We went away for a few days over to Cumbria so we could have some R&R and also take in the HUFC match against Carlisle ( 1-0 to pools) but whilst there we got a phone call from a neighbour telling us that our house alarm had gone off. We came home a day early only to find that the scroats had tried to jemmy out the patio window but the security devices had held well. The galling part was that my neighbour telephoned the police and they refused to attend the alarm and asked her to check to see if anything was wrong. Like asking a middle aged woman to confront a ( probably drugged up ) burglar on her own. Cleveland police are the shits........ The green edge on this episode is that the burglar left a good quality garden fork as he legged it, obviously from a previous burglary but hell, I can use a good garden fork especially if I confront a burglar.....
We went by car to the lakes as we had a dog and two suitcases but it got me thinking that back in the 60's we also had a dog and cases when we went on holiday but we didn't have a car. The journey would take about 6 hours to get to the lakes by train but we managed it. Now I wonder how long it would take and if we could be bothered as the car is the easier option.
I want to get rid of the car but my wife points out the need for a car as I'm well disabled. Now if only I can find a solar powered granny scooter and a train time table........hmmmmm.....
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
What's in your bins?
As the title says, What's in your bins? Have you looked lately or don't you care ? Nothing wrong with just dumping stuff in the bins including the recycling bins but as this blog has a bit of a green eco bent then I feel that we all have a duty of care to look in our bins and see what we can avoid putting in there in the future.
Take for instance an Innocent plastic bottle full of lovely cool mineral water.
When you have downed the mineral water and (hopefully) put the bottle in the recycling bin then is that it for you or do you wonder where that plastic bottle goes and what happens to it ? I did so I phoned a few council departments and the general consensus is that it is shipped off to china or India s we don't have the facilities to recycle plastic that much in Britain. Apparently the bottle is sent half way round the world in bulk containers on ships and then chipped up or pelleted and then sent back to us in this form to be reused in making more bottles etc.
Now if you didn't buy that bottle in the first place you wouldn't need to be part of the pollution caused by this shipping pollution would you? You would be able to say that you are treading lighter on the fragile earth and if you think of it it's only one bottle but if you buy one a day it's 18.25 tonnes of plastic a year......
Also when you are shopping why do we need to put fruit and veg in plastic bags? We pick the produce from the shelves, we put them in bags and then put the bags in the trolley. When we get to the checkout we put the bags on the conveyor belt. Is it so hard not to use the bag in the first place? Try it next time and see if you REALLY do need the plastic bag.
Again this sort of packaging makes up about 60% of our household rubbish that goes to landfill according to Friends of the Earth.
Take for instance an Innocent plastic bottle full of lovely cool mineral water.
When you have downed the mineral water and (hopefully) put the bottle in the recycling bin then is that it for you or do you wonder where that plastic bottle goes and what happens to it ? I did so I phoned a few council departments and the general consensus is that it is shipped off to china or India s we don't have the facilities to recycle plastic that much in Britain. Apparently the bottle is sent half way round the world in bulk containers on ships and then chipped up or pelleted and then sent back to us in this form to be reused in making more bottles etc.
Now if you didn't buy that bottle in the first place you wouldn't need to be part of the pollution caused by this shipping pollution would you? You would be able to say that you are treading lighter on the fragile earth and if you think of it it's only one bottle but if you buy one a day it's 18.25 tonnes of plastic a year......
Also when you are shopping why do we need to put fruit and veg in plastic bags? We pick the produce from the shelves, we put them in bags and then put the bags in the trolley. When we get to the checkout we put the bags on the conveyor belt. Is it so hard not to use the bag in the first place? Try it next time and see if you REALLY do need the plastic bag.
Again this sort of packaging makes up about 60% of our household rubbish that goes to landfill according to Friends of the Earth.
The come back kids
Last night we went to watch Hartlepool United at home playing Huddersfield Town. Now we, as in all the family are home and away supporters dedicated to the cause and if you cut us we bleed blue and white. However this causes conflict with my trials at being more eco friendly because if we do every away match this season we will drive the equivillent in miles of half way around the world in a gas guzzler of a car. To that end we have decided to only do a handful of important games or niggle matches when we can get a "good atmosphere " going.
