Ever been guilty of doing this? It's usually because you have something you are so desperate to share with another person that you just cant keep it to yourself any longer - but you dont actually want it advertising in the national press at this stage.
So it's generally revealed to a close friend. Or at the very least, someone who is totally unconnected in any way, shape, or form to the "news" you are about to deliver.
And woops!!! I did it on Friday.
And double woops!!! It got repeated to someone else with the same caveat attached "Shhhh - dont tell anyone but Jaki just told me that she.............."
Bugger bugger bugger.
Thankfully it's not really about anyone else - it's about me. Well, no, it's sort of about someone else too, but probably not in the way you may think.
Sh*t -Im being too cryptic.
Anyway, needless to say this bit of "gossip" will probably be round the office by Wednesday at the latest. And Im wondering what is the best way to deal with the potential fall-out. And by fall-out I mean repercussions.
They wouldn't be horrendous - as it wasnt bitching or anything. Just that I may end up with a slightly red face and have now got to decide whether to brazen it out, or deny deny deny.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !
If the person concerned hears this little snippet.......well things could go one of two ways.
I could be writing a blog next week with me dancing around like an idiot and very very happy.
Or I could be curled up al la Bridget Jones drinking vodka and listening to Chaka Khan.
I will keep the world posted. That is, if anyone has even got the remotest idea what Im wittering on about, and would have a clue whether they were following me or not.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
I saw the deer. I saw the deer !!!!!!!
Well, actually it isnt the first time that Ive SEEN them - but usually they are just grey blurs and the flash of a white tail as they vanish into the forest.
But every night this week, on our evening walk up to the moors, we have seen one or two on the top track - just before Murphy spots them and then tears off after them into the undergrowth.
Last night, we went right up into the forest - we normally only skirt round the edges, as me being as accident prone as I am, I didnt fancy falling over a log or something and ending up dying of hyperthermia before anyone found me, so we generally stick close to the main tracks within "shouting for help" distance.
But I was feeling a bit adventerous, so myself Murf and Lorrie took off on a mammoth treck. The views from the loggers clearing are spectacular (another reason why I need to buy myself a decent camera), and I didnt realise exactly how high up we'd actually gone until I stopped to look and spotted the village down in the valley.
The dogs were having a grand old time, sniffing everything and running like lunatics in and out of the trees. So we went deeper in, where the trees are so close together that the light is very dim, and the only sounds were the creaking of the pine trees in the wind - which was a bit eerie.
And then I saw them - a little herd of deer bounding through the trees about 50 yards in front of us, heading down the hill towards the tracks and the woods nearer to the village. There were about 10 of them, and it proved a little too much for himself, so he went peeling after them and finally came back panting and wagging his little docked tail, feeling very pleased with himself.
We did another hour through the forest and then rejoined the track and started heading for home as the light was almost gone and I admit Im a bit of a scaredy cat in the dark on the moors (I never did get over watching American Werewolf In London) :-)
And as we rounded the bend near the ruins....... there was a small group of Does in a little clearing. Murf spotted them but my very firm "STAY" made him stand still for a few seconds whilst I got out my phone and snapped the following photo. Now forgive the very very poor quality as it's not the greatest in the world, but if you look in the centre of the fuzzy image, you can see the 5 Does...... just before the temptation became too much and Murphy went after them and chased them back into the forest again
But every night this week, on our evening walk up to the moors, we have seen one or two on the top track - just before Murphy spots them and then tears off after them into the undergrowth.
Last night, we went right up into the forest - we normally only skirt round the edges, as me being as accident prone as I am, I didnt fancy falling over a log or something and ending up dying of hyperthermia before anyone found me, so we generally stick close to the main tracks within "shouting for help" distance.
But I was feeling a bit adventerous, so myself Murf and Lorrie took off on a mammoth treck. The views from the loggers clearing are spectacular (another reason why I need to buy myself a decent camera), and I didnt realise exactly how high up we'd actually gone until I stopped to look and spotted the village down in the valley.
