Try Outs

Half of the reason for Goodbye Magpie is to save money.  The other 50% share of 'why do it' goes to trying new things and seeing what happens.

An argument the other night with JW, has spurred me on to keep going with this aspect of the project.  The argument went something along the lines of, "don't you feel that life is really boring at the moment?"  Poor JW made the man-error of attempting to fix the problem, rather than just listening to the moan.  Things were said, exasperated looks were exchanged and I gave up the conversation at the point where we were 'discussing' an umbrella holder.  Don't ask...

Part of the problem is that saving money and doing new stuff, really don't go hand in hand.  In order to do things you often need to buy tickets, get equipment or travel somewhere.  So hence my feeling a bit like Miss Jean Brodie, in the prime of my life, all the while sweeping floors and doing laundry!  I exaggerate, it just feels like that's all I do sometimes!

So, I have a list of things that I want to do and that won't cost too much money and I intend to get cracking on with them.

St Giles Cathedral

The first new thing I did this week was go and listen to some Organ Music.  I know, I know, it's not exactly climbing Everest, but it was new to me. 

St Giles Cathedral, here in Edinburgh, do a series of lunchtime and evening recitals for free (collection at the end).  So, I went along and listened to some Bach and some Mendelssohn. 

The Organ; What a Beast

Unfortunately, I discovered that I really don't like Organ Music (surprise!)  It is very dramatic, but just not my cup of tea.   I found that it sounded off key and inharmonious and just not very tuneful.  Although I can completely appreciate the technical skill involved; blooming heck it sounded and looked like very hard work!  And, in fairness, it did make me jump out of my seat twice, just with the sheer unexpected volume of the beginning sections of some of the pieces.

A rather impressive interior

On the plus side, I did enjoy being in the church and having a good look around, and it was nice to have a good excuse to sit down and not do anything!  So all in all I would say that it was a pleasant way to spend an hour.  And if you haven't gone to an Organ Music Recital before, I would say that it is worth 45 minutes of your life, but probably not much longer than that. 

Next up: Cycling to the Scottish Borders. 

Back to the Wild with the John Muir Trust

Part of operation Goodbye Magpie is to live a 'feel-good' life.  So, although I am being super thrifty at the moment, I am still 100% committed to giving money to charity.  One of the charities myself and JW support is the John Muir Trust, which pledges to protect our wild land and places.

Chocolate Cake Awaits!

The Trust was recently bequeathed a piece of land near Traquair in the Scottish Borders, called Glenlude. And in order to let folks know what they were up to with this latest project, an offer was made to members to have a day out at Glenlude.  Not one to miss out on an adventure, we signed up to see first hand how the Trust was going to return this one-time Forestry Commission land, into a wild haven just one hour from Edinburgh's busy city centre.

After getting a lift down with David, one of the Trust's new members of staff (saving on petrol and emissions; thanks David!), we ended up in a wooden hut in the middle of a pine plantation.  Hot coffee and chocolate cake welcomed us, which made for a very good start to the day!

A short intro talk from another member of staff, Sandy, and we were off tramping up the hill with Karen, the brand shiny new ranger for Glenlude.  We found out that the lady who bequeathed the land was called Sheila and along with the grounds, she had also left Heather the horse to the Trust!  I was glad to hear that Heather now has a friend and both roam freely on the land.  A happier horse you couldn't find I'm sure.

Forestry Scar; the Trust will avoid this.

We also discovered that the pine plantation at Glenlude is going to be worth a lot of money when it matures.  So rather than chop it all down in a oner, scarring the landscape for years, the Trust plans to take it out slowly and sensitively and use the cash from the sale of the timber to fund the re-introduction of broadwood trees.  The broadwoods will support a much wider range of wildlife and will be 100 times better than the regimented rows of spruce trees which currently line the property.

Naturalistic Ponds teaming with life

A run of naturalistic ponds were already installed by Sheila before she died.  They are now teaming with amphibian life and the Trust is able to monitor the frogs, toads and newts that spawn and live there, as well as all the other plants, bugs, butterflies, birds and beasties that inhabit Glenlude.

