WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

I'm beginning this with a picture of a Narcissus which has a lovely perfume. You may need this later. We recently had a rare electricity outage overnight and I realised this once the bathroom light had been turned on and realising there was nothing wrong with the light bulb. So instead of looking at the news I rang the local supplier. They were very efficient and checked in my area and sure enough we had a supply disruption that would be treated any time now as the engineer was on his way. I was told that they would send me a text if it would take longer than an hour or two.

It was fortunate in that today was not a day with appointments and I had planned to do lots of writing and sewing. Neither of which was possible on the equipment that was connected to the system, but my trusty little netbook still worked so if we were without power for a while I could manage.

Then it got me thinking about our consumption in general. Funnily enough I had seen a documentary the night before on food supply in the USA. It was amazing the amount of food they produce and how farmers keep on top of managing thousands of acres of crops. It was also scary in that we all consume so much and our consumption levels in the western world anyway, seem to increase daily, as do waistlines.

Personally I enjoy food and being married to a professional chef it’s not easy to ignore food. However, I want to stay well, having been lucky thus far in my life, and try to maintain if not a strict diet then a healthy one. I am back doing my yoga again and that always makes me feel better. I had to give up gardening since we left our cottage and huge garden and have to content self with a few bushes and some pots.

When working as a journalist I was often asked to cover some conference or other and I attended a huge conference entirely to do with waste management. This was about not only paper and rubbish but sewers and other sorts or waste. Fascinating. I realised the cost of same and wrote an article about it entitled “Plumbing the Depths”.

Then I go on to think about my grandchildren and what life will be like for them. We are all technologically enhanced, no, not bionic people, but what with our mobile phones, iPads, netbooks and PC’s, TV and all the social media, we will all become cerebral and less inclined to be practical. By practical I mean spend more time outdoors in the open air and do more sport and exercise. This is already being experienced with mothers of today’s generation.

Although there is a trend for gardening even in small spaces and even bee keeping on your roof, and being far more aware of what is right for the planet, this doesn’t mean the average person actually gardens. If you are lucky enough to own a house or flat with a garden no matter how small, you may even have a small plot or window-boxes. But there are thousands of people who live in cramped spaces, and their only outside activities means going to the local shops or a pub.

The older generation always blame the selling off of the school playing fields for the lack of interest in sport etc. However, if a generation grows into maturity never having themselves such facilities as sports arenas, playing fields or some sports or training tuition, then it’s hardly likely they will encourage their offspring to do so.

This is a generalisation but for thousands of people it’s true. When it comes to education, what is needed is teachers who inspire or are themselves inspired. We even got to that silly stage where winning was frowned upon because it made the losers feel bad. Frankly I think this is sheer tosh. We were always encouraged to win but taking part was also encouraged. Any child with any sense would understand that only one could win, but it was the striving that was also part of it.

The sad part of trying to make society fair for all is that sometimes old values get lost, and ideas overtake that don’t do anyone much good until it’s found out too late. Fortunately my own grandchildren attend schools which has good values.

That I brought my child up to choose for herself means that her values didn’t get mixed. Why we have to think about values at all, instead of them being part and parcel of what we are as human beings, is sad, values can be instilled from an early age by example. Perhaps this is the key. If an example has been lost because the values are no longer present, it may be that the next generation suffers from lack of them.
So how do you bring back values without preaching? I find it a hard question to answer. I was a young person in the Swinging Sixties and enjoyed it all without the aid of drugs. But I also had values to begin with and that was probably my salvation. What kept our generation on the straight and narrow in the main, was the fear of shaming one’s parents. I hope that still applies today.