Preparedness for when

sb44

I think I heard this morning that ground is limestone based so would be liable to wear away due to the wet weather.

Any of those houses could be next if that is the case so I don't think they are being over cautious.

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/science/landUseAndDevelopment/shallow_geohazards/sinkHoles.html

MrsAtobe

sb44 wrote: »

This is a chart that the fella on Twitter tweeted for today, any members in the dark blue area, take care.

I'm in that area and was just thinking that the weather forecasters got it wrong again, as it isn't that bad here, in fact I can see blue sky. The day's not over yet though, I suppose.

Charis

sb44 wrote: »

This is a chart that the fella on Twitter tweeted for today, any members in the dark blue area, take care.

I thought, phew, I'm just outside it. Then I realised it's travelling this way at 100MPH :eek:

Then I looked at the time and date. I must have slept through it.

Pollyjuice

Frugalsod wrote: »

Are you wearing your red shoes?;)

Did you know that in the original book the shoes were silver. They only changed the colour so that it would look good for film. In RL silver would be better than red - less obvious , isn't that what we're about

vivatifosi

sb44 wrote: »

I think I heard this morning that ground is limestone based so would be liable to wear away due to the wet weather.

Any of those houses could be next if that is the case so I don't think they are being over cautious.

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/science/landUseAndDevelopment/shallow_geohazards/sinkHoles.html

Local rumour is that there used to be lime kilns there and also that there have been previous complaints of subsidence. I don't know how true that is though. The lime kilns if true will have been very old, way before my lifetime. It's hard to know what's true with local rumour though, sometimes it's bang on the money and sometimes so wide of the mark it is a joke. This is also very near to Buncefield, but that definitely happened before these were built.

sb44

MrsAtobe wrote: »

I'm in that area and was just thinking that the weather forecasters got it wrong again, as it isn't that bad here, in fact I can see blue sky. The day's not over yet though, I suppose.

I don't know what time it is supposed to be for though? It looks like the chart was made this morning at 5am but unless I am going blind I can't see what time it the storm is supposed to occur.

[Deleted User]

For anyone else, who is getting sick and tired of replacing Clik-Lock storage containers, when the locking tags fall off the lids, £land have a new type of container in.

These are made by Kitchen Corner of Birmingham, and are screw closing instead.

Made from Polypropylene, which is considered one of the less risky (I hesitate to say safer) plastics for food use.

The pack contains 2 storage containers, (a 1.5L and a 1L) and two measuring spoons (a 1 tablespoon and a 1/2 tablespoon).

I'm currently washing them out, before storing teabags and sugar in them.

Hollyberry

Afternoon all. Glad to hear that everyone is checking in relatively intact, although so sorry to hear about your horse thecake - that's scary & no wonder your adrenaline was flowing. Hope you have had several restorative cups of tea now.

The old house was rattling like a good 'un last night, so much so that it was difficult to sleep. We still seem to be relatively intact, and I've left the fence panels that fell the other day, lest I be mending them twice or more.

We did have prowlers a couple of nights ago. I came downstairs in the morning to find the side gate flapping in the wind, and the panel next to it dislodged. The gate needs to be opened from the rear, as I have an 8 foot 4x4 post wedging it shut, and it's solid - I can barely lift it. So I know they came through from the rear. Fortunately the outhouses are still secure and there is no sign of attempted entry on the back doors or windows. I am guessing they came over from next door, where the building work has been going on for years, and I suspect they were after the piping and boiler. It will be good when they finally move in. Anyway, no harm, save for the fact we are sleeping a little lighter. And wondering how much more security we need - despite window locks, 5 lever mortices and other locks on the house, plus padlocks on all the outbuildings. Still, you can't live in Fort Knox, preptastic though that might be...

GreyQueen

(((((((the cake))))))))))) your poor horse. I'm so glad that it wasn't as bad as it could have been, although plenty bad enough. Please give him a pat from me.

