Egging us on at Easter

With us currently struggling to cope after a few setbacks (or rather some 'investments' that did not pan out as well as planned), I am glad to report one very nice thing that we learned late last night, that puts a slight spring in our step for the Easter break.

The lovely Janey Lee Grace, of Radio 2 fame, has written to advise that we are mentioned in her personal newsletter, which obviously goes to a highly worthwhile audience.

Thanks to her book, Imperfectly Natural Woman, which we were pleased to review having met her here in Ross at a book signing visit a while ago (and which subsequently went to the top of the Amazon best-seller list, which shows we know a hit when we see one!), she is fast becoming an influential force in the world of the (and I hope she will be happy with this description, which I take, and mean, to be a real accolade) 'light greens'. 

These are folk who are just trying to do their best whilst juggling a lot of commitments and family pressures, and who can often be alienated by the rather 'intense' pressure that can be brought to bear by those of a more target-driven or passionate bent. As our review noted, she very much embraces our 'style', which is more based on sharing practical, affordable ideas for inspirational 'doing'.

Here's hoping that we may soon welcome some new friends as a consequence of her endorsement.

It can often seem we're trying to save different planets

We subscribe to Materials Recycling Week, and having submitted it as an article, were pleasantly surprised to find my recent blog republished by them just now:

By Peter from Junkk.com

Latest: What. Where. How....er....When?

Peter, Junkk.com, 12/04/2006: I carry a powerful memory (scroll down at bit for full text)... 

What was not so great was to see a related earlier blog by one of their journalists, dated March 9, where she found herself '... pleasantly surprised by just how much emphasis has been put on recycling and sustainability in the home', in obvious awe of the celebrities she met, and whose stands (which, unlike ours, we rather suspect may not have been charged for, despite being very commercial, and well-promoted, high-end enterprises) she was obviously introduced to (two, ironically, just a corridor away from our own). 

Reason being that we are taking the organisers well and truly to task over the avowed theme, and this really is not going to be helpful. But it also highlights the disconnect that can obviously occur between what some organisations say and what they share (in PR, press packs, guided tours, etc) and what gets written, perhaps with the best of intentions, by journalists on tight deadlines. 

We know the lady in question, and she is passionate about the environment. Sadly, we do not recognise the show emphasis she described. I know it can be tricky to repay an invitation to a press launch with some constructive criticism (check out my review of the Dead Ringers story to see how I tried to balance my views whilst still saying what I genuinely felt, which was that it was an awful lot of money on something that didn’t really get to grips with all the issues it should have, doubtless making grumpy the show PR and all associated Gov, Local Gov and NGO types who get to play with the huge amounts involved).

There is a heady cocktail at work here, involving a lot of folk, and delicately balanced relationships between those who need, and those they’d like to be needed by. I'd include in this, big time, WRAP (who sponsored the Recycle Now alley, and whose cited participation in the marketing by the show sales guys was highly instrumental in our taking part). 

But perhaps most important is what the general public who visited thought of it all. 

I was there every day, and from those who came to the show and visited our stand (it is... interesting... that we were not one an environmental journalist was told about, came to (at least announced), or felt worth mentioning, despite being only one of a half-dozen scattered about in several hundred) it split into two distinct groups: those who had no clue the show was anything to do with environmental issues, and those who came because they had heard, found our little oasis, and shared our views that it was nothing like it had been billed, for exhibitor or interested visitor.

As a courtesy to the MRW editor (with whom we truly value our good relationship) I have called to tell him of our views and my intention to write this, and we have in a most civilised fashion agreed that it is all about freedom of speech. So here's hoping I can still articulate my views beyond these pages.

As part of our follow-up we will be continue to seek those of others who took part and visited, and it will be interesting to see the picture that emerges.

Two down, four hundred and eighty-odd to go

My adventures in IT disposal have proven a mixed bag so far, and while most of what I have written previously has been borne out, at least in terms of letting 'us' know what to do, I'm happy to report that, in our neck of the woods (Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire), that it is possible to get rid of an old PC. But by golly, it took a bit of doing in the finding, with the doing yet to be confirmed.

 My first port of call was a website we have in the past found to be quite reliable, wastepoint (heard of it?). Sadly, despite using a very clear process, we ended up with a less than helpful result: take it to London, Luton or Leeds.

Next up, I headed for the local authority site, and after a bit of drilling down got where I needed to be, which was as far as I could go on this site, which then sent me off elsewhere (actually it gave me a choice of two, one of which is now defunct, but at least defaulted back to the other) to Turn the world around/Welcome to our future/recycle. This in turn sent me off to a seemingly promising section, which listed a few phone numbers. Sadly the companies mentioned were either no longer operating, not interested in my volumes (nothing less than a skipful got them excited) or too far away.

So I headed back to the council site and emailed directly to the contact offered.

I must say I was quite impressed to be called back within the day, by a most helpful lady who offered a few suggestions. These all were local and could help, but as I pointed out to her it was interesting that none were actually listed on the site.

One was a private company that would take my PC, but at a price (£1.50 for a CPU; £2.50 for a monitor). One was a not-for-profit, which would be happy to take them, but it was only once I called the boss (who I knew) and he told me where to go and to tell them 'he’d sent me'. Finally I was given the mobile number of the private contractor running the public sites. He happily told me they'd take the stuff, but only if I was a private individual.

So, without actually going out there to test it, it looks like it may work, at least in our neck of the woods.

 

But I rather suspect most folk would have given up well before the point of actually making such progress. Now, where next? We've also tried it (having been asked by a Junkk.com user) about Wokingham, but sadly, despite our best efforts and a series of exchanges with the council waste officer, come up with nothing there. Which leaves just a few more left on the list... about 480.

 

Thing is, we're just a little outfit with no real resource. Isn't his something worth doing and supporting at much higher levels?

What. Where. How... er... When?

Post the Ideal Home show we have decided to pursue some issues that were thrown up by visitors to our stand, which inspired me to write the following. As it stands an awful lot of folk are employed and being paid an awful lot of money with an awful lot of resources to have either been unable to help, or come up with an awful lot of reasons why they cannot.

I carry a powerful memory from our recent participation at the Daily Mail Ideal Home show. It is of the lone ‘All Waste Paper' recycling bin that eventually appeared outside the entrance of the recycle now stand, beneath an endlessly looping Eddie Izzard commercial exhorting us to 'recycle - the possibilities are endless’.

I was there to do so, but the thin slot was well and truly blocked by a plastic bottle crammed into it.

As a metaphor for the show (theme: Recycling and Sustainable Living, though one would have been hard-pressed to guess, let alone experience or practice any such things) it seemed appropriate. But also symbolic of a greater disconnect I believe exists across the land.

While there was a small fortune being spent telling people what is good to do, there was little in evidence to point people in the right direction, or facilities in place to actually do it. Hence small motivation to try very hard to comply. 

My 'business', Junkk.com, is primarily about reuse, but we are more than keen to encourage proper recycling should those 're's’ higher up the enviro-chain not be possible. But I do wonder why it is still so hard for the poor old consumer to know what to do... or where.

If there were two things that we were challenged on mostly at our stand, from people attracted by the fateful words 'Ask us!' on one of our posters, they were a) what to do with endless ISP CD-ROMs, and b) what to do with a loft full of old IT stuff.

