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Weather crazy or otherwise.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 10 Feb 14 at 12:55
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The Welsh coast is taking another pounding. I was through Newgale on Friday, glad it wasn't a day later -
www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Sun 2 Feb 14 at 13:51
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Currently 8deg, sunny, dry and slight breeeze :) Now shall I get the bike out or carry on fitting skirting???
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sun 2 Feb 14 at 14:05
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>>or carry on fitting skirting???
Are you a bit like this fellow?
tinyurl.com/l7pczts
;-)
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Tee hee. Doesn't make me a bad person ;)
Carried on 'skirting' as I forgot I had put the bikes on SORN for a couple of months. Fuzz round here are red hot :)
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8 degrees, currant bun here.
I'll give the MX5 a run when I get the bread out of the oven in about 25 minutes.
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Very wet Friday night, roads flooded, lovely day yesterday, lovely day today went for dog walk along the now rising again Thames.
The ground round here is so saturated, the rain is straight off into the drainage infrastructure and the rivers are up and over in a flash.
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Just back from 16 miles on bike around lanes west of the A5. First day for a week it's not been to wet, windy or cold. Sunny and clear, wind dropped. Still a stiff breeze in exposed places but nice when it's on your back.
Quite a lot of damage from last night's wind. Apart from upturned bins there's portaloo in the road in Gayton, signs for the night closures of A5 (resurfacing) all turned over and plenty of tree debris. Fields are completely waterlogged and in places flooded. Water flowing out of them, from springs and overloaded ditches and across roads. Old potholes being enlarged and new ones eroded.
Real fun and games will start if it freezes.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 2 Feb 14 at 14:59
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Went To Hampton Court a few days back to see the moat.
One of those rare times when there is water in the moat which makes it an interesting photo shoot. I had to smile as the floodlights for the main façade lived up to their name as they were well submerged.
I have also been smiling at the coverage on the TV of the Severn Bore.
So much twaddle spoken. 5 star rating bore. It may have been predicted as a possibility but anyone who knows about it would have said " forget it".
All those prawns on surf boards !!
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>> I'll give the MX5 a run when I get the bread out of the oven
>> in about 25 minutes.
>>
Welcome!
Nice to hear from the fairer sex!
This forum definitely needs more lady members.
;-)
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Ever driven one ? No ? Thought not.
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I can take it.
Experimental bread was a flop. I had a "sourdough masterclass" last week, bought for me by my daughter, and it was great.
Thus inspired, instead of making something to an existing recipe, I decided to adapt my oat bread to use a pre-ferment for a bit more flavour, not using a sour starter but a poolish wot I made yesterday.
By this morning the poolish was making a bid for freedom, out of its pot and flowing across the kitchen. I thought it might have shot its bolt, which with hindsight it definitely had.
I used it anyway, or most of it, but the bread didn't really come up despite (not) proving all morning, so the chickens will get it.
Funny stuff, the old poolish. Instead of my usual 9g of instant yeast, I used 0.2g in the poolish (200g each of water and wholemeal flour). I had calculated that I needed 0.1g but couldn't believe it would be enough, but I think the main problem was leaving it too long.
I'm on a mission now. I will crack it.
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Windy as a very windy place here yesterday. Crappo fence between ours and next door's blew down and broke up. He won't be putting that bit back in a hurry. Fell in my direction and was leaning on the Singer Chamois. No damage as it was a fairly light cheapo panel. I pushed it well back into his garden but it came back twice against the car. I ended up pushing it flat onto his path and stamping on it to wedge it between the posts...threw all the broken bits over as well.
Perhaps now the wealthy lickpenny prat might be persuaded to put a proper one up using professionals !
The current one is 6ft panels fitted to 6ft wooden posts fixed to a concrete base with those 3" X 3" surface fitting metal sockets ! If he hadn't reinforced his side with 18" ' L ' brackets to the ground, it would have all been down a long time ago.
