Wanderings Lately :: October

I really like October, as autumn is a beautiful time of year and I really love seeing all the leaves turn red, yellow and brown and drop from the trees. The weather is very  mild in the UK still, and cycling to work has been lovely this whole month.

This month; after some delay and obstacles I finally made it to Sarajevo -  somewhere I have been wanting to visit since I was young. I've also really appreciated having great housemates, attended a wedding and started back at Uni classes for my final MA module. 

This is all very different to this time last year, when I was making the transition from the job where I was made redundant, a short time temping and starting my new job at the beginning of November. This was also the start of these Wanderings lately posts, which I have actually managed to maintain! The summer might have been a little less frequent, but hurrah! I have actually published a post every month (except May) in 2016! Here's to many more and keep this little spot on the internet just for me! If you want to see this time last year, click here.

Travel

As I said in the intro, I visited Sarajevo (and Mostar) mid-October. This is somewhere I've wanted to go for a while - growing up Sarajevo was always on the news and later I studied so much about the media at war at university with a focus on the Bosnian conflict that I just wanted to go here and see it properly, in person; and have memories that weren't of burning tower blocks, mass graves or war crimes. I hope to write more about this trip, but I had a great time, in a wonderful city and it was nice to spend some time with Vanessa, my roomie from China who recently moved to Leeds.

ps I made a video of this trip. View it here.

Study

Classes started again for my MA, and I am really enjoying being back in the classroom. My dissertation was incredibly hard and took up a lot of hours trapped in the library. I am relishing being taught in a classroom, and seeing as this is supposed to be the first module, it is slightly easier than any I've had before. I love learning more about language, and actually part of me wishes I had gone with my gut at the beginning and studied a full applied linguistics MA rather than TESOL. It's easy to say that now, in hindsight, when I am not using the teaching part of this qualification.

Housemates

This month, my new housemate treated us all to a meal she prepared as a bonding evening together. The food was lovely, and company great. I am so happy to live in Canada Water, but I am also very happy and incredibly lucky, to have such great people to share the house with. It's such a nice environment to come home to after work or spend time in at the weekend. I've lived in a few different places where the connection with housemates is not too good, which really makes me appreciate this house and these girls. <3

Wedding

I went to a wedding this month, where the only person I knew was the bride. I was a little apprehensive about it, but there were a few others there who didn't know anyone and I had an introduction to a couple of girls beforehand, which made us all bond a little on the day. It turned out to be so much fun, and really lovely to attend another wedding - this is only my fourth one ever! I also recycled my bridesmaid shoes and jacket and this dress has attended two previous weddings/events... Can't say I'm not thrifty!

Autumn in London

 In the spirit of enjoying autumn as much as possible, I dragged Ayoola and Jasmin out for a walk along the park line in North London. I read about it on the time out blog, and it was a really nice walk. We begun at Finsbury Park station and walked the entire length to Alexandra Palace. It's always nice to meet friends for a good old catch up, and it was refreshing to be outside. Having such mild weather obviously helped and although this is still in the middle of the city, it truly felt like we were in a forest out in the country! 

I also took this last photo because it reminded me of the lamp post in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the middle of the forest without any rhyme or reason... Pretty sure this one wasn't accidentally brought back from another dimension by the white witch though.

::How have you been enjoying autumn? What was October like for you?::

Barmy for Sarnies

A while ago I heard an announcement on the radio at work about a secret sandwich club on Tooley Street near London Bridge. A bit like a speak easy cocktail bar, but for crisp sandwiches... 

Fast forward a couple more weeks and my friend Siobhan mentioned the same club. We decided to head there to check it out. Sio bought the tickets online (£3.50) and we met outside the 'Chris Peters Newsagents' (nice word play there). It was pretty cool, and really; well done Walkers marketing department! 

Basically you walked into this 'normal' newsagents and told the guy behind the counter that you were 'Barmy for Sarnies'. He then slid across the wall display of crisps to reveal a hidden door behind which are a troupe of (very attractive) waiters and waitresses wearing aprons and bow ties made of crisp packets. 

We ordered our sandwich, drink and favourite flavour of their new crisp varieties. On the way out after lunch we stopped for a picture posing on the top of a large sandwich and then filled our arms with a packet of each flavour. These went down very well in my office!

