Every building a mini power station with roofs plastered in PV panels, with storage battery. You live within your means of using your own generated and stored electricity.
It is called living off the grid or, as much of the grid as you can, and leaving more oil and gas for future generations to use. I've proved it does work but, you do have to be disciplined and not go crazy with thoughtless, greedy consumption eg, no EV car for me!
We have three portable panel heaters from Herschel for three different rooms. No more Russian or American gas for our central heating. Herschel are just tops, especially when we can use them with our 24 panel solar array and six batteries in the garage for evening warmth. In recent days, we've had too much generation. But how will get on with the cold spell coming up? No problem! We will live within what we can generate by careful housekeeping; lagging ourselves with layers if we need extra warmth. We are nearly off-grid thanks to Herschel and PV!
Dear Michael Anderson
25 March 2022
Dear Mark
SAVE WHAT LITTLE NATURE THERE IS AT MERRY HILL
TWO CANALS TAINTED BY DUDLEY'S LESS THAN MAGIC TOUCH!
Just as it took over 40 years to force HMG to discharge a £400 m "legitimate" debt to Iran, after only 25 years, Dudley MBC still has absolutely no intention to put right its own unbelievable failings in spending a quarter of a million pounds of public money in overseeing the work of Barhale Construction Services in executing the most perfectly incompetent and useless canal restoration in the history of the UK.
This was Dudley No 2 Canal, aka the Lapal Canal, in 1997 when a 400 metre section of the canal was supposedly 'restored' but never fully filled with water for fear of collapse of the canal embankment, in Leasowes Park.
Dudley Council is also involved in gladly destroying the one and only public open space at Merry Hill Shopping Centre with a 400 metre concrete viaduct right on top of the steep canal embankment, when it could go on steel stilts directly above the water of the canal. And, probably, at less cost.
This is in addition to six Dudley railway lines obliterated and a seventh, a railway "of national strategic significance", well on its way to the unfortunate rail graveyard in the sky!
Earlier this year, a very modest improvement to fewer than ten stiles on public rights of way, by putting steps on them, cost over £9,000, I have been told. Or, is it taking them years to spend the £9,000?
Dishonourable and Dysfunctional Dudley MBC refuses to put right its own incompetence
PHOTOS to be shocked or intrigued or to laugh over:
Dear Annette, Tammy and friends.
Dear Tom
Where on earth have you got this information from? Certainly not from me.
Dear Mick
Tim,
Yes. Solidarity with the Russian antiwar movement and opposition to the fighters of violence on both sides who are perpetuating the killings. I'm fighting the Russians non violently by using no gas from either Russia or America by using only electricity I have generated myself from PV panels. I commend this approach.
SAVE WHAT LITTLE NATURE THERE IS AT MERRY HILL:
TWO CANALS TAINTED BY DUDLEY'S LESS THAN MAGIC TOUCH!
Just as it took over 40 years to force HMG to discharge a £400 m "legitimate" debt to Iran, after only 25 years, Dudley MBC still has absolutely no intention to put right its own unbelievable failings in spending a quarter of a million pounds of public money in overseeing the work of Barhale Construction Services in executing the most perfectly incompetent and useless canal restoration in the history of the UK.
This was Dudley No 2 Canal, aka the Lapal Canal, in 1997 when a 400 metre section of the canal was supposedly 'restored' but never fully filled with water for fear of collapse of the canal embankment, in Leasowes Park, Halesowen.
Dudley Council is also involved in gladly destroying the one and only public open space at Merry Hill Shopping Centre with a 400 metre concrete viaduct right on top of the steep canal embankment, when it could go on steel stilts directly above the water of the canal. And, probably, at less cost.
This is in addition to six Dudley railway lines obliterated and a seventh, a railway "of national strategic significance", well on its way to the unfortunate rail graveyard in the sky!
Earlier this year, a very modest improvement to fewer than ten stiles on public rights of way, by putting steps on them, cost over £9,000, I have been told.
Dishonourable and Dysfunctional Dudley MBC refuses to put right its own incompetence
PHOTOS to be shocked or intrigued or to laugh over:
The war on Ukraine means that the cost of living crisis will get even worse as fuel prices rocket, as we all try and cut back on Russian gas and American LNG. The war means that electricity prices will continue to rise very fast, as so much of it is made from gas.
Therefore, we must campaign and insist that luxury, self-indulgent, totally unnecessary conversion of buses and trains into trams must stop, especially the destruction of the UK's last, mothballed, mainline railway. And, the destruction of nature at Merry Hill SC where the full 400 metre grass embankment with trees and shrubs gets destroyed by a massive concrete viaduct for the miserable, immoral, Metro "bus on rails" tram extension.
Please write, phone, text TfWM customerservices@tfwm.org.uk
and, customerservices@wmca.org.uk
Since the mid 1990s I was cycling into work in Brum on most days. Keeping fit and saving lots of money. Since 2008, I've had Fare-Free Public Transport all over the W Mids. Why not you poor youngsters, too who are so discriminated against in having to pay when the £15 BILLION from 2020 to 2040 for tram extensions could be paying for you to leave your motors at home and for swanning around on buses and trains all day to your hearts content - like this OAP!
