What annoys you the most ?

[Sir Honkers]

The funny thing is, the house has been in the family for nearly eighty years. It's still semi isolated, closer to the beach than the potholed gravel track that serves as a road, only six nearby neighbours and a 112 minute drive to the nearest town and we've never had any issues with squatters or burglars. What possessed my dad to put up security screens I'll never know

[Hertz]

Special prices 9.99, 49.99 etc.

[Roubignol]

I'd like to know how many liters of gasoline have been wasted in stupid lawnmowers, instead to use a "gasoline free" scythe.

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

I'd like to know how many liters of gasoline have been wasted in stupid lawnmowers, instead to use a "gasoline free" scythe.

True a scythe uses no petrol, but growing up in a rural area in the sixties, I used to watch the men use them, a skill, which they as do all skilled people, make look easy, but they would admit they are useless for lawns, it is also not as easy as it looks, and there would be in many cases the waste of fuel getting to accident and emergency to get the serious cuts treated, then the fact that the lawn looks shit, so it needs a mower anyway,plus the cost of the electricity , which needs fuel to make, so probably not as green as half a pint of petrol. Scissors perhaps?

Strange I can not remember when last I saw a petrol mower, most in the UK are electric, and many are cordless too!

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

True a scythe uses no petrol, but growing up in a rural area in the sixties, I used to watch the men use them, a skill, which they as do all skilled people, make look easy, but they would admit they are useless for lawns, it is also not as easy as it looks, and there would be in many cases the waste of fuel getting to accident and emergency to get the serious cuts treated, then the fact that the lawn looks shit, so it needs a mower anyway,plus the cost of the electricity , which needs fuel to make, so probably not as green as half a pint of petrol. Scissors perhaps?

I use a scythe and a manual lawnmower.
That's not that difficult to use a scythe. We only need to keep it very low, far from the feet and to rotate the upper part of the body.
In fact I only use this. It's more practical than the manual lawnmower. My lawn is far from a golf court. I've to agree.
But it looks "alive" and is alive.
At the beginning the lawn was a classic lawn. A monocultural lawn. After 15 years of letting nature coming back, the lawn looks more like a meadow.
I personaly like this a lot. There are more flowers, crickets, bees, snails, grasshoppers, etc...

We have to be very careful to maintain biodiversity. Millions of species could disappear because wanting to control the nature. As example 95% of "dry meadows" that are among the richest biotopes in European biodiversity have disappeared in Switzerland during the 50 last years.

It will be another "annoyance" that I'll develop in the future.

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

Strange I can not remember when last I saw a petrol mower, most in the UK are electric, and many are cordless too!

Be careful! We have to know which kind of electricity is used to supply an electric lawnmower.
Today a lot of electricity is still produced thanks to fossile energy or nuclear plant.

Cordless lawnmowers probably are more environmentally harmful than petrol mowers.

The best ones are energy free landmower or scythe.

[cicciobuki]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

True a scythe uses no petrol, but growing up in a rural area in the sixties, I used to watch the men use them, a skill, which they as do all skilled people, make look easy, but they would admit they are useless for lawns, it is also not as easy as it looks, and there would be in many cases the waste of fuel getting to accident and emergency to get the serious cuts treated, then the fact that the lawn looks shit, so it needs a mower anyway,plus the cost of the electricity , which needs fuel to make, so probably not as green as half a pint of petrol. Scissors perhaps?

Strange I can not remember when last I saw a petrol mower, most in the UK are electric, and many are cordless too!

There are motorless lawnmowers though (which look like 'real' ones), doesn't take more skill then pushing a regular one, they do take more effort.

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

I'd like to know how many liters of gasoline have been wasted in stupid lawnmowers, instead to use a "gasoline free" scythe.

We used to have a chap who did out lawns with a scythe, but I let him go. The black caper and hood he always wore creeped me out

[trailmaster]

I am annoyed by what has happened to the yogurt industry. Commercial yogurt has been available in markets since the 1940's in America, but sales of yogurt, especially Dannon yogurt didn't get really popular until the 1970's. When I would go to the dairy section of supermarkets Dannon and other brands of yogurt came in 8 ounce plastic/cardboard cups and sold for about 50 cents. Over the years though the volume has been going down and the price has been going up. Sometime in the 1990's Dannon yogurt shrunk to only 6 0z containers and sold for about 80 cents. Now Dannon and most of the other more popular brands of yogurt have gone down to only 5.3 ounce containers and sell for over one dollar each. And there are some brands of yogurt that only come in 4 ounce containers. Also yogurt has always been a low fat product. Now the manufacturers are coming out with whole milk yogurts. They taste great, but can be fattening if you eat more than one per day.

[cuzzyman927]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

I'd like to know how many liters of gasoline have been wasted in stupid lawnmowers, instead to use a "gasoline free" scythe.

I'm not trying to seem like a wiseguy, but lawnmowers use far, far less gas than automobiles do. I would probably tend to be more irritated with the joyriders riding around wasting gas -- and lets not forget those multitudes of loud motorcycles zooming up and down the street dozens of times a day!

I have a backyard which is almost as long as a football field which I cut at least once a week with a riding mower. The 5-gallon gas container which I usually fill in the Spring will last two summers! I'd love, and wish to get that kind of mileage with my car!

[cuzzyman927]

Originally Posted by trailmaster

I am annoyed by what has happened to the yogurt industry. Commercial yogurt has been available in markets since the 1940's in America, but sales of yogurt, especially Dannon yogurt didn't get really popular until the 1970's. When I would go to the dairy section of supermarkets Dannon and other brands of yogurt came in 8 ounce plastic/cardboard cups and sold for about 50 cents. Over the years though the volume has been going down and the price has been going up. Sometime in the 1990's Dannon yogurt shrunk to only 6 0z containers and sold for about 80 cents. Now Dannon and most of the other more popular brands of yogurt have gone down to only 5.3 ounce containers and sell for over one dollar each. And there are some brands of yogurt that only come in 4 ounce containers. Also yogurt has always been a low fat product. Now the manufacturers are coming out with whole milk yogurts. They taste great, but can be fattening if you eat more than one per day.

The volume going down and the price going up is now the way of the world and has been going on for years with everything we buy TM ... yogurt, cereal, cans of coffee, gasoline, food portions at restaurants, and on and on!

I almost would not mind prices going up if they would at least keep the volume/quantity/portions the same. The bastards are making out on both ends -- giving you less for more money!