Here, there is a charge for taking "commercial waste" to the tip, and fly-tipping is often of stripped out kitchens or bathrooms. Asbestos is also very expensive to dispose of legally (it cost us over £1000 for our garage roof in March.)
The fly tipping Priscillia posted is baffling - much of it looks like the sort of stuff that goes in the bin or recycling.
Especially if you choose the 'right' time - early morning, or late at night...
(I do NOT speak whereof I know, BTW).
There is a lane near here, leading to a remote hamlet, and the said lane (not overlooked by any houses for the best part of half a mile) is a favourite spot for fly-tipping. It's not unknown for the narrow road to be completely blocked by builder's rubble etc. etc.
One of the local spots has now become a place for burning out a car. And it is an access road for several dwellings and a farm so very difficult.
OTOH I have got some useful tiles for my downstairs loo there, unused in their box!
TICTH stupidity. Yes, I know, it's rather a Sisyphean challenge, but in one small corner, we have the Germans on our side. Trying to operate a touch-screen whilst driving is stupidity. Trying to control features of your car with a touchscreen whilst driving is uber-stupidity, and a German court has recognized this.
When I got my last car, I deliberately chose a model with a physical off/volume control for the media system, so I can kill the noise without looking if it's distracting.
If your car makes you look away from the road to do anything you might want to do whilst driving, your car is wrong.
TICTH stupidity. Yes, I know, it's rather a Sisyphean challenge, but in one small corner, we have the Germans on our side. Trying to operate a touch-screen whilst driving is stupidity. Trying to control features of your car with a touchscreen whilst driving is uber-stupidity, and a German court has recognized this.
When I got my last car, I deliberately chose a model with a physical off/volume control for the media system, so I can kill the noise without looking if it's distracting.
If your car makes you look away from the road to do anything you might want to do whilst driving, your car is wrong.
Amen, brother, amen. In my old VW I could adjust everything by feel, quickly learning the positions of all the switches and controls. In the newer one, even where they still have a knob to turn, they've taken away the detent that allowed you to judge its position. What on earth can be the reason for that? Doesn't anyone ever test anything before they build it now?
Digital instruments are just as bad. You have to take time to read a digital display, but with an analogue meter you can sense "How much?" with the briefest glance. I was a lot happier in the steam age.
TICTH the assumption that hotter, drier weather is necessarily better. Drought and constant dry skin is not an improvement.
I endorse this message. I stop functioning properly above about 26 and I hate the feel of sun on my skin. People don't seem to want "no" to be the answer to "isn't it lovely?"
I endorse this message. I stop functioning properly above about 26 and I hate the feel of sun on my skin. People don't seem to want "no" to be the answer to "isn't it lovely?"
And no, I don't "get used to it".
Once again, @KarlLB and I seem to be the same person. Although since moving to the US, I have found that my tolerance for hot humid weather has increased slightly. I still hate actual summers here - my threshold is if I start noticeably sweating just from being outside (not doing significant physical activity) then it's too hot. But I think in terms of temperature, my threshold has gone up a couple of degrees through acclimatization.
I'm struggling before it reaches 26º.
I hate this time of year, all shade disappears from our back garden between 09:30 and 14:30.
We had visitors last Friday morning - too many to sit indoors, so I ended up putting my chair in the flowerbed to catch the last vestige of shade from a neighbour's tree.
My comfort zone is about -5° to +5°C, and I'm being generous with the +5. The 30°+ that we've seen lately should be good preparation for the long term hot place.
... The fly tipping Priscillia posted is baffling - much of it looks like the sort of stuff that goes in the bin or recycling.
That's what I thought - hence my question. We've all "missed" the bin-collection day on occasions, but most of that looked as if it could have been bagged up and put somewhere until the next time.
I would guess it’s people not from the local area, or who can’t get a slot to take stuff to the tip at a convenient time?
Fly tipping is appalling and I’m not tempted to do it, but I am a little put out about having to drive over 100 miles home with a smelly bin bag and a large container of garden debris because the slots at the tip are fully booked (hope no spiders or snails creep out of the container en route...). I’m spending a few days doing some essential maintenance on a house that used to belong to my mum (long story) and need to go back home this evening for an appointment tomorrow.
