LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME - 2022

I remember going down St Margret's bay, somewhere like that, down some steep road near Dover and you could only get French mobile signals down there.

 

Apologies to anyone who is waiting for a passport; but my renewal was turned around in a week from application.

 

Mine was within two weeks from Portugal and I lost two days because they didn't accept the first photo. Got old one back today.

 

That was what I heard and why I applied now as I know I don't need until late this year at the earliest.

 

I can't work this out...

The North of the country has a surplus of water - no sight of a hose pipe ban. Why the blue heck don't we interconnect the different regions water pipes so that water can be diverted to where there is a shortage?

Dwr Cymru are a not for profit organisation - cover the whole of Wales - no surplus cash being doled out to share holders. Why don't other water companies take this approach? Water is a basic service - we shouldn't have profits being creamed off the top for the wealthy.

 

Things are just getting stupid now.
Why is the regulator called the regulator, they dont seem to be regulating much other than securing the profits of the energy companies.

 

Almost all of the reservoirs in the north east region were already reported as low to very low when the government published its latest figures upto the end of June. The ground in many monitored areas is bone dry. Where I am, we'll be ok for a bit longer than most because if our reservoirs dry up, there is a pipe that pumps water down from kielder, but with weeks of dry weather forecast it isn't going to last forever and it would be an ecological disaster to let all the reservoirs run too low. Think of all the fish whose world is getting rapidly smaller.

Still, this should be a one off for a good few years. How can I say that? Easy, I'm planning to revamp my gardens to be much more drought tolerant, complete with improved water capture and storage. That should guarantee a few wet years. Like getting your car's air-conditioning re-gassed at the start of summer as a sure way to guarantee rubbish weather

 

Remember back in the early 2000s when mortgage lenders were giving out 125% mortgages with no deposit and cash back offers to people with minimal credit checks, and the Financial Services Authority existed at the time, a regulator who's job it was to make the banks behave. See how that worked out. Banks needed taxpayers bailouts after the bubble burst, the FSA was disbanded, only to pop back up immediately as the Financial Conduct Authority, and when those taxpayer funded state owned shares were reprivatised, those taxpayer funded shares were SOLD back to the public, but even then, only after the government cronies got first dibs on the shares while they were still cheap.

 

This has turned out to be a total day of FUBAR. I rarely use that word but this time it applies.

Granddaughter wanted to play on my computer and we usually never have a problem. But today, she must have touched verboten territory and managed to lock the computer down so no one could get in! Hours later, figured out how to use my lap top to get me the info to fix this problem.

I had a client who was coming by at lunch time, she said, to pick up stuff. She usually runs a little late but today, I waited and waited. I needed to go pick something up (kobo-see below) and had made that pick up appointment for 2:45 thinking that would be ample time. Finally had to run out and get back in a hurry in case she showed. Got a call at 3:30, she forgot and had driven home. I asked that next time could we set a fairly precise time and try to keep to it instead of me waiting hours please? I hope I didn't upset her too much as she is one of my favourite people but I was a bit miffed.

I got my shipment from overseas finally and also the credit card bill which has their charge on it. I had ordered a bare bones newbie drone for $130. I received an upgraded drone which would be $150 because it has the case that I couldn't be bothered with. They also sent two other boxes that look like drones are in them but only bits and pieces.

They charged me double the $150 plus the exchange from U.S. dollars which made the final charge $409. Canadian for one working basic drone! I'll see what the credit card people can do.

My Kobo reader stopped talking to the internet and the Rakuten app acted like it had downloaded books, but no dice. So I looked for a used Kobo and found a really cheap ($20.) one only 5 minutes from me. Got it home, it was probably produced at the same time as @shiney 's abacus. But the fellow told me that it was part of his 98 year old aunty's estate so I would not have taken it back regardless and certainly not for a small amount.

There is one good thing though, the old dearie had loaded some 103 classic books on this old Kobo so I guess I got something for my money the end.

I'm not going to try to do anything else today. I'm not touching the Kobo again, I'm not going to try the drone. I probably should be making a pointy hat for myself and having a seat in the corner

 

Might be best to make it out of tinfoil.

 

I think the truth of the matter is that all parts of this small island get enough water every year, we just dont save enough of it.
In countries with high mountains they have snow melt and dams that keep the water back for summer use, we dont really have any of that we just rely on the reservoirs that we have diverted rivers into, once full the rest goes out to sea, so a limited supply.
The rivers have to be allowed to flow although often the smaller streams are over stretched and dry up.

The water round here, I believe comes from boreholes in the chalk downs so is not affected by drought until it really bites but they are building so many houses, and sometimes it seems like half the country want to live in the South East, that the surface reservoirs we have cant cope.

We need more reservoirs in this part of the country, but often the geology is not good, or we end up flooding villages to build them, there just aint the room, if we still want a bit of farming going on as well as loads of houses houses houses.

 

Too many houses being built means too much pressure on Water, Gas & Electric.

 

My brother was talking about the rules in the south whereby you cannot fill a paddling pool but you can fill a hot tub. He said, "Is a hot tub an essential?" to which I replied, "In the home counties it probably is".