The trouble is that this season we are known as the come back kids because we always have to fight to get a point or 3. Last night was again no exception. The defence were crap and let in a goal. We came back with a goal of our own. Sure enough we let in another goal from a set piece free kick. Again we equalised....2-2. True to form right on the stroke of half time we let in a third goal... Rather dubious as it came from a dodgy offside decision and then their keeper took the freekick from the other side of the pitch no less !! this led to the goal so 2-3 at half time.
Still we Hartlepool supporters know better and that there is still 45 minutes in the second half. True to form we put 3 more goals past Huddersfield Town in the second half to end the game 5-3 to Pools. My trouble is that we let in so many goals. Including last night we have scored 59 goals at home but also conceeded 54.... Still we can't complain...... 3 points is still 3 points..
The trouble is that this season we are known as the come back kids because we always have to fight to get a point or 3. Last night was again no exception. The defence were crap and let in a goal. We came back with a goal of our own. Sure enough we let in another goal from a set piece free kick. Again we equalised....2-2. True to form right on the stroke of half time we let in a third goal... Rather dubious as it came from a dodgy offside decision and then their keeper took the freekick from the other side of the pitch no less !! this led to the goal so 2-3 at half time.
Still we Hartlepool supporters know better and that there is still 45 minutes in the second half. True to form we put 3 more goals past Huddersfield Town in the second half to end the game 5-3 to Pools. My trouble is that we let in so many goals. Including last night we have scored 59 goals at home but also conceeded 54.... Still we can't complain...... 3 points is still 3 points..
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The penny drops........
Had nowt to do today, well that's not strictly true as there is always too much that needs to be done in this world but we decided that we would go out for the day. No place in particular so we ended up at a garden centre and a couple of electrical shops. The garden centre was a typical crass affair but I couldn't resist getting some raspberry canes, a red goosgog bush and a thorn less blackberry bush. Two cups of tea later the wife came back from the "Christmas department" which was set up in August by the way, and off we toddled to the electrical shops.
We need a new fridge and freezer purely on environmental and money saving grounds. The separate under the counter ones we have at present still do their job but hey are costly to run compared with the modern A++ versions.
Having worked out the running cost of the ones we have which is around 4 units of electric a day and the new one would be less than 1 unit a day we would save around 33 p a day in running costs.
Now 33 pence a day doesn't sound much and you are probably thinking that I'm a skinflint but over a year it is over £120 in savings. Granted the cost of the one we looked at was the thick end of £400 but just on the savings alone the new Fridge Freezer would have paid back it's cost in 3years and 4 months. Also being disabled the pain involved in getting stuff out of the fridge and freezer at the moment would be negligible. As well as this the current ones we have are over 10 years old for the new one we would then be quids in.
Also in the next shop along in the shopping parade we saw some new televisions. Flat screen, digital do dahs all this and that free cable or satellite boxes and home cinema systems etc. I, of course wanted the biggest TV on display, a whopping 60" jobby at nearly £2000 ( but you did get a free home cinema sound system and it played DJ Tiesto concerts in hi def...... but my wife dragged me away and as we were walking along the line of TVs she said....." but how much energy do they use?"
It wasn't until we were driving home that I realised what she said.... " but how much energy do they use?"For over a year now I've been battling with her to win over her mind and soul with constant talk about energy saving light bulbs, wood burning stoves, solar thermal heating and Photovoltaic panels not to mention how much electric and gas we have used on a daily basis, (I take daily meter readings) how much petrol costs in terms of CO2, Getting her to switch lights off, standby buttons are also banned and cooking is always "eeked out" a bit further such as putting a 1/4 can of water into the pan of soup, adding vegetables and lentils to mince to make it go further and of course reduce, reuse, recycle. Most of it I thought had landed on deaf ears and all to no avail but to my shock and horror she comes out with a blinder of a question " but how much energy do the TV's use?" Amanda, I love you !!
All my work is done....... Now where is that wood burning stove catalogue I need to show her.......
We need a new fridge and freezer purely on environmental and money saving grounds. The separate under the counter ones we have at present still do their job but hey are costly to run compared with the modern A++ versions.
Having worked out the running cost of the ones we have which is around 4 units of electric a day and the new one would be less than 1 unit a day we would save around 33 p a day in running costs.
Now 33 pence a day doesn't sound much and you are probably thinking that I'm a skinflint but over a year it is over £120 in savings. Granted the cost of the one we looked at was the thick end of £400 but just on the savings alone the new Fridge Freezer would have paid back it's cost in 3years and 4 months. Also being disabled the pain involved in getting stuff out of the fridge and freezer at the moment would be negligible. As well as this the current ones we have are over 10 years old for the new one we would then be quids in.
