Printer Horrors (Oct08)
I’ve been having problems with my printer. Actually, it’s been annoying me for quite some time. The gremlin inside it gets particularly difficult when I’m trying to print something off before rushing out of the door to catch a train. Perhaps I should admit to be partly to blame for my problems. Having bought my inkjet printer […]
Recycling Dreamland (Oct08)
Chris Dow at Closed Loop recycling in Dagenham was enthusiastic and knowledgeable. He describes the new plant – it won’t be fully operational until December – as a ‘recycling dreamland’. When it’s running at full pelt, this brand new factory will make it possible for a plastic drinks bottle to be chucked away at […]
Autumn pleasures… (Sept08)
Picking apples and blackberries in the beautiful autumn sun has only been surpassed listening to the sound of bagpipes whilst watching kites waving around against a deep blue sky. The last couple of weekends have been truly magical. The Dorset Kite Festival is annual event on Eggardon Hill near Powerstock. It’s truly spectacular even when […]
Supermarkets vs french markets…. (Sept08)
Even with the wind and rain lashing around our beach hut on the Dorset coast, we had a great couple of days. There were sunny spells and we had lots of visitors. Somehow the weather didn’t matter that much. We stocked up for supplies from the large supermarket in Bridport – but this was more […]
Yeovil to Naples by train (Aug08)
Up to Waterloo and across to St Pancras, we caught the Eurostar to Paris. But most exciting was the sleeper from Paris to Rome. Just my eldest son, Connor and I – we had a cabin to ourselves. And in old-fashioned style had our evening meal in the dining car. The waiter came round with […]
Family friendly films – a rant (Aug08)
This is a rant! Why make a Batman movie that’s not suitable for children – and show it all through the summer holidays? I have to admit that I haven’t seen it but I’ve read enough to know that I don’t want to – and I’m not very keen on my three boys watching it […]
Car Troubles – Ford Ka Troubles (Aug08)
I’ve had a couple of prangs in my car recently. First, someone in a four-wheel drive reversed into me. They were trying to turn around because a lorry was blocking the road and they didn’t notice me nestled behind in my Audi A3. There wasn’t a lot of damage but the really boring thing was […]
Summer produce (Jul08)
The weekend wasn’t glorious – certainly not the weather anyway. But I’ve been really enjoying the delicious summer produce, either from my wonderful food delivery service – Somerset Local Food Direct, from my mother’s garden or from our local pick your own. On Saturday night I had 15 people to supper. We started with broad […]
Reckitt Benckiser Sustainability Conference (Jul08)
“Julia had a great impact at our sustainability conference. As well as highlighting potential focus areas in her talk, she got stuck in with the brand teams in the afternoon to think about how we could innovate to change our products and consumer behaviours.” Joss Langford, Reckitt Benckiser, July 2008
NT – Energy efficient light bulbs (Jun08)
ABOUT TIME TOO – NATIONAL TRUST ENERGY SAVING LIGHT BULBS I was a tenant of the National Trust for nearly 10 years. My husband and I rented Tintinhull House in Somerset from 1995. It’s a beautiful house with gardens, made famous by Penelope Hobhouse, open to the public during the summer months. The public reception […]
A Trip to Waste Tip (Jun08)
Dimmer landfill site near Castle Cary in Somerset is unusual. It has a rather beautiful wooden eco-building within it’s boundaries, housing the Carymoor Environmental Centre. School trips for nature talks and wildlife walks are a regular feature – and they do a lot to educate the public on the benefits of recycling. I took my […]
Washing lines in Dubrovnik (Jun08)
Where bombs and missiles fell in the early 1990s, I stood looking at washing lines and cats. Swallows were diving over the rooftops of Dubrovnik in the evening sun – it was a magical experience, perhaps all the more so because I was there for such a short time. My trip to Croatia was arranged […]