WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

Tiz, I had a look and the net is all over the tiny improvement in retail sales but only one mention that the stock market is not impressed. Bit of news management going on?
Kev, that name Gasson rings a bell but nothing has surfaced.

[Stanley]

Like most of us I have been watching the personal stories of those affected by floods, some of them multiple occurrences over the last few years, and reflecting on how fortunate we are up here on the watershed. Their stories are all the same, increasing risk as the climate changes, failure of 'flood defences' and lack of insurance. Imagine losing all you have built up over the years, bit like a devastating fire but more cruel, drawn out and uncomfortable.
It all reminds me of the older story about coastal communities losing land and homes to erosion by the sea and what strikes me is that when we are up against forces of nature like this there comes a point where the only effective strategy is retreat. How long before living beside a River like the Derwent, Ouse, Wye or Severn becomes impossible and the centres of some of our most ancient towns have to be abandoned? This seems to me to be inevitable. What is picturesque and historic in summer becomes an insupportable hell in winter as the rivers rise due to more development and better drainage upstream giving the increased amount of rainfall less chance of being held back by natural features like peat bogs and upland forests and vegetation.
There will be a tipping point and it seems to me that we are getting closer to it. Only wealthy, brave or foolish people will hang on in there and one questions how many of them there are about! We can't get away from the fact that, given more extreme events, 'Better flood defences' is only a means of sending more water, more quickly, downstream and the next community on the catchment goes through the same cycle.
This is why the planners and government seem to be so helpless. Perhaps one initial step would be to stop building on flood plains. A simple computer model will show the areas at risk and development on that land must be banned. It's draconian but can anyone think of a better or more efficacious answer?

[Cathy]

I don’t know why people stay either.
Maybe they could build on stilts and buy a canoe or two.

[Tizer]

A simple computer model will show the areas at risk and development on that land must be banned.

Anyone who has bought or sold a house in the last 15 to 20 years will have seen the computer graphics showing the flood risk areas in the locality. The trouble has been that the Environment Agency insisted on telling us all that the floods were 1 in 100 events. When the Somerset Levels flooded badly their man came to our village and assured us it was a 1 in 100 flood. I stood up and told him it would happen again the next winter. It did. To give the EA their due, they were warning planners not to build on the flood risk areas, but the planners went ahead and claimed they were forced to do so by the government demands for more houses. The only land available was in flood risk areas so that's were they were built. A case of no joined up thinking. We also have to remember that the Government's Help to Buy scheme was only available on new build houses. Where were these - in the flood risk areas of course! As for people already living in areas that were once safe but now at flood risk many were not wealthy and couldn't afford to move house even before the floods. After the floods no-one wanted to buy their house so they're stuck there. And then the insurance companies refuse to insure them against flood or charge an unaffordable premium.

On a lighter note...
`Week in Pictures: 15-21 February' LINK

[Stanley]

Dead right Tiz as usual. During my frequent trips to Airedale over the last 18 months I have passed a major new development on Sandbeds just the other side of Skipton. The name gives a clue, it's no accident that on the other side of the road are the remains of the settling ponds of the original sewage system. The whole corridor following the river Aire is a flood risk all the way into Keighley. Funnily enough, that's why, until now, nobody has built on it!

[PanBiker]

Just checked the Postcode Lottery and I won a tenner yesterday.

[Tripps]

Didn't know that 'wet wood' was a thing until the last few days. Now I find that it means any wood which has not been kiln dried. That won't be good news for next door who spent most of last week, and a lot of energy with axe, hammer, and wedges, making logs out of a recently felled sycamore tree.

I think that may be an Oxford comma - something else that I've learned in the last few weeks.

[Stanley]

No it's just good clear non mandatory use of the comma in clear writing!
What about the carbon footprint of heating drying kilns?
The manufacturers of 'smokeless' fuels must be rubbing their hands..... But, How about the carbon footprint of manufacturing them? Bad knee-jerk legislation to suggest the government is actually doing something.

[Tizer]

Didn't know that 'wet wood' was a thing until the last few days. Now I find that it means any wood which has not been kiln dried.

