Water - a tip and a challenge

Boating makes you very aware of water usage. Most boats these days have reasonable supplies of water but the tanks have to be filled regularly. Last week in Turkey, we were moored at a location which had a water supply most nights - so it was showers all round! For at least two nights we anchored in the bays, so no water, and at Dirsic, they had no water supply - only a well. The had no electricity, either: the generator came on at about 6:30. There was no road access, either, so everything they used in the restaurant was delivered by boat. We watched them preparing Village Bread the evening we were there: first a fire was lit in the oven using brushwood collected from around the area. The oven was on the quayside - no chimney, just a stone structure with a wooden door. When the oven was hot enough, the ashes were raked out and the dough pushed in on a wooden paddle. We sampled the result at breakfast the following morning - great!

But back to water: when we returned home we found that the supply pipe to our house had burst - under the track next to the house. Our meter is 100 yards from the house and the supply pipe goes under an adjacent field - not our property. But in spite of this anomaly, Thames Water wouldn't re-site the meter on our property. So we've been effectively without water for a week or so (we turn it on once or twice a day to fill the header tank and the bottles we use for drinking.) And that's the tip: do you buy bottled water? Try this: save two or three mineral water bottles, rinse them out and fill them with tap water. Leave a space at the top and pop into the fridge. The chlorine will evaporate leaving the water tasting better than the bottled variety - and cleaner, too; have you read the bacterial analysis of some bottled water? Give it a try!

Three weeks of water shortage has made me much more aware of the value of water on tap. According to Water Aid's web site, 884 million people around the world don't have access to safe water. So here's the challenge: fill a few bottles so that you have something to drink and make tea and coffee, then turn off the stop cock for a few hours. Make sure you boiler is safe and be careful not to completely empty your cold tank. See how often you turn on the cold tap in the kitchen. See how long you can manage - then make a donation to Water Aid!

Turkey

First pictures of our trip to Turkey

New road signs - and bluebells

The council has erected some wonderful new road signs near us at Little Hampden. They have a traditional look, but appear to be made with modern materials. They are much more sensitive than the coarse ones seen elsewhere; these need to be clear, of course. And wow! Butler's Cross has an apostrophe!

The bluebells are as spectacular as ever. If you get a chance, come over and look at them.

One battery

The battery in my bedside clock gave up a few days ago. I thought I'd only be able to buy a pack of two: the second would probably have died by the time the first one had. However, I was lucky: I saw on the battery rack in the newsagents a packet with one battery removed. It transpires that Janet from the florist next door had had a similar problem and had negotiated to take one battery (she had paid for both) but have the money if someone wanted the other. So I took the £1.50 into Janet and we're both happy.

Now, where do I dispose of the old one...

National Memorial Arboretum

On the day of the memorial service to the 179 British service people who lost their lives in Iraq, it's appropriate to talk about our visit last week to the National Memorial Arboretum. The Arboretum is a 150 acre site in the National Forest between Burton and Lichfield. It commemorates

• those who have given their lives in the service of their country,
• all who have served and those who have suffered as a result of conflict,
• others who for specific or appropriate reasons are commemorated on the site.
  

The 50,000 trees around the site are planted in varying patterns as memorial to a whole range of organisations and individuals. There is an avenue of chestnuts funded by all the police forces in the UK. Included are trees grown from conkers collected at Drayton Manor, home of Sir Robert Peel. There are memorials to regiments, to campaigns and to prisoners of war.

On a mound in the centre is the Armed Forces Memorial, a stone circle engraved with the names of all the members of the forces who have given their lives since World War 2. The Memorial has slits in two of the walls. These are aligned so that a shaft of sunlight will fall on the central wreath sculpture at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.



Two things were particularly moving: firstly, the blank walls waiting for names. The second was finding the name of David Tinker, brother of a neighbour, who was killed on the last day of the Falklands War. His father published a book of David's poems and letters from the Falklands; Mark has given me a copy.

Saturday - the bed...

Children have a habit of organising: daughter had been offered a bed that son might find useful for grandson. So we drove from Tring to Leicester with tailgate ajar. On arrival we discovered that, although the house is modern, the staircase is restricted - so nogo. After an evening with the bed standing in the hall we decided that the window was the answer. So following a trip to the nearest garden centre to buy some strong black plastic to stop the bed being torn on the roof tiles, we started the project. Some careful measurement was necessary but once we were going everything went very well as the pictures show.

