The BBC, Brits and Hosepipe Restrictions

There has been a minor row over the water usage restriction put in place by Thameswater and other water utilities in the southeast of England. England is in it's worst drought in over 100 years as the winter rains have been virtually non-existant. Believe it or not, there are some parts of Kent, the county between London and the easter side of the Engish channel, that get less rain than certain places in the Middle East. I was watching the BBC the other night and a reporter was interviewing people about the hosepipe restrictions (you can't use a hose) and they showed three of these interviews. The first I don't remember. The second man was upset over the restrictions because he didn't understand where all the water was going. I thought maybe this person believes that he and the rest of southeast England (read: most dense area) don't put a strain on water resources. Quite trivial by itself, but the third woman interviewed was exasperated because she would no longer be able to wash her car. "What do they expect us to do?!?!" she exclaimed. God forbid someone have dirt on their car.

This has become a common observation of mine: Brits and Aussies are terrible at energy conservation. Everything in London has poor insulation. The mindset is that when a space is too hot, open the window to let winter weather in, there is no reason to turn down the heat. In the morning when people go out to their cars and discover a thin layer of frost covering the windshield; rather than scrape it off, they pour a boiling kettle of water over it. Buy a bloody ice scraper! People in the US get a bad wrap for using loads of energy, but at least when it comes to home heating we (people in Minnesota) use it efficiently and understand that cold weather means higher prices. Those who hail from the southern hemisphere generally fail to grasp this concept.