I think that's wrong, Tripps. Your neighbour's wood is `wet wood' if it's freshly felled but if he seasons it (stores it dry until next season) then it's no longer described as wet and will be valid for use in his log burner.

[Tripps]

Yes - that's what I thought - until I heard a radio item yesterday which said just that.

This seems to be a very badly thought out piece of law - and how on earth will it be 'policed' ?

I won't be grassing up next door.

PS - I added this quote to my 'cuttings' folder a couple of weeks ago - I think it's sort of relevant

Deliberately making us helpless dependants is all part of the plan and something the Tory Party loves just as much as Labour. If any retraining happens at all, it will be training people to be hectoring diversity enforcers and a variety of other pointless busybodies who don’t produce anything of real value. A fake economy needs fake jobs and fake money to keep it going. Training people to do useful things and produce real useful products would really throw a spanner in the works.

[plaques]

Very few 'modern' houses are built with chimneys. If I remember correctly the big complaint was in cities where stoves were adding to the traffic pollution. Being more cynical is it an attempt to increase sales of gas / electrical appliances so that the energy monopolies an get their sticky fingers on more loot?

[Stanley]

"Training people to do useful things and produce real useful products would really throw a spanner in the works."
That's a very astute observation David. I always said that one of the reasons why steam engines were ditched so rapidly in favour of individual electric motors on machines was because the management didn't like having one man having such power over the running of the factory or mill. Very few owners had enough knowledge to argue with anything the engineer told them. De-skilling jobs means easier control of labour. Marx recognised that in 1850! It's hard to 'control' a tradesman who has done a seven year apprenticeship and is on top of his game. You had to pay them more as well.
P. some would say that's a cynical view but I for one wouldn't rubbish it. An independent form of heating means you are harder to control.

[Stanley]

I tried to order my Bruno tobacco from my usual source in Manchester yesterday. Normally this is trouble free but yesterday it was impossible. The web site had been 'improved' and apart from being a pain in the bum it wasn't working. In the end I went down another route, found the firm's phone number and spoke to a nice man who took my order over the phone and it arrived today in less than 24 hours.
I told him the site was crap and they must be losing orders because of it. He agreed with me I think and said he'd get the order in the post immediately. When I opened it it included a free gift, a pipe smoker's knife and tools. No note, just the tool. I think I might have touched a nerve!

[Whyperion]

Like most of us I have been watching the personal stories of those affected by floods, some of them multiple occurrences over the last few years, and reflecting on how fortunate we are up here on the watershed. Their stories are all the same, increasing risk as the climate changes, failure of 'flood defences' and lack of insurance. Imagine losing all you have built up over the years, bit like a devastating fire but more cruel, drawn out and uncomfortable. ,,,,,
There will be a tipping point and it seems to me that we are getting closer to it. Only wealthy, brave or foolish people will hang on in there and one questions how many of them there are about! We can't get away from the fact that, given more extreme events, 'Better flood defences' is only a means of sending more water, more quickly, downstream and the next community on the catchment goes through the same cycle.
This is why the planners and government seem to be so helpless. Perhaps one initial step would be to stop building on flood plains. A simple computer model will show the areas at risk and development on that land must be banned. It's draconian but can anyone think of a better or more efficacious answer?

With the media obession with housing, I am wondering about the production, storage , transport and sale of products, particulary foodstuffs (and possibly medications). Given that most of the population is probably carrying enough personal weight to tide them over a couple of weeks of reduced calorie intake, any need for essential solubal minerals might be a bit more problematic, but at some time there will be challenges that has COBRA thought about, coupled with flight (and long term possible shipping) restrictions that may occur from places that at present import into the UK as the Covid-19 Panic increases. Natural Landscapes, given time, do recover from weather events, some better than others, but in a just in time economy its going to be a slow progress , however Climate Change might give more rain, more persistant rain to the British Isles, normally, and quite probably it wont be a permanent thing in any one year, or one year with another - already as Jet Stream Moves - however weakly or strongly, drier , colder air swings in and summers could be anything from deluge to drought.

The other thing I note, in the Likes of Todmorden is that clean ups are using fresh water supplies to clean foul damage , is it going to be - without trusting the supply filter network, water, water everywhere but ne'er a drop to drink?