Also TICTH drizzly rain so that I can’t finish painting a wall today. I wish it would just rain properly and stop.
Today I shopped at a supermarket. My sales receipt said they were recalling certain varieties of onion that had been sold over the weekend. These onions might be contaminated with salmonella. I bought only one onion which I have already eaten.
I feel fine, but I would like to know how long it would take to develop symptoms if I had eaten a contaminated onion.
I feel unsettled. The supermarket should have handled this better.
Pretty sure food passes through the gut in about 24 hours so if 24 hours has passed you'll be fine. The symptoms of food poisoning are the body trying to get rid of the poison so it tends to react fairly quickly.
Not sure what else the supermarket could have done. Perhaps if it kept financial records of everyone who had or had potentially bought an offending onion they could have obtained addresses and launched a seize and contain operation on your larder but they probably don't have the manpower.
I am guessing the supermarket is aware that it is all over the news the last few days and most people would know by now not to eat any red onions they had recently purchased. Indeed it takes a little span of time to show symptoms. @Moo, Thankfully I am sure you are fine.
Normally 12 to 72 hours is the incubation period. When I had it, it was about 12 to 20 hours. If you cooked it, you are at less risk. (probably true also if you peeled the outer layer off). I'm sorry this happened to you!
TICTH barbecues. Or, to be precise, the evil-smelling smoke which afflicts every sunny weekend and forces us to batten down the hatches. Don't people have kitchens?
Yes, they do, but half-cooked *burgers* (black on the outside, pink and raw on the inside) are so much more FUN™ when *prepared* out in the fresh air! Just think - you can not only infect your friends and family with Covid-19, but also food-poisoning as well!
Anyway, the latest *government rules* regarding BBQs say that serving Cold Meat and Cold Salad is a Sin, so one has to set fire to the food...
It's rather like flocking in herds to monster traffic jams crowded beaches, there to sit stewing amongst the litter and the poo. It's supposed to be FUN™, and that, after all, is what life is for.
People don't know how to use barbecues. I can cook sausages and burgers through with nothing more than the intended sear marks from the grill itself. It's all about controlling air flow above and below the coals. Daughter won't eat anything with black on it.
They don't smell much if you use them properly, either.
While sailing with the late lamented Father-in-Law down the New England coast many years ago, we moored near a much bigger boat whose beer-bellied owner had set up a barbecue on the stern. Something quite big went past leaving a strong wake that rocked all the boats. I happened to be looking away for a moment and heard a loud splash and a hiss. When I looked, the barbecue had disappeared and a warm, smug feeling descended upon me.
I'm not really bothered one way or the other about barbecues: I've been to ones where the food's been heavenly, and to ones where it's been rather from the other place.
I think the point about them is that in the UK we're unused to having very many days a year when the weather's sufficiently nice to warrant them (hence why they're still regarded as a rare treat, like a picnic), and people don't really get enough practice to get it right.
I think the point about them is that in the UK we're unused to having very many days a year when the weather's sufficiently nice to warrant them (hence why they're still regarded as a rare treat, like a picnic), and people don't really get enough practice to get it right.
It’s not at all uncommon to smell the aroma of someone cooking out* here in the American South from spring through fall, and it’s (almost) always a pleasant thing to smell. That smell in spring is one of the signs that winter is over. Smoke is rarely a problem—as has been said, they’re doing it wrong if there’s much too smoke. (And it probably helps that we have a limited number of days here where the windows can be open because neither the heat nor the AC has to be on, so the smell is limited to the outdoors.)
* It’s never called a barbecue or barbecuing here. Barbecue, as used here, is a specific food. It can also mean a slow-cooking, low heat method, often involving smoke, of cooking meat. That is the original meaning of the word, and in various parts of the South, the food generally prepared by barbecuing tended to become known simply as “barbecue.” Where I live, that means this is what people mean when they say “barbecue.”
But it never means cooking burgers, sausages or other meat (or vegetables) on a grill. That’s called cooking out or grilling out. If you invite people over for food prepared this way, you’ve invited them over for a cookout.
I think the point about them is that in the UK we're unused to having very many days a year when the weather's sufficiently nice to warrant them (hence why they're still regarded as a rare treat, like a picnic), and people don't really get enough practice to get it right.
