This is not my... Week 25 07
27/06/07 - Are you ready for this?
26/06/07 - It's like a Eureka moment
25/06/07 - Oh my brain.
This Section; Background; The point
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So delicious... |
Love the summer as eating seasonal food is so much better than in winter.
It has to be said - despite valient efforts to think of dishes that include swede and potatoes the options aren't great. Once you have winter vegetable soup and a nice roast out of the way it is easy to deviate.
Not so in summer.
Well - not so in summer... if you love berries.
Hmmmmm berries.
Plus - you could sit in your living room eating them whilst pouring water on yourself and it'd be just like being at Wimbledon...
Though sadly without Andy Roddick. Hmmmm Andy Roddick....
Anyhow - check out the eattheseasons site to see what else is hot right now.
Have an amazing weekend x
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But not more sand... |
Spent a lot of time in sand this year and it is eeeeeevil stuff (long gone the heady memories of victory in the Portmahomack sand castle competition).
And we are getting more of it.
Boo.
(I use the term 'we' loosely. To be fair, I doubt there will be that much more in Peckham than there was before...)
Anyhow, as the Beeb reports, the latest UN studies have shown that desertification is the "greatest environmental challenge of our time".
Those living nearest to the warm, dry areas of the world will feel climate change just as keenly as those in the cold and wet ones.
Even more reason, then, to take some brilliantly simple evasive action. Use the deserts instead to make masses of environmentally free energy, in solar fields that will also provide shade and electricity so that the areas they are in can be irrigated and cultivated.
The Club of Rome think tank (German scientists, international economists, the King of Jordan etc) has established that much of Europe's energy can be gathered from sustainable sources using current technologies.
Details of how this can work are shown on the website for the Trans Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation from which you can (in two minutes) also email your local politicians to make them aware of the possibilities.
Why not take a wee look.
Sand is, after all, a bugger to get out of your bikini!
x
27/06/07 - Are you ready for this?
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Not sure I am... |
And so it begins.
The great site overhaul.
The time has come to stop going on about all the things that we plan to do and actually do them (hence the filing procrastination of yesterday).
All of the directories will be updated and made searchable in the next couple of weeks (definitely). There will be more exciting buttons to press (maybe) and everyone will recieve a free lesson in communicating with drums from a member of the Efik tribe of Nigeria (highly unlikely).
So - this is your chance.
If you have, know of or have made up any wonderful companies that you think should be listed on this site then please drop me a line at susie@thisisnotmy.co.uk
All help is much appreciated.
Anyhow - suppose I had best get back to it really.
Right after cleaning the bathroom... and watering the plants.... and getting the post...
x
26/06/07 - It's like a Eureka moment
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I can't believe I haven't done it before... |
Woke up this morning alert.
Like a fox.
Or maybe a meer cat.
There had been a flash of inspiration.
Was I a genius?
Were others able to reach such heady levels of intellectual prowess...?
It had - finally - occurred to me that not only could I save countless trees from unnecessary culling but also myself a chore that I would rather wound myself repeatedly to avoid.
THE FILING.
Dun dun dun duuuuuuuh.
The filing in our house sat for two months on the living room table. Then it got to Christmas so it was moved to a cupboard. At the start of the new year it was valiantly relocated to the table again to be ignored. It then spent a nice time in a pile by the sofa, headed back to the table for another stint, back to the floor and then back to the table once more three weeks ago, where it remained.... till - finally - and over a period of four days it was done.
Not a strong point.
Anyhow - once this mammoth task had been completed (and the unopened bills from November had been added to the 'oh man I hope someone paid that at some point... I guess they must have or we wouldn't have any water/gas/electricity' folder) I realised that most of it we don't really need.
Nowadays you can ask your utility providers / bank / cheese addictions anonymous group to send most things by email and can, according to Thisismoney, send one quick "email to optout@royalmail.co.uk with your name and address, stating clearly that you do not want door-to-door mail to be delivered to your home."
And then - joy of joys - you wont have to find somewhere to put it all!
Ah it is a happy day indeed.
Have a lovely one x
25/06/07 - Oh my brain.
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It's been a tough morning already... |
My friend Jo has come to stay which is fantastic.
Not only is it great to see her but the years have meant I don't have to worry about the normal rules for having guests.
Quite the opposite infact.
Yesterday I mumbled something about dinner and she pointed out that she had it all in hand and would be cooking it imminently.
Brilliant.
(She generally turns up armed with provisions knowing it is the only sure way to get anything other than toast for sustenance.)
Jo is also very knowledgeable about current affairs.
This can make for fascinating conversation... unless, of course, it is breakfast, you've had a heavy weekend and she is explaining the intricacies of the recent Scottish elections...
Show some mercy!
Still - it is interesting though.
Spent a while working in parliament (high powered role mostly revolving around the art of photocopying) and realised that it is really easy to interact with the people making our decisions for us.
You can write to your MP at any time.
Pop along to an open select committee meeting.
Or even petition downing street right from your computer.
Ah politics - never been easier...
Right - best be getting along. I am apparently meant to be investigating the ethics of poker and narcotics. Oh and going to work. And filing tax returns. And doing all the things I didn't do yesterday.
Just as soon as I have woken up a tiny bit more...
It's going to be a long day!
Have a good one.
Susie x
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.
