Imagine if I found oil on our smallholding? Apparently a landowner owns the land but the government owns the rights to any mineral deposits. So I don't think I will ever become a Beverly Hillbilly. There will be no Texas tea for us. So we'll have to settle for a 'nice cuppa tea' instead.
Here's another picture of Bantry Bay taken from our 'new' (recycled) patio. My late grandmother used to say:
"The view won't feed you."
It is gobsmacking beautiful but I wish I could get an helicopter to pick it up and carefully place it down in Cornwall or Herefordshire. Might have a problem with the sea though.
Interesting wondering how much oil the tankers burn just moving the stuff about the globe, it must be 100s of tons, some of them are huge, I also wonder how much oil they contain? And what weight it is? And how much power is in the engines to move that sort of weight? And how much damage it would do if they (the oil tankers) all developed a leak at the same time? Or even one of them? (remember Torrey Canyon) And how much money changes hands in the search for, extraction of, and sale of the stuff? And how much tax revenue is generated for greedy governments?
ReplyDeleteDoubt if you'll be unlucky enough to discover oil under your land, and as you say, even if you did, the beaurocrats would want their share (or they may let you keep a share?)
And I agree the view won't feed you, but I wouldn't like to see that nice outlook full of the parapinallia of drilling for and extracting the oil. It's not too much unlike the Solway with the Scottish fells, except we've got the windmills to suffer and they're bad enough.
Raggy cat seems to have recovered, ate all the tuna and chicken stuff, drank the milk, had a warm in front of the fire (Yes, it's still cold enough to put the fire on) and saunterd out about half an hour ago.
Thanks Cumbrian. Thanks for some great thoughts on oil and the transportation of it. We seem to be slaves to oil. Whether it's chemical fertilizers for our crops, fuel for transport or plastic for almost everything (even the computer keyboard I am two finger typing)we use.
ReplyDeleteI do remember Torrey Canyon. I dread to think what is being carried on our seas?
Ever since man invented the wheel or spark from a piece of Flint to cook and keep warm, we have been causing pollution. Even wood-burning stoves are said to cause pollution.
India and China have vast reserves of fossil fuels like Coal but they have very little Oil. Every week China builds new Coal fired power stations. I read somewhere that Britain's got the cleanest rivers for 200 years. Is that the price we pay for no manufacturing and mass unemployment.
We have plenty of windmills also. They seem to be placing them more inland.
Glad to hear that Raggy cat is his self again. We have to light our range every afternoon for cooking and hot water. Who would believe you would need a fire in May?
Thanks for your thoughts Cumbrian.
Yes, India & China, I think it won't be too long before these are the dominant world players, they may not have oil, but they've got just about everything else, and the oil has to be finished in the not too distant future.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget our friends in Russia, that's a vast country with vast resources and relatively un-exploited compared to the West.
We won't see it, but it's gonna be very interesting to see what happens when the balance of financial power moves away from America and Western Europe.
Nice to hear that our rivers are returning to their natural un-polluted state, nature will always win in the end if it's left alone.
Raggy cat returned this morning, still looking a bit sorry for himself, not eating despite being offered delicacies like ham shank and some new biccies. Mrs C getting worried about it.
Still wet cold and miserable, been making some lentil soup, managed to find a decent ham shank from Carlisle market, that's usually a winter warming stand-by.
Thanks Cumbrian. I think China and India are the new Europe and full employment will never be possible again for us. There are very few manufacturing jobs left here in Ireland and the UK.
ReplyDeleteHave you read Richard Madeley's thoughts on recycling today in the Telegraph? It's on the Internet and very entertaining. The comments are very similar to what we have been saying over the last few months Cumbrian.
I think that the supermarkets should print how much the packaging costs. For example: a can of lager. Contents 75p, aluminium can 50p. We'd all be very careful if we knew how much we paid. The sad thing is we then pay for the packaging to be taken to land-fill tips. Oh for one of those old fashioned shops like the C.O.O.P where they sold everything loose or wrapped it in brown paper.
I hope Raggy cat is soon on the mend. My dad used to give our dog milk with eggs and brandy if she was ill. She would go to sleep and nature would do the rest.
The Lenti l soup sounds great. Oh to eat all those northern delicacies like black peas and Lancashire crumbly cheese. That also came from the C.O.O.P along with bottles of sterilised milk.
Thanks Cumbrian.
