Numero cinquecento

The Balancing Walcheros are pleased to announce that they have now reached their 500th cache find!

www.geocaching.com

A night on the river

A wonderful evening steaming up the Medway while listening to the Loins.

Piccies here.

Carbon capture and storage

Sorry I've been "off air" for a while - I've been trying to get my head around carbon capture and recovery/ storage. This has a special meaning because the local Kingsnorth power station is being put forward for a rebuild and entry into the Governments CCS competition as an experimental carbon recovery and storage site.

The Guardian included a very helpful supplement this week, although it doesn't appear to be available online.

Good to hear this week that the Government are starting to think alternative energy sources but is this really credible or just the usual waffle? I think I know, especially after Gordo spent last weekend groveling in front of the middle-eastern oil producers, asking for oil production to be increased.

Anyway, enough of politics, climate issues, etc. Tonite we watch/ listen to the Singing Loins whilst cruising up the river. Luverlly.

Suddenly it's all starting to happen...

European-wide fuel protests by truck drivers and fishermen, continued food riots in developing countries...it's all starting to unfold. And now petrol tanker drivers strike.

Suddenly a growing focus on our dependence on fossil fuels.

This year's Climate Camp takes place right here in Medway. Details here.

Ever tried to book a train ticket online?

I've recently had need to book a train ticket online.

No wonder people fly rather than take the train.

Leaving aside the issue of untaxed aviation fuel versus taxed train fuel, the whole expereince was ghastly. Awkward, slow, unweildy, confusing, different prices on different sites, can't book more than twelve weeks ahead...the list goes on.

Wake up UK train industry - it's got to be easier than my experience. Please.

There's a surprise

Global fossil-fuel-based corporate supports renewable energy? Dream on...

That'll be the day.

It starts here...

With you.

You know you can't rely on governments or business to make it happen - it starts right here, with you, doing what you can.

Start here...

The biofuel debate goes on...meanwhile the global food situation worsens

The world's growing food crisis - currently primarilly impacting the world's poorest people - is being over-shadowed by the West's hang-ups with the increasing cost of fuel.

Sadly the world's leaders decided the best thing to do was nothing when it comes to biofuels - after all, that's the easiest decision to make, isn't it?

Check this out

We will remember them

Molly and I spent yesterday geocaching on a circular walk in Kent. Weather-wise, much closer to a reasonable summer's day - the morning was glorious although the afternoon clouded over.

After three and a half hours walking and caching, we came across a quiet country pub. Sitting outside in the sun, we enjoyed a pint with our sandwiches. It was so peaceful apart from the occassional sound of a second world war fighter plane performing aerobatics in the distance.

My mind slipped back to an image of the war years and RAF pilots from the nearby airfield (now long gone). I could imagine them coming out to the pub when off duty for a time of relaxation and pleasure in between the task of dealing with the Nazi threat.

Many of those guys never saw it to the end of their summer or, maybe worst still, ended their year horribly maimed. They gave their life, or quality of life, so that we can enjoy a pint in the sun at a quiet country pub.

Freecycle - reach for the Sky

Our Sky box recently finally died after nearly ten years of service. As an occassional TV user, and only using the Sky free-to air service (not to be confused by the new BBC Freesat service) at that, we didn't fancy the full cost of a new Sky box to get us out of our dilemma.

Freecycle came to the rescue. A quick "wanted" advert and numerous offers of redundant boxes where Sky subscribers had upgraded to Sky+ - there's obviosully lots of redundant technology sitting out there...

Big numbers - a small question

Yesterday we finally visited Scotney Castle, a National Trust site - on our list of "must dos" for many years. Beautiful grounds with colourful foliage - and on a bright hot day - wonderful.

Anyway, wandering the grounds, I realised that almost all the "groups" - individuals, couples, families, or larger groups - each had at least one digital camera between them, sometimes more. As we were concluding our visit, Molly asked me how many photos I'd taken - I checked, 87. She then checked her camera, 87. A spooky coincidence or what? Anyway, nearly two hundred between us - the equivilant of three rolls of 35mm film - we'd never have taken that many in a month years ago.

Leaving aside the need to have access to a PC, the cost of photography has dropped dramatically over the past ten years and become a commodity. Where folk may have taken the occassional snap, now they just click away.

So here's the question. How many photos were taken around the world yesterday?

Recycling good news - but it still ain't easy

Recent news suggests that, as a nation, we're recycling more than ever. This is truly good news.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/09/recycling.conservation

However, the reality is that as nation we're still not very good at it.

