A random thread for small things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Basil]

Everyone in the pub is having great fun asking Alexa what Welsh is for one hundred.   
Again!   

[Mr Larrington]

Try “Boris Johnson carrots one hundred”

[citoyen]

Lacing patterns aside, I've taken to using Lock Laces on my running shoes as it greatly speeds up transitions at multi-events versus tying knots. Also they don't come un-done.

I have Lock Laces too, for the same reasons. I've previously had them laced in a standard criss-cross pattern but with these particular shoes (Asics Metaride) I find it impossible to get the tension just right across the top of my foot, even with the elasticated laces, hence wondering if I can resolve this with a different lacing pattern. Also the lacing holes are configured in a somewhat unusual way, as you can see in the pic here:
https://www.asics.com/gb/en-gb/metaride/p/1011B216-001.html?width=Standard

[Jasmine]

It'll be probability as the test for E. coli takes a day (at least the one we do does).

Useful to know. Thanks.

They might also be using telemetry on the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) so that they will know how many CSO discharges there are in close to real time.

[citoyen]

They might also be using telemetry on the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) so that they will know how many CSO discharges there are in close to real time.

That is *very* useful to know.

Just been looking at Beachbuoy on the Southern Water site.
https://www.southernwater.co.uk/water-for-life/our-bathing-waters/beachbuoy

Interesting. Apparently, there are seven CSOs that potentially affect the bathing water where I usually swim, and three of them have had a discharge in the last 24 hours...

 

[Pingu]

Yebbut it's Kent. All those outfalls are operating all the time. Well, more than they should be.

[Jasmine]

Indeed, Southern Water are known for being particularly bad for 'accidental' discharges. As Pingu says, it's well known that the CSOs are going all the time, even in non-storm conditions.

Recent £90 mil fine for this:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/09/southern-water-fined-90m-for-deliberately-pouring-sewage-into-sea

A few days after that, Southern was named as one of the worst polluters per 10000km of sewer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-57804727

[Beardy]

Indeed, Southern Water are known for being particularly bad for 'accidental' discharges. As Pingu says, it's well known that the CSOs are going all the time, even in non-storm conditions.

Recent £90 mil fine for this:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/09/southern-water-fined-90m-for-deliberately-pouring-sewage-into-sea

A few days after that, Southern was named as one of the worst polluters per 10000km of sewer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-57804727

The water companies are businesses beholden to their shareholders. If their analysis says that the fines for ‘accidental’ outflows will be less than the cost of upgrading their facilities, that is what they’ll continue to do. No UK government will attack that position because “forcing water bills to rise” would, after a suitable tabloid campaign, have a negative impact in the ballot box.

[citoyen]

Recent £90 mil fine for this:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/09/southern-water-fined-90m-for-deliberately-pouring-sewage-into-sea

A few days after that, Southern was named as one of the worst polluters per 10000km of sewer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-57804727

Yes, this was mentioned upthread, hence the update.

I suspect there's a wider problem beyond the rapacious capitalist practices of Southern Water, and that is the way new housing developments are springing up like mushrooms on every spare bit of land going, including on flood plains. The waste water treatment facilities probably don't have the capacity to cope, and then there's the impetus of making sure the new housing estates don't get flooded - discharging waste into the sea is probably seen as the lesser of two evils.

Beardy, we're already paying far higher water bills than we would under public ownership.

[ian]

More massive rain recently, which results in flooding, even up the hill.

Looks around at nearby every front garden now paved. Where do they expect the water to go? I don't believe there's even a nod to meeting any kind of drainage requirement. Many of them simply pool water, others slope and simply spill it out onto the pavement and road. We got to see this in action yesterday.

When we were going to get our drive redone (before I learned to love the pitted tarmac), when I asked about drainage, the response was that water would run off down the steep hill. Obviously, I'm aware of gravity, but at the bottom of the hill?

[Beardy]

Beardy, we're already paying far higher water bills than we would under public ownership.

Indeed, as we are with all utilities, but that situation wasn’t caused by the current government, and so there’s not story for the press to be incensed about on ‘your’ behalf.

[Mr Larrington]

When we were going to get our drive redone (before I learned to love the pitted tarmac), when I asked about drainage, the response was that water would run off down the steep hill. Obviously, I'm aware of gravity, but at the bottom of the hill?

Someone else’s problem, innit.  Cue John Cleese saying “I look down on him”.

[Cudzoziemiec]

This is one of the reasons the posh parts of town are at the tops of the hills.

[Jurek]

Beardy, we're already paying far higher water bills than we would under public ownership.

