It's not easy being green
- Thread starter madzone
- Start date
madzone said:
no, i responded to the thread with my heartfelt feelings about the programme - that it was middle-class, unhelpful nonsense. Don't throw a hissyfit just because you disagree.
madzone said:Jesus but you're hard work lately.
What was patronising about it?
oh fuck off.
i'm going to leave you to your bullshit, you're just not listening to anyone else's PoV. And you're right, Aurora doesn't need me to argue for her - she could eat you alive.
madzone
Physically unfavourable
zenie said:I can see it now ‘ Just how green is Aurora Green?’
The beeb would love it – it could be all that is Brixton and ‘edgy’ Whack the bit in about her son being mugged and they’d be wetting themselves.
I was serious - why couldn't there be a programme about someone like Aurora?
So what's this if not patronising?
are you being this thick for a bet?
madzone said:No need to be picky dear
are you being this thick for a bet?
pennimania
still dre and drooling
The thing is, and why I agree with aurora, is that the issues are too important to be treated in a way that may well put people off.
When I think of all the kids I used to teach in Hackney over the years, I don't think ANY of them would identify with that family. Really.
I'm quite middle class myself, I live in the country and am trying to be green (not very successfully) and I was put off by them. Things came over as being very well oiled by money.
Perhaps later episodes will show a different light. I will probably watch them because I might learn something.
And I guess I enjoy being irritated. 
When I think of all the kids I used to teach in Hackney over the years, I don't think ANY of them would identify with that family. Really.
I'm quite middle class myself, I live in the country and am trying to be green (not very successfully) and I was put off by them. Things came over as being very well oiled by money.
Perhaps later episodes will show a different light. I will probably watch them because I might learn something.
And I guess I enjoy being irritated.
madzone
Physically unfavourable
Dubversion said:
I can't help the way I talk FFS - is it the 'dear' bit you find patronising? She's about the third person I've called dear this morining - want to rampage round the board and pick fights with me about that as well? You're way off the mark - you've made a mistake and now you're just making yourself look a tit.Now, would you like to debate the pros and cons of the programme?
Dear.
madzone
Physically unfavourable
pennimania said:The thing is, and why I agree with aurora, is that the issues are too important to be treated in a way that may well put people off.
When I think of all the kids I used to teach in Hackney over the years, I don't think ANY of them would identify with that family. Really.
I'm quite middle class myself, I live in the country and am trying to be green (not very successfully) and I was put off by them. Things came over as being very well oiled by money.
Perhaps later episodes will show a different light. I will probably watch them because I might learn something.
And I guess I enjoy being irritated.
Well, there's loads of things I felt I could have picked holes in - like the fact that they have the money to buy a house in the p[lace where I live, when I can't. The fact that they didn't use Cornish slate for the roof etc. However, I just felt that it could have been a whole lot worse, like that abysmal programme that lasted a fortnight on ITV which was supposed to be about self sufficiency but was in actual fact about people fucking up.
I also hope he has loads more of that bloke who auditted their house. I posted a link to his site back in the thread - has anyone looked at it?
AND - how many of you thought about it when you switched on the kettle this morning?
madzone said:
i've made no mistake - your tone to Aurora was patronising in the extreme. And i'm rampaging nowhere, just picking you up on it. You have a tremendously high opinion of yourself, don't you?
think I'll leave you to it.
madzone
Physically unfavourable
FAO Aurora Green
Contrary to popular belief (does 1 count as popular?
) it was not my intention to patronise, be condescending, demean, or otherwise denigrate either your good self or your opinion. I am aware that you are very knowledgeable about these issues and have enjoyed reading your views on this programme. If you have felt patronised by me calling you dear I apologise profusely but would reiterate that there was no intention to patronise you in any way.
But I still think you should make a programme
Contrary to popular belief (does 1 count as popular?
) it was not my intention to patronise, be condescending, demean, or otherwise denigrate either your good self or your opinion. I am aware that you are very knowledgeable about these issues and have enjoyed reading your views on this programme. If you have felt patronised by me calling you dear I apologise profusely but would reiterate that there was no intention to patronise you in any way.But I still think you should make a programme
Cid
Proper break this time
pennimania said:I only saw the first half.
I didn't like his moustache
The money thing was laughable - when I compare the whole thing to people who are really living by the dream (say like Tinkers' Bubble) it could have made me weep.
I will watch the other half later - was any mention made of planning permission for the aquaduct? if you did that up here you would find yourself in big trouble.
