Totnes: Britain's town of the future

From The Observer, Sunday 6 February 2011:
"Totnes in Devon might be the most forward-thinking eco settlement in the world. As fossil-fuel reserves dwindle and the economy contracts, will resident-led Transition Towns become the way that we all live?"

Read the full article.

Why shop when you can swap?

Just before leaving Manchester, I finally got round to organising something I'd been meaning to do for a long time. Because I knew that I would probably moving house in the not to distant future, I felt the need to lighten my life a little. So I was very ruthless and cleared out a lot of clothes which I no longer wear. Most of them went to the clothes bin however certain items were more difficult to part with... Through guilt, sentimental attachment or pure bloody mindedness (“I WILL wear those jeans one day”), certain clothes are just difficult to let go of. So they sat in a bag in the bottom of my wardrobe (not being missed at all, might I add) whilst I waited for someone to hold a Swishing party so that they could go to a good home. However, after waiting a number of months to no avail, I realised that I would probably have to be proactive and hold one myself.

Swishing is simply an organised clothes swap. It can take on any number of formats and the rules of the game are very flexible. In fact, before the guests arrived I hadn't really considered how it was going to work in practicality! However when it came down to it, everything went very smoothly (there were jokes throughout the evening about how it might turn into a fist fight when it came to laying claims on the nicest items – thankfully this didn't happen!). Preparations began when my friend Jenny arrived several hours before kick off. We arranged both our contributions in my living room which gave it the feel of a lovely boutique and eagerly awaited the arrival of the other swishers (whilst getting a sneak preview of each other's offerings). Susie and Alison, then Gemma and Sue arrived in pairs bringing the total number of swappers to six – which turns out was a good number as the living room was jam packed with goodies!

Once the clothes were all laid out, we spent the next few hours perusing the hidden gems that we had each discarded. Whilst keeping in mind a mental wish-list of the items we wanted, we then proceeded to “auction” the clothes by picking out each item in turn and seeing if anyone wanted it – and if more than one person wanted it, trying to decide who wanted it the most!

I would say the most satisfying part of the whole event, aside from getting some fantastic new additions to my wardrobe, was actually seeing my old clothes find nice new homes and knowing that they would be worn and enjoyed. Sure, I could have taken all these things to a charity shop and allowed someone to discover them but now I occasionally get texts from my friends telling me how much they love their new clothes which used to belong to me. And I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time I wear Jenny's blue wool dress or Gemma's coat. Plus the whole evening in itself was extremely enjoyable – like sales shopping, but everything was free, in the comfort of my own house and with some good friends to enjoy it all with!

I can't wait till the next time I get a chance to clear out my wardrobe and do it all again!

Yurt Life

Towards the end of last year, I made a decision that 2011 was going to be very different and so far things have been just about as different as they could get. As of 18^th January, I moved down to Devon from Manchester to start a 15 week voluntary placement at the Sharpham Estate, a project funded by Vinspired, along with 3 other volunteers. Living accommodation is provided in the form of yurts – a girls' yurt, a boys' yurt and a communal yurt which functions as a living room/dining room/meeting room/library (gurt, burt and curt as they have been nicknamed).

So three weeks into the project, here are some observations about life so far (somewhere along the lines of “you know you've been living in a yurt to long when...”):

• Being warm is pretty much your one aim in life. Fire is worshipped.
• Not being able to light your stove is the most depressing thing in the world.
• Keeping your fire going all night is just about the best feeling in the world.
• Going into a “real house” feels a little strange...
• Showers aren't really necessary: everything smells like wood smoke. And everyone smells as bad as each other so it doesn't really matter anyway.