Rant: Where have all the buses gone?

Well, maybe not all the buses but the one I stood waiting over half an hour for. Doing my bit and saving wear and tear on the car with all those short journeys, to say nothing of saving money and hassle in trying to find somewhere to park in central Brighton, I decided to catch the bus.

The bus I saw heading off down the road as I arrived at the stop, was ten minutes late. My bus turned up five minutes late. Not too bad

Waiting patiently at the stop for the return journey and no sign of the No. 14 which was scheduled at 4.20. Several other buses and the usual sight of three or four in a row, all the same number. In the end I gave up hoping for a No. 14 and took a No. 12 instead which was packed, standing room, too full to take on waiting passengers at following stops and a walk up from the main road.

Passwords, passwords ...

If you're anything like me you will have dozens of passwords and userids for different directories, sites, accounts etc. How do you keep track of them all?

One simple way is to create a Word document or Notepad file and list all the sites, userids, passwords and associated email address.

Of course you DON'T list the full password! List it in coded form, so that only you actually know what the full password is.

Password protect the file itself for reading, editing and saving.

It's always good to use a variety of passwords for different types of sites, never use one password for everything. A mix of letters and numbers are best.

Don't use your year of birth, house number or other obvious dates/numbers. Also don't use easy to guess passwords - like names of children, pets, partner etc.

Make sure that you have a copy of your password document/file somewhere safe. When my hard drive crashed - my own password document was invaluable in getting back online to all the sites I use as all the cookies to sites I regularly use were also gone.

In Memory of Bella

Bella died today. Quietly put to sleep having developed cancerous lumps on her leg a few months ago. She was a lovely, affectionate black labrador. Not mine but friends. Very upsetting for the whole family. Molly, their chocolate lab died just over a year ago, so now the house must be feeling very empty.

Very beautiful and originally the runt of the litter. I've known Bella since she was a puppy and have always had a soft spot for her. She always came to greet me when I arrived for a visit. Apparently there weren't many people she'd move out of her bed or spot in front of the fire for. She loved playing ball in the garden even if she wasn't very good at bringing it back to you - sitting just a few feet away waiting for you to come and pick it up. She'd play for hours given half a chance, even when she was panting and exhausted and this didn't stop as she got older.

She'd wimper if another dog came near when out walking, wagging her tail enthusiastically at the same time. A habit for eating and rolling in anything slightly smelly, or rather the smellier the better, as dogs do. Dinner time took only a few seconds as she wolfed it down and known to regularly jump up and steal the cat's food too!

I was due to go down and dog-sit with her in a couple of weeks, as they didn't want to put her in kennels while the family went away on holiday.

I'll miss her - it will be strange not seeing her when I next visit.

BHCC - Sustainability

Tonight's talk from the Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce was on sustainability. Actually nothing I hadn't heard, wasn't aware of or don't do already but at least it's raising awareness in the business world of not only becoming more environmentally aware but saving money into the bargain.

Involve your staff in the discussion - not only will they then be more likely to buy into what you're trying to achieve but they'll come up with their own ideas.

Easy saves for your business premises to reduce resources are:

• Reduce the temperature of the office by just one degree and save an average of 10% of your heating bills.
• Don't heat or light empty offices - save 50% on your bill.
• Get staff to 'switch-off' lights when not in use.

• Fix leaking pipes and taps - save hundreds of litres a year.
• Install water-saving devices in cisterns - save 3 litres every flush.
• Make sure taps are properly turned off.

• Flat pack boxes and other waste to reduce disposal/collection costs.
• Reduce waste bins required and frequency of collection.
• Don't print emails.
• Re-use scrap paper.
• Print double-sided.
• Use recycled paper products.
• Recycle waste - paper, glass, cans, card, organic waste.

For longer-term results or when changing or updating equipment - try some of the following.

• Replace lighting with compact fluorescent tubes or low wattage bulbs.
• Install flush controls on toilet cisterns.
• Replace taps with sensor or push spray taps.
• Install waterless urinals.
• Ask your suppliers for reusable packaging.
• Use Fairtrade products.
  
• Install proper insulation.
• Use energy efficient appliances.
• Implement home-working - less commuting.
• Encourage use of public transport.
• Install energy saving equipment for heating and lighting.
  

Even if you don't work in an office and work from home, many of these can still apply to your home office.

If you'd like to find out more and get some great tips, information and advice on Greening your Business join my eco-friendly Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Club on Ecademy.

Get your Sustainable Business Checklist from Sally Lever's Downshifting site.

Adding A Little Colour To Your Life

My latest newsletter is just out. This month's main article is about Adding A Little Colour To Your Life.

Do you get to the end of the week and you know you’ve been busy but you don’t really seem to have achieved anything?

