February Challenge: A Review

Although I didn't succeed in buying absolutely nothing in February I did manage to confine my purchases to pretty much the essentials ie food and drink and bus fares.  Drawing up a list of the contents of my kitchen cupboards helped.  However even after a month of raiding the shelves for ingredients they are still remarkably full.  So, as was the case with January's Dump the Junk Challenge, it is definitely work in progress!

Rising Up

 This morning I visited the Rising Up camp off Frenchay Park Road, where a group of people are protesting against the destruction of prime agricultural land in order to develop the site for the Metrobus scheme.

The background and history of this campaign can be found on the Rising Up website.  No one is denying the importance of public transport but the Metrobus scheme has been discredited, while the land it threatens is Grade 1-3 Best and Most Versatile soil and home to smallholdings and allotments.  All this takes place in Bristol's year as Green Capital of Europe and the United Nations' Year of the Soils!

Back to the camp which is well organised but, after yesterday's rain, is wet and muddy.  The site is dotted with tents pitched on pallets to keep them dry, a communal kitchen with a fire on which to cook and gather round to eat, and a compost loo.  There are variety of shelters in the trees, including one designed as a birdbox, and protestors take it in turns to sleep up in the branches.

I spent an hour or so looking round the site and chatting to the protestors, asking them why they were there and how they were coping with living in the wild.  They are a diverse bunch of individuals but with a single commitment, to protect this piece of precious land from the developers.  I admire their courage and determination and feel slightly ashamed of my reluctance to join them.  I left them a rucksackful of food and a gingerbread cake by way of compensation.

If you live in or around Bristol and would like to support them in some way they have drawn up a list of  ten things you might like to do.

Wolf Hall: The Year in Books

I was only a day late in finishing my January book (We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler).  However, considering I was only a third of the way through it on Friday, I was rather pleased with myself.  On the Saturday and Sunday afternoons I did what I haven't done in a long time.  I curled up under my fleece blanket on the sofa with a mug of tea and read for a few hours.  It was sheer luxury.

So, what did I make of it?  I'm not sure.  I raced through the first few chapters and then ran out of steam.  I only had enough time to read a few pages a day which didn't work well with the non linear narrative.  I had to keep flicking back through the pages to refresh my memory.  It wasn't until the weekend that I go back into the story.  

It's a tricky book to review on account of the dramatic twist it takes fairly early on and which is intrinsic to the story line.  I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone.  So I'll settle for saying that I enjoyed it, but no more than that.  It's carefully researched, well written and the story moves on apace.  It deals with a fascinating subject.   But I didn't really care very much for any of the characters and it ultimately failed to grip me.

My book for February is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.  I bought the hardback copy for £3 from a charity shop some time ago and hoped to have it read by the time the TV series began.  I didn't but watching it has inspired me to pick it up again.  I'm taking it up to Glasgow next weekend to leave it with my daughter so I'll have to get a move on.

I'm joining in The Year in Books with Laura over at Circle of Pine Trees.

February Challenge

Having got rid of 396 bits of stuff last month I am anxious not to replace them.  So my challenge for February is not to buy anything I don't need.

My original plan was to restrict this to non food items.  However, given that I don't normally buy an awful lot else, and having enough on my shelves and in the freezer to provide us with the foundation for a good many meals, I've decided to extend it to include food.

Part of the reason for this glut is not checking what I have before going out shopping and coming home with stuff already in stock.  So the first step is to make a list.

Meanwhile I have today bought the following:

3 kg of demerara sugar

for a second batch of marmalade

essential to catch the Seville oranges before they disappear from the greengrocers

1 tin of chickpeas

to make a bowl of hummus

 to eat with the loaf of semolina and sesame seed bread I bought at Mark's Bread yesterday

Tonight's dinner (Thai green curry with noodles) will be prepared entirely from stock.