Jax blogged about our shopping expotition. She didn’t mention that we went to Meadowhall, which is still recovering from the flooding.
Quite a while ago, I forget quite when, my posh Sony K800i mobile phone died on me. So I got a PAYG replacement, another Sony but a much lower range model (K750i) and took the K800i in to the T-Mobile shop in Meadowhall for repair.
Unfortunately, after being repaired it was sent back to the shop just before the flood. It was there when the shop filled with water, so I now have a brand new k800i sealed in its box with a brand new twelve month warranty.
The only thing is, I like the k750i better. It has a 2MP camera instead of the 3MP on the K800i and the UI is a bit clunkier, but it works fine and I like it, so I think my expensive brand new phone will end up on ebay. Anyone want one?
There are still lots of closed shops at Meadowhall, I must admit I think it is extraordinary that a major modern shopping centre could be built in such a way that it was a) vulnerable to flooding and b) so severely effected.
My suspicion is that what people have been hearing when they are told that there is a once in forty year flood risk is “it will probably never flood, and if it does, it won’t be for forty years”, instead of “it will definitely flood some time and it could be next year” and planning is (not) undertaken accordingly. It also seems to me that downside risk is never taken sufficiently into account. Even if an event is low risk, if its impact if it does happen would be severe then it needs to be planned for properly.
You didn’t blog about the book of pics in smiths either, which is of the Sheffield flooding. It’s a fascinating book, pics from all kinds of sources. A whole pound of the £13.99 goes to the flood appeal to 😐
We had a flood frequency issue at work. The University is shifting much of its central book storage from the Bodleian to a soon to be constructed repositry elsewhere in the city. The original plan suggested that it was in a zone that was likely to flood one in a hundred years. Given some of the texts are consideably older than that and most of the academics are slightly bright it was suggested that one in one hundred years might be too often. So the repositry has been redesigned with more flood defences, higher above the flood plain etc.
The location of this repositry? Osney – the place that all the TV companies decamped to during the recent flooding of Oxford. The one advantage of working with academics is that sometimes when they think they can do everyone elses jobs for them, they can!
Ah yes, I have the W800, the walkman version of the K750 and like it very much despite its alleged lack of high technology.
Chris, that is a very nice example of the kind of muddled thinking (or lack of thought) that I am talking about.
In the same vein another one which bugs me is hearing people say “you can prove anything using statistics”, which you can’t. You can, of course, prove anything by abusing statistics. But that is not the same thing it all.
I’ve just upgraded from the 750i to the 800i; my 750i is about 15 months old and a bit scratched-up but working perfectly. DH wants his own 800i – if you’re interested in a trade, let me know 🙂