Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Literally round the corner where the other tourist tat shops are - that are closer to the colleges, museums, Radcliffe camera etc. - might be a start

They’re there now because the street can’t pull in shoppers (as it was always a shopping st before) because of the huge new mall down the road, so short term rent deals are plentiful.

Sure, it’s better than empty storefronts but the street doesn’t have any focus now. It’s not for locals, not really for visitors and isn’t a particularly nice space.

I do like Oxford and Cambridge.

Pylons are the government "teaching the countryside a lesson", per the actual leader of Lincolnshire Council. Presumably cities should be demolished to drive pylons through.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8x9g7jm5zo

Doubtless he's a fan of lower taxes too. But in this case he thinks they should just shell out all the extra billions to put the grid underground.

More here. Outrageously, the government's looking to built solar farms near this grid capacity. Total industrialization, apparently.

Clive Lewis was moaning the other day that the Government didn't support a bill that would make it harder to build all this solar capacity.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1wnxezzzqqo

Regularly take my dog out for a safe run under the shadow of pylons in that part of the countryside. Guess how many people I meet enjoying the majesty of the Lincolnshire flatlands? None, zilch, nadir, nowt, fuck all.
Octopus Energy campaigns for local pricing as the grid hasn't the capacity to carry excess leccy on windy days. In other words you could offer almost free electric if you move to a windy part of the country near turbines. Take more than that to want to move to Stornaway.

Jeez.

I must have imagined that massive fuckoff petrol station just off the A34 then.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Mon Mar 31, 2025 2:43 pm Jeez.

8 bays is fuck all. And what do they mean an “urban nature”? Do they think people live in car parks?!

If I've got this correct, there are 2 petrol stations on the A40 at, or very close to, this location.

Crabcakes wrote: ↑Mon Mar 31, 2025 3:20 pm
8 bays is fuck all. And what do they mean an “urban nature”? Do they think people live in car parks?!

Don't forget the accessible toilets.

Cross posting this with the BBC thread

Lucky that none of these people have ever used roads, mains electricity, airports etc.

My experience is that some people like this genuinely believe that their relative prosperity buys them a right to special pleading, and will even tell you that to your face.

From earlier in the year. Objections from the same person to some houses being built in Herefordshire.

1) Houses will be bought by working age people who'll have to travel to work (bad because traffic).
2) Houses will be bought by retired people from South East England (bad because strain on care system).

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/n ... ss-9869540

Is there anyone left in South East England? They seem to all be moving out and buying up houses whenever somewhere else tries to build more houses. Perhaps it's doubly bad if working age people from South East England move into your area.

Don't forget the "this wouldn't be happening if the small boat brown people weren't pushing whites out of the south east of England" line Very popular in parts of Wales, that one..

While simultaneously "all of them are being sent to Wales".

Actually I might have been a bit unfair on that person in that link. She's arguing against a "new town" development and saying the houses should all be built on the outskirts of Hereford. Though the same argument with old people from the SE would presumably apply. Not quite sure if it's a thing for old people to get up one morning and think "I'm old, need social care, I'll move out of SE England to Herefordshire!" anyway.

Generally, it's quite popular for people to think "I've just retired, I'm still active, don't need to live where the jobs are, and would like to cash in a bit of the equity tied up in my over-priced house. Ledbury looks nice, though maybe Kington is better value."
It's only 10 years down the line when their health starts to fail that the pressures on health and social care start to kick in. And the distance of these small towns from Hereford General Hospital starts to look ominous, too.

10 years ought to be time to allocate/reallocate money though. Is care provision much better in South East England? I doubt it.

Killer Whale wrote: ↑Tue Apr 01, 2025 2:46 pm Generally, it's quite popular for people to think "I've just retired, I'm still active, don't need to live where the jobs are, and would like to cash in a bit of the equity tied up in my over-priced house. Ledbury looks nice, though maybe Kington is better value."
It's only 10 years down the line when their health starts to fail that the pressures on health and social care start to kick in. And the distance of these small towns from Hereford General Hospital starts to look ominous, too.

Met plenty like that when I worked in Monmouth and lived in the Forest of Dean. They'd come down in summer, and fall in love with the place, and be buying up holiday cottages or houses straight away. You'd say to them that a few weeks of summer weather weren't typical, that the river was prone to flooding, that in the winter trees would fall and block roads, that we got serious snow, and that they had the great choice of the Co-Op or Lidl for their big shop. And did they listen? Ha.