoever, not just those which use water as part of their business but any business pretty much, aside from one assumes, those who work from home though thats likely another grey area.
The price reflects the customer supplying the water. If the customer wants to pay towards a van, equipped with all the appropriate kit, by all means, but its YOU that will pay, both in the price charged and the tax they can deduct from their tax bill for the expense.
Work out how much the water for a car valet costs, then see how much you would have to pay to have that water carried from elsewhere in a fitted out van. The transport costs a heck of alot more than the water does.
Last edited by: FoR on Fri 23 Mar 12 at 14:52
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But if I want to start a business, it's done with my money or a loan. I don't go getting customers to pay up front for my "tools". The outlay should be yours. You recoup that over time.
Yes, you are treated as a business, but you are using your customers' water. That's their rates, their meter. No difference to them using it to wash their vehicles. So why should you be exempt?
Speculate to accumulate. I would expect that many more people would pay for a valet during the hose ban than you could probably cope with and you wouldn't need to use their water. So why not invest in the relevant equipment to make you independant from the customer. And that water is paid by you via your meter or rates, as it should be.
How tight to use a customers supply anyway. What mark up there must be on a simple wash and wax. A few quid on materials and a large profit thereafter. I'm sure the massive mark up on a valet would pay for that self contained unit many times over, and moreover during the up coming drought.
If you came to me, using my water, and I got a fine, I'd be posting on to you.
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Built into the price of every product is the cost of materials and equipment so whether you like it or not, you DO pay for all of it. The initial outlay might be that of the business, but its the customer that pays it back.
>>That's their rates, their meter. No difference to them using it to wash their vehicles. So why should you be exempt?<<
Anglian Water think there is, argue it with them.
>>Speculate to accumulate. I would expect that many more people would pay for a valet during the hose ban than you could probably cope with and you wouldn't need to use their water. So why not invest in the relevant equipment to make you independant from the customer. And that water is paid by you via your meter or rates, as it should be.<<
I dont really care, Im winding the business down, so its a silly suggestion to then spend money on equipment. Id raise my prices if the water was coming from my supply, my margins are on many jobs, marginal anyway.
>>How tight to use a customers supply anyway. What mark up there must be on a simple wash and wax. A few quid on materials and a large profit thereafter. I'm sure the massive mark up on a valet would pay for that self contained unit many times over, and moreover during the up coming drought.<<
And their choice that I use it. In ten years iver never heard so much as a murmour about using their water.
The deal is, I turn up, use my experience, equipment and skills, plus my time, to clean their car quicker, better and requiring no effort on their part.
The big draw of having your car cleaned is not saving a few pence on water.
Mark up isnt high because petrol is so expensive. A wash and vac, £12. £4 for petrol, another 30p for other expenses, takes up to 1 hr 45 mins, plus the dead time between jobs - aint no money in it son. You dont know much about the mobile valeting business so your ignorance is understandable about the costs, but dont preach to me about how much cash Im supposedly rolling about in.
As for being tight, thankyou for noticing :-p
>>If you came to me<<
Dont worry, I wont.
Last edited by: FoR on Fri 23 Mar 12 at 16:55
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"The big draw of having your car cleaned is not saving a few pence on water."
I would agree. But during this "ban" £1000 is a real turn off. On top off the few pence.
Again, I don't see the difference between you using my tap/water or me using it. Yet you can do so unhindered with the hose on via my tap, theoretically all day, running down the drain, yet I spray the car a few times and I get a lovely fine. It's still not fair and I don't think anyone that is a mobile valeter should not use their own water supply. The Eastern European ones in the derelict garages, not as professional as yourself, are okay in the terms of business because they are possibly paying rates or through a meter.
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The reason is we are different, Im earning a living from doing it and no doubt there is some regulation somewhere that states certain conditions apply for businesses to have the ban cover them aswell as domestic residents, I dont know what it is, but you can bet it exists otherwise the ban would likely be a blanket affair.
You misunderstand how the exemption works. If they exempt my type of work, then I give you a receipt with time, date, car reg and work done and its all fine. That much has already been confirmed to me by Anglian Water.
These bans arent based on theory, they are based on expected behaviour. Most people dont leave taps running anyway.
I cant use my own water supply, my home is not a business premises, the exemption only applies when I am in the process of valeting a car at a domestic address. I cant even clean my own car at home using a hose. Thats pretty perverse aswell, that I can clean other peopels cars but not my own.
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>> Why should I not be able to water my hanging baskets with a hosepipe (since
>> I'm unable to do it with a watering can) whenpeople who can afford to employ
>> Stu can have their cars washed with a hosepipe.
