bags of room

I’ve not posted for a while as the last few weeks we’ve had loads of visiters and I’ve been trying to get jobs done in the house tiling the floor painting etc. We have always had an open house and if we lived in a place that junkies and maniacs would not just walk in, the door would always be open.

I want to say a big thankyou to are friends Brick and Steph for our shopping bags, I’ve been using these cotton things that are a bit crap, but these are brilliant loads of room and biodegradabel maximum hippy points. They are from unicorn-grocery.co.uk>

I don’t want to go on about why plastic bags are evil and I’m not saying you should buy these but if you don’t I’m not talking to you.

working class permaculture

The average working person in Britain on one hand is told to use the supermarket less and on the other lives frugally because of a lack of money rather than because of a lifestyle choice. I’m very much working class, well actually I’m one of Margaret Thatcher’s ‘underclass’ ( bless her ) as I don’t have a job at all.

How much of my life is voluntary simplicity and how much is imposed poverty, I could not say, we don’t struggle but we don’t want much. We are not in a position to spend money like water but then I’ve no desire to. We eat well have fun and blow the budget occasionally but the thing we never have to do is worry about money, for that I’m very thankful. When I’ve no money I don’t moan about it.

Some people however don’t have that choice, ethical shoppers or not many people do long hours for little pay, a vast majority of people work in jobs that promote consumerism, un-organic produce and money in favour of people. In reality many people work in supermarkets, where does that leave them? They get discounts on their shopping and are already at work, then some hippy tells them to shop local or buy ethical orgaic meat at twice the price. **** off is most peoples answer and why should they push an already tight budget?

If you can’t afford organic meat and a solar hot water system there’s not need to buy cheap super market shite and leave the hot tap running. Ethics principals and respect don’t cost a penny.

The media has jumped on the band wagon in the last few years, that anything to do with the environment organic food or veg growing is in and we should all be doing it. Just check out magazines and TV listings full of open ended arguments and no real questions, just as ever lifestlye promotion.

” We shop at the local farmers market, it’s all local and organic”
” Yeah, well, I shop at Lidle, it’s foods from a million miles away and the money I save goes to the pub at the weekend to drown my miserable existence and the farmers market is on while I’m at work.”

Remember you don’t need to be seen making a change it’s enough that you know that you’ve made an effort and you have done your bit. You still may drive to work shop at the supermarket and appear to be like all the other sheep but you know that you’ve made the choice to change.

Changing your routine is always difficult but add money, lifestyle and your job and the struggle increases, but hang on. I don’t have alot of money or even a car, how do I manage to be able to choose where I shop and what I do? The answer is simple I make a concious effort, how ever small, I don’t come up with excuses why not to, I think how can I ? I look at my life as a whole not just as a series of actions. Nobody is going to save the world alone.