Going Stateside

I've been wanting to go and see people in America for a long time and parts of America would be nice to visit in general. With that in mind I'm in the process of getting a replacement British passport so I can get the ESTA in case I need it if the supposed border control people decide to be disrespectful of everyone's human right to travel between countries and enter and leave any country. I'll be presenting my world passport first though of course, since I'm a world citizen. I don't really feel like going to Orlando Florida, so I also managed to find an equally cheap flight from London to Chicago return. Purely because they like to see a return date, I'm officially going for a couple of weeks. I'll probably stay for longer than that though, since I'll spend a few days in Chicago then get the bus to wherever else I feel like going. I think Nashville would be an interesting place to visit, but also thinking to go to Texas since it's a bit further south and warmer there apparently. Not sure specifically what I want to do yet, but I heard Austin Texas is good for vegan options when eating out. I don't know how good it is for zero waste stores or similar, but if I go there I'll find out. I have friends in North Carolina and Missouri I also want to see, so that will be great if I visit them. The weather by all accounts is vastly different in different parts of the USA than the UK. Sometimes the UK does get flooding, but that's only because they don't build properly so drains get blocked or because pipes are not buried very far under the ground, they often freeze and then burst. Also in the UK when it is even forecast for snow, the whole country panics, but in parts of America apparently they get on with it up to a pointt. I tend to acclimatize pretty quickly to cold weather or hot weather, it's more the dreary mistiness I find hard to deal with and the constant changes places like England and Wales go through. Speaking of winter weather, the snow in Finland is actually warm and quite pleasant. They don't put sand on the ground there until it's already been snowing.

Christmas Markets and Fairs

I don't celebrate christmas, but sometimes I like going to different christmas fairs and markets and seeing what everyone else has been doing. I tend to avoid the shops at this time of year unless I need to buy something, because they get so busy with people and shopping trolleys that barely anyone can move. To me everything seems to be all about the days leading up to christmas, but I find this pointless because it's only one day on which people now spend hundreds of pounds. I did go to a christmas fair a couple of weekends ago though. This one was near where I'm staying in Doncaster. There were also a few plants for sale as there is a garden on the premises. I bought a jade crystal in a metal thing on a keyring. I normally don't like to put crystals in the same pocket as keys, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. I also got an ornament of a lighthouse and a couple of boats with the ocean below it. The lady selling them buys a bunch of colored glass and cuts it and moulds it, then fires it into the appropriate shapes. I love the ocean and people have travelled in boats long long before aeroplanes were even thought of. There were also some pens for sale at another stall. Those are refillable pens, which is useful because they're less wasteful. Apparently they don't run out for quite some time either. The other stall I liked was one selling little knit santa hats with chocolate things inside them. There's a crhistmas craft and gift market at Cusworth Hall this weekend. I don't know if I feel like going yet, but hope the people selling there do well.

A Brief Stay In Doncaster

I'm staying in the city or pretty large town of Doncaster in south Yorkshire for a week. At the time of writing this I've got about 2 days left of my stay. This guesthouse is one I found on air BNB and is owned and ran by Florence. She's one of those hosts who cooks breakfast and dinner and will talk to the hosts for a bit. I sometimes like it when hosts do that, but at the same time I sometimes prefer to be left to my own devices. Some other guests here are pleasant too and one stays long-term. It's been rainy and dreary here in Doncaster, so I haven't been out much. When I have been out though, I've found the curbs to be a real mixture of raised curbs to dropped curbs. I wouldn't mind, but the dropped curbs are so dropped they're non-existent, so I can't feel them at all with my cane. The bus I took when I went out the other day doesn't have any spoken announcements and the driver wasn't too helpful either. Maybe he just forgot to tell me when the appropriate stop was. I went to Costa Coffee and was highly disappointed. I asked what was on the vegan christmas menu and the member of staff was totally not interested or even trying to read the menu, but I got what they said was vegan christmas slice and vegan cherry bakewells. The cherry bakewells were tinier than what one would get from the supermarket and there were only 2 in a pack and the christmas slice was so small I finished it in 2 or 3 bites. I payed just over £5 for those and a pot of tea. The pot of tea and little jug of soya milk I got was barely enough to do a cup and a bit, but certainly didn't manage 2. I went to Lush and got myself a conditioner bar and a tin to put it in. The staff were not very helpful about telling me what ingredients are in the bar, but said the scents are all natural ones. I found out afterwards that what they refer to as "safe synthetics" is normally baking soda. Sodium carbonate occurs naturally, but they powder down the crystals in order to use it. Finally I went across to the Yanky candle shop, but didn't end up buying anything. Turns out the staff there only know what is on the labels and just want to sell stuff. They don't know how the candles are made. Supposedly the new wicks are designed to crackle, but if they really are wood, well wood doesn't crackle all that much as it burns, even if it's a massive log. I strongly suspect there's something in both the candle wick and the scents that shouldn't be, because most of the scents that they have are not ones that occur in nature. At least if they do occur you can't immitate them no matter how hard you try and you definitely can't truly synthesize the scent of a fire. The synthetics put me right off buying anything.

Disappearing Objects - My Experiences Of Significance

The night before last I went to sleep at a friend's house after having fiddled around on facebook for a bit and listened to some podcast episodes, then switching off the said phone. I woke up later in the morning and realized it had totally disappeared! Both my friend and I looked on the window-sill where I had left it, as well as on the bed (the window-sill sticks out a little over the bed) and on the floor under the bed and between the bed and the wall, as well as well as putting out some items that were being stored under there and taking off the matress and bedding and some of the slats of the bed itself. However, no matter how much we looked neither of us could find the google pixel I had had since the summer of 2017. While we were searching for it, the thought struck me that this could be some kind of weird test from the universe. After all, I had been saying for several months or even a couple of years on and off that I wanted to getrid of the cellphone and go back to using landlines. In that context though I thought it would have to be a situation where I stayed in one place and no longer travelled, but I guess the powers that be had other ideas. Well that wal 2 nights ago or yesterday morning into the afternoon and we still never found the android phone since. The thing I noticed almost straight away was that while everyone else is busy worrying about what I'm going to do without a phone (as if you can't survive without one), I find it plain weird rather than concerning. In fact I found myself immediately figuring out ways to let people know what time I would be travelling today and when I would arrive etc. I also got to thinking what did I actually use the smartphone for? Really I only use it for WhatsApp and Instagram, but I have skype and of course messenger on the facebook website and e-mail. When I can I can use landline phones as well, so it's not like I'm completely out of contact with the world, it just takes a bit longer and is less convenient. Today I went from my friend's house in county Durham in northeast England to Spalding in Lincolnshire in the middle/east of England where I would meet the grandparents. My friend came with me to the train station anyway, but beforehand I looked up the times of the trains. We went to Costa Coffee for a bit so he looked up the times of the next train while we were there. Nan had already told me to ring her when I got to Peterborough, because my original plan was to ring when I got to Spalding, but apparently there are no phones at Spalding. I didn't feel like waiting around so took the train to York then the one to Peterborough, but it made no difference as I spent just as long waiting at Peterborough to go to Spalding. Nan did offer me her old windows phone, but I couldn't get on with it because I found it so slow and it barely did anything when I tried to open apps and things on it. Needless to say I gave up with it pretty quickly. Speaking of objects disappearing, this morning, I looked in my handbag for something and realized that the inside compartment was open. Most unusual as I had no reason to do that. The day before I had noticed my bag was spun the other way but dismissed it, because of course things get moved around while rummaging through looking for other things. Well I looked and realized that one of my passports had totally disappeared. My world passport and world citizenship card and copy of the universal declaration of human rights were still there, but the British passport was nowhere to be seen. I then looked in my wallet which was in a coat pocket (on the opposite side to the pocket that has the hole in) and realized that the 2 5.00 notes and some coinage I had left in there (most of the coins in fact) had also gone. I didn't look for the passports or in my wallet, because of course no one does unless they have a reason to do so. Sure I might possibly have ordered a takeaway and forgotten about it, but I had very few takeaways in the last week, perhaps 1 or 2, but normally when I do order I order a fair amount so it probably came to more than 12 or 13. Even if I had ordered something and payed in cash instead of card, it would explain the money fine but still doesn't explain the disappearance of the phone or the passport. I know my friend didn't know where most if any of my stuff was, so couldn't have taken anything even if they had wanted to. The other thing I noticed literally as I was getting ready to leave my friend's house, was that the memory stick I had left in the coat pocket for around a year (the same one as the wallet) had also up and left so it would seem. Thankfully there was nothing on the memory stick, but that's really not the point. I've had things go missing before, but they were random insignificant things like socks or flannels etc, that one could easily dismiss as the washing machine eating them or me mislaying them for no apparent reason. We all do it - put something somewhere and think we've put it somewhere else, or know we put something somewhere look and can't find it there, even perhaps replace the thing, then find the original item in exactly the place it should have been in the first place. This last 2 days or so have been different though. The things in and of themselves I find sort of hard to dismiss, even if it was some sort of testing thing going on, but not all at once. The only other time I've experienced anything like this is when I lived in a house a couple of years ago before I started travelling the first time, and I had gone inside with a friend and locked the door. I didn't think anything then of going to the kitchen and putting the kettle on and coming back. I was about to grab the keys from the front door (I lock the doors from the inside as you never know who is around) and go to the back door to show my friend something in the yard, when I noticed that the keys were nowhere to be found. We both looked on the floor around the door and the shoe-rack and sofa, but found no keys. I even looked behind the shoe-rack, because I had thrown an umbrella behind there, but nothing there either. I had to get the locks changed and new keys, but even on the day I moved out, I never found those keys.

