Anniston 4 July 2024 - Fireworks and other wasteful things

The world in America is different today, shops have limited opening hours. The place we tried to go to for lunch was heaving. So we headed to Whataburger. This was one of three choices offered by our host.  It was his least favourite, but democracy has a role to play in every family, so off we went - 3 votes for, 1 against and 2 abstentions.  It was nice enough, but there was a huge amount of plastic waste. The trays containing the food are great quality and just dumped in the rubbish (trash) after use - maybe 'whatawaste' instead of WhataBurger.

After lunch, we were driven around JSU, and some of Robert's childhood / student haunts.  It is fascinating to hear his stories.  Then we drove out to Chimney Peak Lookout tower.  On the way saw deer and turkeys on the ‘country’ road.

The view from Chimney Peak Lookout tower

We then went out again to see the fireworks at 9pm. As we have in previous years, in other places, we watched from well away from the main display. We are in a car park (parking lot) near a church, and have to select our spot carefully to see through the trees. There are quite a few others around, the atmosphere is jovial and friendly.

In the UK, the general election is going well. The exit poll is predicting a labour landslide.

The video is 20 seconds from the middle of the display. The finale is truly amazing, but by then I was 'in the moment'.

Now, I am suspecting that my illness was not from the vaccination, as Jo has stayed in the house and is sleeping because she is not feeling well. 

4 July 
Just this year, I have heard of Native Americans, in particular, who do not celebrate Independence Day, because it did not give them independence.  There are others, too, who find themselves in that category - descendants of slaves, for example. This is just another one of those things that divides us. In my earlier life, the complaint against fireworks was always the waste of money - which in one sense it is. Of course, we do need something to bring us together as our society seems more fractured every year.

Greenhouse

Every two or three years, the tiny greenhouse needs a new cover. This is partly the result of the type of cover used, but also the type of weather that the cover has to survive.  Some years it needs a new frame - this is not one of those years.  This frame has lasted well, it is now on it's third or fourth cover. The previous cover was installed in 2020, just before lockdown. This does not seem to be a good use of plastic, but as the prevailing winds have flattened larger sturdier greenhouses in the past, I am at a loss to find a better solution. I took the opportunity, this morning, while there was some bright sunshine and almost no wind, to unload all the pots, remove the old cover, and put this one on.  Then re-fill the greenhouse with pots. Soon the seed trays and post will have seedlings in them, as another year in the garden gets underway.

Alabama 2022 - July 13-14: Thunder and Lightning

Not much activity on Wednesday, the children 'painted' T-shirts, we visited the store for some shopping, and got a take-away for lunch. That's not so unusual here. The source was one of the few places where they have some concern about 'single use plastic', but even here when they were asked to omit cutlery, they didn't.  At least some packaging was compressed board rather than plastic.  The quality of some plastic take-away containers that we've had is truly astonishing, it could easily be used 4 or 5 times.

In the evening, the skies became very dark and rain started.  There was lightning in the distance. It soon got closer, then the thunder started.  The lights in the house were required well before sunset.  When we finally retired to bed, the storms were still continuing, making staying asleep difficult.  So far as I'm aware, there were no power drop-out.

Lee County has a severe weather warning system.  It is a dedicated radio receiver, and is left plugged in all the time. It's mainly intended for tornados. Sometime during the night the alarm sound occurred, I woke and heard loud but indistinct talking.  I got up to investigate. I only caught the last sentence of the message - "do not drive through flood water, turn back".

Wise advice, because you cannot tell if the road still exists under the flood water, or whether there are other unseen obstructions.  I wonder if we had such a system in the UK, there would be fewer vehicles stuck in the ford - probably not, but you never know.

The Longest Summer Holiday Ever? 5:Holiday Time (Take 2) - Day 2 - Tuesday 4 August - the Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The Good

In the morning we took Brody to Swan and Cygnet woods in Stock. Somewhere different for him and for us.  It is ancient woodland with many large old trees, which keeps the floor nice an clear of brambles and nettles (not enough light).

Clear paths and old fallen trees make this wood an easy place to walk around

Some of it is steep(ish) so benches are available. 

