The British Sausage

They're going to merge 50 different organizations together? That will cause teething pains! They're not going to create an NHS-styled health service like that. The NHS of the UK emerged in the late 40s after WW2 and it was a major welfare state project/investment, besides the NHS was not a ubiquitous service as private healthcare continued to exist and has created a two-tier system: private healthcare guarantees grand-hotel like service and very small waiting times, while public healthcare is a bit of a gamble if your health issue is something long-term and not urgent, when it works it's pretty prompt but when it doesn't the waiting lists can drag for months and months. Also, another thing about the NHS is part public and part private, all the supplies are sourced from private companies so the NHS is a fusion of the private and the public. A major downside of the NHS is the lack of doctors and the government overpaying doctors and medical colleges restricting the number of medical student places to ensure there's always a constant demand for doctors. This is why the UK is always trying to hire foreign doctors because if they trained more doctors domestically then the doctors salary would be halved. In the UK it is common practice for doctors to work over 12 hours or pull a day shift and a night shift, if there were more doctors then this would not happen and it is one reason why medical mistakes can happen. It's funny that doctors complained about government austerity when they are perfectly happy with applying job austerity to their profession which helps bolster their salaries. If there were more doctors this may have had some benefit during the Covid-19 outbreak.

I'm not familiar at all with New Zealand's public services or healthcare system. So I can't comment on that!

These are Simcoug's Diagonal Houses.

Entry 73 -- Paxton (South and East) Thanks a hell of a lot for your replies and comments! The tour of Cindersville is only getting started! In this entry we go to the south-east corner of the city tile to the suburb of Paxton which is built around Paxton Mound. This entry is a mixture of rural suburbs, the countryside and city blocks surrounding unblemished rural tracts. Let's go! {---} 1. The areas being explored today are the east (top) and south (right) parts of Paxton. To the left is Paxton Mound. 2. From east to west. 3. The eastern side of Paxton which starts to merge with another city area known as Hefnall (directly east of the city centre). 4. The lone street higher up on the hill and overlooking Hefnall. 5. Where's there hills there are often cloudy days. 6. This sloping diagonal suburb took about an hour to complete as I had to create a smooth diagonal slope all without the growable residential buildings automatically digging into the ground. HARD. Furthermore it required careful positioning of the diagonal street sections too. 7. From north to south. 8. A mini stretch of pasture land. 9. 10. One of the focal points of Paxton is this junction which is the main arterial road connecting east Paxton with south Paxton. 11. 12. The southern part of Paxton is built upon a rolling hill which rises from the west and reaches it high point as seen in the top of the picture. 13. From south to north. 14. Making use of the "fog" options in the GIMP's render section to create random, atmospheric cloud. 15. From east to west. 16. These were some of the first rural areas to be MMPed and as such a lighter touch is applied here. 17. A black day in the forest. 18. 19. Forest mist. 20. Sudden Valley terrain textures rule! 21. 22. 23. This is one of Mattb325's FAR churches. Cool stuff! 24. I also built MMP church grounds in the city block this church is located upon. 25. 26. Moving into the western part of Paxton. 27. The FA police station is another one of Mattb325's creations! They come in overhanging versions and also orthogonal versions too. 28. 29. A night-time overview of the area. 30. Looking down through a cloudy night. 31. And the final picture... {---} Thank you for viewing! This Monday we're moving into the main valley, Cinders Valley, and to a southern area of Cindersville which is Chumley. This area is an extension of sorts of the city centre as the larger buildings are crammed into an increasingly narrow stretch of flat land. Note also that Chumley borders Paxton upon Paxton's western side so there is a connection to these entries! Coming this Monday- Enjoy the weekend!

YES, YES, YES! God damn that's some fine lotting and MMPing!

Dem MMPs! You are one of the masters of creating urban, coastal scenes.

Hi there, thanks for your comment. Unfortunately I don't keep a list of my mods or plugins as I use dozens of mods and thousands of plugins!

