It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

Churchmouse

nobodyspecial wrote: »

Yep, same for me. Went up to the attic to retrieve some stored goods, bags turned to dust. Picked up what looked like a handle and it disintegrated before my eyes, clouds of dust everywhere. Surely that means they've biodegraded??

Just out of idle curiosity, those of you determined not to accept a plastic bag in the supermarket, are you the same when it comes to other purchases from other shops? I ask because M&S drive me nuts with their plan A thing, where you have to buy any plastic bag in the food hall, but buy a £2 pair of socks and they'll give you a huge thick plastic bag!! Incidentally I always have at least two of the M&S fold away bags on me for food purchases

I love M&S foodhall, but this so resonated with me :rotfl: The times I've moaned to DH about " Plan A because there is no plan B" :o Funny how a plastic bag with your food in will cause the world's destruction, but a bigger, thicker bag with an item of clothing is OK. I remember when I went to Dublin some years ago, they had introduced the plastic bag charge in the food shops, but clothing seemed to always be given in a paper carrier bag. It took me back to my childhood, I like a paper carrier bag Is it still the same there I wonder. I normally carry reusables, but I begrudge the charge when I'm buying unexpectedly or have simply forgotten to bring any.

I've also had the disintegrating bag scenario with some bits stored in a little used cupboard. Went to give it a tidy out, lifted down something from the top shelf, and looked like I had the worst case of dandruff ever!! Is there a difference between disintegrating and degrading? Igamogam, do you know if that just means they take longer to degrade without light, or won't degrade at all? I wouldn't have thought there was an abundance of light in lofts or cupboards, but maybe enough?

Having just read suzid's post reminded me I finally harvested a whole portion of french beans the slugs had missed! Good job there's only the two of us now to have to share

[Deleted User]

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ceridwen

nobodyspecial wrote: »

Yep, same for me. Went up to the attic to retrieve some stored goods, bags turned to dust. Picked up what looked like a handle and it disintegrated before my eyes, clouds of dust everywhere. Surely that means they've biodegraded??

Not as I understand it - they have just broken up into millions of little plastic fragments instead of having remained as one large bag.

Just out of idle curiosity, those of you determined not to accept a plastic bag in the supermarket, are you the same when it comes to other purchases from other shops? I ask because M&S drive me nuts with their plan A thing, where you have to buy any plastic bag in the food hall, but buy a £2 pair of socks and they'll give you a huge thick plastic bag!! Incidentally I always have at least two of the M&S fold away bags on me for food purchases

YES. No shop is allowed to wrap anything in a plastic bag - it goes straight into one of my bags. Marks & Spencers assistants often just pick up the fold-up cloth bag I have just hauled out to use instead of one of their carrier bags when I buy any clothes from them and put the item into my "fold-up" instead. In other shops - the assistant looks blankly at my "fold up" placed on the counter whilst I pay for my goods and one has to put it in the bag oneself.

For shop assistants who are determined to put an item into a bag quick before one has a chance to open ones mouth - the item gets taken back out again, the bag is carefully smoothed out and handed back to them.

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Congratulations to Charis and ChocClare on your children doing well.

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KITTIE
...and when you've done your pondering on what that guy said - then come back and give us your thoughts. Just clicked for a quick check on that clip and got very distracted by him at a personal level (bad ceridwen - as I'm quite a "visual" type person). At least I'll have "got over" the typical academic appearance after 5 minutes - unlike a talk I went to one time that literally went straight through one ear and out the other because I'd spotted a huge aura around them and just sat there fascinated checking out whether it was a "trick of the light" and (having confirmed it wasnt) spent the entire talk watching in fascination. Will hold that in check and go back for a good study later...

redlady_1

I have one of those little fold up bags too Cerwiden. I would like the supermarkets to change those plastic bags that you have to used to put fruit and veg into, to the old paper bags.

ceridwen

Yep - another vote there Redlady for back to paper bags. They have their own "impact" I gather - but I cant believe its as bad as plastic ones. Admits that I find them more appealing visually too -as at a very personal level (as a "visual") I simply dont like the look of them and never wanted to use plastic ones anyway. Plus - I'm in the "you want me to wear an advert for you - then YOU pay ME" camp about anything I have (no logos here chez ceridwen if I can help it...).

Guess the best thing would be for shops to stock paper bags only - and charge customers 20p if they want a bag.

mambury

Not been on for a few days, but I have managed to catch up...

Well done on all those who did exams (whether or not the result was as wanted!!), but fab news on those that managed their 1st choice uni

Well, I have to say I am dissapointed in the garden this year..... This is the first 'real' year of veg gardening, I have dabbled a little before but not to the extent of this year....

So far I have had a handful of toms (lots green but not blooming ripening), one little cuke (12 plants ), about three meals of runners (a few more to come though), about 100 onions and shallots (the reds were lovely, but the others were a little small) courgettes are a bit slow (4 plants, 2 green, 2 yellow), peas were a bu@@er to get growing, sweetcorn is fattening up, beetroot was a bit hit and miss, and the dwarf beans??? Bloomin' non existant.... oh and then there was the blight and I dug some pots up for dinner yesterday and something has been eating them so I guess the rest will have to come up and be processed somehow..... Still, the chickens are laying nicely .....