Not "unfortunately" but fortunately! I've had a lifetime of very visible protest in non-violently resisting what my conscience tells me is wrong. And standing up for what is right and good. I've had some success, too but mostly failures!
"They made a desert and called it peace" - by humanity warring on itself and, on nature - of which we are part. Idiocy.
Excellent portable heaters of which I have bought three to replace gas-fired central heating. Powered by electricity stored in batteries from 24 solar panels. The future is solar PV and energy efficient Herschel heaters. You can't buy better. And excellent, immediate support in connecting the Smart Life app to the third heater I bought last week. WELL DONE!
TWO CANALS TAINTED BY DUDLEY'S LESS THAN MAGIC TOUCH!
Just as it took over 40 years to force HMG to discharge a £400 m "legitimate" debt to Iran, after only 25 years, Dudley MBC still has absolutely no intention to put right its own unbelievable failings in spending a quarter of a million pounds of public money in overseeing the work of Barhale Construction Services in executing the most perfectly incompetent and useless canal restoration in the history of the UK.
This was Dudley No 2 Canal, aka the Lapal Canal, in 1997 when a 400 metre section of the canal was supposedly 'restored' but never fully filled with water for fear of collapse of the canal embankment.
Dudley Council is also involved in completely destroying the one and only public open space at Merry Hill Shopping Centre with a 400 metre concrete viaduct right on top of the steep canal embankment, when it could go on steel stilts directly above the water of the canal. And, probably, at less cost.
This is in addition to six Dudley railway lines completely obliterated and a seventh, a railway "of national strategic significance", well on its way to the unfortunate rail graveyard in the sky!
Earlier this year, a very modest improvement to fewer than ten stiles on public rights of way by putting steps on them cost over £9,000, I have been told.
Dishonourable and Dysfunctional Dudley MBC refuses to put right its own incompetence
Dear Neil - please forward this to your colleagues, as well. AND, PLEASE, LET'S HAVE A PROPER, PROFESSIONAL, DETAILED REBUTTAL to well and truly flatten this upstart of an old man that I am!
Dear Stuart - a word of explanation about my lack of visibility at your excellent events.
My life of public campaigning started in the 1980s, when I led the campaign against the 16 Kms KBH - Kidderminster, Blakedown, Hagley motorway standard bypass, followed by the WOM - the 87 Kms Western Orbital Motorway. These were public because a large section of the public agreed with me that our countryside should not be buried under concrete, brick and tarmac.
In the 1990s, took up the cudgels against Metro going on the Black Country and Brum's railway network and roads. I felt that it was a solution looking for a problem, an over indulgent, vanity extravagance of all style over substance and that we should be concentrating, instead on getting the bus and, railway networks being fully used and, both at least as good as the average on the mainland of Europe. Certainly for trains back on the train lines, instead of running homes, offices and shops down them.
This time, I have not been able to take the public along with me so I have concentrated ever since on writing letters, then emails, followed by text messages and phone calls to the decision-makers - the senior officers and councillors and, even the odd MP in the W Mids when I've gatecrashed their surgeries.
I am now enjoying making the most of my five minutes in Dudley Council committee meetings when they have a public forum item on the agenda - at some of them. This is to highlight mistakes and misdemeanours, idiocies and incompetences over planning, countryside matters, transport and their hypocrisy in declaring climate emergencies and then carrying on with business as usual.
At 6 pm last Wednesday, I laid into them over their seven railway lines - all in their borough of Dudley - that they had destroyed in their enthusiasm for Metro trams to replace trains and buses. And, at Merry Hill, most of the shopping centre's last public open space being buried under concrete, brick and tarmac for the tram that also destroys the nearby principal mainline railway which it uses on two nibble-sized sections in Dudley borough. Chief Exec of the WMCA, Laura Shoaf was in attendance on Teams, I discovered when it was her turn to speak. I have spent years laying into her transport decisions before she became even more important as CEO!
My time is also taken up with guerrilla gardening at the public open space they intend destroying with their massive concrete viaduct for the tram at Merry Hill. I'm also renewing the hedge and public footpath at Illey Lane, rewilding the central reservation of Halesowen Bypass and tree planting at Frankley Services, northbound to try and blot it out, since the 1990s.
Some weeks ago, on a dark evening, I was on my way, by old fashioned pedal cycle to one of your demos in Brum but crashed on the bike. I chickened out, I'm afraid and went home!
At 74, I'm also attempting to complete my round of over 1,000 summits in Scotland over 2,000 feet, before my body fails me completely. All I have left are the lower ones between 2,000 and 2,500 feet, so that is something!
In summary, I'm targetting the decision makers since the public are not on my side and are not as interested as I am in these local matters. Local matters that local councillors are ultimately responsible for but are all too happy to leave to the officers and to rubber-stamp their decisions. Well, that is how it seems to me.
Keep up the great work you are doing
Tim