Full employment? Not till the oil runs out. I wonder how many men the machines (JCBs, Load-alls, dumpers, etc) have made redumdant in the building trade?) OK, it wasn't a lot of fun humping bricks and mortar then slates up ladders, but it kept a lot of men employed. Same as agriculture. And any large-scale production line with robots.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Co-op didn't have the monopoly on brown paper, just about everthing went into brown paper bags, and the travelling butchers and fishmongers expected the housewife to bring their own plates.
Yes I've just read the thoughts of Richard Madeley (thanks to the wonders of t'internet) maybe he has a point. We have 3 bins, general waste (black) garden waste (green) paper (green) and a purple bag for bottles, plastic and tins. i get confused about which one is due this week, so watch the neigbours and follow suit, so do most othr people; if the first one gets it wrong, we'll all get it wrong. they send 3 wagons round to collect the different wastes. Dunno where it goes. And that's without the skips, which are now segregated for different wastes as well.
Years ago, when we all had open fires, the metal bin (about half the size of the small wheelie bins) usually had a few cinders in and a handful of buned-out cans. Everything else went up the chimney (and heated the water) or on the compost heap, even the bones had a use for giving to the dog. Land-fill wasn't a problem.
Raggy cat had a visit to the vet at the insitance of Mrs C, she gets worried about it. For £30.67, I found out she is about 2 years old, probably neutered (no kittens despite spending nights out) with good heart, lungs and teeth (1 missing) temperature normal (big objections to shoving the thermometer up the arse) the raggy ears probably from fighting, had a few lumps in her stomach and intestines (promably eatying some rubbish) that's why it's off food, and had a full bladder. Then administered an anti-biotic injection and a worming pill. All by a vet called Beverley, who didn't look old enough to be out of school. (Or am I getting old?)
Since we don't have a cat cage, it escaped from the first 2 cardboard boxes and ended up transported in a suitcase. With objections.
Came home and ate some fat from the ham shank, wandered outside for an hour, then back to its favourite position lying in front of the fire.
Nowt much wrong there.
Except I'm 2 x £15 home-brew kits down.
Maybe should have tried the milk with eggs and brandy.
You forgot rum butter, Cumberlad sausage, black pudding and tayty-pot (scouse if you come from Liverpool or Lancashire hot-pot if you come from Lancashire). I suppose the Irish stew is the same?
Great thoughts Cumbrian. Progress seems to be one step forwards, two step backwards. The dock workers also lost their jobs due to mechanization and the invention of the container.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't like to employ somebody today. Everybody seems to need a very high wage. How many houses have more than one car, satellite television, private pensions, mortgages, 2 or 3 holidays a year, credit cards and broadband..? Perhaps most people are middle class these days and need paying accordingly?
The chip shops used to wrap everything in newspaer and gave you something to read unless of course you where that little old lady who insisted on her bowl being warmed on the range for her steak puddings. I'm trying to make this amusing but seriously I think the supermarkets and manufacturers make far too much packaging. Why does a cabbage need to be placed in a plastic bag and then be placed in a landfill site to slowly decompose for 500 years. A lot of packaging doesn't even get recycled and goes to landfill.
I agree with you about the metal bins and open fires. Don't think you would get all the town foxes raiding the bins either.
There should be more biomass research and energy extracted from landfill. Saying that I don't think it's possible to make a fuel without some kind of pollution.
Hope Raggy cat is feeling better. I was wondering if it needed a worm tablet? Perhaps it ate a bird or mouse that wasn't very nice? Our Jack Russel terrier caught a rat last week and ATE it! She's not allowed in the house at the moment.
I did forget all those wonderful regional delicacies. Kendal mintcake, Parkin and Vimto all come to mind.
I used to go in a Irish cafe in Manchester that sold Irish products like Barrys Tea and Tayto crisps. Perhaps I should open a 'English' pub that sells northern bitter and English dishes?
Thanks Cumbrian.
No, don't think I'd want to employ anybody either, some of their expectations are out of all proportion to their ability.
ReplyDelete"A lot of packaging doesn't get recycled" - I don't think any of it does, mostly plastic wrappers that finish up in the general waste bin and there from to land fill.
But some of the cardboard might, if people seperate it out and put it in the correct colour bin (what about the colour-blind people?)
The local Council had a big hole left from open-cast mining operations, they filled it over about 3 years with the rubbish collections, then grassed it over and planted conifers, that was about 15-20 years ago, thers still methane coming out of the vent pipes they left sticking out of it.
And you're right about the urban foxes, I think they're getting to be epedemic in some areas.
Raggy cat seems back to normal.