Underpinning this is the fundamental fact that there is no national recycling strategy (that I can make out), leaving local councils to make their own arrangements. The choice of recycling supplier to your local council will dictate what products can or can't be recycled.

As long-term committed recyclers, we continue to struggle with knowing exactly which plastics our local council will or won't take. Trying to encourage folk with less time or inclination on these matters is an uphill struggle.

I am pressing the government for a cohesive "easy to use" recycling strategy.

Choose your poison II - petrol or diesel?

We were recently faced with a decision time relating to our car. The car had started playing up to the point that we felt the time was right to consider what to do with it. The decision was taken to replace it.

In researching the future, we were disappointed to see how the govenerment and motor industry are now presenting diesel as the future - lower CO2 emissions and significantly reduced road tax charges present consumers with a compelling case based on saving money.

But what about the direct impact on humans? Not global warming but the quality of air life for you, me, and our children - here and now today?

Diesels emit substantially greater volumes of particulates and nitrogen oxides than petrol

Particulates cause major repository problems, and contribute to cardiovascular and asthma related deaths by their deep penetration of the lungs. The nitrogen oxides combine with other chemicals to make the smog situation much worse. Ever looked at the reddy-brown haze hanging over our cities on hot summer days?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/14/carbonemissions.climatechange

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/cleaner_cars_fuels.pdf


So why not bio-fuels? Mmm. Well that encourages farmers to switch from food to energy production, pushing up the cost of food production (which especially hurts developing countries), worsens the world food situation, and adds to environmental disasters such as palm oil/ rainforest deforestation. Even in the UK, the growth of bio-fuels has seen the "explosion" of rape fields.

I don't have immediate easy answers but let's at least stop kidding ourselves and face up to the reality.

No use crying over spilt milk...is there?

Reluctantly we recently canceled our doorstep milk delivery after over twenty five years - many folk would consider this a minor and insignificant decision.

We have always sought to support our local milkman, preserve what can be an important service to folk with limited mobility, and minimise unnecessary use of plastics through the use of reused (not even recycled - remember reduce/ reuse/ recycle) glass bottles.

Sadly our long-time milkman retired a couple of years ago, his replacement served us until early this year and then a further replacement occurred. Since then the service fell dramatically and and that we were left with was a chain of hassle and grief. Reluctantly we canceled the order.

Fortunately we still have a very handy corner shop which we're able to use/ support.

However, the ongoing downside is we realise we're now "supporting" the plastic bottle industry and adding to the recycling problem.

Manderings around the Brecon Beacons

Another fantastic week in the western Brecon Beacons. Weather mixed but what does one expect?

Highlights - sheltering for an hour from an halestorm half way up the Black Mountain; SO many red kites (never seen so many and so low); exploring the Gwydre gorge; some great food; lots of walking in great countryside; Tilly the farmer's pup; peace and quiet (only the sound of birds and sheep); starry starry nights with no light pollution.

Photos to follow on Flickr.

No-meat week on a Welsh sheep farm

We've been staying at a cottage on a Welsh sheep farm for best part of twenty years - this past week we returned. Another faboulus week away from it all. Despite the primary purpose of the farm being the raising of sheep and lambs, knowing the farmers well and how they treat their stock, we feel comfortable continuing to stay there.

Locally we found a couple of great non-meat eateries. Trecastle Tea Rooms is an offshoot of a nearby organic farm - on the day we visited, great organic local veg-based soup and pasta and organic local cheese - scrummy.

And the tea rooms at Newton House, Dinefwr Park and Castle (National Trust although the team rooms aren't NT). A fantasic bean casserole and rice.

Looking back at the sixties

A combination of visiting Southend and Folkestone, and television programmes (one featuring childhood haunts) - "Hancock and Joan" (Ramsgate and Broadstairs) and "He kills coppers" seems to have awoken fond memories for the Sixties. Ha, those lazy hazy days of childhood.

A wonderful day in the woods...

Aware that we hadn't been out for a good walk for a few weeks, we headed off today to do a circular walk and take in eight caches along the way - and what a day it was. Setting off from home in mist and yuk, prepared for the worst, we crossed the North Downs and entered a completely different world, with me ending the day sunburnt! Der. Bluebells, primroses and lots and lots of coppiced woods. Doesn't it make you proud to be in England in the spring time?

Soya milk

We attempted our first foray into soya milk this weekend and lived to tell the tale. More to do but it looks like we could be ready to switch from cows milk soon as part of our way of eliminating our involvement in the veal trade.

