Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

michaels

Generali wrote: »

So far so good in the mountains. It's not going so well further north at Newcastle (Minmi) and further up. There are over 70 fires burning across the state. It looks like some of these fires will be burning for weeks or even months as there isn't any rain forecast.

Is it unusual to have fires in what must be still mid/early spring, I don't know enough about the climate but would just expect that high summer and thereafte would be the normal risk time.

Is the situation like the US where controlling fires wherever possible leads to a build up of combustible material making 'big ones' more likely?

PasturesNew

The house programmes last night - one couple were taken to a house in the village where I lived from age 10, to be shown round a house that'd been doubled in size.

And another (or the same?) programme had a couple building a German kit house from scratch in a village where somebody I knew lived.

Generali

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/a-landlord-tried-to-make-money-off-bushfire-victims-by-putting-the-rent-up-2013-10

Barry O'Farrell is the 'Prime Minister' of New South Wales.

A 13 y/o and a 15 y/o took advantage of the partial evacuation of a town to steal a bucket of cash being collected for fire victims. They got caught this afternoon by a security guard trying to steal from a shopping centre in Western Sydney, the nearest part of town to the mountains.

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

I wondered if there was room for the stairs in that hall. No wonder they hadn't yet been installed, probably turn out to be a climbing grid up the wall. cantilevered or not, I thought building regs now required a rail on the outside of the stairs?

It did look very narrow. Not the kind of spacious hall you would expect in a property as grand as they are trying to create. The pic Sarah showed them of floating stairs had a glass panel up the outside in place of a rail. I imagine that would meet the building regs as long as it was the right kind of glass.

silvercar wrote: »

I hear (2nd hand again) that the have borrowed money from family, so could well decide to sell soon. If so, they are bound to do a viewing afternoon and I'll try and get some pics.

Oooh yes please.

Generali

michaels wrote: »

Is it unusual to have fires in what must be still mid/early spring, I don't know enough about the climate but would just expect that high summer and thereafte would be the normal risk time.

Is the situation like the US where controlling fires wherever possible leads to a build up of combustible material making 'big ones' more likely?

It's unusual to have fires this bad at this time of year because it's unusual to get these hot dry winds at this time of year.

The problem is that we had 2 very wet winters in a row so there's loads of undergrowth. Then this winter was dry and it was just a matter of time until this happened. This will go on all summer, it'll be bad but this is what Australia is like: we have seeds that only germinate when the first rains come after a fire!

Unusually, Australia has a very comprehensive fire management policy. The main pillars are back burning, active preparation and protection of property. Back burning isn't just done when the fires are starting, it's something that's being done constantly in order to reduce the amount of available fuel around towns and properties.

Then the RFS campaigns for people to do things like keeping gutters and roofs clear of gum tree leaves.

Finally when the fires do get going, the firies aim to protect as much property as they can. The bush is going to burn at some point and today is as good a day as any. They work hard to protect people and property though and animals too where possible. Unfortunately, some people just release animals when there's a fire which then causes havoc on the roads as the firies are trying to get to the fires themselves. Cruel as it may seem, it's better to leave them in fenced fields as they'll be on a property so more likely to get attention from firemen and no more likely to get burns than if they run free. A fire can easily travel at 50-60mph up a hill, far faster than animals can run.

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

The house programmes last night - one couple were taken to a house in the village where I lived from age 10, to be shown round a house that'd been doubled in size.

And another (or the same?) programme had a couple building a German kit house from scratch in a village where somebody I knew lived.

Were we watching the same programme?

I was watching episode 10 of "double your house for half the money"

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/double-your-house-for-half-the-money/4od#3586760

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

Were we watching the same programme?

I was watching episode 10 of "double your house for half the money"

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/double-your-house-for-half-the-money/4od#3586760

No idea. Probably not. Had some bloke presenting it.

Found it, I was (half) watching this: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/building-the-dream

I've no real interest in these programmes where people take a fortune, add another fortune to it and end up with a £1million house - it's so far removed from anything I'll ever know/experience there's no point. It's all wall to wall smugness.

On one of the programmes last night a couple were trying to get a Category A grading for an Eco-house. The bloke on that programme told them to not bother with the eco-heating system and to stick a gas boiler in as their house would be retaining the heat anyway. The woman on that one said "Well, tell the people then" Without the expensive eco-system they'd never get a Category A. Having gas gives them a Category B and the mortgage rate is 0.5% more for something that's not a Category A"

vivatifosi

It is the strangest day here today. For the first time ever, the estate gardener (who is privately paid for and comes once a month) have been on site the same time as the council gardeners (who come very infrequently to trim the bushes along the adopted highway).

Both using the same equipment, the estate gardeners came, trimmed the hedges into beautiful, neat tidy shapes and left. The council gardeners meanwhile have made very wavy patterns on their bushes, left mess everywhere and have taken at least twice as long. Hopefully they will clean up behind themselves this time. I'm not holding out a lot of hope.

It is not a good advert for the efficacy of council workers. Which is a shame, given that I am also a council worker.

Wheezy_2

Morning.

I always thought of British driving as quite 'civilised' compared to some European countries, but your motorway driving is appaling - and getting worse IMO.
The 2nd and fast lane hogging has always been a British pasttime it seems, but what gets my goat more often lately is when you are patiently stop-going in the slow lane for the next exit and then those 2nd and 3rd lane hoggers joining in the last couple of yards just to gain half a minute. Join the queue at the back please. :mad:

vivatifosi

Wheezy wrote: »

Morning.

I always thought of British driving as quite 'civilised' compared to some European countries, but your motorway driving is appaling - and getting worse IMO.
The 2nd and fast lane hogging has always been a British pasttime it seems, but what gets my goat more often lately is when you are patiently stop-going in the slow lane for the next exit and then those 2nd and 3rd lane hoggers joining in the last couple of yards just to gain half a minute. Join the queue at the back please. :mad:

I agree with you Wheezy. It is very annoying, particularly if you are in the slow lane and moving faster than the traffic in the middle lane and have to move all the way out to go round.

A few years back, my Dad and I did a short advanced driving course advertised by Hertfordshire County Council. I don't know if they still do it but it was very worthwhile. People don't get any follow up once they past their test so it was interesting to see what bad habits people had got into. It was taught by advanced drivers and the police, using the police's "Roadcraft" driving course as its basis.

I've adopted a couple of the practices since. The two I find most helpful are "tyres and tarmac": ensuring that you can see both the tyres of the car in front and some tarmac. This means if the car in front breaks down, stops or gets stuck, there's always room to move around without manouvering. I'd never heard that before. The other one I find useful is "concave/convex", or steering your car within the lane as you approach a bend for maximum visibility of oncoming traffic. The instructor says most people stay in the middle of the lane all the time. The technique I find least useful is the one where you talk out loud and name every obstacle that you see to ensure maximum observation. Other drivers rightly conclude that you are bonkers.