Adrian Hollister's UK Blog

I should have been off to Newbury on the bus today. The bus is best described as a well patched ford transit and seems to arrive when it can at just about any time it wants to. It's very infuriating. I turned up a risky 10 mins before it was due to depart, but meeting people already waiting made me feel a little more comfortable. We all waited and 15 mins after it's scheduled departure time we all gave up. We were pretty much gossiped out anyway.

This is not unusual though. People here are used to it. Totally crazy though.

It’s Sunday, it’s early, and I’m already annoyed. Not because the kids woke me up at 7am or because the dog is eating my work shoes, but because of my trip to our local recycling facilities in the pub car park. Yet again they are full.

This is of course a good thing - full recycling bin’s show our commitment to recycling. The grumpy bit is the sign saying ‘if this bin is full please take your recycling home’. It seems that they don’t collect extra recycling and only replace the bins to schedule (not when they are full). What utter madness.

I also learn that the recycling all over the downlands are provided by local Parish Council's and often by the local pub. They are not funded by West Berks. When will West Berks learn?

The West Berks District Council election is being held on the 3rd of May 2007. Standing this time around are four candidates standing for the Downlands Ward which are (in alphabetical order):

• George Chandler (Tory Old Boy/Toff)
• Adrian Hollister (Green Party - see right - hoorah etc)
• Yogi Johnston (Labour hopeful)
• Paul Walter (Lib Dem wannabe)

Clearly I know who I’ll be voting for here. Seriously though, it’s the best turn out for the green party in the district council elections in west berks, and it’s about time too. The tory’s and lib dem’s seem to have allowed local government to stagnate as they fight it out for the middle ground. It would be good to see a real positive policy change to support the people in west berks and to provide them with affordable, environmentally sound and socially beneficial services and facilities.

Turn out for local elections (and general elections) seems to be a problem these days. George Chandler (tory old boy) spoke to me the other day about how good the turn out was in our area. Of course he is nursing his 1 in 4 people voted for him ‘majority’. How embarrassing it must be for him to say he represent’s only 25% or so of the downlands community. These old boy’s need to realise that one in four people voting for you (just about what he got last time around) is not a vote of confidence, but a vote showing the lack of confidence in the governance of the main parties, their lack of vision, commitment to the community, and ability to deliver. Tis about time for a real change.

Picture thanks to Tim from look photo.

Well the fedge has been planted today. Willow, between 2 and 3 rows deep. To make it dog proof I’ve added a wire fence (provided as leftovers from a local farm) nailed to a few wooden posts and a gate from Scat’s in Newbury. The posts are not straight, but it’s dog proof and when the Willow starts to take it should hide the posts just nicely.

It’s already created a nice screen bordering off the upper half of the garden from the rest. The neighbours were also very curios as to why I put lots of dead sticks in the ground. In the few weeks it's been in the ground we have had quite a bit of green leaf growth and it's already looking very good (see second picture below).

Lastly, we have used up some of the spare in a bit of a dead space to create a bit of shelter from the sun. It's a south facing line, so we are going to let these grow a bit in height. The dog has access to dig up and eat these if she wished, but seems not too interested. She has bent a few down by sitting/sleeping on them though.

I've given up trying to get a wood pellet stove. The main suppliers out there are only interested in big business and refer to 'local installers'. Those local installers are just about impossible to get hold of and when you do their prices are in a different league. Mark up's on the products are incredible and labour is twice the cost of a standard wood burning or multifuel stove (although just about the same effort is required to install a wood pellet stove).

Supply is also a little too unpredictable. A few companies might be able to supply me, but only in bulk, and a few more can supply small bags, but at a cost which equates to twice that of coal. I want to be leading edge with my sustainable approach, but not at the cost of living essentials, or making the cost inappropriate for anyone else to repeat.

So the hunt is now on for an alternative. At the moment burning wood (logs, compressed products) seems to be one of the better options.