On the reuse front we were coming up a bit shy. There are only so many allotment bird scarers required, and other than turning an old iMac into a aquarium, we were pretty stumped there too. So if anyone has a good idea... tell us! We’ll all make a fortune.

Hence on to disposal, and we have started to try and find out. Because we are happy to admit to our users that while we may not have an immediate answer, we probably have a slightly better chance of knowing a 'man who can' or 'a lady who is savvy'.

So far, it is not proving too encouraging. Especially as the enquiries pour in from around the country.

Cans, no problem. Bottles, cinch (though where is that green glass mountain?). Paper, surely (however, perhaps not in Earls Court). Cardboard, mostly. Plastic... er... erratic but getting there (and there is always a paper bin in Earls Court). TetraPaks? Well, best if you live up North. Waaaaay up North. Batteries? Used to be France, but now there are a few collection points around, though I'm betting most don't know where and lob them in the bin.

But for a lot of other stuff that people do seem to be pretty concerned about, it still seems a barren plot. Take our very own nifty IT 'grey-yard': dead printers, slow CPUs and lifeless mobiles (yes, I know that there are many 'schemes' out there, but we are also interested in provenance chains with our disposal options, which is worthy of another story on behalf of poorly-informed consumers).

Junkk.com is a journey of discovery, so I am happy to admit I... we... are learning all the time. And so far, in our attempts to help folk (we're not being altruistic as every such enquiry and, with luck, result adds to the knowledge base we can share on our pages), it has been pretty discouraging. And let's not forget, we do know a tad more about where to try than most of the general public.

Websites; local authority and otherwise. Actual exchanges with endless officers. Industry bodies. NGOs. Businesses. Not much to show, from the vast logistical investment that has been made so far, that gets us any where near dealing with the item(s) we're interested in deposing of at all, let alone responsibly. There's a lot of 'stuff' out there. But outside of the kerbside-friendly 'goodies' endlessly solicited, when push comes to shove not much at all that translates into actually helping an individual get rid of something , either easily, practically or cost-effectively.

To dispose of my CPU, so far no organisation listed on local official sites wants to know, and as an individual the closest I have come is an invitation to visit Leeds, London or Luton.

I just hope that it is not going to prove to be because there's no money to be made, or the targets are not sexy enough. 

Now that would be a real waste.

Flights of Fancy

It's worth repeating our dictum that in matters green, things are seldom black and white. Hence I read with interest an article about an aspect of governmental internal behaviour, namely the use (and abuse) of air travel: Ministers use the Queen's Flight 'like private taxis'

I actually have some sympathy, as many criticisms do not reflect the realities of modern life. Can't very well have the PM unable or not present to make a decision on some new global excitement because he's waiting for the No 37 bus. Or for that matter, have the leader of our country standing around in the open at all, lest a Father for Jihad in a funny outfit decide to go for the front page of the Sun.

However, as with all things, we get to matters of degree. And it all gets complicated when one weighs 'efficiency' (of time, etc), with economy and, latterly, security issues and the environment. 

So we have that: "The Prime Minister has used the aircraft on 677 occasions since 1997 and spent about £140,000 on five trips abroad, mainly devoted to family holidays." While "senior ministers, including Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, have regularly used the Queen's Flight to ferry them from London to Brussels rather than take the train." And my personal eyebrow-twitching favourite: "Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary and the minister in charge of Labour's response to global warming, is also under fire for regularly ordering the aircraft, based at Northolt, near London, to fly to East Midlands airport, near her home in Derby, to pick her up for Government trips."

I can go along with the security issue. And, in the national interest, the time efficiency one, but this does of course start to drift into whose time is more important when we are told to do something that is patently not done by those telling us to do it. Especially when the disconnect is so grotesque: "In a statement on behalf of Mrs Beckett, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was entirely reasonable for aircraft to pick her up near her constituency home, especially if it were a Monday morning.' I still recall her on a radio show during the election justifying helicopter tips because she was 'very busy', like the rest of us are not. Sorry, this is not the right person to lecture us on how to be green.

And it seems a spokesman for the fiscally prudent Mr Brown has said that using the Queen's Flight to Brussels was cheaper than even standard class in Eurostar. That seems a pretty damning indictment on the attractiveness of train travel. But imagine the fiscal and environmental gains all round if they'd opted for a few seats with the masses on what I imagine to be a not-dissimilar levels-of-exhaust-venting aircraft operated by such as EasyJet? 

And finally, I must sigh when I read the now inevitable: 'It said that, "conscious of the environmental impact of aviation", all ministerial flights during Britain's presidency of the European Union last year were "carbon offset", partly by paying for environmental projects overseas.'

For a start, 'It is said that..' seems pretty blooming vague. Were they? Yes or no? And why only during Britain's Presidency? And what projects exactly? It would surely be no great effort to get taxpayers to fund the environmental consequences of all the jollies as well as those that are valid, but I for one would certainly like to know where the money is going and and why. 

Money talks and politicians should, on occasion, be made to walk. 

Putting your foot in it

I will take some convincing on the claim being made here:

Disposable Shoes - The New Nike MayFly Source: [letsrun]

'You can even ship it back to Nike when your done if you want to help save the environment.'

Is it just me, or is it starting to look like you whack '...plus it's good for the environment' on any new marketing product/wheeze just in case someone salutes?

Pity, because we had thought Nike were pretty well ahead of the curve, but this looks like a hurdle too far (enough running metaphors, already!)

Newtons' Laws

One of Sir Isaac's is, of course, that 'to any action there is an equal an opposite reaction', which in the literal sense this could be deemed to be... sort of.

But here I do of course refer to another Newton, as in Thandie quits her 4x4 to be a green goddess, which has enabled me to add a new law to the pot, namely that 'no matter what the story, the odds of uncritical sycophantic coverage by the media - even supposedly informed, objective ones - are near infinitely expanded to 'dead cert' by the amount of A-list totty attached to it, especially with a flash of flesh bolted on'. 

Now I have no problem that 'the British star of Crash, the Hollywood hit film, has become a crusader against gas-guzzling cars after a Greenpeace activist slapped stickers on her 4x4 accusing her of adding to global warming'. Or that 'she will make her support for the anti-emissions campaign public' (Sweet.. and so noble. How rare). Apparently she had been in her aircon-trailer for about a decade, because until this moment she didn't know 4x4s were a tad thirsty, and not really necessary around London. Bless.

Because I am sure that she has appreciated that a vast chunk of the emissions a car is responsible for arise in the making, so by buying a Prius and ditching the 4x4 she was by no means simply making a gesture. Especially as I'm sure she made sure a perfectly good 4x4 was either a) turned into a chicken coop, or at least b) sold to a person who may use it off road. Plus I'm sure she will no longer be flying around the globe in seats that could carry several normal folk, and working only on films whose explosions and stuff are all carbon neutralised, preferably not by companies owned by the the producer's hairdresser's vineyard manager.

Certainly these are facts glossed over by her PR guys, who did manage to cram in a lot of stuff about her forthcoming films, and also happily trotted out by the copy-typist, sorry, environmental journalists at the papers just round the corner in London, who must get a bit bored with pictures of activists in their wholly hats.

