Just saw this in today's Indy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/the-australian-town-that-kicked-the-bottle-1794273.html
Excellent initiative, also heard on the News Quiz that the first new drinking fountain in 30 years has opened in the UK too, so bring on the fountains!
And in the meantime, don't buy plastic water, nasty, nasty things, I love my SIGG bottles and they will last forever.......
http://www.sigg-aluminium.co.uk/?gclid=CNPoq7Hik50CFaBb4wod60JJ3Q
x x
Monday, 28 September 2009
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
A new Start for m'Blog
It would appear that I am really not blogging very often, so I have been giving some thought as to why this is the case and I think I have the answer....
I could write about the health and wellbeing side of my life, but that could mean talking about clients and however much I disguise them I would not feel comfortable doing that.
I could talk about my own health and journey in life, but I am not at a point in that journey where I feel comfortable doing that (although that may come in time!)
But, I am a relatively recent convert to the green way of life and am still very much feeling my way through that minefield and I reckon I can write about what I find out about green living, what I do, what I struggle to do and what I think it would be easy and effective for more people to do!
So a change of direction which will hopefully result in more regular blogging.....
x
I could write about the health and wellbeing side of my life, but that could mean talking about clients and however much I disguise them I would not feel comfortable doing that.
I could talk about my own health and journey in life, but I am not at a point in that journey where I feel comfortable doing that (although that may come in time!)
But, I am a relatively recent convert to the green way of life and am still very much feeling my way through that minefield and I reckon I can write about what I find out about green living, what I do, what I struggle to do and what I think it would be easy and effective for more people to do!
So a change of direction which will hopefully result in more regular blogging.....
x
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Struggling a bit.....
Have hit that difficult place where I am feeling tired and head-achy because of my lifestyle, but lack the oomph to break the cycle, because of my lifestyle!
Need something to change, not sure what, hope it happens before the Chi Gong weekend at the end of the month.
Am off to contemplate options (or maybe a small kip!)
Watch this space.......
x x
Need something to change, not sure what, hope it happens before the Chi Gong weekend at the end of the month.
Am off to contemplate options (or maybe a small kip!)
Watch this space.......
x x
Monday, 3 August 2009
ah, yes, that whole diet thing...
I have a confession to make...... since writing my last entry I have been sliding back into bad eating habits, but (fans of karma will be pleased to hear) I really feel it.
So, here I am, again, making bold statements I hope to actually heed this time (maybe if I post more often, it may help)
I plan to try and swim at least once, if not twice, a week
Chi Gong and/or meditation will become part of my day in one way or another
And I know, from past experience, just doing these simple things will mean that I will want to eat better, as it will be the only way to fuel my body in an effective way.
Oh and by the by, since I was last here I have stopped eating meat, am still eating fish though. For a couple of years I had only been eating meat that I was sure that the welfare standards were good enough (so out of the home ate veggie or fish mostly anyway) but then stopped enjoying meat, so after a 4 day residential course where all the food was veggie, I just never went back to the whole meat thing.
Right, all my good intentions start tomorrow (I know, queen of manana!) but I am slightly hungover today, so it's crappy food and chocolate all the way to bedtime :-)
x x
So, here I am, again, making bold statements I hope to actually heed this time (maybe if I post more often, it may help)
I plan to try and swim at least once, if not twice, a week
Chi Gong and/or meditation will become part of my day in one way or another
And I know, from past experience, just doing these simple things will mean that I will want to eat better, as it will be the only way to fuel my body in an effective way.
Oh and by the by, since I was last here I have stopped eating meat, am still eating fish though. For a couple of years I had only been eating meat that I was sure that the welfare standards were good enough (so out of the home ate veggie or fish mostly anyway) but then stopped enjoying meat, so after a 4 day residential course where all the food was veggie, I just never went back to the whole meat thing.
Right, all my good intentions start tomorrow (I know, queen of manana!) but I am slightly hungover today, so it's crappy food and chocolate all the way to bedtime :-)
x x
Monday, 13 July 2009
It ain't rocket science
Recently I have been becoming increasingly aware of the reaction of my body to everything I throw at it.
When I eat a low fat, low sugar diet, avoid alcohol and wheat, I feel bright and lively.
When I don't, I don't!
I am bad at change, particularly my diet, especially when it smacks of 'deprivation' but I am finding that the more I eat fresh, non-processed food, the better it tastes and the worse the so-called treats taste (take-away food, cake, biscuits, cheap chocolate etc)
We went out for dinner last night, I had haddock and chips, and when I had finished I felt bloated, sick, heart thumping, nasty stuff. It took a couple of hours (and some peppermint tea!) to restore some sort of equilibrium.