The dogs were having a grand old time, sniffing everything and running like lunatics in and out of the trees. So we went deeper in, where the trees are so close together that the light is very dim, and the only sounds were the creaking of the pine trees in the wind - which was a bit eerie.
And then I saw them - a little herd of deer bounding through the trees about 50 yards in front of us, heading down the hill towards the tracks and the woods nearer to the village. There were about 10 of them, and it proved a little too much for himself, so he went peeling after them and finally came back panting and wagging his little docked tail, feeling very pleased with himself.
We did another hour through the forest and then rejoined the track and started heading for home as the light was almost gone and I admit Im a bit of a scaredy cat in the dark on the moors (I never did get over watching American Werewolf In London) :-)
And as we rounded the bend near the ruins....... there was a small group of Does in a little clearing. Murf spotted them but my very firm "STAY" made him stand still for a few seconds whilst I got out my phone and snapped the following photo. Now forgive the very very poor quality as it's not the greatest in the world, but if you look in the centre of the fuzzy image, you can see the 5 Does...... just before the temptation became too much and Murphy went after them and chased them back into the forest again
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Top o' the morning to you !!! Happy St Paddy's Day
Here's to everyone out there with a smidgin' of the Oirish in 'em and everyone else who will be making SURE that they do today/tonight by downing a grand old helping of "The Black Stuff".
I, myself, am sitting here typing with a nice glass of Guinness "off the shelf" as I remember my Grandad always saying it tasted better than a cold one. I have to agree.
And I am also going to be enjoying an evening of "Father Ted". That show makes me laugh until my sides are hurting and the tears are rolling.
Most people in the UK know all about Father Ted - but just incase you dont......
Father Ted lives on Craggy Island (a cruddy little place off the coast of Southern Ireland) with Father Dougal (a bit like the village idiot in a cassock) and Father Jack (retired alcoholic priest who is wheelchair bound and who has a fear of nuns and swears a lot). They are looked after by Mrs Doyle the housekeeper who is obsessive compulsive about overfeeding everyone (a very Irish trait) and insisting everyone has "a nice cup of tea".
Some of my favourite quotes are:
And if you haven't ever watched it and can cope with the madness, please have a look at the episodes on You Tube and see what you think.
And as it is St Patricks day, and the Irish are so very very funny - I am going to leave you with probably one of the funniest signs I have EVER seen.... and this is actually a genuine photo ...........
I, myself, am sitting here typing with a nice glass of Guinness "off the shelf" as I remember my Grandad always saying it tasted better than a cold one. I have to agree.
And I am also going to be enjoying an evening of "Father Ted". That show makes me laugh until my sides are hurting and the tears are rolling.
Most people in the UK know all about Father Ted - but just incase you dont......
Father Ted lives on Craggy Island (a cruddy little place off the coast of Southern Ireland) with Father Dougal (a bit like the village idiot in a cassock) and Father Jack (retired alcoholic priest who is wheelchair bound and who has a fear of nuns and swears a lot). They are looked after by Mrs Doyle the housekeeper who is obsessive compulsive about overfeeding everyone (a very Irish trait) and insisting everyone has "a nice cup of tea".
Some of my favourite quotes are:
Dougal: God, I've heard about those cults Ted. People dressing up in black and saying Our Lord's going to come back and save us all.
Ted: No, Dougal, that's us. That's Catholicism.
Dougal: Oh right.
Mrs Doyle: Now what would you say to a nice cup of tea father?
Father Jack: "FECK OFF CUP"
And if you haven't ever watched it and can cope with the madness, please have a look at the episodes on You Tube and see what you think.
And as it is St Patricks day, and the Irish are so very very funny - I am going to leave you with probably one of the funniest signs I have EVER seen.... and this is actually a genuine photo ...........
A picture of an Irish Scarecrow
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Hahahahahaha
I can see me getting blacklisted in this village. And all it takes is one like minded individual to lead me astray.
Let me explain.........
What I like about this place is that although it's a very small and tightly knit community, it's also the sort of place where people actually do care about their neighbours without being "in your face" which is something I love.