Other than a bit of hail to go with the sunshine yesterday (?), the weather seems to be getting better, so I'm slipping on my Peter Stringfellow thong and off for a photo shoot down in the Volvo. Hey, it's worth a go.

Oh the irony, redux

I dunno, but it appealed to me.

From the top piece: 'It launched Land Rover into a new area of the
4x4 leisure market and expanded the brand's appeal well beyond
traditional 4x4 buyers'.

Closely followed by this in the one below: '"Further confirming the
'head in the sand' attitude, less than a fifth of drivers saw it as
their own responsibility to lessen the environmental impact of their
vehicles"

And it is certainly not for the media to lessen the impact of their
ad revenue by not writing car company puff pieces, especially when
they do it next to worthy puff pieces with no sense of irony.

:)

Bad taste

Irony is possibly in short supply at the BBC these days.

A few short segments after a collection of po-faced prompt-readers
and earnest social commentators discuss the news of Mr. Brown's
rehash of the G8 poverty commitments, we have a piece about an £85
sandwich. I wait in vain for any inference as to the contradictions
inherent in this, but no, things smugly move on to the stock exchange
for the CEO of a sandwich company to have his free commercial
opportunity on the tax payers' money.

It left such a bad taste I decided to forgo any more of this trivial
drivel. So I probably missed the daily token environmental story -
doubtless involving a celeb - about what 'we' should be doing to make
a difference, which doubtless will not refer back to the flying in of
Chilean beef daily to make a snack for them in the green room.

Bouncing Back

A full working week and I am still drowning in 'catch-up'. Oh well.
One of the first casualties has been my daily reading of all the
newspapers, magazines and online newsletters. And without subject
matter to get blogged up about, I think my blogging will be sparse
for a while.

Anyway, by way of an interim upbeat note to tide us over, let me
share this lovely cartoon I have just had from one of my many fellow
'Less Than Ideal' Home exhibitors, who found my adventures quite
amusing, obviously. She was one of the wonderful few who actually
tried to make my experiment with cap collection work. Unsurprisingly,
she was also a source of continual inspiration throughout the show
with her good humour and bounding energy. No wonder her nickname is
Tigger!

I won't include the inside, but it's a lovely play on the Ideal Home
'strapline' of 'For me it's all about shopping', where all of us had
our own versions of 'For me its...'

Don't try this at home

While there was much that was frustrating about the Ideal Home show,
one thing that was wonderful was the sheer number of lovely folk I
met, especially fellow stand mates. Most were 'vets', and seemed to
do this for a living. I have to admire them, as the experience was
enough to put me off for ever (bar the next two we are doing,
ironically, at the same location. At least they are only a few days
each).

In addition to morale-boosting exchanges of drinks and snacks, I was
touched at the number of little gifts that came my way.

One such was a craft book that I was given by Joy, a wholly
remarkable lady who was presenting 10-8, every day, pretty much 7/7
for the entire month... at 76 years of age (pix above)!

Having had a chance to read it, we were very amused at the first
entry: Fun things to do with Asbestos! What was remarkable was the
date of printing: 1969. Amazing to think that this was still deemed a
craft material as recently as that! Good job we invested a lot in our
disclaimers and T&Cs. Who knows what next will turn out to be a no-no
to use at home

Sunday - Day Of Rest!!!!?

Sunday

Up early. It was a lovely day, and as I had nothing else to do I decided to set off. It gave me a chance to notice, and reflect, on just how many aircraft pass overhead every few seconds. Something repeated at countless points around the globe every minute of every day. It has to be a major issue. Frankly, it is also a reason I could not move back from our lovely country location to my favourite area of London, which is the West. It is simply too noisy and too polluted. I don’t want my kids living with what drops out of a jet engine.

Last day, and I’ve nailed down everything possible. It does seem that things are going walkies from stands as the bargain hunters swoop, and often feel all is fair game.

Pretty quiet at the stand, though the rest of the show was a zoo as the bargain hunters swooped. So much for the ‘it gets better towards the end’ claim. Frankly little we were told to get us there had much basis in reality. Yes we did meet some lovely folk who will move the Junkk.com cause along, but nowhere near enough to move us to the next level of site users we need to talk turkey with media buyers.

I complete this ‘show daily’ on the following Tuesday (Monday being somewhat of a blur as the sheer scale of stuff to catch up on, including sleep, sunk in).

The show closed at 6pm and a mighty cheer went up from all exhibitors, which must have been disconcerting to the visitors. That many hung around for ages afterwards shows how much anyone paid attention to the muffled Tannoy messages.

PJ had driven the van up, and it took us form 6.30pm to gone ten to strike the site and load up. Exhausting. It was a small miracle to get it all back in.

To all who helped make the show bearable (fellow Junkk.com stand item donors, exhibitors and presenters and, of course, lovely visitors)... I thank you. To those who tried to spoil things... well... nuts to you.

No one said saving the planet would be easy, but it can still be fun:)

Saturday - And An Appeal TO Help

Saturday

Arrived to find an appeal from a fellow exhibitor, Emma Baxter. Basically she is part of a Scout group based in Watford who are trying raise funds for an expedition to Kenya to support a worthy cause.. Called the YES project, it is on www.yes.or.ke. You can reach Emma on arielbax@aol.com.

Visited by a very nice couple who ‘got’ it. And the lovely lady partner, Hermione, turns out to be a freelance writer. She felt our story would be of interest to her readership… of 1 million. Fingers crossed, eh?

APRIL FUEL!

If I had been at Junkk.com Towers the last few weeks, I’m sure we’d have managed to pop in a good-natured wind-up of our own, but sadly this year I’ll just have to restrict myself to those I have seen. Thanks to the BBC News several have been spoiled by them pointing them out (what next guys, telling us the ending of movies?), and so far I just have those in my morning Mail.

First up is that the President of the EC, Jose Barroso, has opted for a Volkswagen Toureg. How I laughed! That’s like our Minister for the Environment opting to take a helicopter to speed up her travel round the country. That said, who could blame him? It is the car of choice in the ‘I’ve saved my 20%’ commercial’.

Next is one that I’m pretty sure is an AFJ, but actually seemed to be quiet a good idea! This was using stencils to imprint bard codes on fruit as they grow. The piece highlighted time and cost savings, but I thought it would also help with reducing sticker waste - not that it is that significant. Still, every little bit helpsJ Not sure what it would do for the flavour of the skin, though. And if anyone can tell me the ‘AFJ hint’ behind Tesco spokesperson Martin De La Fuenta & the Jonagold apple cited, I’d be grateful.

Finally, there are the ad spoofs. So far I am amazed how bad they are. A long timer ago the BMW ones were awesome (I remember being taken in by a key-ob actuated ariel light to help find your car). The one they did to day was DIRE. If you can’t do it well, don’t do it.

TRANSPORT OF DESPAIR

I’m getting out of here in the nick of time. The District Line from Richmond to Turnham Green has been closed for repairs. Maintenance is a fact of life, and disruption an inevitable consequence. But my experience this morning (and tonight and, blissfully, last one tomorrow morning) was dire. To steal/adapt a saying, this was a case of donkeys lead by asses.

