There is in fact a new requirement that paved front gardens be done with materials that allow rain to soak in so impermeable tarmac and concrete are no longer legal. If parking off street is the safest thing for one's own car and also for passing traffic I see no problem with making aparking space but, with imagination, it can also be a garden with floral or foliar or achitectural interest on either side of the car parking space and even plants such as thymes or small sedums or other alpines growing under the car and enjoying the sunshne by day when the car isn't there.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Mummy you are doing what you do because you thought it through, the weak Governments we have had for years have not, they go for the quick fix and give out massive amounts of money to those who think they know the answer, they do not. We are surrounded by the best power house in the world, the sea, wave power and tide power are the way ahead if we do not want to use nuclear or the six hundred years of coal we are all sitting on. China has no worries about using coal as any one who has been there knows, you seldom see the sky. What we drive is our choice when I had to give up my beloved Jeep for an Austin Champ I cried, changing the best for the worst vehicle ever built broke my heart then along came Land Rover, drove them for years painted Khaki would never have one as personal transport my Son has one on the farm as a work horse. What is happening out there seems to me to be unproven, as an engineer who reads the latest technology you see those who believe writing their theories and the disbelievers knocking them down it is a game of skittles, no one really knows and we are told that in the last 100,000 years the world has gone through this more than once, that is a very short time in the life of this planet. I will do what I can within my own limits and that includes putting down surfaces that soak up the rain, we cannot do it alone and until we get China Russia America and South East Asia on the same wave length our efforts are not going to make any difference. Mummy, I do not know if you made a mistake but during the war we went from 35% reliance on our own food efforts to over 80% and that went well into the 1950's.
Wind farms are unsightly, inefficient, expensive (and subsidised by tax payers who hae no say) and also cause environmental harm if they're on migratory flight paths. In addition the WHO recommends a minimum distance fom habitation because the whirling and whirring can have detrimental effects on eyesight and cause tinnitus, loss of balance and nausea in some people.
Far more effective to have well insulated homes and water heaters to reduce energy consumption. Better also to extract heat from the ground (geo-thermic exchangers) or harness solar energy but the jury's out on the life span and recyclabilty of the solar cells. The scientists to whom I teach english are all being sent on courses to learn fuel efficient driving techniques and encouraged to take the train, car share or cycle where possible. They get bonuses for doing so.
Turning out lights, turning down the thermostat and wearing an extra jumper would also go a long way to reducing energy consumption. I know a couple who like to sit outside with a glass of wine of an evening and would rather light the patio heater than put on a pair of socks and a jumper. Madness.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Mummy Muddy Paws, the choice is not between 'a couple of wind turbines' or a nuclear power station. It is tens of thousands of wind turbines or a nuclear power station. Conventional power stations have to be kept 'spinning' 24/7 for the periods when the wind drops. Periods that often correspond with peak demand, such as very cold times in Winter.
In general wind turbines fail to produce even 20% of their installed capacity. Wind farms are so much more about subsidies for installers than the electricity they produce.
The majority of bits from wind turbines can be recycled, and it's providing jobs manufacturing them and testing them (we have an Advanced Manufacturing Park nearby where they are up and down like yo-yos to test them), the latest site is in Hull/Grimsby where there is a massive unemployment problem.
I think if you object to wind farms, you should be charged a premium for your electicity. I do realise that the coal fired stations have to be kept running (I worked in the offices of a steelworks for quite a few years, and could tell you a thing or two that went on during a 'peak loading period' where we'd be charged massive amounts for the electric we used, but the arc furnaces had to be kept running to continuously cast the stainless we made.
Until the Government realise that the coal we still have in massive amounts needs to be dug up, and we NEED our miners, we will continue to import the dross masquerading under the name coal from China and other places.
It's interesting that if you go to a preserved railway and speak to the drivers and firemen, they will only buy Welsh coal, as they know the stuff from china is rubbish and so far removed from what we know as coal that it's difficult to fire an engine with.