It's obviously very gimmicky, but since it's no more than buying a sandwich in the tesco meal deal t's definitely a fun experience! Well done Walkers! It's closed now and the shop has once more become a nondescript house front.

Zero waste :: Successes

Further to my zero waste challenges, here are a few of my successes. It's hard, and I'm trying to make changes slowly so that they are more permanent changes, rather than trying to cut everything out and failing because that's not sustainable.

These are a few of the small changes I have adopted that have become part of life now. There are many many more ways I can (and will) change my lifestyle to produce less waste and lessen my impact on the environment. But I thought since I listed my challenges, I would also celebrate my successes!

Coffee To Go

Since I got this cup for Christmas I have used it A LOT. There have been a couple of times when I forgot it, and I have taken a paper cup. But those times are few and far between. In fact I have been documenting every time I use the cup and am planning to put together a little video of all the photos as a reminder of all the cups I've refused!

I also love using this cup because not only do I now prefer to drink out of it, I'm now not a walking advert for the coffee shop! No one knows where I bought my coffee! It's just me and my cool mug strutting down the street! Since I'm photographing it, I've also started to think more about what I want as the background of my shot! All very sad and arty but fun as well!

Water

 I have three water bottles - two camelbaks and one glass apana bottle. I use these all the time. I have found that there are many, many places to fill them up and this has increased the amount of water I drink resulting in far better skin. All round this has been a great change!

Clingfilm

I don't use clingfilm really any more. I've realised that there is never really any need to. If I am warming something in the microwave, I just cover the top with another plate. I use Tupperware boxes in the fridge, I have 3 glass ones as well which cuts out plastic somewhat). 

If I really need to wrap something, I will choose foil instead of plastic wrap since I can wash it and then recycle it. I have also seen this beeswax paper stuff that looks intriguing and I 
may experiment with in the future.

Cleaning

I have adopted a couple of zero waste tricks in the bathroom that I am pretty happy with. Firstly. My floor cleaner is now castille soap. This little bottle has lasted for a long time, and it acts a just a floor cleaner for now, but I will be rolling this out to clean the rest of the bathroom once my method spray has run out - incidentally method is eco-friendly too.

More importantly (and used for longer) are my cloths. I've never really used many disposable wipes, but I wouldn't have actively avoided them before now. However, I am now consistently using these micofibre clothes, and a scrubbing sponge. Once they've been used, I just chuck them in the wash. Maybe lots of people use these, but I list this as a successful zero waste addition as I am very conscious of using them this way now.

Lastly, I have invested in these reusable cotton pads which eliminate the need for face wipes or cotton wool balls. They come with the little cotton bag to hold them all together when they are in the washing machine. I also used this bag when I washed out my sponge last time. Worked a treat!

Zero Waste. Period.

The cup is inside this bag. I didn't think it appropriate
to take a picture of my used cup and post it on
the internet for everyone to see...

I haven't bought tampons for about 8 months. This has helped lessen my environmental impact, but more significantly it has saved me a tremendous amount of money. I've actually been using the diva cup for around 2 years, but I was using it in conjunction with tampons, but now I don't really use tampons at all. I have a few left over still, and these serve as emergencies incase I am caught at work or out and about without the cup - so I keep a couple in my bag.

There's basically only gains to be had from using a menstrual cup. I had read this before, and was put off by the need to empty the cup. However I've since got over that, and I wouldn't really want to go back to tampons now. They are bad for your body, carry the risk of developing TSS (and dying...) plus they are extraordinarily bad for the environment. I'm also not clear on whether the tax on tampons has actually been scrapped... I don't much care anyway since I no longer buy them.

Toothpaste

So I did have the disaster with the glass jar, and it did melt during those hot summer months but... I have made my own toothpaste and use it every morning. This has been a success. I checked this through with the dentist and she approved it. After I'd been using my own toothpaste for 6 months I had another check up and everything was still ok. 