The Trust have a 25 year plan for the property, which includes taking down all but the border fences; using natural brash fencing to protect young trees from deer; managing the deer population; replanting areas and allowing other sections, such as the willow section, to regenerate itself. 

A clutch of pheasant eggs; undisturbed.

The plan also includes getting teenagers involved in Glenlude through the John Muir Award.  Indeed, as I write this a group of intrepid 1st Year students from Ayr should be camping out on the new 'natural' campsite, complete with an old stone fell (sheep pen) fire circle (I just hope the rain hasn't dampened their spirits and the campfire too much!)

The Composting Loo!

The one thing the school kids might find very interesting during their stay, is the composting loo!  I know I did.  I take all of my prejudices back, composting loos are very hygienic after all!

It was genuinely fascinating to hear about the plans to return a heavily commercially forested piece of land back into a wild place within 25 years.  Our annual membership fee is certainly being well spent!  I'll give that a score of 10 on the 'feel-good' factor!




Find out more about the John Muir Trust here: http://www.jmt.org/

A Thrifty Business: Charity Shop Volunteering

Although I spend a lot of time blogging about saving money, Goodbye Magpie isn't just about reducing living costs, it is actually all about finding a better way of living.  A way of living that isn't about spending and buying, working and stressing; but is about living a pretty happy and satisfying life.

For example: this picture of koalas, sits on my desk and makes me smile everytime I look at it.

On the other hand, the sound of the washing machine beeping incessantly to tell me to come and empty it makes me go 'grrr' on the inside.  (Damn you Hotpoint beep creator!)

So, in essence, I am looking for more Lovely Koalas and less Annoying Beeps!

And it is with this thought in mind that Operation Goodbye Magpie has taken a new turn.

I have decided to take giving back to a whole new personal level.  I have taken up post as a Shop Volunteer, at my local Mary's Living and Giving, Save the Children shop!

I can report that it has been a successful step.  The shop is a really nice environment to be in.  Other volunteers are friendly and fun and it is all organised by a super-energetic manager who is all up for letting everyone get hands on with the shop.

It is pretty good to know that while I am enjoying myself categorising books (one of my all-time favourite activities!), arranging shelves and helping with window displays, I am also raising money for a really good cause. 

As I was getting ready to head down to the shop last week, the Today Programme was reporting from Liberia, one of the poorest countries in Africa.  And Save the Children's work to reunite 'lost' children with their families was highlighted.  Now, that made me feel good!  Koalas all round!

My biggest challenge is going to be keeping to my No Clothes Buying for a Year challenge!  I am seven months in to No Clothes Buying and it is going really well, I don't miss clothes shopping AT ALL. 

Temptation is creeping in however, everytime I straighten the clothes out on the rails, or price new donations to go out on the shop floor.  But, I see it as an extra challenge.  Is it possible for me to wear fun outfits to work in the shop, from my own existing stock of clothes? I think I can!  I've just got to get creative.

This photo is what I wore yesterday (looking a tad crumpled by the end of a long day), I have never put these clothes together as an outfit before.  So I reckon I have loads of outfit combos to play with in my cupboards.

In the meantime, I still always have thrifty birthday presents to buy.  So I can support the charity shop in other ways, and thus avoid being a complete hypocrite!  Which is always a good move!

The Big Switch Off For Earth Hour

Well what a weekend so far!  Unless you were visiting our nearest planetary neighbour at 8.30pm last night, you will know that it was Earth Hour!  Where millions of people in over 140 countries switched off their lights for an hour, as a symbolic act to ask politicians, business and individuals, to do more to protect the world we live in.

I was one of around 20 or so lucky volunteers to take part in WWF Scotland's big event for Earth Hour, here in Edinburgh. 

Arriving at Edinburgh Castle Esplanade at about 7pm, I was greeted by some very friendly people (Julie and Anna from WWF) and a giant light-switch!  A good start!