Flight Prices And Weird Routes

I've been looking at flights for quite some time now to go to Canada and America. Well I've noticed that it works out cheaper if I go to Canada then America. I'm not sure why. Also to get from the UK to America without going to Canada first, the journeys seem to be taking some very strange routes. For example if I want to leave from Gatwick in London, I would have to change planes at Munic or Frankfert or however you spell it, or if I leave from Manchester or Birmingham I would have to change somewhere equally as weird like Brussels Madrid or Zuric. I know I'm going to the south or southwest of America, but to me it still makes little to no sense to fly east in order to go back west. One thing I thought I could do is perhaps look for flights to some of the eastern states then go from there if I wanted to avoid Canada altogether. But then I want to go to Canada too, seeing as that isn't a part of the world I've visited. Speaking of weird travel routes, I'm going to Nan and Grandad's in a week's time, but national express coaches don't seem to go that way. It looks like I'll have to book trains after all because I really don't feel like going all the way to London to go back again. I have got the train pal app on the stupidphone though, which can make the tickets cheaper than using something like the train line. Apparently the app splits tickets already, so it saves me a job. In terms of flying, I also want to see what low-cost/budget airlines are around and see if those are any cheaper for getting to America than the ones that I assume pay to be on expedia. I don't have any loyalty or reward things, because I don't fly often enough and don't intend to.

Travelling With zero or Very Low Waste

I've noticed that travelling and creating zero or very low waste can be easier at times and harder at others. For example in areas where there are no zero waste or packaging-free shops, its not possible to buy loose dried food like rice or lentils etc. In these situations, I tend to go for the biggest most organic version possible, or else I buy something in cardboard instead of plastic if the option is there. I find when I travel and stay places where I can prepare and cook my own food, it saves so much money. Lately I've bought way more takeaways than I had in a long while sadly. Speaking of preparing my own food, last time I was on a coach, when I took the journey from Brighton through London to Durham, I made my own lunch. I had bought some food wraps, so I made a houmous and cucumber sandwich and took some cookies. Sadly the cookies were in plastic inside a cardboard box, but it was still way cheaper and tastier than going to somewhere in the coach station. The huge advantage to a lot of zero waste things, is that they're so compact which makes it easier to carry around. For example, I put my soap bar shampoo bar toothpaste tabs toothbrush comb and deodorant in one pocket of my backpack. The other thing I like is the fact that although you tend to get the clinking of jars or tins or whatever, it's so much quieter and more pleasant than hearing the rustle of plastic bags. I take my own cotton cloth shopping bags with me when I go shopping. Soap nuts are so useful as well for laundry, because you can use 5 of them 3 or 4 times in the little bag provided then when you're done using those 5, you can compost them. Sadly though not everywhere has compost facilities or gardens, so most things like that end up still in landfill or in the recycling places.

Restaurants And Takeaways

I've noticed that in some places like Brighton London and Bristol have vegan restaurants and cafes and probably more options when it comes to restaurants and takeaways in general. In so many other places however, I either have to ask or make a guess that some of the vegetarian options happen to be vegan. In a lot of places that are not big cities, there are far fewer vegan options than meat or vegetarian. I don't see why, because you can make an alternative to pretty much anything, so I think there should be a similar amount of choice. Speaking of which, I went to a Pizza Hut recently and discovered that they have started doing vegan pizzas and will be having vegan pasta dishes in the future. The weird thing is though that only some of the pizzas are available at all the restaurants. I wonder if this is also the case in the American Pizza Hut.

Hanging Out In Brighton And Surrounding Areas

As I previously mentioned on here, I recently visited Brighton again for a week. This time however, I stayed in Hangleton which is still technically part of Brighton, but not in the centre. I rented a room I found on air bnb and the house was very close to the bus stop, so I was able to take a bus directly through Brighton if I wanted to. If rent wasn't so exensive and I didn't want to keep travelling, I would look at moving there. Apart from the usual street-furniture and grabbers, I quite like the area. I can get more done there than I can in other parts of England. I found food shhopping and shhopping in general without plastic or very much packaging at all very easy. When I bought a cucumber from a fruit and vegetable stall in Hove I had the stall-owner take off the plastic and yes the biscuits I bought from Infiniti Foods (the vegan/vegetarian supermarket) were in plastic packets inside a cardboard box, but those are the only real irritations I can think of off the top of my head. I even managed to get bread without packaging! Yay! The buses for the most part have spoken announcements and I can only think of one that doesn't. The only other thing I don't like about walking around and navigating is the road-crossings because I find them utterly confusing. I find the atmosphere of Brighon really happy and people are more accepting it seems. For the most part, people don't care who is gay straight bi or otherwise, or even if I tell someone I have multiple partners, no one bats an eyelid. Yet in some other areas of the country people would be weirded out by anything that is not straight and monogamous. I was walking down George Street towards Blatchington Road in Hove and heard at least 2 buskers. I like listening to those guys and some are actually pretty good. There's also a man who hangs out on the corner and tells everyone to have a nice day. I've seen him a few times there and peopple stop and talk to him at times. Judging by his accent I would say he spent lot of time in the north of England or south of Scotland, but then what do I know about accents? :) If I see him again I think he would be a genuinely nice person to stop and talk to perhaps. George Street is a pedestrian area, so I like being able to walk along without too much risk of being chased by cars or other vehicles. I'm told there are cafes and things along that street. Another semi-pedestrian area in Brighton itself I like is Kensington Gardens, just round the corner from North Road. Again there are cafes and tables and chairs and benches there and everyone seems relaxed and happy and peaceful. I like the fact that there's the yarn store Yak in Brighton too, so I went to the knitting social on Thursday and got to catch up with one or two people who have sort of got used to me being around. I guess they missed me. When they weren't working or doing anything, I also got to hang out a bit with the ladies who live at the bungalo I was renting the room in. My host Lou or Louisa made some candles one afternoon and another time we went out (because she and her lodger were going out anyway) to the Range. The Range is a shop sellling all sorts of things. It seems to sell things for the home as well as craft items. I bought a sketchbook for my work for the business. The book is spiral-bound and the pages have perferated edges, so I can take out the pages if I don't neet or want something anymore. I'll be using it to put test pieces in so squares I knit to measure for size. I'll write notes in it saying the number of stitches and rows as well as the yarn name and company. I'm going to put pictures of the finished designs in the book as well, so a cool thing I think to do would be to put the picture on one side of the page along with a short text about the pattern, then the yarn tension test things on the back. That's always assuming everything doesn't fit on the same page. And so to end on a musical note before I finish this post - on my bus journey to the coach station or near it, I heard what sounded like a band playing in one of the squares the bus stopped at. I'm not sure why they were there, but thhey sounded pretty good. Oh I did also go to the Brighton Museum on Monday, but got very bored sadly. I walked in and started touching one or two pieces of furniture to get an idea of the shape and textiles and things used, the staff did not want anyone touching anything at all. I don't understand why if it's not behind glass, because it's perfectly reachable but just happens to have a sign on it saying "do not touch". After that I had someone guiding me and describing things, but it just isn't the same.

Back To Brighton

I've booked my coach ticket back to Brighton on Friday, so now to find a place to stay. Apart from the grabbers and navigational issues, I find Brighton and Hove to be a fairly pleasant place. Yes there are a lot of people who don't have anywhere permanent to be through no fault of their own, but that I think is mainly because places are pretty expensive in the area from what I understand. That being said though, I find the people are more open to discussing pretty much anything that goes and I can get more done there than I can in other parts of England. I plan to go to Harriet Of Hove (the zero waste shop in Hove) while I'm in the area. I hear they've added some new items so thought I would go and take a look, as well as the fact I can get fresh bread from there. Their supplier is one of the local bakeries which is always good. Last time I was in there, I bought the bread without packaging if I remember right. Also of course there are vegan eateries and at least one yarn store that has a knit night every week. I like the beach too and I think there will be fewer people on the said beach now summer is coming to a close. That means I don't get to disturb anyone. I can look at rocks and things all day. Grandad told me they only put pebbles on that area of beach in the 1980s saying something to do with the water level of the sea. Apparently before that it used to be sandy. This makes little sense though, because Western Super-Mare has the nickname of Western Super-Med for a reason. The sand there is like mud or even quicksand. Then again I don't know, because I did meet someone who builds beaches and when I asked what they meant by building a beach (I just assumed a beach was there because it felt like being there and the ocean made it like that), they said they go with a vehicle and pick up the pebbles and sand that storms have thrown around and put it back, levelling it out in the process. That being beside the point, Brighton is en route to at least 2 airports if you go the right way, so that's fine by me.

A Change Of Plans

I said a few months ago that I was going to be starting another college course in South Shields in the Tyne And Wear county of England. The more I thought about it the less I really wanted to do the college thing after all. This way I'll still be able to travel around. I've also reregistered as self-employed. Even if I don't make a lot, I can still claim some things as expenses when it comes to filing taxes. I know I probably will have left the UK by then and I have no respect for authority, but it also keeps the said authorities off my back and covers me in case the artificial border control people decide to not respect my right to travel and work freely. I'm at my grandparents' right now in Lincolnshire for another week. I was in Taunton in Somerset England, but sadly for half the time I was there, I felt like doing very little thanks to a cold. Having said that though, last weekend I was in the charming town of Heswall in Cheshire. The place I stayed at had an orchard outside and some tasty apples. I went to a fabric shop in town and got a sewing pattern for some trousers and top. I got enough fabric this week for Nan to hopefully make the trousers and two t-shirts. There is a pizza place called Zizzi in Taunton that says it has vegan options, but for some reason it had only 2 pizzas 2 pastas and a dessert, which I found disappointing compared to the regular menu which had loads as well as some risittos. They make it out like this house is so small, when really to me it looks massive and they have plenty of space to put things. If there really is not enough room to have more than one peron stay at a time, why not for example take away the double bed and put a single one in? Then there really will be even more space.