It’s not at all uncommon to smell the aroma of someone cooking out* here in the American South from spring through fall, and it’s (almost) always a pleasant thing to smell. That smell in spring is one of the signs that winter is over. Smoke is rarely a problem—as has been said, they’re doing it wrong if there’s much too smoke. (And it probably helps that we have a limited number of days here where the windows can be open because neither the heat nor the AC has to be on, so the smell is limited to the outdoors.)
* It’s never called a barbecue or barbecuing here. Barbecue, as used here, is a specific food. It can also mean a slow-cooking, low heat method, often involving smoke, of cooking meat. That is the original meaning of the word, and in various parts of the South, the food generally prepared by barbecuing tended to become known simply as “barbecue.” Where I live, that means this is what people mean when they say “barbecue.”
But it never means cooking burgers, sausages or other meat (or vegetables) on a grill. That’s called cooking out or grilling out. If you invite people over for food prepared this way, you’ve invited them over for a cookout.
I live in a wildfire prone area, and now until October tis the fire season. People in the area are now posting on Facebook when they are grilling or smoking meat so not to alarm any nervous neighbors.
Not at all. We were at a Boxing Day party in Newfoundland where the main course was a huge joint of beef roasted in the barbecue, with a foot of snow on the ground. And it was utterly delicious.
TICTH the large percentage of people - mostly young men - who don't wear face coverings on the bus even though it's THE LAW. (I also gently CTH bus drivers who don't say anything, though I realise that they are p++++d off with the whole thing and don't want any abuse).
TICTH the large percentage of people - mostly young men - who don't wear face coverings on the bus even though it's THE LAW. (I also gently CTH bus drivers who don't say anything, though I realise that they are p++++d off with the whole thing and don't want any abuse).
Or worse than abuse, as happened to the French bus driver who was beaten unconscious and died in hospital of his injuries.
Indeed, it was one of those 'words fail me' events. There are signs on the buses now that if you see a passenger not wearing a mask you should not complain to the driver. I sympathise with that.
The terrible incident in Bayonne notwithstanding, mask compliance is high here. This is not because the French are disciplined (we aren't) but because the government has had the good sense to impose fines, and €135 is a lot of money. ISTM that the UK situation is as crappy as it is because the government was naive enough to think appealing to people's better natures would be a successful strategy.
Yes, but that's been the English *government*'s attitude throughout, so far at least. It obviously hasn't worked, and that fool Cummings didn't help...
In all fairness, although I don't go on buses these days, mask-wearing seems to be the norm now in shops. Now and then, one sees a NAKED FACE (*shock* *horror*), but that person may well have some good reason for exemption.
Really? I thought any laws that applied to England applied in Wales as well.
I went into Edinburgh on a bus yesterday for the first time since March, and most people seemed to be complying. I sat on the top deck, and very few people joined me. Downstairs was a bit busier by the time I got off, but not busy enough to be worrisome.
TICTH the large percentage of people - mostly young men - who don't wear face coverings on the bus even though it's THE LAW. (I also gently CTH bus drivers who don't say anything, though I realise that they are p++++d off with the whole thing and don't want any abuse).
I was a bus driver in a multi-city system in Northeast USA. Beyond the fact that several drivers in my union were assaulted for enforcing minor rules, including one who was beaten unconscious for asking a passenger to make space for an older lady with a walker, I would have never asked a passenger to put a mask on. Not paid enough, and just not worth it. They'll be off within 30 minutes, it is what it is.
I do agree in the CTH of people who don't follow the mask mandates, though.
Yes to all of that. Our local bus system is having all passengers board at the rear (exceptions made if they need the lift). To enforce mask wearing, the driver would have to follow the maskless passenger to the back of the bus. Not a good picture!
On the other hand, they're not collecting fares now either,
Really? I thought any laws that applied to England applied in Wales as well.
No, in the case of the pandemic each devolved part of the UK makes its own laws.
So in Wales:
- face-masks not obligatory in church but you couldn't use a pipe organ (now rescinded).
- gyms etc only opening as from yesterday while in England they opened from 25th July.
- quarantine on returning travellers from Belgium began at midnight last Thursday not 4am on Saturday.
- etc.