Nothing was done right. Scores of O/T sucking minions lolled about the station forecourt, but apparently none had thought to mention to the milk float driver who parked there that getting a bus out may not be possible. Or notice that he’d strolled off. Once released, the bus then did a tour or Richmond before getting back to where it started.. Similarly, it went past Stamford Brook, which is further up the line, without stopping. At one point a passenger was giving the driver direction.

God help those who need to work Monday. And god help the cause of using public transport if this is how it gets planned an executed.

SOILED BRIEFS

We know the media injects the maximum spin on any story, and often if there is not one around actually makes stuff up. But usually there is an element of ‘no smoke without fire’. I do not intend to refer to any specific story, but it is really getting under my skin that so many unnamed sources are briefing so many journalists about so much. The value I place on any party’s policies, what any politician has to say or what I read has been taken to near zero.

LOOK FOR THE ANGLE

I am no great fan of the current US and UK governments, but an aspect of the recent visit by Condi Rice to Jack Straw’s constituency threw up yet more reasons for me to further worry about the state of our media, especially our state media (if I can call the BBC that).

You kind of expect the likes of the daily mail to be looking to paint anything like this with an unflattering brush, but I was a tad intrigued by the news coverage I saw regarding the protests to her visit.

While citing great local feeling, the footage I saw only seemed to pan a cross a line of about four schoolgirls, with a couple of adults behind, making a stretch of about 4yards long and two-ish deep.

Should this be picked up else where ever make it to the farcical self-analysing Newswatch ( I have long since given up writing in, as, like today’s, it involves a cosy set-up where a BBC mid-level responds to criticisms by saying ‘oh, I think we got it about right’) I’d love to see if a wider angle may be produced.

In fact I am thinking of setting up a website called the Critical News review review, to start targeting such things and leave them up there to rumble until adequate answers are found.

THE WASTE ON WASTE

As any reader of this blog will appreciate, I am in slight despair at the level of intelligent investigative or even analytical journalism in the environmental filed, despite the incredible relevance and impact it all has on our lives.

However, whilst finding it was consigned more to a snipe in a column of City Hall gossip in the Evening standard, I was caught by the following (in its entirety): ‘How best to drive up London’s poor recycling rate? By spending £14909 from the City Hall coffers on four giant cans to replace the props worn out by countless PR stunts. Twenty-five events in 18 months left the cans damaged beyond repair.

At first I thought this unfair. Though we do our thing on a wing and a prayer, from my ad days £15k is not that much to get anyone to do, much less make anything.

However, amortised over 25 events one starts to wonder. And if they are the ones I think they are, when I saw them I wonder just what they were made out of in the great re-scheme of things. And having watched them blow across they filed at Camden’s Green day I didn’t foresee a long, healthy future for them.

One also has to ponder the associated costs of transport, assembly, strike down and, of course, staffing. Several bored staff handing out gazillions of leaflets does add to the cost (not to mention to the environment) … a lot.

It’s not that one does not do this, as it is necessary in any effort to get a message across, but that there is accountability for whether it is done in the best way and whether the results were worth it.

I will, for instance be interested in how WRAP, sponsors of The Ideal Home stand, see the value of their investment. One major reason for me to take our stand was their involvement. I’ll ask, but whether I’ll be told is another matter. It will be interesting to see if more powerful media voices will ask such questions at all, let alone as asides, and certainly as part of a dedicated effort to trace the vast public funds being wasted on waste.

Long, good(ish) Friday

Friday

Counting down to the end. It has been a loooooong haul. Surprisingly, where yesterday was busy, today was pretty quiet in comparison. Penney Poyzer kindly popped over for a last chat as today is the last of her lecture series. She has chums in Ross, and I hope she will take me up on my invitation to visit.

Some of the stands have run out of stock and closed up already, so rather than a ‘big finish’ it may fizzle. I have been warned that the last day is a zoo as the bargain hunters scavenge about, and you need to nail everything down to avoid the pilfering.

On the way home I picked up a discarded Evening Standard. Glad I did. It had a very good article by writer Will self. Another I can add to my small, though growing list of thoughtful journalists discussing our green dilemmas.

DIY RIP?

So the downturn in fortunes at the likes of B&Q are heralding the end of DIY? It may be true, but the reason that I heard being cited (with the support of a few BBC show celebrity designers) was that folk are opting to get it done by a 3rd party. That smacks of another disconnect. Who the heck are these people that can afford to bring in a designer and/or contractor at the drop of a hard hat just for a simple bit of DIY?

B(ungs) C(reate) C(overage)

I sent in my first text to the BBC news today (Emma will be impressed, except for the time it took me). For all the good it did me. I almost fell off my chair when their breakfast news business bod Declan popped up in an ASDA overall and conducted a 3 minute commercial for the supermarket chain. At one stage I thought he may actually sing the company song and recite the mission statement.

As they have now become an advertising channel (as the government has shown, it is possible to create revenue in creative ways in return for a bit of grace, favour… or, in this case, coverage), I wrote to ask for a refund. So far, no reply.

OWN GOAL

Like the talking heads trotted out on the TV today, I take no pleasure form the woes befalling Wembley, and like them I am not privy to the full facts of it being double the budget and twice as long in delivery. But I am not surprised.

The Britain I now witness is run by mediocre hype-spinners and bean-counters, who flit from job to job racking up fancy salaries based on short-term financial results and no fear of being held to account for the consequences down the line.

Hence it is now almost inevitable that the cheapest bid will win, so most pitches are pointless. But as a client, unless you are very careful the reason it is the cheapest will often result in all that we are now witnessing. And no amount of compensation or penalty clauses can make up for the damage to your reputation if you miss deadline.

It is also inevitable that if you allow too many cooks to stick their oars in the pie, it will end up tasting of camel. What I sense in situation is an agreed brief, budget and timeline being blown away by constant revisions.

Fortunately, this may be a rare situation that does not affect me much, though doubtless the public purse will end up getting tapped. Sadly, our national reputation is already pretty much tainted.

Thursday

The dreaded ‘12hr straight’ day. But I shouldn’t complain. Tonight I’m hoping to meet a chum who is stepping off a flight from New York about when I leave the show, and does this kind of travel like I catch the bus (or indeed walk down the corridor back at Junkk.com HQ). It’s his job and not for me to criticise, but one can only imagine the consequences to global warming of his business lifestyle. And this is the problem with so much in the media debate; there is such a disconnect between the ideal and the basic facts of life and living today. Though there is a certain pragmatism creeping in, though not so much from the environmental side.

For instance, I was reading another review of ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’, this time in the Evening Standard. I’d say the critic, Victor Lewis-Smith, is cut from the same cloth as Jeremy Clarkson. I’m not saying he’s a ‘mentalist-bashing shock-jock, but one of the few journalists who are not afraid to say what they think, think about what they say and actually articulate a decent argument, even though you may not agree with it.

Without having seen the show, he did make a few points to bear in mind. The best, I felt, was that it is not that hard being self-sufficient on a 3-acre farm. Most of us do not have the luxury of such resource, time or BBC support to live this dream.

I hope this will not end up as another ‘us ‘n them’ situation. I applaud another positive effort, but it does seem to shaping up as one where most cannot empathise with the protagonists’ situations.

And this was the core an interesting conversation I had with a lovely lady called Sarita, who works with in Samsung as a researcher for their Design Intelligence division.