My last home, well there was always someone knocking on the door to complain, have a whinge or pester me for something (it was a farm and we had 20 plus horses on there at livery) and the horse owners never really bothered to think (or care) about the fact that I worked a full week at my "day" job and wasnt actually there at their beck and call for minor whinges at 10pm on a week night when I was up at 5am the next morning. So this place is like a breath of fresh air.
This was brought home to me yesterday when Zoe (who lives a few doors up) came and knocked on my door as she was a bit worried that my car had been parked outside for 2 days and she hadnt seen me out and about. As it happens, I've got a bad back (an old riding injury which crops up every few years) and have been in agony with sciatica for a week and have been working at home since Wednesday rather than endure the trauma of being shaken all over the place driving my Land Rover to work every morning.
So I invited her in, and she was very sympathetic when she saw me hobbling around like a very very old lady. And I thanked her sincerely for being worried enough to check I was ok.
We sat down for a cup of tea and a natter, and I mentioned that a note had been posted through my door by another neighbour further up the road, inviting me to join the village "Womens Group".
This ended up with Zoe shrieking "How old do they think you are? 70?" before rolling about on the sofa almost crying with laughter when I handed her the flyer to read.
When I had first been verbally invited, it was made to sound like a rather fun thing to do "It's not like an old womens group" I was told "We can just all get together and have a laugh up at the cricket club when our husbands/boyfriends are out doing whatever THEY do - a bit like Loose Women on ITV - and we can chat and discuss things in a lighthearted and fun way" ......... so I actually thought that would be a good and informal way for me to get to know those people I haven't already met, whilst obviously enjoying a few beers and letting my hair down.
WRONG!!!!!
Zoe (between howls of laughter) started to read out the agendas for the weekly meetings. It's sadly a sort of a cross between the W.I. and something from a Nursing Home.
"Chair Aerobics????" she screamed.
"Well that might be handy for me at the minute" I laughed.
I admit her hysteria set me off and I ended up wheezing for breath inbetween clutching my back and telling her to stop before I slipped a disc.
She is very much like me - we have a similar sense of humour (bawdy at it's mildest) and both live on our own (her excuse being "I am NOT having that slob - her boyfriend of 10 years - living with me, I like my sanity too much")
When she got to the agenda for 7th April "Desert Island Essentials - what can you not live without" this then started a WHOLE list of things from Zoe that would most definately not be fit for the ears of what I suspect are going to be ladies in the 60 plus age bracket.
And it turns out that Zoe didnt get an invitation to join - probably, as she said, because all the women on the "committee" are nosy old busybodies who just invite "incomers" so that they can find out all about them and then tell everyone else next time they're in the post office. It also appears that Jean, who lives next door but one to me, hasn't been invited either.
We then decided that we would be far better off setting up our own village group for the "outcasts" such as herself, me, Jean, Chris, Glynis and the ladies from the Tea Shop who like nothing better than a bottle of vodka and a pizza and a good old laugh.
I spoke to Jean last night when I was out taking my dogs for a hobble and she was giggling about Zoe and her Desert Island essentials. I should give you a clue about the way Zoe's mind works when I tell you that for the meeting on 24 March, the theme is "Book Review - bring along a book you love or loath to discuss" and Zoe (between choking laughter) said she would give them all something to gossip about by taking along a copy of The Karma Sutra and watching all the slack jaws hit several pairs of support-hose-clad knees hehehehehe
I think this village is going to be a very fun place to live indeed :-)
Let me explain.........
What I like about this place is that although it's a very small and tightly knit community, it's also the sort of place where people actually do care about their neighbours without being "in your face" which is something I love.
My last home, well there was always someone knocking on the door to complain, have a whinge or pester me for something (it was a farm and we had 20 plus horses on there at livery) and the horse owners never really bothered to think (or care) about the fact that I worked a full week at my "day" job and wasnt actually there at their beck and call for minor whinges at 10pm on a week night when I was up at 5am the next morning. So this place is like a breath of fresh air.
This was brought home to me yesterday when Zoe (who lives a few doors up) came and knocked on my door as she was a bit worried that my car had been parked outside for 2 days and she hadnt seen me out and about. As it happens, I've got a bad back (an old riding injury which crops up every few years) and have been in agony with sciatica for a week and have been working at home since Wednesday rather than endure the trauma of being shaken all over the place driving my Land Rover to work every morning.
