Things I Hate - A Comedic Rantesse

[Divemouse]

I just made the mistake of going into the ditch to collect flints to make a French drain for the washing machine, just before an impressive thunderstorm. Absolutely soaked and I couldn't run away because the force of the rain bought all the vegetation on the sides down with me.

[Tim Digger]

I just made the mistake of going into the ditch to collect flints to make a French drain for the washing machine, just before an impressive thunderstorm. Absolutely soaked and I couldn't run away because the force of the rain bought all the vegetation on the sides down with me.

What is a French Drain? Is this a linguistic relic of times when anything "not nice" was called French Eg French Letter. About the time of the Napoleonic War. I presume you mean a soakaway?

[Adrian]

What is a French Drain? Is this a linguistic relic of times when anything "not nice" was called French Eg French Letter. About the time of the Napoleonic War. I presume you mean a soakaway?

They're slow drains (often perforated pipe surrounded by large infill) intended to drain surface and ground water. They may outfall into a soakaway, but likely other streams or bigger drainage systems. The lines of stones alongside trunkroads and motorways are likely to be french drains. They tend to blind (clog up) over time and are a maintenance nightmare. They are often replaced by swales, the big shallow concrete V that are connected to the bigger drains at gulley points.

WIki has it that they're named for an American who made them popular,

[Chrisch]

What is a French Drain? Is this a linguistic relic of times when anything "not nice" was called French Eg French Letter. About the time of the Napoleonic War. I presume you mean a soakaway?

The French for "French Letter" is "capote anglaise".

[steelemonkey]

My water bill has just gone up by 50%

[notdeadyet]

English Heritage. Another triumph of Tory privatisation that focuses on nothing but squeezing profit out of resources that belong to the nation.

I visited Clifford's Tower in York yesterday for the first time since it's redevelopment and shocked at how shit it is. Turned into a glorified viewing platform, the sole purpose of which is stealing a tenner from tourists.

[Chrisch]

My water bill has just gone up by 50%

Water is £1.70 a tonne delivered. Cheap as chips. Actually much cheaper than chips TBH

[MarkA]

English Heritage. Another triumph of Tory privatisation that focuses on nothing but squeezing profit out of resources that belong to the nation.

I visited Clifford's Tower in York yesterday for the first time since it's redevelopment and shocked at how shit it is. Turned into a glorified viewing platform, the sole purpose of which is stealing a tenner from tourists.

Had always assumed it was a tube of stone with nothing inside on a small hill.

[notdeadyet]

Had always assumed it was a tube of stone with nothing inside on a small hill.

It was. Been redeveloped by EH as a tourist cash cow. If you'd never seen it before and didn't care about conservation or history then what they've done would look great. I'm a history geek, I think it's awful and oversteps the mark of conservators of our heritage. HES in Scotland and Cadw in Wales are government agencies there to protect and conserve. EH is different, the Tories thought it would be better to turn it into a commercial operation posing as a charity that treats heritage as a business resource. It's not as bad as the Stonehenge theme park but it's that level of shitness. It also seems to have removed a lot of the references that were there to the Jewish pogrom, presumably to make it all a bit more palatable to tourists.

[Adrian]

My water bill has just gone up by 50%

Has your consumption gone up to match? If yes and your behaviours are unchanged, check your own pipework for a leak.

Also the sewage bill component relates to the water volume, so if you do have a leak, you're also paying more for the waste treatment.