Falling Off The Bandwagon

I've been full of cold for nearly the last week now, but really haven't felt like writing anything for a while. Since I've been staying with the grandparents and having them cook things and here in Taunton ordering takeaways and eating out a lot morethan I would like, I've really fallen off the zerowaste bandwagon. Nan and Grandad have no zerowaste shops near them, so of course all the rice and pasta etc is in packaging (most or aall of which is plastic). Takeaways make up so much waste as well. I have saved a lot for leftovers, but unlike homemade food, takeaway curryfor example loses its appeal over time. Homemade curry I find tends to increase in flavor over time, so it really doesn't matter if you leave it in the fridge 1 day or 3. I would go to the zerowaste shop tomorrow and get some dry ingredients, but from here getting tthe bus is awkward to find so would have to get a taxi or walk and argue with the parked cars on the side of the road.

The Supposed Trend Of Veganism

I'm surprised and slightly puzzled in a way as to why some people refer to veganism as a current "trend". People have always had different diets (whether it be vegetarian or vegan or whether it simply means eating more of one food than another), but I think people just haven't had as many labels as they do now. I do know some vegans for example can be more activists than others, but most aren't that way. I personally just do what works for me and yes I tell people about it, but don't say everyone should do the same, because it's only a decision one can make for oneself. After all, what works for me may or may not work for the next person. Having said that though, there do seem to be more vegan and vegetarian and other dietary-related things than there were, or perhaps it's just because I look for the stuff that I notice it more or both. One thing I find myself somewhat struggling with is whether to wear or work with animal products like wool or hair etc. Although the animals that give the wool or hair or loose their antlers haven't been killed at that point in order to get the things, you don't know if they have gone to any harm when being clipped or sheered. At some point I think it would be useful to visit some sheep or alpacas or someone when the sheering is happening to see how they do it. I don't use leather or suade or bone though, because the animals are killed in order to get those as well as fur. In short, I try and get things that are made as ethically as possibly, to the point of when I use plant-based materials I will gladly pay more if it's organic and the people have been treated and paid fairly. I do the same for clothes and I rarely if eever get anything with synthetic fibres, then again that's mainly because I find they irritate my skin. I also realize that synthetic fibres don't do any favors to the environment, but that's another discussion for another day. On a somewhat different note, I have heard in news items that some people think veganism should be considered as a religeon. I don't agree with this as such, because you're not worshipping anyone. Having said that, a lot of pagans are vegetarian or vegan and worship nature as a whole. Similar applies to some of the Indian and Tebetan religeons, they all just include diet etc as part of their religeous practices, just like meditation or prayer. Meditation or prayer is something people do in their own way though and even if they don't necessarily follow a particular religeon. And so I digress. I do think though that different people's views should be respected even if they're different from one's own. Otherwise how can there be any kind of conversation if everyone is always agreeing? I still get certain people including Grandad who come out with "if there were no meat-eaters there would be no animals", but I find this eroneus, because there would still be wild animals even if there are no domestic ones. For example there are sheep and goats all over the place in mountains and on hgher ground, just not on low ground because they don't belong there. There are wild horses and ponies and cattle of sorts, just different breeds than one is used to seeing on a typical farm, because on farms and in riding schools and other places where animals are used as a tool for work rather than just being animals and doing whatever they do, they're bred for a specific purpose and at times appearance.

Out And About In Cardiff And Abergavenni

I write this post from my air BNB place in the Penylan area of Cardiff, where I still have another 2 weeks left of my stay. I'm finding that the people are pretty helpful here, but sometimes as with everywhere make stupid comments or don't listen to responses I give. Yesterday I was walking down the street and this completely random person who lives in one of the houses decided to tell me that I was "doing really well". How do you work that out? I'm only doing what everyone else does every day of the year and you don't tell them they're doing really well. Having said that though, I do think the curbs of the zebra-crossings and road crossings in general should me made a little higher. I'm glad that most of the buses have spoken announcements in English and Welsh for the stops, but I also found out that the only reason some do and others don't even on the same route is for no other reason than that they're different makes. To me they're still buses, so get on with it please. I really find the fact that bus passes are only specific to each country within the UK. The UK is technicallly one country and some of the bus drivers agree with me, but the passes themselves are only specific to England Scotland and Wales. Then again the Scottish get free train travel, which is totally not fairt the restof the UK. Still the bus from Cardiff to Abergavenni was around half what I would have payed for a train ticket, although it did take what felt like forever. Near here is a 0-waste shop called Ripple. A few days ago I went there and managed to get over 300 g of pasta for 1.10 GBP. This was whole-weat pasta and II'm pretty sure if I went to a supermarket and got the same thing in a package I would be paying a bit more. Even if I got a packaged equivalent for the same price, I would still have had to deal with somehow getting rid of the packaging. I also got myself some raisins which I'm going to put with some oatmeal for breakfast at some point. I got a nice bamboo comb too, which I think is great because my other comb is plastic. Even the box the comb came in (which is not strictly necessary) is cardboard, so can either be recycled or I assume composted in some way. I don't think that store does things like pasta sauce, but I wish it would. Then I wouldn't have to go and buy a jar of the stuff from the supermarket and fiddle about removing labels when I'm done with the jar. Sure I could make my own, but I was too lazy to do so at the time. Also there is a cafe nearby whose name I have no idea how to spell as I've only heard it pronounced. I'm thinking to jump on the happy cow website after I get done writing on here for today and write a couple of reviews. The yarn store The Wool Croft in Abergavenni has recently moved location, so is now on Neville Street rather than Cross Street. I went to the bus station for the first time yesterday though and find it a pain. What they refer to as a bus station is nothing more than a series of bus shelters or placesto stand and wait for the buses, so no actual building or office or anywhere to ask where to go. So back to relying on random people. There is a pedestrian area of Abergavenni, which I didn't realize until yesterday. It's amazing how much you notice when walking around and taking buses rather than just taxis and trains.

A weekend In Taunton

I spent the last weekend in the town of Taunton. This is situated in the county of Somerset in England. I plan to go back for longer another time, but thought I would write about my weekend anyway. I arrived on the Friday evening. I thought the key woud be in a box with a keypad, but it turned out it was a box with some sort of combination lock. Not being able to read print I've never been able to use these kind of locks, so had to wait for the air bnb host to let me in. The house is a newer house, so the walls are of some plasterboard or other similar material, making them soud hollow. I much prefer older buildings, because they don't do that and there is some character to them. In general though the place was great. I slept in a room that had a big double or kind-sized bed and a closet etc. My host even gave me a candle. :) There was a kitchen but I only used it for making breakfast and drinks mainly. On Saturday after a bit of getting lost I managed to get some people to show me to the bus stop and went into town. I had already came across a low-waste shop called Lesser Litter, so went there. That store sells all sorts from loose dry ingredients to toilet paper to containers. I bought myself some toothpaste tabs (which I look forward to trying out when I get done with the current toothpaste), a stainless-steel lunchbox which I hope is big enough for sandwiches, a heavier-duty shopping bag and even managedd to get myself some sweets! I was talking to someone working in thhe shop (whether they're the owner or not I don't know) and they said their biggest dream when they were little was to open a sweetshop. :) I managed to get a kind of fluoride-free toothpaste tabs and think it was fantastic that they offered those as well as the ones containing fluoride. I also love the fact that all the sweets are vegan in that shop. I got myself some salted caramel chocolate-covered cashue nuts and some chocolate covered raisins. While there I found some children and their mum and the children were getting a nice big jar and filling it with sweets. I think the kids mucst have been vegetarian or ate meat or something, because as soon as they realized the sweets were vegan they decided to point it out to their mum who was vegan. The shop also sells laundry liquit (I don't know if they sell soap nuts because I didn't ask) in a refill thing, so you take your own container and fill up with as much as you need. I think they even do a natural stain-remover. they also had bars of soap and I think shampoo and dishes and bags to put them in as well as a couple of different types or reuseable straws. I noticed too some banmoo cutlery but sadly no plates or bowls. They did have some travel mugs, but of course I already have technically 2 of those. Nan said I could have the otehr one back if I wanted because she didn't like it. She says she can taste the bamboo and silicone or whatever whet she takes tea or coffee in it. The only thing I find is that the tea is as hot as ever and yes you can smell the silione, but of course you would if you're drinking through the lid which is made off the said silicone. Lesser Litter also does sell some womens products, but only individually rather than in sets. Apparently Harriot of Hove did used to sell those kind of things in sets but not when I wasthere. I took a bit of a walk along the street and the firstplace I found was a vegan cafe by the name of The Planet. I went in and had some apple juide and a special that was being served that day, a peanutbutter-friedd rice with tofu and some salad. I would never have thought of putting that combination of ingredients together, but I find eating out now and again to be mind-opening to more posibilities. While there a lady was sharing my table who was taking a break from work to eat lunch. I didn't get any that time, but think next time I'll go and get the cakes or vegan sausage rolls. She said the cakes are nice and fluffy and tasty. Also she mentioned that one of the main supermarkets Asda now sell a vegan cake or 2. She was telling me that one of her colleagues had a birthday and found her a vegan cake when she was looking for cakes to take into work. While walking through the town, I noticed that there were people getting ready to play music. Also there were traders in the street, so I got talking to one of them briefly. It is not an official market, but apparently they al have licences to trade there. The particular man I spoke to was selling flowers (mostlyorcids), some of which were having buds on them. He was saying the person next to him sells pet-beds. He told me of some others buut I can't remember them now. I wish I had spent a bit longer in town, because when I got back to my room, it was barely 13:40. While I was waiting for the bus though, I did hear a preacher with a big microphone somewhere. I only caught the first little bit of the serman, but apparently he was preaching about if you will get to heaven or something along those lines. I didn't get chance to talk to him since I was getting on the bus and didn't kno where he was anyway, but as far as I understand, heaven and hell are primarily Christian inventions. Of course I could be entirely wrong about this and feel free to correct me if I am. As of right now, I'm spending a couple of weeks in or near Cardiff in Wales. My current AirBNB host is Erik, who is a very nice man. This is asingle-storey building with a decent-sized yard at the back and a little one at the front by the look of it. I write this post from the back yard and Erik is doing some cleaning or tidying or whatever off to my right. The house next door has a little yappy dog, whic sounds to me like a terrier or someone similar and there are birdsaround now and then. I heard some seagulls earlier on and Erik says we're not far from the sea. Well I should go for now before my phone runs out of charge, but I'll write again soon.