So I invited her in, and she was very sympathetic when she saw me hobbling around like a very very old lady. And I thanked her sincerely for being worried enough to check I was ok.
We sat down for a cup of tea and a natter, and I mentioned that a note had been posted through my door by another neighbour further up the road, inviting me to join the village "Womens Group".
This ended up with Zoe shrieking "How old do they think you are? 70?" before rolling about on the sofa almost crying with laughter when I handed her the flyer to read.
When I had first been verbally invited, it was made to sound like a rather fun thing to do "It's not like an old womens group" I was told "We can just all get together and have a laugh up at the cricket club when our husbands/boyfriends are out doing whatever THEY do - a bit like Loose Women on ITV - and we can chat and discuss things in a lighthearted and fun way" ......... so I actually thought that would be a good and informal way for me to get to know those people I haven't already met, whilst obviously enjoying a few beers and letting my hair down.
WRONG!!!!!
Zoe (between howls of laughter) started to read out the agendas for the weekly meetings. It's sadly a sort of a cross between the W.I. and something from a Nursing Home.
"Chair Aerobics????" she screamed.
"Well that might be handy for me at the minute" I laughed.
I admit her hysteria set me off and I ended up wheezing for breath inbetween clutching my back and telling her to stop before I slipped a disc.
She is very much like me - we have a similar sense of humour (bawdy at it's mildest) and both live on our own (her excuse being "I am NOT having that slob - her boyfriend of 10 years - living with me, I like my sanity too much")
When she got to the agenda for 7th April "Desert Island Essentials - what can you not live without" this then started a WHOLE list of things from Zoe that would most definately not be fit for the ears of what I suspect are going to be ladies in the 60 plus age bracket.
And it turns out that Zoe didnt get an invitation to join - probably, as she said, because all the women on the "committee" are nosy old busybodies who just invite "incomers" so that they can find out all about them and then tell everyone else next time they're in the post office. It also appears that Jean, who lives next door but one to me, hasn't been invited either.
We then decided that we would be far better off setting up our own village group for the "outcasts" such as herself, me, Jean, Chris, Glynis and the ladies from the Tea Shop who like nothing better than a bottle of vodka and a pizza and a good old laugh.
I spoke to Jean last night when I was out taking my dogs for a hobble and she was giggling about Zoe and her Desert Island essentials. I should give you a clue about the way Zoe's mind works when I tell you that for the meeting on 24 March, the theme is "Book Review - bring along a book you love or loath to discuss" and Zoe (between choking laughter) said she would give them all something to gossip about by taking along a copy of The Karma Sutra and watching all the slack jaws hit several pairs of support-hose-clad knees hehehehehe
I think this village is going to be a very fun place to live indeed :-)
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
At last.........
Due to my work committments, Ive not had a great deal of time to get online. And have also had a few "settling in" problems with Lorrie - ie. very upset tummy (her not me) and then discovered her and Murphy doing something they shouldnt be doing - ie. she had come into season (turns out - BIG SHOCK - she wasnt spayed as she was a show dog and the vet thinks that the upset of moving and everything else probably brought it on) and he hasn't been "done" so you can imagine the fun Ive had trying to stop them. He managed to "do the dirty deed" once (I was eating my dinner at the time and wondered what the pair of them were up to behind the sofa) at which point I shrieked and pulled him off - and then they were kept apart until she came out of season.
Now Im on the horns of a dilemma. They cant spay her until at least 4 weeks from the end of her season - and the vet has said that if she is carrying puppies then he would just "get rid of them" at the same time. And this one is keeping me awake at night as Im obviously looking at it that Murphy has scored a goal. Ive argued with myself, Im trying to be objective - but I don't know if I can do that to her.
