Recycling in the "community"

Hello again

The issue of recycling is something that has occupied my mind of late.

In principal, most people agree that recycling is a good thing. It is certainly not as good as minimisation ie use less packaging in the first place but, as a response to consumerism it is ok. It is how recycling is implemented that has got everyone's goat.

Firstly, it is the Local Councils that are charged (by the government) with having to recycle; they must meet their targets to reduce landfill. To our credit, there is a willing and enthusiastic public out there who are happy to assist for the greater good, but it is not the legal duty for the public to recycle (as far as I know). That being the case the Councils need to adopt an inclusive, helpful and co-operative approach to recycling and not become bullies. Rather than use a carrot, the Councils have adopted a stick approach. The whole recycling thing has rapidly evolved from being the the Councils responsibility, to being our responsibility, to us being policed by the Council.

When I say responsibility I want to be clear that I mean legal responsibility and not the moral imperitive, I accept it is everyone's moral responsibility to recycle.

It has now got to the point where the public are punished if the binmen ajudge that someone might have broken the rules. Since when did the binmen become the arbiters of such matters? This is wrong, if the Government and the Councils want recycling to be a success then they should/must reverse this trend and start working with the electorate or they will find that the electorate won't want to work with them.

I shall get off my soapbox now.

Until next time

Sledging is fun

Hello again,

A really short blog today. We have just come back from a weeks holiday in Scotland and a fine time was had by all. When we arrived it was snowy and -8 degrees (excellent for sledging). Two days later it was +12 degrees and we were on the beach in shirt sleeves - excellent.

Will blog again next week

Until then...

It's snow joke!

Hello again,

You might have noticed on the news this week, that we have had some snow in London & the South East. Actually it was a decent snowfall, some 200mm. Obviously, everything ground to a halt; cars, trains, buses, schools etc. but that is to be expected. It was even the case that we couldn't do any work with the business either - you try installing irrigation & lighting in gardens covered in snow! Anyway it resulted in a day off for pretty much everyone and a fine time was had by all.

Two points to make:

Firstly, see the image of Brian the Badger. He has moved from the boot of my car to the porch of my house. This is real progress, a definite step forward. For now Brian is Brian the guard badger, protecting the house from undesirables. He did however get a bit covered in snow, even with the protection of the porch. I think he looks rather magnificent there but I still have plans for him. I will faithfully report any devleopments on the Brian front, as and when they occur

Secondly, snow men are becoming so sophisticated. The winner this week was the snow dalek that was made in Kingston, a faithful reproduction of Dr Who's foe. Congratulations to the people who made it

Until later

Lift the spirit

Hello again,

These are uncertain times that none of us has experienced before. Recessional gloom, the economy seemingly in meltdown, the footsie crashing, the pound plummeting and unemployment rising at an alarming rate. We are all fed a daily diet of this information by the self-satisfied "I'm still going to get my pay cheque no matter how bad the economy is" BBC news department. They revel in the misery, amplifying it to create bigger and bigger headlines and thereby creating a self-fullfilling prophesy.

I am not denying that things are bad; I run two small businesses, a garden irrigation & lighting contracting business and a wholesale business and trading conditions for both have never been tougher. Money in the economy is scarce, protecting jobs is getting harder, winning work is more testing and getting payment more challenging. With all this gloom though, whether it is real or magnified by the press, it is hard not to be dragged down and to only see the negatives in life.

This is where public art has an important part to play in life. Art lifts the spirit, it takes you away from the "now", it refreshes the soul and lightens the mood. It won't take the problems away but it might just divert your attention for long enough to believe that this recession will actually end at some point, things will eventually improve and the BBC will eventually find something else to gloat about.

See the photo? This beautiful sculpture called Horse and Rider is by Dame Elizabeth Frink (1930-1993) and stands majestically at the corner of Dover Street and Picadilly, outside a coffee chain. Happening upon such a sculpture unexpectedly is a joy and is a credit to whomever commissioned it. Public art doesn't usually get much attention, except for the spare plinth in Trafalgar Square, but it does contribute to and enrich our lives. Like good architecture, public art affects us coniously and subconciously and taking a moment to admire a work can help us through these trying times.

Sadly though, as a footnote, when ordering my coffee I remarked to the member of staff about how lucky they were to be able to see the sculpture every day. The "Trainee Barista" stunned me with his mumbled reply "what sculpture?" before shoving my overpriced, weak Americano in a paper cup at me . I was lost for words and that doesn't happen very often.

Until later

A Badger's Tale (Tail)

Hello again.

Long time, no blog... My New Years res is to blog more consistently.

For some time now I have been keen on the idea of adorning the interior of my house with a stuffed Badger. I had the idea that I would like to cut one in half (cross ways), mount it's front end on one side of a wall and it's back end on the other. To make it a bit more surreal, I intended to attach said Badger about 2m above ground level.