Nuclear is not the way to go, something that makes waste that's toxic for years and years for very little in return is a non-starter. So we need to look to what else we can use, and wind turbines can only really be a stop-gap. I'd have one at the end of my garden if the farmer hadn't given the council a backhander in order to build a large barn there so the rest of the village can't see what nefarious activities he's up to (the rest of the village and environmental health are in long-running battles with him about the stench that comes from his farm, making 'compost', we get full trucks in full of rubbish, and never see anything leave).
I'm all for putting on another jumper, and I think the couple that sit out in shirtsleeves with the heater going, need a trip down a working mine to see what hard work goes into providing their energy. It's no wonder our energy prices are going up at an alarming rate.
I want to ensure that my lights stay on (soon battery arrays will be avalable to retrofit to solar systems), and my children stay warm, hence the solar panels, recycling of waste veg oil for my car, and the saving up for a geothermal heat exchange pump. I have no confidence that the Govenment will do anything, so I'm taking steps to make sure that I am OK later on down the line. If other folk want to buy a new car every 3 years, and have at least one foreign holiday a year (don't get me started on the carbon footprint and lack of taxation on aviation fuel), then that's their perogative, but I'm hoping for the best and planning for the worst.
Found you, MMP! Can I join in? I'm unable to generate my own energy (silly roof shape, geothermal too expensive) but, I have solar lights dotted about the place and light tubes for free reflected light. I don't have central heating but hope the mega insulation I've done on the inside of my walls will be enough to keep in the heat generated from my sun-trap porch (catching the morning sun) combined with my two open fires (burning wood). My house is now half its size due to thickness of insulated walls and I have to walk sideways to get from one end to the other AND I've dug up my front patio concrete bit in order to plant stuff but I couldnt have parked there anyway, unless I had a tonka truck that could go up a flight of steps. What about if people could plant tiny herbs in the cracks between concrete slabs or bricks or whatever they use for covering up their front yards? That way, not only does the rain still dribble into the earth, but when you drive/walk over it you get a nice smell. I'm all for digging up your lawn and planting veg, if you can. And regarding energy sources - surely it's just common sense to use what's being beamed at us day in day out (not such much day out). Sun? It's like a giant lightbulb in the sky. We're daft not to use it, surely?
I understand that some people have to convert their front gardens to a parking space ,that's unavoidable these days but are we turning into a lazy nation of dont want to mow a lawn.It is just as easy to do as pulling up all those weeds that creep through the gravel.Everywhere is grit and gravel making life like living in quarry.It may look neat but it does not look good,and not good for wildlife or drainage.Bring back the front garden and nice welcome to your home,lawn and all.
I'd love to have some lawn for the front garden, but it would soon get trashed by parking on it (even a 'normal' car chews up grass). I would sooner live in a quarry than have one of my children get run over by the constant stream of cars that use my street as a rat run to avoid the traffic lights and speed cameras. Unfortunately some of my neighbours don't feel the same way, and even those that have driveways sometimes can't be bothered to reverse their car onto the drive, off the road so my children can see to cross the road safely.
I have frogs in both my front and back garden, as I've managed to keep a strip of land by the neighbour's conifer hedge (another pet hate). I also have the occaisional hedgehog, and a fox has been seen frequently at the top of the street (near the farm, as the farmer just chucks his dead chickens in with the compost).
It would be great to have both, I don't think it's a question of laziness (mowing the lawn), but I'm a practical girl, and I'd sooner put my cars on my front 'garden', and have two healthy kids, not in hospital or in a box because they can't see past parked cars to cross the road safely, and not get knocked over by some idiot doing 50 in a 30 zone, because he knows this street is a short cut and he can escape the cameras and get to work 2 minutes earlier.
I quite a agree if you are putting your car there but alot of houses with drives but I think it is growing trend to gravel over lawns.Its a hate or like thing.I Hate it.
I thought that the road safety researchers said that if a land rover hit a small pedestrian that they were more likely to be seriously injured than if they were hit by a small car, due to the height of the bumper?