HO
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Another good set of (60!) pictures in the DM, some quite spectacular: tinyurl.com/oqwnn57
Last edited by: Focusless on Sun 2 Feb 14 at 20:06
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Lots of good pics there
Not impressed with the write up on the Severn
I have seen the Severn bore many times over many years in several locations and way before Joe public was aware of it but have yet to see a really big one.
My mothers family live in the immediate area and I have even seen the bore when driving along side the river ( no longer possible due to flood defences ).
The author of the only books ( that I am aware of ( before he retired ) used to send me the predictions for the bore so I could decide when to plan to go. These tables are now online.
The long term predictions were for a 5 star Bore ( max sized bore) IF and only IF conditions were favourable. It was so obvious it was not going to be other than a very small showing due to the amount of land water. This was the situation days and days ago
The Mail must have had lots of cameras out there.
The video is quite good as it shows the fools risking their necks so close to the bank.
I smiled seeing the surfers, yet again just paddling out and paddling back again.
I did not see any of the official rescue boats. I guess they too were aware of virtually no surfing.
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Blowing a hooley again here and from an unusual direction. Something, either a tile or guttering, is rattling resonating resonating at roof level.
Actually it may be swinging to more normal SW, just heard the usual high wind effect of trickle vent in main bedroom making comb&paper type noises.
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>> Another good set of (60!) pictures in the DM, some quite spectacular: tinyurl.com/oqwnn57
...and again: tinyurl.com/n6udkfy
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I made a note of this forecast 6 months ago, made by an amateur who studies bird migrations, flower and leaf growth and historical records made by monks. His forecast for this Winter was
"Yet, as Britons bask in the hottest weekend of the year, with temperatures expected to reach 31C (87.8F), Mr King, 74, has been busy making predictions for the next six months: another hot spell at the end of July; an extremely cold and frosty October; snow on Boxing Day, followed by the harshest winter in decades, with snaps of snow and ice to continue until Easter. “Nature tells you what is coming,” he says. “You've just got to get out and look.”
White stick in order I suggest!
Last edited by: Meldrew on Mon 3 Feb 14 at 08:36
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Wuthering Heights here tonight. Spooky gale whistling round the gaff, penetrating modern window rubbers and blasting through the cat flap. More rain later no doubt. Still a lot of flooded meadows, not just the usual ones.
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Blowing an absolute hooly here at the moment, very high winds (which I'm not convinced were forecast)..with intense driving rain.
Need to get some more logs, but I'm not going out in this, so will make do with coal...SWMBO will be happy, coal is b loody hot.
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Wind gusting to over 70mph ... 83mph in Sennen (Lands Beginning) ... trees down ... roads flooded.
Anthracite is coming on strong - 25° in here.
:}
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>> Wind gusting to over 70mph ... 83mph in Sennen (Lands Beginning) ... trees down ...
>> roads flooded.
Deep joy...coming this way then.
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Glad I don't live in a thatched cottage - I worry enough as it is!
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Blimey...that looks impressive, no wonder it's so blowy.
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>> Blimey...that looks impressive, no wonder it's so blowy.
>>
Yep you have some big arrows www.xcweather.co.uk/
About half the speed here but sounds blowy and gusting. It was a nice afternoon earlier.
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Been really nice here today - out on the road, sunny and blue skies and a big FO shadow chasing me. Sun had some warmth in it mid-afternoon. Dragon Rally at the weekend.
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A couple of hours ago it looked like we were in for a frost. Northerly airflow all day with clear sky and outside temp (per weather station) 4 degrees and falling rapidly.
Wind has now moved westerly and strengthening. Temperature rising under spreading cloud cover. Rain expected overnight.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 4 Feb 14 at 20:06
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Windows rattling, rain lashing down.
I'm absolutely fed up of this.
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You will all be fine. It only rains round here when I am out of doors sans brolly.
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First half-decent day since my shed felt blew off. Spent the day removing the temporary cover, letting it dry and replacing it.
What chance of it surviving the night, bug-grit?
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>> More rain later no doubt.
Yup, belting down outside now. The wind's got up again too after a lull.
I hope the comic won't be too wet tomorrow. it's a bit damp sometimes.
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Out insulating the greenhouse in the rain.
