Bristol May Be First English City To Face Monthly Black Bin Collection
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
More than 4,000 Bristolians are opposing the council’s plan to switch to a four-week cycle, which the city says would save money and be better for the environment
I live in Hackney and we still have two-weekly collections for recyclables and weekly for waste food.
These are my thoughts on Bristol.
As a widower, who lives alone , I don’t put much in my black bin, as I do recycle properly and use my waste food bin and green sack recycling fully.
I’ve also noticed, that a lot more items have been marked that they can go in the green sacks.
I am a coeliac and suffer from a vitamin B12 deficiency for which I get three-monthly injections at the GP. But that is not enough and I have found that one of M& S’s Liver and Bacon Ready Meals adds enough B12 to keep be going at full speed.
The trays of M & S’s Ready Meals are now recyclable and I suspect, they’re not the only packaging, that can now be recycled.
So as more and more packing is recycled, we can surely reduce the black bin frequency.
It would appear, that by making packaging more recyclable, we can make rubbish collection more efficient.
I Just Bought A Toilet Brush Set On Ocado
A few minutes ago, I went to the toilet in the facility in my spare bedroom and I noticed that the brush was broken.
Since, I have bought a new one from Ocado for £4.
£4 sounds good value to me.
It will arrive with my groceries on the First of February at 06:30 in the morning.
I tend to start my Ocado order, soon after the previous one is delivered and I then have until 17:25 on the day before to get it right.
Interestingly, the payment for the order I received today from Ocado, is still sitting in the pending queue of my credit card account. I’ve also eaten one of the ready meals I bought. And very nice it was too!
I’
Do Ocado Save Me Money?
Probably not in the normal way, as they are an upmarket on-line shop.
A Rough Order
I generally put my rough order in on the Saturday soon after the delivery for that day arrives at about 06:30 in the morning.
The rough order is stored on Ocado’s computer, so it’s usually just a matter of choosing the delivery slot and adding a few extras.
If I’m cooking for myself all week, that usually means I will need seven meals, which could be ready-meals, something more substantial or perhaps just a tasty home-made snack or sandwich, if I’m eating out.
Typically, my order will get refined through the week and this tends to reduce the cost, as if say I’m a bit short, I might buy something like fruit earlier in the week, rather than get it delivered on Saturday.
Fruit
I don’t eat a lot of fruit, but I do have a banana every day in the morning and when I can get them, I eat a lot of strawberries.
Bananas and strawberries are two fruit, that are rich in magnesium and coeliacs like me, can suffer from a lack of it. As a child, I used to bite my nails, which stopped immediately, I went gluten-free at fifty.
From my experience, I feel lack of magnesium can cause nail-biting in coeliacs.
I usually don’t order fruit online, as I feel the quality is better in local shops, that I pass.
Gluten-Free
I am coeliac, so I have to be gluten-free.
In my opinion, Marks & Spencer do the best gluten-free food, so being able to shop in-store or on-line is a bonus.
Bread
I don’t eat a lot of bread in a week, so I find one of Marks & Spencer’s pack of brown bloomer slices is sufficient.
Toothpaste, Soap Etc.
I buy a lot of things like these online, as I have several days to carry them upstairs and put them away.
I have a large IKEA storage cabinet close by my front door and non-perishables are stored there first, along with my beer.
Milk
Usually, a pint plastic bottle of Marks & Spencer Organic Milk , lasts me all week.
But if it doesn’t l can pick up another bplastic ottle, at any one of four shops within two hundred metres.
Conclusion
I don’t save a lot with my hybrid shopping at Ocado and Marks & Spencer, but I don’t throw much food away.
Is Vitamin B12 Pulling Me Through?
About five months ago, I swapped my food shopping from Marks & Spencer in-store to Ocado once a week. This was mainly to cut down on my walking with shopping, but also to make sure, I’d usually got a meal or two in.
In August, I wrote Liver From Ocado and I’ve generally been eating one of these ready meals a week.
Although, Ocado doesn’t always stock them, so I have to go hunting round the various Marks & Spencer stores looking for Liver and Bacon.
Unfortunately, I’m not always successful.
Today, I went searching round South London looking for a transformer. Nor a kid’s toy, but a National Grid electrical one with the weight of thirty African elephants.
I didn’t see it, but I did walk quite a bit.
I then realised that the various muscle pains in my legs, that I’ve been having for the last few months had gone.
Was it the Vitamin B12 in the ready meal, as I stopped taking the paracetamol some months ago?
Also on Thursday, I had my three-monthly Vitamin B12 injection, so my body probably had enough of the vitamin.
The older I get, the more I feel that the Vitamin B12 injections have helped my stroke recovery.
Have Ocado Run Out Of 0.5 % Alcohol Ghost Ship?
I do my base Ocado order, as soon as I get this week’s order on the Saturday soon after six in the morning. I do fine tune the order, as the week progresses.
Yesterday, I was without two products ; the M & S Liver & Bacon ready meal and Adnams 0.5 % Alcohol Ghost Ship.
The ready meal is often short, but I can get it in the Marks and Spencer’s stores locally on most weeks.
One problem with the liver is that it it is not suitable for freezing.
The beer is not a problem, as I have enough in store and I can drink other brands.
But it does seem to have been a victim of Dry January.
After the end of the month, it will be very interesting to look at the domestic violence figures.
A Funny Sunday Morning
I didn’t sleep that well and I got up about 05:45.
But by 06:30, I’d completed and entered the Sunday Times Prize Sudoku, as I always do.
The odds of winning must be exceedingly long, as I complete it every week and have not won anything yet.