The North-south Relativee Divide In England

Having lived and travelled in the north and south of England, I've noticed something of a divide. For example in a way transport services tend to be somewhat better in the southand there seems to be more in the way of things like yarn stores and knitting socials and probably craft-related things in general. There are also many more options in terms of 0/low-waste stores and vegan places to eat out if one would like to do so. The markets while they still exist in many parts of the north of England, in some places are becoming fewer or simply non-existant. I read recently that there is now a 0-waste shop in Tynemouth in Tyne And Wear in the northeast, but other than that I've found pretty much nothing for getting loose ingredients except those markets that have fruit and vegetables and perhaps the bakeries selling bread etc. Still apart from that 1 shop, I haven't heard of anywhere one could get things like oats or rice or lentils etc. Some yarn stores are also closing down in Newcastle or have already, so the only independent one I know now is in Whitley Bay. Still there are pretty much no knitting or craft social things, unless you count one that is in a coffee shop in one of the towns near the coast. But that is a town I don't even know how to spell, so I can't exactly look it up or ask anyone where to go. The bus services are hit and miss as to whether they talk or not, buut the metro most of the time talks in Tyne And Wear. Even there thouggh, I've noticed the spoken announcements don't always talk, so good luck knowing where you are unless you want to do the old count the stops or ask someone. You could of course also use GPS if that's your thing and hope i lets you know where to get off. Having said all that, the bus pases I find to be more useful there, in that they can be used all day. The one I have from Hereford only letts you use it after 09:00, which has caused me much irritation. If you have or want to go somewhere before that time, a bus pass from Hereford is rather pointless, because unell it's a one-off you still have to pay. Speaking of the north of England, there are a tonne of craft-related things in Yorkshire and in the northwest, but you can forget finding anything of the sort in the east. Noticing that there are also very few things like I've been talking about in the villages in parts of Lincolnshire as well, I asked my Nan and she reckons it's because the north has less money than the south and because where she and Grandad live is mainly villages. I don't think that's necessarily the case. It can be cheaper to only buy what you need and use your own containers or paper bafs than buying a packaged version of something for example. If you want to as I have, you can of course buy things like flasks or mugs or lunchboxes, but at least to begin with you can use what you already have. I think being in villages would be an even better reason for having more fruit and vegetable shops or low-waste places (the UK doesn't have bulk sections of supermarkets as the Americans do). I know there tend to be bakeries in some villages which is always useful. I think it would be nice as well if there were once again more yarn stores and independent craft suppliers in villages and small towns. The nearest I know of to where the grandparents live for example is about half an hour to an hour drive away in any direction and that doesn't have any room for social events or classes etc. I say yarn store, because the term "wool shop" is not entirely accurate as yarn is not necessarily made from wool although it can be. Many times I've often thought I don't belong in the current time. I love the independent shops (bakeries, fruit and vegetable shops, markets generally etc) and would gladly support them any day over the chain stores. The only exception would be if the business was to do something I thought unethical. The thing I don't understand and never have, is why the companies and people selling organic produce put a higher financial price on things than non-organic. I get the powers that be want to make everyone eat the chemicals and processed food and create problems that were not there in the first place, but otherwise food was already organic before they added anything like fertilizers or pesticides to it, so surely it's cheaper to produce organically than non-organically. Weirdly though you have to get things certified as organic or vegan/vegetarian, but somehow even if you know what you produced is that, you can't just write it on there. Even more beaurocracy ...

Yak - A Yarn Store I Totally Love In Brighton

As the title of this post says, I totally love Yak! This yarn store is on Gloucester Road in Brighton England. I like it because it has lots of natural yarns as well as some locally-dyed yarns. I bought a couple of different shades of some locally-dyed yarn from there. Sadly I can't remember the name of the person or company that does the dying. I also enjoy the knitting social that happens every Thursday evening. There are a fair amount of people there normally and it's nice to meet new people and see what everyone is making. This is the only place I've been able to get hold of a ball-winder and swift. The ball-winder is for winding the skeins of yarn into balls of course. Actually this particular one winds it into more like cakes and I know some wind the yarn into a kind of doughnut shapes. The swift is a convenient way of holding the skein of yarn so it doesn't get tangled as you're winding it into a ball. The swift turns the skein around as you're winding it with the ball-winder, so I think it's pretty useful to have both going together. They don't weigh a lot at all, so it's pretty handy when travelling, especially since the swift comes apart. I really wish I could find a store that sold spinning-wheels etc or taught spinning classes. I really want to learn more about spinning yarn, but the classes are generally pretty expensive or else in out of the way places like on farms. I guess that makes logical sense sort of, as so much natural yarn is using animal fibres. I've noticed though that there seems to be a north-south relative divide in England (I'll write more about that in another post) in not only craft places, but things in general. As for craft shops and especially yarn stores and social things, I've noticed there are tonnes in the south of England and a fair mount in the likes of Yorkshire, buut so few in the northeast or even in the east of England in general. There are hardly any in Tyne And Wear. Come to think of it, the only yarn store I know that is still running is in Whitley Bay, but I don't know any knitting socials in the area. There were a couple of yarn stores in Newcastle, but I was told at least one of those closed down a couple of years ago. There was another yarn store of sorts in the next village from where my grandparents live in Lincolnshire (more in the direction of Norfolk), buut that was only open a pear to maybe a year and a half before closing down. A very short time really in terms of human history. To me it's like a blink of an eye - one minute it's there, then the next it's gne again.

Hostels Versus Private Room

I've stayed in hostels and private rooms, and even the odd whole apartment while travelling. I think there can be advantages and disadvantages to all of these options. I find renting the whole place like an apartment or similar is freer in the sense that you can have the use of pretty much everything unless otherwise stated. So I was able to cook better as well as spread out a bit if I felt like it. Because they're whole places though, they do tend to be understandably more expensive. Having said that, the little studio apartment I stayed at in Rymattyla in the southwest off Finland was super cheap. Most of the places I've stayed in (especially since booking through air bnb rather than hotels.com or other sites) is that most places tend to be private rooms in shared houses. I like both of these options, because even if you only get your own room, you can normally still cook in the kitchen of the shared house. I also find most of the hosts are really nice too, which is a bonus. Some hosts do keep themselves to themselves, but others will take the time to get to talk to and know their guests a bit. The private rooms in shared houses tend to be a fair bit cheaper than whole places, but more expensive than hostels. They're also normally good quality. I've stayed in a couple of hostels. I would say 3, but the room that could sleep 5 I rented in Germany I actually had to myself, so don't know whether to include that one or not. I'll therefore go by the 2 hostels I've stayedd at in Brighton and Hove, England. I find that they're super cheap, but the owners or people working there seem in no hurry to fix things if you report them as broken or not fixed properly. I also find they seem to want to cram as massas many people into each room as possible, so the place I stayed at before this one had sleeping pods, which felt rather like boxes as you had a little curtain to pull across. This one has bunk-beds, so you still can't sit straight without bumping your head on the bed above. Apparently some places also have sets of 3 rather than just 2 bunk beds. I'm told this place also has rooms of 12 people and other hostels have rooms advertized for up to 20 people! Here there is only 1 kitchen for guests to use and the staff helping with breakfast and cleaning speak little to no meaningful English. I thought they had to do some kind of test when moving to the UK for work in order to test their English or Welsh etc, but apparently not. The kitchen here has a 4ring hob (only 2 rings of which work), a microwave, a washing machine and tumble dryer, a kettle and it did have a toaster, but when I reported it as broken they took it away and we're still waiting for a new one. We also have no oven or freezer as far as I know, although we do have a fridge. I have to keep checking the fridge, because there's no guarentee things will stay there. In my last hostel place, no one told me there was a section for free food and that you could take a box and put your name on it. If I had known that in the first place it sounds kind of cool, because if you have food you can't finish before you check out or food that's going to expire, you can leave it in the free food area for everyone else, or if someone has left something there you can use it. The issue I had with that place though, was that half the dials on both cookers were broken, so you couldn't use them properly. The toaster was interesting, because you would turn the dial round to dial to what you wanted and move the leaver to put the toast down, then when it was done cooking you could put the leaver back to make the toast go up so you could take it out. The thing I don't know if I like or not is the fact that they don't always tell you if rooms are mixed gender or separate in hostels. If I know the room is mixed I don't mind so much. The thing that I surprised myself the most about, is the fact that I don't find sharing all that awkward. I thought I would because you don't know the people, but most of the people are either nice enough and/or keep to themselves anyway. The thing I don't like about hostels is the fact that there's so many people in the building trying to use the same facilities. Also you never know if anything is really clean or not in the kitchen.