Not very warm and a few wind driven leaks I' did not notice last year.
Marked for later silicone gunning.
Last edited by: madf on Wed 5 Feb 14 at 12:39
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Rail line at Dawlish not looking too healthy. Having backpacked the SWCP a few times I always enjoyed that stretch, and had a favourite campsite at Dawlish Warren. Last August I took a pal along for a 6 day walk, Plymouth to Teignmouth, the next station West. The weather was far more clement.
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>>Rail line at Dawlish not looking too healthy.
That looks like it's not going to be fixed quickly. Effectively cuts off rail links to the west country.
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Some tractor tyres chained together should sort it.
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>> >>Rail line at Dawlish not looking too healthy.
>>
>> That looks like it's not going to be fixed quickly. Effectively cuts off rail links to the west country.
>>
Spokes person on BBC Radio said six weeks
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>> >> >>Rail line at Dawlish not looking too healthy.
>> >>
>> >> That looks like it's not going to be fixed quickly. Effectively cuts off rail
>> links to the west country.
>> >>
>> Spokes person on BBC Radio said six weeks
If they get 6 weeks of good weather.
this is a spectacular bit of line, watch this steam engine getting attacked by the sea.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FENr4Ak9AQA
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 5 Feb 14 at 18:20
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>> Spokes person on BBC Radio said six weeks
>>
So make that 20 then..this is the UK not Japan
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>>Hope Dog's OK.
Still alive thanks, one gets tired of the onslaught day after day of course, when we lived in Tenerife I used to refer to blighty as the land of wind and rain :o)
A 'significant' weather event arriving on Fri/Sat, gotta feel for those peeps who are really suffering in various parts of Wales and the SouWest :(
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Lifted from a Facebook post of one of my "friends".
"I am looking at Berry Head from my office at home,yesterday the wind was recorded at 91mph,I am 3 miles away,Dawlish is about 7 miles away.The Government has offered £100 million to help repairs,its going to take much more than that,Business experts on the early news say that its costing us in the westcountry £20 million a day in lost business while the rail link is down,its going to take 2 months maybe more to rebuild this lot.....however its not just rebuilding it how about the next storm ,and the one after .We need to make sure that it cannot happen again,safeguard the line .It needs a breakwater or bring in massive stones like the Victorians did ,whatever is decided must be a Once and for all fix.We cannot have the lifeblood of Devon and Cornwall cut off because of a storm.Cameron we need maybe £1 Billion of your overseas aid budget to give Aid to the people of the Westcountry,we have been hit by a disaster ,please let Charity begine at home sometimes.The A303 is a route into the West,Its still 1 lane in many parts,the M5 stops at Exeter and some dual roadway across the Moors to Plymouth and beyond,but its slow,if you want this area to survive and flourish the railway link must be protected and that needs money now .without it we cannot attract business and worse the companies we have could leave .I know we live in a beautiful area of Britain,but Beauty doesnt pay the bills...BUSINESS ,EMPLOYMENT AND TOURISM DOES.!
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>> news say that its costing us in the westcountry £20 million a day in lost
>> business
A completely fictitious number plucked from a story book.
At this time of year the west country west of Dawlish does not generate 20 million a day, let alone loose it.
Regions of the country get investment based on value and importance to the economy. Thats why they get little down there.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 6 Feb 14 at 08:28
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>>west country west of Dawlish does not generate 20 million a day, let alone loose it.
It's lose, as in, your head, rather than loose, as in women.
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>> while the rail link is down,its going to take 2 months maybe more to
>> rebuild this lot.....however its not just rebuilding it how about the next storm ,and the
>> one after .We need to make sure that it cannot happen again,safeguard the line .It
>> needs a breakwater or bring in massive stones like the Victorians did
Or alternately reroute the line somewhere else away from the costal edge.
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>> Or alternately reroute the line somewhere else away from the costal edge.
The vulnerability off thee sea wall route is demonstrated every year. Not just this sort of damage either, Voyager trains needed to be modified after slat spray got into roof mounted kit.
