Tag Archives: carbon footprint

Marx, Opium and a Senior Moment

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Refillable Pilot V7 – another of my doomed attempts to profit from product placement

Yesterday I missed posting and had to do it in the early hours of the morning. It had, as the post reveals, been a vexing day. When I tried to link to the post I found I had managed not to post it, and although it was on my list when I checked the posts, it was still a draft. I have just posted. A senior moment, and today looks like it may be a vexatious day too.

I mentioned Bargain Hunt yesterday, then realised there may be people who don’t know what its true place in society is. It basically fills the place that religion used to hold for many of us in the UK, and the political space that Marx claimed for religion – being the opiate of the people (or opium of the masses or whatever translation you prefer). Well, it is for those of us who are retired.

Pilot V7 – I wonder if a box of free pens is heading my way? You do hear stories . . .

There have been some heated discussions in the antiques world , I admit. I’ve been in some of them. But antique dealers have  never declared war on anyone just because they prefer Clarice Cliff to Susie Cooper, or consider Christopher Dresser to be the anti-Christ.

I looked for a new pen on Amazon yesterday as I sometimes like to use fineliners like the Pilot V7. I have a couple that are on their last legs and was wondering about buying some more. The trouble is that they are a little pricey for what they are, and they aren’t very ecological. Well, I found one on Amazon tha is refillable and, according to the card, is 72% recycled plastic and has 56% less CO2 impact. They don’t saw what it is actually 56% less than but it is a pen, not a politician, so it is probably not a downright lie.

Yes, not buying a new pen would have 100% less carbon impact, but it’s a start.

An advertising claim that is not as clear as it could be . . .

 

If I could spell reminiscence I’d use it in this title

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Poppy

Today’s work – dropped Julia off at work, made two abortive phone calls to the dentist, wasting half an hour hanging on, booked a flu jab, did 400 words on baseball in Derbyshire (it should ideally have been more like 300 but to paraphrase Mark Twain, I didn’t have time to write less), wrote five clunky tanka and made cheese on toast for lunch.

It’s  little more like a proper working day than recent days have been, but it will go in the could do better column of the ledger, where it will fit in nicely with the rest of my life.

Oh, I did half an hour on an Open Learning Unit too, but that’s not going to make a lot of difference. Actually, I also cleaned up my computer a bit, shifting files around and deleting some rubbish. It’s not suddenly become better organised, but it’s a bit less likely to bring on feelings of despair when I look at it.

I’ve also ordered rechargeable AAA batteries and a charger. None of my chargers will fit that size, they re all for AA and various configurations of camera battery. When people look back in years to come, will they wonder why we made so many chargers and cables? At least we have fewer choices in cables these days. In the past I bought of adapters, about six, I think it was, to ensure we could always charge our phones.

Hoverfly on Welsh Poppy

Hoverfly on Orange Poppy

The batteries themselves are manufactured without harmful chemicals, and by the time we’ve had them a few years will have repaid the initial cost. We only use them in the TV remote control and my illuminated magnifying glass but even so, we use about eight a year. It’s difficult to tell, but I think I’ve reduced my carbon footprint with this choice.

Do you remember the days when you used to have to get up and walk to the TV if you wanted to change channels? On my desk I have a laptop, a mobile phones and two digital cameras. Thirty years ago I was daydreaming of buying an Amstrad word processor, had a pager issued by work and had to have film developed (which took a week and always resulted in disappointment).

Times have changed.

On the other hand, we are on the verge of war with Russia, worried about having an actor of pensionable age in the White House ( though with hindsight he looks like a safe pair of hands), and were seriously concerned about drug use in the Olympics.

Perhaps  less has changed than I thought . . .

Poppy and chamomile