Being Mrs C

Tales from the Green Valley

 

If you enjoyed Victorian Farm like I did then make sure you catch Tales From The Green Valley as well. I have to admit that I'd not heard of this series before and it was pure fluke that I turned on the TV tonight and caught the last ten minutes of what was unfortunately the penultimate in the series. 

Very much in the same vein as Victorian Farm, Tales from The Green Valley the team worked on a farm for a year as they would have had to have done in the times of James I (i.e. the 17th Century for those of you whose history isn't up to scratch!) This isn't a time that I know much about, but the small segment I saw in which the women were tackling the washing. Watching them beat the washing in a stream with sticks like cricket bats to get the dirt out and then using an upright pole to wring out the garments before laying them out to dry on the grass was fascinating.

The DVD may well have to go on my Christmas wish list!

Make do and mend - updated

I wrote previously about the press coverage of John Lewis' updated version of Make do and mend, and I'm not delighted to say that I managed to pick up a copy when I was in my local store recently. I was delighted to find that they are selling copies for just £3 each. Admittedly it's only a small book, but one packed full of valuable tips and hints and in my opinion would make an excellent stocking filler at Christmas for anyone who is keen to save a few pennies.

The book starts with some traditional "home truths"; those handy little hints about how to solve household problems like cleaning smears off aluminium and other metals and removing the smell of onion from your hands after chopping them. It them moves on to cover how make your clothes last longer and right through to protecting the screen of your MP3 player. To anyone who is already clued up as to how to make things last they will probably be nodding along with most of the things in the book, but may still find something useful themselves. I'm guessing that there may well be plenty of other people to whom it would be a complete revelation and dare I suggest that they may be the ones more in need of it.

The JL version is only available from John Lewis themselves, but there are various versions of the original available from amazon.

Compost related gifts

The wonderful Compostwoman was incredibly kind when Mr C and I moved house and sent me a lovely housewarming present. I have to say that I loved receiving a parcel in the post - it's something that is so unusual these days that it was very exciting when the postman knocked on the door, even more so as I was off work ill that day.

Compostwoman being the green woman she is it was an environmental package in the post! She included a CD-ROM entitled the complete guide to home composting that Mr C and I are looking forward to learning from. Composting is something that we haven't got much experience of at all, and we seem to have inherited a full compost bin when we moved house. Also enclosed was a copy of the very helpful little book, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! This provides a very useful A-Z guide of how to reuse or dispose of most things in a green manner. 

The bottom of the jiffy bag also included a paper bag containing a sample of soapnuts. I have wanted to try soap nuts for years, but never found a small enough sample so that I could try them without buying a whole sack load. Luckily Compostwoman has come to the rescue with this small sample. I've not had chance to use them yet, but as soon as I do I'll let you know how I get on.

Thank you Compostwoman!

UK carbon production

Interested in knowing just how much carbon the UK is producing right now? Interested in understanding how this changes throughout the day based on how much everyone is using and how electricity is being produced at that moment in time?

I've been pointed towards a couple of websites recently that help answer these questions and are absolutely fascinating.

The first one tells you the carbon content of the UK grid right now (sampled at 5 minute intervals) and also tells you the source split at the time between fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables. The second provides a trend graph over time so that you can see how the carbon intensity changes over the day. I'm intrigued to know why 3.25 this afternoon suddenly had a peak for instance...

I despair!

I've seen something this evening that just makes me despair at some of the people who live around me!

Mr C and I live in a block of flats which means that we have a communal bin store in which we have four of the big refuse bins and some recycling bins. This area is only supposed to be used for "normal" rubbish and if anyone has anything larger to dispose of they're supposed to deal with it themselves and take it to the local tip.

Many of the people here just seem to ignore "rules" like his and we've had everything left in there from baths, to ovens and exercise bikes. Some of these bigger items come from when some of the flats are being renovated, or when people are moving out and can't be bothered to take their rubbish with them.

Lately though it seems as if there is someone living here who quite simply has more money than sense. Mr C came back from putting some recycling out the other day and brought with him six Ikea glasses that were so unused that they still had the price stickers on them. I really didn't like them at all, but did take them down to the local charity shop so that at least they can make some money out of them.

Tonight I found a whole bin taken up by a set of wooden square shelves that someone had thrown in there. Again, nothing at all wrong with them, and the previous owner hadn't even bothered to break them up in any way. If we were a bit closer to having the house I would have taken them out and put them to good use, but sadly we just don't have the space at the moment. If we had the wood burner I'm sure they'd  also serve well as kindling for that. Such a waste.

What are people thinking though???

Behind the scenes...

... in the charity shop.

For anyone like me that loves rummaging in charity shops for a bargain, this article from the Guardian provides an interesting insight into what a charity shops finds in its many donations. It's quite eye opening!

The Big Green Bus

I'm thrilled to see that the work of one of my favourite charities, The Big Green Idea, has made it on to YouTube. If you've not heard of the charity of the Big Green Bus before then please take a look at these videos.