Pat,
Mrs B was similarly outraged!! While hoses with spray etc are banned it is still permissible to use drip or capilliary watering systems. Might be pricy to install - we've built ours up over several years but may be worth a try?
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>> Mrs B was similarly outraged!! >>
The point of a "hosepipe ban" is to try and get people to be unselfish and modify their usage of water in times of a shortage. The law is there to give some backbone to these appeals to the public to think about wasting a valuable resource on "non-essential" uses.
If these current restrictions do not achieve the objective, and/or the rainfall continues to stay away, then further stricter and painful measures (such as standpipes in your street) could become necessary.
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>> then further stricter and painful measures (such as standpipes in your street) could become necessary.
Hope its got a fitting on the end for my hosepipe ;)
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"it is still permissible to use drip or capilliary watering systems".
Not in Anglian water area it isn't.
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>> "it is still permissible to use drip or capilliary watering systems".
>>
>> Not in Anglian water area it isn't.
>>
Looks to me as though it is....
tinyurl.com/6pr8nyo
Final bullet under 'What am I Still Allowed to Do'
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By George you are right!
Have just such as system for the greenhouse and had been told I couldn't use it! Off to connect it up now. Thanks for that - Great!
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I washed and leathered my car today, and that will have to do it until the ban is lifted. I want to save our water for our sauna, hot tub, swimming pool, bath, shower, standing wave surf machine, cattle trough, windscreen washers, ..............
:-)
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I've got a delightful picture of you in a hot tub L'es complete with G&T in hand.....:)
Pat
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>> I've got a delightful picture of you in a hot tub L'es complete with G&T
>> in hand.....:)
>>
>> Pat
>>
Join me and you can have a G&T as well.
;-)
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That's the best offer I've had this year;)
Pat
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>> That's the best offer I've had this year;)
>>
>> Pat
>>
He takes off his shell when he gets in the hot tub, as he likes a good all over rub.
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0mqqqvERy1ql4tg0o1_500.jpg
28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0mqpq3Qgl1ql4tg0o1_500.jpg
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Love the second link John:)
Pat
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>> I washed and leathered my car today, >> :-)
>>
Are you trying to make it rain?
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A lot of the Wheely-bin cleaners around here run about in pick-ups or Transits with those Square white-plastic 1000lt containers in them, filled with their water and detergents, and run their pressure-washers from those. Maybe mobile valetters could use something similar during water restrictions?
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Some of them do. Trouble is, try running a Transit doing 30 mpg with oil going the way its going. Do any kind of mileage and the profit gets sucked up at the pumps.
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Do you just valet vehicles? - maybe you could do their Conservatories as well! alot of folk struggle to find cleaners that will do them, especially the glass roofs! make a visit pay more ;-)
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Valeting cars isnt all I do no. Next week im doing a lorry, what fun. I also do patio cleaning aswell as pretty well any sort of cleaning you can do - I get asked to do alot of garden furniture :-/ Ill mow a lawn if asked, anything I think I can do really.
Its not my main source of income anymore though, I found something somewhat easier and more lucrative. I just do the valeting to service a group of very loyal long-standing customers who I dont want to let down, Im rather fond of them tbh, known most of them longer than my wife :-)
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Oh, how I wish that I had a drive through garage, as some 'posh' houses hav. , I could then drive my car out onto a hard standing and hose the car down with impunity.
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Perhaps we'll see an increase in the sales of those waterless wax producst you see demonstrated ad nauseam, on certain shopping channels.
I've been tempted but it goes against the grain with me although always having metallic Silver finishes on my cars, any swirling or minor damage wouldn't be so noticeable.
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>> Oh, how I wish that I had a drive through garage, as some 'posh' houses
>> hav. , I could then drive my car out onto a hard standing and hose
>> the car down with impunity.
>>
Down here they use Planes and Helicopters to check from the air....
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>> Down here they use Planes and Helicopters to check from the air....
>>
I'd take the risk, I think.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sun 25 Mar 12 at 18:15
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Who are they, the water company?
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>> Who are they, the water company?
>>
Yup. At least they have done in the past.
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Just checked my local water co as i want to pressure wash my north facing patio and water my lawn with autumn feed before 04 April.
>>www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/15443.htm
Exemptions
iii.using a hosepipe to clean a private motor vehicle, or walls and windows of domestic premises, where this is done as a service to customers in the course of a business.
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The reason for the water company hose pipe ban is to conserve water. Just because a user is in business is not conserving the supply. Does anyone see my point?