Im a responsible dog owner and feel now that Ive been really irresponsible for not realising. My last bitch was spayed at 12 months old as I didnt want any unplanned puppies - there are enough dogs in the world that need homes. Murphy has never been castrated as (a) he has a bad reaction to anaesthetic and I was terrified he might die if I had him knocked out again (b) he has never been any trouble with straying or leg humping or fighting and has never been allowed to just run amok and be around unspayed bitched - plus he is actually very obedient and will come away if commanded (c) he's actually fathered planned litters before as he is well known in this area as a gun dog and his puppies are doing really well at field trials and working.
If Id realised what was going on (she showed no signs) Id have separated them right away. It was only the once - but once is enough as the saying goes.
So as you can imagine - Im in a real quandry.
Anyway - that aside - Lorrie is fantastic. The most placid collie Ive ever come across. And she follows me round like she has been here all her life. She loves the forest and the moors, and ignores the chickens at the farm (much to Murphys disgust). She is a real worker though, and the horses got a shock last night as it was the first time Ive introduced her to them and wasnt sure how she would react. She brought them in from the fields with me and was herding them into the stables (lucky for her they dont kick as she gave them both a bit of heel work when they went a bit too slowly for her liking hehe).
Lorrie
She is overweight (I suppose thats to be expected for a dog that has had virtually no exercise for a year) but Ive already noticed a distinct difference in her weight over the last week and a half as she is being walked 3 times a day and doing at least 10 miles of running - she is also on one meal a day (same as Murphy) and having no treats (apart from a huge leg bone that she can chew on).
Lorrie unconscious after her evening walk.All in all I have found the perfect dog, and Murphy is totally in love with her. She is a bit of a bossy boots and pushes him around - but not in a nasty way - and more fool him, he lets her do it. And for the first time in almost 5 months, Im not worrying about my boy when I have to leave him, as yesterday I got home from work and the two of them were curled up together fast asleep...........on my bed (she knows how to open doors tee hee)
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Some photos of where I live
Im not the best photographer in the world (as you will be able to tell from the photos) but I thought that I should upload all the pics from my phone to make room for all of the pics Im going to take of Lorrie tomorrow :-)
These were all taken yesterday and today (19 and 20 February 2010 after yet another snowfall).
This was across the road from my house at 7.30am when Murf and I were going for our morning walk.
This is where I keep my horses.
Crazy Mazie in the field wondering what the hell I was doing sitting on the wall.
This is from the field behind my house - you can just see Anglezarke Moor in the centre of the photo appearing above the trees.
Murf just watering some grass on our way to the forest.
Forest on our right, with the moor above and this watercourse is The Goit. This is our favourite evening walk.
This is Drakeshead Mere which is to the left of the previous photo.
These are my girls at sunrise (about 6.45am) and very inimpressed at having been taken out of their warm stables.
This is from the farm looking back towards Roddlesworth Moor at sunrise.
And this one is the view from the front door of my cottage up onto Anglezarke.
These were all taken yesterday and today (19 and 20 February 2010 after yet another snowfall).
This was across the road from my house at 7.30am when Murf and I were going for our morning walk.
This is where I keep my horses.
Crazy Mazie in the field wondering what the hell I was doing sitting on the wall.
This is from the field behind my house - you can just see Anglezarke Moor in the centre of the photo appearing above the trees.
Murf just watering some grass on our way to the forest.
Forest on our right, with the moor above and this watercourse is The Goit. This is our favourite evening walk.
This is Drakeshead Mere which is to the left of the previous photo.
These are my girls at sunrise (about 6.45am) and very inimpressed at having been taken out of their warm stables.
This is from the farm looking back towards Roddlesworth Moor at sunrise.
And this one is the view from the front door of my cottage up onto Anglezarke.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Being green
Well I cant really be employed by The Environment Agency and not actually try to live in a green and sustainable way, can I?
So although I dont want to bore anyone to death and come across like a loony lefty green tree hugging sandal wearing preacher of all things environmentally friendly - I thought that I would give people a few tips that I use, having spent more than a decade trying to change my lifestyle.
Some of these things, well I suppose most people do (or try to do), but one or two things Ive picked up along the way you may NOT do so here you go.
These are some of the things I do
Use energy saving bulbs in all of your light fittings (even your table lamps).
