Long-stay Versus Short-stay Travel

I haven't had a massive amount to say for a while. I thought I would say a little bit about my thoughts on long or short-stay travel. For just over 2 months, I stayed at a guesthouse in Doncaster England. It's owned and ran by Florence/Flo, who is a lovely landlady and friend. She offers a 3-course dinner in the evening as well as breakfast (the dinner is extra but the breakfast is included in the price) and is great to talk to. :) Her place has been going through some changes so is an on-going work in progress, so for some of the time I've been there, I've been volunteering there. I've been helping redecorate the dining-room, specifically stripped a fair amount of the wallpaper and did a little of the painting. I also helped with getting the rooms ready and cooking food. I find being able to work voluntarily is something I like about staying in places for longer. When I come back from America, I plan to go back and do a food hygene course. I also like that you can get to know people better by staying a bit longer. When I go to America though, I will only be staying in places for shorter lengths of time. This is partly because tomorrow I go to stay near the airport, then on Wednesday I fly to America, so I'll be only needing the room for the one night, but apart from that, I'll be meeting with a couple of friends for my first few days of being in the US. I find short-stay travelling more a convenient thing, enough to perhaps look around or see people, but not long enough to be tied down to work or anything. I still do my craft work while travelling as well, so that's good too. For the remainder of my America trip, unless anyone else wants to meet or have me stay etc, I'll be looking around Nashville Tennessee. I love country music and of course Nashville is known as the home of country music, so I've wanted to go there since I was about 12 or 13.

Goals For 2020

This is a week after 1st January 2020, but I thought I would post anyway. I don't normally do new year resolutions, because setting too specific goals means you automatically break them, then it's no fun anymore because you fail at whatever the thing was by definition. That being said, I thought I would set a couple of less-specific goals. The main goal I have is to use less plastic. I thought this would be a good idea because I take issue with plastic being used for unnecessary things like packaging. The things get used once then thrown away because they can't be recycled for any number of reasons, meaning they end up in land-fill sites and in the ocean, so being consumed by everyone in the sea from fish to birds and for all we know it could stop plants from growing in the ocean. Of course there are acceptions and some peaple do keep and reuse things made from plastic. Until plastic was used in so many packaged and otherwise disposable products, it was never designed as far as I know to only be used once, but to stay around which is in fact what it does. So I want to buy as little in plastic as possible this year. The only acception being if someone gives me something or if I already have it. The other thing I want to try and do is to buy fewer teakeaways. This will save money as well as creating less waste. If I do get takeaway food, I want to try and remember to take my own container(s). Speaking of plastic, I did a quick calculation and if I went shopping and got 1 plastic bag per week, I would be paying about £5.20 per year minimum. Of course I would probably buy than more than 1 bag of food2 so in that case if I got 2 bags a week it would be £10.40. This doesn't sound like a lot, but perhaps it is to some people. In practical terms, these goals mean doing more of what I was doing in the first place and making food myself and remembering to take my own food when I go out or take my bamboo cutlery set, stainless-steel flask and a reusable mug, or taking some cloth shopping bags when I go shopping. I'll also continue using bars of soap shampoo and conditioner and the bamboo toothbrushes etc. Speaking of toothbrushes, I'm pleased the set I got in November last year came in cardboard packaging if they had to be packaged in anything. I think the goal of buying fewer takeaways will be rather tested soon, especially when I go to America, where I'm told eating out or ordering stuff to be delivered is quite a thing people do there. Still let's see how it goes.

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.