0-waste Shopping In Brighton

I write this from my shared hostel room in Hove. Brighton and Hove used to be and still in a way are 2 separate places, but because they're so close together Bighton and Hove are now apparently merged into 1 city. I was in Brighton itself for a week and loved the fact that Purezza and Infitiny Foods were practically on the door-step or only a few minutes' walk away. I got to Hove a couple of days ago and am here until 25th June, so during this time I've been doing as much 0-waste shopping as I can. I wrote a review of Infinity Foods on https://www.happycow.net/ and might have mentioned it on here, likewise with Purezza (the vegan and plant-based pizza restaurant. My username on the happy cow website is harmonyln7 if anyone wants to look me up on there. I'm pleased to see that Infinity foods are starting to do more 0-waste products like oats and other suchcereals. The staff tell me they're in the process of expanding the shop so will have more soon. I did get some lovely apple and cinnamon jam during the week though. I think it's fantastic on tost! The slices of pizza they do are also pretty big, so for once I don't mind so much paying 2.85 GBP per slice. They also have things like vegan scones and sausage rolls. I was pleased but not surprised to see they also sell reuseable containers like flasks and food containers etc. In hove there are a couple of places I want to mention and one I find sort of annoying. The one I find annoying is Kernel of Hove. I like the fact they have organic fruit and vegetables as far as they can, but at the same time don't appreciate the fact they have absolutely no loose dried ingredients. The people who work in and run the store are nice enough, but all the Infinity Foods range they stock is packaged. As a result I refused to buy anything other tthan some fruid from them. They did recommend Harriot of Hove though which is a 0-waste shop a couple of streets away. On the way me and a guy who's staying at the hostel and came with me met a guy selling more fruit and I think vegetables. The interesting thing I found about that tall was that although the strawberries are sold in plastic containers, he's perfectly happy if I was to bring my own container to put the said strawberries in my own container and reuse the plastic one later. So onto Harriot of Hove. I could totally spend all day at that store! They hae everything from loose pasta, rice, teas to loose driedd fruit and i think nuts. They even have loose vegan chocolate buttons that are also fair-trade! Yay for fair-trade vegan things! You have to take your own containers, which I would be perfectly happy to do. I got some mint tea, some dried appricots and even a lttle reuseable teabag. I've been using the little bag a lot today and yesterday, because the cups here are kind of smaller than my tea-strainer. I think it'll also be useful for making tea in my flask. I managed to get a nice loafof bread too. Today I sadly had to spend more money getting a set of knifes because utensils in the kitchen here are a bit thin on the ground. I wanted to get a bigger loaf of bread, but then realized we don't have a freezer here, so had to get the smaller loaf. My original thinking was great I'll get a big loaf and freeze half of it. Another thing I appreciate about Harriot of Hove is the fact that with the jams and nut butters, you can buy a jar of it and take it back the next time. So when you buy a new jar of jam, they take the old one and send it back to the company that makes it and you get 20p off your new jar of jam or nut butter. I could be mistaken about the nut butter, but I know it applies to the jam. I'm also told it applies to the apple cider vinegar. The bread I got was a sour dough loaf and I thought it was pretty good when it's not toasted. Not sure if I like it toastedd or not - maybe I should put the toaster on a slightly lower temperature tomorrow. I managed to get all the fruit with no packaging yesterday (although I payed more than I would have liked as apples aren't in season and bananas and avocados don't grow in England) and was able to use my own bag. I also was able to use my own containers for the tea and apricots. I got the bread in a paper bag, but paper composts really easily anyway so that's all right. I'll probably pay Harriot of Hove another visit and get some jam. Tonight though I think I'll see what raw vegan recipes I can find or one-pot type things, because apparently there are only 2 working rings on the hob in the kitchen or 2 rings altogether (something along that line) and I don't like using the microwave if I can help it. There are enough microwaves around already.

The Corruption Of The Currency System

For several hundred years, people have been using currency in some form as something to trade with. At least that's how it started off. Then at some point people decided that those who have more money should somehow automatically be able to do more than those who don't have so much. So for quite some years now, rather than things like health care and food and places to live coming from the heart and from a place of genuinely wanting to do what needs to be done, these things and most other things even clothing etc come from a place of greed and seeing how much people can make more than the person before them. I sometimes ask people what would happen if everyone went back to some sort of bartering system. Sadly most of the time people either laugh it off and consider it idealistic, or else assume that it will result in greed. I don't think it would, because those who have everything they need are not the ones doing things like breaking into to buildings or stealing. Apparently those who do those kinds of crimes only do them to sell what they take or to keep it for themselves. I think if the currency system was taken away, all the crime would pretty much disappear. Everyone would be able to get along probably better, because if they don't have something someone is looking for, they'll probably know someone who does. Yes this could potentially take longer to trade, but why do people need to rush unnecessarily anyway? After all, most of the rushing around is quite unnecissary. Of course that's quite a different thing from if someone is quick at doing whatever it is by default. I do charge for the things I make and the knitting patterns I write etc, but only because I have to pay for the materials I need to make the things in the first place. Then most of the time people charge for food etc, so then comes the saying of needing a form of currency (in this case money) to live.

Vegan Shopping And Eating Out

Brighton seems to be a pretty friendly city for vegan and vegetarian things, both eating out and in terms of shopping. I've been here a few days now and not really had any trouble getting recommendations for places. I wend to a pizza place (Purezza) a couple of nights in a row. I wouldn't recommend the vegan macaroni cheese side or starter dish or whatever they refer to it as, because they brought it out when I was still eating something else so by the time I was ready to eat it, it was already getting cold and kind of hard and horrible. Having said that, I do like the courgetti spaghetti, which is a raw dish made with courgette shaped like spaghetti and they add things like sundried tomatoes among other things. I personally think they should make more of it and have it as a main course. I also found the vegan cheese board expensive but interesting. They have 3 or 4 different kinds of vegan cheese (than thankfully doesn't taste like cheese at all I think), a couple of dips and some crackers made with corn flour. Big fat disclaimer: a lot of that does contain nuts like cashues. I thought the cheese board was so filling I ended up bringing the rest of it back to eat for lunch or snack or something the next day. Another place I went to is a Thai restaurant. I had a green curry with rice, which I found verry tasty, especially since I was kind of tired of pizza and pasta by that time. In terms of shopping, I was doing a little bit of searching online for health stores and things. I don't know if they exactly call them bulk stores in the UK and came across a vegetarian and vegan supermarket. I don't know if they have a bulk section, but hope they do. I totally forgot to ask. I went to the bakery section though and had the shop assistant tell me what was on offer, so I got myself a massive slice of pizza that wouldn't even fit in any of my containers! Well the pizza was tasty just the same, because it had all sorts of vegetables and things on it and a pretty decent dough. Turns out they make their own pizzas. I also got a vegan sausage roll, although they couldn't tell me what was in the sausage mix to make it vegan because it's just a pre-made vegan sausage mix. I also got myself a couple of scones with currants. I thought they could have done with some jam or something, but otherwise were quite tasty along with the cup of tea I had when I got back to the house/hostel. I finally managed to get my hands on some soap nut shells (not sure what they do with the nuts themselves) for laundry. I had been looking for them in Bristol but never managed to get hold of any, because they were either no longer sold or just didn't have any or know what they were, so thought I would try when I came to Brighton. I figured if a vegetarian/vegan supermarket doesn't sell them, I don't know where will. It looks like they'll last for absolutely ever as well, because my assistant was saying there is 500 g of the shells in the bag and you only need 5 per wash, but you can leave them to dry and use them up to 4 times. Wow! They come with a little bag to put them in, so you put the said bag in the machine with the clothes and wash away, then hang the bag with the soap nut shells to dry, then do the same with the next laundry. I really need to find out if that store has a bulk section where one can get loose ingredients, because if it does it'll be fantastic.

My First Evening In Brighton

I'm currently in Brighton on the south coast of England for a week or so. It was raining this morning, so thought I would write this before I go back out. I booked he room on air bnb because it was cheaper than most of the others around here. It's a shared room which they said on the description, but what they don't say is that some of the rooms including this one are mixed, rather than male or female. I'm not sure if I like this place or not. I like meeting the people, but it seems like they want to cram as many people into the room as possible. The beds have their own little curtains, so when the curtain is closed or I'm laying down, it feels something like a box. You can't see out the window from the beds at all really. There is a single chair i the room, which I'm sitting on to write this from. To my left is the bathroom door and to the left of that is the window. The window is pretty big, but the tiles on the window sill are cracked. The inner front door of this house is also really stiff. On the more possitive side, if it wasn't so horrible and rainy outside, I would go to the beach which is very close by. There is also a great number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants around here. I went to a plant-based pizza place yesterday evening and had a thing of courgette that was shaped like spaghetti, with sundried tomatoes among other things. Also I had a drink of fermented ginger leaves which was fizzy and kind of reminded me of ginger beer. I had a vegan macaroni cheese, but was not a fan of that because it had gone nearly cold by the time I was ready to eat it and was hard and not very tasty. Thankfully they took that off my bill. That particular pizza place though is cashless because supposedly they were spending too long counting up the cash at the end of the day, then they say only 5% of people were using cash, then they said something I've heard before in that the notes in the UK contain animal fat or some other kind of animal product. I don't see why they would put animal products in money. While I don't support the use of animal products in money, I also think people should be free to use cash if that's what they would like to do.

