Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

neverdespairgirl

lostinrates wrote: »

Oh, and tremendous excitement on starting reading a half decent cheapy kindle book. I'm reading it on my cool down breaks and while I'd rather sit and read it properly it seems actually like a 'properly written book'.

I've recently read a cheapie Kindle book that I rather enjoyed - called Reconstructing Amelia.

It's pretty good - here:

http://amzn.to/14Rj45M

PasturesNew wrote: »

I never understood why they weren't phased in in Cornwall, with all the seagull problems. To use wheely bins the Council have to use different rubbish trucks though, so moving from one system to another isn't without cost implications.

I believe in some areas householders are given the first bin, when systems are rolled out - after that you have to buy your own replacements.

Neither in our old flat in Holborn, nor in our new one in Clerkenwell, is such a beast to be seen.

There just isn't room for them.

Our block of flats has a bin room - part of the building, accessible only from the street, though. It's locked, and all of the block puts rubbish and recyling in there, and the bin men have a key. It's emptied daily.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

PasturesNew wrote: »

There has to be a cost of ownership that's an entry level. Even given a free boat there's still cost of a trailer, tow bar, car good enough to tow it, fuel to get it to the water, fuel on the water, launch fees, maintenance, wealthy enough to have space to keep a boat or pay for it to be kept.

Sure.

But those things over there are all relatively cheap.

People there tend to live in houses with a garden/driveway big enough to park it in, fuel is cheaper, most places don't have launch fees, most people already own big cars that can tow easily.

As I said, it's about as posh or uncommon as owning a motorbike would be here.

Perhaps best illustrated with pictures.


Redneck bass boat owners....





Working class bass boat owners....





Middle class bass boat owners....





Posh bass boat owners.....

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

There has to be a cost of ownership that's an entry level. Even given a free boat there's still cost of a trailer, tow bar, car good enough to tow it, fuel to get it to the water, fuel on the water, launch fees, maintenance, wealthy enough to have space to keep a boat or pay for it to be kept.

If you live somewhere where other taxes are lower you have more disposable income ( but less security if not self provident).

vivatifosi

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Sure.

But those things over there are all relatively cheap.

People there tend to live in houses with a garden/driveway big enough to park it in, fuel is cheaper, most places don't have launch fees, most people already own big cars that can tow easily.

As I said, it's about as posh or uncommon as owning a motorbike would be here.

That's my thought too. It's not very different in many parts of Australia too. My cousin has a boat there. In both places fuel is way cheaper and there is often plenty of room to put a boat. Plus, as Hamish says, people don't tend to drive small cars.

Another point I'd make, is that roadworthiness rules aren't the same in the States as here. So anyone wanting a trailer can build one out of some bits of angle iron and a couple of wheels. You would not believe what you see on the road over there that wouldn't be allowed here. It's a very different scenario. The big pontoon boats that they have for lakes and inland waterways are pretty cheap to buy too.

Planes are still posh though. You don't get away with that one Hamish, unless you lived in a sheep station in the outback;).

lostinrates

zagubov wrote: »

We had relatives in the US who liked water-skiing and had a motoroboat and they lived next to an artifical lake. It turned out that the local nuclear plant needed a reservoir for coolant water and the local house developers lined it with luxury houses with jetties for people to use for watersports. This is quite standard apparently in scores of locations around America.

It was a huge selling point as the Americans seemed in general tohave very little worry about nuclear power.

I have been thinking about hiring a portaloo for radioactive week or so.

It doesn't sit well to have that stuff go into our water treatment scented and grey water recycling centre, and ultimately lake cake where we swim and water our food from


But then if it goes into mains system usually is it any different? I really don't know anything about this sort of stuff and when I called and asked the hospital they said no one else on a septic tank or water treatment centre has ever asked if its ok really. But loads of people receiving cancer treatment face this, so the question should arise all the time.

neverdespairgirl

GDB2222 wrote: »

Well done, but:

£8 for a jar of marmalade? <-- STUPIDITY ALERT!

Yup, and a 1lb jar, at that. 50p an ounce!

neverdespairgirl

vivatifosi wrote: »

Planes are still posh though. You don't get away with that one Hamish, unless you lived in a sheep station in the outback;).

My dearly beloved owns a plane - it's not a posh one, though.

vivatifosi

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

My dearly beloved owns a plane - it's not a posh one, though.

Granted, truly posh is a jet. But all planes and even gliders are a bit posh. Unless they come from Airfix.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

vivatifosi wrote: »

Planes are still posh though. You don't get away with that one Hamish, unless you lived in a sheep station in the outback;).

Damn, hoping I'd distracted attention away from that.:D

To be fair, I learned to fly in the States, so much cheaper than here.

I wouldn't describe flying as posh, in America anyway, it's definitely posh for here though mostly down to how stupidly expensive it is to fly in Britain.

In the States, someone on an OK middle class income could just about afford to buy and maintain an old Cessna and go flying every weekend, if that was their only real extravagance or hobby.

Here you'd be firmly into 1/8th of a plane share territory and only flying a couple of hours a month on the same income.

zagubov

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

My dearly beloved owns a plane - it's not a posh one, though.

i'm glad I found out how you disposed of rubbish before I read about the plane. I was thinking laterally about how a flat-dweller might dispose of rubbish and all I could imagine was an open window and a catapult!:D