Souvenirs of London

Last week Mr A gave me one of his looks. He was in the middle of planning for his Open University seminar on Saturday, while I was planning a treat for me and the kids.He lifted his eyes from his computer, glanced in my direction with that look, the one that comes with semi-disapproval mixed with disbelief."Are you mad?" he said.Followed by."I can't believe...you're taking the boys....... single-handedly to London!"Yes LONDONI suppose, the fact I struggle to cope with taking the children anywhere single-handedly added to the element of surprise."Why on earth London?" He asked, trying to get to...

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Brilliant Bloggers

Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats for a roll-call of brilliant bloggers.Along with Mrs Green at MyZeroWaste, I am thrilled to have accepted the award from the amazing Emma - aka Muppet or even Fluffius Muppetus - who can normally be found in The Alternative Kitchen Garden over at Coopette.com. She said some kind words in her award speech, saying our blogs were very inspirational.Thank you Emma, it was a lovely surprise and I am now pleased to pass it on to some other fabulous bloggers, who I think are great, but are so diverse. Of course Mrs G would be right up there in the line-up...

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Having fun in MySkip

Excuse me please...Can someone help me out?Yes, you. uh-uh, you.I know you're only passing by but if you could just stretch out your hand a bit...a little further. That's it.Just lifting over my other leg now. Phew, that's grand, I'm out.Thank you so much and please excuse me while I dust myself down.You see, I've been there all afternoon, having a poke about in the skip at all the things that people are trying to get rid of. You should know by now what a nosey old bird I am. So when I saw this particular skip I couldn't help myself. I couldn't pass by such a great opportunity. Honestly,...

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Emergency measures

The alarm rings loudly."There's an unexpected item in packing area!" the automated voice tells all.The alarm rings again.Woah...calm down!The only thing that's sitting in the packing area of the self-service till is my bag-for-life. I suppose it's a Waitrose bag in a Tesco Express store, so for some it could have been deemed mildly unexpected. But come on, this is 2008. We're all in this together!Red faced, I look for the assistant. I avoid eye-contact with the other customers just in case they think I'm shoplifting. Ah but perhaps that's a sign of guilt? Maybe I should look each and everyone...

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Please Take Your Pledge...and take it today!

It's the kind of thing you might say to your cleaner if you caught her deliberately overdoing it with the furniture polish instead of your beloved beeswax!But when I say "Please take your Pledge", it is not in the context of my cleaning lady. The chance would be a fine thing.No, the pledge that's on my mind today is the one that you can take at myzerowaste.com, where the fabulous Mr & Mrs Green have got just one week to go before they embark on their very own Zero Waste Week.To round up support, they've gathered some fine sponsors including ECOutlet, EcoCentric and NaturalStore, plus many...

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Ending World Waste: A conversation with three environmentalists

If you're concerned about world waste and are about in London on Monday 1st September at 7.30pm, then get yourself down to Stanfords in Covent Garden, where you can meet three inspirational people who will be looking at different ways to help the environment.Author David Smith, who wrote the powerful book If the world were a village, will explain about how much we waste and what's in the waste. Environmental scientist and the founder of Planet Earth website, Lionel Smith will discuss how to reduce litter in the environment and my lovely friend Shirley Lewis (aka Baglady) will inject her fun...

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The Festive Opportunist: never too early to plan

Slap me round the face with a wet fish if this was just a bit too cheeky...To me, it's careful planning. To others it might feel a tad premature. But on Monday this little old Festive Opportunist struck lucky...and the best bit is it's only August.I feel like I've beaten the High Street at its own game just before the Christmas cards hit the shops in September. That's right...in just a couple of weeks time, you'll start to see stores everywhere being feng shui'd and rearranged to entice you to start early with gift packs, cards and wrapping.But this year I've crept up behind them with a boo!It'll...

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Almost Mrs Average meets Tracey Smith

"Oh dear, oh dear, I shall be too late!" I muttered, finding myself lost in Essex, feeling like the White Rabbit from Alice in WonderlandGetting lost in Essex is something I rarely do. Lost in France may be, or even Cardiff Bay, but I've never lost myself in Essex.First there was the missing road sign, which meant I had to navigate by hope alone. I tried the stars, but it was a cloudy night, so I used my natural instinct along the windy roads in the Essex countryside. When I finally thought I'd reached my bethlehem, it turned out to be wrong house!The Wrong House!The email said no 1....but...

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Swiss Rebellion: Throwing it all away

A personal insight into Pay Per Throw"Clairette....do you really think this is plastic, what is it doing in here?"The voice from the kitchen sounded shocked, bemused and irate.Seconds later my French brother-in-law appeared at the dining table, brandishing a cardboard tube insert that had once belonged to a roll of kitchen paper.My sister shrugged, threw a glance that led into a triple somersault of eye-rolling worthy of a new Olympic sport, and with a sip of red wine returned a "Non" as the beginning of her defence.This was followed by a "Sorry, I was in a hurry. Anyway recycling is your department"."But...

