'Alternative'

 I always did consider myself as ‘alternative’ (or slightly different)

Why could I recognise other important issues,  compared with everyone else?

Were they important, or was I fooling myself? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiIDeMWnsGM

Art-rock experimentalists!!

Drahler - Second Rhythm

I purchased this very recently so am not qualified to pass opinion on it too much!

I urge you to withstand the jazz cacophony that the album opens with!

They are a band that are new to me, but have been around, releasing their first album 5 years ago. 

Alternative!

https://drahla.bandcamp.com/album/angeltape

I hate to shatter dreams, but SPORT IS BROKEN. Truthfully, only ‘professional sport’, but then every amateur uses the professional level as a target to aim for. Worshippers copy. 

Problem.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/02/mbappe-absurd-influence-of-footballs-mega-investors

Corruption is possible, everywhere. I admit to being a fan  of professional cycling, therefore I have had my eyes opened since the 1990s. We must be aware, in Britain, as more money is poured into sport, and, primarily football. Athletes are asked to perform more and more at often inhumane levels, all for TV and sponsorship money. Professional sport is a business, less and less a sport.  I warn you, open your eyes, do not be so hurt when truths are exposed. They always exist , even when hidden! 

I am sat in a coffee shop having lunch, next to a group of young students discussing their stress, their problems, their future plans. I remember being similar. I’m so grateful that I have lived that life. I thank my lucky stars that I did not know how my life would end up! I turn forty years old this year! I am just still young enough to claim that it was under half of my life ago, my accident! Under twenty years of disability!

As I sat outside The French Tarte, finishing ‘Hello World by Hannah Fry’, I had the space and time to think deeply. I loved this book, but I was creating a few conclusions, of my own!…

Artificial Intelligence is extremely alarming, 

but

Relax, safe in the knowledge that everything, everyone is unique, and always will be. As long as we exist in space and time, two constantly changing dimensions, ‘copies’ may become very close, but 100% identical clones, are impossible. Nothing could ever copy our reaction when we review ourselves.  As long as humans have free will, identical cloning is an impossibility.

My current fix

 So I open with a strange note that I hope is not past its best, as it still concerns a fresh topic. 

Milk consumption has existed for many, many years, many centuries. The evolution of human consumption styles, must not stop. Recently we were feeling proud at ‘recycling’, by letting milkmen collect our glass milk-bottles for re-use. 

Dairy milk is now vastly purchased at supermarkets, sold in LDPE plastic bottles.  Yes, they are largely recyclable, however the use of the material should still be limited. Whilst the clear, transparent body, can be made of a very lightweight, thin plastic, my main issue is at the top!

Milk bottle lids

Surely these are problematic, dense materials which are difficult to recycle, as many rely on colour to define a milk-type…

Coloured - recycle problems

It is so much more difficult to recycle coloured plastics, than transparent ones.

https://sustainablebrands.com/read/waste-not/the-many-challenges-of-plastic-recycling

The heaviest, most dense part of the bottle, by far, is the lid. 

Why can we not re-use these and save the plastic waste?

___ As many large yogurt pots seem to sell themselves using just a foil lid (encouraging us to re-use lids previously supplied), surely supermarkets can apply the same tactic to milk bottles?

They are all the same size, same thread. However they are usually a translucent colour which renders them useless for recycling. We customers, must be aware of this and ask our supermarkets to act more responsibly!

Hygiene issues?

I thought deeper, and the biggest problem must be to do with ‘Hygiene Issues’, but if  the foil lid is maintained, there should be no difference to the current service provided?

I raised this issue directly in-store with the two large supermarkets in Surbiton. The only response I got was a rejection because of ‘health and safety’!…  

Ah well, I tried (it sounds like an easy ‘get-out’, to me so I post my idea here, online)!

A few weeks ago, the 6Music festival was headlined by The Smile plus live orchestra!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001x8w9

The Smile

More more MORE

Faster faster FASTER

Again again AGAIN...

...We all need to WAKE-UP!

It was whilst I was in a Hydrotherapy session, I was reminded of the case I had promoted during a recent Physiotherapy session,  the need for small-steps. It may sound obvious, but small-steps are such an important, easier task that EVERYONE MUST ADOPT! 

The world is full of people that follow this route. They progress by constantly desiring more, faster, continuously!

This attitude is wrong, and clearly impossible to sustain. It is very difficult to comprehend a way of ‘growth forever’.

Bicycles supplied to all citizens, to end motor vehicles!...

A progressive idea, promoted in South-Western France...

