h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I watched the BBC News last night from the flood stricken areas in the Gloucester area, and was hugely impressed by the way communities are pulling together and helping friends and neighbours.

Perhaps especially impressive were the lines of people waiting to receive the 2 packs of free water for each household.

What was particularly noticeable however was one family, taking a sack barrow laden with packs, waving away reporters querying their quantity, then trundling it round the corner and loading it into a 4X4 which already had some in its boot!

Some folk seem to have different standards.

Novo

Mornin Novo, welcome back.

They are looters really and should be shot on sight. Only need to shoot a couple and the message will quickly get through.

Could it be they were using their 4x4 to collect for their neighbours or the elderly?

Doubt it, SWL. If they were, they'd have answered questions and been happy to.

Afternoon WA

I tend to agree. Nice to be back btw.

Novo

>>They are looters really and should be shot on sight. Only need to shoot a couple and the message will quickly get through.<<

They don't seem as bad as the vandals who are damaging the bowsers or opening the taps to let all the water run out. Why would anyone do that?

Radio 4 this morning reported that some of the pond life are peeing in the bowsers or contaminating them with bleach. Mindless scum.

What do you call a pond life with two brain cells? Pregnant.

They even featured some man collecting 14 tubs of water, not to mention others who were just driving up with buckets and buckets. Some people's greed is really shocking. We have friends there who spoke to us on ther phone last night. Their house is soaking, but they managed to get the car to another chaps house who is 600 foot above it all. But even so, the house is a mess and they are having to collect water to drink where they can.

Any disaster such as the recent floods initially tends to bring out the best in folk. Those were the lines I saw patiently waiting for thir allocation of water,

However, the low life quickly emerge. These are people who have no consideration for any one but themselves, and fall into 3 broad categories.

I Those who always grab more that their fair share, because in their shrunken view of the world they 'matter' more than anyone else

2 Those who are simply profiteers who grab what's going to later sell at a profit. That was the family I originally referred to, who, to put it politely , were from a different continent.

3 The Pond Life as WA so elegently described whose brain cell(s) are wired only to give pleasure by spoiling the lives of others.

I cannot recall who said "The poor will always be with us", but I would add another section of 'humaniy' which regrettably seems to be growing as a percentage, and that would change the qoute to "The poor, the selfish, and the stupid............"

Novo

Wasn't that yer man, Jesus?

Perhaps part of the problem is that people in the UK aren't used to having their daily water supply limited. In the south of Spain it happens more frequently, though the last very serious drought I experienced here in Seville was in 1993. In the city we had to do without running water from about 10pm-7am. But in the villages they were all lining up to receive their daily water allowance.

I don't know how this affected the tourist resorts on the southern coasts at the time, but apparently a tourist in Spain uses up to 880 litres of water a day compared with 250 litres by a local. And an 18-hole golf course in a dry country can consume as much water as a town of 10,000 people.

I don't remember reading about the 'pond life' element taking advantage in the villages here back in 1993, but I would suspect this sort of thing would happen less here, where people are usually very conscious about using as little water as possible. But of course that element exists everywhere. I like to think that anyone taking water away from a village family would be dealt with quite seriously by the locals ... maybe you Brits are just too polite?

But as you say, for the most part people are being supportive and helping each other as much as they can over there. Nice.

az

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/6918870.stm

""The six million litres that we are supplying the county with every day... is small in comparison with the 120 million litres that is the normal running supply to the county."

>>"The six million litres that we are supplying the county with every day... is small in comparison with the 120 million litres that is the normal running supply to the county."

So what?

People are presumably not running sprinklers or washing machines or showering or bathing with bottled or bowser water. If used mainly for drinking/cooking, hugely less than 120m litres would be needed.

Merely pointing out the scale of the problem.

I would imagine using sprinklers after such a downpour is largely a moot point. Notwithstanding sprinklers being largely inneffective underwater. The dispersal pattern is somewhat inhibited, I believe.

Besides which, the population of Gloucester is 564559. The basic requirement is 20 litres a day (1). That gives a total of just over 11 million litres.


(1) http://hdr.undp.org/water/10.htm

novosibirsk>>1 Those who always grab more that their fair share, because in their shrunken view of the world they 'matter' more than anyone else<<

People mattering more to themselves than other people is natural enough (evolution, survival instinct etc). The problem is, we have to suppress that perfectly natural instinct a bit in order to live with each other in a reasonable state of harmony. Cheats claim all the benefits of this 'contract' (or whatever you would call it) whilst making none of the adjustments. WanderingAlbatross offered a sensible solution. Shame it's out of the question.

>>2 Those who are simply profiteers who grab what's going to later sell at a profit. That was the family I originally referred to, who, to put it politely , were from a different continent.<<

If you notice such things, I think you're supposed not to mention them.

>>3 The Pond Life as WA so elegently described whose brain cell(s) are wired only to give pleasure by spoiling the lives of others.<<

That's the one I don't understand at all. The first 2 at least have the decency to be rational. What does number 3 gain from such destructive behaviour? Were there vandals during WWII when people were suffering and depending on each other for support, or is it a modern phenomenon?

>>"The basic requirement is 20 litres a day"

That's 20 litres a day *on a continuous basis*, *for doing everything*.

When it comes to a week or two of interruption, most people can make do on rather less, though there are obviously some people with greater requirements.

During summers living on top of a mountain, with the only water supply being collected rainwater, or snow hauled 40m out of a nearby shaft, I've lived perfectly well for weeks on *way* less than 20 litres a day, though I guess I had the benefit of a nearby (though hygenically remote) latrine, so waste disposal didn't consume any water beyond a diluted disinfectant handwash.

Faced with a temporary lack of water, most people can suspend clothes-washing. A fairly good bodywash is actually possible with the use of a sponge and a remarkably small amount of water.

Effectively, necessary consumption for most people comes down to food and drink, cleaning dishes, and solid human waste removal.
Cleaning dishes can be made fairly frugal if necessary, with any waste water going to flushing solid waste.

I'm sure you could cope very well indeed Potholer. With forethought, preparation, planning and a modicum of intelligence.

The folk in Gloucestershire had little or no warning and will encompass the intelligent and the thick, most with absolutely no experience of frugality with water. I'm sure as time goes by, people will get better at coping but I'm equally sure there will be a degree of panic amongst people who have had ready access to water every day of their lives.

Hi TB

I didn't mention it, initially because it waould have been'out of context'.

And yes, there were vandals during WW2. It was not unknown for bombed night clubs to be visited by the police after a raid only to find that ladies who had been killed had had their fingers cut off to get their rings,

Perhaps the quote should read "the scum wil always be with us"


Novo

Well as it rains for almost 8 months of the year in the uk there should not be problems with droughts .

<>>"The six million litres that we are supplying the county with every day... is small in comparison with the 120 million litres that is the normal running supply to the county."

So what?

People are presumably not running sprinklers or washing machines or showering or bathing with bottled or bowser water. If used mainly for drinking/cooking, hugely less than 120m litres would be needed.>

There are also companies in the Gloucester area that require water to operate. I worked in a near-by factory that used 3 million litres per day. Cafe's and pubs are closed etc as well.