On meeting my fellow 'candle lighting' team members we were 'togged-up' by Babs and fed biscuits and chocolate while we waited for some very clever architects to do their stuff, setting out our 'candle plan'.  The plan being, a series of dots, which would then be lit by candlelight to spell out CLIMATE ACTION NOW!  A tiger, polar bear and panda even joined our gang, so we knew we were in for some fun!

It turned out that we were to be filmed setting out the candles, by a time-lapse camera, so that the whole event could then be sped-up and a neat little video made.

So, following some "strict" instructions to 'not do anything silly like wiggle our bums at the camera, or dawdle about while on film, looking at the candles and thinking "isn't that pretty" '; we were off!

It took us 30 minutes to set all our little lights out, and things did get a little bit manic at the end, as we rushed to reach our 8.30pm deadline.  Shouts of, 'more candles, more candles', became louder and more screechy, as we got to the 2 minute countdown.  And I'm sure The Ceilidh band who were accompanying our efforts, got faster and faster as the time ran out!

But, in true down to the wire style, we made it! And were gathered round the giant light switch, lanterns in hand, in time for the count down to switching off Edinburgh Castle's lights. 

Unfortunately, our very loud countdown and dramatic turning off of said giant light switch, didn't quite match up with Edinburgh Castle's own switch off.  But, hey-ho, you can't have everything!

And isn't the candle panda the coolest thing ever!  The pupils from Currie Community High School, did a great job in making sure he was lit up on time.

And after all of that excitement, it was off to the pub with JW for a well-earned half of Guiness! (Check out the very cool t-shirt too. Some might say that it was worth doing just for that!)

So, what did you get up to for Earth Hour?  And have you made a pledge on I Will If You Will?

Amazing things come in threes!: Saving the Planet, Screenings and Science

Well good people, I can officially let you know that the old saying is true; good things do indeed come in threes!  I have had a whirlwind couple of days containing three fantastic pieces of news. 

My own panda will have to stay at home!

First up WWF's Earth Hour is fast approaching, (tomorrow night, Sat 31st March at 8.30pm), and will see millions of people across the globe turn the collective lights out for an hour, to highlight the need to protect our beautiful planet (pardon the pun!)

After doing my own sit-in and switch-off vigil for the past two years, I fancied doing something more adventurous this year. So, I put my name down to be one of the volunteers with the WWF Scotland team during the filming of Earth Hour at Edinburgh Castle.  And, I got picked!  Hooray!  So, tomorrow night will see me donning a WWF Scotland t-shirt and working on the 'candle set-up team', which sounds like fun, (I delicately declined the 'interesting' offer to dress up as a panda!)

Second up, the brilliant people at 10:10 picked my name out of a virtual-hat to win two free tickets to the Edinburgh showing of The Island President at The Cameo.  I am so pleased! As you know I am counting my pennies, so free cinema tickets are very welcome.  Especially when they are for what promises to be an inspirational film, about a country's struggle with the very literal threat of being washed away because of climate change.


Thirdly, and most fantastically of all, I have been picked to be one of seven official challenge bloggers for the Edinburgh Science Festival, which starts today.  BIG YIPPEE.  I honestly did a little jig around my laptop when I got the e-mail, (I should note that No.1 Son sighed and left the room at this point!)

Being an official blogger means I get £150.00 worth of free tickets to go and see a variety of shows over the course of the festival.  In return, I have to soak up the experience (no hardship there!), take some snaps and report back in a weekly blog post over the festival.   The seven bloggers will also go head-to-head in a 'best blogger competition', which sees one of us winning a Kindle.  But, it is just such a brilliant opportunity, that the fun will all be in the taking part.

Now that I am an "Official Edinburgh International Science Festival Challenge Blogger" (!), I do feel like I want to immediately don a pair of geek goggles and get stuck into some discussions about dark matter and the like! 

I have a well thumbed copy of the programme, and what with teenage nieces and young nephews coming to visit over the holidays, we are all going to be well scienced-up.  Bring it on!!

Volunteering is Good for the Soul: My Inner Womble Returns!

On Sunday morning we woke-up, rather bleary eyed, to the beeping alarm telling us to get up and get volunteering!