Posts
There is in fact a new requirement that paved front gardens be done with materials that allow rain to soak in so impermeable tarmac and concrete are no longer legal. If parking off street is the safest thing for one's own car and also for passing traffic I see no problem with making aparking space but, with imagination, it can also be a garden with floral or foliar or achitectural interest on either side of the car parking space and even plants such as thymes or small sedums or other alpines growing under the car and enjoying the sunshne by day when the car isn't there.
Mummy you are doing what you do because you thought it through, the weak Governments we have had for years have not, they go for the quick fix and give out massive amounts of money to those who think they know the answer, they do not.
We are surrounded by the best power house in the world, the sea, wave power and tide power are the way ahead if we do not want to use nuclear or the six hundred years of coal we are all sitting on. China has no worries about using coal as any one who has been there knows, you seldom see the sky.
What we drive is our choice when I had to give up my beloved Jeep for an Austin Champ I cried, changing the best for the worst vehicle ever built broke my heart then along came Land Rover, drove them for years painted Khaki would never have one as personal transport my Son has one on the farm as a work horse.
What is happening out there seems to me to be unproven, as an engineer who reads the latest technology you see those who believe writing their theories and the disbelievers knocking them down it is a game of skittles, no one really knows and we are told that in the last 100,000 years the world has gone through this more than once, that is a very short time in the life of this planet.
I will do what I can within my own limits and that includes putting down surfaces that soak up the rain, we cannot do it alone and until we get China Russia America and South East Asia on the same wave length our efforts are not going to make any difference.
Mummy, I do not know if you made a mistake but during the war we went from 35% reliance on our own food efforts to over 80% and that went well into the 1950's.
Frank.
Wind farms are unsightly, inefficient, expensive (and subsidised by tax payers who hae no say) and also cause environmental harm if they're on migratory flight paths. In addition the WHO recommends a minimum distance fom habitation because the whirling and whirring can have detrimental effects on eyesight and cause tinnitus, loss of balance and nausea in some people.
Far more effective to have well insulated homes and water heaters to reduce energy consumption. Better also to extract heat from the ground (geo-thermic exchangers) or harness solar energy but the jury's out on the life span and recyclabilty of the solar cells. The scientists to whom I teach english are all being sent on courses to learn fuel efficient driving techniques and encouraged to take the train, car share or cycle where possible. They get bonuses for doing so.
Turning out lights, turning down the thermostat and wearing an extra jumper would also go a long way to reducing energy consumption. I know a couple who like to sit outside with a glass of wine of an evening and would rather light the patio heater than put on a pair of socks and a jumper. Madness.
Mummy Muddy Paws, the choice is not between 'a couple of wind turbines' or a nuclear power station. It is tens of thousands of wind turbines or a nuclear power station. Conventional power stations have to be kept 'spinning' 24/7 for the periods when the wind drops. Periods that often correspond with peak demand, such as very cold times in Winter.
In general wind turbines fail to produce even 20% of their installed capacity. Wind farms are so much more about subsidies for installers than the electricity they produce.
The majority of bits from wind turbines can be recycled, and it's providing jobs manufacturing them and testing them (we have an Advanced Manufacturing Park nearby where they are up and down like yo-yos to test them), the latest site is in Hull/Grimsby where there is a massive unemployment problem.
I think if you object to wind farms, you should be charged a premium for your electicity. I do realise that the coal fired stations have to be kept running (I worked in the offices of a steelworks for quite a few years, and could tell you a thing or two that went on during a 'peak loading period' where we'd be charged massive amounts for the electric we used, but the arc furnaces had to be kept running to continuously cast the stainless we made.
Until the Government realise that the coal we still have in massive amounts needs to be dug up, and we NEED our miners, we will continue to import the dross masquerading under the name coal from China and other places.
It's interesting that if you go to a preserved railway and speak to the drivers and firemen, they will only buy Welsh coal, as they know the stuff from china is rubbish and so far removed from what we know as coal that it's difficult to fire an engine with.