GWR had an alternative route via Chudleigh that did just that, rejoining the coastal line at Newton Abbot. The L&SWR had a completely separate Exeter to Plymouth line via Crediton and OKehampton.
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If we are saying new high speed railway line should be laid down inland - of course it should. The benefits to the area would be enormous.
Then you can watch the " we want our railway line repaired now " brigade turn into the " I don't want my lovely county ruined by a new railway line" brigade.
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>> Then you can watch the " we want our railway line repaired now " brigade
>> turn into the " I don't want my lovely county ruined by a new railway
>> line" brigade.
>>
There's not that many places it can go..with Dartmoor in the way.
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Exactly.
Mind you these days can you imagine the uproar if you said. "Hey I want to run a new railway line all along this lovely unspoiled coast"
In short, in this country we are hamstrung by our own Nimbi-ess. Inevitable on such a small crowded little island.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 6 Feb 14 at 11:26
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>> Exactly.
>>
>> Mind you these days can you imagine the uproar if you said. "Hey I want
>> to run a new railway line all along this lovely unspoiled coast"
>>
>>
>> In short, in this country we are hamstrung by our own Nimbi-ess. Inevitable on such
>> a small crowded little island.
>
We ARE full, then: Zero hath uttered!
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>> We ARE full, then: Zero hath uttered!
I blame you - you should have stayed in Spain.
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>> Or alternately reroute the line somewhere else away from the costal edge.
"Railway lines shut 50 years ago could be reopened in £100million plan to divert trains away from destruction of Dawlish waves"
(but from DM so make of it what you will)
tinyurl.com/ls5hbn3
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>> "Railway lines shut 50 years ago could be reopened in £100million plan to divert trains
>> away from destruction of Dawlish waves"
>> (but from DM so make of it what you will)
>>
>> tinyurl.com/ls5hbn3
Is the Mail website a sub-editor free zone?
The number of errors and repetitions in that article are truly shocking.
Teign valley line might be a reasonable prospect assuming the trackbed has not been seriously breached and if it could be re-aligned sufficiently to allow 100mph plus running. The Southern route would be hopeless as a main line as it's considerably longer and would require trains to reverse at Exeter and again at Plymouth. Might have future as a secondary line though.
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I've got to get to Penzance by train in May.
Not looking good. :-(
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Took them three months to replace the railway line that was swept away by a slag heap last year, and its taken them three weeks to repair a teeny weeny landslip near Dorking.
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Another week of the storms and that hole will get even more scoured away. It looked very close to the houses now. Perhaps they'll manage to get some sort of temporary bridge, like a Bailey bridge, in place.
There was ( or is ) a line from Exeter to Newton Abbot ( my birthplace ) via Christow and Chudleigh and the LSWR had a line from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton.
Any still there ?
HO
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From Wikipedia, re Christow:
The present day[edit]
The station building is now a private house and the trackbed has been infilled to platform height.
The Teign Valley line may have a role to play in the future, as an alternative to the Devon's main line route along the Dawlish coastline which is vulnerable to stormy seas. The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) put together a feasibility study. Some of the old infrastructure is still in place - six of the 21 miles of track remained in 2009.[4]
The Exeter and Teign Valley Railway has established a base in the old Christow station goods yard and plan to re-open the Teign Valley Line.[5]
and Wikipedia re Okehampton:
Both Railfuture and the former MP for Totnes, Anthony Steen, have in the past proposed the reinstatement of the line between Okehampton and Bere Alston, thereby reconnecting the station with Plymouth.[4] The reopening of the link would restore the continuous circuit of railway linking the towns around Dartmoor. On 18 March 2008 Devon County Council backed a separate proposal by developers Kilbride Community Rail to construct 750 houses in Tavistock that includes reopening part of this route from Bere Alston to a new railway station in Tavistock.[5]
It is argued that the line's reopening would provide an alternative route to Plymouth and the Cornish Main Line in the event of engineering work or storms on the sea wall near Dawlish, although this would entail a reversal at Plymouth for trains continuing to Cornwall. Reopening the line would also maintain rail links in the long-term should the line around Dawlish succumb to the sea,[6] as it did on 5 February 2014.