Indeed, as we are with all utilities, but that situation wasn’t caused by the current government, and so there’s not story for the press to be incensed about on ‘your’ behalf.

It's a while since I've travelled to Whitstable by road (as opposed to rail) but M'Julie came and collected me last year and we drove down.
I was shocked by the number of new developments between Sittingbourne and Whitstable - I was literally thinking 'I remember when it was all fields around here'- that's probably in the space of about 5 years.

[ian]

Ironically, the on-the-Hill bit of this town (actually a different town) always floods around here (it's not very posh though), cue gripes to the council about drainage, but the main culprit seems to be expanses of paving that channel water into the storm drains, and new developments which take this model as the default.

Walking through Kent, as one does, it's shocking the number of new developments – there are several huge ones metastasizing from the eastern edge of Tunbridge Wells and, well, everywhere else. I don't think you can walk through a town without seeing posters to campaign against some development (and they're often not small, there's one for >4000 homes in Capel/Tudeley). Even in Surrey, the local council has been niggling over a 'garden village' which seems to be a field full of houses with no local services.

I'm not sure where all the people are coming from to fill these houses.

[Auntie Helen]

In Germany you pay for your waste water bills with a calculation on how much flat surface around your property you have that is paved. You pay less if it is grass and you pay a middle amount if it’s these special bricks that where grass can grow through. This means that a lot of people don’t completely cover their drives but have the grassy bricks and they don’t do excessive driveway building because of the cost.

[nicknack]

I'm not sure where all the people are coming from to fill these houses.

London mostly.

[Regulator]

I have just double-podded a large pile of broad beans for tonight's dinner (a warm broad bean and pancetta salad).  It's actually quite a meditative and satisfying task.

[ian]

I'm not sure where all the people are coming from to fill these houses.

London mostly.

It seems. But I wonder what all those 4,000 families relocating the Capel/Tudeley area are going to do. Drive to Tonbridge, I guess, there are no jobs or infrastructure there.

[citoyen]

I'm not sure where all the people are coming from to fill these houses.

London mostly.

It seems. But I wonder what all those 4,000 families relocating the Capel/Tudeley area are going to do. Drive to Tonbridge, I guess, there are no jobs or infrastructure there.

On the outskirts of Ramsgate, they're in the middle of building the new Thanet Parkway station. Since Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs all have their own stations already, I was wondering who this station is intended to serve. The the penny dropped... they're going to build a massive new housing development next to it, aren't they?

And of course, once the Parkway is open, no doubt the service to the smaller stations will be downgraded, forcing commuters to drive the Parkway rather than walk to their local station.

From the website: "Thanet Parkway will increase rail connectivity between East Kent, London and the wider Kent area by providing access to mainline and high speed services." (No it won't increase connectivity - it's on the same line as all the other local stations. FFS.)

[Cudzoziemiec]

It will increase connectivity for the people in the new builds though. And for once they've done it in the right order; get the public transport in before the houses are occupied (or so it seems from what you've said). And while it would be a bit shit if a result of this was reducing the service to the existing stations, what makes you think that will happen? I expect there's some sort of local rail campaign that would know something. Maybe one of these lot?

[citoyen]

what makes you think that will happen?

Many years of bitter experience as a user of Southeastern services.

You say they're doing it the right way round, but thinking about it, there are actually new housing developments already occupied that will be within the catchment area for this station (eg at Preston, halfway between Sandwich and Canterbury - surprised I didn't think of this sooner because one of the thoughts that crossed my mind when they started building it was the lack of a station nearby).

[Kim]

I'm not sure where all the people are coming from to fill these houses.

Do they need to be filled with people, or will money suffice?

[ian]

It's the same around Ebbsfleet, endless sprawls of identikit housing and local amenities that don't seem to extend beyond a drive to Bluewater. No pedestrians, no cyclists, lots of paving and tarmac, cars everywhere, the occasional scrawny silver birch poking out through the occasional patches of underwatered dirt that pass as landscaping, as though reaching for the sky in despair.

OK, it's better than, I suppose, being crammed into terraces and forced to breathe fumes from the mill – but I'm sure it's not cheap housing for anyone other than the developers.

[citoyen]

It's the same around Ebbsfleet, endless sprawls of identikit housing and local amenities that don't seem to extend beyond a drive to Bluewater. No pedestrians, no cyclists, lots of paving and tarmac,

Perhaps surprisingly, many of the pavements round there are designated shared use and are actually wide enough to properly accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists.

Not that you see many of either, because as you say, the amenities are designed to be driven to.