I've always been interested in what Lovelock has to say although he alienated a lot of the 'green movement' for being pro-nuclear. I'm visicerally anti-nuclear, esp in the light of Fukushima, and that the issue with what to do with the waste is so far unresolved. And it seems a diabolical legacy to leave to the generations following on behind us. If we don't know how to deal with it, how the hell will they, since we have the force-magnifier of oil and they probably won't. But I get Lovelock's argument. No politician wants to tell it like it is, and they won't until the majority of the population are there ahead of them.

But we won't be able to live like we live now, in the future. We will have to live in greater material poverty, with particular attention paid to energy-saving. No more empty office buildings lit up like Christmas at night, no wandering around CH homes is our skivvies because we CBA to put a jumper on. No shops with their doors wide open and hot air blasting....there are so many examples of energy-wasting.

About 3 years ago I was pottering around the Sierra Nevada mountains in Andalusia, southern Spain. This is a very arid area, and becoming more arid with each passing year. They have irrigation channels built around the contour lines of the mountains, a legacy of the Moorish times, which are still in use. That deservedly-popular book Driving over Lemons is set in these valleys.

One of our party was a geologist and was pointing out the nature of the stone which made up the mountains and how the area was moving towards desert. This region is arid now, and going to get more arid still, and such agriculture that is practiced there is mainly down on the valley floor in humungous greenhouses where produce destined for our supermarkets is soused in chemicals and harvested by exploited migrants from North Africa.

In the mountains there are nooks and crannies of hippy enclaves, a few locals still farming and a movement for some of the people who moved away to northern Spain to work to return to the old area and resusitate the derelict homestead and to try to scratch a living. And having seen the topography, the local history museums and understood the climate implications, scratch will be the operative word.

As I was moseying around parts of my home city today I considered, as I have many times, how were are a city of two levels.

On the main shopping streets you find all the usual suspects, plus some expensive independants, a mall, lots of useless tot being offered and bought. Or not bought, even at heavy discount.

A quarter of a mile away, in an area our many tourists probably won't reach, you find the alternative city centre. Here are the charity shops en masse, plus the vintage and curio arcades, the little independant stores selling strange stuff, the funny little cafes, the ethnic food stores, the discount shops, the repair places, the pawnbrokers etc etc.

You want a room-sized carpet remnant, a reconditioned cooker, paperbacks at 25p, your shoes re-soled or a big bag of lentils, this is where you go.

It's a whole economy unto itself, almost completely self-contained. You really never need to go up-town, their goods will make their way down this way in time, for pennies on the pound.

I would expect most cities have a version of this, and that this kind of economy will only expand as we have to cycle towards a more-sustainable way of life simply because it's hard to be a hyper-consumer when you haven't the income to support buying a load of New Stuff. I sure as heck haven't.

We will effectively cannibalise our economy as we actively use what we have and this will stimulate local activity but it won't do much to keep the Big Boys in business with their imported goods manufactured in the Far East or Eastern Europe. This will be bad news for them, and bad news for balance of payment figures, but whether it will necessarily be bad news for Joe and Joesphine Ordinary remains to be seen. Some of the local businesses have buddied-up and offer the neighbouring business owners 10% discount on goods and services and this helps keep the money very local and builds connections.

Today I have spent money in Wilko (seed spuds - if you're as good as packing as I am, you can get just over 3kg in their smaller brown bags if you're buying spuds loose and that costs £2.75). Or you could buy 2 kg nets for £2.75 but you'll have your safety pin confiscated for proflifigacy.:rotfl:

And I bought a 4 pinter of milk for present use and a 1 litre of UHT for the Armageddon Cupboard, and went to the Magic Greengrocer and spent a £1 on about a kilo of sprouts, a head of broccoli, a yellow pepper and 4 courgettes.

I looked at a fair few other things in the c.s and a discount store but came away empty-handed.

sb44

Wow! Look at this flood barrier they have made in Upton, beats sand bags.