As the saying go’s....

[EvilPie]

Matt.

Extraordinary stuff.

Solid reasoning, carefully considered, intelligent, efficient, and - take this as a compliment - a dyed in the wool financial life nit.

And yet when you play poker...

I'm penny smart, pound stupid unfortunately.

I'll put a tremendous amount of effort in to cutting bills to save a few quid and yet happily chuck a few hundred at a roulette table.

Go figure.....

[Marky147]

Matt.

Extraordinary stuff.

Solid reasoning, carefully considered, intelligent, efficient, and - take this as a compliment - a dyed in the wool financial life nit.

And yet when you play poker...

I'm penny smart, pound stupid unfortunately.

I'll put a tremendous amount of effort in to cutting bills to save a few quid and yet happily chuck a few hundred at a roulette table.

Go figure.....

I forget to do the former, but always manage the latter

[EvilPie]

EvilPie that is really interesting I may have to PM you as I am going to be building a house soon and have decided to go down the air source heat pump/underfloor heating route and not have gas. Did you get triple glazed windows? We are keen on installing rainwater caputure so we can flush our toilets and wash our clothes with rain water. Don't see the point in using treated water for that type of thing! The tank will sit underground in the garden and can also be used to water the plants. If all new-builds had these tanks then it would somewhat counter-balance the risk of flooding from having paved over a load of farmland/fields.

Why do it via PM? Put it on here for everyone to read I say.

I looked in to rainwater harvesting, it was actually one of my main 'wants' and was even written in to my plans. Problem is when you look at how much treated water costs you have a payback in the region of 50+ years.

I was looking at a 5000L system and because I was doing a full refurb it wasn't a major issue to plumb everything to get the most out of the system, toilets + washing same as you.

It was about £3000 for the system but then you had fitting on top as well as adjustments to plumbing internally. Let's call it £4000 total.

According to the website I was looking to purchase from (rainwaterharvesting.co.uk) a roof my size in England would collect 56000L per year.

Let's assume I manage to use every last bit of it. What are the savings?

Well my local water authority Severn Trent charge £1.45 per cubic metre. One cubic metre is 1000 cubic litres so my roof can produce at most 56 cubic metres of water. Let's round it up a bit and call it £84 per year worth of water assuming you use every last drop that lands on your roof.

Do the maths, it just ain't gonna work.

Yes you'll save a fair amount of water but it's so ridiculously cheap you'll never get your money back. Your bills might be £400 per year but the majority of that is for standing charges and waste water disposal rather than clean treated water.

If you're doing it for the 'feel good factor' then 100% go for it but I decided that the money was better spent elsewhere. I'll be honest and tell you that I still kind of regret not installing the system. Even now when we have a good downpour I think how my water tank would've been filling up with all that lovely clean, fresh water.......

[EvilPie]

Talking about rainwater harvesting has reminded me of one of my 'eco' things....

https://www.ecoegg.com/product/laundry-egg/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6KrtBRDLARIsAKzvQIFPy7-CGtvzldQzlfUEWQLk6e4vKgicf5t-OOBH2h4TdkQ4_YAXtJsaApmUEALw_wcB

I bought one of these eco eggs a few months ago. Seems weird at first when you do your first load of washing and it doesn't smell of detergent but you soon get used to it. Absolutely fantastic little device and I can honestly say all my washing including dog blankets/towels is as clean as it ever was using washing tablets plus conditioner with all its packaging.

If you have solar plus rainwater harvesting plus an eco egg you can wash all your clothes for pretty much zero environmental impact.

How's that for the 'feel good' factor.

[RED-DOG]

Dog blankets?

[EvilPie]

Dog blankets?

Were you not aware that I have a new pup in my life?

Gone and got another Rotty haven't I

This one's absolutely soft as grease and I could let anyone meet him. He's a bit of a pain off lead and has intermittent recall but other than that he's perfect.

Any ideas on training recall in a dog that has 5 years of bad habits behind him?

[tikay]

Dog blankets?

Were you not aware that I have a new pup in my life?

Gone and got another Rotty haven't I

This one's absolutely soft as grease and I could let anyone meet him. He's a bit of a pain off lead and has intermittent recall but other than that he's perfect.

Any ideas on training recall in a dog that has 5 years of bad habits behind him?

That's great news Matt, pleased for you.

Intermittent recall, you say?

I rarely need much excuse to upload this.

[RED-DOG]

Dog blankets?

Were you not aware that I have a new pup in my life?

Gone and got another Rotty haven't I

This one's absolutely soft as grease and I could let anyone meet him. He's a bit of a pain off lead and has intermittent recall but other than that he's perfect.

Any ideas on training recall in a dog that has 5 years of bad habits behind him?

No. I had no idea that you had another dog. Full details please.

Now then, you know as well as me that first chance is best chance at teaching recall but that ship has sailed so it's all touchy feely now.


When recall doesn't work is it because he is too interested in something else and just doesn't hear you, (Deafing out)
or does he hear you but ignore you because he knows there is nothing you can do about it?

[vegaslover]

Hey Matt
Cheers for the reply and the detailed explanation of upfront costs and potential payback.
Do you think that your set up will be worth more than you currently estimate for the future?
I'm thinking in terms of how much energy usage is going to cost in the future when the energy companies start charging far more for peak period use.

[HutchGF]

The major thing I do is overlooked.

