Red Nosed Excitement for Comic Relief

Well it can't be said I've led a boring life over the last twelve months. I've sobbed over landfill, stumbled into a mixed plastics recycling conference and have even managed not to tuck my dress in my knickers at a huge county waste seminar. But nothing, absolutely nothing beats my latest challenge. And the best bit is, this time I'm doing it for charity, for Comic Relief, which raises money to help fight poverty in the UK and abroad.

My little YoohooTube video explains all, so if you're reading via a feed or email subscription, it's time to come directly to the blog where you'll find me embarrassing myself as graciously as possible. In fact it's more embarrassing than I expected...YouTube has pushed the audio sync back by a whole second, it looks like I'm speaking in a foreign tongue and have been dubbed. Oh well, that's the benefit of new technology.

Find my fundraising page at http://www.myrednoseday.com/TheRubbishDiet

So are you as excited as me? Just think what my little boys will say at the news. I think they'lll be as envious as a toad in a hole watching a princess kiss a frog!

But the best bit is that this year's Red Nose Day falls slap bang in the middle of my anniversary week, yep, the anniversary of when I did the Zero Waste challenge last year. If you've been hanging around a while, you'll remember this was when all we threw out to landfill was just one plaster and that ever since we've settled quite nicely with just one carrier bag of trash per month.

Now this is something worth celebrating. And with this in mind I've decided to give up the whole week to try and raise some decent cash for this worthwhile cause. It's about time I did some proper charity work and get myself away from this laptop for a change.

So, as well as my sponsored wotsit, I've got even more treats lined up for all you rubbish folk, and it all begins on Monday 9th March.

Now given that it's my anniversary week, I could of course go for another Zero Waste challenge, but my family's already accomplished that in a "Bin there done that" kind of way.

So it's time to pump up the adrenalin and go for something much more challenging.

Yes ladies and gentlemen...ready to cue drumroll...

...rather than attempting to throw so little away....

...I'm going to try and throw away as much as I possibly can!

That's right, I am hosting my very own MAXIMUM WASTE WEEK, which starts in just 10 days time!

And just like Zero Waste Week, I need to get prepared. Of course the first thing I've got to do is flex my shopping muscles and head off to the supermarket to fill my fridge and cupboards with so much crap it will make the jaws of landfill ache for eternity. The problem is, my memory's faded so much that I will need your help so please feel free to send me your recommendations for your worst packaging offenders and I will try and bring them into my Maximum Waste Lair!

And after I've exerted myself with that mission, I'm going to try and overcome my automatic recycling response and see if I can really go back to my old levels of laziness and bypass the recycling bin. So if you have a particular lazy secret to share, revealing some old bad habits close to home, I'd love those too. The funnier the better. Email me if you're too embarrassed to divulge in the comments.

But the hardest challenge of all will be adopting a graceful pose instead of my usual defensive position as Mr A welcomes the freedom of an open playing field, with no rules and regulations over what he's allowed to throw away. Oh please help me!

So you see if you think this will be easy, I beg for your mercy. I'm already feeling stressed out at the thought and it will be me who'll be in need of the comic relief once it's all over.

To help me promote the important message about zero waste and support such a worthwhile cause, please help me fundraise as much as possible for Comic Relief, even if it's only a few pence it will help the growing number of people who are being hit by poverty. I don't mind you sharing me with your friends if that's what it takes. If you've got a pal who's interested in reducing rubbish, please email them the video, or Stumble, Digg, Twitter or Facebook this post. Then all that's left to do is pop along to my fundraising page, which can be found at:

http://www.myrednoseday.com/TheRubbishDiet

And if you fancy doing something silly yourself, why not sign up and join in the fun and see how much money we can all raise together. Just pop along to my group page for more info. There are a few ideas to get you started and there's plenty of time for you to register and get cracking.

Oh....And don't forget to recycle your red noses when you're done. Just pop them back to your local branch of Sainsbury's who will be happy to take care of them for you. And as for the BIG red nose, well you can re-use that as a mousemat!

Right....it looks like I've got some exercise to do to get myself fit for that big event which involves bins, a fluorescent jacket and heavy boots. So while you're pondering the fun....I'm off to find my bike!

Thanks for watching, listening and reading. I'll see you soon.

__________________________________________________