Who knows where it may lead? But it was inspiring to find out that some mega-companies are really concerned with how the average consumer feels and reacts. And it doesn’t matter if it is for commercial reasons, so long as they have started to get their heads around the potential of going green in a way that rewards and engages all sides of the equation.

In leaving, she paid me the highest compliment I’ve had (personally, but also for the stand & site) when she said it was so nice to find someone so passionate, so keen to make a difference, with so many ways to do stuff… but without being preachy. That is exactly where I want us to be, and with luck where we’ll succeed… soon… please!

Had a bit of an adventure when the lovely Suzy from the stand opposite came over concerned because I looked tired, and in chatting I mentioned that my left arm was sore and my fingers numb. I suspect this was/is more than due to being tired, having a rotten posture and typing this hunched over a picnic table. Anyway, the next thing I know she’s brought over the medics and I’d been whisked off for a check-up. Other than overdoing it, I was given the all-clear, which was a relief. I wish my arm didn’t throb & tingle so much, though. So a big thank-you for all concerned for being… concernedJ

DEEP DO, DO?

It is pretty obvious that I am an advocate of doing. But of course, there are a plethora of sayings such as ‘fools rush in…’, and the majority of my life experiences, to offer the caution that a little bit of thinking and/or chatting first may often be extra time well spent.

However, I remain fairly convinced that if you don’t ‘do’ something in case it goes wrong, it’s also a nigh on guarantee that you won’t get anything done either. Hence I will always tend to err on the impulsive and rely on my motto of ‘Do the right thing, for the right reasons’ (bet it would look great in Latin) to get me through the consequences relatively ahead and unscathed.

However….

What do I/we do about the media? We seem damned if we don’t (get in touch) and damned if we do (follow-up). The show is almost at its end. We have had no meaningful coverage, nor the reassurance of any to come. What do I do? Politely sit here and hope. Or try and make things happen?

After all that has transpired (and much that has not), I do not feel any great debt to the show or its sponsors, and with no contact for several days now feel not only misled and let down, but pretty much dropped. Time to look at doing what is necessary perhaps?

BON MOTS ARE STILL ONLY JUST WORDS, AFTER ALL

Apparently the PM and leader of the Opposition were otherwise engaged yesterday. So Question Time was left to DPM Prescott and William Hague.

What was depressing about the farce that is Whitehall and politics of today was that their ‘clash’ was viewed as some merry japing joust by the pols and political commentators alike. Scoring points and making gags. Depressing, as no one cares (because they have realised they don’t have to to succeed) about actually doing anything worthwhile any more. A quick soundbite is all that’s required to keep the gravy train flowing. And sod those you claim to serve. At least one journo, Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail, managed to see this for the tragic game it has become for our future governance.

WHEN AT BOTTOM OF BARREL, KNOCK ON BASE FOR REASSURANCE

Just when you think you cannot get any lower, it’s always nice to find others are waaaaay further down there. And in this case it’s one of those ‘couldn’t happen to a nice bunch’ scenarios.

Seems ASDA is demanding huge up-front payments for its suppliers to guarantee future business. And we’re talking such as Unilever, Kellogg’s, Heinz, etc. Hmmn. A fight worth watching, as I suspect there will be no winners, including us.

The Final Countdown...

Tuesday

Oops. Here I was talking about layers, and obviously Junkk.com has a few of its own! I decided to call Jason of Any Junk (see recent blog), and had a pleasant chat. With luck he may drop by to visit at the show this week as I see some potential between us. Of course I cheerfully offered him a slot on the site, and said they’re already on it! Next time I get adventurous I’ll check with Emma first!!!!

I went on one of my regular Cap ‘N Cork rounds yesterday, and actually had a not bad haul. Only from a minority, but it was nice when some faces lit up at my arrival and I got presented with a bag of carefully collected caps.

Looking through today’s paper, and stumbled across the lead letter of the letters page in the Daily Mail. Headed ‘plastic is turning me into a bag lady’, yet another member of the public expresses their frustration at needless waste. Coming on top of the similar themed article by a reporter in these same pages a few weeks’ back, we have fired off another cheery missive in the hope that we may yet see the coverage that seemed so hopeful at the outset of this show still materialise. It is one thing to be lost in the clutter of people gunning for the media’s attention, but we seem not only to be invisible but actively getting ignored, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why.

REALITY BITES

Following on, as they are related, I was reading some public feedback to the hugely successful ‘The Apprentice’. What caught my eye were a couple asking why some ‘contestants’ were patently not what was articulated as winning material. Of course, not being dumb they acknowledged that it made for good TV, which is actually the only reason for the show, rather than any genuine attempt to discover a talented business apprentice.

I really think that this description of such broadcast entertainment genres should desist. It is plain inaccurate as there is simply no reality at all.

And now I spy two more, brand new ones starting today.

One is about an educationalist, entitled ‘Don’t Mess With Miss Beckles’. I’m prepared to bet that this will not be an accurate reflection of the state of anything except a bunch of kids’ desires to be on TV at any cost. Harking back a long way, if someone turned up at my school with a camera, our behaviour was anything but ‘real’. I’m sure there will be a nice fight in the offing to spice up the ratings.

More promisingly, there’s another in our ‘zone’ called ’It’s Not Easy Being Green’. I certainly look forward to catching up with it once I return from the show. From the snippet I saw they are at least not preaching so much as trying to inspire by example, which is good, but I again wonder how such efforts would turn out should the resources of a film crew not be in evidence. ‘All these people have turned out to help’ sounds lovely and heart-warming, but to what extent this was altruistic remains to be seen. Having seen a queue of teenagers waiting for the cameras to roll before planting floral tributes at a dead ‘friend’s’ chosen lamppost of vehicular termination, I have a cynical view of most people’s motivations these days.

But then maybe this is now the new reality.

LOSE LOSE

On one of my Cap ‘N Corks rounds I came across a stall selling a device that extended your reach and picks things up. Pretty useful for my task. They were £4.99. I asked if he could let me have one at a discount. No dice: full fare. Still, I bought it. On my travels subsequently, several folk asked me where I got it, but for some reason I couldn’t recollect. How much better for all concerned had the chap seen the obvious potential in helping me out.

Wednesday

A little detour this morning to the Science Museum to the press launch of their ‘Dead Ringers’ show, which is basically about recycling mobile phones. Read my review here [www.junkk.com/newsarticle.asp?slevel=0z608z609&parent_id=609&renleewtsapf=217]. I must say that these things are falling into a bit of a routine, with a lot of dosh resulting in a load of PR folk, pols, academics and a load of media being brought together for a few speeches and a press pack which then most likely get dutifully rehashed and lost at the back of the odd minor medium.

I actually asked a few questions and did not get many answers.

However, I did meet a few more ‘great and good’ from such as DEFRA, SITA, etc, which with luck will be helpful. One such was Prof. Sue Grimes, Chair of Waste management at Imperial College. Nice lady. I hope we may be able to communicate further.

Came back to find the show in full swing. ‘Busy but not buying’ seems to be the order of the day. In my brief trip from entrance to stand, I ‘assisted’ one lady who was trying to cram her water bottle in the paper slot of the recycle bin, and stopped by the loos to switch off two hot taps left running.

