Guilt Free Railing 14

[WouldBeGood]

😱 I think we will need this thread.. could it be the last?!

We have space for a heat pump as have large garden but have large 1960s house which is poorly insulated despite our best efforts. Also would need radiators and pipework replaced so would cost a fortune.

Would consider an EV but have family in SE England and we are North Scotland so where's the infrastructure ?

Technology has a long way to go.
One of the most pointless things l've heard of is running a diesel generator to charge an electric car. but hey ho the car is clean!

We need to plan from the start, public transport proper town and city centres, out of town developments encourage car use.
Nobody will take two buses to get to work if it can be driven in a fraction of the time.

Here is another bonkers one, councils that won't allow staff to transfer to different locations, seriously how is that either people or environmentally friendly ?
That totally go me when I was gibbering with a teacher, councils employ and put staff anywhere. Which again has to assume teachers can drive and encourages car use.

all very well to have 2 cars if you can afford it and have one of those electric for local journeys but not everyone in that position

Would use public transport more but live semi rurally and to get to work 10 miles away for 9am by bus would mean leaving house at 7.15 to walk 30 mins to catch bus which takes at least 45 mins.

I used to get the train to work but kept being late as they kept getting cancelled or delayed. I also had to drive to the train station. Once they put the price up of the train it was cheaper and more reliable for me to drive and pay for parking!
There is no incentive! The bus takes twice as long and is once an hour as I'm rural as well.
This is the problem with green Scotland plans outside of the main central belt and cities its horrific for public transport and so expensive!

@Scottishskifun absolutely agree . I used to get train also but had to drive to get to station and so often was cancelled or delayed. I am fortunate to be on flexi time but not everyone is. Frequently ended up driving in to work after freezing on station platform for train which didnt arrive. There was also the concern about getting home as Scotfail so unreliable. On more than one occasion a colleague had to call her husband to drive in to collect us.

@Scottishskifun

I used to get the train to work but kept being late as they kept getting cancelled or delayed. I also had to drive to the train station. Once they put the price up of the train it was cheaper and more reliable for me to drive and pay for parking! There is no incentive! The bus takes twice as long and is once an hour as I'm rural as well. This is the problem with green Scotland plans outside of the main central belt and cities its horrific for public transport and so expensive!

Even within the cities it's a nightmare. I don't currently drive and have no idea how next year I'm going to get DD1 to school, DD2 to nursery and get myself in to work by 8.45. No idea. If public transport was easier it may be doable, but it's really not great and is also very expensive if you need to use more than one type.

Even within the central belt buses are a nightmare.

Getting to work by car is around 15mins. Doing it by bus is something daft like 3 buses and over an hour.
Build things out of town, people need to get bus into town, then back out again, if they can get a direct bus to where they are going.

If I were in charge I’d invest heavily in cheap or free public transport and the infrastructure to make cycling or walking more appealing and safer.

yep, public transport pretty poor in my part of the central belt. I had to drive my DC to school for 7 years (non catchment) which took about 10 minutes, trying to go by bus meant two buses plus a walk and none of them integrated schedule wise. They could take the train but a long walk to get to the station and the couple of times I tried just dropping them at the station as I had things i needed to be at, their train was cancelled. Basically, if you want to get to the University there are plenty of buses but anywhere else is poor.

So now the SNP council in Glasgow is planning to bring in private contractors to clear the rubbish, in the face of the GMB strike.

Pretty Thatcheresque

It's faster to walk than to take the two buses and wait times to get the dc to school, and the car journey is 25 percent of the walking time.

We do need to push hard on the environment. I agree I'm not convinced by the practicality or durability of a lot of the ideas on offer though.

Similarly walking to the supermarket two or three times weekly to buy things in my own Tupperware is something I don't have the time for.

I didn't realise it was so poor in the central belt too! Mostly we visit Edinburgh but use the train and tram and there was a direct bus to our hotel so I thought it was reasonable!

There is also a UK consultation just started on non gas grid houses having to have heat source pumps from 2026 (so new houses but also replacements I'm assuming) all of this is great but the cost is so high currently!

I'm in east central belt and we have good public transport.
Problem is it's all packed (in non covid times) as everyone here commutes to Edinburgh.
I'm always objecting to all the new houses being built near me on the basis that we need more employment near to where people live if we want to reduce commuting or have people able to walk/cycle to work all year round in Scotland.

The transport in the central belt is good if you trying to get to Glasgow or Edinburgh City centres but don't try to get to anywhere on the out skirts.

Edinburgh was always good and presume Glasgow is similar, though I remember taking DC to the science centre and it taking a million years in one direction and being great in the other. Once you get outwith those, it's a hit or a miss. Some places seem great just because it happens to fit in well with what you want but your neighbour could think its shit because they need to be in a different place at a different time and it's impossible without multiple changes.

Here to rail about Owen Paterson decision today. I'm absolutely horrified. Long time poster, recent name changer.

Absolutely @alicesfavouritepen, it’s disgusting. Makes me despair. The Tory MPs should be ashamed

I think that some of them are. I just honestly can't believe it. It feels like democracy is slowly slipping away.

I'm applauding the GP (the president of GPs society sorry can't remember the exact name) last night who was extremely honest about stresses on the NHS on the nine but also pointing out that it was a result of several years of underfunding and had be warned to SG for years......

I know that many people are aware of this especially on here but when NS just says covid pressures it was good for it to be reiterated and highlighted its not new and they were warned!

Good to here people actually come out and say its not all covid that's caused the issues.

In good news, the UK has authorised an anti-viral drug for treatment of vulnerable people diagnosed with Covid. Sounds really great!

That is very good news @WouldBeGood

@alicesfavouritepen

Here to rail about Owen Paterson decision today. I'm absolutely horrified. Long time poster, recent name changer.

I've not looked into this. Corruption?

@starryeyesuprise he's now resigned but basically accused of paid lobbying for companies which is against the standards rules. Tories then changed the rules this week to allow right for appeal etc they have now done a u turn on that as well.

I don't know the full ins and outs of it but it rumbled on for quite a while. His wife also committed suicide with the stress of the investigation cited as a contributor to her death.

@StarryEyeSurprise the whole grubby episode has proved too sleazy even for Boris 😱 He’s been forced to backtrack by the outrage from all sides