Hot, hot, hot...

[Dan E]

"my wife was building a patio" said no one ever 

[Painterdave]

Good test for the patio 12-1mtr must = 15 ton of water 😮

[ChrisJ]

Shhh .....

I've just told her that it isn't flat - what is she going to do about it ?

It's not too bad

 

 

 

 

[Painterdave]

Just a bit of run off away from the house 👍

[march]

 IT'S RAINING!

[exeterjeep]

Hope you got all you hay etc in safely. My neighbour got his field bailed just yesterday, not been to his field to see if the bails are in or still out.

1 hour ago, march said:

IT'S RAINING

 

[march]

50 minutes ago, exeterjeep said:

Hope you got all you hay etc in safely

We abandoned it as the quality was going to be so low and have bought in enough to get us through the winter. Cows are on it at the moment and looking rather fat! We are scaling right back on the cows this winter anyway as the cost of farm inputs have far exceeded any chance of any farm activities having any viability.

Also have learnt this year, to our cost that farmers will screw over other farmers as soon as look at them. I am afraid I am a bit old school - if you agree to something then you stick to it!

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by march

[exeterjeep]

My neighbour used to keep sheep some 14 years ago, think he has fallen out with most of the other farmers in the area.   He is 80 now and a bit difficult sometimes.

We only have next doors horses in our field. She arranged to have our field cut and small baled. She had half and the farmer had half, so no money was spent...

[march]

Fortunately our farm is not our main income, we are just being pragmatic and scaling right back in these uncertain times, we can always grow back if and when we feel like it at a later date.

[Escape]

On 09/08/2022 at 21:38, Escape said:

The hot weather we're having lately has presented me with an unexpected problem. I like to take the Jag out with the top open, but if I park in the sun for too long she'll refuse to start. Never a problem when parked inside or somewhere cool(ish), but she seems to dislike the sun. I can hear the solenoid engage and feel the starter motor want to spin, just not with enough power to actually turn over the V12. My first thought was worn brushes, so I had the starter rebuild, by the same reputable specialist we always used. Now it's better, but still not reliable. So I can drive the car, but am reluctant to park to have for a drink or such. No good! Wiring has been checked and an extra earth strap fitted to the engine. Under bonnet temperature doesn't seem to matter, she'll start first go after a run as long as it's not too hot outside. Only thing I can think of is the battery being unable to supply the high current necessary for starting when warm/hot. Voltage drops to 9V while trying to start, but will stablise and not decrease much even after multiple attempts to start.

All ideas welcome, even if it is a bit of topic.

Filip

Still pretty hot around here, but at least there are occasional clouds, so it's a lot easier to take.

As for the Jag, I managed to pinpoint the problem to the ignition switch: a poor connections meant the starter relay didn't get enough voltage to stay engaged once the starter drew current. As a quick fix I added a start button so I could use the Jag without worrying. Much to my surprise I never needed to use the back up switch, until today. Despite being parked in the Workshop at a very reasonable 25°C, she again demanded attention. The starter was spinning, but nothing else was happening. i had been 'adding lightness' and simplifying the vacuum system, so naturally assumed I had made a critical mistake somewhere. Then I noticed the dash wasn't working and the radio was intermittent, so definitely a problem with the ignition switch. Luckily the capless bolts had already been drilled out and replaced by socket heads so the ignition barrel was easy to remove. I missed that first time around, otherwise I would have taken it out straight away. Cleaned all the contacts and securely fitted the switch as it was a bit lose. That seems to have done the trick. 😎  It looks like I also fixed some vacuum leaks, as the idle is a lot more stable now. A bit on the low side, but that's easy to rectify, I had adjusted it downwards a couple of times already.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Have we all got over the drought now? 🤑

[exeterjeep]

South West water still have hosepipe bans n Cornwall and a small part of Devon. Their web site says....

Save Water - Help Stop the Drop

To make sure there’s enough water to go round, we need your help. There are many ways you can join the thousands of people, pulling together across the South West, to protect our water.

Every drop counts

Although a recent photo shows the real lack of water....

[PaulCP]

Lol, you’ll never get the idiotic water companies to admit they got it wrong……………………………..again!

[Mark Blanchard]

We have floods around here and Thames Water still have the hose pipe bans in place too.  It's probably because they don't maintain their water pipes and they're all leaking.

[Kimbers]

16 minutes ago, Mark Blanchard said:

We have floods around here and Thames Water still have the hose pipe bans in place too.  It's probably because they don't maintain their water pipes and they're all leaking.

It's the wrong kind of rain. Yes really. I was just reading our water board (Anglian) saying when it rains so much in one go it all goes into the rivers or the drainage system which ultimately runs to the Sea and off it goes.

Apparently we need persistent rain but not too much, so it runs off the ground and into the Reservoirs rather than draining away. 

Is it just me or is there a pretty simple fix of having the drains diverted through to reservoirs in times of need? 

[pete]

The problem with diverting it straight to a reservoir is that a lot of water companies mix rain water and sewage

[C8RKH]

Guys, a polite suggestion to go and do some research before you spout pish!  

A huge amount of cash, billions, has gone in to creating storm drainage/run off solutions. It's true that the the topography of many parts of the UK means that when we get persistent deluges that yes, the water just runs off the land, roads, drives etc and through the storm drains and then into the burns, rivers, sea etc. Just think about the volume of water that has to be dealt with.

Now compound the issue with the fact that over 50% of our sewers are well over a 100 years old, designed when the countries population was c. 30m, not nearly 70m, and let's not mention anything about the greedy housebuilders and fookwit planners who have been building on flood plains for the past 20 years...

Honestly, it's easy to just blame the "water companies", but like many things, it's not that simple.......