Wednesday 22 April

Just back from a short visit to Lichfield with some friends. Here are the first pictures. More to follow.

Click to see bigger versions

Sunday 19 April - Spring and really green?

Spring has arrived again at Little Hampden - the bluebells are coming out. Click on the slideshow to see bigger versions.

Food miles The Big Issue I bought last week had an interesting article on research done by the organic food company Riverford. Much of the data is counter-intuitive: for example bringing tomatoes from Spain or Italy at this time of year generates significantly less CO2 than using home-grown or northern-European ones which require heat to develop. Riverford has also gone back to using non-degradable plastic bags - mainly because they expect their customers to send them back so they can be reused many times. The arguments for these and their other green innovations can be found by clicking on the 'How green are we?' link on the Riverford web site http://www.riverford.co.uk/. It all makes interesting reading and challenges some of the simplistic green arguments.

Thursday 16 April

In the continuing spirit of Lent, I bought a copy of The Big Issue today in Chesham. Only a small action - but '... change the world for good a little bit every day.'

I hear that Tate Britain is to mount a William Blake exhibition showing many of the paintings he showed in a one man show in 1809. The latter was a flop, getting only a single press review and that was very negative: "a farrago of nonsense, unintelligibleness, and egregious vanity, the wild effusions of a distempered brain." The Tate is bringing together again many of the original 16 paintings - now worth millions.

We also bought a great bottle of Santorini wine - do rush down to Waitrose and try it. It was reduced to about £7 so not exactly a bargain. Santorini is fascinating: we have sailed into the caldera twice. The edge of the crater is 300M high and the island in the centre is still active. But the wine is great!

Wednesday 15 April - reflections

Looking back over Lent and the Love Life Live Lent book with its actions, I have mixed feelings. It was certainly more varied and thoughtful than simply giving up chocolate or wine and it kept the Lent story in my mind. Some of the suggestions were fairly easy, others challenging but very satisfying when I did complete them. Some were inappropriate or just impractical - buying a coffee and giving it to someone on the way to work is not easy with my lifestyle and in Little Hampden! Others I just ducked - these left me uneasy as if I had sneaked a piece of chocolate.

The introduction to the LLLL book by the archbishops says "... with God's help we can change the world for good a little bit every day. Each of us can be the change we want to see in the world." So we need to continue - "Change is for life, not just for Lent" perhaps. I'll try to continue, quoting the LLLL icons when I do achieve something. And I'll accept reasonable challenges in the spirit of the book - so get commenting.

Where now?

I'm going to continue blogging, not every day (see below) and broaden again to cover lots of activities including, but not limited to

• a whole range of Churchwarden activities: there are some mundane ones related to the fabric and some more important ones such as changes to the service structure at Little Hampden to encourage new members without alienating the existing ones.
  
  
• green activities: I mentioned the book I was given some time ago: I'll challenge the members of the Church Environment Group to try some of its suggestions - and, I hope, come up with some of their own.
  
  
• slowing down: I've bought but not yet started Stephen Cottrell's "Do Nothing to Change Your Life" I tried letting go a week or so ago and this didn't work very well - I now have 362 e-mails in my inbox. I think this is one reason why I won't blog every day - but who knows? There was an article in the paper yesterday "Slow Down London gives city time to relax" and there's a web site http://slowdownlondon.co.uk/.
  

Easter Day

Celebrate Easter. Alleluia! I certainly did today, starting at 6am (but no sunrise) and through to choral evensong this evening.

What next?

Saturday 11 April

I polished Brenda’s shoes this afternoon.

I wondered why this is a suggested action this week - is it the modern equivalent of the washing of the feet?

Good Friday

Stations of the Cross

This afternoon’s ‘Stations of the Cross’ meditation was wonderful. A thoughtful, peaceful evocation supported by pictures of the stations. A good end to Holy week.

I’ve put a link to Chris Gollon’s pictures used in this afternoon’s Good Friday meditation in Today’s Picture on the right.

Thursday 9 April

Participating in the Passover and particularly taking communion this evening were particularly meaningful and moving after the readings of the week and seeing last night’s film.