My frustration is building. There’s not much I can do about having being totally suckered financially with our presence at the show, but it still galls me that I was taken in by the claims about all that was being done to cut us a great deal because what we were doing fitted in so well with the theme. However, having just finished talking with – and apologising to - yet another person who came to visit because they saw we were attending on our website, I am set to ask some serious questions.

This lady had had great trouble finding us because we were not in the guide. One of the many dispensations we thought we’d been granted was not having to pay for the compulsory £1500 ad in the guide, which sadly meant we were not listed. Strange then that many of the highly commercial enterprises in our area also managed to avoid this, along with paying one tenth what we did for their pitches. I also suspect the few others scattered about who are dealing in green issues paid little, if anything at all for their massive pitches. I wonder what WRAP has to say about all this?

But where I am really not happy is the sheer level of tokenism being shown to the environmental cause by the show itself, and its marketing.

Of course I’m only getting a handful of people interested in our message, because you’d have to work very hard to find it being promoted in any meaningful way, if at all. I have no access to the site, but I doubt it is any more overt than when we started looking having signed up, and no ad I have seen anywhere makes any mention.

Meanwhile my positive efforts, while being ‘allowed’, are being treated as no more than a quaint indulgence. I honestly feel quite let down by those who saw only our money rather than our sincere intentions, and used the latter to make a few more cheap scores of the former to doubtless meet some target.

However, we are still seeing a steady stream of quality, which is some compensation for the total lack of quantity.

Yesterday I had the Corporate Director of Thurrock Council swing by, and he seemed very positive about what we are doing.

Meanwhile today I had a great chat with a lovely couple of businessfolk – Adam & Gail of Wardworth.com [www.wardworth.com] - who had come all the way down from Bolton to check out… you guessed it… the environmental theme. They arrived disappointed but I hope left our little site at least a bit happier that some areas of mutual interest had been discussed. We identified a lot of synergies, and I am hopeful there may be a worthwhile relationship there to explore later.

YOUR WORLD. YOUR (well those of you who get chosen) SAY.

I missed the issue the day before that prompted it, but I bought the Independent that had the title ‘Your World. Your Say’, boasting an eight page special issue devoted to readers’ responses on how best to change the climate.

However, before I could wade into this mighty collation, I first had to remove, with a wistfully ironic chuckle, the twenty-four page Property section, with articles and ads advocating homes in Spain, Bulgaria, Dubai, etc. Bless.

This self-same section also has a green bit, by one Will Anderson. I quite like his style. There was some common sense and we must get in touch. And then, on present evidence, never hear back. But you never know.

Anyway, it was worth having a scamper through the thoughts of the UK’s great concerned, or at least those the Indy has chosen because it suits their editorial policy. We will be guilty of this too at Junkk.com, for it is just human nature, but let us never forget that nothing is ever without a level of spin.

Sadly , the result was... predictable. I learned nothing new. The majority were ‘isn’t it all awful, we must do something’, with very few actual suggestions (new or otherwise) as to what.

I was going to do a detailed analysis. Sorry, can’t be bothered. With a few… very few… exceptions of common sense, pragmatic un-PC parapet-popping and a couple of sensible notions that stand a s**t-show of being adopted by any of today’s polls, this was just a talking shop for eco-worriers to share each others pain, littered with a few loons from each extreme popped in to ensure the debate bubbles along, albeit fruitlessly. Frankly a waste of eight pages.

GOOD. QUICK. CHEAP - PICK ANY TWO.

This was the mantra we used at my agency, and has served me well. In business, it simply is not possible to do all three and achieve a satisfactory result.

As my recent adventures have distanced me from financial issues (not in a good way), I have started to think that a trimmed down version without ‘cheap’ can be applied to what I am doing a lot currently, namely writing. You can write something quickly, but it is unlikely that it will turn out to be very good. One of my favourite sayings (which I may or may not have come up with) is that ‘Cream rises to the top. You can’t push it’. With such as these blogs, my haste to get it out there often results in something that is not as good as I’d wish it to be.

The issue of the readers’ responses to the Indy feature made me revisit this. Pretty much all were ‘via email’. Issue and response neatly concluded within 48 hours. I missed my shot because I simply had no window. It’s the era of the quick… or the unpublished.

But even if I had fired something off, it would have been an initial draft. Not crafted or mulled over at all. Sad really. And prevalent across every aspect of life. The demands of producing anything no matter what almost ensure we never make whatever it is worthwhile.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get back to when something is worth wait for?

REALITY 2^nd BITES

Either there was not much on TV last night, or the critics are reading my blog. Anyway, the only programmes to get reviewed were the reality shows I mentioned the other day. And without even seeing them it looks like I was pretty much bang on! The feisty lady’s attempt to kick kids into gear has not gone down well. The green family fared better, but the Indy critic did pause to wonder how being a consultant in the defence industry squared with planet-saving. But hey, I still like to write ads. Better to have that as a day job and do what he’s doing to mitigate, rather than compounding the deal by not caring. Highlights the problems we all face juggling jobs, family... and our environmental impact.

MISSING TARGETS

Just a thought, but what is the point of all these targets? Seems ‘we’ just missed one to do with emissions, and the sum total of the response has been a collective ‘Oh well’, and simply setting another target. No one lost a job, and indeed no one was actually mentioned as being responsible. It just sort off ‘happened’.

But hit a target and the gongs are handed out quicker than you can say ‘peerage for sale’.

There’s the usual ‘we’re disappointed’ noises from the eco-groups, but about the best they can come up with is ‘must do better’. Er, how? If our Government can’t police itself enough to do what it should, what chance do the rest of us have?

Friday

I have a mystery benefactor! Yesterday I popped out to get a sandwich, and upon my return there waiting for me was a drink and piece of cake, with the message ‘A small present for an eco-warrior alone in such a consumerist environment Enjoy!’. All the guys around the stand deny all knowledge and don’t recall anyone, so to my very own Emerald Pimpernel, should you read this: ‘thank you!’.

EFFICIENCY DRIVES (ME TO…)

That didn’t take long. Just reading a review of the budget with the heading ‘Efficiency Drive’, indicating that spending by four Whitehall departments ‘will be scaled back… to cut waste’. Eyebrow time! As there is no mention of how this waste will be trimmed, why do I suspect that all will happen is essential services get reduced still further before anyone gets around to reducing waste? I was talking to a ‘mole from the ministry’ just now, who was having a quick scope around on their day off, and my suspicions where pretty much confirmed: the EU gives the Gov some money to address waste; the Gov gives it to a not-for-profit quango, who then use it to build an empire with a nifty head office building, highly paid directors and staff with regional officers throughout the land (all with nice pensions), and lost of lovely research and investigative (conferences all around the world) budgets. And once that little lot has been established, they set about doling out the minute fraction that’s left to those initiatives that may actually make a difference. If I may paraphrase an old saying: “will the last person left who is not measuring, assessing, taxing or otherwise feeding off the economy, please find some way to generate the energy so all those riding on their backs have any lights at all to tick their target projection boxes’. In a world where all are chiefs, the Indian (Native American) may just get fed up and leave them in the lurch.