I thought this was a great idea, sadly my wife (and daughters) weren't in agreement. I was surprised by the strong resistance I met when I mooted the idea and even though I badgered (sorry for the pun) her for some time, she did not bend. To her, it was a black and white issue - no dead animals in the house, full stop.

Anyway, over a couple of months, I kept my eyes open for a suitable bit of taxidermy. I had a hope that presenting my wife with a "cute" stuffed Badger would soften her resistance to the idea. However, I didn't find anything and the idea began to drift to the back of my mind.

However, two weeks before Christmas, a large box was delivered to my office from one of our suppliers in Birmingham. We get quite a lot of deliveries of garden irrigation and garden lighting product and the box raised no eyebrows until I opened it. Inside was a stuffed Badger, an old, dusty Badger mounted on a board. Clearly the old fellow had seen better days, his ear has been chewed, his underside is bald and he has a very "interesting" aroma. However, none of this mattered to me, it was a Badger and it gave me the opportunity to carry out my plan.

I took Brian, as he has been named, home that evening in my car. However, before I left I thought I might give him a bit of a spruce up and and tried vacuuming his fur. Sadly the vacuum sucked the fur out of one of Brian's back legs leaving it looking like a plucked turkey, so I stopped and decided to take him as he was.

Upon entering the house, I was met by my daughters; Dolly (5) burst into tears, Daisy (7) screeched "yeuucggkk". At that point I started to think that I might struggle to get my way on this one. Upon entering the kitchen, I held Brian up, trying to show off his best side (if he had one) and to make him look as cute as possible. I failed and my wife looked sternly at me before stating firmly "do you really need me to comment?". Knowing the taste of defeat, I responded with "shall I put him back in the car then?"

So since then, that is where Brian has been residing, in the back of my car. He has spent Christmas & New Year in the boot of my car like an aged dog, frozen in time. It hasn't been a problem until yesterday;, my sense of smell had been ineffective (due to a winter cold) and I was happily co-existing with Brian. However, on my journey home last night, my olfactory abilities returned and Brian's "individual" aroma nearly got the better of me. So much so that I had to turn the heater off in the car and open the window.

So, what now for Brian? Should he stay or should he go? As the Pulp Fiction quote goes "he's got personality and personality goes a long way". The problem is, the type of personality that Brian has is not that desirable. However, I have new plans for Brian, watch this space and find out.

Until later.

Seagulls, seaside & summer

Hello again

I have just been on holiday with my family. We decided, like a lot of others, that a UK holiday was the order of the day bearing in mind the environmental cost of flying. We are trying to fly only once per year from now on, so the UK holiday industry had better watch out.

I am a supporter of local trade and I really wanted the holiday to be an advert for what we (UK plc) can provide for tourists. We chose Suffolk as our destination and rented a cottage in Woodbridge. Sadly, the downside of holidaying in the UK is that the 80:20 rule applies eg the weather is (at best) 80%, service you recieve is 20% below the standard you would hope for, the accomodation is 20% short of excellent. It really is a case of so near, yet so far.

With the changing environment, British people want to holiay in the UK and for the good of the larger economy we want to attract foreign tourists to the UK. For this to be a success we must go the extra metre (which is the most difficult metre) and make the UK experience as good as it can possibly be - don't fall at the final hurdle.

Let the British holiday set the standards for the rest of the world, not be an "also ran". People don't mind paying a bit more if the service is excellent and people don't mind a bit of rain if they receive a warm welcome. We must exceed the expectations of the tourist and charm them into holidaying in the UK, year after year.

I shall get off my soap box now,

Until next time

Allotments - go on, get one.

Hello

I might have mentioned in previous blogs that I have an allotment. We took it on, as a family, at the end of 2007 at which point it was chest high in brambles and shin high with couch grass. Over the last 9 months we have dug it, put edging boards in, built the ever important compost heap, put up a decent sized poly tunnel and acquired the ubiquitous allotment shed.

With low expectations for our first year, we have had an abundance of produce, much more that we hoped for; potatoes, carrots, courgettes, cabbage, tomatoes, rocket, kohl rabi, beetroot, radish, onions, garlic, shallots, beans (runner, french & broad) and most recently sweetcorn (see image). We still have squash, jerusalem artichokes, globe artichokes, aubergines, rhubarb to come. On top of that we have had cut flowers on demand from the sweet peas and the multi-headed sunflowers that just keep flowering and flowering.

It is easier than you think, just get one, get stuck in and you will find that all the plot holders near you will offer you advice, seeds, plants, encouragement and best of all cups of tea. At first it does seem like all work and no reward but (like giving birth I suspect) when the rewards arrive you forget about all the backache & blisters and sit back in your deckchair with a nice cool drink and bask in the smug self-satisfaction that you don't have to buy your veg from Waitrose or similar.

Try it,

Until next time...






Waterwell - for Garden Lighting and Irrigation