Yarn Store I would Not Necessarily Recommend

I've been wondering whether to keep my craft blog and this blog still separate or to write everything on here. After all, everything is interconnected in some way for the most part. Since I couldn't be bothered to sign out of this account and sign into my other account, I thought I woul post a little bit on here anyway and if people don't want to read it they can just skip it. The yarn store I wouldn't necessarily recommend is above a sweet-shop on Gloucester Road in Bristol England. I say wouldn't necessarily, because I did manage to get some nice yarn from there a couple of weeks ago, but ask them to read a yarn label or what the name of a yarn is and they have no clue what I'm talking about. I went up there yesterday to get some yarn needles (I left mine at the grandparents' and need to close the toe of a Hermione's Every-day Sock I've been knitting on for an age), and first they tried to sell me some knitting needles. I was utterly confused when I asked for yarn needles and they asked what size I'm looking for. What the heck? When they brought me a set of whatever size knitting needles I realized they were clearly not listening to a word I was saying, or at least not properly. I was going to use my needles in the little sewing kit I've got, but those are too small for yarn sadly. That's the typical thing about trying to travel lighter, you're bound to forget something. All that being said, I would totally recommend the sweets in the sweet-shop. They have some vegan jelly sweets (I particularly like the American hard gums and some other pretty big ones that I can't remember the name of) and they even have some vegan chocolate. :) Speaking of food, maybe I should write a post about low-waste things when staying in air bnb places ... or would that bore everyone stupid?

Navigating New (or not so new) Areas with Little To No Vision

I don't want to turn this into a blindness blog, because there are enough of those already. Saying that though, some people have said I should perhaps do something about navigating, so thought I might as well write something to that since it's at least somewhat specific and related to travelling. In terms of walking around new areas, I like to explore my surroundings and see what I can of the trees and any buildings etc that might be around. I can't distinguish color or read print though, so rely on hearing or smell or touch. I normally just grab my cane and go, so if I want to go somewhere specific I tend to ask for directions. I'm not the most confident when it comes to crossing busy roads, so typically get someone to guide me across them. The most annoying thing I find when walking in big towns and cities is the a-boards businesses tend to have outside, especially the larger ones because I have to go round them to avoid my cane getting stuck underneath them. There are a lot of people in some places who find it necessary to grab hold me when "trying to help". Apart from being pretty scary since you never know what people's intentions are, I find it can hurt like hell. Another thing that I've never understood is why people have this assumption that someone with a vision impairment must automatically have a problem with stairs. I went for a job interview last November and despite my having already gone up a set of stairs to get into the building, as soon as the main person doing the interview even saw me, they decided that it would be too dificult for me to get up to the normal interview room because it was up the stairs and through the warehouse. I told them I was fine with stairs, but that wasn't good enough either because they already decided they were going to move my interview. Even if I had got the job, I doubt I would have taken it because of their attitude. Last week I was in a shop and asked a member of staff how to get to the stairs to go down to the ground-floor. Immediately she wanted to take me to the lift until I told her I was fine with the stairs, but still "do you not want to go to the lift?". No! It's only my eyes that don't work properly not my lefs! As far as buses go ... well that's a whole other story. I find accessibility in the UK very hit-and-miss. I could use some kind of GPS app on the stupidphone I mean smartphone, but although they have worked on the odd occasion, I find they don't really work for me because I either get off too early or too late. Some buses have spoken announcements to tell everyone what the next stop is, but most don't. I'm not including London in this because it's London and the exception to the rule, plus I don't go there unless I have a reason to be there. Having said that though, the London buses and most of the tubes do seem to all talk, although I am told the announcements can still be turned off if the driver wants to do that. I can only write about areas that I've lived or stayed in, but this is going to be a long one. In Newcastle, the 45, 46 and 47 buses from what I remember all have spoken announcements, but sometimes they don't work too well. The q1 and q2 buses that go around Gateshead and a bit of Newcastle are supposed to talk, but either they didn't work when I used them or they just weren't turned on. I spoke to a driver about it because I was getting fed up of having to ask them just in case the thing didn't talk. The only meaningful response I got from the driver was that they can get annoying. I totally see where he's coming from in that the spoken announcements every few minutes can drive you up the wall if you're driving the same route all day or listening to the same thing all day, but at the same time I think that either they have to stay on so people can make a decision as to whether to stay on the bus or to jump off at a different stop. If I change my mind I would like to do so without having to tell the whole bus about it. So please drivers either leave the announcements on or get a microphone and announcements yourself. I can't remember about the other buses in the northeast, because I haven't been on them for ages. The little metro trains also normally have spoken announcements, but at times they don't talk for some reason. I don't recall the buses talking at all in the area of Lincolnshire and Norfolk between Kings Lynn and Spalding. Then again I don't very often take them because Nan and Grandad drive, so they typically take me to places anyway. The buses and the little train don't talk on the Isle Of Whyte either. In Bristol and Somerset, the T2 is supposed to have spoken announcements but most of the time they don't work. I don't understand why. None of the other buses talk around here, but they need to because the biggest problem is drivers not knowing the area! So many times the drivers don't even know the names of the stops on the routes they're paid to drive, but I thought that would be a requirement even if you don't know what's around. I specifically give a name of a stop that I know is on the route, so I expect to be able to get there. I do sometimes tell them what the bus stop is near, but only if it's in an area I already know or have spent some time in. So everyone don't bother asking the drivers of the x6 or x6 from Bristol to Clevedon for insert stop here, even if there is a sign on the actual bus stop that says its name. From the little bus travel I've done in Finland, the drivers have been really helpful in telling me the stop, even if they don't have spoken announcements. The drivers on Flixbus and National Express coaches are normally good about announcing the stops, but again some don't bother, which is quially annoying. Another thing about crossing roads in the UK is that most of the controlled road-crossings no longer have sound. They're supposed to beep to tell when the lights change and pedestrians can walk, but most don't. The argument of most councils is that if there is more than 1 in a certain area they won't make them have sound because it "could get confusing". The UK ones also have a rotating cone on the box just below the button, but that's only useful if a bunch of conditions are true - like assuming first that some idiot hasn't come along and snapped it off, also assuming it hasn't frozen if the temperature has been cold and also if you're the one standing right next to the box in order to reach it. The Isle Of Whyte I find horrible to walk around for the reason that the curbs aren't even consistent. For example there might be a curb on one side of a road but not on the other. There's a crossing in Sandown last time I was there a couple of years ago, and there was nothing in the middle of the road to show that people were meant to stop (no tactile pavement or raised concrete or anything), but apparently only a "keep left" sign. In Hereford none of the buses talk, but the drivers tend to be helpful in telling me when my stop is if I ask them. Also it's not exactly flat there, so I can pretty easily tell where the bus is by the turns it takes and hills and things. In Finland they normally have a ticking sound on the controlled road-crossings. In the part of Helsinki I stayed in March though, they don't seem to have a sound in those ones or any kind of tactile feedback, so had to get someone to guide me as it was a road with multiple sections kind of like a star so I'm told. Apparently parents put in complaints though, because they can't watch their children and watch the lights at the same time, o hopefully that will change soon if it hasn't already. A little word about trains and ferries and things - I used to go on the Sea France ferries to France for the day with Nan and Grandad when I was between 14 and 16 and went once when I was 13 with my school. I noticed then that the signs were in braille in French and English, so was really surprised to see that there are absolutely no braille signs on the boats from North Shields to just outside Amsterdam or on the ferry from Helsinki to Mariham to Stockholm. I've always much preferred the trains in Finland to those in the UK. At least you actually get a seat on the ones in Finland, as you reserve one when you book your ticket. The spoken announcements on the trains in Finland are not only in Finnish, but also normally in Swedish and sometimes Russian and for some reason in English. I don't know if any of the trains in Wales have announcements in Welsh for the stops, but they have Welsh and English announcements at the train stations. They have announcements at train stations in England as to which train is at the platform or next as well, but again on the trains the announcements might not even happen. I got so tired of not knowing where we were pasing through in Wales once that I asked a conductor why he wasn't announcing the stops, only to be told that in their training to be conductors they're specifically told to only announce the principal stations, so of course the little unmanned ones got sadly missed out. The trains in the UK are all owned by different companies, os it's hard to categorize them. Some have automated announcements which announce the stops fine, but some don't have any. On other trains though, the conductor has a microphone and announces the stops that are coming up. Although I'm no fan of crossing busy roads, I much prefer to walk to places if I can. Some places are harder to do that in than others because at times it's hard to distinguish what's the end of a street and what's a curve in the road just for the sake of being a curve. Also in the town of South Shields in the northeast of England, the streets at times run into each other. I'm thinking particularly of Ocean Road, King Street and the street that goes to the market place. Well that's enough of my blind navigation ramble.

A Day Out In Clevedon Town

I spent today hanging out with someone I met just as I got off the bus in Clevedon town. Turns out there's a market every week here, so we went there to have a look round. I got some sunflower rolls from the person selling different kinds of bread. Sadly the bread was in plastic packaging, but thought I would put 1 or 2 of them with the sun-dried tomatoes I bought from someone else who sells them and olives and things, then the people who live here can have the rest of them. The sun-dried tomatoes were in packaging today, but then I didn't take any containers with me because I didn't know there was a market on today. I did ask though if I had my own container could I put things in there and she said absolutely. :) There was a cheese stall and a fish/meat stall. I didn't buy anything from those or the yarn stall. Sadly a lot of the yarn was acrylic anyway. One pretty nice thing I did see was some clothes made from recycled saris. I asked a bit about what the actual material is and they're made from viscose (in this case the bark of a tree). I did get a crystal pendant on a chain from someone selling crystals and things. I can't remember what stone it is, but it has different colors going through it. The chain is silver-plated, but thankfully the base metal is not nicol. We went to a restaurant for lunch and I had a rather large mushroom stroganev with some leaves of lettuce and some really thin flat bread. I don't know what bread it was, but it was thinner than popadoms. I also had some lemone grass tea, which I found pretty refreshing. We had a bit of a look around the shops. I originally planned to go to Holland And Barett and see if they have any laundry soap nuts. I've heard people on youtube talking about them and seen them listed on amazon, but really want to be able to just pick things up in person. Well it turned out the people in Holland And Barett have never heard of them. I'm not surprised because I only heard of them this year, but of course they gave me the usual stock answer of look online. Thankfully there is a shop whose name I can't spell on Gloucester Road in Bristol and they ordered some earlier in the week anyway since they forgot, so they should have them by Tuesday afternoon. We also came across a gift shop which had some really nice things like candles and coasters etc. Annoyingly though the person working in the shop couldn't tell me what the candles were made from apart from "natural wax". I gathered that, but that doesn't tell me if it's bees' wax or soy/coconut wax or what it actually is. My companion pointed out a fish and chip shop as well, so I asked the person in there what they cook the chips in and they said olive oil, but then pointed out that everything is all cooked in the same frier with the fish and sausages. So I totally gave that shop a miss. I was thinking some chips would be tasty as well. There's at least 1 bakery in the area we were in, so when the person I was hanging out with mentioned there were breads for sale, I went in and spoke to the person working in there. They can wrap the bread in plastic bags or they can put them in paper instead, and they'll even slice the bread as well! I totally forgot to ask about vegan pastiel and things but there's always another time. After all that we went to the beach and were looking at and collecting rocks for a bit. We separated at the bus stop when I wanted to come back to the place I'm staying at until Saturday. Turns out the bus driver doesn't know the route he's paid to drive. Why are the drivers not expected to know the names of the stops on the route! There's little to no point relying on GPS even if I wanted to, because although it works at times, more often than not I still end up getting off too early or too late. And so once again I had to tell at least 2 more people the stop I wanted to go to so they could find it.