Spend or save?

It seems that being thrifty is a fashionable thing at the moment. The newspapers and television seem to be telling us more and more about how people are "making do" with what they have rather than buying new. 

Last year there were articles in the news about sewing machine sales going up due to people wanting to be more green. Now, as unemployment rises, people are instead using their sewing machines to repair what clothes they already own and make it last longer. 

When I first started this blog, I wrote of being keen to learn some of the skills that my grandparents generation had to make better use of what they already had. That generation grew up with rationing and had no choice but to manage with what limited things they could get. I have always been fascinated by the ingenious ways in which people stretched what they had to make it go further during the war years, and I have certainly learnt from researching those times.

As people currently struggle for money the terms thrift and frugal are making quite a comeback. In many cases there is simply no other option. There are others who made decisions to live more frugally before the current economic situation took hold for green reasons. Surely the more people behaving like this can only help environmentally?

An article on the BBC news website asks if those people that can afford to spend, should be doing so to help to life the economy. It is true that if everyone stops spending then the economy is unlikely to recover. But, if you have seen people around you struggling to pay the bills after losing jobs, then it must be difficult for any responsible man or woman not to think about what might happen if that was them, and hence to look carefully at what they are spending and saving. 

But, what will happen when (or if) the economy picks up? Will we suddenly return to our consumerist ways? Or, will people think more carefully having seen how difficult things can get?

These may be quite deep thoughts, but as we sit here in uncertain times, I'm fascinated to watch how this changes people. I hope that the lasting legacy from all this will be that people realise that whilst money is necessary, there is more to life than material possessions. Many of us can make do with what we own already, or what we can acquire second hand. By learning a few basic skills, we can repurpose many things around us to meet our needs. It's also not necessary to pay money in order to have a good time. A walk outdoors is free. Even if the countryside is not immediately accessible, plenty of parks are there. A book from the local library can take you to a whole other world. A simple board game with family and friends can provide just as much entertainment as an evening out.

Let's hope that some good comes from the hard times that many are enduring at present.

Britain by train

This week I seem to have been sending most of my time on trains, or in meetings. Out of the five working days this week I have only been in London for one, and am again elsewhere tomorrow. I often have meetings away from my main office, but not normally so many in a week. 

Being constantly on the go is very tiring in itself and hence I decided to travel everywhere by train this week, rather than driving as I often do (mainly as to save time admittedly). As well as the obvious carbon benefit over driving I do find that there are many other advantages and disadvantages compared to just jumping in the car. 

Going by train does at least mean that you can do other things whilst travelling. Several of my journeys have involved travelling with colleagues and I have to admit that it's been quite nice getting to know them outside of the usual office environment. There's been time to read and knit as well, but strangely the thing that I've enjoyed most is having some time to look out of the window at the scenery going past and daydream. 

The biggest disadvantage has to be the limited routes and timetables meaning that extra time has had to be spent actually making the journey. St Albans is to the north of London and therefore on two days this week I've had to go into central London and use the tube to get to the other station that I am travelling out of on the mainline trains. The same then goes for the return journey in the evening. Very frustrating. Also, as I'm someone who hates being late for anything, I've had to leave super early to ensure that I've been in time for meetings. Quite often a train will be due to get in only just before the meeting is set to start, so I've had to get the train before to allow for any delays (and the possibility of cancellation). Where changes have had to be made there have been quite a few cold waits on bleak platforms. A thirty minute wait for an Abbey Flyer from Watford Junction tonight is a fine example of this. After a 6.21 train this morning to ensure I got to my destination on time it left me feeling very weary for the last leg of my journey.

I have travelled with four different train operating companies so far this week and the quality of the service they provide seems to vary greatly. Some trains have been efficient, on time and clean, whilst others have been late, decrepit and dirty. On one intercity service I had to find the guard train manager to ask him to take a toilet out of service as it was overflowing. His comment when I explained the situation: "well no one else has complained". Amazing!

Compared to other countries that I've travelled in the train service here in the UK is very poor, and incredibly expensive to boot. Why do we seem to get it so wrong? The service appears to be getting worse and worse, yet I'm confused as to why it is so difficult to get it right. If this country wants to encourage people out of their cars and onto public transport then I think they've got a lot of work to do to make it a pleasant alternative.

Another day of train travel tomorrow - I just hope it's a good experience!

Low power usage fines...

I admit that this is all I've read about this, but I'm slightly frustrated all the same.

This story that I found on the BBC news website today tells of a woman who is being "fined" by British Gas for using too little electricity. As someone who uses a pre-pay meter it seems that she is below the threshold that British Gas has set as minimum usage. Apparently Mrs Pracy made improvements under the Warm Front initiative and hence cut her usage down to below this threshold. 

I admit I don't have the full story here but I still feel mightily frustrated for her!