[Whyperion]

Very few 'modern' houses are built with chimneys. If I remember correctly the big complaint was in cities where stoves were adding to the traffic pollution. Being more cynical is it an attempt to increase sales of gas / electrical appliances so that the energy monopolies an get their sticky fingers on more loot?

I have found being in the rural surrounds (Oxford in the 1980s and the hill land around Bury a few years ago) to give me breathing difficulties when I have been out delivering in evenings or daytimes, think I also noticed it around Fence, I have not over noticed urban use of solid burning appliances,

[Stanley]

A face full of graupel as I opened the door this morning to let Jack have his morning pee.

[Tizer]

It's interesting to see how the spread of fake news on the virus is most prevalent among people using the anti-vaccination and anti-5G-mobile groups on Facebook and YouTube. It's the usual dangerous combination of the gullibles and the manipulators...
`Coronavirus: Fake news is spreading fast' LINK

[Cathy]

Apparently Hair Lice is affecting more adults these days. They say it is probably from getting close and taking photos on mobile phones.

[Stanley]

Cathy, If my memory is correct we used to get close long before cell phones were on the scene.....
How splendid my fee feel after Epsom Salts soak yesterday and pedicure by Nurse Susan.....
A long phone call with a friend and his wife. She is in full remission after a five year fight with serious cancer. Wonderful!!

[Stanley]

Later..... see THIS BBC report on the falls currently being experienced in global stock markets. This is getting serious and eventually it could cause the end of the longest running Bear Market in history. Events Dear Boy.

[Tizer]

On a lighter note, let's not let the dinosaurs go extinct for a second time - and these are friendly dinosaurs and loved by kids!
`Crystal Palace dinosaurs added to 'at risk' register' LINK

[Stanley]

On the face of it not the most pressing matter but I agree with saving them on the grounds that our built environment and listed artefacts are under constant attack mainly from developers. If we don't care for and understand the past how can we set out a road map for the future?

[Tizer]

We had a minor emergency yesterday. After a walk we arrived home for lunch but the phone rang as soon as we got in. My 80-year-old cousin Shirley had fallen and hurt her head in the main street in town. She was taken into the Vision express opticians and they phoned her daughter but she was working in admin at the hospital and had no transport to get into town. Her husband was taking a pupil on a driving lesson and also couldn't respond quickly. No ambulances would be available for a while. Daughter called us and we swung into action with instructions to ignore the yellow lines and park behind the fire engine at Vision Express. Fire engine? Yes the firemen were in the opticians and wrapping Shirley in a foil cloak and giving her TLC! As we got into town we were caught in traffic jams and slowed up - there had been a traffic accident at the main junction (a car ran into a trailer being towed through the junction). Eventually we got through, picked up Shirley, thanked all concerned and headed to the hospital where her daughter was waiting to take over in A&E. Everyone was very helpful and Shirley was given stitches and then allowed home, otherwise she seems fine.

The story behind the fire engine seems to be that they were called out for the traffic accident but weren't needed when they arrived so they were sent on to help Shirley. And it allowed me to park where I'd normally be in deep trouble!

[PanBiker]

Well done Tiz, I hope she recovers well. On a lighter note:


Lots of £10 wins for Barlick in the Postcode Lottery this weekend. I won another tenner last week.

Showing results from £10 winning postcodes

BB18 5AN, BB18 5BE, BB18 5BS, BB18 5DS, BB18 5EE, BB18 5EG, BB18 5EU, BB18 5HA, BB18 5JF, BB18 5NZ, BB18 5PE, BB18 5QF, BB18 5QT, BB18 5SY,
BB18 5TW, BB18 6AG, BB18 6DF, BB18 6DN, B18 6EG, BB18 6EW, BB18 6FA, BB18 6HA, BB18 6JT, BB18 6PD, BB18 6QR, BB18 6RY, BB18 6SF, BB18 6SP,
BB18 6ST, BB18 6XP, BB18 6YQ

[Stanley]

Nearest one to me was on Clifford Street.... Nice to know I didn't lose out by eschewing all lotteries.
How cold that wind was!!