Replies: Duco: Thank you very much! dabadon5: I'm still working on Cindersville, I think I can finish it off before the end of this year... raynev1: Cheers! wallasey: Oh yeah! Thanks for your comment. Entry 25 -- Pololomia- City Centre East So it's been just over two months, what can I say? It was the Summer Holidays and I wanted to take a step back from SC4, but I'm back again and I'm here to post the rest of the pictures and entries from Pololomia. Plus I'm working on finishing off Cindersville- that what I showed in this CJ's last entry. I'm sorry for the delay, it's just my mind has been somewhere else other than SC4. Anyway! Onto the pictures! 1. Now this part of Pololomia is a bit more experimental and... messy. 2. The idea was to create a medium-density area surrounded by suburbs and railways to the north, east and south and then the cbd to the west. 3. But I think the end result is a bit erratic with some areas within this city block better than others. 4. The mid-rise to low-rise transition. 5. I love Mattb325's mid-rise supermarkets! Nice and big and they work in any area- small to large. 6. 7. 8. Every city block will always have a road or avenue marking the outer boundary. Sometimes it will be a fenced area, a gated community, just like the one in the top left of this picture. 9. The greenhouses were a somewhat random addition to increase the footprint of the college (in the top of the picture). 10. The good old horizontal flip trick! 11. I used several roundabouts in the east city centre part of Pololomia. 12. Another look at the gated community- originally it was a big supermarket but then I realised I plopped in the same supermarket in an area south of here! 13. 14. The left of the picture shows the outskirts of Shap- an area to be explored in the next entry. But there is a major railway dividing the East City Centre from Shap. 15. Simcoug's diagonal houses are always great, even more so with rsc204's terrain grass NAM mod! 16. The lower boundary of the east city centre is the railway running right across the middle of this picture, a decided to go full-on diagonal with this boundary and throw in a gradual transition from mid-rise shops and commercial to low-rise residential. 17. I like my diagonal textures as seamless as possible. 18. The boxy 2-floor and 3-floor diagonal buildings are part of C.P.'s Victorian Houses, these buildings are actually ploppable diagonal commercial! Throw in some larger diagonal buildings and it completes the area! 19. Here comes the diagonal hodge-podge! 20. It's harder to get a more uniform diagonal look, but I try... I try... 21. But at least the area inside the diagonal city blocks is more coherent... 22. And MOAR roundabouts! 23. 24. 25. The large roundabout marks the western-most end of the East City Centre. 26. Using SFBT's Diagonal Fillers and Paeng's Pedmall Plazas, it is possible to construct diagonal green spaces and plazas. 27. 28. The building mix is questionable, but what's done is what's done! 29. One final overview of the East City Centre. 30. The next entry is Shap and this is east of the city centre. I'll get it posted this Saturday. See you then! And it's good to be posting CJ entries again!

Good job- nicely done!