We had hoped to have our son and family stay with us for a couple of days later this week but, since they are now with our d-i-l's family in Devon, that's not allowed. They could, I think, legally have stayed with us first than gone on to Devon ...
There's a stereotype (?) that American men who really get into it do so because it's primal, because it's *fire*.
Hence many, many scenes in many, many TV shows and films of men making related comments, grunting, dancing around, etc. And, sometimes, women standing nearby in amused toleration and appreciation.
Re bus drivers and masks:
IIRC, a driver here in SF was attacked for the same reason after the French incident. Not killed, though. I don't know how workers who are so publicly vulnerable cope with it.
{Not that this is equally bad.} OTOH, *some* drivers can be scary, creepy, angry, avoiding any interaction with passengers, or unwisely interacting with them. One time, I was on the bus, a couple of grown men started to get into it, and were right on the edge of blows. We got to a bus stop. The bus driver said something, slowly getting up, and it was clear he wasn't going to *stop* the fight, but get into it himself. Seriously. I decided that was a really good time to get off the bus.
Comments
The fly tipping Priscillia posted is baffling - much of it looks like the sort of stuff that goes in the bin or recycling.
(I do NOT speak whereof I know, BTW).
There is a lane near here, leading to a remote hamlet, and the said lane (not overlooked by any houses for the best part of half a mile) is a favourite spot for fly-tipping. It's not unknown for the narrow road to be completely blocked by builder's rubble etc. etc.
OTOH I have got some useful tiles for my downstairs loo there, unused in their box!
When I got my last car, I deliberately chose a model with a physical off/volume control for the media system, so I can kill the noise without looking if it's distracting.
If your car makes you look away from the road to do anything you might want to do whilst driving, your car is wrong.
Amen, brother, amen. In my old VW I could adjust everything by feel, quickly learning the positions of all the switches and controls. In the newer one, even where they still have a knob to turn, they've taken away the detent that allowed you to judge its position. What on earth can be the reason for that? Doesn't anyone ever test anything before they build it now?
Digital instruments are just as bad. You have to take time to read a digital display, but with an analogue meter you can sense "How much?" with the briefest glance. I was a lot happier in the steam age.
I endorse this message. I stop functioning properly above about 26 and I hate the feel of sun on my skin. People don't seem to want "no" to be the answer to "isn't it lovely?"
And no, I don't "get used to it".
Once again, @KarlLB and I seem to be the same person. Although since moving to the US, I have found that my tolerance for hot humid weather has increased slightly. I still hate actual summers here - my threshold is if I start noticeably sweating just from being outside (not doing significant physical activity) then it's too hot. But I think in terms of temperature, my threshold has gone up a couple of degrees through acclimatization.
I hate this time of year, all shade disappears from our back garden between 09:30 and 14:30.
We had visitors last Friday morning - too many to sit indoors, so I ended up putting my chair in the flowerbed to catch the last vestige of shade from a neighbour's tree.
May I be part of that person too? I can handle up to about 25° if it's a dry heat, but if there's any humidity, I turn into a miserable heap.
Fly tipping is appalling and I’m not tempted to do it, but I am a little put out about having to drive over 100 miles home with a smelly bin bag and a large container of garden debris because the slots at the tip are fully booked (hope no spiders or snails creep out of the container en route...). I’m spending a few days doing some essential maintenance on a house that used to belong to my mum (long story) and need to go back home this evening for an appointment tomorrow.
Also TICTH drizzly rain so that I can’t finish painting a wall today. I wish it would just rain properly and stop.
I feel fine, but I would like to know how long it would take to develop symptoms if I had eaten a contaminated onion.
I feel unsettled. The supermarket should have handled this better.
Not sure what else the supermarket could have done. Perhaps if it kept financial records of everyone who had or had potentially bought an offending onion they could have obtained addresses and launched a seize and contain operation on your larder but they probably don't have the manpower.
Anyway, the latest *government rules* regarding BBQs say that serving Cold Meat and Cold Salad is a Sin, so one has to set fire to the food...
It's rather like flocking in herds to monster traffic jams crowded beaches, there to sit stewing amongst the litter and the poo. It's supposed to be FUN™, and that, after all, is what life is for.
They don't smell much if you use them properly, either.