Switch electrical appliances off at the wall - dont leave them on standby.
I joined the MPS (mail preference service) which is a free service that removes your details from UK mailing lists and therefore reduces the amount of junk mail you receive - check out their website for more information
Only fill your kettle with enough water for what you need - dont fill it up to the top if you're only making one cup of coffee or tea - a quarter of all energy used in households goes on boiling kettles.
Get a Hippo for your cistern (or a brick) and drop it in. This will reduce the amount of water used with each flush. And I heard a very funny (and handy) phrase when I watched the film "Meet the Fockers".... Dustin Hoffman proudly announced his tip for saving water when you flush... "If it's yellow, let it mellow. But if it's brown - flush it down" hahaha
Dont leave the tap running when you brush your teeth.
If you have a bath leave the water in rather than letting it run away. This will help to heat your home (believe it or not) and then when the water is cold, use it to flush your loo by filling a bucket and pouring it down the toilet instead of using the flush (this is especially great if you are on a water meter - you really will notice the difference).
If you have the option of switching over to green energy then go for it - here is their website - please check it out.
Buy locally produced fruit, veg and meat - check where it's come from and know what is in season locally. By refusing to purchase these items that have come from overseas, not only are you helping local farmers/the local economy, you are also reducing the "food miles" and helping the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. Better still, try growing your own where possible. I grew chilis, peppers and garlic on my window ledges, and am going to make a little herb garden this year in my tiny yard.
Staying on the gardening theme - get a wormery. My worms sadly died over the horrible winter, but I will start my wormery off again in the spring. Most food waste can be put into the wormery, the worms eat it, it comes out the other end of the worm (Im being polite here so use your imagination), and you are left with a fantastically rich home made fertiliser/plant food. Perfect for your home grown fruit and veg.
Do you really need to drive? Walk or cycle if you can. Use public transport if it's practical for you rather than taking your car into town.
Im currently being a guinnea pig for a work mate who is making his own bio diesel out of used cooking oil from his local chip shops. And so far it is working a treat. Ive just put 25 litres into my old landrover and although every time I put the heating on, I feel really hungry as it smells of fish and chips (always a down side haha) it works out at a cost of around 10p a litre - which is a HUGE difference from 112p a litre for diesel.
Think about having a green roof if you have a decent roof to utilise.
Use rain butts to catch rainwater (something we definately arent short of in the UK at this time of year). I use it for washing the car, washing the dog, watering plants, and have set up a drinking system at the stables for my horses so that I have a secondary water supply when the butts are full to reduce the usage from the main water pipes.
Do you have a real fire? And do you know anyone with sheep or horses? I used to make my own fire bricks by compressing and then drying out their poo in a paper press I bought for making fire bricks out of used paper. And it actually doesnt smell as you would think it should. Saves buying coal or logs and it gives out a great heat (and its FREE).
Shop at charity shops - no better way to recycle and as we all know, everything comes back in fashion sooner or later.
Addicted to using air fresheners? Buy an essentail oil (scent of your choice - but I love lavender), pour it on a cloth and wipe your radiators with it. The scent as they start to warm up is beautiful. Also another tip is to re-use the fabric conditioner cloths that you can put in with your laundry. Roll them up and put them down the back of the radiators too once you've used them - dont just throw them away. You'll be surprised how nice they smell.
Try to reduce what you send to landfill. Buy items with a reduced amount of packaging. Recycle wherever possible - most local councils now have green waste schemes and promote recycling of paper/plastics/glass/cardboard. I only fill one black bin bag (refuse sack) every 5 or 6 weeks with things that I cannot recycle. Not bad going considering my single neigbour easily fills two per week (Im slowly trying to convince her to try my methods).
I know that there are loads more things that I do, but I also dont want to make anyone yawn - if you want some more tips to not only help save the planet but help you to save money, just give me a shout.
So although I dont want to bore anyone to death and come across like a loony lefty green tree hugging sandal wearing preacher of all things environmentally friendly - I thought that I would give people a few tips that I use, having spent more than a decade trying to change my lifestyle.
