This is not my... Week 40
07/10/06 - When you start looking
02/10/06 - It may be chilly out
This Section; Background; The point
07/11/2006 - When you start looking
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you find the most amazing things... |
was on a bit of a mission yesterday to find some really great products.
Some people must have brains the size of mountains to make some of this stuff!
Found way too much to go on about this morning but will throw out a couple of things.
Lighting wise there is quite a few of solar things on the market now.
Even if you just potter to the DIY shop you can get garden lights and security beams but these sun bricks are brilliant (well if you have a brick path especially) and the sun jar is really cute.
But they are nothing in comparison with being your own personal power house!
The solar back pack and briefcase mean that - where ever you are - (well perhaps not at night) you can power up.
And that is nothing in comparison to the amazing electric van or best of all..... the sustainable dance club!
You dance and the music plays.
If too many people stop the walls start to change colour so that you get up and start again.
Absolutely genius!
I am the world's worst - yet most enthusiastic dancer - finally a place where my unique energetic convulsions will be appreciated.
Anyhow - mind blowingly exciting as that all is - my Mum is staying and is making me scrub the kitchen before work (I've given up on attempts to remind her that it is my house and not hers) and - to be fair - it is only as she is here helping me so I shouldn't really complain!
Still - bracing bit of manual labour to get the day started so best get along...
Have a lovely one x
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Saturday was great.
Hope you were there as otherwise you missed out... |
Hopped up to the US Embassy to begin the march against climate change on a an amazing crisp winter morning.
There were thousands of people.
Lots of rallying calls from the speakers (well I imagine - we were a bit distracted by the vegan cake stall... hmmmmm) followed by a wander through the heart of London.
Brilliant.
I always find it odd when protesting/marching is so entertaining. It seems a worthy thing to be doing and like it should take effort - but this was no effort at all.
In fact, it was amazing to be having a walk in the city where everyone chatted to their neighbours, there were loads of odd and wonderful things to watch and you got followed by a jazz band.
Arrived in Trafalgar Square after a gentle stroll, bumped into people, watched Razorlight and then - as the sun began to fall - pootled off to a nearby pub to warm up.
Fun.
I'd be up for it every weekend.
Well - if the musicians are.
As Ol pointed out. It would be pretty damn good if everywhere you went you got followed by your own band.
Oooh or if life were lived in a massive musical!
A while back I was on my way to a Freddie Mercury party - dressed as Freddie (well wearing a cut up scarf in an attempt to emulate chest hair...) with 3 friends (another Freddie and two Brian May's... also sporting totally unconvincing body wigs).
We had made our way through a bottle of wine whilst changing (or two) and had decided it would be a good idea to sing Bohemian Rhapsody through the tube stations.
It could have been yet another 'embarrassing things we did while drunk tale' but actually it was amazing.
Everyone joined in!
There were train conductors, commuters and policemen all contributing different lines. Like a massive - really badly costumed - stage show.
Amazing.
Mind you - maybe it wouldn't have been so great if it had happened again once the hangover had kicked in the next morning...
Anyhow - getting sidetracked (again) so back to the march.
Also entertaining were some of the intriguing leaflets.
There was some hot competition (the marxist leninists and social marxists were fine contenders) but the winner was the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
I am sure that they are a brilliant organisation but their leaflet started with:
"Women say NO to environmental degradation"
(Inferring that men say YES...?)
"Listen to women for a change"
Ha ha - nothing like discounting half of the population.
At the time I was singled out for a leaflet I was with three of my friends who are most active in campaigning - all male.
So it seemed a little inappropriate.
(Though secretly I agreed with it...)
But there were lots of inciteful and informative things generally. And it was also great to see so many people involved.
All in all - a fantastic day.
And hopefully something that will have a positive effect at the climate talks in Nairobi starting this week.
And for anyone opening a vegan cake shop....
x
03/11/2006 - Talking of running
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I have to get to Earls Court and back before work so... |
need to be super speedy. Only 10 minutes till my train leaves.
But there is always just enough time for one last plug for the exciting climate extravaganza on Saturday in Trafalgar Square (no not climax extravaganza Karen! - Dodgy mind....)
Ol and I shall be flyering like crazed whippets (or just pottering about having fun) with a few other lovely ladies and gents so come and say hi if you spot us.
It is going to be quite the thing indeed - see - they say so themselves....
"Stop Climate Chaos today announced the lively line up for its Saturday 4th November ‘I Count’ event held in London’s Trafalgar Square between 1-3pm.
Thousands are expected to attend and ‘be counted’ at the free event that will take place on the eve of global climate change talks in Nairobi, demanding that the UK Government negotiate an international deal to keep global warming levels less that 2 degrees centigrade and introduce a Climate Change Bill into the Queens speech.
