Strange vehicles!

[colmworthdales]

Over the past week I seem to have been driving up and down the major roads in this area lots and noticed at least two very strange signs on lorries. Both totally confuse me, and thought I would share:-

Firstly, I found myself behind a normal sized tanker lorry with the intriguing signage - Delivering Water to the Rail Industry on its back and sides. WHY? Do not railway lines and stations have water mains nearby?

Secondly, on a slip road off the A1 in Cambridgeshire which links directly onto the Fens I saw a lorry - Mid-Wales Egg Packers Ltd! We do have egg producers in this part of the country, so why shift eggs right across the country?

Anyone have any ideas.

Please share your strange sightings here to give us a chance to use our little grey cells.

[valerie n scout]

Lordy knows...a way to waste money and cost us more perhaps

[ikklecob]

Maybe East Anglia doesn't like eggs from yokels

[katiekynoch]

The 'water to the rail industry' got me intrigued so after a quick Google (how did we manage in the BG years!) I found this www.baystontransport.com/water-to-the-rail-industry-.html Apparently the company supplies water to the rail, road and construction industries as well as festivals and events. I can only surmise that they supply the water for the loos etc. as the rail industry supply page states "please note that all water delivered is clean but not certified to drink".

Seems a bit ironic that industry generally is encouraged to reduce road transport and use the railway network!!

As for the Mid Wales Egg Packers, I wonder if their cargo arrived ready scrambled due to the parlous condition of many of the roads in UK!

[harleydales]

I went to Lidl last week and there was a sign on the door that said......
'CAUTION - LOOSE NUTS IN STORE'

[dalesnfellfan]

We have loads of 'nuts on the loose' in our area too but in this case I think it's probably more to do with an allergen warning.

As far as the eggs from Wales in East Anglia is concerned, its more a commercial thing, the Welsh egg packers will distribute eggs all over the country to where ever their customers are, it is often cheaper for a factory to buy products from a distance than from someone on their doorstep.

For example I used to be Technical Manager for a large food company supplying poultry ready meals into the supermarkets and it was more economical to bring chicken/turkey in from Holland, Germany and even Poland and Hungary than to buy it locally, I know it's crazy but it just comes down to economics.
It can also be down to quantities required, when I worked for a previous company we used tonnes of mushrooms every week and could not get enough locally so we had several artics daily in from Ireland and France.

Although some supermarkets pay lip service to 'sourcing locally' for some items, in reality they all have a network of depots throughout the country that then distribute to all of their stores from the same supplier. So for instance we made ready meals for Asda and Tesco and each day we had orders going out in separate lorries to around 8 - 10 depots for each, from southern England up to Scotland and across to Ireland. I often used to think that it was ironical that all these lorries were criss crossing the country and passing each other, but logistically it just would not work for each supermarket to source its own stuff locally, its the price we pay for 'cheap food'.

[harveydales]

That's interesting, Andrea. It's easy for me to say I would rather (and do) pay more for truly locally sourced products and meat where I know the animals have been treated as well as possible and eat less meat but I can afford it and am lucky to know farmers where I can buy. Not so easy for big, struggling families.

[dalesnfellfan]

I also try to buy as much as possible locally, I once read somewhere that there is more 'cottage industry' in Suffolk than any other county and certainly there are loads of stalls outside houses selling excess vegetables and garden produce, which I always buy in preference to the supermarkets, much cheaper too. I also buy eggs from a local farmer and meat from a local farm butcher. I do also buy some meat from selected supermarkets as it is cheaper, the main supermarkets insist that meat is produced according to quite strict welfare standards and rigorous audits are carried out annually, unfortunately there are some suppliers who are not ethical and paperwork/traceability can be 'manufactured' (I worked for one such supplier for a short time), and one well known supermarket who also is not as scrupulous as most, I will not buy meat, or anything much else, from this supermarket, I know too much about their ethics.

The fact is though that the majority of consumers want to buy as cheap as possible and are not prepared to pay extra for quality

[colmworthdales]

Thanks for the info about "Supplying Water to the Rail Industry" - still mad, as far as I can see!!

Eggs being carried around the country and importing veg and chickens from the continent is also so short-sighted. Wish there could be better labelling on ALL goods which includes the road miles involved. Think that is going to be the only way to make customers shop more sensibly - and ensure supermarkets source their goods more sustainably.

I also buy locally whenever I can, and try to avoid the big supermarkets entirely. However, I now live on my own so do not buy that much anyway!