I've settled into the fact that's there going to be a lost decade, pretty much most if not all of the 2020s will be dominated by this. There'll be periods of a few months of relaxed lockdowns, then the number of cases will rise again and once hospitals come close to being overrun a new set of tighter lockdowns will happen which will last for a few months, cases will drop and then the lockdown policies will be eased and -- what do you? cases starting again and then rinse and repeat. The original Covid-19 virus is diminishing and the vaccines are aimed for this one, but there are new variants (Covid-20?) and these will be the predominant cases, perhaps the vaccines will work or half-work or not work at all. As Covid-19 and all its variants join (and probably all have joined) the vast array of other coronaviruses and influenza variants (including those of notorious outbreaks in the late 50s and late 60s), there will be the typical double-humped spike in seasonal mortality with possible spikes in spring or summer if there's any variant a bit stronger or resistance to vaccines. This thing, along with other coronaviruses and influenza viruses will kill a million to 3 million people every year, nearly all old and above 65, with higher death rates amongst the obese. The fact is that governments (and a significant majority of the populace) have now decided that this is unacceptable- even though this has always happened. Thus there will always be some kind of lockdown waxing and waning and eventually the penny will drop that 2019/2020 was the worst of it (just like similar outbreaks in the past) and all years will reflect the usual seasonal mortality rates- which before 2020 were considered acceptable and tolerable. The 2020s will see the rise in absolute government for with each year of emergency lockdown measures there will be vaccine passports, the inevitable crackdown on vaccine passport forgery, increased monitoring and surveillance, some kind of enforcement division (not quite police, not quite army but will all the authority of agents of the government) to ensure maintenance of lockdown/prevention measures and then some kind of soft totalitarian state which will organically rise as a consequence of lockdown measures. The features of democracy will be there such as elections but not one party or group of politicians will go against the grain lest their country become a pariah and become isolated, the issue of lockdown easing/tightening/lifting will become a political football and parties, in elections, will promise to do things different but these will be empty promises, as empty as promises to crack down on bankers, improve social security and welfare, and the usual feel-good promises. During this time expect every year for governments getting into the habit of providing stimulus checks to all citizens, there being soaring governments budgets and debt. There will be intractable unemployment (10% or higher) due to lockdown measures whittling away small and medium-sized businesses, whilst large business will use more and more robots and automation to increasingly conduct their operations. Predictably such restrictive measures will create riots and social unrest- though it will never be directly said that restricting everyone to their homes and local areas for months was the cause of unrest and riots, instead the cause will be something social perhaps police brutality, discrimination, frustration due to poverty or joblessness- anything but the obvious reality. Also expect birth rates to plummet, the typical social gatherings very restricted or never coming back at all (as long as lockdown lasts). So goodbye football matches, live performances, festivals of all kinds, religious gatherings in places of worship, going to restaurants, going to the cinema, going abroad on holiday, going clubbing and all those normal things. They come and go but only in a very restricted fashion and the numbers vastly limited and the preventative measures so oppressive as to sap the fun: social bubbles, transparent shielding walls, mask-wearing, request to see a vaccine passport, being told with each visit what can and cannot be done and instructions of where one should be and where not to be. Because of this mental illness will go through the roof, so will drug use and alcohol abuse and pharmaceutical abuse, as well as suicide. A lot of things will stagnate: culture, art, science, business, innovation, education. It's inevitable giving the restrictions of the movement of people, the exchange of ideas and the implementation of ideas- the internet is no substitute for this as life advances through people actually getting together, meeting together and working together in a physical place. Friendships and relationships maintained over the internet are not the same as actually meeting a person because when we meet people this stimulates all kind of things from sight, smell, touch, hormones and other factors (we are electromagnetic beings as well and we still don't know how the interaction and mingling of the EM fields we produce influence personal and social behaviour). In fact the best comparison to what we're currently experiencing and what will continue for most of this decade is the atmosphere and culture of Eastern European countries in the Iron Block during the Cold War: there is life and the basics of a job, a family, some friends and certain social gatherings/events, but not much else. I'm set for a lost decade and even the possibility that I may never in this decade find someone to love or to be with because of these restrictions on movement. But I have my stories, I have SimCity 4, skateboarding on the streets on my own, a few friends and relative freedom when lockdown restrictions ease (riding the skateparks, walking around the Lake District, etc.) I would say make the most of the easing of lockdown restrictions because the chances of meeting someone new will be there, but know that during these periods of a few months that the waning of lockdown restrictions will soon be followed by its waxing. The hope that this will all go away will prove to be the worst torment for it will be dangled like a carrot- only for some new Covid-wave or complication to emerge causing the lockdown measures to tighten once more. Expect 2020s to be a write-off.

Brilliant pictures! Especially like the MMPing.

Of course! I haven't used zoneable farms in years so I forget about that. Will definitely look into that 1x1 forest filler piece! Very nice! Probably your best industrial/rail BAT/LOT in years! May add that somewhere in my New York recreation project. Perhaps the small strip of Long Island I'm creating because there's some train depots over there just north of Brooklyn. The Japanese SC4 content creators would like a word with you! Seriously... This would fit right into their habitation domes, archologies and shield defence grids they create.

That looks amazing! Does the tree farm also come with 1x1 "crop" pieces and even, looking at that picture, diagonal transitions? Or is that simply your stellar lotting work in action- which is separate from the Tree Farm lot itself? Either way- cool stuff.

Yes my lad! Awesome stuff! Though the Icarus Fitness Centre may be a poor choice of words- just like Icarus burning his wings at the height of his powers so will athletic users get accidents when they hit their peak!

I've used some of Bixel's buildings before, he has a great selection of fat or "chunky" skyscrapers and taller mid-rise buildings which make for greater cityscape filler! That and it's hard to find wide, chunky mid-rise buildings. In SC4 of course!

Looking very sharp against the watery backdrop! You captured that out-of-place feel these isolated high-rise developments look like when built on the outskirts of a city or next to rivers or estuaries. I'll put money these are Bixel's buildings from HKBAT (Hong Kong BAT). I recognise the style.

Can comfirm as a British person that you totally nailed the cul-de-sac, or grove, or drive, or end. Nicely done!

Fog in the mountains- around Pratchit's Top. All using render tools from GIMP. Pratchit's Top is at the bottom right. Pratchit's Top is to the left.