I like this recipe because it makes as actual paste rather than the usual tooth powders. I'm sure they are just as effective but I like that this is more similar to what I am used to. I haven't completely migrated to this paste, since it doesn't have any fluoride and I'm not convinced that we get all that we need from our water. However, by introducing this into my routine I have halved the amount of toothpaste tubes I personally put into landfill.

Bike

This is me on a bike in Cambodia, since I don't
have a photo of my current bike!

I've had a bike since last April. I use it everyday. I try to ride all the way to work at least twice a week, and recently t's been much more. I'm a bit of a fair-weather cyclist so if it's raining I am put off. However, even if I'm not going all the way to work, I cut out any bus emissions from my journey by cycling to the station. 

This isn't exactly zero waste, as I wouldn't be driving anyway. But cycling is better for the environment and my health and I feel it is an added bonus of this kind of lifestyle! :-)

 ::Are you conscious of your environmental impact? Are you trying to be less wasteful? Let me know your successes below and feel free to share any tips of things that you love doing/using that are good for the environment!::

Wanderings Lately :: September

Well I missed a couple of months, but things are back on track for this last quarter of the year! September was a transitionary month, things switched a gear at work - all the Summer groups are well and truly finished with and we're now planning all our programmes for 2017. My brain is already quite far into next year and I've already made some bookings for March!

The weather has started it's transformation from warm sunny days to colder, damper autumn. The nights have started to get longer and more leaves are littering the pavement. I love this time of year though, along with many others if the many articles online are anything to go by! 

This month started with some fun in Oxford for my brother's birthday and had ended with a long work meeting in Oxford which meant I wasn't home until after midnight! It wasn't all bad though, as I took the time back the following work morning and only had half a day! 

October is probably my favourite month, as autumn really starts to take hold, and we slide along into days with beautiful sunsets and cosy nights in. I'm also starting my final module of my MA, if the university ever gets back to me with the class info, and I have a cheeky little break to Bosnia planned as well! 

Korean nibbles

I found a little Korean shop on Tottenham Court Road this month and was very excited to buy a little box of kimbap for my lunch. Although I have had kimbap since coming back to the UK from Korea (as I was reminded after posting this photo), this felt very authentic as it was actually cheap (£1.99) and from a 7-11 type shop. It took me right back to the corner shops in Asia.

I also bought some weird flavour crisps, pepero and face masks in the same shop. I have to limit my visits there because otherwise I am likely to spend all my spare cash there!

Family time

At the beginning of the month I went up to my brother's house to celebrate his and our Nan's birthdays. We had a lovely weekend celebrating together, even taking a little boat ride on Sunday afternoon. True to form, I annoyed my family by snapchatting them all with silly filters. They do moan, but secretly I know they love it!

Netball

I've been back playing netball since 2013, and after having jumped around in different teams and leagues, am now quite settled in Southwark. Last season our team; Vauxhall Vixens, finished the league as unbeaten champions. I was pretty chuffed when this medal arrived in the post. Unfortunately I am now out for the remainder of this season because the games clash with my classes for my final uni module. But so far we're still unbeaten and who knows, I might end up with a second medal (since I'm still part of the team!) for this season!

Fancy a Sarnie?

Completely buying into marketing and gimmicks, Siobhan and I met one lunchtime outside an unassuming newsagents near London Bridge station to make our way into a clandestine cafe to enjoy a cheeky sandwich and crisps. We also got our photo taken atop a giant sandwich. Why aren't all work-day lunches this fun??

Open House

A full post is in the works on this, but Sio and I also decided to check out Open House London, and although it wasn't fully up to our expectations we still enjoyed our day wandering around the Piccadilly area, even if Sio did cheat at chess in Waterstones.

Oxford

I went to Oxford in the last week of September. I had to attend an evening meeting to discuss my two programs next spring. It meant that I didn't board the bus back to London until 10pm and consequently got back home and into my bed after midnight - loooooong day. The upside to this was that I had to following morning off of work, and since I was in the weekly routine I still woke up early enough to make the most of the time at home. I also managed to enjoy a couple of hours in the sunny afternoon in Oxford. Taking some photos for our student handbook and expensing (most of) dinner at the wonderful Perch pub. One of the perks of my job that make the coach journey and late night so worth it!