Rochester sweeps fesitval

May 4-6 2008 Rochester sweeps festival - the Medway council website isn't very exciting or colourful compared to the event itself, but info is here. One of the bands is the Singing Loins who are a must see/ hear.

Our society's misplaced faith in biofuels...

In the drive to go green, we seem to be deluding ourselves over the benefits of biofuels. Yes, potentially, biofuels may appear to start tackling the emissions issues related to traditional diesel and petrol-based fuels. BUT biofuels bring with them other environmental, economic and global poverty issues. Click here for info and here to do something about it.

A look behind the UK fashion industry

A look behind the UK fashion industry and the Indian clothing manufacturing industry - should be interesting and possibly even an eye-opener. Tuesday 22 April Blood, sweat and T-shirts, BBC 3. The BBC programme website.

Further info about the ethics of the clothing industry on my website.

Personal safety - choose your poison

Hoodies, and their occupants, pose little fear for me. More life threatening is the scourge of mobility scooters that seem to be overwhelming our footpaths.

While I totally respect the need for disabled or elderly folk to use these vehicles to get around, their drivers seem frequently (a) incapable of controlling the devices safely and (b) to think they have a divine right which requires pedestrians to part like the Red Sea to allow privileged and unhindered access to the footpath for the scooters and their drivers. Perhaps it's the towns we've visited thus far this year are over-run by them? However, I'm pleased to have seen March out without actually suffering an injury from one of these vehicles.

No-meat update - April

6 April 2008 - interesting couple of days. I visited Norwich on Friday for a business trip. The lunchtime pub was interesting - several starters marked as veggie on the menu but NO "main meals" - the best was under the "baguettes" section - one cheese-based baguette with chips. Mmm. Last night we had a curry - the occasion was fine and I was comfortable with the choices - however, again it was interesting to note that there were no vegetable curries on the main sections of the menu, merely as side dishes or as part of the fixed menu for one, two or four. There's still not a lot that's convincing me things have moved on in the past twenty years. The quest continues.

30 March - three months in. As fully expected, eating at home hasn't proved a major problem as we've never been big meat eaters... BUT we haven't had non-meat eaters join us at home for main meals (not sure how we or they would deal with that) and I'm still concerned that there are probably more animal-derived products hidden away in "everyday" food than I'm aware of.

Work has proved easier than I thought. Sandwich lunches have been straightforward, as has been eating out at pre-planned meals. Eating out, unplanned, both at work and at home hasn't been so easy.

Even in London I'm starting to think that mainstream food chains aren't so well set up for non-meat eaters as I'd previously thought. "The vegetarian option" can be just that - one alternative on a list of half a dozen or more meat options - not quite but almost "take it or leave it". I've been planning a meal out for a special event for later in the year in and it's becoming evident that many places only have a single veggie option or, worse still, none listed and merely "other dietary options can be catered for" (in other words, speak to us on the quiet if you're a freak). Given that market forces are pretty powerful and retailers and restaurants are driven by them in the end, I'm assuming that non-meat eaters are clearly in a very small minority, hence the relatively small percentage of options on most restaurant menus. During January I joined some sixty other men at a curry night and I was the only non-meat eater - and, again, I had to have a "quiet word" to arrange something suitable, with no discount even though vegetable curry is a whole lot cheaper. Thankfully, because I'm still eating fish, I have more options open to me. Eating out conclusion thus far - I need to move to Brighton - our day in Brighton was a fabulous experience food-wise.

Interesting that vegetarianism is now moving into the environmental space on the basis that a veggie-based diet has a significantly smaller carbon-footprint than meat-based diets.

The other big dilemma I'm struggling with is that non-meat options frequently consist of cheese-laden dishes which presents problems with my need to drive down my cholesterol levels.

No-meat month

During January 2008 I went no-meat. Very easy to do at home as we've never been great meat eaters, not so easy to do out and about. A few raised eyebrows and some genuine interest.

Eating out was easier than I expected, but still not that great. A day in Brighton was a real pleasure, with plenty of scope for non-meat eaters but locally, as I fully expected, not so easy. I look back over the past thirty years and still wonder quite how much progress we've made to make vegetarianism easier.

As a result of my no-meat month, I have committed to continuing to be no-meat by preference.

My goal - minimise animal-based consumption - ideally to eliminate animal-based consumption but doubtless I'll consume products that include animal-based contents without being aware of it.

My reasons - improve animal welfare by not consuming and reduce my environmental impact - meat-based diets are estimated to require three times the resource that non-meat diets required - check this out.