WOW! Just realised you could have a diagonal version but without the TE-ing. As long as the street texture overlaps it would "join" up with the road. Though it would have to be overhanging lot and probably a hell of a lot of work modelling textures instead. But very cool- this will be used at some point!

WOW!

NICE rock textures you got going there!

Thank you! I wanted to really give city building on the hills some justice, it's too easy playing it safe on the flat. Thanks. My original plan was an actual river and various streams feeding into it, however it would prove a bit of a nightmare as there wouldn't be enough room for a river and a highway on the valley bottom. There are two outstanding projects where there will be MMPed rivers and streams. The reality is there would be dozens of streams on the Cindersville city tile alone. I'm pleased with the rock MMPs because they are the hardest MMPs to use, especially when plopped directly onto rock textures. Thanks for your support and enthusiasm! The next entry will be up Monday or Tuesday (if I'm busy Monday evening) I could have gone for an MMP stream/river and it's not hard because I've done it before, the problem is mapping out how the stream would cut through the city and then that would mean creating a main river in the valley plus further streams and tributaries. It would have looked far more impressive but it may have actually doubled the time to finish what was an already long project which was dragging on. I do have two outstanding projects where I will be incorporating an MMPed river system, one of which is the Lake District project. Please make the necessary preparations for the next entry! But seriously- thanks a lot for your comment! Thanks! I love it when the game offers random land bridges! Yes, a school's catchment area, at least in Britain is about a one-mile radius. As for the boulder field they are surprisingly stable, I've seen many of them in the Lake District and it takes a really strong storm or the rare earthquake to dislodge them. It's why I stuck to PNG images because JPEG not only cuts out most of the red but turns the roses into a blurry smudge. Thanks a lot for your comment! {---} The next entry will be up tomorrow or Tuesday, it depends on how busy I'll be Monday evening. I have nine mosaics to create and just under 40 pictures to run through photoshop, which will probably take about two or three hours.

Entry 80 -- Maular Valley Thanks a lot for your comments- I knew you'd like an entry full of grid-busting. This entry has further grid-busting but of a rural kind. Since most of these pictures use girafe's roses which come out as a blurry smudge when the image is converted into JPEG, then this entire entry is in PNG form. This is a one-off though. May God have mercy on your CPUs. {---} 1. Maular Valley starts from the north and gradually descends downwards into the Cindersville city centre. 2. It's called Maular after a youtuber who does great (comedic) commentary on recent films, in particular the Star Wars films. 3. The entire dark grey street is MMPed. 4. For those wondering about the sharp RHW-2 corner, it could not be smoothed as the turn was built on both a slope and it was next to an intersection. 5. The winding RHW-2 road is another one of those original features which I first included in Cindersville about two years ago. 6. 7. 8. In this entry we start from the bottom of Maular Valley, in the south, and move northwards all the way towards the top. 9. Sloping suburbs. 10. 11. Going from north to the south. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. This odd-shaped house was featured in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off- this has been recreated by Mattb325 and comes in a 6x6 lot. 17. This is why these pictures are in PNG format- due to all the rose meadows. We're starting from the west BTW. 18. Unfortunately in JPEG format the roses look like like a faint red smudge which would destroy the look of these pictures. 19. From north to south. 20. 21. We at last come to this bridge, this is another one of those happy accidents. 22. I was dragging the road across this small valley dip when the placeholder turned green- indicating that a bridge or tunnel can be built. 23. Another mosaic, this one starting from the east and ending in the west. 24. Instead of MMPing a stream, I decided to create a dried flood channel. 25. Everything tainted by the brown had been created by a flash flood. 26. Another happy accident was how MMPs could be placed UNDER the bridge. 27. The houses we see here are the southern-most extent of Kingsley- a village which I'll be showing in the next entry. 28. The village of Kingsley and the surrounding area will be featured next weekend. So until then have a good week!

Really nice! You create some amazing shipyard/docking/port scenes! Can see you've been squeezing out every last drop of potential from the T21s! Love the minimalist MMP style and the seamless texture integration. The skyscraper BAT-ting god returns! The texture work is phenomenal! Would probably fit into an American city or New York! We mayors may be god, but we are not THE God- sometimes He reminds us of our presence. Nah- classic hole-to-the-centre-of-the-earth bug. Time to call the NAM team.