The Edcawber Principle
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Alex, my niece in law comes from just outside Edinburgh, and when they were planning the wedding, flying up there just for the weekend was a regular thing - so for a week, it would almost definitely be a good thing
2023: the year I get to buy a car0 -
I find it funny that Alex treats the Highlands like my FIL treats long distance holidays
Come on man, if I can drive Glasgow to Broadstairs and hate driving, you'll be fine!0 -
Karmacat, if we were to fly we would need to hire a car and couldn't take our dog, so I don't think that would work, unfortunately.
Ed, :rotfl: it's over nine hours according to google. That's not going to take lunch, dinner and other stops into account. The last time we went to Cornwall, we spent an evening in Bristol on the way there and two evenings near the Haynes Motor Museum (can't remember where) on the way back and 10 or 11 days in Cornwall which worked well. I'd do something similar if we go to Scotland. 2018 totals:
Savings £11,200
Mortgage Overpayments £5,5000 -
Although the initial feedstock is crude oil, that oil is broken down into gasses (via "cat cracking"), and it's these gasses which are used for the industrial production of plastics.
The plastics (polymers) are made by joining together the monomers in long chains, so starting with ethene, you end up with what should be called polyethene, but is polythene, as well as propene, you end up with polypropene - there's loads of others, but you see how that goes.
If you were to invent a enzyme to break them back up at some sort of rational temperature (you can break them up right now by setting fire to them), the easy severing of a carbon-carbon bond would lead to all sorts of problems. The carbon-carbon bond holding plastics together, is the same one which holds carbohydrates together, which holds fats together, which holds lignin together and which holds protein/flesh together.
Such an enzyme would dissolve all carbon-based life into goo.
That's not good (IMHO).
I don't think we were necessarily thinking of either a single enzyme or a single type of plastic. I understand that the plastics' structural integrity degrades each time it is recycled (i.e. the long chains you describe, get shorter) and we were talking through what end-state or single use plastics could then be used in; latest discussion is around their inclusion in concrete (which has, after all, been a capture mechanism for all sorts of building carp over the years). Or combined with asphalt or other road surfaces. Alternatives to dumping and toxic disposal. Have you considered any options?Save £12k in 2024 - #2 target is £5000 only £798.34 so far
OS Grocery Challenge 2024 25.04% spent or £754.10/£3,000 annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My Debt Free Diary Get a grip Woman0 -
edinburgher wrote: »I find it funny that Alex treats the Highlands like my FIL treats long distance holidays
Come on man, if I can drive Glasgow to Broadstairs and hate driving, you'll be fine!
We drive from Suffolk to the Scottish Highlands every year. Normally we leave on a Friday after work so we stay somewhere like N Yorks but it depends how far north we are staying. This year we are in the Cairngorms so might do it in a day, with a bit of an early start. Have not decided yet.Save £12k in 2024 - #2 target is £5000 only £798.34 so far
OS Grocery Challenge 2024 25.04% spent or £754.10/£3,000 annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My Debt Free Diary Get a grip Woman0 -
Suffolk_lass wrote: »I don't think we were necessarily thinking of either a single enzyme or a single type of plastic. I understand that the plastics' structural integrity degrades each time it is recycled (i.e. the long chains you describe, get shorter)
No, not really. Plastic recycling consists of melt and reform which provided you don't "cook" the plastic can go on forever. Even if the chains did shorten (as they do in the environment as UV and other "weathering" takes its toll), it usually doesn't make that much difference outside of high impact uses such as body armour and rope - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-molecular-weight_polyethylene
The degradation usually consists of contaminants gradually accumulating, and showing up visually. You wouldn't want a brown skid mark showing in your new bottle of water for example. In "fake wood" park bench however, nobody cares.Suffolk_lass wrote: »and we were talking through what end-state or single use plastics could then be used in; latest discussion is around their inclusion in concrete (which has, after all, been a capture mechanism for all sorts of building carp over the years).
And Italians in sharp suits and violin cases.Suffolk_lass wrote: »Or combined with asphalt or other road surfaces. Alternatives to dumping and toxic disposal. Have you considered any options?
Yes, I've already covered 3.There are ways of getting rid of plastic, but since they don't involve feeling "involved", they're not sexy and not mentioned.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_roadsPlastic bags can be easily recycled into fire, and onwards to electricity which can be used all over the house.
And not just the bags, other plastics as well. Also works on "mylar" and glass reinforced stuff as well, though you have a ash problem to work on.
And this is reuse, rather than recycling.Well in a masterstroke of poor timing, someone developed bins specifically designed to use carrier bage just before the announcement.
They're still around, but at 5p per shot, I won't be partaking.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/271979308378
I'm sure there are many, many other completely nonviable schemes, along with rent-seekers soliciting for subsidies - but I won't be suggesting those..."Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
"We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
"Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky." OMD 'Julia's Song'0 -
Suffolk_lass wrote: »We drive from Suffolk to the Scottish Highlands every year. Normally we leave on a Friday after work so we stay somewhere like N Yorks but it depends how far north we are staying. This year we are in the Cairngorms so might do it in a day, with a bit of an early start. Have not decided yet.
Well from here (North East), it's about 5-6 hours south to the south coast (assuming the M25 behaves) and about 2-3 hours up to Edinburgh/Glasgow.
The difficulty I found in the wilds of Scotland (I went to Oban a couple of years ago) is that "things which are not scenery" are pretty far apart from one another and it takes a long time to go from one thing to another."Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
"We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
"Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky." OMD 'Julia's Song'0 -
I think you'd be really lucky to drive from the North East to the south coast in 5-6 hours. I'd say it would take that long to drive to the south coast from here (Derbyshire Dales).
Good point re. the wilds of Scotland. I had suspected so. However, I think that would be OK if we had decided to go for a dog walking holiday. This year my wife is keen to have more than one holiday (which isn't the Spanish apartment) and I am keen for our main summer holiday to be a tour to the South of France, so going away for about 3 weeks or so. I am probably going to give in and take her to London for her birthday as she has been talking about this quite a lot and I appreciate sometimes you have to make compromises. So if we're having a holiday in Scotland it leaves likely dates being Easter (close to wife's birthday, though), May or October. Think it would be rather cold during Easter and October. Alternatively, we have our main summer holiday in Scotland the year after.2018 totals:
Savings £11,200
Mortgage Overpayments £5,5000 -
I think you'd be really lucky to drive from the North East to the south coast in 5-6 hours. I'd say it would take that long to drive to the south coast from here (Derbyshire Dales).
I've done it before, on a number of occasions. By "South Coast" - I mean mostly the Brighton side (not Cornwall
). Though I did set out after work, so got there just before midnight. Usually (though not always :eek:) the M25 has calmed down, and the M23 likewise.So if we're having a holiday in Scotland it leaves likely dates being Easter (close to wife's birthday, though), May or October. Think it would be rather cold during Easter and October. Alternatively, we have our main summer holiday in Scotland the year after.
I don't find Scotland all that cold out of the wind (YMMV), but it does tend to be wet for me."Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
"We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
"Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky." OMD 'Julia's Song'0 -
£347.88 paid off a CC, is it sad that I'm actually starting to like Mondays because that's the day I pay the credit card debt down?
£100 invested for DD, she will end up rich at this rate :rotfl:
She has now passed £5k, which is nearly 70% higher than my pessimistic assumption of £100/month for her nest egg. I am not bragging on her behalf, but I am really pleased at what we have achieved as providing for her future is one of our biggest concerns. She is now a hair's breadth (inflation adjusted) away from receiving the sum total of my Post Office savings account at age 16. It's about the only bit of our financial planning that is going to plan.0
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