Cheapest way to get rid of soil?

[Lurch]

On Mon, 31 May 2004 18:53:18 +0100, "IMM" strung together this:

You make me larf!

[Andy Hall]

This would sound as though it was Tetanus, except that the incubation period is normally a minimum of two days, typically eight - it could have been though, because the toxins produced are extremely potent.

I went for a tetanus booster shot not long ago after cutting myself while doing some gardening. Apparently, although the incidence of tetanus is now very small as a result of vaccination programmes, a high proportion of infections occur in people over 50 simply because they have not kept up their immunisation.

If the garden has been previously a farm or has been fertilised with farm manure, then it is more likely that such bacteria are present.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[geoff]

In message , Derek writes

If it's top soil, you could bag it and stick it in your front garden as I did, with a notice saying "free to a good home"

Topsoil costs a quid or so a bag to buy (so I hear)

[geoff]

In message , Lurch writes

Ha ha

[geoff]

In message , IMM writes

FFS DIMM - leave it out

[Anna Kettle]

I put cowmuck in my wattle and daub so last time I went to the doctor I suggested that it was time for a booster. She said that there is now a new policy - three doses in a lifetime and no more after that - I assume cos its not necessary rather than as a NHS cutback

Anna ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation and lime plaster repair / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its called tetanus. Anyone who is a regular gardener will have had a series of shots. I had my first one at the tender age of 8 when the pet rabbit savaged my thumb.

[sPoNiX]

Flush it down the toilet. Yes, it's quite time consuming and very heavy work lumping it upstairs but it costs you nothing.

sPoNiX

[IMM]

Maxie, do you mean Bean left all the earth of the hole?

[Andy Hall]

If you had the childhood series then a booster every ten years has been the standard practice.

I'm not sure that it couldn't be a cost cutting move though.

After i had the last booster, I did some checking on the net.

- Tetanus is not contagious between humans

- In the U.S. there are about 50 cases a year. I couldn't find UK figures, but pro-rate on population it would be around 10.

- Approximately 10% of cases are fatal

- The vaccine is relatively cheap.

Have a read of this article.

especially noted the point about the much higher incidence in people over 40 until about 1990, due to not keeping up to date with booster shots, and then in younger people who hadn't been vaccinated at all.

The common thread is

"Almost all reported cases of tetanus are in persons who have either never been vaccinated, or who completed a primary series, but have not had a booster in the preceding 10 years."

The net of this is that in the UK it is likely that 1-2 people would die from tetanus each year and a further 8 or so recover.

Given this situation, it would not be surprising if an actuary working somewhere in the NHS hasn't looked at the numbers and come to the conclusion that it is not economic to do boosters every ten years. By adopting a three-per-lifetime policy, there is still some level of cover and they will have saved a bunch of money. There isn't enough statistical data to argue against that position.

I think if it were me, I'd squeeze the doctor a bit on the basis of increased risk of exposure and if that didn't work simply pay to get one. The cost of the vaccine is literally pence so overall I couldn't imagine paying more than £10-20.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[AK]

I would rather have my booster so I would pay for a private prescription, just in case!

[Owain]

"Andy Hall" wrote | This would sound as though it was Tetanus, except that the | incubation period is normally a minimum of two days, typically | eight - it could have been though, because the toxins produced | are extremely potent.

Or possibly the person was infected several days before the event, as it's likely he/she was a regular gardener with multiple possibilities of infection.

Owain

[Owain]

"sPoNiX" wrote | Derek wrote: | >How have people disposed of soil before? | Flush it down the toilet. Yes, it's quite time consuming and | very heavy work lumping it upstairs but it costs you nothing.

Be less effort to eat some for breakfast every day then have a crap when you get to work.

Alternatively it could be very profitable renting the soil to people who want to attach conservatories to the upper storeys of their building.

Owain

[Derek]

Thanks for all the advice!

I really didn't think that moving the soil would be classed as "fly tipping", but you made me think! The soil will be in the way no matter where I put it so I'm going to have to go the expensive route and hire a skip. A 20 metric ton "roll on roll off" skip is going to cost almost £400 for a week and digger hire another £125 per day. But you are right, the time I would spend messing about dumping bit by bit would set the project back further.

I have spread the topsoil over the garden already, this stuff is stoney yellow subsoil and I will be glad to be rid of it. Hopefully after this things will be coming in to the build, not out for rubbish.

Thanks again,

Derek.

[stuart noble]

Raised beds are a good way to get rid of the excess. Do your gardening standing up then.

[Jerry Built]

Skip it. Talk to your skip co., they just might give you a discount for more than one skip or for all subsoil.

J.B.

[Steve Firth]

Why not? Mine will tow 3.5 tonnes, legally.

[nightjar]

When I enquired, I was told that you then have sufficient life-long resistance to make the risk from infection lower than the risk associated with the vaccination.

Colin Bignell

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "IMM" saying something like:

Put it into another hole, of course.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Graham Wilson saying something like:

Yet another good reason to leave gardening alone.

Yep.