You could try an English pub, the Irish pubs are everywhere, I've even had a pint of Guinness in Molly Malones in Bangkok, and a good one in Amsterdam serving 2 dishes on the menu - Irish stew or fish & chips, both industrial sized portions.
Forgot to mention the Irish pub in Budapest, excellent pint of Guinness, served by Irish staff.
ReplyDeleteSomebody also tried an English pub just down the road from it, complete with Union Jack over the door, good try but the staff are all Hungarian with a limited English vocabulary, it didn't seem to be doing very well.
Thanks Cumbrian. I have heard in Brazil and Mexico that they run their cars off the gas or juices from the land-fill sites. Is it Ethanol? John Seymour said the landfill sites will be the fuel mines of the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about colour blind people. Why not employ people to sort it? It would create thousands of jobs.
Here in Ireland they put a plastic bag levvy on the carrier bags and the witches knickers have disappeared from the power lines.
I still think the supermarkets, Sunday newspapers, manufacturers should be responsible for less packaging and there should be the price of ther packaging printed on the packaging. Landfill is a problem that will never be sorted or even discussed properly. Don't mention incinerators what ever you do. It's OK though to have millions of cars (here we go again) spewing out poison every day though. Should plastic should be banned and all cars run off nuclear powered electric?
The town foxes are a problem. Takeaways never have enough dustbins either.
Glad to hear Raggy cats back to normal. Carol mentions Raggy cat in the patio blog underneath.
I have been in a 'Irish' pub in France and none of the staff spoke English and we didn't speak French. So I made pint hand signs and we all laughed and they gave me the correct change and a good pint of Guinness with the shamrock head.
Could do with some English pubs in Ireland. Especially one's that serve English regional food and real ale.
Thanks Cumbrian. I am always grateful for your comments.
Urban foxes - saw a programme the other afternoon (don't know what it was) that showed a fox being released back onto a street in some town I don't know where.
ReplyDeleteIt had got into a mans hen hull and killed all his chickens, so he had managed to catch it and secure it in a dog transporter cage, at cost of various bites and scratches to his hands and arms.
He phoned the amimal rescue people, who came and took it away, then treated it for mange and gave it a dose of some medicine, kept it a couple of days to make sure it was OK to release back onto the streets, then took it back to where they got it from and let it go.
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Nice to hear Guinness travels to France, and they know about the shamrock.
Raggy cat seems back to normal.
I'm shaking my head with disbelief. How can they be so stupid?
ReplyDeleteThe Guinness did travel well to France Cumbrian. They didn't wait for it to settle like they do in Ireland though. It's also great to know you can order a drink just by making glass shapes with your hands. Who needs to learn French when you can gesticulate a pint shape?
Thanks.
Yeah, after centuries of trying to eliminate them, the powers that be banned out fox-hunting, dunno why, probably as a sop to some well-connected do-gooders.
ReplyDeleteThen providing free vetinary care. The guy whose chickens they killed I just couldn't beleive, he seemed so concerned about the fox's welfare.
And some people were actually encouraging them by leaving food out. One guy even had a CCTV to record them all night, he was ecstatic when cubs were born under his shed.
The mind boggles.
I was accosted years ago by an anti (as we call them) on Barrows main shopping drag asking me to sign a petition to ban hunting. He was mid twenties, wearing a top hat over long greasy unkempt hair, about 3 days growth on his chin, striped collarless grandad shirt with waiscoat over, trousers that came just below the knee, and Jesus sandles sans socks.
I asked him a few questions to establish that he'd never actually seen a fox nor the indiscriminate killing they are capable of, then told him exactly what I thought about his petition. Needless to say my opinions went down like a lead parachute.
Better morning, sunshine and blue sky, light airs, but keeps unseasonally cold.
Raggy cat waiting at letting-in time, asleep in front of fire even though it's not on.
Thanks for that Cumbrian.
ReplyDeleteFoxes are incredibly beautiful wild animals. I often see the cubs playing or a sly fox sauntering over my fields. They do a good job eliminating the rats. Saw one carrying a rat recently in its mouth.
They are also extremely cruel and cause devastation to poultry and new born lambs. The minks are also very bad.
The 'anti' sounds a character. Especially wearing a top hat. I think characters make the world go round.
The weather is perking up here also. It's supposed to be really nice all week. I hope to finally get my weeding done and the rushes need cutting again. I will talk about weed-killers in my next blog post.
Glad to hear Raggy cat is ruling the hearth.
Thanks Cumbrian.