The Bristol Pound is Here!

Today saw the launch of Bristol's local currency - the Bristol Pound.  Equal in value to its sterling counterpart it will be accepted in around 300 local independent shops.  Because it cannot be spent in any supermarket or national/international chain it cannot leave Bristol but will circulate in the local economy enabling it to grow and prosper.

I bought my Bristol Pounds at the Tobacco Factory, where they are on sale from 12 noon until 5 pm from Monday until Saturday.  I was the Southville Deli's first Bristol Pound customer, where I bought some Parma ham and Pendragon cheese for lunch.

In the evening we went down to  St Nicholas Market where the queue to buy Bristol Pounds stretched out into the street.  In addition to most of the regular stalls there were dozens of extra ones and shoppers were entertained by circus players and musicians.  We ate in the Moroccan restaurant and bought a mug depicting the £10 note.  The optimism was tangible.  I sense a real desire to make this scheme work.

Tomorrow I'll have to call in at the Tobacco Factory for more Bristol Pounds as I've already spent most of the ones I bought today!

If Music be the Food of Love ...

My Dad loved music.  He sang in choirs, beginning as a choir boy in the Scottish Episcopal Church and ending as a tenor in the Pune Choral Society in India.  In his last years his Morningside flat was always filled with music either on the radio or on a CD from his growing classical music collection.

When he died I inherited this library which my sister kindly had delivered to me in Bristol in several cardboard boxes.  I spent some time arranging them in historical, rather than alphabetical order, largely as a source of reference for my elder daughter in her Music GCSE.  However, although I have picked the odd one out from time to time, I haven't yet done what I promised myself I would do, that is to start at the beginning and listen to them all in sequence.

But this week, spurred on my my Classical Gas rehearsal this morning (we were singing Vivaldi and Bruckner), I am embarking on my classical music experience with Thomas Tallis, the Father of English Church Music.  The CD features Spem in Alium and Mass & Motets.  I am very fond of Tallis and was impressed by Exultate's performance of Spem in Alium at St George's earlier this year, so I know I'm off to a good start.

10 Things ...

... you can do with a book that you can't do with a Kindle!

1. Run your fingers across the cover and feel the weight of it in your hands
2. Bury your nose in its pages and breathe in the scent of the paper
3. Chance upon it on the shelf of secondhand bookshop
4. Borrow it from your local library
5. Pass it on to a friend
6. Donate it to a charity shop
7. Release it into the wild
8. Use it to create a work of art
9. Judge it by its cover
10. Wedge it under the leg of a wobbly table

How Should We Then Live?

Samsara is a Sanskrit word meaning 'continuous flow', the repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.

Ron Fricke, the director of the film of the same name, describes it as a nonverbal guided meditation, which is pretty accurate.  The audience is treated to a veritable feast of moving images from across the world, shot in stunning 70mm, depicting life in all its breathtaking, horrifying, uplifting, agonising, occasional amusing, manifestations.  There is no dialogue but there is music, from distinctly upbeat to hauntingly beautiful.

The images 'flow' into each other suggesting connections.  The natural flow is generally harmonious but there are the inevitable disruptions, illustrated by some rather disturbing images.

Samsara's not a preachy film but it did make me wonder about the impact of  my lifestyle on the flow of human life.  A timely reminder of the value of mindfulness.

You can watch the preview here and catch the full thing at the Watershed until this Thursday.  

Mere Baubles ...

but I like them.

I fashioned the balls around the outside from bits of coloured fleece at last week's WI meeting.  They were easy enough to roll between my palms, the only difficulty being in trying to make them all the same size.

The two in the middle were ones someone else had prepared earlier but which I decorated with sequins and beads sewn on with glittery thread.

The plain ones will be used to make a bracelet.  The decorated ones will become ear rings.

Summer Holiday To Do List - A Review

Well, I managed to strike off 11 of the 25 things I wanted to do in the school holidays, which doesn't worry me in the least as I did lots of other things instead.

I didn't eat a bacon butty at Brunel's Buttery but I did tuck in to a full English at the Lockside to compensate for the lack of a hot air balloon ascent at dawn.

I didn't have a drink at The Grain Barge but I did have a few at No 1 Harbourside, one of George Ferguson's other ventures.

I didn't visit the Holborne Museum but I was delighted by Richard Race's Automata exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery on my first ever visit.

I didn't make it to London to view Grayson Perry's tapestries but I did take in the Alex Katz exhibition at Tate St Ives.

I didn't walk the Bristol to Bath cycle path but I did embark on the NHS Couch to 5k programme (temporarily suspended due to dodgy knee!)

I didn't visit Tyntesfield but I did spend a day working in the walled garden at Barley Wood.

I didn't bake any scones but I ate a few (with strawberry jam and clotted cream) in St Ives.

I didn't manage to fill my South West Reading Passport but I did make a start with one book each from North America (The Power & the Glory by Graham Greene) and Asia (Silk by Alessandro Barrico).

I didn't bake a pizza but I did bake a deliciously moist Almond and Orange cake for the last WI meeting.

I didn't paint my toenails but I paddled in the sea. 

I didn't have a barbecue but I did eat an excellent burger at Blas Burger Works in St Ives. 

I didn't make any homemade lemonade but I did drink Pimms (and eat cucumber sandwiches) while cheering Andy Murray on to his Olympic Gold.

I didn't start another sourdough mixture but I did share one of Mark's loaves with a friend I hadn't seen for a long time, who took the rest of it home to her partner in Wales.

I didn't catch a live performance at the Colston Hall but I did spend a very pleasant afternoon drinking beer, eating paella and listening to flamenco, blue grass and klezmer at the El Rincon  Fiesta at Greville Smythe Park Bowling Green.

I've had a good break and am as ready as I can be for the year ahead.

One More Thing

As you can see from the image on the right next week is National Zero Waste Week 2012, pioneered by the redoubtable (as in 'worthy of respect and honour' rather than 'arousing fear', of course!) Mrs Green.

The theme of this year's week is One More Thing because, according to Mrs Green, if every household in the UK recycled just one more thing the total amount of recyclable rubbish could be increased by more than three quarters of a million tonnes.

Without wishing to sound smug I am a pretty good recycler already (with the support of my local council who provide excellent recycling facilities), but there is always room for improvement.

So what is my One More Thing to be?

Well, after some consideration, I have decided to make better use of my freezer.

I propose to this in three ways:

1. I am going to try and (identify! and) use up some of the food already in my freezer.  Followers of my Zero Waist blog will remember that I attempted to so some time ago, but with limited success, partly due to the lack of labeling and partly to the kind of food I'd frozen. 
2. Wherever appropriate, I am going to double up recipes and freeze half the dish.  This will save energy and provide me with an invaluable store of quick meals for those days when I don't have the time (or inclination!) to spend hours in the kitchen.
3. I am going to label EVERYTHING I put in the freezer - even if I'm convinced I'll remember what it is when I eventually dig it out.  It's remarkable how similar stewed apples appear to curried parsnip soup - but you wouldn't want the latter with custard!  I am also going to try and keep some sort of record of what's in the freezer (and maybe even in which basket!) to help in menu planning.
4. I am also going to use the freezer to save little pieces of food from the bin (even if it's the compost one!).  Parmesan rinds can be frozen to add to the next stock.  Half a lemon can be sliced and frozen to add to my favourite tipple.  The other half of a bunch of parsley can be chopped and frozen in an ice cube tray to add to a stew or a sauce.
5. I shall be recording any interesting observations on my progress over on Zero Waist and I hope you will pop over to see how I'm doing.

Well, that's my One More Thing.  What's yours?