[MPx]

You're going soft in your old age Andy.  Its the water companies responsibility to deal with this - that's what they are there for!  If their infrastructure is still Victorian who's fault is that?  All industries are responsible for their own infrastructure replacement in a timely manner - in IT its about every 5 years for wholesale change with minor upgrades in between.  It has to happen to keep up with changing demands and those companies that dont buy into it go out of business.  Its a cost of operation.   The water companies say they cant afford it, but if its a known requirement they should organise themselves to make it affordable - it has to happen or things go badly wrong and cost billions to put right.  No problem paying chief exec salsaries and dividends though so that side of the business is understood well enough.  That this country ever claims it has a water shortage is farcical - its purely mismanagement of our natural resources and our usual ethos of trying to do it on the cheap or kick the can down the road for someone else to deal with. 

[C8RKH]

Nope, not going soft at all @MPx - well softer around the middle definitely!

I've worked in IT for 37 years, and for and with Utilities for 28 years, and you cannot compare IT infrastructure with critical asset based infrastructure.  Companies will work on 3, 5, 7 and 10 year depreciation strategies for various bits of IT kit - servers, networks, PC's etc. The cost of those "assets" that are being replaced are measured in thousands and tens of thousands.

Compare that to water infrastructure. Water infrastructure is planned, designed and built for asset cycles from anything between 5 years (some pumps, compressors etc), to 25 years, 50 years, 75 years and even a hundred years.

IT budgets are measured in millions - water infrastructure per each water company in billions!

Oh, and my god how you will scream having to fund infrastructure upgrades every 5 years through your water bill - there is no money tree for this, customers pay.

Shall we discuss the planning times for say a new water treatment plant? Or a brand new storm surge system? Oh, and let's not mention the delays due to objections because no one wants this stuff near them. Don't build it here, build it there.

I'm sorry to say that your argument does not stack up and you need to do some reading lol. A lot of it.

You cannot compare IT costs to national infrastructure and the salaries of CEO's are a rounding error on the £1.5bn+ that each water company shells out each year. 

It's a populist view point though so people will like it. Probably why a lot of politicians and activists use the same arguments / points. And we know they know jack shit really.

 

I'm certainly not defending them or their performance, but to belittle the challenges they face is to disrespect the work that an awful lot of decent people are doing to provide you with clean drinking water and take away and process your piss and shit so you don't have to deal with it. 

[Barrykearley]

Stuff it @C8RKH I blame the rich, the poor, big business and defo those whom voted Brexit.

[C8RKH]

I can always count on you to get it wrong @Barrykearley. It was just Brexit you nimwit!

 

[MPx]

19 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

I'm sorry to say that your argument does not stack up and you need to do some reading lol. A lot of it.

No?  I certainly agree with you that there's no comparison in cost terms between much IT infrastructure (typically millions but billions for national infrastructure - FTTP anyone?) and Utilities infrastructure.  But that wasn't really my point.  My point was about responsibility.  Its the water companies who are responsible for the water infrastructure.  It is them that needs to plan and ensure that their services can cope with changing demands, needs and circumstances.  The fact that much of it is long term and very expensive and difficult to implement makes it all the more important that they do it well and in good time.  Blaming Victorian engineering doesn't really cut it.  They've had forever to plan and implement the necessary changes and upgrades to make it fit for purpose in our current society.  If its not fit for purpose, who else's fault is it?  Another one that "the government" carries the can for?  Obviously that useless bunch (of all flavours) kick the can down the road whenever action is needed, but they sold it off 30 or 40 years ago and progress since then has not exactly been stellar.   I realise it has to be paid for and that we all will pay.....is that how the Victorians afforded it?... but the water companies should have built up a huge investment fund by now having not spent big (enough) on it for decades?   The point stands that ALL infrastruture needs constant fettling to adjust to changing circs and the fact that it has a life.  Those in charge of it HAVE to find a way to implement a replacement cycle or it all goes to pot.  We seem to be at that point with quite a lot of stuff in this country.

[C8RKH]

They're not blaming Victorian infrastructure. Most of it is still working well. A lot of the Victorian stuff was paid for by philanthropy and business, not through general taxation which is probably why it still mostly works great.

They can't just do what they want. They need to submit their AMP (Asset Management Plans) every 5 years to the Regulator. The Regulator assesses the "value" of what they are proposing and then makes a judgement as to what it will allow them to do versus the impact on consumers bills.

It's easy to just throw it out there when you don't fully understand the circumstances.  

I guess it's like when I say that Teachers are generally pishe, overpaid and over holidayed, and GP's have never ha it so good! 

 

[andydclements]

Two friends work for the local water company, and I can say for certain that the company has done a lot to help the situation, but what they've done will only be adequate for a few years. The water demands keep increasing (rising population being a big part of that but not all), the water availability during warm months keeps decreasing. there's a massive pipeline now to bring water into the dry part of the area from the areas where reservoirs can assist, but if the demand keeps increasing as it has that will not be enough come another decade or so. The people who need to take action are the consumers, we need to modify our lifestyles. It was frowned upon to have a dry brown lawn, it's now acceptable but even when it's not a hosepipe ban it should be unacceptable to be watering a lawn.  We should look to adopt "Ausi showers" (wet yourself, turn off water, lather, then turn on water to rinse) and these sort of things.  If we cut out excessive usage then the problem reduces and frees up water company resource to spend funds on planning for the future not just meeting the needs of today.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Don’t forget that as the population increases, so does the number of the water companies’ paying customers. They have it easy: no competition, but still an ever-increasing and entirely predictable customer base. Very few businesses enjoy such a risk-free outlook. Possibly only local councils.