Re: Gardening Thread.

[bb1]

No, heads won't roll, Lily, the whole system is FUBAR. They'll just claim they were acting in accordance with European directives or similar bullshit and end up being compensated for evil householders shouting at them.

It no longer matters how massive the balls-up created by our lords and masters, they are never held to account.

[lily]

I cannot imagine Cameron in the position that Churchill was back in the day.........  

What a pathetic show of incompetence. What a disaster for the future.....

[bb1]

Mark Williams-Thomas ‏@mwilliamsthomas  1h
Watching all the flooding where have all the animals gone - like cattle/sheep/horses ? Presumably many have died  

Thankfully, farmers aren't as incompetent and useless as   s that obsess about sex, day in, day out.

They did that Clever Thing where they noticed the water was rising - yes, they did! and moved the animals with big things called Tractors.

Sex-obessed vultures can't do anything as useful as driving tractors, which is doubtless why    assumed the farmers just left livestock to drown.

[Sabot]

What a Pillock.

[lily]

Sex-obessed vultures can't do anything as useful as driving tractors, which is doubtless why assumed the farmers just left livestock to drown.

Which is what he would have done.

[bb1]

The unfortunate householders in the flood zone are now being given handy hints on things like stopping sewage coming up their toilets, etc. Harry and Wills did a spot of sandbagging today, but at least they don't look like complete prats in wellies, unlike the politicians. And can shift sandbags without fainting.

A Gurkas officer assured Kay Burleigh of Sky that his men train to get cold and wet, so don't need softy wellies. I'm not convinced - wading around in a mountain torrent is one thing, but that filthy mess is something else.

[bb1]

http://news.sky.com/story/1211924/freak-wave-kills-man-on-storm-hit-cruise-ship

A passenger has died and another has been airlifted to shore after a cruise ship was hit by a freak wave in the English Channel.

The wave battered the British cruise ship Marco Polo, operated by Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) as it headed for its home port of Tilbury in Essex at the end of a 42-night voyage.

Water crashed through a window injuring a number of the 735 passengers, who were mainly British. An 85-year-old male passenger and a woman passenger in her 70s were airlifted off the ship. The male passenger later died.

A number of other passengers received minor injuries and were treated on board.

The vessel, which has been to the Amazon in South America and to the West Indies, is due to dock at Tilbury in the early hours of Sunday.

The company said: "CMV regrets to advise that earlier today their cruise ship m/s Marco Polo, en-route to her home port of Tilbury from the Azores, was hit by a freak wave during adverse sea conditions in the south western approaches of the English Channel.

"One elderly passenger has died and a further passenger has been airlifted for further shore-side medical assistance. The vessel sailed from Tilbury on January 5 and is carrying 735 mainly British passengers and 349 crew.

"Our thoughts are very much with these passengers and their families during this difficult time."

[lily]

That is so sad. It must have been quite a wave.    

[bb1]

It must have been wild at sea, Lily, even on the biggest ships - these were taken in Newlyn, Cornwall. From Sky-

[lily]

Was thinking that it must have been challenging on the ship. I know they usually have stabilizers but even so....   

[bb1]

http://news.sky.com/story/1212076/homes-evacuated-as-20ft-deep-sinkhole-appears



More than a dozen homes have been evacuated after a 35ft wide sinkhole opened up in a street in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.

More follows...

[lily]

What's the saying? "A stitch in time saves nine" is what they are now dealing with. The money they thought they would save will now be small change in comparison when all is said and done? Or is this something different?

[bb1]

I can't even begin to guess what is causing the sink holes now appearing, beyond building without finding out what was underneath, Lily.

[lily]

Yes Bonny, it depends what type of rock is beneath the buildings.  In California, for instance, you must get a geologist report before you can build on land.

It could be lack of stability caused by groundwater following the rains?  If there are mines below they should be noted somewhere in the records etc?  

In the M.E. I was stunned at the lack of consideration for foundations in some areas.  

I fear there are too many pencil pushers and not enough people with the correct technical skills.  Which made me think of people connected to the flooding debacle.

[bb1]

Oh, what's underneath will be in records somewhere, Lily. However, if said records haven't been put online, it will never occur to bureaucrats to go and look.

Time and again in these floods, the only building that has stayed semi-dry has been a medieval church, as our ancestors were capable of noticing that certain areas flooded in heavy rain....

[lily]

Of course, it might be too difficult for them to actually research the land of a proposed development. I guess people just assume it will be okay. What can go wrong?

It's like in developing countries where there is a rush to get the buildings up without paying enough attention to infrastructure. After the fact the problems become sickeningly apparent when they are more difficult and expensive to fix. As an observer, you can see it coming.....

One thing is for sure, the insurance companies won't want to be responsible for too much damage so then what?

[bb1]

That is unforseeable, as the insurance companies will naturally do everything possible to weasel out of stumping up.

It would be poetic justice if 10 Downing Street fell into a sinkhole. Over a plague pit.   

[lily]

          

I wondered if there was chalk involved.

Hertfordshire, the site of today's hole, has a history of chalk mining dating back to Roman times. Chalk was used since the Medieval period as a building material.

Hemel Hempstead was largely built in a chalk stone valley where the River Gade meets the River Bulbourne.
The modern housing estate was built in 2008. It was believed the homes were constructed on former industrial estate land, or what is known as a brownfield site.

There are more than 100 historic mines known throughout the county but when the mining stopped, the entrances to their vertical shafts were not recorded properly and can cause nasty surprises for homeowners later on.

About 100 years ago 'chalk-drawers' worked throughout the Chiltern Hills, mining chalk from shafts up to 30ft deep which have since caused countless small collapses in fields, according to the Hertfordshire Geological Society.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2560085/BREAKING-NEWS-House-left-teetering-brink-massive-sinkhole-35ft-wide-20ft-deep-opened-suburban-cul-sac.html#ixzz2tPYP9WLm
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[bb1]

That's interesting - and notice the powers-that-be ignored earlier warnings? Which does not surprise me one bit.

[lily]

Bonny, I think those were pencil pushers? They were clueless. Some of those things the lady reported should have got people out to investigate. It doesn't bode well for the future?

[bb1]

From:


http://news.sky.com/story/1212294/floods-fresh-warning-of-rising-water-levels



Volunteers on board a WW2 amphibious DUKW in Moorland, Somerset

See? Never throw anything away, you never know when it'll come in handy.

[Lamplighter]

A lot of these old DUKWs are now converted to tourist attractions in various parts of the UK - there is one on the Thames.  They also have them here in the capital and I have ridden on quite a few in the USA.  LL

[bb1]

The yellow one has been in use in the Thames area, LL.

[Lamplighter]

The yellow one has been in use in the Thames area, LL.

Have you ridden one, bonny? They are great fun. LL

[bb1]

No, I haven't, LL, but they do look cute! And useful, too.

[Sponsored content]