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Interesting thoughts on the "Disused Railways" page on Facebook about this. Not that I'm an anorak of course....etc etc.
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Perro will be cut off unless he braves the roads. The embankment holding up the railway at Dawlish has been bashed away by the seas... wow! The hanging railway lines are like something you would see after a third world weather catastrophe...
Been up and down that railway a good few times in the past.
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I wonder if any cars fell into the hole, there seems to usually be some parked along there: goo.gl/maps/1XWFT
One looks like it's stranded the wrong side: tinyurl.com/pt5s55b
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I suspect most had already been removed as the sea would likely be tossing pebbles over railway well before it washed out the seawall.
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>> One looks like it's stranded the wrong side: tinyurl.com/pt5s55b
>>
I should think that's the least of their worries...
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Stand by for a hosepipe ban this summer.
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>> Stand by for a hosepipe ban this summer.
>>
Before the Mailisms begin..............
"The country is safe from drought for all of 2014 and probably 2015"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26049927
Last edited by: Alanović on Thu 6 Feb 14 at 13:57
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>> Stand by for a hosepipe ban this summer.
>>
Any persistent spell of weather that isn't 18°C and light drizzle causes problems in the UK.
That said, I can't ever remember such a long period of persistent rainfall. While some days have been better than others, I think I am right in saying that in my neck of the woods at least, we haven't seen a completely dry 24 hr period in 2014 yet.
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>>
>> That said, I can't ever remember such a long period of persistent rainfall.
Matt cartoon:
The Environment Agency have had a month's worth of complaints in 24 hours.
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Going to Bosnia and Serbia next weekend. Gulp.
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You will be needing winter tyres.
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Ooo, you little tinker.
Fortunately/sadly (delete according to taste) I'll be getting taxis everywhere. Winter tyres are a legal requirement in Serbia, but only on the driven axle...................I had them once on a rented Citroen C4 there in very snowy conditions, they were brilliant. Maxxis tyres.
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Looks like Zero's hitched a ride with retpocileh to do some more train spotting.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26084245
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www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/142151.aspx
I zoomed in to the Thames area Windsor to Kingston.
It all looked a bit OTT ( no pun) to me.
An interesting few minutes viewing providing you are not in it.
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Heard a bird on the wireless from the Somerset Levels talking about her property being flooded and she's living upstairs now.
Said the previous owners told her the area is prone to flooding but, it's such a beautiful area...
Asked if she would have bought the property if she had known then what she knows now, she replied "probably not".
Erm, I would have thought that would have been a definitely not?
Reckon I could live in an area like that, I'd 'sea to' my own defences ... might be some bargains to be had??
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Cash buyers only, surely?
Mortgage providers will require insurance: insurance companies will not want to provide cover.
Big problem.
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Some people do seem not to have grasped the fundamental aspect of living in the 'levels'. It has been flooding since the days before records were kept. Historically this results in fertile farmland, but at a cost. Property prices reflect the lower land values but people just buy and ignore history. Why should the insured who live in sensible places pay insurance subsidies (or contribute to government costs) to bail out the few who wish to buy in an 'attractive', but risky location?
The same applies as to people living in flood plains and coastal locationsthat have been conveniently granted planning permission - higher risk, lower land prices and hence a bigger house for the money.
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"This looks like a nice plaice for the money, I wouldn't mind going to sea it."
Well, now's the best time to take a look. Do you want to borrow my canoe?
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>>Well, now's the best time to take a look. Do you want to borrow my canoe?
Many thanks for your kind offer Haywain but I see it's under offer ... obviously had a flood of enquiries on that one.
:}
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>>>www.car4play.com/redirect.php?http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40839880.html
Flooding aside in the description text the agent is refreshingly honest about its location...
**Being an old manse it is perhaps not surprising that there is an old graveyard next door in the old chapel. To the other side an arable farm has a yard which some find pleasantly rural but others may find unpleasantly rural.**
The main image though is rather craftily taken to avoid showing both the chapel to one side and scrappy modern farmyard to the other.
