WEEE…What’s it all about?
25 July 2007
No it’s not a typo in the title! It refers to the directive that came into force on 1st July 2007 for the disposal and recycling of electrical goods. Everyone is encouraged to recycle and now eletrical goods are to be regularly recycled.
What does WEEE stand for? It’s the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive.
Who do the WEEE regulations affect?This is mainly businesses in the first instance who supply, manufacture, import, store, treat or dismantle electrical items. Read more
One animal I can’t live without…
17 July 2007
…is my Dyson DC14 Animal! We have a dog and anyone with a pet knows that their hair 
get absolutely everywhere. The Dyson is fantastic for getting right up against the skirting boards where dog hair especiallylikes to gather. As with most Dysons it has the stair, crevice and brush tools conveniently stored. We’ve also bought a flexi crevice tool for getting into really small spaces like 
in the car or down the sides of kitchen appliances.
The cord on this Dyson is over 9 metres, which with the telescopic hose makes stair and high reach cleaning a doddle. Emptying the Dyson is simple too. You can see when the bin is full and it a quick push of a button to open the bin base to empty the contents. I put mine in to our compost bin. Read more
Grass seed and carrot soup
17 July 2007
It was our first weekend in many many weeks when we were on our own! The world was our oyster, so what did we do? Well as Saturday was gorgeous we decided that it was time to reseed the lawn, which was looking lusciously green with large bare areas thanks to the feed and weed. Of course I had to do some washing to make the most of the warm weather. Oh, yes, life here is really non-stop excitement!
To celebrate being young free and single again we treated ourselves to some fine gourmet food. Well, not quite. I made some carrot and coriander soup. Despite the scorching weather I was not to be put off and got my food processor out to make said soup. I’ve had the food processor since Christmas when I decided to make my first ever Christmas cake and realised that a food processor would make life much easier, which of course it did. I bought a Kenwood FP 520. It has a variety of tools and attachments, such as graters, slicers, juicers and mixers that are easily and neatly stored in a carousel. Grating the carrots for the soup took seconds. I have grated by hand and it took forever and was a real pain. This machine is well worth it’s money at about £50. It comes with a liquidiser too, which is needed to make the soup. Read more
Friday 13th and other superstitions
13 July 2007
If like me you’ve been brought up with crazy superstitions being part of every day life you may be concerned that today is Friday 13th. I’m really not too concerned, but secretly I’ll be glad when it’s Saturday! The fear of Friday 13th is known as paraskavedekatriaphobia, whereas a fear of the number 13 is known as triskaidekaphobia. Easy for the Greeks to say, which is where both words are derived from. Tri = Three, Kai = And, Deka =Ten.
Other superstitions I was brought up with include, saluting a magpie and saying good morning to him. I say ‘him’ as we always say “Good morning Mr Magpie”. My children find this most embarrassing when I salute magpies no matter where we are. One magpie is bad luck and two good luck, which comes from the rhyme, which goes on to 3 for a girl, 4 for a boy etc. My Grandad extended his salutation to sheep, but I can not find any evidence of anyone else doing this outside of our family! Read more
Camping? Not for me thanks, but…
12 July 2007
…my children seem to quite like it. I can think of nothing worse than sleeping outside in the cold and rain, sharing toilets and showers and not having my comfortable bed to sleep in. It makes me shudder. Thankfully Son Number One is getting his camping fix by going on camp with the CCF. My role was to gasp at the A4 filled list he came home with and then to purchase items required from said list.
I’m impressed by the amount of equipment and clothing issued by the CCF, such as T-shirts, ponch roll, webbing, sleeping bag etc. I was left with only a few items to provide. First on the list was the KFS, which of course I now know to be knife, fork and spoon! Then there’s the mess tins, torch, notebook, survival bag, mug and plates, spare boot laces, first aid kit and boot cleaning kit.
Now you may wonder what a survival bag is. I certainly did. Well, it’s a bright orange bag that can be used to sleep in if required and has safety information printed on it. I’m seriously going off this camping lark even more if it means sleeping in a plastic bag!