A business ie valeter or window cleaner or gardener, why can they use my hose and the companys precious supply, yet I use it and cop a fine. It's nonsense. The same amount of water is being used no matter who squirts it.
Either they allow all to use water wisely or they include everyone in the ban, which means businesses supply their own water at a rate in proportion to that usage.
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Yes its illogical but they are trying not to put small firms out of business. Reasonable no?
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>> Yes its illogical but they are trying not to put small firms out of business.
>> Reasonable no?
Reasonable, yes.
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AutoExpress claims that a car washed using a hosepipe uses 30 litres of water. And with buckets 110 litres. The official figure for a hosepipe is 300 litres because they assume the pip is running non-stop for 30 minutes.
Yes we all would do that wouldn't we! Not. We'd have a spray head on to more effectively wash and rinse. Or even a pressure washer.
So the figures on which the ban is based are even invalid!
I wonder if Stu can claim loss of earnings against the water company. That might change their stance.
EDIT: I see Mr Ecs thinks it is okay to deny someone income from their line of work. So someone must cover lost income surely?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 25 Mar 12 at 23:58
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I wonder if Stu can claim loss of earnings against the water company. That might change their stance.
No the've got that one sewn up. Water companies are only legally obliged to supply water to domestic premises for domestic purposes, drinking,washing, hygiene. In normal times they "let" you use surplus water for watering the garden or cleaning the car but they have no obligation to do so. Hence you can't sue them for not providing something you are not legally entitled to receive.
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Stu should (For the hosepipe ban period) get signed off onto sick due to his current neck/dizzy problem and resume normal work in autumn.
Or... will a pressure washer draw water from a supply that is not under pressure? Like a 40 litre bucket with tap connector? I mean bucket in the loosest sense.
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>> AutoExpress claims that a car washed using a hosepipe uses 30 litres of water. And with buckets 110 litres. The official figure for a hosepipe is 300 litres because they assume the pip is running non-stop for 30 minutes.
Couple of years ago I got a West African geezer to wash my car in the Sainsbury's car park at the top of Ladbroke Grove. He slopped some grotty-looking polish-containing water on it and gave it a rubdown with a grotty looking cloth. Rinsed it off the same sort of way but with clean water and leathered it down. Decent job, cost a fiver, and can't have used even 10 litres of water.
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And introduced a few new scratches no doubt AC.
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None that I noticed. But they are inevitable anyway. I imagine automatic carwashes are worse actually.
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>>And with buckets 110 litres.<<
Where on earth do they get that figure from? I've got a big barge, and I reckon I get the job done with a bucket and a watering can, and no more than 30 litres of water.
Could probably do it with less if I tried.
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Good article and discussion here
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/mar/13/hosepipe-ban-water-drought-effective
"Is a hosepipe ban the most effective way to tackle a drought?"
"I've been on the phone to Richard Aylard, the external affairs director at Thames Water. He's been explaining the "5%" figure relating to how much water can be saved by implementing a hosepipe ban, or "temporary use ban", as he says it should be referred to as it now incorporates far more than just garden hosepipes. (This Thames Water pdf explains more about the temporary use ban's restrictions and exemptions.)
The 5% figure, he says, is a percentage saving of the "into supply" total, not just domestic use. "Into supply" includes the 25% lost to leaks, the 25% used by businesses AND the 50% used by domestic customers (50% of which are flat-dwellers who typically would not use a hosepipe). Viewed in this context, he says, the 5% figure is more significant than just a 5% saving of water used by domestic customers.
The 5% figure is based on modelling data arising out of the 2006 drought. Between April and September of that year, the hosepipe ban saved 5% (100m litres a day) of the into supply total, and as much as 8% during the hottest spell throughout July.
Aylard also highlighted the fact that all of Thames Water's reservoirs are currently full. But its strategy is to avoid extraction of river water from the Thames and Lee for as long as possible (which is what it has to do when reservoir levels drop) and not to have to tap into its reserve of water contained with a confined aquifer under Enfield and Chingford. It also now has at hand its new desalination plant. "It's a balancing act," he says, in which the company has to anticipate demand throughout the spring and summer. It takes 10 weeks to apply to the secretary of state for a drought order and he says Thames Water might apply for one anyway as a "precautionary measure", even if it doesn't have to use it."
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"I see Mr Ecs thinks it is okay to deny someone income from their line of work"
No. Nothing of the sort. The alternative to using a DOMESTIC supply is to have your own. Why is it okay to ponce water from a domestic user during a ban just to keep a business going. If you want your business to work, you adapt surely.