Point taken, though, and you're probably right. Tis the Ammer Chewers wot make the smell.
I'm not really bothered one way or the other about barbecues: I've been to ones where the food's been heavenly, and to ones where it's been rather from the other place.
I think the point about them is that in the UK we're unused to having very many days a year when the weather's sufficiently nice to warrant them (hence why they're still regarded as a rare treat, like a picnic), and people don't really get enough practice to get it right.
* It’s never called a barbecue or barbecuing here. Barbecue, as used here, is a specific food. It can also mean a slow-cooking, low heat method, often involving smoke, of cooking meat. That is the original meaning of the word, and in various parts of the South, the food generally prepared by barbecuing tended to become known simply as “barbecue.” Where I live, that means this is what people mean when they say “barbecue.”
But it never means cooking burgers, sausages or other meat (or vegetables) on a grill. That’s called cooking out or grilling out. If you invite people over for food prepared this way, you’ve invited them over for a cookout.
Rain?
No bother, put on a coat.
Wind?
Move the grill behind a wall.
Snow?
Big smiles as All the men disappeared to assist with the bbq-ing!
Was this a specific to Alberta, I don’t know.
Can’t see it catching on here tho
There is not even a stalk left behind.......
Not at all. We were at a Boxing Day party in Newfoundland where the main course was a huge joint of beef roasted in the barbecue, with a foot of snow on the ground. And it was utterly delicious.
If you were to BBQ, and then eat, the Slug, you'd be able to enjoy a certain amount of cooked vegetable as well...
I'll get me chef's apron.
@Bishops Finger 😱
Or worse than abuse, as happened to the French bus driver who was beaten unconscious and died in hospital of his injuries.
Indeed, it was one of those 'words fail me' events. There are signs on the buses now that if you see a passenger not wearing a mask you should not complain to the driver. I sympathise with that.
In all fairness, although I don't go on buses these days, mask-wearing seems to be the norm now in shops. Now and then, one sees a NAKED FACE (*shock* *horror*), but that person may well have some good reason for exemption.
Really? I thought any laws that applied to England applied in Wales as well.
I went into Edinburgh on a bus yesterday for the first time since March, and most people seemed to be complying. I sat on the top deck, and very few people joined me. Downstairs was a bit busier by the time I got off, but not busy enough to be worrisome.
I was a bus driver in a multi-city system in Northeast USA. Beyond the fact that several drivers in my union were assaulted for enforcing minor rules, including one who was beaten unconscious for asking a passenger to make space for an older lady with a walker, I would have never asked a passenger to put a mask on. Not paid enough, and just not worth it. They'll be off within 30 minutes, it is what it is.
I do agree in the CTH of people who don't follow the mask mandates, though.
On the other hand, they're not collecting fares now either,
yeah, yeah, I know that's not a viable solution. But my finger itch around covidiots.
There was a time when all a decent Englishman required was stern disapproval to put the riffraff in their place. Alas no more.
So in Wales:
- face-masks not obligatory in church but you couldn't use a pipe organ (now rescinded).
- gyms etc only opening as from yesterday while in England they opened from 25th July.
- quarantine on returning travellers from Belgium began at midnight last Thursday not 4am on Saturday.
- etc.
We had hoped to have our son and family stay with us for a couple of days later this week but, since they are now with our d-i-l's family in Devon, that's not allowed. They could, I think, legally have stayed with us first than gone on to Devon ...
Confusing?
There's a stereotype (?) that American men who really get into it do so because it's primal, because it's *fire*.
Hence many, many scenes in many, many TV shows and films of men making related comments, grunting, dancing around, etc. And, sometimes, women standing nearby in amused toleration and appreciation.
Re bus drivers and masks:
IIRC, a driver here in SF was attacked for the same reason after the French incident. Not killed, though. I don't know how workers who are so publicly vulnerable cope with it.
{Not that this is equally bad.} OTOH, *some* drivers can be scary, creepy, angry, avoiding any interaction with passengers, or unwisely interacting with them. One time, I was on the bus, a couple of grown men started to get into it, and were right on the edge of blows. We got to a bus stop. The bus driver said something, slowly getting up, and it was clear he wasn't going to *stop* the fight, but get into it himself. Seriously. I decided that was a really good time to get off the bus.