The Bad and the Ugly

In the afternoon we drove to Crays Hill after dropping some recycling items off at Barleylands.  We parked in the car park for the children's play area, and headed off down the footpath that runs along side it.  Almost immediately we saw much more than the usual amount of rubbish on the side of the path.  Our guide is quite old, so it wasn't a surprise that a 'farm track' was now a fully tarmaced road.  Down here there were several instances of fly tipping, some very old tyres, some of which were on very old car wheels, and the remains of old kitchen units.  The rubbish along the side of the road was unbelievable. 

Somewhere along that road there was supposed to be a footpath across the fields but we couldn't find it.  We ended up on the A127, walking east, and finaly turned off up a quieter road.  The next path we had to follow was waymarked with a 'Basildon Health Walks' marker.  Not having the secateurs with us meant we could not cut our way through the path that was completely overgrown, thus proving that there are no healthy people in Basildon!  We made our way back to the car park by the quickest route we could find.

Alabama 2019 - Days 1 & 2: Surprise! and a Helicopter

Friday 22 Nov

The day is dedicated to travel, from the time we get up at about 7am the focus is preparation for the trip.  The taxi is due at 10:30, we are ready by 10:20 (unusually!).  It arrives in good time, although sitting in the back seeing many clocks showing different times is disturbing, even when the maximum difference is 2 minutes.   The journey is good, none of the contingency time is needed, so we end up with time to kill in Terminal 3.  I suppose that is what they want.  Going through security there is an elderly man having his bags searched.  A bottle of ketchup, or something similar, is found.  It is held together with parcel tape.  It is above the 100ml limit so will have to be surrendered.  I feel sorry for him, he seems more confused than angry.
There is still 2 hours before the gate opens.  We paid £12.00 for a salad, sandwich and 2 waters at Eat, the airport is a rip off - but you know that.

Sitting at the gate, an old man sits opposite me and says "Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait".  It sums up my feeling but I am not in a conversational mood and avoid further eye contact.  This was a mistake.  When boarding was called we both got up at the same time and there was a gentle clash of heads.  He was OK, so was I.

The flight left 25 mins late, but was ready to go on time.  We were informed that the arrival time was not affected.  We settled in, if you can do that on a plane.  There is free WiFi (allegedly), you are not allowed to use it to message people.  For me it didn't work, no internet connection was provided.  I have since been told I should have installed an app.

The choice of films did not seem inspiring, I watched:

Storm Boy
This was the best of the three, the story told by a grandfather to his granddaughter of the rescue of some baby pelicans.   The backdrop to the story is another piece of conservation, and the two are cleverly woven together.

 
Toy Story 4
A formulaic extension to the franchise, watchable but not inspiring.


I am Mother
A skynet story, or is it? The sole girl being bought up by a robot (mother) gets to discover the real world.  As Sci-Fi goes the telling is better than the idea with this film.

Airline travel is NOT environmentally friendly, but there are some obvious small things that could be done:

1. Serve a fork, knife and spoon as required, not every time.
2. Give out what's asked for, not tooth brush and paste, and eye shades to everyone.  This is already done with headphones. 

We arrived 30 minutes early, which made for a better flight than usual.  To compensate, we were put in the slowest line through immegration.  People from the next flight overtook us.  The queue management this time was awful, this has not always been the case, so I suppose it depends on the staff.  Our bags were set off the usual carosel, waiting for us. It took at least 45 minutes from start of the queue for the particular desk to being officially allowed in.

Robert met us and drove us home.  Robbie's face (surprise) and Madelyn's hug made the whole day worthwhile.  Total travel time is about 18 hours. 

Saturday 23 November

We slept badly.  That is not a surprise, there is jet-lag to be overcome as well as overtiredness.  Saturday morning set the pattern for the rest of our time here:

• Get up, breakfast, walk Mauve, shower and be ready for the rest of the day.

We went out to a yard sale. A couple opened their house, priced up their items and invited people around.  We bought a few odds and bits.  I can't see this working in the UK, but let me know if I'm wrong.
Just across the road was another of Karen's friends - Erica and her two boys, her husband was recording a Vlog, so we didn't meet him. They have a lovely roomy, airy house, with the lounge area open to the roof.

After that we did our first shopping.  By then the rain had started and the standing water meant a shallow paddle in to and out of the supermarket. (approx $153 was spent)  The self service check outs are as unreliable here as in the UK.