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Blogging on the Radio: The Full Story Recycled

How truth can be stranger than fiction.10.50 am... Bury St Edmunds train station...Ruby and I sat quietly on a bench, as quietly as two chattering friends could. We were waiting patiently for a train to Ipswich, as excited as two little schoolgirls who hadn't seen each other all summer. It was the start of a very exciting day.Suffering from a terrible headache, I put my hand into my jacket pocket and retrieved the paracetamol tablets that I'd bought at the local garage that morning. I was thankful that they were in a plastic container and not those terrible blister packs made from inseparable...

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The Big News

I am not sure how you go about announcing something like this...whether it should be in a hushed, modest manner, or indeed shouted from the rooftops.You see it's the first time it's ever happened to me.An unsolicited approach.Yes, it's the first time I've been approached in such a way.And I don't mean the flirty looks I get from the driver as I heave my trendy shopping trolley onto the busy bus on market day."Shame you're too young for me" he said last time, beaming from cheek to cheek.I blushed, and then reddened even more when I jumped off. I might have complained but remembered it was the...

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Home Sweet Home

Phew, after two days travelling back through Switzerland, France and the UK, we're home! We finally made it home late last night, welcomed by the sugar factory towers that greet so many people back to Bury St Edmunds.Kids in bed, car unpacked, Internet catchup...with TV on...husband enjoyed cup of tea while I stumbled off to bed. The usual routine.Home eh. I love holidays but I am always glad to be back!And so much has been happening.I've come back to find that The Rubbish Diet has got a mention on the very lovely EcoStreet blog.Then there's the news that BBC Reporter Chris Jeavans has challenged...

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Le Recyclage en Vacances # 5: Le Shopping

Well Hello!After spending almost a week up in the mountains, my sister took me on a shopping spree to treat me to a belated birthday present. A 40 minute drive to the bottom of the valley.Admittedly, I was a bit distracted by this particular sight...what...a recycling centre in a shopping mall?No wonder the Swiss are good at recycling, if it's a case of drop off your bottles and cans before you hit the sales. Look carefully and you'll see that there's even space for empty coffee capsules.It's just a shame I had nothing to recycle before heading off to buy a new purse.The things you learn eh,...

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Le Recyclage en Vacances: # 4: An Udder Way

Hmm…. So….Mr A thinks he's having a holiday eh!No more sorting. No more washing out lots of recyclables! No more worrying about stuff that can’t be recycled beyond our holiday village.Well, guess what I’ve found, tucked away at the entrance of a local supermarket.A rare find, and so perfect for recycling our milk bottles! Another tick in the recycling box! On our last full day in Switzerland, you could say it’s a case of All’s well that ends well! Well I suppose it was……until Mr A went off to buy some more milk, …venturing out on his own, with nothing but a reusable bag...

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Le Recyclage en Vacances: # 3. Don't peak too soon

Our cabin is nestled amongst rolling green hills in the Alpine countryside, surrounded by fir trees and open fields, where a herd of cows is busy grazing. The tinkling of their cowbells, broken only by the sound of mooing, provides the most idyllic soundtrack to our spectacular view.Across the valley, a range of tree-lined mountains greets our eyes, with their snow-capped peaks poking up through the low-lying clouds. The real icing on this Alpine cake is the glacier that emerges from the distance. Its beauty lies before us like a lady in the prime of her life.The skies are so blue. The air...

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Le Recyclage en Vacances: # 2. Hello PET

Having sweated our way through France, we've arrived safely in Switzerland and are having a fantastic time with my sister and her family.We spent the first part of the holiday at their lakeside home in the village of Concise. It was a great opportunity to relax, enjoy the views of the lake and explore the village.And everywhere we went we noticed this familiar sight.It looks just like our recycling bin from home, but with yellow chevrons.I think this could start a new trend...Forget Pimp my Ride...Pimp my Bin is where it's at.Anyway, before I get distracted with thoughts of Lawrence Llewellyn...

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Le Recyclage en Vacances: # 1. En France

So, I packed my reusable bags and the suitcases and hopped into the family car for the start of our great adventure.......driving from the UK to Switzerland to visit my sister and her family.I know, I know, driving all that way is not the most sustainable method of getting from A-B but it's better than flying and we're doing it in the knowledge that we're saving diesel as a result of broken air-conditioning, sweltering away in a mobile greenhouse through France with temperatures of 30 degrees.I would love to reassure everyone that our choices of travel and accommodation were deliberately chosen...

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