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>>Being an old manse it is perhaps not surprising that there is an old graveyard next door in the old chapel
Compulsory chancel repair liability insurance?
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>>The main image though is rather craftily taken to avoid showing both the chapel to one side and scrappy modern farmyard to the other.
Sounds to me like he might have served his apprenticeship in Corn wall ;)
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Why should the insured who live in sensible places pay insurance subsidies (or contribute to government costs) to bail out the few who wish to buy in an 'attractive', but risky location?
+1
The trouble is: parts of the country WILL flood every decade or so...
But I live where flooding means most of the UK is under water ( 200 meters above sea level) - a deliberate choice .
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 10 Feb 14 at 10:06
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"Why should the insured who live in sensible places pay insurance subsidies (or contribute to government costs) to bail out the few who wish to buy in an 'attractive', but risky location?"
A woman was interviewed on t.v. yesterday evening who had bought a home on the Yorkshire coast in an area that lost 2m of land to the sea every year. She complained that a nearby road had disappeared over the edge, and now the sea was half-way up her garden and she was blaming the council for giving planning consent. Why can't people think for themselves these days? Was she forced into buying the house???
Huh, climate change - er, what's climate change? Never heard of it.
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>> Why should the insured who live in sensible places
>> pay insurance subsidies (or contribute to government costs) to bail out the few who wish
>> to buy in an 'attractive', but risky location?
There's a reasonable argument for sharing the costs in some way. Lots of householders benefit from flood defences that have been built and are maintained out of the public purse. Why should I pay for them if I live up a hill?
As for the lady complaining that the council should not have allowed her bungalow to be built where in would fall into the sea, she has a point. Why did they? Either they knew, in which case they should have declined permission, or they didn't, in which case the lady can hardly be blamed for not knowing either.
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>> As for the lady complaining that the council should not have allowed her bungalow to
>> be built where in would fall into the sea, she has a point. Why did
>> they? Either they knew, in which case they should have declined permission, or they didn't,
>> in which case the lady can hardly be blamed for not knowing either.
I wonder how long the bungalow has been there?
Planning is about a variety of issues including amenity, effect on others etc. If want to build a house on land I own 200 metres from a retreating cliff is it the planners job to stop me?
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>> If I want to build a house on land I own 200 metres from a retreating cliff is
>> it the planners job to stop me?
>>
Common sense again, any cliff is an eroding hill, the speed of erosion may be different in different locations but it is eroding.
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>> Common sense again, any cliff is an eroding hill, the speed of erosion may be
>> different in different locations but it is eroding.
>>
The reporter said that the beach was three and a half miles further out to sea in Roman times.
Hint! Hint! Maybe not climate change?
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>> Planning is about a variety of issues including amenity, effect on others etc. If want
>> to build a house on land I own 200 metres from a retreating cliff is
>> it the planners job to stop me?
If it isn't, perhaps it should be. There'll be an effect on others if the council has to rehouse people who are left with nothing after their houses have fallen into the sea.
It's all very well to say they should apply common sense but why should the LA/planning department be exempt from that?
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>> Heard a bird on the wireless from the Somerset Levels talking about her property being
>> flooded and she's living upstairs now.
>>
>> Said the previous owners told her the area is prone to flooding but, it's such
>> a beautiful area...
>>
>> Asked if she would have bought the property if she had known then what she
>> knows now, she replied "probably not".
I heard a similar interview but with somebody in the Thames area now under 'red alert'. In her case it was groundwater - the water table is many feet higher than normal due to wholly exceptional weather. Thee previous flood was ten years ago.
People choosing to live in individual properties subject to regular inundation probably should not expect insurance or govt funded defences.
On the other hand much habitation is on flood plains. Not just pretty villages but major settlements such as Worcester or Tewkesbury. London come to that - remember the posters etc before the barrier was in operation. Many of the areas where government had directed new development are on flood plains.
Then add apparently changing weather into the equation.
Still think flooding is a hard luck issue?