After lunch, back at the house I helped Robbie build a Lego helicopter, here's the finished article.

Another dog walk, and home for beef stroganoff. Before that I was playing with the children, chasing and catching them, Mauve could not resist joining in.  She doesn't know her own strength though, so had to be put in her crate.

Grandad was tired and dozed off on the sofa.

Summer Holidays 2019 Part 2

Part 1 of my unusual summer is here.

Thursday, 22 August - Thames side nature park

We took the boys to the Thurrock Thameside Nature Park.  Take a look at the website, and you will see that it is a very interesting building. We were able to follow the spiral up to the roof where the view is amazing.  The park shows wildlife living alongside industry.  That wasn't our theme for the day though, Leo got an interest in bugs.  We bought a small bug collecting kit, and the picture is of one of the bugs we found that day, not at the park itself, but in Mill Meadows. Looking for bugs in the park bought home to me the sudden drop in numbers that insects have suffered in recent years.

Sunday, 25 August - St. Giles Mountnessing Flower Festival

Bank Holiday weekend also brought the bi-annual flower festival at St Giles.  In previous years there have been more people at the St Giles weekend, but it was still a good display.  No pictures of flowers because the thing that most grabbed my attention was the mammoth bone.  I had never heard of it before, or perhaps I had just missed it. That's not to say that the displays of flowers weren't good, they were very good, as they always are.

Wednesday, 28 August - Bats in Mill Meadows

The slightly grainy picture of Mill Meadows at the scout hut entrance was taken as the sun set.  We are visiting the meadow on a guided bat tour.  The bats that inhabit Mill Meadows are pipistrelles.  We were loaned bat detectors and had a very enjoyable evening pointing them at the sky and listening to the bat's echo location calls changed to a frequency we could hear. We saw and heard a bat chasing an insect in the torchlight in the middle of the meadow.  The changes of direction are mad and seem impossible to us. This may be my favourite outing of the summer.

Thursday, 29 August -  Jenny and Joe's Wedding

Christ Church had been transformed for the wedding.  An event we had all looked forward to for such a long time.  It went very well, as many people came to celebrate with them. We all wish them the very best in their life together.

Saturday, 31 August - Flatford Mill - Treasure Island

Open air theatre is one of the things I enjoy most.  It is also pretty rare for me to get to a show.  This one was special because it was aimed at children.  So, there we were with Leo and Fred and their Mum and Dad on one of the hottest days of the summer.  Lunch was packed and eaten in the field in front of the stage before the performance. The story was told brilliantly with lots of action and lots of songs to keep the children (and Adults) entertained.  Even so, the youngsters were a little distracted for some of the time. At one point the weather changed, and it became quite cold, but at least it stayed mostly dry. Pirates have been quite a theme since, but there's no keeping Captain Jack out of it now.

Friday, 5 September - Tiptree

We had been told that there was a pub in Tiptree that served good lunches at a very reasonable rate for pensioners - The ship.  We decided to visit as it was a nice day.  The food was good, but we should have booked, the pub was full.  We were found a small table right next to the bar. After lunch, we took a stroll on Tiptree Heath. The heath is first recorded in 1401, and now has ponies on it to keep the scrub under control.  They certainly add something to the heath, making it feel older and more rural than it probably is. I've heard since that some people are trying to get them removed, I hope they do not succeed, natural management of the environment is so much better than a mechanised human approach.

Friday, 6 September - The Windmill and the White Horse

The family got together to celebrate an important birthday twice.  Once, because that was the decoy event and happened at lunchtime.  We went to The Windmill at Hanningfield for lunch, and once again it was full, or so we were told.  It didn't look full, but then you can never tell what bookings they have.  While we were standing outside trying to find somewhere else to go one of the waitresses came out and invited us back in, saying there had been a cancellation.  Was it just a story, I don't know, but we were pleased to be seated, and to enjoy a good meal. We said our goodbyes and prepared for later.  A room was reserved at the White Horse for the evening celebration.  Loads of friends had been invited, and a good night was had by all.

Sunday, 8 September - Weald Park

Weald county park is a huge expanse of green space, fields and woods that we visit occasionally.  Today Brody enjoyed a longer than usual walk and so did we.