So, maybe I'm finally learning the lesson!
x x
When I eat a low fat, low sugar diet, avoid alcohol and wheat, I feel bright and lively.
When I don't, I don't!
I am bad at change, particularly my diet, especially when it smacks of 'deprivation' but I am finding that the more I eat fresh, non-processed food, the better it tastes and the worse the so-called treats taste (take-away food, cake, biscuits, cheap chocolate etc)
We went out for dinner last night, I had haddock and chips, and when I had finished I felt bloated, sick, heart thumping, nasty stuff. It took a couple of hours (and some peppermint tea!) to restore some sort of equilibrium.
So, maybe I'm finally learning the lesson!
x x
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
The Edible Garden - An Update
I have just enjoyed freshly picked raspberries on my morning muesli, and not for the first time! The raspberry haul is fantastic this year, although access to the canes is a little challenging, so must remember to cut them back at the end of the season to try and keep them under control for next year.
The carrots are growing (very very slowly, it seems) in a pot on the terrace, but have not been nibbled yet, so am hopeful for a small haul sometime in 2010(!)
The tomatoes in the hanging basket are going great guns, about to flower, so tomatoes are go for later in the summer (you see, it helps if the slugs don't eat your seedlings, eh Donna?!)
The 3 year old apple tree is covered in growing apples, so assuming they don't get eaten by anything else, we should get a few in the autumn, and even the newly planted cooking apple tree has one lone fruit on it, so if that makes it to fruition, I'll post a picture of the resultant apple crumble!
That's all the good news, only one major disaster so far, the runner beans, nurtured from seed in the kitchen propagator, carefully hardened off in a pot outside the back door, lovingly planted around a wigwam of bamboos, eaten by snails within 48 hours of planting out *sigh*
Ah well, you can't have everything!
x x
The carrots are growing (very very slowly, it seems) in a pot on the terrace, but have not been nibbled yet, so am hopeful for a small haul sometime in 2010(!)
The tomatoes in the hanging basket are going great guns, about to flower, so tomatoes are go for later in the summer (you see, it helps if the slugs don't eat your seedlings, eh Donna?!)
The 3 year old apple tree is covered in growing apples, so assuming they don't get eaten by anything else, we should get a few in the autumn, and even the newly planted cooking apple tree has one lone fruit on it, so if that makes it to fruition, I'll post a picture of the resultant apple crumble!
That's all the good news, only one major disaster so far, the runner beans, nurtured from seed in the kitchen propagator, carefully hardened off in a pot outside the back door, lovingly planted around a wigwam of bamboos, eaten by snails within 48 hours of planting out *sigh*
Ah well, you can't have everything!
x x
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
The start of an edible garden
Mr Bunch of Old Nonsense and myself have decided to make a few changes to the garden.
Our garden, I should explain, is on the small side and slopes alarmingly, so doesn't exactly lend itself to being an allotment. However, after some research and discussion we have decided that a boring old allotment is not the way forward, so we are going down the fruit and some veg route.
To explain, this weekend we planted a Braeburn pear tree, a Bramley apple tree, a gooseberry bush (thanks Donna and Bobbie!) and a loganberry plant. This adds to existing raspberry canes and an eating apple tree (that has failed in 2 years to give us any edible apples, but we live in hope!). Plus I have planted some carrots in a large pot and have runner beans and tomatoes in the windowsill propagator in the kitchen, the beans will be planted within the existing flowers and fruit in the garden and the tomatoes will go in the hanging basket outside the back door.
Our aim is to have a really pretty, wildlife friendly, fragrant garden, with edible bits!
I'll report back as it develops.......
x
Our garden, I should explain, is on the small side and slopes alarmingly, so doesn't exactly lend itself to being an allotment. However, after some research and discussion we have decided that a boring old allotment is not the way forward, so we are going down the fruit and some veg route.
To explain, this weekend we planted a Braeburn pear tree, a Bramley apple tree, a gooseberry bush (thanks Donna and Bobbie!) and a loganberry plant. This adds to existing raspberry canes and an eating apple tree (that has failed in 2 years to give us any edible apples, but we live in hope!). Plus I have planted some carrots in a large pot and have runner beans and tomatoes in the windowsill propagator in the kitchen, the beans will be planted within the existing flowers and fruit in the garden and the tomatoes will go in the hanging basket outside the back door.
