Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

Once you've finished that, Chris, I have a jungle you could tackle, if you've a mind!

Most people claim I'm mindless

Generali

https://www.facebook.com/iwakeupwithtoday/videos/1254001517967844/

I guess you've seen this video.

What you may not have heard is the reason the homes were there in the first place. In the 1950s the Council was told that what has just happened was a risk so banned building. The land was bought up cheaply and the owners then sued the council in the 1980s to be able to build.

The residents were offered a sea wall some time ago but refused to pay their share of it. Many other suburbs in the area refused to pay for sea walls because of the impact on beach amenity.

michaels

chris_m wrote: »

Once, when I was a volunteer at the Watercress Line, we got snowed in on the Saturday - just outside the station yard there were gates to the fields either side and the white stuff just blew through them and piled up across the road, about six feet deep.
So, about halfway through Sunday afternoon we all got to it and started digging, including digging out two cars that had failed to get up the hill and couldn't turn to get back down either. Once we'd finished we had two nice tyre tracks scraped right down to the tarmac and gritted. When it came to time to leave, no problem.

It wasn't until I was halfway home I suddenly thought "Ooer, I wonder how Barry managed?" Barry drove a three wheeler and, when we saw him the next week his language was unprintable, apart from a sarcastic "thanks" and the comment that "it was a bit bumpy" :rotfl:

Did you grow up in central hants?

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've a plan for a slopey bit .... I want to dig out the bottom of the slopey bit and lay down foundations, then stack gabions on top, probably to a height of just 2, so 1.5 above ground (say 18" above ground or so). Then fill the gabions with "something nice", then suspend some form of small solar lighting across the front of those (maybe).

Then.... put some thick material against the rear of the gabions (to stop soil pouring through) ... go to the top of the slopey bit (say 5-6') and wave a spade about in various directions until it's all levelled. Then plonk a palm tree in the corner.

I'll probably then lay something down, like that bark stuff ... then toss loads of shells down on top.

That's the plan ... and it'll be done under my banner of "tomorrow".

At first I thought you were talking about the slopey bit of the beach currently half way under those previously expensive Australian houses....

chris_m

Generali wrote: »

What you may not have heard is the reason the homes were there in the first place. In the 1950s the Council was told that what has just happened was a risk so banned building. The land was bought up cheaply and the owners then sued the council in the 1980s to be able to build.

The residents were offered a sea wall some time ago but refused to pay their share of it.

I think a quote from Battery Sergeant Major "Shutup" Williams is appropriate here;

Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

:rotfl:

Pyxis

That video reminded me of the push to build on flood plains here, and then people find they got flooded when the rivers burst their banks.

Hello? The clue's in the term "flood plain"! :mad:

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

go to the top of the slopey bit (say 5-6') and wave a spade about in various directions until it's all levelled.

I love the simplicity of that description

chris_m

michaels wrote: »

Did you grow up in central hants?

No, I grew up in Southampton - but the Watercress Line was only about 20 or so miles away.
I used to head up there straight from work on Fridays and works there all weekend - sometimes it was still Sunday when I got home again

Generali

michaels wrote: »

Did you grow up in central hants?



At first I thought you were talking about the slopey bit of the beach currently half way under those previously expensive Australian houses....

This is a suburb up from Colloroy on the same bit of sand:

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-narrabeen-122166602

Divide by two for the price in squids.

Bear in mind that door to desk if you work in the centre of Sydney that's 90 mins in a town where a 30-40 minute commute is seen as the maximum reasonable. It would be a bit like living in Tunbridge Wells in England: a nice place but a hell of a flog into work.

Generali

chris_m wrote: »

I think a quote from Battery Sergeant Major "Shutup" Williams is appropriate here;

Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

:rotfl:

There is a notable lack of sympathy for the family that owned a beachside home with a pool in the back yard!!!! I think they should be fined for littering the beach with it quite frankly. It's disgraceful.

chris_m

chris_m wrote: »

There's just one snag - that nicely sifted soil is all up at one end of the patch. I've now got to put most of it back from whence it came
At least it's cooler today so, after a decent rest (and cool down), guess what I'll be doing next.

Well, that's good job jobbed - the soil is now back in an approximation of level after I "waved a spade around in various directions" (© PN) and it's also covered with a nice layer of compost and has had a reasonable soaking. Didn't take as long as I anticipated, freshly sifted soil is a doddle to shift around, phew

My decision to go for 15 bags of compost a few weeks ago instead of only 12 must have been inspired - and not just because that took the order over the trigger for free delivery so saved getting my car dirty but also because, having tidied up all the flowerbeds (and made a new one) and covered those all with a layer of compost I had almost exactly the right amount to do the veggie patch too, just half a bag left over.