Also in the next shop along in the shopping parade we saw some new televisions. Flat screen, digital do dahs all this and that free cable or satellite boxes and home cinema systems etc. I, of course wanted the biggest TV on display, a whopping 60" jobby at nearly £2000 ( but you did get a free home cinema sound system and it played DJ Tiesto concerts in hi def...... but my wife dragged me away and as we were walking along the line of TVs she said....." but how much energy do they use?"
It wasn't until we were driving home that I realised what she said.... " but how much energy do they use?"For over a year now I've been battling with her to win over her mind and soul with constant talk about energy saving light bulbs, wood burning stoves, solar thermal heating and Photovoltaic panels not to mention how much electric and gas we have used on a daily basis, (I take daily meter readings) how much petrol costs in terms of CO2, Getting her to switch lights off, standby buttons are also banned and cooking is always "eeked out" a bit further such as putting a 1/4 can of water into the pan of soup, adding vegetables and lentils to mince to make it go further and of course reduce, reuse, recycle. Most of it I thought had landed on deaf ears and all to no avail but to my shock and horror she comes out with a blinder of a question " but how much energy do the TV's use?" Amanda, I love you !!
All my work is done....... Now where is that wood burning stove catalogue I need to show her.......
Saturday, October 18, 2008
It's spittin......
It's spittin marjory... get the kids in.........
Got up early today, well 10 oclock which is early for me on a Saturday ready to dig over some of the garden with a rotorvator. Well actually I was going to make cups of tea and bacon sarnies and a friend was going to do the rotorvating, ripping up a good 2/3rd of the lawn to make a veg patch 8m long by 5m wide but it started to rain........ started with a little spitting rain then a bit more and eventually it is a torrential downpour and the wetherman said it would be fine today with heavy rain tomorrow, Sunday. The lawn is laughing at us now but come the next fine day that coincides with my mates day off and the lawn is a gonna.......
Got up early today, well 10 oclock which is early for me on a Saturday ready to dig over some of the garden with a rotorvator. Well actually I was going to make cups of tea and bacon sarnies and a friend was going to do the rotorvating, ripping up a good 2/3rd of the lawn to make a veg patch 8m long by 5m wide but it started to rain........ started with a little spitting rain then a bit more and eventually it is a torrential downpour and the wetherman said it would be fine today with heavy rain tomorrow, Sunday. The lawn is laughing at us now but come the next fine day that coincides with my mates day off and the lawn is a gonna.......
Friday, October 17, 2008
Change
Leading on from my welcome post........
Do we need to change? If so what do we need to change and why? I feel that we need to change the way we think and the way we behave to one another and the planet as a whole. We need to change the government as they seem to have lost the plot totally.
It's not just the money crisis or the meltdown of the stock market, the collapse of the banking infrastructure or the lack of services and higher taxes we pay but the insidious hidden things like massive legislation introduced by this government.
I've been driving for nearly 30 years and not put a foot wrong. In the last 3 months I have had 2 parking fines ( £60 each £30 if settled fast) and an £80 fine ( £40 is settled fast) by the dvla for not renewing my SORN on a car I'm rebuilding.
The parking fines were dished out when I was in Edinburgh and had broken down and I was waiting for a tow truck when the parking attendant slapped the fine on the car. The second was in my home town because I was 11 mm over a white line. Both appealed, the white line was rescinded.
The dvla one just had to be paid but in the past a notice used to be sent out much the same as the renewal papers for the tax disc. Not now, bang goes £40 quid. These type of stealth payments are making a lot of difference, I mean £40 is a fortnights food shopping for my wife and I.
Change to the way we treat the planet is also well over due. I remember in 1992 ( I think) Greenpeace said we had 8 years to change our thinking on global warming or it would be too late to reverse the changes.
Governments including ours looked the other way and ignored the likes of Greenpeace and now look at the trouble we are in and the dire predictions we are all facing in the future.
Maybe the global recession will be a good thing. Maybe it will bring us to our knees and then the ones who can grow their own food, feed their own animals and ride a bike will be one step ahead of the herd who will be running for the cliff top without the ability to turn right or left before the precipice looms.
Do we need to change? If so what do we need to change and why? I feel that we need to change the way we think and the way we behave to one another and the planet as a whole. We need to change the government as they seem to have lost the plot totally.
