This is not my... Week 19 07
17/05/07 - I was going to write about
16/05/07 - Packed lunch and a good seeing to?
This Section; Background; The point
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and exhale... |
Lot of stress going on in the office yesterday.
Usually it bounces off me as I'm about as observant as a mole - but the fervent activity and panic was a giveaway.
(Ok, ok it was when the swearing started!)
And too much mayhem and busyness isn't always good for us. (Always on the phone/email/etc)
So - it's probably best to have a bit of a slow down.
Get up lazily, have some breakfast and daydream about sun-filled beaches.
Nice.
Easier for me I guess as I am off for the weekend but - hey - why not give it a go regardless?
Go on.
Turn the computer off. Get a coffee. Put your feet up.
Dare you...
Have a great weekend.
x
17/05/07 - I was going to write about
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a nice experience with a water turbine and some unexpected cow poo but... |
oooh I am so grumpy!
There's a long back story but I find myself in Bath missing the trains that would see me safely tucked up at bedtime. But - as luck would have it - there is a 10.50 and the journey is only an hour and a half.
Not too bad.
I can just grab a cab at the other end. And I know a couple of nice eco ones too.
I hop on the train and go to call. No numbers. Nothing. Not even for a normal one. Well - unless you count one in Cirencester... a place I have never been to?!
As I write this I am thinking: 'why, why didn't you call directory enquiries' but at the time I thought: 'oh well - maybe the tube will still be running'.
So I didn't.
It wasn't.
However, helpfully the station master pointed out that night buses went to Peckham (from Paddington) and didn't actually take that long. I was amazed to find this to be true. It would take only 35 minutes and one was just on its way.
Brilliant!
I smugly praised myself on my financial saving and virtuous
environmentalism. And was, in fact, so inspired by this act of selflessness that I pretended to read my copy of the Ecologist so that I could feel even more irritatingly worthy.
I settled in for the quick hop home.
And then it happened.
The bus stopped.
The night bus.
Surely that's illegal?
Especially when it is raining....
And it took so long for another. And my feet got wet. And I was hungry. And all the while my inner voice kept saying 'I bet if you hail a cab now, the bus will come...'
Most traumatic! My general love of public transport has been a teensy bit stretched.
Hmpf.
Anyhow - it's not all bad. On the plus side, I was thinking about getting a new tattoo but wasn't sure what to have.
One of these taxi numbers might be ideal....
Green Tomato Cars
020 8568 0022
Ecoigo
08000 326 446
x
16/05/07 - Packed lunch and a good seeing to?
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Don't mind if I do... |
It is one of my worst environmental errors.
I know I shouldn't.
And yet day after day after day... I buy myself sandwiches.
Usually a couple of times.
In packets.
And sometimes breakfast.
In a pot.
Naughty.
But all is well this week as we have a friend staying. And in return for use of the living room he has become 'house bit*h' (his words not mine!)
So today I get a packed lunch.
How great is that?
And, as I am typing, he is taking up my trousers (sewing - not anything dodgy I should point out)!
Amazing.
Anyhow, nice as it is though to have a environmentally friendly - erm - slave(?!) it is also a worry.
He has now announced that in order to be greener still he may stop wearing clothes in the summer. Keen. But possibly a little alarming for the neighbours.
Not quite so alarming for neighbours but entertaining never-the-less is the new found Skype fun we have set up.
Skype for anyone who doesn't know is a free way you can see (with a camera) and talk to people over the internet. Therefore a great way to chat to friends and family without having to travel.
As we discovered yesterday, it is also a great way to get your mates to shout things louder and louder as you pretend not to hear them.
Our friend obligingly yelled "I need a good seeing to!" over and over at ever increasing volumes until we were finally rumbled.
Ah - so much fun to be had...
Hope you have a fabulous day.
Susie x
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after a somewhat colossal weekend in Edinburgh... |
but my love of trains (sorry - back on this) remains as strong as ever. In fact - it has been compounded by a whole new experience.
The sleeper.
Oh yes.
After a heavy Saturday night we went back to the pub for a rectifying pint before the train home. 8 hours later and we were getting the sleeper back. Shameful really but we made it in time for work and slept really well! (Though I admit - technically - it could be argued that the time spent in the pub may have assisted with the easy slumber.)
Ol pottered off to Cambridge and had similar amounts of frivolity once again proving that the UK excursion is definitely a winner. (Even if it can permanently damage your liver and mind...)
Anyhow - now back and onto project of the week.
Tracking down a wedding gift for my cousin.
A somewhat tricky procedure when said cousin refuses to have a gift list, return any calls which request ideas for gifts (even if such requests are incredibly cunningly disguised*) and hasn't even hinted anything to her mother. Hmpf.
Thus I shall be forced to use my own - highly attuned - powers of investigation to find the perfect present.
Aka if the gift list suppliers recommended by Ethical Weddings don't have anything then I'll sneakily transfer them some money to get what they want whilst wrapping up something horrific but self created which they will have to pretend to like.
Actually - that sounds like fun....
x
*"If it weren't you but a friend who had really similar tastes to you - what would you buy them...?"
This section will be a daily, well - Monday to Friday daily, editorial. (Have to keep some time aside to keep up the ritual wine drinking / dancing as if being chased by bees.)
I promise to make it my mission to investigate something each day on exciting forays to find new stuff, fun stuff, ethical stuff and anything involving break dancing men with extremely toned physiques.
Let me know if you think of something I should go and visit or if you have any great ideas or information. (Any dodgy suggestions will be politely declined... or not so politely, depending entirely on what they are!)
For today, though, please just have a look below to find out how this whole thing came about. I hope that you are having a lovely morning.
See you tomorrow,
Susie x
Background to This is not my...
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What is this site all about?
Well, as all good ventures do, it started in the pub with the ominous words "I know, why don't we...?" |
What was different, though, was that it still seemed like a good plan in the morning (and somewhat less injurious than trying out extreme ironing, the other suggestion...)
Anyway - once again we had been supping beers and putting the world to rights when someone mentioned the unmentionable, despite our disaffection with the state of the world, none of us was actually doing anything positive to change it.
Whether this was complacency or apathy, who knows - but we were definitely leaving it to others to make decisions and take action for us on issues about which we felt strongly.
We live in a free society, but often things seem to happen as a fait accompli. The war in Iraq, ID cards, the fact that we will eventually succumb to watching some of Big Brother no matter how hard we try...
And we just go along with it. But that is ok, right? I mean, we aren't exactly encouraging the abuse of others - are we?
Ok - so maybe my new top might have been made under less-than-perfect conditions and I suppose that means I am supporting those conditions, but - I have to buy something to wear, so what other choice do I have?
And that was the problem. What - and where - are the choices?
So we decided to investigate. Surely in this free society we have other options; we just need to know how to find them.
So we went online. There are some great directories already for ethical and/or environmentally friendly products, but for us these didn't go far enough. We were on a bit of a roll and decided that these products deserved more active promotion.
We wanted to make as many people as possible aware of the practical things they can do to live life in a better way.
So on this site we will provide information about easy, positive and ethical consumer choices. These are choices that won’t necessarily cost you more, either.
In our directories you will find environmentally friendly and ethical companies and products across the following categories:
Clothes
Energy
Food and Drink
Health and Beauty
Home and Garden
Office
Recycling
Restaurants
You will also find plenty more to lure you back to the site on a regular basis. So come back to have a wee look.
Plus we will be working on video's, events and curious antics to keep important issues in the public eye – and provide us with much entertainment and amusement at the same time.
Give us a shout if you want to get involved!
Anyhow - take a look. Explore… investigate… probe away.
We hope you like it; we hope you use it.