This was our second trip out to help the Water of Leith Trust do a river clean up, and although it was an early start, I was looking forward to it.  Wellies donned, coffee made and gloves looked out, we set off to get litter picking.

An inquisitive swan

We met up with about 30 cheery volunteers, all raring to go.  And it was great to be working alongside people as eager as me to get the mess picked.  The local swans and ducks were certainly interested in what we were all doing, and I'm sure they appreciated the  de-junking of their patch of river!

It was a bit depressing to be confronted with so much rubbish.  As well as the usual plastic bags and bottles, over the course of the morning we found:

• a drug takers' hang-out; complete with syringes, tin foil, dirty mattress and condoms.
• car boot sale leftovers; with loads of china ornaments and picture frames, blow up mattress and a cuckoo clock!
• and several fire extinguishers (why?)

But picking up rubbish from an area you love, does make you feel a whole lot better! There was a great team spirit about the morning.  If nothing else, at least we were all doing something positive about the rubbish, rather than walking on by, shaking our collective heads. 

JW even managed to do a quick plastic bag removal from a swan's nest.


Swan's nest before.

Swan's nest after.  (Don't worry, he didn't disturb the swans in any way).

And the final result from a couple of hours work!  A whole lot less rubbish in the river.

So, picking up the litter from the area I live in, is a definite success story for me in terms of doing something to make my community a better place to live. 

But, it has got me thinking that a lot more needs to be done to stop the rubbish from being thrown in the first place.

As a country, we have fines in place making littering and dumping illegal, but people still chuck rubbish left, right and centre (into the river in this case!),  because there is very little chance of them being caught and because they just don't care about the mess.

So, with this bee in my bonnet, it feels to me that our local councillors should be doing much more to stop littering and dumping from happening in the first place.  My wombling self now needs to figure out my next move.

I will definitely be taking part in our National Spring Clean, and  next month's river clean-up, but I can feel a letter or two coming on!  Watch this space...

Glasgow to Edinburgh Bike Ride

Yesterday I completed the Glasgow to Edinburgh Bike Ride, along with my husband, sister and brother-in-law.   The ride, for us, was 54 miles door to door. 

The start line up at Glasgow Green

In early summer my sister heard about the ride and suggested that we should complete the challenge.  Being newly keen-bean cyclists we joined up confident in the knowledge that it was months away.  However, the months soon passed and when it came down to the day and we were getting up exceptionally early on a Sunday morning, (5.30am, yuck!), I was somewhat dazed and apprehensive. 

We were soon on the bus which took us through to Glasgow Green where thousands of people were already lined up to go.  Over 7000 people were taking part and setting off there was a buzz in the air and everyone around seemed to be laughing and joking, there was a definite cycling community spirit.  All apprehension and tiredness left me and it felt really good to be part of a 'pack' of cyclists as we went through Glasgow, the cars were definitely in the minority, which makes a change!

There were pit stops every 10 miles or so, with loads of free food, drinks and snacks, with lunch also included in our entry fee, we enjoyed snack bars, biscuits, bananas, sandwiches, pasta, cup a soups, bars of chocolate and hot coffee and tea....it was a good job we were cycling to burn it all off!

Lunch at Linlithgow Loch

I felt really good the whole way, as stopping every 10 miles meant that you didn't over tire yourself and you were at the next stop before you knew it.   The route took us through some of Scotland's most deprived areas, through to some of it's most affluent and it was interesting to see the change and contrast of the central belt of Scotland from the slower perspective that the bicycle allows.  Through built up urban sprawl, to green countryside and back to a cityscape again.  There were some tough little hills, but there was plenty of downhill action which made the whole ride really pleasant. 

The finish line was at Murrayfield Stadium, the home of Scottish Rugby and it was seriously cool to be able to cycle right into the centre of the stadium itself.

The only downside to the day was the sheer number of people taking part which meant long queues for food and congestion on the route which led to quite a few nasty accidents as people collided into one another.  The event really ballooned this year with more people taking part than ever before, and if it remains this big it would be ideal if the organisers could work with the police and local councils to completely close off the route to vehicles for the day, to give the cyclists room to spread out; here's hoping!  Me and my trusty steed would certainly have enjoyed a bit more space at certain points in the route.

