Plastic Free (well as much as is possible these days)

After watching several progammes about the plastic in the oceans and in the landfills I am endeavouring to not intentionally buy any more plastic stuff that I can easily find an alternative for.

So far I am trying to use

Kitchen
washable kitchen scourers rather than a sponge.
washable kitchen cloths once the current j-cloths have been used
I like using paper towels (these probably have plastic in them too knowing my luck)
and once we run out of the current batch of plastic washing up brushes I will buy wooden handled ones.  I have source some online that only cost £1.25 so won't break the bank.  If I look hard enough maybe Wilcos have them in stock anyway.  We will see.

Bathroom
I have bought some bamboo toothbrushes.  I was sceptical that they would be any good as I prefer an electric toothbrush and since my mains one died I have been using the oral-b ones with a battery.  Do you know?  My teeth actually feel cleaner with the bamboo version although with muscle memory I find I can't stop cleaning until I have turned it off!  I am sure that will fade eventually.  The bristles are still plastic and you either snap the whole head off or pull the bristles out before disposing of the handle in the compost.

Toothpaste comes in a plastic tube - never really thought about that so I have bought some truthpaste (peppermint and wintergreen) which comes in a little jar like the miniature jam jars you get in hotels.  Works fine although I think it should come with a tiny wooden scoop / spoon.  You mustn't get it wet so poking your toothbrush in the jar is probably not a good idea.  Currently using a toothpick.

I have bought some dental floss - made of charcoal (don't ask me how this is possible!) which comes in a tiny glass dispenser you can then buy more floss to refill said dispenser.  This is actually better than the normal floss as it doesn't slip through your fingers.  Very pleased with this.

I bought a 5litre container of Castillian Soap a couple of months ago to reduce parabens blah blah which is the basis of most other soaps shampoos etc and am currently using it for washing my hair and hands, also in the washing machine.  My hair is squeaky clean.  I still have plenty of bars of soap to use up before I am solely on this but getting there.  I can then reuse the 5 litre container in the compost toilet on the boat!  Sweet.

On the boat I have plenty of the various shower gels etc received as christmas gifts over the years to get through before I can go completely plastic free in this area.  At least I wasn't the one doing the buying.

For when I go travelling I have bought some soap in a bar that is also a shampoo.  That will reduce the 100ml problem.  Not used this yet so can't comment.  I will make a little bag for it out of that plastic mesh you buy some vegetables / oranges in so that I am at least reusing the damn stuff and it doubles up as a scrub and you hang it up and the soap dries.  Win Win.

Teabags
We tried to dispense with bags but we drink so much tea that I am afraid we have slipped in this department.  We are not perfect!  This is not a Royal We there are two of us.  One of us is embracing this ethos more than the other!

Shopping
Loose vegetables and fruit where possible. 
Would prefer supermarkets to have paper bags by the loose rolls section and while I am quite happy for my carrots to be handled by checkout staff for some reason I am not keen on them handling my bread.  And no I do not wash the carrots when I get home so no real reason for this phobia!
Starting in October himself has promised to only buy meat from the butchers rather than the supermarket so we can take our own containers and reduce some of the plastic entering the house.  Less of a problem for me as I could easily be vegetarian, but I am not.
I have made a couple of shopping bags out of an old sheet.  Plenty of king sized sheet left to make more so each time the plastic long life shopping bags die we will not be swopping them in for replacement ones, just returning them to be recycled.  I jazzed up the shopping bags using scraps of more colourful material left over from dismantled shirts etc.

If we buy water in a bottle then we reuse it for as long as possible before finally putting it in the recycling.  I know there are problems with plastic water bottles but we very rarely have to do this, so the risk is fairly low.

So there it is.  Me trying to do my bit to reduce the amount of plastic that I potentially send to the oceans/landfill.

Don't get me wrong we have loads of plastic lidded containers etc that we will continue to use, the point being that we might still buy plastic but we want to reduce the stuff we throw away because we have no use for it. The unwanted packaging.

Lets see how this pans out.

Back dated news of my latest shenanigans

Well I did the Cavalcade in New Zealand and it was quite the best adventure I have had.  Loved it all despite:

Being thoroughly and completely traumatised on the first day by the sheer number and steepness of hills (up and down) that we did, the interesting and challenging terrain we covered, the 10 hours of riding, the breaking of the breast strap leading to the coming off the horse on the steepest of hills I have ever encountered at 8 hours in. Basically by the time we arrived at our first night stop it took two men to physically haul me off the horse (one to push from one side while the other caught me and propped me up against a hay bale.   One and a half hours later after lots of sweets and lemonade my legs and arms stopped fizzing and I was pronounced fit to continue.  I have never been so physically and mentally exhausted.

Day two was better but my legs still wouldn't work as the thigh muscles were still jumping around like a bag of frogs and my knees were shot from Day one.  Less in the way of hills but we had to travel in strict single file through the trees in the Bush by the side of the Clutha River.  Steep drops down into the grey swollen water and a narrow path I wouldn't want to have been walking on let along riding.  This day was highlighted by a wasps nest.  Luckily I was at the back of the group of 70 horses so our section took a detour and never met the wasps.  Other people were not so lucky, horses and folk covered in up to 30 stings each!  The other 'highlight' was me encountering a low branch fixed at both ends that concertina'ed my neck and body down until I slid backwards off the horse (breaking the reins in the process).  As my neck is already suffering from previous accidents as I was being pushed down I really thought "this was where my neck would finally break!"  Another 10 hour day.

Day three was the best, fabulous river crossings, rolling hills, sunshine, an appearance in the South Otago Newspaper.  Only 8 hours.