The Mayor of 'Arachon' aims to offer a bike to every citizen. Around 16,000 have been given out since 2013!

https://actu.fr/nouvelle-aquitaine/arcachon_33009/le-maire-d-arcachon-offre-un-velo-par-habitant-je-ne-sais-pas-pourquoi-les-autres-ne-le-font-pas_60800157.html

My current FIX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37EN6J1Yh3Q

Play loud, with Bass UP!! 

(Only when needed)

We must be careful!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68405486

Finally, an example that the British people may want to break free from the power-monopoly that Labour/Conservatives have held for over a century. We are beyond this battle between Left and Right. Life cannot and must not constantly fit under either. I applause the electorate for voting with their heart, it may or may not be with their heads (we’ll see)! 

Whilst I show my support in the paragraph above, I must also warn everyone. By breaking free, we show that extremes can win. Tory collapse, will result in the politicians returning under a different party-name, but with possibly extreme right-wing policies! Suella Braverman, Lee Anderson, Nigel Farage, all enjoy using their influential power to whip up fear and hate amongst us, towards, minorities! As public angst will grow, they will continue to whip-up support for their far-right policies.

Extremism is terrifying.

Far-right extremists have already gained too much power in many European countries, Putin maybe just flexing his muscles in Ukraine, Trump…

… can the USA make that mistake again?!!!

BBC’s Katya Adler explains how Europe is falling …

Look around Europe right now - north, south, east and west - and you see far-right parties of different flavours - nostalgic nationalist, populist nationalist, ultra conservative with neo-fascist roots and more - enjoying a notable resurgence….

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66056375

The step from Far-Right Politics to Fascism is so small…

Have we learnt nothing!?!!!

I need a coffee.

James Hoffmann (pictured above, coffee expert) and Professor Tim Spector (Kings College London) have an intense discussion on the benefits of coffee (plus ‘Decaf’)

Keep on

 Got to keep on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSYwtllbweY

I had begun jotting these notes down yesterday, I was not feeling the best, so I warn you that they may not be full of happiness…

(Lifelong rule of this blog: If I want to make notes, at anytime, about anything, they WILL be published)

I get depressed when I look in the mirror 

How can I hope for love when even I don’t like what I see?

I believe in my inner character and know that I’m strong enough to get where I’ve got.  This is the eighteenth year post-accident!

I’m bored.

My life. I can’t see an attainable goal (this may be the reason that I have forever been a cyclist, a constant mode, setting myself goals/targets of time/distance). I am on the way home from my Physiotherapy session, where my therapist is so good, and is regularly amazed at my mini-achievements. Yes, I know that I do improve, but it hurts me when I look at myself objectively. 

…Still… 

It has been almost 17 years since I awoke from my coma. I have managed to progress, and I say that was I always prepared to do this forever…… but really? Forever trying to catch-up. Forever behind. Forever different. Different forever. Behind forever.

Right, Wednesday, a new day!! Sorry about that past, bleak, paragraph! ;)

Cycling. I have always been used to riding individually, accompanied by nothing but my own mind!

Early PB

I know it is only a ‘static-bike’ in my living-room, but I love it, and realised that I am addicted! I have told my physiotherapist my plan,  which is more ‘intense’ than past years. I will ride on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday, and weekends I rest. Instead of peaking/resting throughout the year, I plan to just keep going for as long as I can! We’ll see…

I already set a record (a target distance that i would have ‘peaked’ for in previous years, yesterday afternoon. Last year's July was already matched this year in February! 

Paris-Nice

The ‘Race to the Sun’, is held in the first full week of March. It is often a tell, tell sign for those who will also peak at the Tour de France later, in July. There seem to be a host of riders this year who will challenge for the maillot-jaune, in both races! Paris-Nice though may be more exciting as no-one knows which of a handful of riders, will elevate themselves as a favourite for victory. The map depicts the route, unsurprisingly from Paris to Nice (but stages vary each year)! Key third stage on March 5th stage will be a Time-Trial in Auxerre. No-one will want to lose time so early. Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pojacar, Tom Pidcock, Primosz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, to name a few!

(Note, I have just found out, that it is in fact a Team Time Trial on March 5th, so my assumptions stated above, are less precise)!

Wednesday morning 8am.

Very satisfied!

I made the best cappuccino that i have ever.

So smoooooooth!

;)

The reason, the milk and froth was not poured directly from machine, instead into my Bialetti jug , swirled enough, before gently pouring on top of my double shot espresso. A cappuccino always has a chocolate sprinkle too (the Cappuccho monks hair). 

I had become far too used to making my single-shot macchiato every morning, which is just 1.5 teaspoon’s milk froth on top of a single espresso.

Anyway, sorry, obsessed!

My wheelchair has been fixed too - HAPPPYYYYYYYYY :)