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>>Why is it okay to ponce water from a domestic user during a ban just to keep a business going <<
Because it all comes from the same source, customers dont mind and no water is saved whether it comes from my tap or the customers. Since I dont have business premises, I cant fill a water tank anyway because the rules of the ban forbid doing so from a domestic tap.
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>> Since I dont have business premises,
So if necessary you declare your house as business premises in whatever way is necessary to make it legal and take the water with you?
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>>So if necessary you declare your house as business premises in whatever way is necessary to make it legal and take the water with you?<<
Which opens up a whole other set of problems. Turning a domestic home into business premises isnt that simple. Nor is it cheap.
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I'm going to claim an exemption on the basis that I'm elderly and infirm. tinyurl.com/7f9f5f8
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Its quite funny really. When someone on here says I dont work enough, lots of thumbs up.
Then someone says its justified that Im prevented from working for an indeterminate period of time and it also gets alot of support.
So you either want me to work, or ya dont? :-)
Of course, those advocating Im purposely stopped from working will be paying for that view through their taxes as if I dont work for 3 months, that will decimate my earnings total for next years tax credits and the state will be compensating. Ill have to wait a year mind, but still, if thats REALLY what you want, carry on.
Every action has a consequence and getting on your semantic soapbox about the exclusions of a hosepipe ban has wider implications if you get your own way. hey I dont mind, but you have to choose which you want because the money that I take in income this year directly affects how much the state will give to me next year. Choices choices.
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I've got nothing against you working. You seem to feel hard done by by the ban. The water company says you wont be fined. So carry on. Surely you can fill a tank or containers from your dometic supply as you are a business? You just seem to be making excuses as why your customers should relinquish their supply to you or you cannot provide your own equipment. Cake and eat it?
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Ive worked this way for nearly a decade. The customer chooses whether to use me or not.
Im not forcing anyone to relinquish their water, what a silly thing to say.
They can call anyone in the phonebook, theres plenty of others out there who do the same thing and I have no problem with anyone switching elsewhere, its called freedom of choice.
But they dont switch, so maybe your problem is with them, not me, since they seem to be in the thrall of my valeting genius or some such nonsense.
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Stu, (or anyone else for that matter)
Have you tried the waterless cleaning products out there?
Any good, or usual snake oil?
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Vx
Ive never tried them as I cant see how they would work on a car with inch deep mud up the side of them, you cant polish mud off like that, hence ive never bothered. I need to guarantee results.
May try them on my own car at some point though.
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I'm fed from Grafham water reservoir, which is 96% full and I'm still subject to the ban.
The reason Grafham's so full is because (as previously described) water's pumped from the Great Ouse. Our (treated) sewerage passes into the Great Ouse above where water's pumped into Grafham.
I now hear that water from lower down the Great Ouse is being diverted to Essex.
Now that's what you call recycling.
;>)
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nothing new there.
London's 'new river' has been doing that for well over a hundred years.
The 'new river' starts from the River Lea just downstream of Hertford.
Just as well it is in this location as not much further downstream is the Rye Meads treatment works for all of northern Hertfordshire.
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>>The 'new river' starts from the River Lea just downstream of Hertford.
Just as well it is in this location as not much further downstream is the Rye Meads treatment works for all of northern Hertfordshire.
The river Lea rises in Luton and a few miles downstream at East Hyde is: g.co/maps/auhfz
I guess my comments on the contents got my previous post removed.
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>>sewerage passes into the Great Ouse above where water's pumped into Grafham.<<
So they`re filling your reservoir with treated sewage?? - Ewww!
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>> hey I dont mind, but you have to choose which you want because the money that I take in income this year directly affects how much the state will give to me next year. Choices choices.
<<
I think it's remarks like the one above that determine your thumbs up status Stu, probably a good thing there isn't a thumbs down button.
Pat
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>>I think it's remarks like the one above that determine your thumbs up status Stu, probably a good thing there isn't a thumbs down button.<<
Perhaps but Im just telling it how it is, people often dont like that, far rather pretend that their high and mighty stance has no consequences outside the moral victory they are seeking.
Id rather be working, but if there are people who would rather I didnt, fair enough, they are entitled to their opinion.
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If I did your job I wouldn't worry.I would use a hosepipe and get on with it.
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>>If I did your job I wouldn't worry.I would use a hosepipe and get on with it.<<
Perhaps, but I like to follow rules to the letter, hence my original enquiry. I like pretty much impeccable legality in the way I live my life, I know its not for everyone, but I have enough to worry about, id rather not be worrying about hosepipes tbh.
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>> I'm going to claim an exemption on the basis that I'm elderly and infirm. tinyurl.com/7f9f5f8
>>
I've already put out a couple of feelers.