My existing leather-based goods - a possible contradiction here. I will continue to use these as they are of good quality and sustainable, and there's nothing I can do now about the animals involved. In addition, if I replace them, some of the alternatives will be produced using less sustainable and/ or environmentally-damaging materials. A question I will need to resolve for the future is what alternatives there are if I need to replace any of these goods if they prove unrepairable.

My unresolved issues - for example, the ethics of cows' milk production; the use of gelatine in my daily medicines; I continue to eat fish but not meat; the use of meats in our cats' food; what other animal-derived products are hidden in other foods?

My critics - without passing comment or judgement on other peoples' choices, people seem on occasions to become very defensive by starting arguments or telling me I'm wrong. Interesting.

I'll let you know how the year goes! Check out my blog site.

Kingfishers

No, not the beer. Ever seen a Kingfisher? They're very difficult to locate and, because of the way they dart about, you're unlikely to catch anything more than a flash of bright colour as they dart by. You can therefore imagine the pain I endured from Molly last summer when I managed to see one several times in the space of an afternoon down on Romney Marsh - every time I saw it, Molly was bending over tying her shoelace, blowing her nose or undertaking some other mundane activity.

However...in January we both managed to see one in plain sight - now I can go about my home life without fear of reprisal for having seen something Molly hasn't.

Public transport - a delightful experience

As a rail commuter, public transport can be a horror - but not always. Back in January we went for a day trip to Brighton by train and it was a pure delight. When public transport works, it works very well. Less than an hour from home to London, and a further hour to Brighton. Relax, enjoy the view and a tea or coffee while snuggling up to my little girl.. And no problem about a glass of wine or two.

But when it's bad, it's really bad. A Saturday trip to London (timetabled journey time fifty minutes). Engineering works - yep, these are necessary but the alternative arrangements were a shambles with no apparent attempt at a reasonably joined-up approach. Actual journey time over three hours. Twenty-five minutes spent sitting on a bus waiting to move off only to arrive at the next station to find we'd missed our connection by twenty minutes.

BUT it's possible to get across the Medway towns in fifteen minutes by train - by car, crawling along thirty to forty-five minutes - so the railways do have their benefits.

Crawling, crawling crawling - in March we spent ages crawling in traffic around Southampton one Saturday and on another Saturday around Medway - the curse of the car...we need better public transport...

Freecycling

THE find of the first quarter of 2008 - a community of local people who want to dispose of items to a good home where the item will be reused rather than go to landfill - very impressive. More info here.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

By some unplanned quirk of fate, we spent several separate days in January, February and March beside the seaside.

Brighton - a wonderful day out with a unique art opportunity - beach art using timbers washed up from a recent cargo ship sinking - see my Flickr photo.

Southend - last time I went there I must have been about nine or ten, having travelled down the Thames by boat from London with my granddad; this time around we walked the pier (the longest in the world), watched the gulls feeding on worms as the tide turned, enjoyed the nostalgia of seaside childhood days, and had some wonderful fish and chips and a mug of tea.

Sheerness - across the Thames from Southend - not quite so romantic but a place I'd never really been to before; managed a long-time ambition to visit Wheelans, a concrete ornament manufacturer that attracts visits from miles around. The things I aspire to!

Folkestone - we paid a return visit following our previous visit about twelve months ago. Apart from a lovely plate of cockles, it was disappointing to see a number of artists shops and galleries in the Old Town that had closed down. I'm convinced that Folkestone will start re-developing rapidly in the next eighteen months but, until then, I suspect that artists will continue to struggle. More info here.

Durdle Door, Dorset. We ended up here on the day of the "Great Storm of 2008" - our trip was previously scheduled and went ahead despite the weather because of other arrangements - see my Flickr photos.

Hythe, Kent - not quite the seaside, but we spent a wonderful evening with friends who have a flat in Hythe High Street. Leaving the local pub after a blow-out meal of fish and chips (not good for the cholesterol but wonderful for the soul [I had cod]), we stepped out into a mist-shrouded empty night-time street. Dr Syn and his smuggling fraternity immediately came to mind - The Gentlemen is a song by the Signing Loins based upon the poem by Rudyard Kipling.

Whippytwig photos

Whippytwig's photos can be viewed on Flickr.

Red phone boxes

The Balancing Walcheros are pleased to announce that they have recently started a new series of caches on geocaching.com to recognise that great British icon, the Red Phone Box. Other cachers are welcome to add to the series.

Watch this space...

Whippytwig will shortly move his offical blog spot to here. In the meantime why not visit whippytwig.co.uk