THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

My Liddly has long had security tags on its plastic shopping baskets, pineapple. As I found out to my embarrassment when I accidentally wandered out with one.

Last Sunday morning, Mum headed up to the papershop on their estate (one access road in and out) and came back to say someone had broken a glass bottle all over the road the night before and she was going to clear it up because we'd be driving out over it ourselves in the next 30 minutes.

She and I took the yard broom and a brush and pan and went up the road, swept it carefully and also swept up the bit of pavement. Then we came away, put the broken glass into an old marg tub and into the house's bin.

We got several thumbs up and smiles of approbation from passers by. We could have rung The Carncil (not my employer, a different area) and they could have possibly organised a contractor to do it. Which would have taken some considerable time to deal with, and would have been well after we, and many other motorists, had risked our tyres. As well as passing dogs risking cut paws on the glass on the pavement.

It is annoying to pay council tax - mine represents one month's wages each year and is a huge amount out of a small income - and still see stuff which impacts on amenity and attractiveness going to pot. I honestly don't have a pat answer except that I know how much we spend here each year cleaning up dog poo, flytipping and littering, and wonder how many more mown verges and comely flowerbeds we could have if that money didn't have to be spent unproductively.

I think there's an old proverb to the effect that if everyone swept their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean.

[Deleted User]

milasavesmoney wrote: »

Just wondering if everyone has a fire extinguisher?

I do. Actually, I have 2. I have a 6kg one in the house (in the bedroom to be precise), and a 1kg one in the car.

I think mine is out of date and I need to have it checked at the local fire department.

I don't think the fire department will check it.

I think you will probably have to take it to a company, that services fire extinguishers.

I asked the service engineer who comes in to service them where I work, and he reckons, for a single extinguisher, it'd be as cheap to replace it.

milasavesmoney

Thank you Bob!

I contacted the fire department for recommendations (we are a very small town) and they gave me the number of an retired fireman who has a little business. My husband knows him so will call. This extinguisher is all metal..no plastic parts so we will price check best option. I am going to ask him about getting extinguishers for our vehicles. Great tip Bob!

mothernerd

pineapple wrote: »

Just on a trivial note, don't know if this is a sign of the times or not - or maybe my rural town is just a chav place, but the local store started missing shopping baskets when the carrier bag charge was intoduced. There is a polite notice up asking anyone who has accidentally taken home a basket to return it. Who the f 'accidentally' takes home a supermarket basket? :rotfl:

Several years ago, when the big supermarkets upgraded from wire to plastic baskets, one lost it's entire stock over a weekend. Someone (lots of someones) recognised their potential as a nice hanging basket for plants. Do you despair or applaud the 'entrepreneurial spirit'.

[Deleted User]

milasavesmoney wrote: »

This extinguisher is all metal..no plastic parts

Mine's all metal too, apart from the hose and the crystal on the pressure gauge.

It's identical to this, apart from the labeling.

BTW. I'm shocked you don't have extinguishers in your vehicles.

Have you seen how fast a vehicle can go up in flames?

It's :eek:

lobbyludd

GreyQueen wrote: »

Last Sunday morning, Mum headed up to the papershop on their estate (one access road in and out) and came back to say someone had broken a glass bottle all over the road the night before and she was going to clear it up because we'd be driving out over it ourselves in the next 30 minutes.

I live in a very mixed inner city area, and come June, when the students move on, the fly tipping and general rubbish in the area is atrocious, followed by a second wave when some of the not very scrupulous landlords gut the properties so they can turn-around the property quickly.
one year the path in front of my house was strewn with dumped debris (clothes/food/rubbish/furniture and a lot of kitchen/bathroom equipment that if cleaned would have been fine to pass on/keep) so I dutifully bagged it up and stored it in my front yard for 2 days until I could take it to the local recycling centre.
Later that week I received a letter of complaint from the council warning me over the number of rubbish bags in my front yard strongly advising that if I transgressed again I'd be fined....