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Benefit scroungers are exempt too. Why? - because it cost more to prosecute them than can be recovered (zilch) in fines from them. It is for the same reason that they get away without paying any water bills.
Last edited by: John H on Mon 26 Mar 12 at 12:41
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If you connected together a lot of 3m lengths of 15mm copper pipe from your tap to the middle of the lawn with a sprinkler on the end, that wouldn't be using a hose pipe?
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>> If you connected together a lot of 3m lengths of 15mm copper pipe from your
>> tap to the middle of the lawn with a sprinkler on the end, that wouldn't
>> be using a hose pipe?
>>
Why stick to that? If it was good enough for the Romans...build a system of aquaducts and underground channels to the middle of the lawn....all fed from a tap.
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theres too much emphysis on the modus operandi and not the actual amount of water used!
using world class fresh clean drinking water to water the geraniums is a crime in its self
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The answer to all your prayers!! - hose-pipe that uses a bucket!
tinyurl.com/86efd2g
(links to Ebay)
Last edited by: devonite on Mon 26 Mar 12 at 14:33
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I think the link's broken
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not having any luck !!
Last edited by: devonite on Mon 26 Mar 12 at 14:36
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this one works!!! - sorry!
tinyurl.com/7ku8hea
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Except they don't really work for washing a car. You can get water from the bucket and out of the hose but the movement needed won't be much use for washing a car.
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No hosepipe ban in Severn-Trent area. (Yet!)
I have therefore been trying out my just acquired Nilfisk pressure washer (Amazon £67; ordered Friday, arrived 11 am today) on a really grotty patio, which I doubt has been cleaned since it was put down (badly) years ago.
Result - a brilliant job from a cheap bit of kit and an aching back for me!
Last edited by: Roger on Mon 26 Mar 12 at 16:02
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The answer is ( with Anglian Water) to be registered as disabled OR be a Blue Badge holder if their list of exemptions is to be believed.
Pat
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>>Result - a brilliant job from a cheap bit of kit
>>and an aching back for me!
One quote doesn`t seem to compliment the other! - sounds like you`ve been having to scrub too hard!! - add it "`ER indoors" chore list! ;-)
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No scrubbing - just bending, which doesn't suit my sciatica!
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When I wash/washed my car with my hose-fed brush the water was only on for long enough to dislodge the dirt/muck/dust etc. and then I twist the ring on the brush and turn the water off and the rest of the time is spent leathering the car down.
I would imagine that I don't use much more water this way than if I were filling buckets of water all the time but of course the latter is more tiring and time consuming taking into consideration the location of my garden tap.
As I said earlier, elsewhere, I wish I had a drivethrough garage!
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 27 Mar 12 at 10:05
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Bucket users only have to look at the driveways of people using a hosepipe to clean their cars, to confirm that the more labourious method uses far less water.
There will always be exceptions, of course.
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When using bucket / watering can to clean car.....
Two watering cans of water to presoak car. At least one more watering can to presoak wheels and wash brakedust away.
One bucket of water to wash car, and then use remaining water in bucket for wheels (using separate sponge)
At least 4 watering cans of water to rinse car afterwards.
In short, one bucket and approx 8 watering cans. My watering can holds 2 gallons of water.
I'm sure I use less water when using my hosepipe with on/off spray gun to presoak and rinse car after washing.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 27 Mar 12 at 10:19
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>> I've already put out a couple of feelers.
>>
That got no response, so it's the last time I'll try to make a pun on here.
:-(
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Saw it, liked it, didn't overtly click, but was appreciated, Mr Snail.
Crikey, if I stopped putting up "amusing" things because people didn't acknowledge them I'd stop posting altog-
How do you mean, you'd all celebrate?
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More worrying, though, when you post something that you think is amusing, but it is totally ignored. Then you post something of a serious nature, which people find amusing.
:-(
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Ah, now you see, I never have that problem, as nobody thinks anything I post is amusing, intended or otherwise, so it's a win win for me. I just view this place as somewhere to amuse myself until chucked off, and use the forum search sometimes to see what the devil I was thinking years ago.
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>> >> I've already put out a couple of feelers.
>> That got no response,
I thought they were called tentacles, not feelers?
www.backyardnature.net/snail_sl.htm
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>> I thought they were called tentacles, not feelers?
>>
>> www.backyardnature.net/snail_sl.htm
>>
I've already put out a couple of tentacles.
D'oh!
:-(
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>> tentacles, not feelers?
When we used to mess with snails we called them horns.
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Never seen a horny snail.
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Snails are panicking we need some rain.
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Hosepipe Ban Volume 3. - Stuu
