Good post cologne. There is a need for rural businesses to provide employment for people living in the area. As you say countries such as Germany and France are vast, and while you may work close to home in the UK, local means something different here. Local can be 30 or 40 kms, and not many are prepared to cycle that sort of distance twice a day, although one friend does. The rural companies do not tend to employ large numbers, so even if there were a bus service it wouldn't really be viable to drop people off all over the area. Cars are going to be the only method to keep these small scale companies going, so anything to reduce the pollution from them is welcome.
I am not sure we will ever get to the situation where people in rural settings will rely on public transport for all the reasons that have been explored here. There will still be a need for low polluting private vehicles.. One of the biggest challenges too which needs attention is lorries and commercial vehicles..
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...bases-into-wildlife-sanctuaries-10332109.html This is great news...
Talking about going back to the original, there is another good news story today. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51073620
The journey from Cologne to London by train involves a 2 hour inter city to Brussels - security checks there, and then the Eurostar to St. Pancras International. Including security and passport checks in Brussels the whole journey takes about 5 hours. In contrast to taking the plane, you can get up, walk around and are, generally more comfortable. You also arrive centrally, without having to make your way in from Stanstead or Gatwick. Altogether a more pleasurable experience than flying the same route. Unfortunately a side effect of Brexit is that the Europass tickets (where young people could buy a month long pass for the whole EU) will no longer be possible from Britain. Many young people from Britain used these to get around Europe on a budget.
Freight transport is a different problem altogether Yorkie The amount of freight which is being moved is now (Worldwide) more per day than for the entire year of my birth - measured in Ship's tonnage. It is horrifying to think that the container ships of today travel with up to 15-20 thousand TEUs on board - the ecquivalent of 20,000 20 foot containers. All of which have to be further transported by rail or lorry from Hamburg or Rotterdam to their final destinations. Germany does make more use of its inland waterways than Britain does (possibly because they are bigger) and it is still possible to transport goods from Rotterdam as far as Switzerland but no more than about 5% of freight is transported in this way.
From a favourite author of my youth..... We have to invest the returns from capitalism into our environment, and our peoples, in order to survive, let alone flourish
Today the team are flying up to Liverpool for the game arriving at midday. They will be flying back after the game. Makes sense financially, saving on hotels etc. although I doubt they will be fed on a burger at McDonalds. Not good for the environment, but unless you have far more regional football then this will happen for PL teams.
If they lose badly I would make them walk back ! But seriously Man. Utd very often take the train to away matches in London, so it is possible to do it differently.
I am fairly obsessive about mending things. I love giving new life to tired old things (Mrs Andy’s approach to our marriage, too). It’s about keeping things going to avoid needless (in terms of the environment) replacement of stuff. I do like mending things as well. Our dishwasher has had numerous repairs (the latest involved the handle which I mended using ‘plastic welding’ which involves a mixing of superglue and bicarb). Our washing machine has also had a number of repairs. Yesterday an office chair in Seb’s room had a foot fall off with its fixing kaput (nothing to do with him rocking on it, of course #butterdoesntmeltinsebsgob). It was proper knackered. Mrs Andy said to get a new chair, and I was struggling to think how I could fix it. But I got out my router (tool for woodwork, not a BT router - different gig) and fashioned a new wooden foot for it. It took a while, but it keeps a perfectly nice chair going and out of landfill longer. Thought I’d share that. FWIW.
Most of our kitchen appliances have lasted us 17 years or more.... all German ..... Our washing machine has been repaired by a local mr fix it man several times and he is an expert on them... rubbishes many brands.....
Great stuff andy. I am the same, but the problem is that I now have a barn full of bits and pieces that one day might be useful. I did see an advert the other day from a charity requesting any old tools, saws, hammers, spades, etc, in fact any hand tools. They refurbish them and send them on to some of the poorest places in Africa. Do you have a recipe for your plastic welding? It sounds very useful.
Great idea re old tools. I have a very good collection plus my grandad’s. My dad has a great collection also, which I suppose in time... I’m a big believer in making sure the boys know how to do things. Any plumbing, electrics, woodwork, car maintenance, sort of thing I do, I make sure they’ve both taken part in the thinking, handling of tools etc. Even if they don’t become similar to me in terms of fixing things, there is the problem solving aspect, which is so good for the brain, I think. The ‘plastic welding’ is very simple, and there are loads of videos on youtube about it. The bicarb cures the glue almost instantaneously, so you put a little glue where you want it, pour on bicarb, blow, repeat. You end up with a messy mountain of solid glue, which you then file into shape. Its best use is fixing/rebuilding irreplaceable bits of plastic. So if a mount on an old telly breaks, you build a new one. A few small files of varying shapes and sandpaper later and you’re away. I’ll try and find a dcent example and post a link, but there are lots. The expression ‘plastic welding’ I’ve only heard a couple use in their commentary, so not perhaps the best search device. But it is a good description. Our dishwasher handle obviously sees a lot of action and after 11 years it split. I’ve rebuilt it and it’s now as strong as ever.
Is the general idea But this one (by a different Andy!) shows how useful this is. He fixes here, but you can build something completely from scratch if you have the patience and time.
