Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

michaels

My laptop the battery hasn't worked for years but I just use it with the lead as a new battery is silly money.

School is back today so DW got up at 5 - I now remember why I get so tired and run-down, it is losing the last 2 hours of sleep every night

michaels

Wheezy - the new year has come and no one has launched a mortgage deal anywhere near as good as the coop one so I am thinking of going for it - at £80 per month it is an expensive punt if it turns out the economy is going Japanesee but I am seeing the ££££ signs if interest rates do rise. Do you have any tips?

Nikkster

I had a power problem with a laptop, took it to an little independent computer place and they confirmed it was the power cable (the battery had long since given up holding charge). Went to Maplin to double check and they looked at me blankly when I asked if they could help (they had a desk where they do computer repairs).

I'd try a new power cable first (if it doesn't work better with your current cable plugged in).

Nikkster

misskool wrote: »

Back to work and general busy-ness. Will be reading but no chance of much posting for about 4 weeks

Hope the next 4 weeks go well missk!

Generali

Warmdaywatch update 23h06: it's 35 sodding C at 11pm. Arrrgh!

GDB2222

Generali wrote: »

I can see why someone with a large farm would do Stay and Defend as if you don't you'll almost certainly lose everything and you have a decent chance of success.

I don't see how 'stay and defend' works? I have visions of a massive fire burning all the trees and undergrowth. How do you defend against that? A farmer with some massive equipment might install fire breaks, but surely that would take time - lots of it - and it would be a sensible precaution to have that in place permanently, anyway.

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

I don't see how 'stay and defend' works? I have visions of a massive fire burning all the trees and undergrowth. How do you defend against that? A farmer with some massive equipment might install fire breaks, but surely that would take time - lots of it - and it would be a sensible precaution to have that in place permanently, anyway.

You're thinking about what happens when the fire front hits and if it does then you're in the brown stuff.

The bigger cause of property damage in a bush fire is burning embers. These can carry for a few Kms from the fire and where they land they start 'spot fires'. These can be put out with a garden hose but if left to burn they can easily destroy your entire farm.

GDB2222

Ah, thank you, Gen.

Anyway, olive trees farm, you need to allow fire breaks, so that reduces your yield per hectare.

Generali

GDB2222 wrote: »

Ah, thank you, Gen.

Anyway, olive trees farm, you need to allow fire breaks, so that reduces your yield per hectare.

Yes it does. You also need a source of water that is available to fight fires if/when the mains water goes if you are on it and the electricity goes down so you should also leave space for a small reservoir (dam it's called here).

The intensity of these fires is crazy. Car wheels melted in 2009 during the Black Saturday mess.

Generali

For those that are interested, here is the Rural Fire Service guide to surviving bush fires:

http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/file_system/attachments/Attachment_BushFireSurvivalPlan.pdf

the RFS is a voluntary organisation that fights bush fires. The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbot, is a member and has left politicking today to join his local fire station.

Pages 12 & 13 of the guide cover Stay and Defend and there's some very alarming stuff in there TBH such as what to do when your house catches fire (sit in the other end of the house).

Don't forget that a lot of people in rural communities have chosen hard lives. Australia is a rich country and anyone can move to the city and get work as an admin person or a labourer. People actively choose to live in the middle of nowhere. The weather is hard: in Hay for example the temperature last year varied from 47C to -4C which is a massive range, more than 50C! The work on the farms is hard, they are huge (using a helicopter to pick up your post from the US-style mailbox at the end of your driveway is far from uncommon, using a car or motorbike is normal), isolated (communities of < 100 are quite normal and > 2,000 is the sort of place most Aussies would have heard of or visited) and the work is tough and unremitting. From the little interaction I've had with people living 'out bush' it sounds amazing and challenging and I would love to see if I'm up to it one day.