Visiting Bristol, England And Surrounding Areas

I've spent nearly the last 2 weeks visiting Bristol in England and the surrounding areas. It's bank holiday Monday at the end of May at the time of writing this, so writing on here about my thoughts and experiences so far. I started off staying in a place not in the centre of the city, but on the way out. There are trees and flowers in that area and I'm told you can see the countryside and a tower (which apparently is or used to be part of a hospital). The place I stayed at was above a shop and the bus stop was right near the said shop. In fact the bus stop when arriving in the street turned out to be outside a Chinese takeaway. The takeaway was not a place I tended to frequent because I was mainly wondering around the city centre. The bus goes right to the centre of Bristol and near to where the coaches are. I've written previously on this blog about Suncraft, so I won't write too much about that here, apart from to say I've been there a few more times. The only thing I haven't been a fan of so far was a sort of rice pudding thing, because I didn't like the liquid stuff on top and found that although the rest of the carrot and coconut etc had a good flavor, it was rather dry. I spent nearly a week in the town of Thornbury after that. I like the fact that the town has a lot of greenery and trees and birds, but for a market town there doesn't seem to be much happening. I wanted to go to the farmers' market, but I missed it because it's only on something like every 3rd Thursday of the month. The bus stop was right on the next street from where I was staying, but totally couldn't remember how to get to it. I don't know whether it's because Thornbury is quite a way out of Bristol, but I found a certain bus was never on time if it turned up at all. I was out all day every day last week, so spent a bit of time toodling around Thornbury, but more often than not went into Bristol or the somewhat bigger town of Cribbs Causway, which is part-way between the two. I was doing some research looking for yarn stores to visit in Thornbury, but the only one I found was looking like it might close, as people are buying more online. If it's still open and I'm in the area again, maybe I should go there though. I totally don't need any more yarn but whatever. :) I love indipendent shops, so want to support them. Cribbs Causeway has a shopping centre, but although it has 2 floors, there doesn't seem to be a lot there, at least not unless you want to buy clothes. Having said that though, I did find a "modern vigntage" shop, where even if the things and materials used to make the items were new, the designs on them were over 25 to 30 years old. I always thought vigntage meant something had to be over 50 years old or from a certain time period, or is that antiques? But then antiques are supposed to be over 100 years old, yet I've seen things listed as antiques that were only between 60 and 80 years old. In this particular shop though, there were of course some clothes and shoes and bags, but also some vases in the shape of rabbits which I thought were sweet. Also they had plenty of mugs and plates etc with things written on them or different designs. Also in the shopping centre I found what seemed to be a book shop. I never found out what shop it was, but it seemed to have books that it had already been decided were popular, for example Michelle Obama's book and some fictional things I had never heard of. I find Bristol so far to be a good city for living vegan/vegetarian and 0/low-waste. The only down side is that it's so busy, to the point of asking people where so and so bus is and no one knows what buses go where without looking for directions on their phone. Again I ask myself and others what will people do when the cellphones and wireless internet go crashing down? Speaking of phones, I found a couple of potentially working payphones just near Sainsbury on Gloucester Road in Bristol. Yay for things that actually work! There is a really good fruit and vegetable shop in the same street, selling everything from avocados and oranges to apples and probably carrots and potatoes etc. I even noticed a pineapple in the area outside the shop where the oranges and avocados are. I don't know the name of the shop, but it's across the road from Harvest Natural Foods. Harvest as it says sells natural things from loose oats, rice, lentils etc to vegan and vegetarian cakes and pastries. They also have some reuseable bags both for fruit and vegetables and bigger ones for general stuff. I got myself a couple of the produce bags, which are the smaller ones with plands or at least leaves and stems printed on them. If you want to buy a slice of pie, I would recommend taking your own container because they do tend to fall apart. The pasties are all right to just put in the paper bags though. I just hope my stainless-steel containers will be big enough, or one will for a piece of pie next time, because the pies and pasties are so tasty! Also there are 3 shelves full of aromatherapy oils, so I got a pine one to use with my oil burner. I think I'll try the tip several people keep mentioning of using a little bit of water in the dsh with the oil. At least the ones in Harvest range in price, unlike in Holland And Barett. I found a music shop in Bristol as well, selling records and CDs. Although I didn't buy anything, I was glad to see a music shop still around. I was quite interested in a Japanese shop, but sadly they didn't want me touching the bowls and plates at all just in case they might get broken. I found it kind of weird that there was a tea-set of a teapot and a few cups all nicely in a box, but the plates and dishes were not in anything to protect them. If you don't want people to pick stuff up and look at it, don't even have it on display, or have the sense to put it in it's box so it won't break. I know for a fact I don't break stuff just by touching it, because I was in Marks And Spensor later and looking at loads of things and broke absolutely nothing. Everyone picks things up to look at it closer, otherwise how will you know if you want to buy it? I'm currently in the town of Clevedon in Somerset, which I think I mentioned at the top of this post. Tomorrow I think the green grocer and other shops will be open and back to normal, so I'm going to take a wonder around this town. Yesterday at least for a while, it was drizzly and rainy, then later in the day it was still cloudy. This town is a coastal town with farms and countryside nearby as well. So at times I've been able to hear a number of birds like seagulls and sparrows and pigeons among others all at the same time. Not many birds are out today, but I did hear some seagulls earlier in the morning. This area also has lots of trees. There's plenty of grass too, although I don't understand what people's obsession is with lawns. They want grass, but instead of letting the grass grow wild and be grass, they only let it grow to a certain height and cut it. I'm looking forward to wondering around this town a bit anyway and seeing what it has to offer. The people living at the place I'm staying at now want to try and be more environmentally-friendly, so they thankfully have a decent recycling system by the look of it. They have herbs and fruit and vegetables growing outside and said something about having frogs in a pond as well. This residential area of Clevedon is nice and quiet. Come to think of it, I haven't heard a single car. I have come across the odd person on a bike and of course there are cars, but the main road is not right close to the houses.

Suncraft

Suncraft is a plant-based/vegan restaurant or cafe type place on Gloucester Road in Bristol England. I've visited it once so far and plan to do so again. I found the staff helpful and like the fact they produce as much as they can themselves. They have a UV and irrigation system for growing mint and herbs (sadly they don't have it outside) and they make their own juices, ice cream and teas. There's also a machine to get some filtered water. They ask for a 20p donation which goes to water aid. I wonder how much they make from that in a day. Probably a good few pounds I should think. As far as food goes, I had a side dish which I thought was kind of small but that's just personal preference I guess, a main course, a desert and a drink. For all of that I payed under £20. The side dish was some potato cakes. I hadn't had potato cakes in years, so it was good to finally get some that were vegan. I can't spell the name of the main course, but it was a Chinese type dish that had tofu, mushrooms, brown rice and another vegetable and probably some herbs. I thought the flavors blended together nicely. I normally steer away from things like tofu, but when it's cooked properly I think it can be not too bad, although it's not my favorite thing in the world. For desert I had banana frittas with salted date ice cream. Don't know if I would have added the ice cream, but it was certainly an interesting taste. I liked both the frittas and the ice cream, but not entirely sure if I would have put the together. I can't remember what else was in the drink I had, but I do know it had beetroot juice in it. On the counter were some cards advertizing an animal rights protest. They had the date and time, but totally missed off where it will be taking place.