It's not just the money crisis or the meltdown of the stock market, the collapse of the banking infrastructure or the lack of services and higher taxes we pay but the insidious hidden things like massive legislation introduced by this government.
I've been driving for nearly 30 years and not put a foot wrong. In the last 3 months I have had 2 parking fines ( £60 each £30 if settled fast) and an £80 fine ( £40 is settled fast) by the dvla for not renewing my SORN on a car I'm rebuilding.
The parking fines were dished out when I was in Edinburgh and had broken down and I was waiting for a tow truck when the parking attendant slapped the fine on the car. The second was in my home town because I was 11 mm over a white line. Both appealed, the white line was rescinded.
The dvla one just had to be paid but in the past a notice used to be sent out much the same as the renewal papers for the tax disc. Not now, bang goes £40 quid. These type of stealth payments are making a lot of difference, I mean £40 is a fortnights food shopping for my wife and I.
Change to the way we treat the planet is also well over due. I remember in 1992 ( I think) Greenpeace said we had 8 years to change our thinking on global warming or it would be too late to reverse the changes.
Governments including ours looked the other way and ignored the likes of Greenpeace and now look at the trouble we are in and the dire predictions we are all facing in the future.
Maybe the global recession will be a good thing. Maybe it will bring us to our knees and then the ones who can grow their own food, feed their own animals and ride a bike will be one step ahead of the herd who will be running for the cliff top without the ability to turn right or left before the precipice looms.
Welcome
Welcome to my blog.
Years ago, in the late 80's to be precise I was studying to be a professional photographer and the first digital photograph came on the scene. The one that I saw was a collage of a soldier outside a castle with a deep blue cloudy sky. All three shots, the soldier, the castle and the sky had been taken with a digital camera and merged by computer to make one.
There was uproar in photography circles and I devoutly stood up and proclaimed that I would NEVER EVER buy a digital camera and I would stay faithful to the medium of Black and white prints on expensive papers with many hours in the darkroom....... I bought a digital Camera all be it in 2003.
I also couldn't see the point of all this blogging palarkey! I mean who wants to read what jumped up self important little people want to say??
I've now got a blog so I guess I' m a blogger.... Ho hum......
I guess the reason for this retrospective is that times change and as we evolve in our day to day lives we see the benefits, the negativity's, the uses and the pitfalls of the fast evolving world we live in and maybe we want to try and change this ( for better or worse) or we want to make our mark in the world without designing a nuclear bomb or creating genocide or even "being a celebrity"
For me this blog will be of a green bent as I fear for my son and any children he may have in the future as we rape, pillage and destroy this world we live in. Time has come to change the way we live, the way we think, the way we behave and above all the way we link into the world of our fellow man.
I hope you enjoy reading my missives and find something of use in them. I can't guarantee I won't ramble on and on, be obnoxious, politically INcorrect or any other of a thousand traits I seem to have but I'll try to be good..... honest.
Years ago, in the late 80's to be precise I was studying to be a professional photographer and the first digital photograph came on the scene. The one that I saw was a collage of a soldier outside a castle with a deep blue cloudy sky. All three shots, the soldier, the castle and the sky had been taken with a digital camera and merged by computer to make one.
There was uproar in photography circles and I devoutly stood up and proclaimed that I would NEVER EVER buy a digital camera and I would stay faithful to the medium of Black and white prints on expensive papers with many hours in the darkroom....... I bought a digital Camera all be it in 2003.
I also couldn't see the point of all this blogging palarkey! I mean who wants to read what jumped up self important little people want to say??
I've now got a blog so I guess I' m a blogger.... Ho hum......
I guess the reason for this retrospective is that times change and as we evolve in our day to day lives we see the benefits, the negativity's, the uses and the pitfalls of the fast evolving world we live in and maybe we want to try and change this ( for better or worse) or we want to make our mark in the world without designing a nuclear bomb or creating genocide or even "being a celebrity"
For me this blog will be of a green bent as I fear for my son and any children he may have in the future as we rape, pillage and destroy this world we live in. Time has come to change the way we live, the way we think, the way we behave and above all the way we link into the world of our fellow man.
I hope you enjoy reading my missives and find something of use in them. I can't guarantee I won't ramble on and on, be obnoxious, politically INcorrect or any other of a thousand traits I seem to have but I'll try to be good..... honest.
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