Please never let me go market again, I ended up coming back with 6 more chicks (now 8 in total, I've gone from no chickens in May to 15 in august!!) but these are pets for DS, he was so upset that the large silkies went so I went halves on a batch of 12 chicks with the woman who won but didn't want all twelve (she was going to cull the ones that weren't 'right', so a rescue I suppose!!).

I really need to get on and sort out the house etc in the next few weeks as I start my volunteering and Teaching assistant course next month as well as working two days a week and running around after the kids..... I need to sit down and organise christmas, DD's birthday (New years eve), FIL birthday (29th dec) and all my winter prep....

So far on my winter prep list I have
- order logs - OH is a builder so we get lots of offcuts from jobs but they don't burn for long and as I don't like using coal I want to get some hardwood logs to 'keep' the fire in a little longer at night....
- get chimney swept
- order new front door - we have a 1.5 inch gap under the front door straight into the lounge, I have a curtain (needs binning!!) and a draught excluder but its not quite enough, OH can fit the door so its only the cost but thats about £300....
- sort out emergency food and supplies - I have been stocking up on food (tins and dried) all summer so I have plenty of that in but I need to look at an emergency box as we got snowed in for a week last year.
- warm clothes for the kids and jumpers for me.

I have recently found my creative mojo again after many years of denying it, so I intend to spend a bit of time making and planning for some craft fairs in the run up to christmas to help get a few more pennies in to help in the new year lull..,..

I also need to have a mass listing on ebay to get rid of a load of stuff and to pay for the TA course (£375, I have to fund it myself, a bit of a risk in the current climate, but a risk worth taking I feel as I would need to have work that fits in around the kids (7 and 4 1/2) and I want to do something that makes a genuine difference to people.... selling saucepans doesn't really do it for me!) and £100 to fund a dressmaking evening course that I also want to do...... So many things and soooo little time....

I can't beleive its September in a couple of weeks and my youngest is starting school full time.... it only seems like yesterday she was born.....

Anyway, I think I have rambled on enough at you all..... I have promised the kids a trip to the park today as the sun is shining so a trip around the charity shops and a trip to the bank to make the most of diesel as the park is a 30 mile round trip!! Still I like living out here where I feel a lot calmer and grounded, but the black dog does still make a visit (not looking forward to the winter visits, he likes to come out when its dark and cold)

Off to sort the kids and pack them into the car....

mardatha

I would pay 10p for a paper bag.. but they stopped all that with their save the worlds trees stuff years ago didnt they. Which caused all the poly bag trouble in the first place. Wish do-gooders had some bloody common sense as well as good intentions !
Lovely sun here this morning but def feels like autumn now, nippywhen the sun is down. I'm listening to Kittie and lifting all my onions now, leeks next. Had far too much rain to be good for them. Is a bit of a worry re bad weather moving in for the next 20 years, hope we can still manage heavy pails of coal and ash down the back steps because I love my coal fire.. Lost all ooomph lately and have changed our diets to try and get it back. Looking at south beach and stone age diets...:( life was great before I knew things! lol

maryb

ChocClare,
Congratulations to DS. We're in a lull this year but next year we have DD1's degree and DD2's GCSEs.:eek::eek:

Mambury, is your front door made of wood? If so, couldn't your DH take it off its hinges and splice a bit of wood onto the bottom? We had to do this and when it's painted you really can't see it

mambury

maryb wrote: »

ChocClare,
Congratulations to DS. We're in a lull this year but next year we have DD1's degree and DD2's GCSEs.:eek::eek:

Mambury, is your front door made of wood? If so, couldn't your DH take it off its hinges and splice a bit of wood onto the bottom? We had to do this and when it's painted you really can't see it

it is but in his infinite wisdom he decided to fit a stable door So it swell when it rains, and provides no isulation at all. The front door is on the porch, and the 'real' front door is the original door from when the house was built around 1840 (I still have the original key and lock, and they work!!) so I don't want to do anything to that. My plan was to have a Upvc fornt door on the porch (not very nice I know, but should be a lot warmer).....

I didn;t want the stable door anyway

Still off to the bank to see what pennies I don't have!!

blackandwhitebunny

I love the way lots of semi-charities provide me with an endless supply of bin etc bags we must get at least one a day. Lots of them are the companies selling stuff and donating a pitiful percentage to charity type so I don't feel at all guilty about using them.
I also walk around with a load of fabric type bags to use and buy most of our f & v from the market where they put them in paper bags.
I do confess to having once lost it in Mr S I bought a seriously marked down beef joint and found it was in a very sturdy plastic box but was then also in vacuum sealed plastic inside this and the whole lot had a cardboard sleeve around it. I phoned their help line to complain (especially as the much more expensive organic joints that I would normally buy where just in plastic wrap) and got told that that's what customers wanted and expected. :eek: next time I went in, I needed quite a lot of fruit and veg for school so as I paid I removed all the packaging and handed it over to the cashier and said that I didn't want it and could they pass it on to customer services. In my defense I had had a very bad day:o
On a more serious note though and not wanting to offend anyone - one of the biggest landfill problems is disposable nappies, far greater than carrier bags (although obviously these also have wildlife implications as well) so why do we all accept it that supermarkets ration out carrier bags while stacking disposables high on BOGOF specials.