So concludes the summer.  A very different approach this year with different highs and different memories.  The children are back at school and life goes on, only blogging gets left behind.  I'm catching up with that now the weather is cold and foggy.

Packaging!

I have been put on different statins. The previous ones came in a box half the size and had two strips with 14 tablets each.  These come in a larger box and waste huge amounts of plastic - which is non-recyclable.  There are four of these in the box.  The tablets are so small they could easily put two weeks supply on each sheet.  What a waste!

The pencil is there to give a sense of scale.

How green is my 'Leaf'?

Following my partial retirement, I'm down to three days a week, except when I have to cover for holidays.  The way bus fares have changed in the last few years means that I am paying the same for the bus as I was before.  The journeys are getting worse - longer and less comfortable. The buses more crowded, and the delays this summer have been at the top end of the delays I have ever experienced.  My average time to home as increased to above an hour. So I'm looking for a car.
I'd like one that is at least as environmentally friendly as a bus.  Our buses use bio-diesel, and diesel is not nearly as bad a polluter in large engines as it is in small ones. So, I'm looking for a hybrid (preferably a plug in), or an all electric. So where to go?
We looked at a Hyundai first, a very nice car, but the Ioniq has really poor rear visibility.  We also looked at the i10, a very nice small car, although there are no hybrid options, it may turn out that petrol is the way to go.
Other cars we have looked at:
Mini - too claustrophobic for Jo
Micra - too claustrophobic for me (looks too big, feels too small - that's the wrong way round!)
While looking at the Micra we spotted the Leaf, and were offered an extended test drive.  They gave us the car for 4 days.  It's a lovely car to drive, very stable, very smooth, very predictable and above all very, very quiet.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of other similar cars, that's not really an issue for me.  The price is, though, and it is relatively expensive - even with the government 'donation'.  The range between charges is about 130 miles, less than half of the equivalent petrol car.  Not an issue for the commute.  It charged up by being plugged in for about 2 hours on the last day, when the usage was reasonably close to the way I expect to use it.
My question, though, is just how 'green' is it.  How much pollution (or at least CO2, there are lots of other pollutants to worry about) is generated by its construction.  Obviously there is next to none after that, and what there is can largely be controlled by choosing a green Electricity tariff.  It cannot be worse than petrol.
Where do I find these answers?

100W light bulbs banned / goverment predicts power shortages

The 100W incandescent light bulb is from today banned in Britain. It is illegal to manufacture or import them. The linked article says "According to the Energy Saving Trust, compact fluorescent lamps (energy-saving bulbs) use 80% less electricity than standard bulbs.
They could also save the average household £590 in energy over their lifetime of between eight and 10 years"
I have been using these bulbs for a number of years in some rooms. I have yet to find one last more than three years, perhaps I'm just unlucky. Its unlikely I'm that unlucky though.

The 100W equivalent used 20W to run, slightly more to start. So for each hour of running there is an 80W saving.

At 29.14p/kwh, 1 hours costs £0.02331 less, so to make the savings you would need to run for 25,311 hours. There are 2922 days in 8 years, which means that the light must be on for 8.66 hours per day EVERY day for the full eight years. That's unlikely in most locations I think. Don't forget that the bulb will cost you 5 to 10 times more to buy also. So the numbers we are fed don't stack up, even so ...

The energy case for these bulbs isn't bad, but the environmental case overall isn't so good. Incandescent bulbs have next to nothing in them that is harmful to the environment. The glass is a simple shape and will not use a great deal of energy to manufacture. The energy saving ones contain mercury, a small amount its true, but it only takes a small amount. The also require some smart electronics to get them going, this requires a small circuit board, which is made with the use of some very nasty chemicals indeed. The glass is a very complex shape is is likely to require much more energy to manufacture.

On the same day there was another news item saying that the government is predicting power shortages in the next few years, due to the rising demand for electricity. This is not a new story, but the fact that it was also mentioned today set me thinking:

Could the rising demand be cause because people think lighting is really cheap and don't bother to turn it off?

Evening Service sermon for Environment Sunday (June 3rd)

I have posted the sermon here. http://3cephas-notes.blogspot.com/2007/06/evening-service-sermon-for-environment.html it was a bit long, but I hope, interesting and relevant. Lots of material taken from A Rocha "The Heat is on" pack.