This is not my... Week 46
19/12/06 - Tis the season to be...
14/12/06 - If you can't beat it
This Section; Background; The point
19/12/06 - Tis the season to be...
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extremely resourceful and clever and all things like that... |
Just thought that it would be good to get in a few last minute festive tips.
I would like to point out that I thought of them all myself.
And in no way* did I just nick them off someone else's website.
And that all likeness to the tips on any other website, particularly the website of the Bristol based recycling consortium, is entirely coincidental...
- Keep some of the cards you receive this year to re-use as gift tags next year. Take the rest to be recycled at WH Smiths or Tesco's.
- Take wrapping paper off carefully and you can re-use it next year. Paper that does not survive the excitement of Christmas day intact can be recycled.
- Real Christmas trees can be turned into valuable compost. If your council collects garden waste (e.g., from a green wheelie bin) chop your tree up and put it out for collection. In other areas look out for shredding events.
And for those of us (argh - I've left it last minute AGAIN) who haven't yet bought any presents:
- Think of presents with no packaging at all e.g., a series of riding lessons, a trip in a hot air balloon!
- Make your own presents - the personal touch is usually much appreciated.
- When buying presents try to avoid ones that are excessively packaged.
- Don't forget charity shops - they often have unusual gifts at very reasonable prices.
I still like the idea of making something but that will require some super quick baking lessons.
Luckily though my Mum picked up my presents from my Gran the other day. Gran's gifts are a wonder. Ever the thrifty inspiration she just finds things round the house and wraps them up. Brilliant.
It is truely the most exciting part of the day to see who can keep a straight face when they are given the used bath hat/mini aero plane toothbrush/pack of peanuts that went out of date in 1973 etc
This year though I am getting an old book on how to ice cakes.
Mum told me as she couldn't hold in her amusement.
It would be an understatement to say that cooking is not my thing.
Mind you, I guess that means a bakery book could, technically, be useful....
Anyhow - my mind is wandering so I best potter off. Apparently it is foggy out so I want to go and investigate.
Fog is brilliant.
Apart from - of course - if you are driving. And it is thick fog. So if you are, you should take the train. That would be much better. Oh yes it would. Or staying in. Looking out at the fog...
I bet it isn't even foggy now!
Right, really I am going to stop rambling now! Have a lovely day!
Susie x
*totally and utterly stolen, word for word, from this page right here!
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But this is not a battle I am sure of winning... |
As it is a fight against the best intentions....
My lovely friend and house mate Kim has long been part of the family. She stays with my parents when I am not there, got taken for driving lessons by my Dad and was almost forced to marry my brother despite the fact that neither of them wanted to.
It is amazingly lucky for me though, as my mother feels just as happy giving her lists of jobs and instructions as she does me.
Aka - the Christmas jobs and instructions...
I got a knock on my bedroom door the other day:
"Suse?"
"Ergmhf"
"Your Mum's been on the phone."
"But it's 7am!"
"Don't worry it was for me. She wanted to know if the green napkins would go with our colour scheme for the table.... do we have a colour scheme?"
"Green?"
"Yeah. That's what I told her."
Etc.
But I may need to be drafted in as a second rung of defense on the battle of - dun nun nun nahhhhhhh - TOO MANY THINGS.
We were all set and prepared. The food list organised down to the minute detail. And then came the letter. It was something like:
Kim dear,
These are the things I am bringing for Christmas.
One organic, free range turkey. Dead.
Stuffing.
Cake.
Bread Sauce. (made in November!)
Potatoes.
Cheeses.
Carrot and swede mash.
Croissants.
Orange juice.
Sausages.
Bacon.
Table presents.
Place cards.
Biscuits.
Wine. (Already here... though the first lot might not have survived...)
Port.
Nuts.
Basket of Fruit
An extensive list of other things.
All relevant items have been cooked and can just go in the microwave.
Brilliant!
But as the days passed. More and more snuck onto the list. Two freezer boxes were drafted into action for the excess food. "But you MUST have that." "It wouldn't be Christmas without the other."
And then Ollie began.
"You mean I can't bring anything for Christmas?"
"Just bring some wine. We have everything - really!"
"But I could cook and bring some of the dinner."
"Nooooooooo."
"And so will my Mum."
"NOOOOOOO"
And then Soph....
"Mum and I want to bring something...."
And then my brother...
"What can Rach and I do..."
Yes, the battle against waste at Christmas is a tricky one. Everyone is just too darnded giving!
I have been having a look through the environment pages on the Guardian site for tips on minimising excess in the festive season. There are some great tips so take a look. Sadly though, none that address everyone being so lovely!
Ahh well. In honestly I don't mind at all.
We can just practise some leftovers contortion techniques and stick it all in the freezer for January.
Plus, of course, having Christmas at our house is proving pretty cheap. So far we only have to buy broccoli (and that could all change!)
Oh - and figure out the colour scheme of course.....
x
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there's only 25 seconds to save the Earth...." |
Flash.
Ah ah.
He saved everyone of us.
Woke up with that song in my head (very worrying).
However, I shall resist the temptation to dwell on likening us all to the fabulous Flash...
"A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you."
(though there are some great quotes here if you fancy being inspired into some planet saving activities) and instead spend a bit more time thinking about.... CHRISTMAS!
