Madame accepted her first visitors today. Jane and Josie came to visit, closely followed by Lou, who all came to meet Goat, eat cake and borrow sensible dome tent, in the name of sharing assets to save money. We like that.
I was planning on sharing another asset too, my abundance of fresh free range local eggs, which I did share. But the little gets got me to part with some of my new and brilliant tomato sauce and my soup in the sterilized kilner jars. Apparently, according to Lou's Mum, food always tastes better when you burn yourself making it. That soup will be awesome as I scalded my stomach with the boiling sterilizing water. Got off pretty lightly with it though. No visible scald. Could've been worse.
So Madame appears to be afraid of children. Josie, actual cutest coolest kid in the universe, appeared to unnerve her somewhat. She did however put that to one side long enough to take a custard cream off her, though!
BBC News 24 was very interesting today. It's fairly interesting most days to be fair but I've become somewhat addicted to the whole Volcano ash debacle as I'm fascinated by how much chaos the lack of air craft trips have caused, that as a nation, as a planet, we are SO reliant on this most polluting, hazard filled, environmentally and socially unfriendly of transports types. I know it's controversial, but I can't help feeling smug about my "only holiday in the UK" policy. I wouldn't be stuck in a poxy airport for a week! But I wouldn't be able to go skinny dipping in the med either. I think we'll stick to the caravan, actually! Just on the off chance that the next door volcano kicks off - that'd be just my luck.
The particularly interesting thing that this has thrown up, though, is the food and sustainability thing.
As a nation we have grown so accustomed to having seasonal produce all year around that the seasons, as far as food goes, now mean very little. See previous blog about tomato prices. I'm ashamed to say that I don't know for definite when the very best time for me to be making sauces is. So used, are we, to having food flown in from all over the world.
The BBC showed video of an avocado orchard/factory/whatever you want to call it in Ghana, and all the tonnes and tonnes of avocados sat rotting in their warehouses that would ordinarily be in Tesco or somewhere. This raised the issue of the unseen impact of the airspace closures. The impact on the everyday farmers and food processors all over the globe, and livelihoods. Then, a further question is asked.
WHY DOES THE ECONOMY SUPPORT AFRICA FEEDING THE UK AND NOT AFRICA FEEDING AFRICA?
Ended up having a naughty food day. Seeing as we were receiving callers this evening I thought it only good manners to make a cake (good excuse more like) so I made my special Rock Star Victoria Sponge. I am going to have spend a few quid this week on a couple of new cake tins as I've suddenly realized that silicone is crap. I'm going to invest in a good set of sponge tins, and I should never have to replace them if I look after them properly.
That's what this old anti-consumerism thing boils down to though. It's not about not buying anything, it's about buying what YOU want and need not what the advertisers want you to buy. The eco-warrior in me then adds to that with buy one good thing instead of half a dozen poor quality things. Not only have you got the disposal of the half a dozen poor quality things to think about but also the energy, chemicals and substances involved in making those 6 poor quality things. The economist in me then adds to buy that one good thing locally, and from a supplier with good ethical policies.
Crikey, having ethics is hard work!
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