Poor poor drivers.

I have a hate/indifference relationship with cars.
On the one hand they are very good at getting you somewhere clean and dry and not smelling a bit (ok, a LOT)sweaty about the old armpit area.
On the other, my lack of driving skills means I have to rely on other people to drive me about.

I cannot drive, at all.

I started lessons at 17 with a really fat guy who really wasn't interested in teaching me to drive and then announced that he couldn't be bothered anymore.
The next instructor was going through a marriage breakup and seeing a girl half his age on the side. He basically used our lessons as therapy and more than once tried to come onto me.
Looking back with adult eyes I should have kicked his arse, but I was 17, he gave me my lesson on the cheap and as it was I could only afford them once every two weeks which wasn't enough.

So after failing my 3rd driving test and running out of money I decided to just leave it.
On the whole this hasn't affected me in the least.
I cycled, used public transport, got lifts off friends and family when needed.
It was only when we moved to Scotland that we began to rely on the car.
The public transport that I had taken for granted down south just wasn't there.
Instead of a daily (every hour)bus from town to town we now only had a once a week bus that only gave you 2 hours in town.
Instead of being able to walk a few miles we were faced with long fast roads with no pavements.
You can see why its taken us a while to get back into the car-less mindset. Its like trying to be Vegan in Greenland ;)

Anyway, today I cycled into town.
I was in a bad mood. We had tried to take Alfie (who was home with a cough) in the bike trailer with us, but a way up the road it became apparent that the trailer was going to need some looking at and adjusting, so I continued on to town while Kim turned back.

The wind got up as I left the village and by the time I reached the long downhill run I was peddling the whole way just to keep moving.
So I was tried and out of breath and my legs hurt because I'm out of shape.
I dropped some videos and books off at the charity shop (and picked up some more *heehee*), then nipped into the shop for some bread, a paper, some cookies and a bottle of water.
(Yeah..should probably deduct 10 green points *sigh* I have at least kept the bottle and will fill it from the tap nest time, I promise!)
So I started the ride home and guess what?
That wind that I fought against on the way down the hill was now making my life just as hard going up hill. I don't know HOW it does it but there must be some freaky funnel thing going on up that stretch of road, the wind is ALWAYS in your face.
So I got about half way up and decided to stop for a drink (So thirsty today, I think I'm getting Alfie's cold).
I stood on the side of the hill sipping my drink and looked back the way I'd come.
I could see Dunnydeer hill fort and behind it the glens, still thickly covered with snow. I could see the cloud rolling in with the threat of rain, or maybe more snow. I could hear the tentative bird song from the trees behind me, as though the birds where optimistic of spring as the temperature had crept up to 8oC.
A Car shot past me, then another.
I finished my drink and set off again.
Nearing the top is a field that has half a dozen yearlings and two year old horses in it for the winter.
I called to them as I came up to the field and curious, they came over, one at first them in two and threes, ears pricked, tails high.
Even though my legs hurt I put the bike up a gear to go faster and chirruped to them. A big bay Irish Draft popped into a clumsy canter trying to keep up, the others following. I clicked to him. He went faster, then slipped a little, frightening himself and shot off to the side, bucking and snorting and took the rest with him.
I laughed and shouted goodbye as I hit the top of the hill.
Coasting down I opened myself up to everything. I could hear the streams as I passed them, the birds, the leaves. I could see the trees, the mountain, the sheep who flinched away for two strides as I passed before ignoring me again. I could feel the wind on my face and the bumps in the roads.
And I realised this is why I can't drive. Look at what I miss by being in the car. The bike becomes a part of you, artificial for sure but it reacts to a lean of your body, a movement of your leg.
The car on the other hand removes you from everything.
Is this why there are so many accidents?
You sit in a little bubble, protected from the elements, shielded from rain and wind and dirt. But you also loose most of your senses, you trust your cars ability to read the road because you can't.
The very thing that made me scowl at the beginning of the ride made me smile and laugh out loud by the end.
I need that connection to my environment and maybe more people do as well.

New chickens and meatless Monday.

Just a quick post to introduce you to our new ex-layer rescue hens, Wavey, Petal and Agnis ( I just finished reading "The Shipping news" so...)

We got them from the same private hen rescue home as the last lot but what a difference! These girls are fully feathered, friendly and laying already! In fact we just picked up the hens that came and sat on the box! Last time it took us ages to catch the skittish girls.