I doubt they had planning permission for the wheel - with listed buildings it's hell trying to get anything done on them at all. We were recently trying to work out what we could change in a listed property in Suffolk designed by an old architect fried (who's a bloody impressive guy - 92 and still goes to conferences etc, designed the RAA, grass roots modernist)... My mum was thinking of selling her house in London and moving up there but the cost of the property's increased so much it looks unlikely. Anyway, there was pretty much nothing we could do to change it, they said they might allow a new fridge if it was very discrete. But that was about it.
With older properties that have had damage to the structural integrity or have become unsuitable for living you obviously have more leeway. In general I think the rule is that the interiors have to be in keeping with the original feel of the building. Other than cleaning and filling in holes there would be very little you could do to the exterior. Certainly if you were to replace windows in a listed building you'd have to do it with ones that looked like the windows it had before.
They didn't have much choice withe the roof, the alternative would've been £100k on cornish slate. Again, it's listed - if the roof is in a sufficiently bad condition that it needs to be replace, you'll probably be allowed to, but it'll have to be the same as the old one (ie you have to use real slate rather than slate effect ceramics or something).
No idea how they got permission for the wheel (if they did), it's obviously not in keeping with the original character of the property. It depends completely on the local council and historical lobby though tbh... If the historical lobby kicks up a fuss it will probably be stopped, if not it's down to the council and they'll usually say no. Might have got lucky though - you get special privelages when you have lots of money and a film crew following you around.
madzone
Physically unfavourable
BTW - he runs his car on vegetable oil
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article352304.ece
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article352304.ece
aurora green
Tectonic
@ this thread.erm... apology accepted madz, but for the record, it is very patronizing to call someone dear.
Ermm...well I'd be loving to make a programme for the beeb about green issues actually, not about me though, 'cos I'm far too shy
, but trouble is it doesn't work like that, does it? It's hardly an open access chanel is it? Unfortuantely.
Watched this with my gf and a few things struck me:
As Dub (and others, I think) have pointed out, it's all fine and good when you have half a million plus £100,000 to do the property up. While somebocy else rightly pointed out that using Cornish slate was a non-starter due to costs, I think this may have highlighted the problems with renovating a listed building. Would it not have been easier, cheaper and more eco-friendly to build a new house from scratch using all the materials that they had wanted to use in the firstplace?
Plus there are all the things about the family being sooo middle class. I mean, I come form a middle class background and I couldn't connect with them in any way.
The only thing I took from the programme as being an absolute positive was the segment with the guy who lived in a terraced house in Peckham. Far more people are likely to be in a position to be able (and willing) to do what he has done. It's not like the tens of millions of people who live in towns and cities can all move to the countryside en masse is it?
As Dub (and others, I think) have pointed out, it's all fine and good when you have half a million plus £100,000 to do the property up. While somebocy else rightly pointed out that using Cornish slate was a non-starter due to costs, I think this may have highlighted the problems with renovating a listed building. Would it not have been easier, cheaper and more eco-friendly to build a new house from scratch using all the materials that they had wanted to use in the firstplace?
Plus there are all the things about the family being sooo middle class. I mean, I come form a middle class background and I couldn't connect with them in any way.
The only thing I took from the programme as being an absolute positive was the segment with the guy who lived in a terraced house in Peckham. Far more people are likely to be in a position to be able (and willing) to do what he has done. It's not like the tens of millions of people who live in towns and cities can all move to the countryside en masse is it?
Really? I thought it was just done with the attitude "it needs doing, this is what we'd like to do but we can't, so we'll do this".aurora green said:
Would you prefer that the current trend of visual excrement aimed at the 'yoof' or 'scum class' segments?
I'm just glad that it was nothing like the trailer; instead it was a calm, measured reflection of what was done.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
But what else were they to do when the planners insisted on slates ?ddraig said:
Miscellaneous
Princess
ICB said:
He makes his crust, and I make mine- he's an ex army Major- does that mean anything?
So because they enjoy themselves it can't be doing any good? I'd much rather see people being pragmatic and happy, than making life hell for themselves by going for the idealistic solution.pennimania said:And they came over as a very complacent lot in general I thought - too much the happy perfect family
I think there's room for this too. Don't forget, a large number of people in the country don't live in cities though.pennimania said:
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
He presumably retired from the army with a decent pension and has built up a consultancy business. Becoming such a star of "scrapyard challenge" can't have hurt one bit ...Miscellaneous said:
I have to say I'm green with envy
.
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