I had my bath and flushed the sleep from my eyes in the hot water as I always do and by 10:15, I was sitting in Leon at the Angel having my usual gluten free Full-English breakfast.
I also went round the corner to the Marks and Spencer to buy a few items I needed.
- Bananas – I can never have too many
- British Strawberries – Strawberries are rich in magnesium and coeliacs can be low, so when I see quality strawberries I usually buy.
- Liver and Bacon Ready Meal for One – I have one a week to keep up my B12 levels and Ocado didn’t have any yesterday.
- Packet of Chocolate Cakes – I am slightly addicted.
The strawberries were from Dyson Farming, which I would have thought was the wrong side of the political spectrum for Islington.
My left knee also had a funny turn, which I was looking for the liver. Was it just reminding me that, if it didn’t get its B12, it would play up something rotten or was my brain using my knee to signal that it was low in B12 after the superb work on the sudoku?
Thirteen years ago I had a serious stroke and two or three serious doctors have said I’ve made a remarkable recovery.
From what I can gather on the Internet in the United States, I would have been given B12 injections for my stroke.
But then I am, as I am coeliac and Addenbrooke’s prescribed the injections, when I was diagnosed as coeliac in the 1990s. So is that behind my excellent recovery from stroke or did the Chinese doctors in Hong Kong diagnose my stroke as worse than it was?
Since I swapped to Ocado for my food purchases about two months ago, I have found it easier to buy the Marks and Spencer’s Liver and Bacon. I now eat one every week to top up my B12 and the arthitis, I occasionally get in my joints has reduced.
So I asked Dr. Google if arthritis gets worse after a stroke.
They pointed me to this paper on the National Library of Medicine. They also helpfully gave me this AI-derived answer to my question.
Yes, arthritis can worsen after a stroke:
Osteoarthritis
A common type of arthritis that can worsen after a stroke. This can be due to spasticity that develops after a stroke. Osteoarthritis can also make it harder for stroke patients to recover during rehabilitation.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Patients with RA may experience worse functional outcomes after a stroke due to pain and swelling in their extremities. RA patients may also have an increased risk of ischemic stroke.
Other types of pain that can occur after a stroke include: Headaches, Tingling sensations, Shoulder pain, and Central post-stroke pain.
Pain after a stroke can range from headaches that resolve on their own to chronic, severe joint pain.
Ic like the answer, as it fits my symptoms. Is artificial intelligence going to do some doctors out of a job?
I certainly get the tingling sensations.
I’ve just prescribed myself Liver and Bacon for a late lunch.
I’ll report back later!
Note, that I’m eating in front of the computer with the new keyboard.
Ocado: Early In The Morning
Today, I had my shopping delivered at six o’clock in the morning.
I’d booked Ocado for that time and I rose at five, so that the door was ready, when the van arrived dead on the allotted time.
I just unlatched the door and the six grey plastic carrier bags were lined up along the wall inside my hall.
As I always do, I sorted out the beer first, as it is heavy and I keep it downstairs, only bringing what I need upstairs.
But by seven, everything was stored away and I’d had my daily bath, where I give my eyes a good rinsing of the accumulated night’s sleep, of which my eyes collect a lot.
I quite like having the groceries and other shopping delivered early, as it allows me to plan my day properly.
But it has always been thus.
I was usually first out of bed and through most of my teenage years, I marked up newspapers near Oakwood station, before going to school.
I have no recollection of the time I rose at University, but we generally got into the centre of Liverpool by about nine.
So Ocadao at six seems to fit my pattern of life.
Lumo Launches A 0.5% Beer For The New Year In Partnership With A Newcastle Brewing Company
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Cumberland Gazette.
This is the sub-heading.
Lumo has launches a locally-sourced, low-alcohol beer in partnership with Newcastle’s Donzoko Brewing Company to be available on services between Edinburgh and London.
These two paragraphs add a bit more detail.
Big Nothing 0.5% will be available in time for the new year, aimed towards those taking part in giving up alcohol for Dry January. The addition is part of Lumo’s commitment to providing locally sourced onboard options as part of the catering offer on its services on the East Coast route.
The release of the drink comes after the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) reported a 45% increase in alcohol-related incidents during the festive period last year.
I shall be trying some of this beer next time I travel on Lumo.
Government ‘Committed’ To Banning Trail Hunting
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub heading.
The government has committed to a trail hunting ban as hunts gather across the UK for traditional Boxing Day meets.
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
Trail hunting – a practice where a scent is laid out for the hunt to follow – was introduced as a “cruelty free” replacement for fox hunting, banned by Labour in 2004.
Animal rights campaigners have urged the government to deliver on its manifesto promise to ban trail hunting.
The Countryside Alliance, which represents hunters, has criticised the decision, and said it would be “extraordinary” for Labour to focus on the ban given the poor state of its relations with rural communities.
Hunting of all forms and that includes shooting and angling is not a simple black-and-white issue and it supports the employment of large numbers of people.
So if you ban hunting, where do you stop?
Some at the extreme, would ban all sports involving animals and make their eating and use for clothing and other products illegal.
Does Ocado Cut Food Waste?
I haven’t done an analysis, that would have been acceptable to a Chartered Accountant, but my fridge doesn’t seem as full before Ocado delivers, as it was when I started to use their service.
Small factors may be nudging me to buy less food.
- You can see what you’re buying visually.
- Pricing is more obvious.
- You tend not to buy too many smaller things.Do you respond to pictures?
- A lot of research has been done on layout and order to make you buy more.
But I do get the impression I’m buying less.
The Anonymous Widower 