Ahhh the child in me has really begun to embrace the season.
And - as the days tick down - I have been thinking more about the traditional gift giving. So far I have managed to locate and purchase precisely no presents what so ever.
Hmmm.
All of my chat of 'making gifts', 'ordering useful things on line' and 'being creative with presents rather than just buying them' has been replaced with 'it's only 10 days and I don't have anything and my brother will hate me if I give him an energy saving light bulb even though it would be the gift that keeps on giving'.
Purchasing wise - he is my trickiest relation.
Mum is happy with a book and something that took some effort, Dad doesn't want anything and will be ecstatic to get a bar of chocolate and Gran - erm - not sure what she wants but I know that she is a keen recycler, as she often gives me things that she has nabbed from hotels.
Usually those that she hasn't even been staying in...
Pete though likes home wares.
Posh ones.
Ones that I can't make out of jam jars (even though I might give it a go!)
But - I think I may have found the solution.
Been looking through Oliver Heath's site Ecocentric which is brilliant and came across a port decanter (my wonderful brother got all the grown up genes and so is the sensible dinner party type).
Perfect.
Now I just need the book, chocolate and a trip to the Savoy with my balaclava and wire cutters and I'm done.
Oh Christmas. A joyful time indeed.
Have a lovely weekend!
Susie x
14/12/06 - If you can't beat it
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then you might as well make it comfortable... |
I think I am going to give up.
Once again I have failed to get up early.
To be fair I got in late (working not partying sadly) and so didn't even fool myself that I would be up before dawn - but it is an issue.
In summer I am a morning person.
It makes me quite productive doing loads in the two hours after springing deftly from my slumber.
Now - since it is dark my body (sensibly) feels that getting up is a little on the keen side of things.
So - since I had a long conversation yesterday on working with, rather than against nature, I feel that I should just role with it.
Hence running to work will again be shunned and I shall instead take a wee look at all things bed related on the internet. (Though avoiding adding XXX to my search entries in order to protect my youthful innocence).
First up bedding and the things at Luma look amazing!
They are not exactly cheap but are all certified organic cotton.
Which moves me straight on to bedtime reading...
I quite want to read 'Big Babies. Why can't we just grow up?' at the moment - though I fear that this is because it has jelly babies on the cover rather than for it's interesting social dissection (and concerned this makes me even more of a child) but I guess any nice book will do.
Which moves me swiftly on to that other bed related activity: sex.
Well - for other people at least. (My love life got lost so long ago I might as well just be done with it and buy the cat!)
And since we did some articles on this ages ago I can hope that you haven't seen them already and point you here to have a wee look.
Ah the joys of the energy efficient pursuit!
Anyhow - suppose I best get up and out to brave the big wide world.
Hope you have a fabulously exciting day x
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but what have you done so far today...? |
Have been hearing from the fabulous Michael Norton about a project that he is involved in called Otesha.
It was started in Canada to encourage young people to think more about their actions and the effect that they have.
One part of which is the Morning Choices.
Before 9am we have already made loads of decisions which have a global impact. Perhaps we have drunk coffee from Brazil or put things in the bin which will head to a landfill site in China.
All sorts of things.
It seemed a really interesting concept and so I thought, this morning, that I would try to figure out my personal impact:
1. Woke up late. I am assuming that the alarm went off but don't remember it.
Feel pleased that I have saved an hours worth of electricity and it is still so early! Feel less pleased that I have now missed a meeting with Ollie but that is ok as he is hungover and late too so pretty happy about that.
2. Made cup of tea. Fair trade and with a kettle which was filled with only the water required.
Still used a lot of energy boiling the kettle but not sure how I can get round this one. English people and their tea and all. Often avoid it in the summer but it is very cold...
3. The cold. Ah yes. Having still failed to get the heating sorted out this isn't on yet. Plus points on the energy saving. Minus points in general from my fabulous and very patient house mate. We now have a radiator key to bleed them though so it is just a question of figuring out what that means...
4. Shower. Lateness again meant a short efficient shower. Though very hot... as the house is so cold! Failed to have time to shave my legs... again. (Fished out some knee high socks so that if I fall over no one will notice.)
5. Use of energy. Writing this has so far taken 10 minutes and I reckon on 10 more... not sure if this is good or bad. Have Ecotricity but make mental note to look more into getting some solar power.
6. Breakfast. No bread in the house so onto the weetabix. Organic weetabix. With organic milk. Secretly wish it was toast even though this involves toasting. To be fair it is usually toast. I love toast. Hmmmm.
7. Travel. Well - technically I wont leave the house till just after 9 but I will choose to use the train, tube and my own two feet. This is because I love the train (watch the world go by) love the tube (so warm in winter) and love walking. It is also because I don't have a car.
Actually even if I did I think I would choose the former. Driving in London. Enough to put most non-environmentalists off motor vehicles I reckon.
8. Running out of time. (See point 1!) But clothes worn are all old, begged, borrowed or stolen or bought after contemplation on which companies are better than others, same for washing products and all that. Erm - what else - no idea. Loo paper is recycled but probably no need to dwell on that so early in the morning...
So there - not too bad. Certainly not brilliant. But worth having a think about.
Right best run. Flying in support of oppressive regimes later. Thank goodness that wasn't till 10.00 though...
; )
Susie xx
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.