I am a Science Teacher and have embedded environmental ethics into our schemes of work from Yr7 upwards. I ran an event in school where students put on self written plays on what the world will be like in 50 years time if we don't change our attitude towards carbon emissions. The students loved it and really rose to the challenge and it was a fantastic evening. We now have an environmental club and grow a lot of our own vegetables for the school kitchen. We have recently 'adopted' two bee hives and regularly have up to 100 children on the beach collecting rubbish and taking pride in our coastal location.

Education has a major role to play and we are attempting to raise a more ethically responsible generation of school leavers.

[EvilPie]

Dog blankets?

Were you not aware that I have a new pup in my life?

Gone and got another Rotty haven't I

This one's absolutely soft as grease and I could let anyone meet him. He's a bit of a pain off lead and has intermittent recall but other than that he's perfect.

Any ideas on training recall in a dog that has 5 years of bad habits behind him?

That's great news Matt, pleased for you.

Intermittent recall, you say?

I rarely need much excuse to upload this.

Lol. Good old Fenton

Thankfully Zeus isn't fussed at all by the deer on Wollaton Park. We can walk within a couple of metres of one and he barely flinches.

One actually started moving towards us the other day in a very friendly looking manner but I decided to walk away just in case. Both of them just looked curious but I chose against getting my phone out to video it for the sensible option of disappearing.

[tikay]

Dog blankets?

Were you not aware that I have a new pup in my life?

Gone and got another Rotty haven't I

This one's absolutely soft as grease and I could let anyone meet him. He's a bit of a pain off lead and has intermittent recall but other than that he's perfect.

Any ideas on training recall in a dog that has 5 years of bad habits behind him?

That's great news Matt, pleased for you.

Intermittent recall, you say?

I rarely need much excuse to upload this.

Lol. Good old Fenton

Thankfully Zeus isn't fussed at all by the deer on Wollaton Park. We can walk within a couple of metres of one and he barely flinches.

One actually started moving towards us the other day in a very friendly looking manner but I decided to walk away just in case. Both of them just looked curious but I chose against getting my phone out to video it for the sensible option of disappearing.

Whoa, hold up.

Zeus? ZEUS?

[Karabiner]

Dog blankets?

Were you not aware that I have a new pup in my life?

Gone and got another Rotty haven't I

This one's absolutely soft as grease and I could let anyone meet him. He's a bit of a pain off lead and has intermittent recall but other than that he's perfect.

Any ideas on training recall in a dog that has 5 years of bad habits behind him?

That's great news Matt, pleased for you.

Intermittent recall, you say?

I rarely need much excuse to upload this.

Lol. Good old Fenton

Thankfully Zeus isn't fussed at all by the deer on Wollaton Park. We can walk within a couple of metres of one and he barely flinches.

One actually started moving towards us the other day in a very friendly looking manner but I decided to walk away just in case. Both of them just looked curious but I chose against getting my phone out to video it for the sensible option of disappearing.

The stags in Wollaton Park are currently at their ruttiest and there's one in particular who is really very aggressive - he actually attacked a lady golfer's golf trolley and tossed her golf bag with it's antlers last week.

[MintTrav]

- I try and choose food packing that is as minimal on plastic as possible,

I have been avoiding single use plastic bags for a long time, and do try and cut down on all plastic.  

I avoid single use plastic wherever I can

Why?

Have you been throwing your rubbish on the beach?

Plastic is one of the greatest inventions. It is light, strong, hygenic, waterproof, air-tight, see-through, damage-resistant and a lot of it is recyclable. For these reasons, it is the best material for food packaging and many other purposes. There is an anti-plastic group-think going on currently which makes no sense. Unless you have been taking your used plastic containers to the beach and throwing them in the sea, why are you trying to cut down on your use of plastic, and giving yourselves a pat on the back for doing so?

[Doobs]

- I try and choose food packing that is as minimal on plastic as possible,

I have been avoiding single use plastic bags for a long time, and do try and cut down on all plastic.  

I avoid single use plastic wherever I can

Why?

Have you been throwing your rubbish on the beach?

Plastic is one of the greatest inventions. It is light, strong, hygenic, waterproof, air-tight, see-through, damage-resistant and a lot of it is recyclable. For these reasons, it is the best material for food packaging and many other purposes. There is an anti-plastic group-think going on currently which makes no sense. Unless you have been taking your used plastic containers to the beach and throwing them in the sea, why are you trying to cut down on your use of plastic, and giving yourselves a pat on the back for doing so?

I am not sure what your issue is.  It says single use plastic, not all plastic.  I have reused plastic bags for as long as I remember, incliding before the bag for life was a thing.  Reusingis better than recycling, as it saves on energy and ensures 100% of the bag is definitely recycled.  Just putting your vegetables in your trolley and then in your bag is going to be better than putting them in something you don't reuse.  A lot of plastic isn't recyclable, so I try and avoid that if I can.  But even after all that, some of my plastic is going to end up in landfil, and some of that may not stay there.  I think minimising it should surely be an aim?   I am not perfect on this, but it is goid to stop and think before buying something in plastic or any container, and not binning things that can be recycled or reused.

I am not sure why people shouldn't give themselves pats on the back, nobody else is going to bother.

As an aside I think the wooden shed probably beats a plastic one overall, but couldn't really find anything definitive.  Any thoughts?

Welcome back btw.