tightening our belts

Gramaretto

Nobody is shouting at you

I thought we were exchanging different points of view

No one is shouting. We have a different view that's all.

Enterprise Car Share is nationwide (U.K.), introduced in both Edinburgh and London in 2000. I can’t say I know anyone who uses it round here though.

Free travel for under 22s is a great idea. Free travel for all, and massive investment in public transport, would be even better, benefitting the community in so many ways. Some countries manage it, and several have pilot or temporary schemes going ahead this year.

It’s not likely to happen in England, where most of us don’t even get our senior bus passes till we’re 66. And where we’re way too accepting of very poor and fragmented public transport that keeps us enslaved to our cars.

I did a few car share journeys up to scotland.
Travelled in style, in a beautiful Mercedes with an eminent surgeon, who was interested in the planet.

My grandson may just have been able to carry on at school if we had better transport options provided.
What a shame.

Ok sorry for taking offence. Must be the heat.
We were having a discussion but instead of suggesting solutions people seem to want to find even more problems.
I have several friends, my age, who have electric cars now and several who ride electric bikes.
I know quite a few folk who are in the car club.
Community gardens are popping up all over the place as more families want to grow their own food and there are not enough allotments.
There is a scheme, in the city, where people whose gardens are too much for them, are matched with someone who needs a plot of land. It did have to overcome the usual hurdles of insurance and disclosures but it works.

I am in France at the moment, Grammaretto ( great name) and the heat is killing me

edible-edinburgh.org/growing-projects/
This is Edinburgh but other places are available

MissAdventure
It’s not just a shame it’s DOWN RIGHT BLOODY WRONG.

I agree.
If he had been given a free bus pass for any bus, we may have been able to train him, and someone could have met him at the other end.
But no, he "didn't qualify" as needing help (he was only about 7 or 8 by this time)

So, it was just left.
He missed his swimming lessons, the stability of school, and a meal, and so on.

I've often thought the idea of building a real, strong, community is the answer to a lot of problems.

Then though, people are afraid of strangers getting embroiled in their lives.

We began a Development Trust about 20 years ago originally to save our beloved old buildings in the town from the Council axe.
From there the community just grew from strength to strength.
We, as a group, could challenge the decisions made, could get things done, could apply for grants and sometimes get them.
We were a much needed thorn in the flesh of our complacent council.
I think it empowered people and encouraged them to work for change.
There's always more to be done but now there's the knowledge that a few people can effect change for the better.

What a brilliant idea!

I've always thought of I won the lottery (which I don't do) I would like to set up some sort of community hub.
Lunches, lifts, handyman services, people who can help others, or who need practical help.
Training, all sorts of things, a garden for veggies.

The point I was making is that, actually, it doesn't matter how many cars people own. They can only drive one at a time and car sharing doesn't reduce car mileage, just cars. Fine if you regularly buy new cars, but if you mainly drive cars that are 10 years old or more, which we do, and run them until they are only fit for scrap then any saving of vehicle or anything else is moot.

I think car sharing undoubtedly has a place in big conurbations like Edinburgh, where there is abundant public transport, a high density of households, and people are more likely to to work locally and cars are only needed occasionally. But in areas where house hold density is less or in small clusters and public transport is less frequent or doesn't necessarily go to the places people work so that people are using cars on a daily basis, it is just not practical.

It is the same with bike schemes. they work excellently in towns, but, again will not work in areas where household density is lower.

It is horses for courses. car clubs, bike clubs definitely have their place, but they require a lot of organisation and only work in limited specific circumstances. They are not a universal panacea.

Miss Adventure, maybe that depends on who the strangers are. Some strangers may be potential chums while others are better at arms' length. I imagine vetting strangers would be speeded up and enabled by speed dating sort of thing.

Never thought of speed dating to vet strangers before I love it! Caleo

You always get a few odd bods in every community I am probably one of them but you can either give them a wide berth or introduce them to other odd bods. Think Vicar of Dibley and the parish committee.

I think leaving people isolated and unable to access help is more likely to leave them open to possibly being taken advantage of, than a big, friendly, community based goodwill kind of scheme.

Grammareto, some communities are better than others for odd bods.

Grammaretto

Miss Adventure, maybe I can't have my cake and eat it.

Grammaretto

We began a Development Trust about 20 years ago originally to save our beloved old buildings in the town from the Council axe.
From there the community just grew from strength to strength.
We, as a group, could challenge the decisions made, could get things done, could apply for grants and sometimes get them.
We were a much needed thorn in the flesh of our complacent council.
I think it empowered people and encouraged them to work for change.
There's always more to be done but now there's the knowledge that a few people can effect change for the better.

Then you say in another post:

You always get a few odd bods in every community ........but you can either give them a wide berth or introduce them to other odd bods.

Seems this community group consists only of people who conform to the majority and is not open to anyone outside the approved group. So anything but inclusive.

Odd bods will be welcome in my imaginary community hub.
Anyone who needs, or can offer something, as long as they're harmless. (Checked by my imaginary checking system)

M0nica

Grammaretto

We began a Development Trust about 20 years ago originally to save our beloved old buildings in the town from the Council axe.
From there the community just grew from strength to strength.
We, as a group, could challenge the decisions made, could get things done, could apply for grants and sometimes get them.
We were a much needed thorn in the flesh of our complacent council.
I think it empowered people and encouraged them to work for change.
There's always more to be done but now there's the knowledge that a few people can effect change for the better.

Then you say in another post:

You always get a few odd bods in every community ........but you can either give them a wide berth or introduce them to other odd bods.

Seems this community group consists only of people who conform to the majority and is not open to anyone outside the approved group. So anything but inclusive.

In Grammaretto’s defence I’m pretty sure you’ve misinterpreted what she said Monica. In any community scheme there is a good proportion of ‘odd bods’. Giving them a wide berth on a personal level, or introducing them to others who are similar isn’t excluding them from the scheme, it just means they find their level, they are accepted for who they are and are accommodated in the scheme, like everybody else.

Thanks Casdon. It is hard to enthuse without upsetting people on here, I find.
I was using the term "odd bods " to include myself as well.
Ofcourse nothing is perfect and we as a group have met plenty of hurdles, and lost people through death sadly, but as long as you keep faith with your original vision, good things happen.

I am not upset, heaven forfend, but I have an analytical mind and also instinctively avoid all band wagons when they start rolling, so when someone starts enthusing on what they see as the universa panacea for some problem, I immediately start analysing the scheme to consider how effective it actually is and how universal its application could be and in what circumstances.

Unfortunately this usually shows that while the scheme may work wonderfully in the circumstances of the person promulgating the scheme, there are many circumstances where it will not work or will be less effective and if the scheme or idea is to spread, these need to be taken into account.

I am afraid if you post some idea, or indeed anything on GN you can expect others to look at the idea, think about it, and point out the problems that may have eluded you.

Actually there is nothing I like better than posting something on GN and then have other people lay into it and point out all the things I have missed, it is stimulating and enables ideas to be improved and possibly applied more thoughtfully.

The most dangerous thing in society is the majority agreeing, it means sadly that most have not thought about the subject deeply.

One of the things I have noticed, is that when a thread is running and most people are in broad agreement. if I come in and express dissent with what people are saying, other people also come on and express dissent. It as if people are worried about expressing their disagreement with the majority until someone else does it first.