Nuclear is not the way to go, something that makes waste that's toxic for years and years for very little in return is a non-starter. So we need to look to what else we can use, and wind turbines can only really be a stop-gap. I'd have one at the end of my garden if the farmer hadn't given the council a backhander in order to build a large barn there so the rest of the village can't see what nefarious activities he's up to (the rest of the village and environmental health are in long-running battles with him about the stench that comes from his farm, making 'compost', we get full trucks in full of rubbish, and never see anything leave).
I'm all for putting on another jumper, and I think the couple that sit out in shirtsleeves with the heater going, need a trip down a working mine to see what hard work goes into providing their energy. It's no wonder our energy prices are going up at an alarming rate.
I want to ensure that my lights stay on (soon battery arrays will be avalable to retrofit to solar systems), and my children stay warm, hence the solar panels, recycling of waste veg oil for my car, and the saving up for a geothermal heat exchange pump. I have no confidence that the Govenment will do anything, so I'm taking steps to make sure that I am OK later on down the line. If other folk want to buy a new car every 3 years, and have at least one foreign holiday a year (don't get me started on the carbon footprint and lack of taxation on aviation fuel), then that's their perogative, but I'm hoping for the best and planning for the worst.
Found you, MMP! Can I join in? I'm unable to generate my own energy (silly roof shape, geothermal too expensive) but, I have solar lights dotted about the place and light tubes for free reflected light. I don't have central heating but hope the mega insulation I've done on the inside of my walls will be enough to keep in the heat generated from my sun-trap porch (catching the morning sun) combined with my two open fires (burning wood). My house is now half its size due to thickness of insulated walls and I have to walk sideways to get from one end to the other AND I've dug up my front patio concrete bit in order to plant stuff but I couldnt have parked there anyway, unless I had a tonka truck that could go up a flight of steps. What about if people could plant tiny herbs in the cracks between concrete slabs or bricks or whatever they use for covering up their front yards? That way, not only does the rain still dribble into the earth, but when you drive/walk over it you get a nice smell. I'm all for digging up your lawn and planting veg, if you can. And regarding energy sources - surely it's just common sense to use what's being beamed at us day in day out (not such much day out). Sun? It's like a giant lightbulb in the sky. We're daft not to use it, surely?
I understand that some people have to convert their front gardens to a parking space ,that's unavoidable these days but are we turning into a lazy nation of dont want to mow a lawn.It is just as easy to do as pulling up all those weeds that creep through the gravel.Everywhere is grit and gravel making life like living in quarry.It may look neat but it does not look good,and not good for wildlife or drainage.Bring back the front garden and nice welcome to your home,lawn and all.
I'd love to have some lawn for the front garden, but it would soon get trashed by parking on it (even a 'normal' car chews up grass). I would sooner live in a quarry than have one of my children get run over by the constant stream of cars that use my street as a rat run to avoid the traffic lights and speed cameras. Unfortunately some of my neighbours don't feel the same way, and even those that have driveways sometimes can't be bothered to reverse their car onto the drive, off the road so my children can see to cross the road safely.
I have frogs in both my front and back garden, as I've managed to keep a strip of land by the neighbour's conifer hedge (another pet hate). I also have the occaisional hedgehog, and a fox has been seen frequently at the top of the street (near the farm, as the farmer just chucks his dead chickens in with the compost).
It would be great to have both, I don't think it's a question of laziness (mowing the lawn), but I'm a practical girl, and I'd sooner put my cars on my front 'garden', and have two healthy kids, not in hospital or in a box because they can't see past parked cars to cross the road safely, and not get knocked over by some idiot doing 50 in a 30 zone, because he knows this street is a short cut and he can escape the cameras and get to work 2 minutes earlier.
I quite a agree if you are putting your car there but alot of houses with drives but I think it is growing trend to gravel over lawns.Its a hate or like thing.
I Hate it.
I thought that the road safety researchers said that if a land rover hit a small pedestrian that they were more likely to be seriously injured than if they were hit by a small car, due to the height of the bumper?