Day four to save my horses back I took this day off from riding and joined the back up crew in transporting everyones gear to the next night stop.  Great fun with a lovely bunch of people who support their wives/husbands/friends in being able to ride the cavalcade and have their accommodation, horse paraphernalia etc miraculously appear each night.  On this day I missed the excitement of one girl who fell backwards off a rearing horse, thoroughly breaking her arm etc that required a helicopter ride out.  But I did get to have a shower!

Day five we reach the sea, we don't need to have packed lunches as the catering crew meet us at the seaside and provide a wondrous feast.  What a change from soggy sandwiches and hard boiled eggs.  The sea mist never lifted so we missed the view of the lighthouse.  The farmer had especially cut a swathe we could ride on four abreast through the bush such that we would round a corner and be faced with the most magnificent view.  Nah we could barely see two horses in front!  And while we could hear the sea below us on the cliffs we couldn't see it.  Which I was quite pleased about as I could ignore the potential 'plummeting'.

Day six only a half day with more riding along the beaches.  An encounter with a sea lion that split the group in half.  The only way past him was achieved by one large group of folk going into the sea while the rest of us went into the dunes.  The sea lion couldn't make his mind up as to who to chase and as he darted left and right we slipped past in ones and twos.  A bit further on another sea lion scared a young horse and one of the wranglers came off backwards and was crushed.  He was unable to remount so we had to send a local back with a quad bike to bring him to the road for the ambulance.  Lunchtime we joined up with all the other trails (4 horse riding, a light wagon trail, a heavy wagon trail, two walking groups and a cycling group) and paraded through the host town.  Over a 1000 horses passing down the high street make a lot of mess!  The host town locals tie balloons outside their houses to indicate that here you can turn up and be provided with a towel and use of their showers.  BLISS.

I will definitely be doing the cavalcade again - but maybe with the light wagons as that will be less 'challenging'.

I only took photos when I felt it was 'safe' to do so.  Wish I had taken a go pro or similar and got photos/videos of the really gnarly bits.

See the slope to the right we went down that (and much steeper ones)

A brief clearing in the bush

We got our feet wet.  You can see how deep it got by looking at the riders at the front.

My little pony.  He was NOT AMUSED

Sea Lions before they decided they didn't like us!

Did I mention I was awarded the Awesome Sash on the Friday Night?

I got to wear it on the Parade!

Everyone else had been awarded it because they had a) been really helpful, b) been shoeing horses before and after doing the days ride, c) generally being amazing.

I was awarded it because I had come the furthest to be traumatised.  ;)  Plus they liked my poetry!

I have also completed the swimathon.  2.5km in 1 hour 26 minutes.

Swimming Outside the Box

Since I have been enjoying the 

Get Fit 

(for the Horse Riding Cavalcade in New Zealand)

Swimming 

what I have been doing recently, I have decided to take it up a notch.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/katherine-watts1

I may regret it but it feels good to have another goal to aim for.

As I might be doing some training swims in the River Great Ouse please do not run me over with your boat!

Feliz Natal

Have a good one everybody.  

I am hopefully cat sitting in London 

provided the keys are found still under the mat of the person entrusted to hand them to me by my son!

Thespians - who would have thought they couldn't organise a puiab.

hey ho the cat should be pleased to see us, small boy left on Tuesday and we get there 2pm today.  Poor thing.

Toodles and see you all in the New Year.

It is like riding a bicycle

You never forget how to do it.

Although I imagine when you are older riding a bicycle might get a little tricky as your balance could be affected.

I am hoping to do a very interesting ride in NZ early next year and having bought some riding tights (I know who knew such a thing existed) I thought I had better see if I could still do it.  I hoiked out my old riding boots and half chaps (discovered they need some stitching but they held together for today) but I wasn't able to use my 'new' hat.  They have changed the rules and you have to wear EU approved hats PAS015 if you are competing and in this case riding someone elses horse.  I was surprised that this hat didn't have that spec as I know the one I was wearing when I landed on my head back in 1997 was a PAS015 (see first entry on this blog for that story) as was the one I bought next.

I booked a two hour ride with Derbyshire-Trekking which is all off road and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  It was a mixture of places that I already knew plus some I didn't. Their immediate surroundings were just on the edge of where I could reach on a long ride from one of the places I used to keep my horse.  It rained the whole time but it was brilliant.  I wont be able to walk for the next couple of days but I am so pleased I have got back on a horse since selling mine 10 years ago (ignoring the bit of riding I did in the Canadian Rockies in 2013).

What I particularly liked about today was that I took my sister in law Ann with me in spirit in the form of her old riding/drover's coat.  It kept the rain off me and I hope she enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

RIP Ann.  We had a good day today didnt we chuck x

Les Biggs and his darling Jaq

May their love story continue to uplift us all despite the inconvenience of Les now being 'there' while Jaq and the rest of us are still 'here'. 

He will live on in all our hearts I am sure, and will be sadly missed.



I have written a final verse to Leonard Cohens 'Hallelujah'

(planning to sing it for everyone at my own funeral party but I think Les can have first crack at it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q

I want to thank you all for being here
Supporting those that I hold dear
While I pass on to those who went before me
It's been a blast, but it couldn't last
Life is short and it sure went fast
But now is the time for the long good-bye
Arrivederci
Adios
Toodleloo
Good-bye

 http://boatlife.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/death-is-hard-work.html

So this is my small tribute to a lovely man, that I barely knew in real life but from following his blog since 2007, and then Jaq's blog 'So this is Love' I have felt a part of their life. They have certainly enriched mine.

xxx

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope you all have a splendid holiday season, that all your fires are warm and your drinks cold.

Unless of course you prefer a hot toddy.  or indeed a mulled wine.

ok rephrase

that all your fires are warm and your drinks are exactly as you wanted them to be.

😳