Please sign the attached petition re above.
https://www.change.org/p/sadiq-khan...9YoY9ZGjN_t2Glb_UPO61ysXWHfvTKdz7_Y56p4yxdGFE
https://www.change.org/p/sadiq-khan...9YoY9ZGjN_t2Glb_UPO61ysXWHfvTKdz7_Y56p4yxdGFE
What this about.. another french company building uk infrastructure.
Y'know, I absolutely love "mucking about" with mechanical things. Trying to reawaken my older boy's Henry Hoover just now (actually really impressed with it's simplicity, might just buy one myself to replace the Electrolux if it packs in before I do!)
This thread has caused me to reflect upon the lunacy that is modern man's approach to his planet. I'm not a tree hugging wooly hat type but I did grow up in the Scottish Borders and our friends were farmers and country folk. We children would be outdoors almost from dawn to dusk. A bit "Railway Children-ish" but in 1950's clothing. There was even a local branch line (Gala to Selkirk) with real steam trains, which ran past the bottom of our bottom field! I learned to love the natural world and appreciate how a lot of it is so interdependent and needs to be to work. There were far fewer vehicles around. You could park anywhere with ease. Very occasionally my Mum would take us all into Edinburgh for the day so she could go round the big shops, Parking was never a problem you just parked at the kerbside - impossible today!
Thinking back to how things were then I look with despair at what we are doing to our planet today. Watching a Diesel train pulling out of Waverley accompanied by a massive plume of black exhaust which changed to blue as it disappeared. The sheer number of vehicles on the road today and the way we've arranged our lives so you can't work locally (for instance none of my children or their partners could easily get to work using public transport). Why are we all climbing into aircraft, cruise ships, etc, etc, to go on holiday? I'm as bad an offender as any! We run 2 cars because it's convenient, and drive miles across the city and local countryside to be there for grandchildren so their parents can drive miles away to their work. I have a collection of garden machinery - all IC engines and usually at least one "project". Now we hear that even the cows are causing pollution because there are too many of them emitting methane! Isn't it just that there are too many of us humans? We seem incapable of exercising self control (I can talk, with 3 children to my name!) and I'm sure we will not take any truly effective action until it's too late and our world is heading towards looking like J G Ballard's "Drowned World", by then It will be much too late.
Don't know how far North your North East was Jim but I have some quite fond memories of the north east. The first boarding school I was packed off to was housed in an old castle just outside Auchenblae Kincardenshire. It was my first taste of the "military" way of living with a 6.00 am run every day and a cold plunge bath to follow - boy that really woke you up to face the day! We used to roam far and wide with supervised walks and cross country runs. Of course we all played Rugby, no sissy football for us! I think it was where my loathing of "team games" and "team spirit" was born. The Cairn o' mounth looms large in my memory!
So roughly the same neck of the woods Jim? I know just what you mean about strict upbringing. A structured life with strictly enforced rules. My backside was on more than a nodding acquaintance with my mother's slipper, headmaster's gym shoe and, twice, the games master's cane! Unthinkable now a days but what it did for me was teach me the limits of acceptable behaviour and to develop the self discipline to conform (or understand how not to be caught out if you decided not to "Sing from the acceptable hymn sheet") I think because it introduced certainty into my life, my childhood was actually very happy.Aberdeen shire Jock, I had a strict upbringing, but when it was good it was great, if you know what I mean. Just to try & keep things on at least vehicle related terms, my Father,Grandfather,Uncles & mates Dads, were all helpful in my pursuit in the learning about the function of the internal combustion engine & other car related items. No doubt there will be the odd similar story today, but more often than not it is different. Apart from the fact that cars these days need specified tools/electronic equipment, your average family unit do not have the same members as was the case from decades ago. Missing are the male members who could help, but society seems to err on the side of not touching or interested in anything to do with four wheels.
Just watched the video Dave. Now that is interesting! Looks like this could save the planet? why don't we hear more about it?
Erm! you don't have to be genius to work out when electric cars do eventually make a difference & the internal combustion engine is no longer, the government are going to collect money from somewhere...