Zero Waste :: Challenges

Let me start by saying that I am not living zero waste. However, since I discovered this movement last year, I have become more and more interested in it, and working towards reducing my waste considerably. I've always tried to be conscious of the environment, my mum drilled into me never to accept a plastic bag and to recycle like a fiend. I don't automatically throw something away because it's broken, I'm a dab hand with a needle and thread - you should see some of the toes in my tights!

Since I've started reading more and more about zero waste, I realise that I was complacent. I thought that refusing plastic bags and recycling was enough. But it's not. We are consuming more and more of the things that simply do not rot away. The rubbish in India was quite shocking, strewn along the streets in the city and throughout the countryside. The thing is, I know that we have a similar amount produced here, but we're just better at hiding it away. In India, the rubbish is all there to see on the road, but here ours is just piled up high in landfill.

Anyway, I realise that my measly recycling is not enough. So this year I have been attempting to learn new habits and make small incremental changes, taking tips from those who really are doing this zero waste thing right.

It's not easy, not at all! Here are a few of the challenges I have faced so far (my successes to follow).

Buying in Bulk

Buying in bulk is the mainstay in all zero waste advice. Yes, what a wonderful idea. To be able to take your own container to the shop, and fill it with exactly the amount of pasta, cornflakes, flour, rice, honey, oil etc that you need. Here is the problem for me; London has VERY FEW shops that offer any bulk products. Those that are listed at a reasonable distance for me on this handy bulk locator are generally only for coffee and Lush soap products. 

There is a pilot scheme in Muswell Hill Planet Organic - which is so far out of my way it is not a viable option. As Nature Intended sell a very limited amount of items in bulk - of which I would want to buy only oats - and the price is 3 times that of what I can buy in tesco.

I do my best to buy as much as possible without packaging in the supermarket see photo above for a typical week's packaging). I never ever take those crap plastic bags for fruit or bread rolls. I've deliberately chosen products that are sold in glass whenever possible. The thing is, if going zero waste necessitates shopping in the bulk aisle, I'm afraid I will not be able to make it there for the time being. 

Cleaning with vinegar

Our kitchen cleaner ran out recently. So I decided to refill the spray bottle with some homemade cleaner. Equal parts water to equal parts vinegar. It sure cleans well, but it also leaves your kitchen smelling like a fish and chip shop. I'm soaking some lemon peel in to attempt to soften the pong, but its certainly clear whenever anyone in our house has wiped down the surfaces!

ZW survival kit

The zero waste kit is a very important part of success of creating no waste. These are the reusable containers that you need to take with you so that you are not relying on disposable plastic boxes, cup or bags. I haven't yet used these on my weekly shop; although I should start to add this into my routine. I have never shopped at the deli & fish counters as I think these are more expensive than on the shop floor (see my point below). That would be another way to cut out some packaging though, so I'll probably try to add this as my next step on this journey. I have been pretty good at taking my keepcup with me so that I don't have to have a disposable cups when I get a latte. I even took this with me to Berlin and Greece! I have a glass water bottle that I've taken with me as much as possible as well. However, these items are heavy and/or bulky. If I want to take these with me, and keep myself waste free, I have to lug these things around with me. And in some cases (the keepcup) just incase I want to have a coffee. Sometimes I feel like I have a coffee to justify having carried the empty cup with me. Three times this week I forgot to take my cup, and three times I wanted to have a coffee (because this week felt like the longest of the year & I was particularly tired). Eventually on the third day I caved and bought a latte in a disposable cup. I haven't thrown it away yet. I'm going to try and reuse it rather than chuck it in the bin (suggestions for how please!). But this is one aspect that makes zero waste difficult, it can be quite inconvenient to always carry around your arsenal of containers!

Costly alternatives

Don't let anyone tell you it's going to save you money. At least not in the sort term. Maybe in the long run, since if you are really going zero waste you are going to have to cut an enormous amount from your life. So you will be buying less, because there is much less available to you once you are zero waste. 

This is something that is hailed as a positive from the movement, and I'm not necessarily disagreeing, but at least when you first start to switch to some of the alternatives you end up paying more. Case in point, I recently bought some white distilled vinegar to make the homemade cleaner mentioned above. There were two options in my local supermarket, one in a plastic bottle and one in a glass bottle. The plastic bottle was 39p, the glass one was £1. I chose the glass one, as this can be recycled without losing material integrity. It was the more expensive option though... 

