Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

fc123

Fascinating stuff on this thread tonight. Bat houses sound like they have more building regs than a new build estate on a brownsite has.
The heating issue still makes me laugh out loud........maybe you have to provide some comfy feather filled 15 toggers to keep them happy whilst the heating system is being ordered in.

Sympaties to NDG's mum but made me LOL even more that the bats moved out and chose to relocate to an 'unsafe' loft.

I have picked up the hedgehogs here as they sometimes wander out front and sit on the road (which is a cul de sac but has people driving up it mistaking it for the lane that leads to the woods). I never thought about fleas but was always worried if they decide to nip as I have heard them chow down on bones and their teeth sound really really sharp (loud crunchy sound similar to badgers). They have never curled up into a ball either.
Wonder what it is that prompts them to do that?

lostinrates wrote: »

Its not illegal to go up and make repairs to holes in the roof etc during the ties the bats aren't in the roof. For us that is between October and february we are told. Onc theyare out and the holes repaired....well, problem sort of solved.

If that is done you have to provide suitable other accommodation for them. (of which we have some things that can be easily converted but they aren't south facing (bats prefer south facing lofts).

I agree with NDG's mother, we like the bats and are happy to make them a new home, but the bat man was a bit batty. He wanted us to give them a dehumidifier and some heating....while saying we couldn't have workmen up there to give US heating. He tried suggesting we couldn't insulate because there only heat was from us and if we insulated to stop losing our heat we'd be cutting off their supply of it and then said it would be best if we didn't do any building work to keep them content. I did point out if the house is allowed to topple and rot through lack of repair we'd all be homeless. He pursed his lips and said ''You have to think about it not from an angle of what you want, but what is best for the bats''. :rotfl::rotfl:

I LOVE the bats. Bats do good and useful things here, we want them to stay, but we're going to reach a compromise with them over whereabouts.

lostinrates wrote: »

too right, that article.

Freeing up from legislation...sort of. I have no problem whatsoever making appropriate accommodation for them, and we need too as a country. new houses don't have penetrable lofts and these creatures need to live somewhere. If we don't have them we'd have lots more clothes moths and nasty insects.

there needs to be a balance: some projects shouldn't have to wait for bats: if the project is urgent for the preservation of the building, others should be asked to wait, provide the alternative, then seal gaps at the right time (this is our plan and I think the right move for here and then majority of projects). we've also adapted out plans to allow place for them in the finished building, if they want to come back then.

Expecting people to put the bats heating requirements before their own, not as an equal consideration but a greater one, is IMO batty.

Generali wrote: »

I took the Generalissimos up to the Blue Mountains today. We went in an open tram carriage.

It was 9C and raining. 20C is about the lower comfortable limit for me these days in the dry, 23C in the wet. I've been in for an hour and my ears still hurt!

9c?? Sounds a bit chilly for Aus.

You mentioned coming back to Europe at some point Gen....do you think you'll come back to the UK soon?

and badgers....taking on board DS's comment.
Dumb townie question ....what's the problem with badgers in the countryside? What bad things do they do? I loved our Brighton badgers and they came every night at midnight to eat leftovers under the kitchen window. The cats used to sit near them and no trouble at all.

I am loving this dreary summer and the rain as makes working feel so much easier......like I am not missing out on fun sun things by being indoors. The garden loves it too.

lostinrates

fc123 wrote: »

and badgers....taking on board DS's comment.
Dumb townie question ....what's the problem with badgers in the countryside? What bad things do they do? I loved our Brighton badgers and they came every night at midnight to eat leftovers under the kitchen window. The cats used to sit near t

Badgers where I was living where terribly overcrowded. I watched them move a railway embankment, the whole thing, about a 20 foot stretch, over a weekend.

The answer I'm meant to give is ''spread tb'' but tbh, there is tb in countries where their are no badgers. Its too much of a cop out for shoddy management here. (though I do not dispute that badgers pick tb up and move it and that there are economic consequences to this.)

the real issue is the same: we are an artificial landscape and situation and population control for good health and balance is nicer than disease outbreak, starvation and living on the edge.

