In the winter my carrot-farmer brother covers the carrots in the fields with a thick layer of straw held in place by a biodegradable membrane ... they then harvest as needed. Itâs only rarely that the ground beneath the straw is frozen so hard that they canât be harvested ... but the soil on his farm is quite light.Â
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Free for them maybe, not free for tax payers money that had to pay it. Thomas Cook paid themselves plenty of bonuses and were laughing all the way to the bank.Â
No tax payer money was used. Entirely funded by the ATOL levy.
The automatic wipers on my car border on downright dangerous.Â
Sounds like mine. I've been out when it's absolutely p,p,p,persisting down and they don't so much as twitch. Have the lightest of showers and the damn things go demented. Adjusting the sensitivity setting doesn't make the slightest difference.
Free for them maybe, not free for tax payers money that had to pay it. Thomas Cook paid themselves plenty of bonuses and were laughing all the way to the bank.Â
No tax payer money was used. Entirely funded by the ATOL levy.
But isn't the ATOL levy a tax on air travel? It also only covers the people who bought a package holiday.
What I don't understand is why the scheme didn't just keep the Thomas Cook planes and staff employed until the holiday makers were home? Argue about who pays for what afterwards but it has to be easier and cheaper to do it that way.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
@wild edges so far as I understand it, the Government run Civil Aviation Authority manages the scheme, each ATOL licence holder, i.e. travel companies, have to pay a small sum for each of their passengers into the scheme. The travel companies bundle the cost into their package holiday costs, so if you book an ATOL protected holiday, you are basically paying for the protection, so I believe KT53 is correct.Â
Under current liquidation law, all capital and liquid assets are frozen, so this means planes too. They are then sold off to pay creditors. The stranded holidaymakers are last in the queue but need immediate repatriation, hence the Government forking out out of the dear kindness of their hearts and thus, ultimately, UK-taxpayerâs pockets. Not ideal, other countries allow planes to keep flying to get everyone home, but current UK legislation prohibits that.
My curmudgeon of the day is that this is the second day the technician has been here fixing the electrical devastation after the well pump blew up. Many parts have appeared, much fiddling and testing, many man hours, more new bits arriving tomorrow. At least I have hot water again, but I am totally dreading the bill!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Having to finance a new car because some oik in his vehicle transporter truck was busy on his mobile and shunted OH and 3 more in front.  Wrote ours off. Endles shours wasted looking at models, prices, technology, new, nearly new, second hand.......
Went out to plant bulbs. Managed 25 mixed botanical daffs, 7 Ice Follies and 10 allium Purple Sensation before the stupid knee started complaining loudly.  Humph!
On the other hand, there are now big fat healthy earthworms in that new bed so not all doom and gloom.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My curmudgeon of the day is that this is the second day the technician has been here fixing the electrical devastation after the well pump blew up. Many parts have appeared, much fiddling and testing, many man hours, more new bits arriving tomorrow. At least I have hot water again, but I am totally dreading the bill!
Went out to plant bulbs. Managed 25 mixed botanical daffs, 7 Ice Follies and 10 allium Purple Sensation before the stupid knee started complaining loudly.  Humph!
On the other hand, there are now big fat healthy earthworms in that new bed so not all doom and gloom.