What are you all up to
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Yes it is madness…..yes we need green energy but even today i see new houses being built with no solar panels on the roof, and, yet 11 years ago when we had ours installed the engineer took me to a new build site where they were putting solar panels on the roof all nicely counter sunk into the roof so the visual effect was not so drastic as ours seemed when first installed, but you get used to them, and you dont need a south facing roof, ours on a bungalow are east/west 8 each side, but we still get plenty of electricity from them and nearly £1k per annum in return for what we feed back into the grid, cost £6k when installed, win win 😁
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@Goldie146 - Whilst we sit here and bemoan our lot you and your family are going through a lot worse. My commiserations to you. I hope matters soon start to take an upswing.
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Absolutely hosing it down at present in a cold wind, which will soon seem like a mere whiff if the forecast is right. I tried the gas again in the van this morning and it worked fine, which in itself shows how inconsistent this problem is. We've agreed to check it twice a day until Monday and report back to the dealers.
MiL declared herself thrilled to butterkins with the shower this morning. Well, she actually said "It was OK" when asked but I know from years of experience that she really means "thrilled to butterkins".😂
How are the repairs to your caravan coming on @nelliethehooker?
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@Goldie146 terrible situation for you all, that’s history, careful management, so much hard work😢 Lots of us on here will be thinking of you and your family.
@Wherenext sorry the hob saga goes on😡 hoping you get some proper and quick resolution
@DavidKlyne the video was interesting, mainly because it showed just how close the open cast mining got to the mansion doors, and the terrible irony of all that wealth gained from mining, but then the tables turned to try and kick the Fitzwilliam’s, super rich, by ignoring even the pleas of local Miners and the NUM. They were good employers in so much as they did look after tenants and workers, as much, probably more than many would do today. The whole of this area is sat on coal, hence all the pits, hundreds of them, so they didn’t really need to do the overground damage that they did with such glee. Churchill might well have visited, it was that sort of place that saw regular visits by Kings and Queens, aristo’s and politicians.
I have a lot of sympathy for those who are going to have solar farms, wind turbines close by. But, and it’s a big but, I grew up looking at collieries and associated slag heaps, coking works, and other than the Tin/Copper mining of old in Cornwall, cannot think of any industry that so devastated a landscape. For 150 years, South Yorkshire, along with other places like South Wales etc…… powered this country, kept it running through all sorts of times. Sir Walter Scott visited while writing Ivanhoe (set at Conisborough Castle) and he wrote that it was one of the most beautiful areas of England at the time of his visit. For the last 35-40 years, as the pits were closed, we now have a great deal of our beautiful landscape restored, wildlife returning, wonderful walks, wonderful views. With solar farms and wind turbines, a whole lot better than slag heaps and muddy collieries. Many of our local farmers can get a lot more money allowing solar farms, turbines and communication masts on their land, even if it’s arable land, so I am sure they will have done the maths. I do feel for those who have moved to the areas of their choice, perhaps for retirement, but it’s not just solar farms, wind turbines but new housing developments as well. We had a big gap of a few years between visits to West Cornwall, and couldn’t believe all the changes to infrastructure, thousands of new homes. It’s nothing new, it’s just change, much like happened during the Industrial Revolution, this is the Tech Revolution cum Climate changes, cum need for new houses. Hopefully it will be shared out with most areas taking some sort of hit, rather than devastating one or two areas.🙂
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"…other than the Tin/Copper mining of old in Cornwall, cannot think of any industry that so devastated a landscape."
I think it's the open cast china clay mining which devastated the Cornish landscape @Takethedogalong 🤔. In Devon, both Tungsten open cast and china clay pits.
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@Tinwheeler oh gosh yes🫣 I forgot about the China Clay. We used to stay around St Austell a lot during the 1980’s, and the whole area was dedicated in lots of different ways to China Clay. Even the pubs had names like The White Pyramid. It had a beauty in its own way, from a distance, and of course employed thousands, much like our pits. We nicknamed the huge white mountain you could see “White Willy” rather than the Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor. A much transformed landscape and area now, like here at home.😁
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The White Pyramid pub was named after the white pyramid 'mountain' which bears the flag of St Piran at its peak. It’s a landmark from miles away. These days the white pyramid has turned green 🙂.
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I do wonder how many people are living in houses that once was farmed land? Our own house certainly is, built in the 1970s. Part of the village that has succumbed to houses was once the "Coal Yard" where the coal merchants operated out of. As an asthmatic I know which one of solar farm or coal pit I'd rather live next to.
OH patriarch family were originally from Cornwall and moved to coal mining areas in the North West when tin mining went into decline. Their health was very poor.
The only caveat I would put in would be that the materials and technology for solar farms and wind farms be sourced from British companies but I suppose that's asking too much.
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Thank you to all of you who understand how devastating a TB breakdown is. Our family have been here since 20th February 1875 (when we will be having a small celebration). We’ve always had Dairy Shortorns and the the first pedigree was registered in 1918. The cows in the current herd are from families going back to almost that time. We are a “closed herd” i.e. we don’t buy cows in. They are all homebred. The cows that have gone are not just numbers. They all have pedigree names. So far the youngstock have been OK, and eventually they will be bulled, and calve and go into the milking herd.
And on other wider farming matters - I’m totally against solar farms on good agricultural land. We need the land to grow food. But this is getting political so I’ll shut up.
P.S. we put solar panels on a new building a couple of years ago.
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It would help if every new build, business and domestic had to include solar panels as part of the remit. Scandalous that housebuilding companies can throw up housing estates but give no thought to putting solar panels and associated feed in equipment on the roofs where suitable. That would be a big help. Cannot for the life of me see why it doesn’t happen🤷♀️ Most of the big industrial units round here (SY has good logistics links) have solar panels, some of the units are as large as small fields. It all helps.
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@Goldie146 - so sad - I expect with it being a dairy herd, you know all the animals and their characters - must be like losing part of the family. Take care, all of you, and let's hope for better news in the future.
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@Wherenext Getting on for 300,000 people in Milton Keynes living on land that was previously farmed. According to original investigation it was classed as poor quality farmland but I don't know why it would be classed as such. When we first came to MK, in 1979, we used to regularly travel back down to Southampton to visit relatives. In the old days we didn't encounter much in the way of housing en route other than established communities. 45 years later it is a very different story with lots of new housing all along the route. Having painted that, perhaps, gloomy picture, we do have to remember that, depending on what study you use, only about 8% of the UK is actually built on.
@Takethedogalong I completely agree that it would be common sense to mandate that all new houses should have solar panels. I suspect the problem is that it puts the Government between a rock and hard place should they insist as they depend on the cooperation of the house builders to meet their housing targets? I wonder if a fairly modest subsidy of £1000 per property, also open to existing home owners, would probably see that goal achieved? I am currently thinking of putting solar panels on my house. At my age I doubt I would get complete repayment of the investment but I would be doing my bit and electricity is the largest part of our energy costs. A small subsidy would encourage me😉
David
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