What's on my list

The littlest boy and I made a foray to the zero waste shop in the city today. All the food is sold loose and you take your own containers. It's on a long street famous for the number of independent shops and we had a wander up and down. There were loads of little delis and wholefood shops and greengrocers and bakers and cafes. It really reminded me how great good can be. I forget that sometimes, living here with not much more than the supermarket. Not that I am complaining, it's just that I found it really inspirational, seeing lots of different foodstuffs.

There was a butcher's and a cheese shop next to each other, with chains hanging down over the entrance and a dog with his head stuck through the doorway, looking for his person and smelling all of the good smells. It would have made an excellent photo, but being as I was weighed down with bags I let the moment pass.

Otherwise we have been marching about the countryside with the beast. We were excited to find a new electric fence on one walk. There were lots of cries of, 'But is it actually live?' Of course, in the end we all touched it to find out. Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with us. It was in fact live. And we did all survive unscathed, although my hair seems a little curlier now. Could just be the humidity.

I took some winter solstice sunrise pictures from the window the other morning.

You can just see the castle in the first one, with its flag flying. I love to see the birds roosting at first light, it always seems so peaceful somehow. Whatever tumult is going on in the world, they are unconcerned. I have splashed out on the good bird food for the bird table to keep them going through the winter months.

On the subject of birds, I found out just the other day that 2.6 million songbirds are killed each year by olive harvesting machines. There's an article about it here, which explains how it happens. At night, the olives are sucked from the trees along with roosting birds. It's horrendous. We aren't eating olives here any more until we know that the practice has been stopped. If they were harvested during the day, the birds would be fine as they'd be able to fly away. But at night the lights confuse them and they're killed. So, no more olives for us. And as little as possible from China, given their record on human rights, particularly Muslims being thrown into concentration camps. There's a list of Things Mum Won't Buy in this house, and it's getting longer.

I remember when I was little we wouldn't buy things from South Africa. Every purchase is a vote for the sort of world we want to live in etc. etc. I'd be interested to hear if there's anything you avoid for ethical reasons. Always looking for more things to add to the list...