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There's nothing quite like the smell of burning briquettes on a still night.
Breathtaking, and not in a good way.
I think we can do without those making a comeback.
There's nothing quite like the smell of burning briquettes on a still night.No one is going to want a three bedroom weatherboard home with minimal furnishings, casement single pane windows, no insulation, linoleum floors with perhaps a rug and a briquette or open fire or if your lucky , an oil heater.
Trouble is, if you look at the people calling the shots in society in recent times well they just can't relate to this concept at all. Their entire career background is at best administrative or legal, at worst straight politics.Absolutely @Smurf1976 , I could roll of heaps of examples where things were done in a timely manner, because the engineers designed it and the tradespeople made it happen.
The only time the design engineers were contacted, was if there was a problem that required an engineer to solve it and that was not often.
Mine still works and the cat's fine with it:oil heater.
It's amazing when one goes back 20 or 30 years ago when there was the PWD - Public Works Dept, State Housing, State Roads Board etc.The key is to get the right sort of people in charge and to do the lot.
So if there's a Housing Commission with its own tradies, surveyors and all the rest. If the utilities are in government hands also with their own workforce and doing it all in house, including inspection of electrical work etc. If the road authority is also government with its own workforce then that makes things happen.
Because if you get a bunch of tradies and engineers and leave then to it, they tend to come up with grand plans and do things. Not always perfectly but they'll make something happen and it comes down to being able to easily get the right people all in the one room and agreeing on how to proceed. Do it this way and the inspectors on site will give it the tick every time, because we've done the engineering and agreed that's a suitable method. Etc. And it's the job of councils and government to work with this not against it, the default is it's approved with just a few tweaks here and there because the council wants a consistent street appearance or whatever.
Then it's off to work we go and everyone works together. Excavation for example gets a lot cheaper when it's the Public Works Department (as it used to be called in Tas) doing it and nobody cares whether that's the road foundations, the house foundations or it's the trench for the sewer line or power. It's a hole so dig it. Same with the rest - concrete the footpaths and driveways as a single project, don't worry about who owns what since it's all government anyway.
Been there, seen that approach on other projects and it works. The workforce works as one, it being a technicality that they're employed by different departments. Just keep the accountants under control and remind them that it's better to save money overall than worry about who's doing what.
Also gets the materials cheaper when it's all in bulk. How many ovens did you say you wanted to buy Sir? Well that would be ten thousand of this model here, what's the price? A lot less than retail....
Same with everything else from pipe and cable to bricks to timber to plasterboard. All gets cheaper when you're buying huge amounts and the supplier knows that not only are you the biggest customer around but you're also backed by government. They can be certain the account will be paid, albeit probably a week after it was due but they can live with that.
The key is to keep the wrong sort of people out of it. I'll avoid offending anyone and just say the workforce should consist mostly of trades and other hands on people, and in charge will be people with technical competence to be overseeing their work.
All ultimately comes down to a desire to actually serve the people and fix things rather than risk averse administration watching the wheels fall off society. I've encountered such people and never did like or respect them in any way. They cover their own rear end but get nothing done.
I think what we need is a Federal Department of Engineering and Construction composed if engineers which would monitor major infrastructure projects and ensure that they are designed and built to the correct standards.It's amazing when one goes back 20 or 30 years ago when there was the PWD - Public Works Dept, State Housing, State Roads Board etc.
They might not have been the quickest movers off the mark, but the work was carried to correct specs and done only once and properly
There's nothing quite like the smell of burning briquettes on a still night.
Breathtaking, and not in a good way.
I think we can do without those making a comeback.
Back in the day we had one of those kero heaters with a big bottle at the back of it.Kero heater burning badly with an old wick goes close, CO death traps.
Smelly horrid things, but they were cheap to run, these days kero is expensive.Kero heater burning badly with an old wick goes close, CO death traps.
Oil heaters were good, but too expensive today.Smelly horrid things, but they were cheap to run, these days kero is expensive.
Indeed. Costs nearly $1000 to fill the tank from completely empty to full.Oil heaters were good, but too expensive today.
Smurf's cat is happy, he doesn't have to pay the bill.
Phewww, we're savedIt's all good, I think I read we now have a minister for social cohesian, to try and repair the current social fragmentation excercise.
That list has allegedly been floating around. Some big names on it as well. Lots of fake lists going around now as wellI remember a few years ago that many people thought that things would degenerate from #loveislove, that perhaps "P" might be added into the alphabet soup.
Leftists scoffed at the suggestion, yet have a look at this as ever so gradually not only "P" but also "I" is being worked into acceptance.
I'm more concerned about what the judge said from the barThat list has allegedly been floating around. Some big names on it as well. Lots of fake lists going around now as well
I know a few judges and some of them are deluded. Really badly deluded.I'm more concerned about what the judge said from the bar
WHAT !!!!!!I remember a few years ago that many people thought that things would degenerate from #loveislove, that perhaps "P" might be added into the alphabet soup.
Leftists scoffed at the suggestion, yet have a look at this as ever so gradually not only "P" but also "I" is being worked into acceptance.
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