Friday, February 29, 2008
Four seasons in one day
This made me chuckle. Looked up the weather for the days ahead yesterday and came across this view of Monday's forecast, which pretty much sums up the English weather, by having pretty much every possible weather symbol in the space of 24 hours.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Film: Black Gold
It's fair trade fortnight! I hadn't actually realised - communication on it has been quiet this year.
However, as part of the week, a film called Black Gold was on the telly.
We're all into sustainability and fair trade anyway, we understand that the trade that we do greatly affects the lives of people in the third world, we see the bigger picture of how we in the UK are very rich and yet we exploit the poor people in the developing world, and we're compelled by our faith and our conscience to do something about it. So we probably didn't need to see this film.
However, it was a good documentary! Unlike things like "Super Size Me", "Farenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine", there is no star of the show. There is no man on a quest. The filmmakers show only their interviewees and the subjects merely speak for themselves. There is a central character - a man who runs a coffee co-operative. But even he is really just a subject of the film. I liked this. I didn't feel someone was desperately trying to prove a point. There weren'y awkward questions; there were just truthful answers.
The film outlined well the difficulties of growing coffee, selling it for a good price and making a living as a coffee farmer. It showed that there are many middlemen in the selling process, who all take their cut of the money. It demonstrated that the price of coffee is mostly decided by rich businessmen in America and the UK.
And it showed how unfair the standard process of trade really is!
Here's some of the figures that I recall. Ethiopian coffee beans sold for 2 Ethiopian Birr per kilo - at the time of making the film this was 57 US cents.
A kilo of beans makes 80 cups of coffee. This equates to 0.71 US cents per cup.
One of the farmers says that selling for 5 Birr instead of 2 would change his life dramatically. 5 Birr is 142.5 US cents per kilo or, given the 80-cups-per-kilo figure, 1.78 US cents per cup.
This means an extra 1.07 US cents, per cup, would dramatically change this guys life.
1 US cent!
Per cup!
And the middle men and Starbucks and Nestle and Tesco and probably even the Fairtrade coffee companies are making millions!
Now, I know that fair trade isn't a long term solution to the problems of the developing world. But for 1 cent per cup of coffee we could transform lives, give people some healthcare, send kids to school.
So what we do? What can I do? I already buy fair trade so I'm already helping in some way. I did have the idea of having a pot by the kettle and putting a coin (of any denomination) in it each time I made a cup of coffee, and giving this money to a development agency. But I'm already paying the fair trade premium, so how much will this help.
Better is to get other people to buy fairtrade and push more of the market that way. Better to campaign for the multinational coffee buyers to set and pay a fair price. Better to make sure others know that such a small amount of money makes such a big difference!
However, as part of the week, a film called Black Gold was on the telly.
We're all into sustainability and fair trade anyway, we understand that the trade that we do greatly affects the lives of people in the third world, we see the bigger picture of how we in the UK are very rich and yet we exploit the poor people in the developing world, and we're compelled by our faith and our conscience to do something about it. So we probably didn't need to see this film.
However, it was a good documentary! Unlike things like "Super Size Me", "Farenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine", there is no star of the show. There is no man on a quest. The filmmakers show only their interviewees and the subjects merely speak for themselves. There is a central character - a man who runs a coffee co-operative. But even he is really just a subject of the film. I liked this. I didn't feel someone was desperately trying to prove a point. There weren'y awkward questions; there were just truthful answers.
The film outlined well the difficulties of growing coffee, selling it for a good price and making a living as a coffee farmer. It showed that there are many middlemen in the selling process, who all take their cut of the money. It demonstrated that the price of coffee is mostly decided by rich businessmen in America and the UK.
And it showed how unfair the standard process of trade really is!
Here's some of the figures that I recall. Ethiopian coffee beans sold for 2 Ethiopian Birr per kilo - at the time of making the film this was 57 US cents.
A kilo of beans makes 80 cups of coffee. This equates to 0.71 US cents per cup.
One of the farmers says that selling for 5 Birr instead of 2 would change his life dramatically. 5 Birr is 142.5 US cents per kilo or, given the 80-cups-per-kilo figure, 1.78 US cents per cup.
This means an extra 1.07 US cents, per cup, would dramatically change this guys life.
1 US cent!
Per cup!
And the middle men and Starbucks and Nestle and Tesco and probably even the Fairtrade coffee companies are making millions!
Now, I know that fair trade isn't a long term solution to the problems of the developing world. But for 1 cent per cup of coffee we could transform lives, give people some healthcare, send kids to school.
So what we do? What can I do? I already buy fair trade so I'm already helping in some way. I did have the idea of having a pot by the kettle and putting a coin (of any denomination) in it each time I made a cup of coffee, and giving this money to a development agency. But I'm already paying the fair trade premium, so how much will this help.
