Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits

Went out filming Cherry Hinton chalk pits this weekend.  What a place it is.  I didn't realise that its a SSSI (site of special scientific interest).  Chalk habitats are quite rare in the UK these days, and this site is a reasonably undisturbed place, providing opportunity for moon carrot, common bird's foot trefoil, the six spot burnett moth, the speckled wood butterfly and glow worms, with a wonderful habitat in which to live.  Although its the wrong time of year for these (I can't wait to see the glow worms this summer), there was an abundance of what I believe to be st. johns wort, self heal and weld.

I'm looking forward to finishing off the film this weekend.  Will be wear ing an extra pair of socks, though, brrrr.

Lost something? - Try the leaf litter.

For my lunch break today, I decided to do a spot of gardening.  Its a surprisingly brilliant way of distracting the brain from work and the front garden was in desperate need of a tidy up.

Anyway there I was grubbing away in the leaves and what should I discover but my long lost, sorely missed, hemp body shop lip balm.  I really don't know how long its been there, but at least a month.  As I continued with my leaf clearing, what should I find but the little golden lindt chocolate bear, that was a devastating loss to a working from home day, back in November!! Do you think he is still edible?

Anyway, the moral of this story is: If you lose something, check the leaf litter.

Recycled Paper Journals

For 2012 I have decided to keep a diary.  I havnt kept one in years and whenever I did I wasnt very good at keeping up with it.  But I feel like I am coming to a part of my life now where I have to make really exciting decisions.  The path is no longer laid out for me like when I was in education, but is at such a place where anything could happen.  I feel that now I am really my own independant little woman and the ruler of my own destiny, without feelings of responsibility or expectation stifling me.  Also I have finally made the decision to follow my heart careerwise and pursue a career in sustainability communication.  I feel that this is going to be a really exciting journey, that needs recording and will benefit from the gravity and reflection provided by a diary.  So because sustainability is my passion and my life, I obviously needed to get a sustainabily produced journal.  

Well what a bloody flop that retail exploration was.  I was looking for something with recycled paper and, if possible, a recycled cover.  I started in Paperchase, thinking they would have something beautiful and Eco, or if not Remarkable notebooks.  Nope.  Something exceptionally beautiful with a hand embroidered bird, but absolutely nothing sustainable.
Then WHSmiths, Nope.
Then Waterstones, Nope.
Then Rymans, Nope.

In Cambridge we have a shop called 'One World Is Enough,' which sells clothes and some other bits and bobs that are fairtrade and imported from South East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.  I thought 'atleast that will be a socially ethical choice.'  But unfortanately the product just wasnt up to requirement.  They were beautiful Sari covered notebooks, but they were either too small or had a fraction of the number of pages I needed to make it worth buying.

So I popped across to OXFAM.  Yey!! they have recycled paper....oh.. they are diaries, all dated and divided up, so there isnt enough room to write.

One last port of call......JOHN LEWIS.... not exactely my preferred option, due to the size of the company, the exquisite way it fuels capitalism and the price it charges for its product.  Having said that the other companies I was looking at were just as bad.  But I thought I would 'just check.'  And there was nothing, not a smidge of an eco journal, not even any Remarkable notebooks!!!

But then I found two sea green and white polka dot notepads that had been demoted to the bottom  shelf at the end of an aisle, because they were reduced to £2 each and were made of FSC paper. 

And I'm afraid thats the best I could do, and I do feel that I sold out on price. I do like the polka dot though.

So if any of you know where you can find recycled paper journals, I would be glad to know.  I think next time I'll buy Remarkable pads online, well in advance, and decorate them up myself.