Shampoo Bars & Body Butter

Beauty products are one of the main areas of plastic that it 'should' be easy to counter-act. I recently bought two bath bombs in Lush and in the bag (paper) that they came in, there was a brochure focusing on all of the products they sell that come package free. One of the ones I was most interested to try - and which I thought I could make the switch to easily, was shampoo in a bar. I realised that I actually already had a shampoo bar that I had taken with me from the hotel after my brothers' wedding (two years ago!) So I decided to give it a go. After the first wash my hair felt absolutely disgusting. As I brushed through the knots, a horrible layer of white soap scum started to build up on my hairbrush and my hair felt dirtier than before I washed it. Not to be disheartened, I decided to try it again, and this time spend much longer rinsing out the soap. Alas, after my second wash today my hair still feels completely full of crap. I'm going to have to wash it again with normal shampoo to hopefully remove the layers of soap. I rinsed it for a long time, trying my best to get it all clear, but obviously that was not enough. Maybe I should have rinsed for even longer, but that really defeats the object of being environmentally friendly, and you just end up wasting litres of water! I'm not going to be completely beaten, as I will still give a lush bar a go to see if they have a better recipe... but so far this must be deemed a failure.

My other beauty disaster was the whipped body butter I made from this recipe. I was very excited about this one, and had to order in most of the ingredients from online - not package free alas... I tried my best to get along with this, But it was simply too greasy. It's really not particularly surprising since it's only made with oils... but I was still disappointed. I have since found another recipe for a lotion, which I am hoping I will have better luck with. And I am going to use the excess shea butter in a sugar scrub recipe as well. So there shouldn't be too much waste. It really goes to show that there isn't a perfect plan to follow to get to zero waste, and it really is a case of trial and error to find a way that works for you. At least I am on the path though!

Glass & Plastic

I made homemade toothpaste as per this recipe and I was using it regularly - until the summer when it melted. Everything was peachy, and the toothpaste was living happily in my lovely glass jar. When one morning I dropped the jar by accident. It hit the sink as it fell to the floor and a large chunk of the bottom came off. 

I can see the logic of using glass instead of plastic. Plastic is really a devil of a material. However, glass is fragile and I'm not a particularly clumsy person but it's inevitable that at some point you might drop this and unlike plastic, it's not going to bounce but more likely shatter. As this guardian columnist also discovered, although rather than in the privacy of her bathroom her breakage was a little more public.

::Have you been interested in zero waste? Are you trying to live more sustainably? Any tips or tricks you can suggest to help me on my journey?!::

Tate Modern :: Switch House

About a month ago, I was watching the local news as they announced the opening of the new ten storey extension to the Tate Modern. This surprised me no end, since I cycle past the gallery every day and had not noticed this apparently very large addition! Jasmin and I were in the area recently having brunch (here) and as it was a nice day I suggested we pop over to see the new part. It's located just behind the original Boiler house section, and isn't that noticeable from the river side (which is presumably why I hadn't noticed it at all!) 

We were there on a Saturday, so it was pretty busy. The new galleries were fairly interesting, and weird as to be expected from a Modern Art gallery. Unfortunately the lifts to the 10 floor, where the viewing platform is, were constantly full and the queues to board were crazy. So we decided to leave that for the day.

The following week I had a few days off of work, so I headed back down early on in the day mid-week to take a look. I always like to climb up tall buildings and enjoy the view and this was no exception. It's right on the river and the weather was pretty clear so I could see a fair way across the city. There was one side that basically just looked straight into the apartment buildings next door - with floor-ceiling windows - which I can't imagine the residents are particularly happy about, but I did enjoy gazing out East to my side of town!

I would say that the view isn't as good as that from the Sky Garden in 20 Fenchurch street, but I'm always happy to have a new place to head for free views of the city.

Jasmin and her origami box

The following were from the Louise Bourgeois permanent exhibition. I was familiar with her work, as its often spider shaped!

Busy busy lift

Canada Water right back there across from Canary Wharf

Apartment living