MAKING THE FUR FLY

This didn’t take long either. Entitled ‘UNFurGIVEABLE’ I came across a fashion section. Actually quite a sincere, passionate piece pointing out that ‘the industry’ has a pretty short memory when it comes to fur. Apparently most designers have decided it is a fad whose time is over. Bad time to be a mink again, then. And if they can forget about ripping skin off live animals so quickly, I’m not too encouraged that ethical items will get much of a run either.

But to fingerpoint a tad, just by way of an eyebrow twitch let me quote the intro line from the vegetarian animal lover columnist’s introduction: ‘… Having just seen four weeks of ready-to-wear’ shows in London, Milan and Paris,…’. Now, I know this is how she makes her living, and her articles are part of how the paper sells, but it was... quaint… how this was the day after a piece by another columnist on how our predilection for scooting around the world at the drop of a haberdasher wasn’t helping too much. And as I didn’t see it claimed on the page (which if it was, it would be), I’m guessing these trips were not carbon neutralised. In the great scheme of things, would an animal be more worried about being hunted for its pelt or made extinct along with all other life on the planet? Just a thought.

Anyway, to lighten the mood a bit, here’s a new experiment as I’m at a remote location - my first Word.doc cartoon! - which I hope the girls can capture as an upload (yes Peter, it is placed at the start of this blog!, Emma)

Saturday

Pretty busy, though I am fading again. I was looking forward to having the family for company. But typically there was another lesson to be learned about where we headed. After 3 hrs in a jam only a few miles away from Earls Court, PJ called to say she was turning back. That must make over 50% of the trips made here a complete bust. I really look forward to getting home, and not even trying to commute, by car or otherwise.

I did have an interesting chat with a lady about plastic caps. She was telling me that in her area a recycler said that if they collected caps equivalent to the weight of a wheelchair they were trying save up for a disabled resident, they would come and collect… plus donate the wheelchair! Not quite sure about the logistics, but this has to be worth pursuing. Sadly my caps collection is not going too well, but it was too little, too late and not coordinated or supported well enough to work. But I reckon we could turn a show like this into tons of pre-sorted items that would make any recycler salivate. I can’t believe no one has thought of this before, so there must be financial/logistical/inertial reasons why not, and it is worth finding out what they are and overcoming them. All of which is possible, but the ease of which will depend on the level of territorial, political and greed obstacles that stand in the way.

STEAM ROLLER

I just liked the title, which was in the Mail about a new Rolls Royce. A bit of a stretch to get to ‘green limo’ as they claimed, but it was interesting how elegantly engineers who are at last motivated to do so can harness wasted heat from car engines to provide more power and, hence, greater fuel efficiency. Shame they waited until now.

LEFT HAND. RIGHT HAND

Another prompted by our PM-in-waiting. Seems Gordo is asking the EU to raise the duty-free threshold for long haul travellers. This seems uncharacteristically philanthropic of him. Especially as it will tend to be of benefit for those in the higher income brackets.

And perhaps more pertinently, I am unsure how encouraging people to jump in an aircraft to do their shopping is helping global warming.

Sunday

I’m not sure, but I have to say that not only are there not as many people coming in as before, but those who are don’t seem to be the same either in terms of engagement. Having paid for the stand I should be as equally concerned, but the guys who tally up the tills each night are livid, and rumours abound. Some of these guys have been here for several years, and the consensus is that the numbers are down, and the wrong audience is being brought in. In fact, there is talk that a lot of free tickets have been issued to keep the numbers up, and people who don’t pay to get in tend not to buy either, and only hunt around for freebies. Then again, it may just be fourth week paranoia creeping in!

PJ & the boys did the Cap ‘N Cork round this morning, and it was not very encouraging. I fear that was an idea that either did not have wings or more likely the necessary oomph to get it off the ground.

The stand continues to attract quality over quantity, though it is getting wearing to be the one copping the frustration of those who visited specifically for the ‘Sustainability & Recycling’ theme. That said, at least they end up with us and no one else! Big fish, small pond ‘n all.

Popped across to see Oliver Heath do a talk. He’s another TV celeb who is in the eco-arena, much like Penney Poyzer. And a perfectly charming and interesting chap he is too. I bought his book (this is not working out quite the way I intended. The whole point was we would be given money having invested so much in the stand; not running around forking out more!) and we have another testimonial to add at least.

I must say that I believe I could do the job he did. It’s easy to forget that living this industry as we have does give one a fair spread of knowledge. Of course, I still sadly lack the ‘as seen on TV’ cachet, which is what really makes one worth the speaker gig.

And at the end even he was pushing products, which is where we have fallen down all along. We need something to sell.

Monday

Well, it was tempting. Come in earlier at 8.30am and pay peak fares to be told how we can secure a slot at next year’s event… or… stay in bed. I look forward to finding out if anyone attended, and if they did whether they were armed.

It will be interesting to see how they spin this, as the tumbleweed blowing down the corridors so far today has outnumbered the visitors. And I rather recall being told this last week is ‘when it really all picks up’. Having been held to keeping a presence on stand by the requirements of the contract, despite it actually detracting from its effectiveness, I’m wondering if there may not be some pressure that can be brought to bear for such a massive failure to bring in the right numbers of the right kind of people. The few that have come in because of the supposed eco-them have felt mighty cheated, as have I.

Some are blaming the marketing. I can’t really comment on the media planning or spend, but it does seem to have been all over the various papers I’m exposed to (Mail, metro, Evening Standard – all owned by the same guys, I believe), plus tube posters etc.

But, oh, the creative! Three executions (one with Zoe Ball, one with Graham Norton and one with Sharon Osborne) rehashed over and over, and with the most facile of headlines. Utter tosh. I could have done better in a heartbeat. Which, of course, I must now plan to do. Back to the day job!

So I’ve started to look at ads again quite critically, and we do seem to be in an era of truly woeful work, so maybe there is a chance… if the world is actually up for the odd notion of actually achieving something. Not just in creative, but ROI. Especially in the world of environmental promotion marketing. Sure you can hit a target if your throw enough money at it, but does anyone actually assess how much it takes to get there, and how efficient the media and/or messages are in doing so?

GIVEITAWAY NOW

I have to say I look across at the npower stand(s) with some envy. For sure they have spent a lot on infrastructure and personnel, but their little Perspex towers are fair bulging with signed forms from people willing to make a huge (and not necessarily sound) decision on their energy supplier based on two free fluffy toys.

On balance I think should at least have had a system in place to capture on the spot registrations encouraged by some form of prize draw. The quality may not have been there, but at least we’d have had some numbers to float past a bean-counter.

POWER OF THE PEOPLE

Nice to see a ‘proposal’ that micro-power stations are to be encouraged across the land (ST article link ‘Homes to become mini power stations’). This I like for all sorts of reasons, especially as there are to be incentives attached. We must try and locate energy minister Malcolm Wicks and see just how all this will be happening in practice.

IT’S CALLED A MEDIUM BECAUSE SO LITTLE IS RARE OR WELL DONE

And oldie but a goldie! But it is hard to worry much about offending those who may be off help to us when we simply can’t seem to even get arrested when it comes to a product/service that so warrants mention when the issue of junk is discussed, as it is often these days.

