I do try and do a little bit for the enviroment, but probably like most people not nearly enough. We have got the green recycle bins that the council come and empty every fortnight. This is just for paper, tins and glass. I also collect all my cardboard from packaging, cereal packets, ready meals (well I do live on my own and sometimes just can't be arsed to cook) and when I've got a decent amount, enough to fill the back of my car I tottle off to the local council recyle depot and deposit in the right skip, they seem to be well organised, and have skips for most things that can be recycled . They also have what looks like a stall for selling stuff that other people have thrown away, I always check to see if there is any analogue synths dumped but there never is.

The council also come and collect all our garden waste, grass cuttings etc which goes to some big compost pile and they sell it back to us at the recycle centre. I bought some for my little organic veggie patch that I used to have at my old house. I managed to grow some potatoes, carrots, radishes (anyone can grow them, so my old next door neighbour Dave told me as I pulled my first one up, I was over the moon I'd grown something I could eat!) turnips (they were called red top milans, if my memory serves me well) my faourites were peas (karina) they were beauties. I've really missed not growing any this year, once I get myself sorted out I'm hopefully going to dig up a little bit in my new garden and grow some veg again for next year.


I bought a book from Amazon called Save Cash and Save The Planet and I keep delving into it every now again and try and put some of it's advice into practice, nearly every lightbulb in my house is an energy efficient one,I'm looking into getting it cavity wall insulated, I thought a house built in 1983 would have already been insulated but no such luck. As you can tell I've got a long way to go before I save the planet. The Guardian on Saturday had a free Green Living Guide with it and made interesting reading . In it's top 10 recommendations of what we can do now was sign up for an organic vegetable box from a local farm. Well the nearest farm that I could find that delivered here was in Richmond but I thought I'd give it a go and ordered a mini veg bag, a mini fruit bag, some organic butter and 1/2 dozen organic eggs. It all arrived this morning left outside the back door while I still in the land of nod. Thats my organic fruit bowl on the right, I also got some lovely plums aswell. So far I've only tried the eggs, I had a fried egg sandwich for my dinner and it was very nice, it always reminds me of Quadrophenia when I have a fried egg sandwich. I must add that to my DVD wish list. I can see me spending a fortune while I'm off on the sick for the next few weeks. I've already ordered 5 while I've been off...... Ripping Yarns, which I never watched when it was originally broadcast, so need to catch up . Mr Benn which I did watch but I'm buying for Neave, (really!) I'm sure she'll enjoy it. Planet of the Apes the 6 DVD box set of the films, I remember I was a big fan of the TV series when it was on but never paid much attention to films , so now I am. Blakes 7 series 3, the best Sci-Fi show ever as far as I'm concerned. The Complete Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, it always used to make me piss my back off and I'm not sure I've seen them all. I do have a terrible habit of buying DVD's and never watching them, I guess it's a nostalgia thing, it's usually stuff that I remember watching when I was younger. 70's police shows strangely enough, Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, The Sweeney. Some some sci-fi too, Blakes 7 , Tomorrow People, Moonbase. Comedy aswell . . . . Citizen Smith, Scully, Solo. I tend to start watching a couple of episodes then I go and buy something else and start watching that then go and buy something else and it just goes on.

Back to the first reason I started this entry, the enviroment. Included with my organic veg bags was a newsletter and I think the best thing to do is just quote it direct, it makes a nice change to have something important here rather than from me ranting about myself or Paul Weller.

"Dr Bruce Pearce, a customer and Head of Research at Elm Farm Organic Research Centre has made me aware of worrying and imminent government plans to legislate with abandonment the production of GM crops. There is a consultation which ends on the 20th October 2006 and he feels that it is imperative that ordinary people and not just the scientists let their views be known - for perhaps the last time ! He writes to you :

“The Government slipped out a consultation in July on the coexistence between GM and non-GM crops. The coexistence regime recommended for England will allow routine GM contamination – “pollution” – of our food, crops and the countryside. What was understood to be the basic premise that everything should be done to minimise cross contamination has been ignored and will have particular impact on organic food and farming. This is despite Government assurance to the organic sector that everything would be done to ensure that any introduction of GM crops did not compromise the viability of UK organic agriculture. The government are proposing minimal separation distances ( even less than the GM industry body recommended ), inadequate notification to neighbours, a weak liability and compensation system and they do not want a register of GM crops/land. To make matters worse they have made it personal to everyone by saying that gardeners and allotment holders have no right to notification or compensation if their own grown food is contaminated.

The consultation runs until 20th October 2006 and it is important that we have our say. The consultation web site can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/gmnongm-coexist/index.htm

Friends of the Earth also provides information at www.stopgmcontamination.org and Elm Farm Organic Research Centre at www.efrc.com “.

If we all spare a few minutes to make our protest heard, it could really make a difference. Once GM crops are established in our environment there can be no recall and the potential impact could be severe."