Pauline, who does a fantastic job of rescuing and re-homing these birds, had thought she wouldn't have any more birds as the usual farmer had started charging her £2 a hen and insisting she take 2000!!! Obviously as someone who does all this out of her own pocket, this is ridiculous, and an unhappy reminder that people who make money out of animals want only to squeeze every last drop they can from them.
If he sold them in the normal way (to be ground up for pet food) he would make a MAXIMUM of 25p a bird, and if the market was slow he may even have to pay to have them taken away as farm "waste".
He could have charged 50p a bird and still made twice as much profit.



Anyway, the girls are settling in. They will spend a couple of days in the small run talking to Lloyd, Emily, Victoria and Sally through the fence and then we will let then all in together.


For those who are muttering about my laxness, I have come up with a Meat-less Monday for you!

Butternut squash and potato bake.

You will need.

1 butter nut squash.
@ 6 potato's.
1 onion thinly sliced.
1/2 and 1/2 of soya milk and stock, enough to cover the dish.
chives.
salt and pepper.

Peel 1 squash and slice thinly.
Peel and thinly slice @ 6 medium potato's.
Thinly slice the onion.
In a large dish make up layers of squash, potato and onion finishing with a layer of potato.
Mix the stock, soya milk and chives in a jug and pour over the dish. You should have enough to just cover the whole thing.
Place in a moderate oven (@ 180oC) for @ an hour until the potato is soft.If you find the top browning too quickly (Like I did..oops!) pop some foil over the dish and leave n until the last 20 mins or so.
Serve with warm baby spinach and bread :)

Re-use EVERYTHING!!

So its my own personal project at the moment, the re-use of everything possible!!
I want to share these ideas with you and so here is my first one....

Your own re-usable loose fruit/veg bag!

To make your own all you need is one of those natty little plastic string bags that oranges and lemons come in.
Cut it open carefully then thread some string or yarn in and out the holes at the top to make a little draw string and VOILA! Your own re-usable loose goods bag.

WARNING!!!
This also has the added bonus of foxing checkout girls while they try to work out why there are onions in a lemon bag and can't find a price.

Be kind and explain, they're not used to people taking initiative ;)

I REALLY want to hear your ideas so, if you have a great one and want to share, send it to me with a picture (no more than 500 pixels please!) and I'll pop it up with your name on it!
Send your idea and pic to,

kim.basford@btinternet.com

Winter riding..thank you Mr Gritter man :)

My new cycle hat!

Got out on the bike today for the first time since ..wow..well before Xmas really. If you remember back a long I was hit bad with some nice funky asthma and as soon as I recovered from that the snow and ice came, so we're probably talking nearly 6 weeks!!!

Anyway, checked out the roads on Tuesday as we had to go into town to pick up some upholstery webbing for the sofa talented husband is building (you will see ALL soon!) and figured the roads were nearly ready to go on again with two wheels.

Apart from having to go up the main village road, rather than cut through the housing estate we usually do, and having to walk gingerly up our new ice rink (or lane as we used to call it) the rest of the ride was fine.
The gritters had done their job and the temp had stayed just above freezing last night so there was no sneaky ice patches waiting to get me.

The COLD lonely road home.

It would have been a lovely ride into town had it not been for some IDIOT in a silver Astra complete with *cough*penisextension*cough* spoiler on the back who very nearly wiped both me AND Kim out. He passed so fast and so close that he nearly pulled me into the road.
Kim kept a beady eye out for his car in town but didn't find him.

We seriously have no trouble on the roads. We know a lot of the people using them, at least to raise a hand to, and 99% of people pass us at a sensible speed and give us space, even without the kids with us. But there is always the idiot. As I said to Kim though, you get the idiot factor when you are in a car as well.

Kim waiting for me to take pics, what a trooper :)

Ce la vie.
What you gonna do? Turn for home and never set foot out your house again? Probably more chance of getting killed in a car crash than getting killed on a bike.

Anyway, idiot aside, we got to town in one piece and I set to my mission.

My plan today was to note down prices for fruit and veg in the local shop and the little farmers cabin and compare them with the supermarket prices.
I'm hoping there will be little to no difference as once I get the trailer up together I want to do as much of our shopping in the little town rather than drive all the way to Big town or have to get it delivered.
The cabin especially uses a lot of local produce so is doubly green!

The basket, part of my arsnel for leg powerd shopping!

So after spending a few minutes scribbling down prices like some demented vegetable spotter, we cycled home again.

Dunnydeer Hill Fort, as seen from the Insch/ Auchleven road.

I was really pleased to feel not that unfit considering.
I didn't need to stop, could still talk while cycling up hill and felt good when I came home.
I do need to get fitter I know I've put on weight, even though me and the scales have not been on speaking terms since before Xmas (my jeans declining to do up though said more than any words could). So back to cycling :)