Yes and no. A thatched roof is actually a lot heavier than slate or tiles due to its thickness and the practice of adding new thatch to the existing worn out thatch when re-roofing (sometimes as thick as 5-6 feet before it is eventually stripped completely and started again). This means that your roof beams have to be far more sturdy oak beams rather than the relatively flimsy, thinner pine you can use with slate or tiles. That's an initial hidden cost of straw when building a new house but the more obvious extra cost is the durability of tiles or slate in comparison. It might take a hundred years for frost to damage the slate or tiles or for the roof beams to need replacing. A thatched roof will have to have a new ridge every 10 years or so and a whole new roof every 20-25 years. The labour costs are much higher with thatching too. It is both more time consuming and a lot higher skilled. An inexperienced roofer can strip and re-tile a roof in a matter of days whereas a skilled thatcher will take months to do the same job. So the cost of a thatched roof far exceeds that of a tiled roof as the cost of materials makes little difference overall. The only real advantages of thatch are its insulating properties, they look pretty and provide a continuity of traditional crafts. They are also far more environmentally sound as they are low energy natural materials that are a byproduct of agriculture. Slate and clay tiles are also natural products but the manufacturing process is more energy consuming than straw. Metal roofs such as tin, copper or lead are very high energy materials.
Ah I see. The converter is a ring similar to a gas stove ring which sits above the carb' and lets the gas into the chamber via the jets in the carb. I can see how the cooling effect of evaporation could lead to the converter becoming blocked. My car was an aftermarket conversion and didn't have a system for using warmed water from the engine cooling system to defrost the gas ring (converter). That may be a relatively new innovation designed for cars which run solely on LPG. Back in the day, cars could use both so the advice was to start on petrol and switch to gas (LPG) once the engine had warmed up. The radiant heat from the engine would be enough to keep the converter defrosted. I have no idea how modern fuel injected engines work on LPG, my knowledge is a bit outdated.
Yeah, city/town centre taxis is a good application for LPG cars because of the low emissions. We have natural gas buses in a lot of our cities now.
Further- http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?threads/political-forum-chat-thread.561017/#post-1070932011
Looks like another #MeToo type accusation. Presumed guilt. Consider guilt later Al Franken 2020 would have been a viable alternative to Trump. He's from Minnesota y'know. Ya/Ja <head nodding> What a waste to the hysteria / witch burning, of the moment.
Franken is a Midwestern style Democrat. Involved with hands across the aisle to a most antagonistic Republican and fashioned accomplishments contrary to either Party leadership. Al Franken could have taken a big shark bite out of Trump's Great Red Middle while holding Hillary States. A victim of "#MeToo".
You may ask yourself why would I choose to live in Africa. No snow. I hate snow unless it's flavored with fruit juice and in a cone. Shoveling, freezing, wet shoes and boots struggling just to walk 10 meters and slip sliding to broken bones. None of that here. "What about the fun things like skiing? I went skiing once, the Playboy club in Wisconsin. Went with my college roommate and a couple of our friends, one was working her way through college modelling and the other a basketball cheerleader at the University. When we went to the instruction class the instructor gave a lot of instructions to the ladies who were looking real fine in their ski outfits and my roommate had skied the Alps and was already on the slope marked with a skull and crossbones. I was on my own. I went down the first level of slope and I wasn't real good at reducing my speed so by the bottom I was glad there was a fence. Cool I thought so I went to the middle slope. First bad sign was the couple having a chit chat at the bottom of the ski lift exit slope not knowing someone on his second exit from a ski lift was coming their way who was not real expert at steering yet. They were only a little damaged and blamed me! They probably played in traffic as kids too. Heading down the slope I've got some serious speed going and this kid wipes out in front of me and I barely succeeded in missing him but the change in direction took me up the ski jump. Airborne I thinking how to survive the landing when it came. First, get rid of pointy objects like the ski poles. Lean back and go for an ass landing rather than a face plant. It went as well as could be hoped and I was on my back facing up at the freaking ski lift with people pointing at me laughing. I went into the lodge and never skied again thank you very much.
It was posh people sending their kids on school skiing holidays in Italy that first introduced the UK to the Coronavirus. This was after we'd shut down flights from China and reports were already coming in from Italy that people were dying. All because they didn't want to lose the money they'd paid to get their children out of their hair for a couple of weeks.
And idiots who didn’t want to miss a flash cocktail party in Colorado who spread it around in Colorado and back in Aust.
Monty the steam engine is coming to the farm on Saturday to power the threshing drum for the last of last year's straw. A quarter of a ton of coal was delivered today, at £120 it was nearly 10 times what fuel would cost with a diesel tractor. With a day's pay for the driver as well it is an expensive treat. Since I haven't been able to work since the lockdown I've been able to help with just about every threshing this year, about 10 days and around 40 tons. It's hard work on the arms and legs but a pleasure to be a part of. A steam engine just makes it even more fun...
I am going to make some Cornish pasties, with our own beef and flour, to reheat on top of the firebox. A few beers from the local brewery and we could be reconstructing a scene from 150 years ago.
Sounds like great fun. Hope you’ve got some video of it. Monty is a handsome brute. Him and his red wheels!
I spend 6+ months of the year without many of the things I've taken for granted. Just go to the store and pick them up, right? In the first few years, I had a long list of 'supplies' I asked visitors to bring. But over time I've just accepted there are some things to which I have no access. And, amazingly, it isn't the end of the world! lol. It makes going back to 'the land of plenty' so much nicer now.
I'll try and find time to shoot a little video, if not I'll take plenty of pics. Luckily it's going to be overcast and a lot cooler than the last few times we've threshed. All the farmers tut and say ''never thresh in June'' but May was really hot... Threshing this late used to be looked on as for rich farmers only. If you didn't need the money for the corn by now all bills must have been paid and you're doing OK. Our excuse is too much wet weather earlier on in the year so we got behind.
The steam engine arrived today. Not Monty in the end. Instead, it was Sir Gordon who turned up. A larger, not quite such a pretty engine as Monty but with a good backstory. Built in nearby Ipswich, it was badly damaged by a Luftwaffe bomb during the war and wasn't rebuilt until the 2000s. I'll get some pics tomorrow when we thresh the last stack.