Some of these things, well I suppose most people do (or try to do), but one or two things Ive picked up along the way you may NOT do so here you go.
These are some of the things I do
Use energy saving bulbs in all of your light fittings (even your table lamps).
Switch electrical appliances off at the wall - dont leave them on standby.
I joined the MPS (mail preference service) which is a free service that removes your details from UK mailing lists and therefore reduces the amount of junk mail you receive - check out their website for more information
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/
Only fill your kettle with enough water for what you need - dont fill it up to the top if you're only making one cup of coffee or tea - a quarter of all energy used in households goes on boiling kettles.
Get a Hippo for your cistern (or a brick) and drop it in. This will reduce the amount of water used with each flush. And I heard a very funny (and handy) phrase when I watched the film "Meet the Fockers".... Dustin Hoffman proudly announced his tip for saving water when you flush... "If it's yellow, let it mellow. But if it's brown - flush it down" hahaha
Dont leave the tap running when you brush your teeth.
If you have a bath leave the water in rather than letting it run away. This will help to heat your home (believe it or not) and then when the water is cold, use it to flush your loo by filling a bucket and pouring it down the toilet instead of using the flush (this is especially great if you are on a water meter - you really will notice the difference).
If you have the option of switching over to green energy then go for it - here is their website - please check it out.
http://www.greenelectricity.org/index.php
Buy locally produced fruit, veg and meat - check where it's come from and know what is in season locally. By refusing to purchase these items that have come from overseas, not only are you helping local farmers/the local economy, you are also reducing the "food miles" and helping the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. Better still, try growing your own where possible. I grew chilis, peppers and garlic on my window ledges, and am going to make a little herb garden this year in my tiny yard.
Staying on the gardening theme - get a wormery. My worms sadly died over the horrible winter, but I will start my wormery off again in the spring. Most food waste can be put into the wormery, the worms eat it, it comes out the other end of the worm (Im being polite here so use your imagination), and you are left with a fantastically rich home made fertiliser/plant food. Perfect for your home grown fruit and veg.
Do you really need to drive? Walk or cycle if you can. Use public transport if it's practical for you rather than taking your car into town.
Im currently being a guinnea pig for a work mate who is making his own bio diesel out of used cooking oil from his local chip shops. And so far it is working a treat. Ive just put 25 litres into my old landrover and although every time I put the heating on, I feel really hungry as it smells of fish and chips (always a down side haha) it works out at a cost of around 10p a litre - which is a HUGE difference from 112p a litre for diesel.
Think about having a green roof if you have a decent roof to utilise.
Use rain butts to catch rainwater (something we definately arent short of in the UK at this time of year). I use it for washing the car, washing the dog, watering plants, and have set up a drinking system at the stables for my horses so that I have a secondary water supply when the butts are full to reduce the usage from the main water pipes.
Do you have a real fire? And do you know anyone with sheep or horses? I used to make my own fire bricks by compressing and then drying out their poo in a paper press I bought for making fire bricks out of used paper. And it actually doesnt smell as you would think it should. Saves buying coal or logs and it gives out a great heat (and its FREE).
Shop at charity shops - no better way to recycle and as we all know, everything comes back in fashion sooner or later.
Addicted to using air fresheners? Buy an essentail oil (scent of your choice - but I love lavender), pour it on a cloth and wipe your radiators with it. The scent as they start to warm up is beautiful. Also another tip is to re-use the fabric conditioner cloths that you can put in with your laundry. Roll them up and put them down the back of the radiators too once you've used them - dont just throw them away. You'll be surprised how nice they smell.
Try to reduce what you send to landfill. Buy items with a reduced amount of packaging. Recycle wherever possible - most local councils now have green waste schemes and promote recycling of paper/plastics/glass/cardboard. I only fill one black bin bag (refuse sack) every 5 or 6 weeks with things that I cannot recycle. Not bad going considering my single neigbour easily fills two per week (Im slowly trying to convince her to try my methods).
I know that there are loads more things that I do, but I also dont want to make anyone yawn - if you want some more tips to not only help save the planet but help you to save money, just give me a shout.
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