Our aim is to have a really pretty, wildlife friendly, fragrant garden, with edible bits!
I'll report back as it develops.......
x
Monday, 16 February 2009
A tale of a sore throat
Since the beginning of December I have caught two head colds and suffered a nasty flu bug and frankly apart from the fact that being ill is miserable I can't afford any more time off from work. So you can imagine my consternation last week when I started a sore throat, I swung into action and employed a combination of magnets on carefully chosen acupoints, chamomile tea with honey, rest and chi gung to combat the symptoms.
I am pleased to report that it worked within 36 hours the sore throat had gone and I felt generally much better.
So next time you feel you are coming down with something, don't automatically reach for the lemsip or other drug-based options, consider a more natural approach, it really works and is really cheap!
x x
I am pleased to report that it worked within 36 hours the sore throat had gone and I felt generally much better.
So next time you feel you are coming down with something, don't automatically reach for the lemsip or other drug-based options, consider a more natural approach, it really works and is really cheap!
x x
Friday, 30 January 2009
Aaarrgh!!
Have just come back from the local supermarket and witnessed something which made me slack-jawed in amazement.
The person in front of me in the queue bought about 5 items, which he carefully placed in the freely provided single-use carrier bags (you know the ones, blight to the wildlife and marine life worldwide, been all over the press over the last year etc etc). He then carefully placed the full carrier bag inside the lovely nylon fold-up reusable bag he had with him...... Go figure! (as they say in the US)
Ah well, back to campaign to get the supermarkets to just remove them, as people are obviously too dumb to stop using them of their own accord :-)
x x
The person in front of me in the queue bought about 5 items, which he carefully placed in the freely provided single-use carrier bags (you know the ones, blight to the wildlife and marine life worldwide, been all over the press over the last year etc etc). He then carefully placed the full carrier bag inside the lovely nylon fold-up reusable bag he had with him...... Go figure! (as they say in the US)
Ah well, back to campaign to get the supermarkets to just remove them, as people are obviously too dumb to stop using them of their own accord :-)
x x
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Saving the world
In this time of new starts and new beginnings I have been thinking about why I am getting increasingly involved in the green movement.
The media (and other biased detractors like the obnoxious Jeremy Clarkson) always bang on about global warming being the reason for doing anything 'green' and then point out that global warming may not be as bad as we think, etc etc. It gives them a really easy stick to beat us with, so perhaps the time has come for a re-emphasis on the whys and wherefores.......
The way I see it, it's more about simple mathematics than complicated science. The earth has finite resources and a growing population, so it only stands to reason that the more we squander those resources the more problems we are creating. So perhaps its time to stop using global warming as the reason for doing anything and start treating everything from recycling to reducing material goods as a housekeeping exercise.
In simple terms, we do not have the right to have everything we think we want, all the consumer goods that we are bombarded with every day, all the food we can eat and then throw half of it away. Not only is it ridiculous to waste so much money and resource, but it's very disrespectful to those on our planet who have nothing.
My mother was the queen of 'make do and mend' (being a war baby) and we used to laugh at her thrifty ways, but she was right (as always!!) and the sooner we all catch on to these ideas the better.
We only have the one planet and the planet only has a finite amount of everything, so lets live within our global means.
Happy New Year!!
x x
The media (and other biased detractors like the obnoxious Jeremy Clarkson) always bang on about global warming being the reason for doing anything 'green' and then point out that global warming may not be as bad as we think, etc etc. It gives them a really easy stick to beat us with, so perhaps the time has come for a re-emphasis on the whys and wherefores.......
The way I see it, it's more about simple mathematics than complicated science. The earth has finite resources and a growing population, so it only stands to reason that the more we squander those resources the more problems we are creating. So perhaps its time to stop using global warming as the reason for doing anything and start treating everything from recycling to reducing material goods as a housekeeping exercise.
In simple terms, we do not have the right to have everything we think we want, all the consumer goods that we are bombarded with every day, all the food we can eat and then throw half of it away. Not only is it ridiculous to waste so much money and resource, but it's very disrespectful to those on our planet who have nothing.
My mother was the queen of 'make do and mend' (being a war baby) and we used to laugh at her thrifty ways, but she was right (as always!!) and the sooner we all catch on to these ideas the better.
We only have the one planet and the planet only has a finite amount of everything, so lets live within our global means.
Happy New Year!!
x x
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