Badgers will also decimate a chicken house and its contents. They are much stronger than foxes.

lostinrates

fc123 wrote: »

I am loving this dreary summer and the rain as makes working feel so much easier......like I am not missing out on fun sun things by being indoors. The garden loves it too.

couple of weeks ago all we wanted was crudite and salad, today I made a pot roast. Pot roast in summer was my nightmare when a kid (I remember actual tears) but what do you do? Its so cold, we needed ''proper'' english weather food!

fc123

lostinrates wrote: »

Badgers where I was living where terribly overcrowded. I watched them move a railway embankment, the whole thing, about a 20 foot stretch, over a weekend.

The answer I'm meant to give is ''spread tb'' but tbh, there is tb in countries where their are no badgers. Its too much of a cop out for shoddy management here. (though I do not dispute that badgers pick tb up and move it and that there are economic consequences to this.)

the real issue is the same: we are an artificial landscape and situation and population control for good health and balance is nicer than disease outbreak, starvation and living on the edge.

Badgers will also decimate a chicken house and its contents. They are much stronger than foxes.

...so badgers carry TB and spread it around, can dig up vast amounts of earth (regardless of what is above it) so cause structural damage to important things (like railway embankments) and, if they can get into it, raid a chicken coop and kill everything in it.

The 'balance' para...was that about badgers too or just in general.


so how come badgers are protected when they are so bad for the country side>?

lostinrates

fc123 wrote: »

so how come badgers are protected when they are so bad for the country side>?

They are part of the ecosystem, they have their roles. They should be protected. They aren't ''bad'' they are just ''bad'' when their are too many of them...same goes for everything around us....and us. in balance they do things like grub up soil which allows bare earth for things to seed into.

Things are mainly out of kilter: its a general response that bit. fwiw, we are more out of kilter in number than the badgers are. Badgers need protetion because people dislike them with such intensity that there would eb few/none left if some had their way. As ds intimated, they are at risk from death by other than car and natural causes as it is.

fc123

lostinrates wrote: »

They are part of the ecosystem, they have their roles. They should be protected. They aren't ''bad'' they are just ''bad'' when their are too many of them...same goes for everything around us....and us. in balance they do things like grub up soil which allows bare earth for things to seed into.

Things are mainly out of kilter: its a general response that bit. fwiw, we are more out of kilter in number than the badgers are. Badgers need protetion because people dislike them with such intensity that there would eb few/none left if some had their way. As ds intimated, they are at risk from death by other than car and natural causes as it is.

Thanks for the explanation. I guess they breed without problems hence the over population in some areas.....like rabbits.

Before legislation, landowners could control the badger numbers (on their own turf) as they saw fit? Now they can't. That doesn't seem right.

I read some Sundays today, 1st time for a few weeks and read all about Liz Jones' facelift.

I will go update the new LJ thread.

Then will watch Popstar/operastar on reord.
love watching the Ronaldo bloke and the pretty blonde lady. Her house is the one being used by the Apprentice show (I trying to up my knowledge of current popular telly stuff :cool: ) and she bought it for 4.7 mill. apparently. Who would have thought singing could be so profitable. *sigh*

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

ATM we are debating painting a gold stripe just above skirting level in the new pale blue hallway. And painting the back wall on the ground floor gold. (pale silvery gold, not hard yellowy gold). then, with a colourful rug (I love the runner idea but it would cost a fortune , my fiame/bargello- missoni style curtains (when I track down the fabric) in similar colours to the pinocchio rug and the birdy lamp (lightshades?)...one room done

I'd have painted the lot bright white and got a cheery Ikea rug. Job done in less than a day, then relax in front of the telly with an indian takeaway in a serving dish and eaten with a big spoon.

fc123

lostinrates wrote: »

I want a carpet that looks like this rug:

http://www.johnlewis.com/28494/Product.aspx

I like that a lot...jelly bean mat.