You’ve been rushing around from pillar to post, feeling as if you’re at the beck and call of everyone and everything else, whether it’s a ringing phone or a full inbox or people interrupting you while you’re working but somehow don’t find time for yourself.

Make sure that what you do each day is getting you closer to your goals and that you’re not wasting your time on secondary goals or getting side-tracked onto less important tasks.

- if you'd like a free copy of the July issue, let me know and I'll be happy to send it to you.

Tour De France - UK Stage

Having just read Lance Armstrong's first book - It's Not About The Bike, I have a new found respect for cycling and the Tour De France. So, of course I just had to watch the coverage of the Opening Stage here in the UK. I now understand more about the work that goes into getting a rider across the finishing line. It makes you realise what REAL teamwork is about - working as a whole to protect the main rider, so they use as little energy as possible for the final sprint across the line.

Robbie McEwen's team mates dropped back to support him after his crash, to get him back into the peloton for a final amazing sprint from nowhere to cross the line ahead of everyone else who'd been jostling for position for the last few kilometres.

Not only that but that opposing riders support each other in getting round the course and equally will congratulate each other having just been beaten. It's a race of strategy as much as teamwork and all that on top of the ability, stamina and determination to race for anywhere between six to eight hours at speeds that would leave most people standing.

Good old terrestrial permitting, I'll be watching what I can or at least keeping in touch online.

Live Earth: Good, Bad or Indifferent?

I didn't watch it last night as I was elsewhere having fun but I wonder just how much 'good' the latest in a series of musical events is going to do in changing people's minds.

What strikes me is the huge amount of energy and money being used/wasted in putting on these concerts around the world. OK, they only used artists who were already on tour but the shear amount of energy needed to light the stage and power the instruments, to say nothing of, transmit the event around the world, must have created a pretty heavy carbon footprint. Something that will take years to offset by us switching our appliances onto standby, changing to low energy light bulbs and recycling. What some of us are trying to do on one hand is completely wiped out in an instant, unless of course this was a carbon neutral event! Now there's a good PR stunt.

As I said, I didn't watch it - too busy creating our own CO2 emissions down at a beach BBQ, so I don't know what emphasis there was on the Climate Change issue or if everyone was just there having a good time but I really don't see what difference it's going to make. Yes, it might raise awareness to those few people who haven't heard about the issue (where have they been hiding?) but with the US still being the biggest polluter and not prepared to sign-up to do anything about it, it's about government and industry rather than what you and I can do. It won't stop me doing my bit, I don't like waste in any form and besides reducing MY carbon footprint also helps increase my bank balance.

I'm off out to enjoy the sunshine - now that we have some. Climate change having created the wettest/windiest June in ages.

What's For Supper Tonight Then?

I've just had my second Veg Box delivered from a local grower who has recently started delivering to the area.

My garden isn't quite in production yet, so I need something to fill the gap and I'd rather have something locally grown than the packaged supermarket offerings.

You never quite know what you're going to get. I've opted not to receive potatoes but get a selection of whatever else is in season. So far this has consisted of carrots, beetroot and tomatoes as standard, a few courgettes and lettuce. You know, the sort of freshly grown lettuce that you actually have to wash. It comes complete with greenfly and even the occasional slug. Something you never find in the supermarket variety - which makes you realise just how far the clean, washed pristine varieties are from the real grown in the soil variety, to say nothing of heavily doused in pesticide they must be to ensure not a pest remains.

There's usually a variety of leaves - either spinach or chard. Again complete with soil and not having been doused in chlorine and packaged in the modified air of a plastic bag. Nothing that a quick rinse won't sort out.

I remember when I was younger having to wash lettuce before you eat it. How lazy have we become these days that we have to have everything washed, packaged and ready just to open and eat.

Looking forward to see what else might turn up and if I'm not sure I can find out what it is and what to do with it - here.

Quote: Rainbows

I read a great quote today, or perhaps more of an observation, which in light of the recent rains seems highly appropriate.

"Without rain there wouldn't be rainbows"

Smoking Ban - How Will It Affect You.

Of course the big news this month is that while I was away, the smoking ban was introduced in England. Hoorah! Not that I frequent them that often but now I’ll be able to go out for an evening in a pub or restaurant and not come home smelling of smoke. Although the downside seems to be that all the smokers now congregate outside the doors, so you have to walk through them or they are now out in the garden, so if you want to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, you also have to endure the smoke.

Based on the experience of Ireland and Scotland you'll now have to step over the piles of fag butts outside places of work, pubs and restaurants and on the street in general.

Has the ban made any difference to you? If you're in business - what have you had to do to deal with the change? If you’re a smoker are you planning to give up?