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I think it is a common sense issue, Many years ago I was looking for a house in a specific area. One new build I looked at had its garden cut into a hillside. The trees on the slope above the cutout were already leaning towards the house. I did not buy it, would you have? I don't think a retaining wall would have been a long term fix.
My house is 900' above sea level and 100' above the nearest possible flood. :-)
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>>My house is 900' above sea level and 100' above the nearest possible flood. :-)
Mount Ararat is 5,137 m above sea level old sub man, so I wouldn't get too cocky.
(*_*)
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We are on our annual sojourn on the Cote d'Azur and the weather is the worst I have known down here - floods and landslides all around. Two people killed near Nice on Saturday when a 20-tonne boulder hit a train. Even the bus into Monte Carlo is tiptoeing under a collapsing cliff. I had a nightmare drive to Nice airport to pick up a friend on Friday night - the motorway was flooded at La Turbie, more than 2000 feet above Monaco.
Maybe next year Costa Rica...
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>> Mount Ararat is 5,137 m above sea level old sub man, so I wouldn't get
>> too cocky.
>>
>> (*_*)
>>
Under those circumstances the whole of the UK would disappear, not the same league as a couple of feet of contaminated flood water in your kitchen.
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"Still think flooding is a hard luck issue?`"
Still think overcrowding isn't an issue?
You wait 'til everybody starts making a move to higher ground ……………….
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I see on Sky news that now the Thames flood plain is topping up the residents are complaining that the military are nowhere to be seen. Don't they realise that years of cuts have left he decimated armed forces scattered around the world fighting the politicians wars and there isn't the manpower they imagine.
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"Don't they realise that years of cuts have left he decimated armed forces scattered……."
Come off it, UA, 'the news' only applies to other people……………….. it won't affect me ;-)
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True, I am warm dry and comfortable. The military is not the labour intensive outfit it used to be. With modern weapons technology you don't need the manpower and recent governments have cashed in by reducing numbers. Jumping up and down saying where are the military is a waste of breath, they don't exist in the numbers that would much difference. Targeted help with infrastructure protection maybe, but not much more.
Last edited by: Uncle Albert on Mon 10 Feb 14 at 10:35
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The 200 or so "Navy engineers" who were deployed for a few hours sandbagging in the southwest were probably pulled from training courses. This is the only way you are going to find that many in a group that you can easily deploy. Ceremonial events are supplied from these sources, and if you look carefully at minor ceremonial events you will find that the people in Navy uniforms are Sea Cadets or Reservists.
Last edited by: Uncle Albert on Mon 10 Feb 14 at 10:59
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"True, I am warm dry and comfortable."
No, no, UA, I wasn't having a go at you [hence the ;-)] - it was just a cynical aside regarding people's inability to look at the bigger picture - e.g.
We don't want to pay for a bigger armed forces ………….. but complain when they aren't at hand to help with a crisis.
We want ground water to be available to see us through summer draughts …………. but we want to dredge our rivers to get water away as quickly as possible.
We don't mind importing more people to do our dirty work ………….. but complain when house prices skyrocket or more house are built in our back-yard or that our infra-structure can't cope.
We want electricity ……………... but not from nuclear, coal, gas, wind turbines or solar(!) sources.
We want a continuous power supply…………….. but don't want our precious trees chopping down next to power-lines.
We want our trains to run ……….. but don't want trees felling adjacent to railway lines.
We want our rubbish bins collecting weekly ……………… but don't see that we are running out of holes to dump it all in.
Cynical - moi???
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I don't often see things your way, Haitch Dubya, but you've got that lot right.
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>> I don't often see things your way, Haitch Dubya, but you've got that lot right.
+1
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"I don't often see things your way"
I'll take that as an admission that you frequently get things wrong, then ;-)
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>> No, no, UA, I wasn't having a go at you [hence the ;-)] - it
>> was just a cynical aside regarding people's inability to look at the bigger picture -
>> e.g.
>>
No problem. :-)
>> Cynical - moi???
>>
No question marks for me, I have little sympathy for people who choose to live in beautiful potential disaster area.
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Very wet - official - Robin O'Reliant