Our Trusty Steeds

I am seriously tempted to complete the challenge again in 2012 and raise sponsorship for a local charity within my community.  Watch this space!

Community Adventures

I have been thinking for a while now that I should do something to help make the community I live in a better place to be.  As luck would have it I chanced upon a flyer for a "world cafe event" to discuss the future of my community at the local High School.  The event took place last night and with much trepidation I went along, dragging my poor husband along with me for moral support, (being far too chicken to go on my own).

I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach about the event and didn't book on until the very last minute.  After swinging back and fore between going and not going, I persuaded myself that I should go, as it would be a much better use of my time than collapsing in front of a film (again!).

When we arrived the hall was crowded with librarians, volunteer co-ordinators, community workers and no doubt a local councillor or two; but it seemed to me that there were very few actual residents to be seen.  I felt pretty uncomfortable and like the proverbial stuck out sore thumb.

We got down to the business of writing on giant pieces of paper our thoughts on three key themes.  A member of the local Community Council (Chairperson I think), was facilitating the group we were in (Transport and Environment), and a jolly nice man he was too.  He told me about the local cycle crossing he had been instramental in getting installed, which provides a much needed safe route from the nearby cycle path into the local retail park.  He explained that the crossing cost £60,000 pounds; I nearly fell off my seat.  I would have guessed at a max of £5k.  However, he explained to me that the retailers behind the park paid for the crossing, so at least it wasn't paid for using Council Tax. 

This conversation naturally enough led me on to the topic I wanted to input on, the state of the cycle path itself.  The cycle path is an old railway line and runs parallel to my house. I use it all the time and so do thousands of other Edinburgh residence to walk their dogs, cycle and jog.  I feel that the cycle path is really not very well looked after and with a bit more thought and attention it could be a real jewel in the crown for Edinburgh.  At the moment there are few rubbish bins, (none on the section I use regularly), so litter really builds up and trees and woodland which edge the path are not managed.  The lighting at night is poor and so unfortunately the path becomes a route for trouble makers.

The Cycle Path beside my house; seems nice until you take a closer look

Sadly enough however, the member of Council staff in our group just did not want to know.  I was told that tree maintainance on the path was not a priority and that the cycle path is in the best state it has ever been, which may be right enough, but it could still be better.  So, disillusioned and depressed we left the event after writing down our thoughts on the big piece of paper, sigh.

As I was on the path today, I took out my camera and decided to photograph all the mess that runs along the five minute cycle ride that I use regularly.  There was so much mess that I had to get off my bike and walk to photograph everything and it took me about an hour to get home, there was so much to document.  Here is a small selection of the delights I saw:

Rubbish right beside the new £60k crossing

Loads of KFC rubbish runs along the path

One of many plastic bottles; note the dog poo, lots of that too!

Lovely Graffiti

A plethora of sandwich and takeaway wrappers could be seen

Graffiti scrawl with lots of rubbish underneath

One of about 100 drinks cans along the 5 minute section

Lots of sweetie wrappers

These steps have rubbish and beer cans all the way up

The ubiquitous carrier bag

Hanging Dog Poo

The worst bit came when I ventured into the undergrowth, which is covering up a lot of the problem.  The hanging dog poo bags were everywhere and I only hoped someone would shout "gardyloo" before they chucked another bag at me as I took some snaps! 

The piece de resistance however was the most enormous pile of disposable fizzy drink cups, I could only get half of it in my picture:

On my five minute stretch I took over 100 pictures of rubbish and dogs' mess, and a lot of it I couldn't picture as it was high up on the banks and my little camera couldn't capture it.  If it was on the street in full view, no-one would put up with it, but because it is half hidden, it is quite literally swept under the carpet.

If this is the best Edinburgh can do, I feel really sad.

So my community work has begun with a poor start, as I have made exactly no difference and feel worse than I did before I began.  I am not sure what my next step will be, maybe I will go and litter pick myself, but that would be like a drop in the ocean as to what is really required.  Watch this space for my next Community Adventure...