I was reading a piece in the property section of the Sunday Times [www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2095505,00.html] about taking waste from London households. Most of the piece focussed on one Jason Mohr, and his company Any Junk? Sounds like a worthwhile idea and good luck to him. But how did he get such coverage? Reading his CV (City, solicitor, MBA) I rather suspect he has that crucial thing that still eludes us: who he knows. I think he may be worth a call to explore synergies. Any Junk? are already on our website. I just hope that he doesn’t already have a few layers of people in the way already.

OSTRICH

I don’t know if it’s even true as a piece of zoological behaviour, but thanks to a lifetime of Looney Tunes cartoons I have a vision of the ostrich (under the misplaced illusion of) concealing itself from harm by sticking its head in a hole.

This came to mind with the latest religiously-inspired banning of something in the media, this time an episode of South Park. It is pretty amazing that it has taken this long for them to actually get so censured, but it seems that of all people the Scientologists have managed it.

Oh-no, they killed free speech!

Wednesday

Not the hugest of days yesterday. Having been snookered in my aim of pushing my bike around to bear the big red dustbin on my cap collection round, in true Junkk.com style I made myself a device that worked well and looked pretty much like a tea-pickers basket. Then I hoofed it around the show. The reaction pretty much reflected the show and the stand: a high-quality minority actively getting into the spirit, and a majority who couldn’t give a hoot. Sad. Still, maybe if I keep up a cheery daily presence it may pick up.

Another idea I had was to see about inviting a mobility disabled person to bring in their motorised wheelchair and do the collection on my behalf: a neat way around my problem, with some possible positive PR for the cause of a few other folks. I pitched it to the Daily Mail journo, but suspect the reaction so far may make it less of a story (unless that in itself is a story). He did at least indicate that the Vac:Sac feature may yet appear.

Otherwise a quiet day, and I think I get more tired by inactivity, because today has not been a real stretch but I feel shattered again.

Anyway, I did another Cap N’ Cork round, and the awareness does seem to be going up (the cries of ‘Yo, it’s Captain Cork’ as I make my rounds make it a worthwhile effort), so it is worth persevering. One reason I’m not getting many is that many are reusing their water bottles with tap, which I guess is a win, if only in another way.

On matters blogworthy:

(PATH)ETHICS

There was a BBC expose in the news yesterday about estate agents. It made grim reading/viewing. Other than wondering how these folk could live with themselves, I also can’t understand why a lot more attention is not paid by the authorities to such financially ruinous practices rather than an obsession with petty fines for minor ‘offences’ by genuinely law-abiding folk. We really seem to have a skewed system these days. And no one culpable ever gets held to account. Especially when quite ridiculous cases get taken to law. Of course the legal profession always gets paid, and that needs addressing, as they have no incentive not to engage in such grotesque abuses as it fills their pockets no matter what. But there does need to be more accountability on an individual level for costs to the rate/tax payer when things simply should not develop to a court case (or pay out). Some teacher is claiming £1million because her chair made a noise. This should not have got any further than an internal conversation. And if anyone does get paid sorting this out, then those who allowed it to get any further (and especially her) should bear the cost of it being escalated.

Even in the show I get an uneasy feeling when I walk in prior to opening and see cabals of sales guys huddled around their managers at their morning briefings, sucking up the best ways to screw a sale out of hapless visitors. It’s bad enough that many ‘show prices’ are above normal retail, especially online, but there are some practices out there that leave a bad taste and taint the show and those of us here trying to do an honest job.

Sadly, it seems there is no limit to what a person is capable of to put a little more in their pockets. I understand the need to earn a living, but there seems to be a competitive culture that pushes people into darker areas of ethical behaviour with no real benefit to anyone.

It makes me appreciate my Dad all the more. He found a product he believed in, made by a company he respected, and made a massive career diligently selling it to people who needed it, wanted it and were happy to have him facilitate its sale and support to their organisations. And he gave his son a heck of a life and education on the proceeds. Thanks, Dad. I hope I can do the same for the boys via Junkk.com.

KISMET

I have to say I am appreciating my morning Metro. Not only is it a nice free way to pass some time on the tune ride, but there is usually a snippet or two of useful info in there (just like Junkk.com!). The news aspect is a little cursory (unlike Junkk.com) but I will miss it as a digest of tips when I leave London.

For instance, in a remarkable example of Kismet, with the remains of Emma’s Junkk.com main CPU still smouldering, today there was an article about places to recover data (and we had lost the last week’s worth of sign-ups), and also some budget back-ups to consider. A bit closing the stable door, but better late than again.

Thursday

Must confess I drifted in a tad late today. The show does seem to be a tad busier, but I truly dread the 10pm close tonight.

At least my recuperative lie-in gave me another chance to catch up on the news, and maintain the blog with a few more observations.

DOES MY CRED LOOK BIG IN THIS?

I’m pretty sure I’ve used this title before, but is one of my better ones (immodestly), and will always hold true.

Although definitely falling into the BTN category, not only are the news pages pretty full of the environment these days, but also the lifestyle sections too. Juts looking at the weekend Telegraph extolling eco-friendly ranges, and yesterday the mail had a piece on what to do as we’re not supposed to fly abroad. I just wonder how long travel and fashion editors will find talking about, and promoting, eco-versions ‘fashionable’ before they drop them in pursuit of newer, and likely less green fare in the near future. Today, camping near the Eden Project, tomorrow, a weekend break with [insert freeloading celeb here] at Ayers Rock (courtesy of [insert savvy travel agent who knows a few thou funding a freebie to get a full page article beats the price of an ad any day]).

It’s a bit like the Xmas pet ads: The planet is for life, not just a Sunday feature.

EASTWARD HO!

I could of course have a little swipe at the budget, but most news media have got there ahead of me. As I sipped my one luxury at the show, a morning cappuccino, it is rather silly to think that the price of one of these every few days will put off some Yummy Mummy from buying a Chelsea tractor. Was it worth even the sop?

But what did get me excited was another article I read, whereby the Chinese Govt (not usually know for its enlightened social policies) is popping a tax on chopsticks to reduce (and make some dough from) the 90 billion chopsticks the population throw away each year.

I’m not sure, but that smacks of having the prudent potential to really make a difference, rather than a few cheap points and a headline. Eh, Gordo?

JUICE!

More quality over quantity. I just had a great chat with a lovely lady who sought out our stand as the only oasis of real re-anything in the show (including the massive govt-funded recycling stand: ‘Useless’, she said, ‘a bunch of glossy brochures that don’t say anything’). Doesn’t help us much with our search for money, but I did feel a certain sense of vindication that we’re on the right track.

She was telling me about a thing called the Tank Exchange, which we must track down. Basically it’s a place you can buy massive bowsers that are used for importing Orange Juice, and turn them into rainwater collection devices. How cool is that?

It also got me to thinking we must do more to encourage people to share stuff on the site that we may not know, hence allowing us to let everyone else know about it and promote it. I think it would be best to re-design the Answers page to accommodate this, along with a new filed to locate their postcode area.

It’s funny, because even as I was writing this having just talked to the previous lady, another has asked me what she could do with her year’s collection of yogurt pots, which her council site rejects even though they take plastic.

Having now found out they can be tuned into kitchen units, I am pondering how we establish a financially and environmentally sound relationship via Junkk.com between consumers, local ‘reps’ and the recyclers/recycled goods manufacturers such that this refuse can become a profitable resource.