Travelling In The 21st Century Without A Cellphone (Working Or Otherwise)

While I was waiting for my connecting coach on Saturday last week in London Victoria Coach Station, a lady turned up who needed to find a payphone to call internationally. She had I think used all the money on her mobile/cellphone trying to make the call but had some cash. She asked one of the staff if there was a payphone and they didn't think there were any left in the station anymore as they had been or were being taken out, so she asked the staff member to borrow their cellphone to call as she couldn't think of anything else to do. The said staff member said they're not allowed to carry their phones with them (I doubt this as I know another member of staff used their phone to call an ambulance for another passenger, so they clearly carry them but don't let on as such unless it's an emergency). Well the member of staff with the lady was finally told that there are only 2 payphones in the whole station, both of which are in the arrivals hall. This got me to thinking, what would people do if there were once again no mobile phones? I think I would personally be fine, as I'm used to either finding about places before I travel or asking for directions, or some sort of a combination of both. I never rely on GPS as I find it partly distracting in the sense that I pay less attention to what's going on around me, but partly I'm so used to technology not working that I don't trust it, so do stuff like get off a bus too early. I've also nover found GPS terribly accurate either, especially in countries like the UK where buildings are right next to each other. If I try and get a location, it either won't work or go a long way about showing me as it does lately, or else it will give me an address a few doors away or across the road! As I'm not able to read the signs giving the names of shops for example, even if I do try and get to a place using a GPS of some kind, I still have to ask someone where I am or learn a route beforehand if it's somewhere I go regularly. However most people while they might know parts of town or city, still rely on looking at "smart" phones or other such devices in order to navigate anywhere. Today I was looking for a cafe that I wanted to visit (Suncraft is its name, more about that in another post), I got off the bus and turned out I had done the usual of getting off too early. I didn't think the GPS or driver would be too reliable as it's a 25 minute or more route. Anyway I got another bus to where I really should have been at and asked how to get to the rest of the way as I knew it was on the same street and so probably close by. Well partly I think people just don't listen to most of what I say as I had to repeat myself multiple times today, but partly the person I asked at that time for directions walked with me all the way to the other end of the street and back before realizing it was on the opposite side of the road! The place was really easy to find and closer, because the odd numbers were on 1 side and the evens on the other. What would we do if we went back to using maps and asking each other for directions? I know how to read some symbols on maps and actually find them pretty interesting, but not many younger than me could. In fact I asked a 16-year-old in 2015 what programming language she made the odd couple of games in at school and she came out with something I had never heard of. Not being too surprised, I looked it up and it was ane where you do very little actual writing of the program but more in the way of moving things around on the screen and adjusting their properties. I'm guessing the same person wouldn't have known what to do if I loaded up a terminal and said she had to use it. I wish at times I had been one of those who had grown up using the command-line on the computer, because I find nothing more useful than typing something and getting either the result I intended or an error at line whatever:column whatever, but sadly I only learned that stuff later on and pretty much self-taught. I think graphics can be useful in presenting of course pictures and videos, but not so if they're not accessible to everyone. To conclude: I think technology has its place if it's used as a tool, but I also think it is very much over-used. I find it nice to not use things like cellphones and wifi for a while. As it is I won't be keeping the cellphone/smartphone around forever, because when I stay somewhere permanently I'll be going back to a nice landline and a wired internet connection. Of course that also means people taking the time to talk or write meaningful messages, which I also think people don't do enough of perhaps including myself at times. We're all guilty if we have a phone or tablet or insert other hand-held device of staring at it and fiddling about with it. One of the first times I left my phone behind, I noticed how much more aware I was of the fact that a journey I regularly took at the time felt like a bloody long time. I don't have a concept of time unless I'm looking it a clock or some other timepiece, but noticed that in physical terms the journey was so slow, yet astral travel is pretty much instantaneous. If I know how long it's supposed to take to do something I can plan accordingly, but otherwise I don't know how long it will take to complete a task for example until I've completed it. That was a rather long conclusion, but that's all right with me. During the writing of this post, for some reason I thought of sending a link for this blog to Howard Hughes, the host of "The Unexplained" podcast and radio show. I have absolutely no idea why I thought he would be interested, but let's send it anyway ... maybe.

Intuition In Animals

I write this on a Friday evening/night from my grandparents' house in the part of the rather large county of Lincolnshire closest to the Norfolk border. About this time or perhaps a little earlier yesterday, Grandad wanted to give some leftover bread (I think containing dried fruit) to the wild birds that normally visit the bird feeder or table. I told him you shouldn't give bread to the birds even if it didn't have fruit, because it swells up inside their stomach. He only responded that people have been giving birds for donkeys' years and it's only ducks you should not give the bread to, because it swells up when it hits water in the rivir or pond. He went on to say that wild animals are not stupid and won't eat food if it's poisonous to them. I said yes they would because they might not know the food is poisonous until they eat it, but he seemed to still think that they won't touch it by default. I got to thinking about it then and later and thought, that makes little if any sense. If someone doesn't tell you something is poisonous and you haven't found out through trying the food, how do you know if the food is poisonous? Yes you can use intuition and logic in part to decide not to eat the food, but on the other hand you could also decide that the food looks perfectly safe to eat and do so anyway. We all know that animals tend to use their intuition a lot more than most humans do, but even those lovely creatures don't know how to deal with the physical existence unless they learn it from each other. If you have little to no hearing and go to an area where birds are singing, you won't know that the birds are singing unless someone tells you so. Even if you see them flying or sitting around or whatever they're doing, they may or may not be singing, but because the physical sense of hearing doesn't work, you won't be aware of such a thing. You can of course go wherever you like and do whatever you like astrally, because the spiritual form is perfectly fine and has no limitations that are imposed on physical forms. That way you can go and hear birds singing or see the trees and animals etc, which then brings the question of why do we have a physical human experience if we have to rely on others to help inform and shape it or we have to look at things astrally anyway? I haven't yet found an answer, but still I wonder ... why are all of us spiritual beings having human, animal, tree, rock experiences etc? How and why did we end up on the planet known as Earth? As to animals, I know the horses and dolphins especially, but all of them in general bother with telepathy, intuition, empathy and whatever else way more than most humans do these days. I think this is partly because people choose not to, but partly because people find it necessary to condition each other into believing that anything other than physicality is imagination or made up.

Travelling By Public Transport In Europe

I can't drive but of course love to travel, so thought I would write today about using public transport both in the UK and the rest of the European countries I've been to or through. In the UK, the train companies used to be funded at least partially by the government, but for as long as I can remember have now been privately funded. I don't know who funds the buses, but I would guess they're privately funded as there are so many companies that run them. I don't know though, because you can normally get information on buses and timetables etc through local councils. Because of the fact that the trains here are privately funded, the companies find every way they can to make them expensive as they can, regardless of the quality of the journey. I can normally get a seat on a train, but it's not garranteed, because the companies sell as many tickets as they can and reserving a seat is only optional. There are discounts that some people can use like if they fall into certain age groups or have a disability. I think there are also some discounts for families. Even with a discount though, I would say at times a train can be the most expensive next to taxing a taxi. I haven't flown on an internal flight in the UK, but I'm told some people find that option cheaper than trains. That's not to mention the price of food on trains and at stations! I've payed at times £2 for a cup of tea and at the same time found out that sandwiches then cost around £3.50! Let's take my own food I think. Well when I remember to get or make something. In terms of local buses it depends on the company, especially with local buses. Some companies charge a rather large amount to go only a few minutes round in a circle, while others charge somewhat cheaper to do a similar distance and journey-length. Again you can get various bus passes making the journey cheaper or even free of charge. Speaking of free travel, I'm told that people with disabilities living in Scotland can get a card to allow them to travel on the trains within Scotland for free! I'm starting to use National Express lately for coach travel. Even if I didn't have a coach card, it would still make it considerably cheaper to travel by coach than by train. I'm going to visit my friend Dawn (who writes the Barriers To Bridges blog and website) soon. Taking the coaches will take a lot longer, but be barely a third of the price of the trains. I haven't used Megabus, so can't comment on their buses or service, but I've so far found National Express drivers friendly and helpful and the buses more comfortable than the Flixbus buses. In Finland and many other European countries, the trains are subsidized heavily by the governments. I say that because a journey from Helsinki to Rovaniemi taking between 8 and 12+ hours depending on which one you take costs 80 euros, but you can pay £80 or more for a journey from Hereford to Newcastle, which only takes about 5 or 5 hours! The other difference is that the Finland journey I just mentioned is normally a direct route and the same price whether you want to go now or book 2 months ahead of time. When you buy a ticket with the train company there, you reserve a seat by default, so the ticket is also the reservation. I like this because it means absolutely no one stands up for a train journey, unless of course they're going to the toilet or the dining car. Speaking of dining cars, they have them rarely in the UK trains, but both in the UK and Finland they have not many vegan options. On the Finnish trains though, you normally find at least 1 option and you actually get to sit down with a plate and cutlery like in a restaurant. For people who read braille, the seat numbers are sometimes in braille on the side of the isle seats on the trains in Finland, but not the compartments as far as I know and there is nothing at all on the British trains. I can't remember if I've mentioned in previous posts on here, but taxi meters in Finland start at 6 or 7 euros, so by definition fares are so much more expensive than taking a bus. To get from Helsinki Vantaa Airport to the other side of the city it costs 40 euros in a taxi but only 5 by bus. I can't comment on any national coach services there, because I haven't used them, but even getting around by local buses is so much eaper than by taxi. Of course walking is also totally free and I like to walk if I don't have a bunch of stuff to carry. I think the taxi meters in Germany start at a lower amount than in Finland, because to go 7 km across Berlin it cost about 18 euros. The cheap taxi companies in the UK start at £1, but normally the start at £2 or £2.50. Although I don't find the Flixbus buses in any way comfortable, I find some of the drivers to be so kind. I like ferries too, because they can be cheap if you book at the right time and the food is normally pretty good. I ate some food in one of the restaurants on the ferry from Turku to Stockholm and was glad to see they were using reuseable napkins or whatever you call those things you wipe hands on. I booked that ferry with ferrysavers.co.uk and the ferry I went on from Copenhagen to Dresden was included in the price of my Flixus ticket. I enjoy being able to walk around on ferries or on the longer journeys you can go to sleep if you want. The sofa in the cabin turns into a bed. I know ferries hold a lot more people than planes, so I would guess they're more environmentally friendly, as well as the fact they don't seem to dump fuel but keep hold of it. I could be entirely wrong though, because there are some statistics that say aeroplanes are the second most environmentally friendly mode of transport. To conclude, I plan on using more coaches for longer distance travelling in the UK rather than trains. I have recently come across a service called blablacar, which allows you to get picked up and dropped off if people are driving in the same direction ... Apparently it's kind of a ride-sharing service. I can't comment on that as it's not something I've tried oud.