Better is to get other people to buy fairtrade and push more of the market that way. Better to campaign for the multinational coffee buyers to set and pay a fair price. Better to make sure others know that such a small amount of money makes such a big difference!
Honestly!!!
This is a story about something that I did and I don't like that it's a story about what I did because it makes me appear big. I don't record it to make me appear big, I record it to express my sheer exasperation with other people's dishonesty, and the fact that the world EXPECTS dishonesty from me - it has become the acceptable norm and is actively encouraged and it bothers me...a lot!
There's this lovely girl at work who works in the canteen. She's not been there long and she mostly just clears up after us and takes the money. But she's not so good at taking the money. She doesn't really know how much things cost (which, to her credit, is not really her fault - most of us customers don't know how much things cost either!), and she doesn't seem very good at the money handling bit.
The other day I passed her a ten pound note and she accidentally gave me back the ten pound note AND my change. She, in effect, paid me to eat at the canteen!
Now, I've had reason to relate this story to some of my colleagues recently, and every time people have said "I hope you kept it" or "You didn't give it back did you?".
Well, of course I did. I wanted to pay for my lunch. Bless her, she's made a mistake, which I've noticed, and I'm not gonna have her getting into trouble because the till's down at the end of the day because I deliberately accepted more change than I was supposed to get!
Yet, I'm made to feel belittled and silly for doing the right thing. People are astonished that I'm honest. Why is this?
I remember what the Bible says about this: "even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed".
There's this lovely girl at work who works in the canteen. She's not been there long and she mostly just clears up after us and takes the money. But she's not so good at taking the money. She doesn't really know how much things cost (which, to her credit, is not really her fault - most of us customers don't know how much things cost either!), and she doesn't seem very good at the money handling bit.
The other day I passed her a ten pound note and she accidentally gave me back the ten pound note AND my change. She, in effect, paid me to eat at the canteen!
Now, I've had reason to relate this story to some of my colleagues recently, and every time people have said "I hope you kept it" or "You didn't give it back did you?".
Well, of course I did. I wanted to pay for my lunch. Bless her, she's made a mistake, which I've noticed, and I'm not gonna have her getting into trouble because the till's down at the end of the day because I deliberately accepted more change than I was supposed to get!
Yet, I'm made to feel belittled and silly for doing the right thing. People are astonished that I'm honest. Why is this?
I remember what the Bible says about this: "even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed".
Sunday, February 24, 2008
"The Range"
There's a big new shop in Swindon called the range. It reminds me of Trago Mills, in Devon.
It, like Trago's, sells everything. EVERYTHING. I saw paintings, frames, mirrors, DIY goods, car maintenance kit, bike gear, craft supplies, office stationary, food, lighting, furniture, gardening items, fabric and sewing stuff, outdoor and camping equipment, leisure and sports things. I think they even sold kitchen sinks!
And yet, despite the millions of items on show, there was very little I wanted. I mean - there was actually stuff I needed there but most of it just not quite right, slightly too low quality, too cheap and tacky, or...something.
Sally and I have occasionally popped to Trago's (which is like the range but about 8 times bigger...I exaggerate not!) when down in Devon and experienced the same thing. We usually go with a long list of things, and very rarely bring back even half of them. It just seems like a better idea to buy it somewhere else.
I bought a few things in The Range. I will probably go back, but more for the wonder and awe of seeing such a vast range of products under one roof, than to actually buy anything of any real value.
It, like Trago's, sells everything. EVERYTHING. I saw paintings, frames, mirrors, DIY goods, car maintenance kit, bike gear, craft supplies, office stationary, food, lighting, furniture, gardening items, fabric and sewing stuff, outdoor and camping equipment, leisure and sports things. I think they even sold kitchen sinks!
And yet, despite the millions of items on show, there was very little I wanted. I mean - there was actually stuff I needed there but most of it just not quite right, slightly too low quality, too cheap and tacky, or...something.
Sally and I have occasionally popped to Trago's (which is like the range but about 8 times bigger...I exaggerate not!) when down in Devon and experienced the same thing. We usually go with a long list of things, and very rarely bring back even half of them. It just seems like a better idea to buy it somewhere else.
I bought a few things in The Range. I will probably go back, but more for the wonder and awe of seeing such a vast range of products under one roof, than to actually buy anything of any real value.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Fuzzy Logic
A Ride
Out on the bike today for a proper (i.e. non-commute) ride. Did my little run to Cricklade and back in under an hour, which is OK. It was one of those annoying days where the wind seemed to come from all directions. I did an out-and-back ride, which should mean I only feel a headwind half the time, but I felt it for the WHOLE ride. How does that happen?