I would imagine it's hard to find as a whole carpet though. I don't think you can buy patterned carpet anywhere nowadays.

An artist in Spitalfields did make wall hangings out of classic 60's 70's swirl carpets some time back. I can't find them on google though....

John_Pierpoint

lostinrates wrote: »

too right, that article.

Freeing up from legislation...sort of. I have no problem whatsoever making appropriate accommodation for them, and we need too as a country. new houses don't have penetrable lofts and these creatures need to live somewhere. If we don't have them we'd have lots more clothes moths and nasty insects.

there needs to be a balance: some projects shouldn't have to wait for bats: if the project is urgent for the preservation of the building, others should be asked to wait, provide the alternative, then seal gaps at the right time (this is our plan and I think the right move for here and then majority of projects). we've also adapted out plans to allow place for them in the finished building, if they want to come back then.

Expecting people to put the bats heating requirements before their own, not as an equal consideration but a greater one, is IMO batty.

Stayed in a house in SW France once upon a time. I think it had been built circa 1960 by the novel method of building 4 corners using concrete blocks and then filling in the walls between these columns with rocks from the hill side. The technique seemed to be to lay a row of rocks and then pour some concrete over them and put another layer of rocks on top of the still wet concrete and so on. The window openings were 4 stone gate posts with a window constructed to fit the opening they made.

The building was full of nooks and crannies outside - and we realised that the black shadows were bats living in these holes.

One night two bats - I think fired up by sexual attraction - ignored the light on in the bedroom and proceeded to play a game of tag round the room, as we ducked under the sheets - very impressive.

I understand that in France one can get away with blocking up the holes in the "open season", thus forcing the bats to find a new home;
but don't try that here in the UK.

Generali wrote: »

I took the Generalissimos up to the Blue Mountains today. We went in an open tram carriage.

It was 9C and raining. 20C is about the lower comfortable limit for me these days in the dry, 23C in the wet. I've been in for an hour and my ears still hurt!

I have magical memories of the Blue Mountains - so called because of all the eucalyptus oil in the air - in July some year towards the end of the last century. For a treat we set out from Sydney in a train with reversible seat backs (so you did not have to face backwards) and stayed the night here:

http://www.lilianfels.com.au/

I think the web site is being economical with the truth - the vast majority of the building seemed to be brand new and built over an "Edwardian" underground car park. It had been influenced by the film of "Titanic"

[The price was very MSE partly because it was mid winter and partly because our currency was worth something in those days]

The real magic was that overnight it tried to rain and the rain turned to snow. The next morning everything was coated with ice and snow. Very strange for us Europeans to be in a green and silver fairy land.
[Had to back pack it to the station as road transport was at a standstill]

lostinrates wrote: »

They are part of the ecosystem, they have their roles. They should be protected. They aren't ''bad'' they are just ''bad'' when their are too many of them...same goes for everything around us....and us. in balance they do things like grub up soil which allows bare earth for things to seed into.

Things are mainly out of kilter: its a general response that bit. fwiw, we are more out of kilter in number than the badgers are. Badgers need protetion because people dislike them with such intensity that there would eb few/none left if some had their way. As ds intimated, they are at risk from death by other than car and natural causes as it is.

Some people liked them a lot and ate them during WW1

Doozergirl

fc123 wrote: »

I like that a lot...jelly bean mat.

I would imagine it's hard to find as a whole carpet though. I don't think you can buy patterned carpet anywhere nowadays.

An artist in Spitalfields did make wall hangings out of classic 60's 70's swirl carpets some time back. I can't find them on google though....

Stripes are back. Love this company:
http://www.crucial-trading.com/en/Floorcovering_Details.aspx?rid=508

Quite Missoni, I think!

Even Louder (and even more expensive)
http://www.crucial-trading.com/en/Floorcovering_Details.aspx?rid=149
Not sure about that one!

Pattern will be back soon, I am certain. People will be kitting their houses out like pubs once more.

Talking about houses like pubs:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-13495179.html