To the latest blog posts

The Scottish parliament are to follow the lead set by Ireland in announcing a 10p charge for plastic carrier bags. Apparently Scotland throws away 2,500 tonnes of plastic bags every year. The private members' bill sponsored by Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Pringle has the backing of 31 MSPs from various parties. First Minister Jack McConnell and the environment minister, Ross Finnie, have indicated support in principle.

See The Scotsman article here. Now when are the Westminster Parliament going to ensure the same sensible law is enacted in the rest of the UK? I remember the Government made some weak excuse, for not bringing it in, when the Irish law was enacted. It's very hard not to think that their inaction is just because they don't want to upset the the supermarkets in the UK.

Maybe we all ought to write to Tesco or Asda and ask them if it's OK for the Government to bring it in!

Wildberry.

We had a great trip yesterday to the Henry Doubleday Organic Gardens in Yalding, Kent. We visited a few years ago when they'd recently experienced a lot of damage from flooding and looking a little down-at-heal. The gardens are now fully recovered and looking better than ever, certainly worth a visit if you have the opportunity.

We are in the process of making a raised bed to try to keep the slugs and snails off our salad crop. The HRDA had a raised bed with a small copper tube running round the top. Apparently the ring of copper causes a small electrical charge to be produced which the little blighters don't like! Now the lettuces contained within were as pristine as could be imagined - their case was slightly undermined that all the lettuces were pristine - even those without any type of protection! But I've bought copper so I'll give it ago.

Keep safe - Wildberry

We've just had a few days away, hence the gap in the blog. (I still haven't worked out how to blog remote from my PC) What we did manage to do however was make full use of our new Bromptons for the first time. Oh, what a revelation - we were be-bopping around Bristol (which isn't the flattest town on the UK. We also got the opportunity to ride the excellent Bristol to Bath railway cycle path. It was so nice not worrying about traffic for the complete 13 mile ride - excellent. Then with the convenience of the folding Brompton on to the train for the 10 minute trip back to Bristol. Highly recommended. For details of the path with loads of pictures see here.

One of the best experiences being in Bristol, was simply cycling around a city, for which the most part, is cycle friendly and being with other cyclists. When I go out in an around my home town of Gravesend I may occasionally see other cyclists, in Bristol they're everywhere and it's great!

Greenpeace focus on Range Rover

It was interesting this week that Greenpeace have focused their attention on Range Rover. For sometime I've been railing against the increasing numbers of 4x4s or SUVs on Britain's roads and I'm glad to see that Greenpeace have chosen to focus on this menace.

The latest Range Rover with a 4.2ltr supercharged engine does only 12.6mpg on an urban cycle and according to Land Rover produces 376g/km of carbon dioxide. When many of us are doing our best to reduce our car use how can some continue to be so selfish in this way? If you want more information about anti-SUV protests go here.

Have a great weekend - Wildberry

For those who are going to Edinburgh on the 2 July for the Make Poverty History Rally all the details have now been published on the MPH website. (The guide is in a PDF format - if you don't have a PDF reader on your computer you can download free from the Wildberrys downloads page here.) If you haven't yet decided to go please have a look at their website - this is one of those events in the future you will be able to look back on and say 'I made a difference - I wasn't just a spectator!'

Wildberry

Today - I don't feel jubilation that Labour have one a historic third term as the governing party - more a feeling of relief that we have four more years away from the shadow of the Conservatives. No return to the cynical, self-serving politics of the nasty party.

Two notes of sadness though. First my home seat of Gravesham, lost to the Tories, by 654 votes!

Second the Green Party missed out on getting their first seat in Brighton Pavilion. I'd like to congratulate Keith Taylor and all his supporters on such a great effort, but I'm afraid it just wasn't enough. Keith polled 22% of the vote up from 9.3% in 2001.

However who doesn't take comfort in Robert Kilroy-Silk's result in Erewash. Polling worse than even I hoped for, at 2,957 votes, he's in forth place only 19,515 behind the winning candidate! - Every cloud has a silver lining.


Have a green weekend - Wildberry

 

I don't want to jinx it, but It seems possible that the Green Party could get its first MP, in the shape of Keith Taylor, standing in the Brighton Pavilion constituency. Keith is already a respected local councillor and is doing well in the polls. You can read Keith's blog online here. The website for the Brighton and Hove Green Party is here.

The BBC reported yesterday how the Green Party in general are experiencing a late surge of support. Hopefully at least some of the electorate is seeing that none of the main parties are offering credible environmental policies. If we don't want to see more and more environmental disasters we need to be acting now. If you have a Green MP in your consistency, please vote for them and send a message to the next government that the environment can't be ignored any longer. For a list of constituencies with Green candidates look here.

Trees - they make you think, don't they.
 

As I'm writing this I appreciate it's going to sound a bit whacky. But we were picnicking under this tree on Sunday in Dulwich Park, it was raining on and off, but we stayed mostly dry. I found myself thinking about people who live in trees and how wonderful that might be. Isn't it great how something so simple, so natural, so strong can be so fantastic.

Let my soul, a shining tree,
Silver branches lift towards thee,
Where on a hallowed winter's night
The clear-eyed angels may alight.

And if there should be tempests in
My spirit, let them surge like din
Of noble melodies at war;
With fervour of such blades of triumph as are
Flashed in white orisons of saints who go
On shafts of glory to the ecstasies they know.

Siegfried Sassoon, Tree and Sky

Holding my breath till Friday - Wildberry.

This isn't an escapee from the Latest Terminator film, it's the Weee Man. Sponsored by the RSA and he represents the amount of waste electrical and electronic products that an average UK citizen – YOU – will throw away in YOUR lifetime, if YOU carry on disposing of products at the current rate.

Currently most of these products go straight into landfill. From January 2006 manufactures & retailers will be responsible for recycling this waste under new EU legislation called the WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) Directive. It's amazing to see the average UK citizen 3.3 tonnes of electrical and electronic products in their lifetime.

IF you want see the Weee Man for yourselves he's currently outside the Mayor's Office in London on the South side of Tower Bridge, I understand he's then moving to the Eden Project in Cornwall.
 

Brompton Update

I thought I'd just give you a very quick update on the new Brompton folding bikes. We went out for another ride on Saturday and both really appreciated the convenience of that the Brompton gave - folding and unfolding all over the place!

My only slight concern, I think the standard seat stem is slightly too short for me. I've been riding with it at it's full height and it could really do with going up just a little. I'm going to stick with it for a while and see how I get on. All-in-all though very happy. Some longer rides planned in the next couple of weeks so I'll report back.

The picture isn't my bike but a Brompton Recumbent conversion kit see here - fantastic!

Trying to keep my mind off the election - Wildberry