Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

And they wonder why so many people don't bother to vote, with that kind of tittle tattle!

 

A small grinder will cut rebar no problem...

 

@lizzie27 the thin rebar can easily be cut with bolt cutters. The thicker rods and bars need an angle grinder. An alternative is wooden dowels of the diametre of the inside of your plastic tubing but these won't last more than a few years in the ground.

 

Voting! Possum, who has dual British and Belgian nationality has received a form in the post today to say she has to go the Belgian embassy in Paris next Wednesday to vote in consular elections Wednesday. Voting is compulsory for Belgians.

A day return train fare is 180€ min. Going by car will incur 90€ of motorway tolls plus half a tank of fuel. The fine will be between 40 and 80€.

Tomorrow she will both phone the embassy and send an email to explain that arranging a day off work and transport at such short notice is just not possible and can they please make sure she receives the necessary forms for postal voting in all future elections.

Meanwhile, as we are no longer EU citizens despite having full residency, OH and I are happily free of all the palaver of the EU elections on the 9th of June. Not one flyer received.

 

Re your comment @Loofah - if any of the potential PMs and their cohorts promised to clamp down on the disgrace that seems to be many/most of these companies, and insisted on a percentage of profits being spent on proper infrastructure - containing water properly when you get rain, and dealing with drainage/dispersal responsibly when there's an excess, I think plenty of people would vote for them.

Alternatively, if they fined them more and promised to reinvest that moneey in the above rather than trusting the companies, maybe that would be a step in the right direction.
The problem is - they all promise the moon and stars, and a load more in with that, and then come up with the usual excuses later on to defend their decisions to do none of it.

 

Regarding the water companies the regulator needs sorting out just as much as the companies themselves .

None of these so called regulators do the job they are paid for and always come down on side of the companies.
Wouldn't trust any of them.

 

Absolutely @pete. I have little to no faith in any organisation now. You only have to look at the Post Office shambles [the polite term for it] to see the kind of behaviour of the 'top' people in them. Covering their backs doesn't even begin to describe it.

The ones who are meant to regulate the utility companies is another that springs to mind. Still allowing some dodgy ones to operate and take on new customers, and they go down the pan a few days later.

 

Crikey! That's quite harsh. Mind, as more and more banking moves online, it becomes much easier for govs to act draconianly ... which is quite a worrying development, IMV.

I'd be happy to have compulsory voting here as long as there was a "none of the above" option on the ballot.

 

What size is your annual bonus though @shiney, and do you get rewarded for 'failing upwards' ?

 

@ViewAhead - in Belgium, "none of the above" is expressed by spoiling the ballot paper. Those get counted too.

Agree about utilities regulators and organisations in general. Where profits and bonuses can become more important than efficient delivery of customer services there will always be the temptation to line pockets.