Last time I did this little jaunt I did my back in, so it'll be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow. Lots of stretching before bed tonight.
A Few Nice Things
I'm noticing lots of cool things about my bike! They didn't give me a manual you know. They seem to assume that if you're buying a proper road bike then you must know what you're doing. But dual-pivot caliper brakes, Sora gear shifters, and Tiagra rear mechs (dérailleurs to the rest of us), are, though mostly familiar, a little bit alien in some respects.
One of the nice things about Fuzzy is that he's got lots of neat little design features that cheaper bikes don't have. Things that make sense to have. Here's a few:
A Photo
By the way, I don't think I've posted it here yet, so here's a photo of Fuzzy the Felt - just to prove that I DO own a nice road bike now:
I'm not so sure about the MTB-style mudguards. But, annoyingly, there's no fixings for proper mudguards on the bike. I may try out race blades one day.
A-nnoying
In other bike news, I got a bit fed up with my local bike shop today. I took the bike in yesterday for its six-week/hundred mile free service and it came back with the transmission (chain and gears) crunching and grinding. The brakes have been tightened and they've true'd up the rear wheel, which was nice of them. But they've messed up derailleur settings before. Grrrr.
A Rant
Why? Why why? WHY? Why do people who make roads put 3-foot-wide drain covers about three feet from the edge of the road? This is exactly the point at which a cyclist riding in "primary position" will need to cycle over it. I've passed many of these today. Options for a cyclist approaching one are:
And finally I'd like to end on...
A High Note
I'm really enjoying cycling again. After a long spell of illness and injury I feel like I'm back and it's great to be in the saddle with the countryside rushing by, wind in my face, heart racing, watching the miles tick by. I love it.
Out on the bike today for a proper (i.e. non-commute) ride. Did my little run to Cricklade and back in under an hour, which is OK. It was one of those annoying days where the wind seemed to come from all directions. I did an out-and-back ride, which should mean I only feel a headwind half the time, but I felt it for the WHOLE ride. How does that happen?
Last time I did this little jaunt I did my back in, so it'll be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow. Lots of stretching before bed tonight.
A Few Nice Things
I'm noticing lots of cool things about my bike! They didn't give me a manual you know. They seem to assume that if you're buying a proper road bike then you must know what you're doing. But dual-pivot caliper brakes, Sora gear shifters, and Tiagra rear mechs (dérailleurs to the rest of us), are, though mostly familiar, a little bit alien in some respects.
One of the nice things about Fuzzy is that he's got lots of neat little design features that cheaper bikes don't have. Things that make sense to have. Here's a few:
- Quick releases. I know these are standard but I'm still made happy by the fact that I can whip a wheel off in seconds with no tools. Genius!
- Hex-key bolts...everywhere. My sister got me a multi-tool for my birthday last year, but it was pretty useless on the Raleigh as everything was screws and bolts. But pretty much everything on Fuzzy is held tight by bolts that I can loosen and tighten with hex keys. Suddenly my multi-tool is all I need!
- Gear adjustments on the down tube. I wanted to adjust my front dérailleur today and couldn't find the screw thing to do it with. Turns out it's on the down tube. Not REALLY sure why but you can certainly make the adjustment while you're riding, which is pretty cool.
- Dual-pivot brakes. Not sure why these are so good, but they're pretty solid and seem to give even braking on both sides no matter what you do to them.
- Strength. All the components are tough. I know this 'cos I fell of and damaged more of me than of the bike!
A Photo
By the way, I don't think I've posted it here yet, so here's a photo of Fuzzy the Felt - just to prove that I DO own a nice road bike now:
I'm not so sure about the MTB-style mudguards. But, annoyingly, there's no fixings for proper mudguards on the bike. I may try out race blades one day.A-nnoying
In other bike news, I got a bit fed up with my local bike shop today. I took the bike in yesterday for its six-week/hundred mile free service and it came back with the transmission (chain and gears) crunching and grinding. The brakes have been tightened and they've true'd up the rear wheel, which was nice of them. But they've messed up derailleur settings before. Grrrr.
A Rant
Why? Why why? WHY? Why do people who make roads put 3-foot-wide drain covers about three feet from the edge of the road? This is exactly the point at which a cyclist riding in "primary position" will need to cycle over it. I've passed many of these today. Options for a cyclist approaching one are:
- Dive in towards the kerb - more difficult but safer if you can do it
- Dive OUT towards the middle of the road - easier but more liable to upset motorists and/or get you knocked off the road entirely
And finally I'd like to end on...
A High Note
I'm really enjoying cycling again. After a long spell of illness and injury I feel like I'm back and it's great to be in the saddle with the countryside rushing by, wind in my face, heart racing, watching the miles tick by. I love it.
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