Back on the treadmill
Well, I survived my first day back at work.
I ended up leaving later than I had planned to this evening - 7.15pm (not good) … but then I did arrive at the shockingly late time of 10.25 this morning (couldn’t get out of bed), so perhaps I shouldn’t complain.
I had such a lovely break over Christmas and hardly thought about work at all. Unfortunately, this meant that it took me about two hours to get my brain into gear and work out what I was supposed to be doing with the 24 files on my desk when I eventually did arrive.
The pain of working was eased considerably by two exciting deliveries to my workplace. The first of these was a Riverford organic veg box! Yes, after months of reading the Veg Box Diaries (and salivating at every post) I took the plunge and decided to order a mini veg box this week.
The box cost £7.90 and contained:
a bag of 9 medium-sized potatoes;
3 medium-sized onions;
a small cauliflower;
a medium-sized bag of kale;
a bag of 8 small to medium-sized carrots (with lots of mud);
and a medium-sized swede
I was a little disappointed by the amount of packaging on the veg: the potatoes were in a paper sachet, the onions in a net and the carrots in a (compostable) plastic-type bag, all of which were superfluous in my opinion. The kale was also in a bag, but I think that’s justifiable - shame it seems to be made of non-compostable plastic, though. The box itself is pretty cool and can be returned for re-use. I wonder whether they take back the plastic bags come to think of it? I’ll have to check with Maths Chick.
I am not sure how the box compares in terms of cost with supermarket/ market/ corner shop veg. Probably more expensive … but then it is organic, grown in the UK and delivered to the door. I do wonder whether I should be buying from a grower somewhere closer to home, however… although buying from Devon has got to be better than buying supermarket veg from, say, South Africa (in food miles terms, I mean). As I write this I am cooking some of the potatoes … I’ll let you know how they taste.
The second delivery to the clinic was a new phone! Hooray! I am now the proud owner of a Nokia 6500, which seems to do … well, just does about everything, in fact! I am very pleased that I am no longer going to have to use my crappy (spare) phone that needs to be recharged about every ten minutes (not very green at all). However, I did feel a bit guilty about getting a new phone as I once read that you should keep a phone for seven years (or was it three?) before getting a new one in order for it to become carbon neutral (can a mobile phone EVER be carbon neutral??). I toyed with the idea of getting a second hand/ reconditioned one … but it actually worked out cheaper for me to get a new one (ludicrous). Of course, if my lovely Nokia 6280 hadn’t been stolen in the first place, I wouldn’t have had this dilemma …
Gonna go and eat my potatoes now. Bangers and mash - yum.
Brennig replied:
The veg looks good! And the phone sound whizzy. But no, there are too many manufactured components in a mobile phone for it to be carbon neutral; just adding up the supply-chain miles would probably take it part-way to the moon. I work with a guy who calculates the food miles of everything he eats (puts organic food in to a very unorganic category!). But you should just enjoy! Anoraks like him often lose track of the real objective.
January 5, 2008 at 10:44 pm. Permalink.
stratfordgirl replied:
Yes… I know what you mean.
January 6, 2008 at 12:29 pm. Permalink.
Mya replied:
Bon appetit! What are you going to do with the swede ? (if that’s not a rude question.)
Mya x
January 8, 2008 at 2:40 pm. Permalink.
stratfordgirl replied:
He he … not sure yet … I was just about to do a bit of internet research. Riverford has recipes on its website. Do you have any ideas?
January 8, 2008 at 4:43 pm. Permalink.
Mya replied:
Swede curry?
January 10, 2008 at 7:51 pm. Permalink.
kristana replied:
Promise you won’t get mad?
Vous promettez de ne pas vous fâcher?
It has left me a little bemused to see that on one side you are eating organic food in the country of Frankestein’s food and on the other side you consume fab phone Nokia (I’ve heard that they fired a lot of staff in England)
ça me laisse un peu perplexe de voir que d’un côté vous manger de la nourriture biologique au pays de la malbouffe de Frankestein et de l’autre côté vous consummez du téléphone dernier cri (NOkia j’ai entendu qu’ils avaient licencié beaucoup de personnel en Angletterre).
On the upside, you are consuming, this is good for the growth.
Le bon côté des choses c’est que vous consommez, c’est bon pour la croissance.
Life is too short to eat bad veggies, so be nice to yourself, that’s important in that world
La vie est trop courte pour manger de mauvais légumes, alors gâtez vous, prenez soin de vous, ça a son importance dans ce monde là
January 22, 2008 at 5:48 pm. Permalink.
stratfordgirl replied:
Merci pour ton commentaire, Kristana … mais c’était quand la dernière fois que tu as mangé en Angleterre? A Londres, il y a des centaines de superbes restaurants. Et Le “Fat Duck” à Bray a été voté le deuxième meilleur restaurant du monde en 2007 (devancant le restaurant de Pierre Gagnaire à Paris).
Tu ferais mieux de venir manger “au pays de la malbouffe de Frankestein” avant de juger.
January 22, 2008 at 7:45 pm. Permalink.
kristana replied:
When French and English speak about food, it’s always a sure-fire way to quarrel.
Quand les Français et les Anglais parle de bouffe, c’est toujours la garantie de se disputer.
The French are all about food.
Les français ne pensent qu’à ça.
I’ve never eaten in England, that’s true, but I always hear about Frankestein junky food on the BBC. BBC is my source of information!
Je ne suis jamais venue manger en Angletterre, c’est vrai, mais j’entends toujours parler de la mal bouffe, de la cuisine de Frankestein sur la bbc. La BBc est ma source d’information.
Good on you if you have the best restaurant! I trust you.
Bravo si vous avez le meilleur restaurant! Je vous crois.
In France when people eat organic food on a daily basis, it’s like doing politics. It’s a political commitment.
En France quand les gens mange de la nourriture biologique dans leur vie de tous les jours, c’est comme faire de la politique. C’est un engagement politique.
When we disagree with something, we don’t buy.
Quand on n’est pas d’accord avec quelque chose, on n’achète pas.
In France too we are having a campaign against junky food now.
en France aussi nous avons une campagne publicitaire contre la malbouffe.
And against mobile phones too! And against smoking, and against drinking, everything is armful.
Et contre les portables aussi! Et contre la cigarette, et contre l’abus de boisson, tout cela est nuisible.
So to relieve ourselves, we try to know what happens in the other countries!
Alors pour se consoler, nous essayons de savoir ce qui se passe dans les autres pays!
Don’t be angry, I have nothing against English food, I’m so greedy and inquisitive that I can taste any food in the world. (I love russian food for example)
Ne sois pas en colère, je n’ai rien contre la cuisine Anglaise. Je suis tellement gourmande et curieuse que je goûte toutes les cuisines du monde. (j’adore la cuisine russe par exemple)
No grundging?
Sans rancune?
chris
January 23, 2008 at 10:14 am. Permalink.