Speakers to include: KT Tunstall, Rob Newman, Miranda Richardson, Simon Amstell, Rufus Hound, Ashok Sinha (Director – Stop Climate Chaos), Bishop of Liverpool, Adam Hart Davis, Dr Hany El Banna (President – Islamic relief) and Sharon Looremeta.
Thousands of people will be traveling to the event from all over the UK. Surfers from the South West, walkers from the West Midlands and bus loads of people from all over the country will descend upon Trafalgar Square to be counted.
With street bands, entertainment, film, performance and speakers - come and be part of the greatest climate chaos event of the year."
I am particularly excited that Rufus Hound is there. What a great name!
No idea who he is but must track him down.
oooh just googled him (really really must stop getting distracted... 5 minutes till the train leaves)
He has an amazing moustache.
What a man.
You have to come now.
Men with suspicious moustaches, a bit of music, the Bishop of Liverpool and a whole horde of surfers and some crisp winter sunshine - that's got to be better than the Eastenders omnibus!
Hope to see you there x
02/10/06 - It may be chilly out
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but there are so many ways of staying warm... |
Thought I might start a theme to the blog for a wee while (till it gets warm again?).
Despite being fervently against any global warming. I hate the cold!
Not only is it uncomfortable but it makes you ugly too. (Well apart from Irish people who can pull off the pasty look far too well for my liking!)
But the chill has set in and so action must be taken to stay warm. And there is nothing better than staying warm the cheapest and most sustanable way.
So, starting with out of the house - here are some ways we can:
1 - you are outside.
You have clearly underestimated the sheer number of long johns you needed to put on and you are beginning to fear for the loss of your extremities...
Simple.
Run!!!!!!!
You can lose so much weight in winter.
As it is just too cold to walk.
Not only is this a brilliant way of getting where you are going quicker but you get fit and stay toastie, knowing full well that it is way too cold to sweat.
Couldn't be easier.
Energy efficiency rating - high
2 - You are inside about to go out.
It's chilly and so you think that perhaps you will take the car on that short journey....
Wrong.
Aside from the fact that heating the engine will use loads of unnecessary power this is a cold idea!
You will first need to locate that ice scraper thingy which - undoubtedly - will have fallen down the side of one of the chairs.
You will start at this point to let the cold into all of your joints.
You then have to (dun nun nun nuh) remove your gloves to use it. And / or use it with gloves and therefore drop it several times prolonging the experience.
Either way - somehow your gloves will get wet giving you cold hands for the rest of the day.
You get in and get to the wheel.
It is FREEZING.
Your little finger is almost lost to frostbite there and then.
You put on all the fans which - adding insult to injury - blow cold air at you.
Finally you get the car started and get away - but then there is the whole palavar the other end. Standing about letting the cold get to you again as you try to get a parking ticket, lock the car, dislodge the scrapey thingy from under the foot mat....
Now what you could do is:
Get out of house on freezing yet sunny morning.
Take brisk walk to the bus stop or station keeping in all of the warm air you have taken from the house.
Get on bus/train/tube which has been... preheated!
Stay in warm and cosy cocoon till you are nearly at your destination.
Repeat brisk walk and arrive pleasantly heated.
In the winter.
Tubes are your friend.
Go get em
x
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not things - that matter... |
After yesterday's ramble on creative thinking it was naturally going to be the case that some creative thinkers would be thrown my way.
We have just got some seed funding to make this site even better (is that possible? You say.......) from a company called Unltd. Yesterday I was invited to an awards day.
There was some great motivational talk from the Director of Whatif (an innovations company) based around re-evaluating the way we think and relaxing the mind to enable creativity.
(Apparently that 'just-about-to-go-to-sleep' moment is a very creative one. Though, attempts to reach the zone and then wake up could go a little bit wrong!)
And then a bit of jovial banter from John Bird of the Big Issue (who has a wonderfully positive view of failure). Oooh had a nice quote on that... what was it now... actually - just looked at the quotes page - I have two:
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
-Robert F. Kennedy
"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." - George E. Woodberry
But - I am sidetracking - what I wanted to write about was a bloke called Philip, a south Londoner who was trying to get his community to do things together.
He was one of those delightfully off the wall, fearless kind of guys - who just decided one day that it would be nice if everyone on his estate went to the cinema together so called up the ICU, got 100 free tickets and took them all.
Anyhow - he was there as he was going to create some things that his community could enjoy and one of these is going to be a massive chess set.
But not one with pieces.
One where people are pieces.
But of course! Why not?
After all, it wouldn't be so much of a community pursuit if only a couple of people could be involved...
Brilliant.
All you need is a board, or some way of depicting one and then it's all people power.
So there you go!
Who needs things?
It's people that matter.
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 debates, downloads, fun stuff and plenty more to lure you back to the site on a regular basis.
We’d love you to get involved with some curious antics to keep important issues in the public eye – and provide us with much entertainment and amusement at the same time.
So - take a look. Explore… investigate… probe away.
We hope you like it; we hope you use it.