I was LIVID - now I report fly tipping unless I can sort it out on the same day.

lobbyludd

Bob - re fire extinguishers in cars - I'm a bit worried that in the time I'd spend getting the extinguisher and deploying it - i'd be trapped, and actually it'd be better to get out and leave the car?

I have one in the kitchen, but I need to check the expiry - I suspect it's out, thank you for the reminder :beer:

milasavesmoney

lobbyludd wrote: »

Bob - re fire extinguishers in cars - I'm a bit worried that in the time I'd spend getting the extinguisher and deploying it - i'd be trapped, and actually it'd be better to get out and leave the car?

I have one in the kitchen, but I need to check the expiry - I suspect it's out, thank you for the reminder :beer:

You wouldn't keep it in the trunk (boot)? I was thinking that's where I would keep mine when I get one. Is this not right?

GreyQueen

lobbyludd, I expect one of your neighbours rang the council to complain on the very day the bags were first put out, possibly the very hour, for the letter to have arrived so quickly. We wouldn't do that here; if a neighbour complains that there are refuse sacks in someone's front or back yard, we ask how long they have been there and if it's less than a month, we don't get involved. Unless there are complications such as foul odours, plagues of flies or animals pulling them around and or litter blowing from untied sacks.

We also have a lot of student landlords who are expecting bespoke collections of the students discards for free, not understanding that they are running a business and this is part of their business costs, not something that the council tax payers should be paying for.

mila, if references to council tax confuse, it is local taxation paid to the local council for local services; education, social services, domestic refuse collection, police, fire, street lighting, roads, parks etc etc. Full time students get exemption certificates from their college or university and thus don't have to pay it.

I have a lot of student accomodation in my area, some of it all of 6m away, and I am astonished at how wasteful the students are. Bearing in mind that they can hardly walk in any direction without passing charity shops and homelessness shelters within 100 m. You'd like to think that the supposedly more intelligent would have more sense, and a more generous spirit, too. Ach well, they're young, maybe they'll improve like a decent wine.

We womble their discard piles, usually. I've been known to womble and clean and chazzer donate pots and pans before now. A pal of mine had a nice boxful of stainless steel pans and pyrexware from me via that route (they saw the box prepped for donation, knew how I came by them, and asked if they might have them).

Guy I know ended up with an immaculate set of five pieces of Le Crueset cookware wombled from international students back in the day. A decade on, they're still in constant use

BB, putting out an on fire car with a small extinguisher carred inside it strikes me as very improbable. I've been part of a group of people who rescued a woman from her car which was on fire. Relatively slow-speed impact, front of her car in hedge, caught on fire. It was as much as we could do to get her out and away, with the engine compartment a ball of fire and fuel leaking from the ruptured fuel tank and falling onto the road and the risk of going BOOM any second.

It took the fire brigade to extinguish that with the proper gear and they weren't using a diddly little extinguisher.

Most fires are going to be under the bonnet. What would people do, exit the burning car, clutching their diddly extinguisher, open the bonnet, burning their hands, and have a faceful of flames as the extra oxygen accelerates the flames? Your engine would pretty much be history, in any case, without risking personal injury. And, if your car runs on petrol, it's containing a highly flammable liquid, producing highly flammable vapour.

Diesel fuel isn't so bad, of course. In the RTA described above, the second vehicle wasn't on fire but it was 20 m upslope and leaking fuel downhill towards the burning car, which itself was leaking fuel.

I was trying to manage a situation where we rescuers were going to be in way of harm with our casualty if the leaking fuel car was leaking petrol and it reached the burning car. The unhurt driver of the second car and her passenger was too shocky to tell me, despite repeated attempts, what the fuel was, and I didn't think to scoot around the back of her car to see if there was anything on the model number too indicate if it was a petrol or a diesel model.

I used to have a very small kitchen fire extinguisher which was a gift from a friend. It was date expired and went off to a hazardous waste amnesty day at the tip. I should really get a fire blanket to replace it.

milasavesmoney

I've wondered what all council taxes paid for. Very interesting to me.

As to fire extinguishers for cars, l have been reading about them and all of our emergency services plus our police officers carry them in the trunk of their cars, so it must be a useful tool to have with you.