Green Holidays

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There are up to 5 million elderly people in the UK who don’t have and family or friends to visit them according to the UK charity Help the Aged.

And how much trouble would it be to you to help them out a bit in the cold weather, visit them every so often or drive them to the Drs if they needed a flu jab!

Depending on where you live and how many neighbours you have, you could help out an awful lot of people with very little effort - making everyone’s life a little better!

Why not try to make something that your village or neighbourhood can be proud of - and that stops your neighbours being isolated in their own homes.  I mean, if they aren’t very mobile the lady 2 doors down from you could have been sitting alone in her sitting room every evening for a whole week while you are just a few metres away watching a DVD or playing computer games.

What You Can Do:
Here are some ideas of things that you could do to help your local community, ranging from a tiny effort to a full on adventure!

Make A Cake - Taking around some tasty cakes or a hot dinner to a neighbour could really cheer up their day - and give them something to talk about!

Take The Lead- How about offering to take an elderly persons dog out for a walk for or with them.  Dogs and cats offer a real companionship to people living alone, but they can sometimes need more care than people can offer them - so why not step in.

Play Cards - Think about spending a few hours around someones house doing something that they like.  Rather than watch another episode of something-or-other, why not try to improve you gaming skill the old-fashioned way!

Home Delivery! - Getting out to the shops for the heavier items - like tinned food and cat litter can be quite daunting for a single elderly person to consider, and they may need to make several trips back and forth to get their normal groceries as well.  So why not offer to make a regular trip on their behalf when you get your own shopping?

Become A Taxi - Local bus services are great for people to do a bit of clothes shopping or nip into the Bank, but when you need to get to an early Dr’s appointment, or you end up getting stuck at the hospital longer than expected - how can the bus help you then?

Find Some Numbers - Why not put together a list of numbers and information that could be useful to someone on their own and give one to every home in your areas.  It can include things like the numbers and events for local day centres, meals on wheels type organisations, and even emergency plumbers and other services (that you know offer excellent services and a fair price).

Include local bus times and locations of bus stops, local taxis, local stores, the numbers of neighbours with certain skills or spare time, and even government details on available grants and services free to certain individuals.

Start Something New - If you really want to get your teeth into something really special for all those single, lonely and elderly people out there by arranging for your own regular ‘coffee morning’ or day centre.

I’m sure that you could find a church hall, community centre or local school that had a free spare room every other Tuesday or whatever you fancied.  And I’m sure that getting together a few volunteers to help out won’t be too hard either.

Imagine the looks on their little faces!

Dogs love to chase, dig and run - so should we really let them into sensitive wild places?

Having been a dog owner for many many years myself I would love to say ‘yes’ - but having also been interested in wildlife and habitat management - it could just as well be a ‘no’.

The reason I think is because of the owner, not the dogs!  So make sure you consider the impacts of your little furry friends before letting them loose with wildlife!

Dogs In The Countryside:
Dogs have been designed by nature to run and run, and chase anything that moves.  So as long as they have been encouraged to run and run with other dogs only - and to chase only balls and toys - then feel free to let them loose over fields and valleys.

There is nothing better I think for the owner and the dog to have a really great run through different habitats, across streams, sniffing what has passed before and enjoying the sunshine.

And if your dog is ‘under control’ you can cross fields of livestock and wander through deer-friendly environments.  However, many people think that ‘under control’ means that at some point and sometimes after lots of shouting that their dog comes back to them - usually at the car!

However, under control should be taken to mean that at your instant recall, your dog stops whatever it is doing and returns to you immediately if you ask it.

If this isn’t the case, then the only way to have your dog under control is to keep it on the lead.  But unfortunately, people see this as ‘unfair’ rather than thinking that they could well have simply trained their dog to respond to commands then it would be safe off the lead.

Effects On Wildlife:
Dogs are all friendly and cuddly to us humans - but don’t forget that they are capable of sniffing out, chasing and even killing wildlife such as rabbits, birds and deer.

Just by letting your dog loose in a woodland, you could be responsible for lowering numbers of rare ground nesting birds, causing a deer to injure itself bolting away, scaring off shy species from breeding in the area and even spreading common diseases to wild mammals.

There is also the problem of dog feces as well.  As dogs are carnivores their waste products are not of any benefit to the wildlife, and can take a lot longer to decompose as a result.  They could also contain bacteria and worms too which are of no benefit to the environment or other dogs passing through.

Vegetarian stools (from cattle, horses, sheep and deer etc) are more natural as they only contain partly digested plant matter, and so they are easily absorbed back into the food chain by bugs, insects and earthworms.

Alternatives:
Maybe we should be getting our local councils to allocate large areas that are not wildlife sensitive for our dogs to play in in complete safety and without worry.

A huge fenced in area with woods, large grassed areas and plenty of doggy bins could be the best thing for local pet owners.  This would mean that there was always a safe place to let your dog run around to burn off that energy, a place to play with other dogs and people and no adverse effects on wildlife!

Who is your local councillor? - And what are they doing to help dog owners?

photo credit: Vinni123

Need a quick re-cap for 2010 on why we take green holidays?

Be Open To New Things
Remember that not everyone does things the way you do them - so make sure that you are wiling to give something new a go if asked. It will certainly allow you to experience a different culture - and you never know - you might really like it!

Be Fair To Everyone
Try to put money into local hands rather than the firms that run the big hotels and tours. By all means haggle for your goods, but a few pence saved by you getting the best price could mean the vendor having to settle for little profit - and having to sell a lot more for their money.

Be Aware Of Differences
Respect the culture and think ahead when dressing for the day. Should you be wearing shoes or not - covering your shoulders or your head. It is all very important to the people who live there even though it means nothing to you!

Be Respectful To Everything
Remember when taking pictures and traipsing across fields and ancient sites - that these places could be very important to local people and their culture. Don’t assume that everything is there for you to explore and take pictures of -and that include people and their homes.

Be Unique On Your Trip
Don’t just follow the tourist track and go to all the places in the guidebooks - use that as a starting point and go from there. Yeah - see the sites that made the country attractive to you in the first place - but visit at different times or in a different way - or maybe visit a sister site or one that is less explored.

Be Aware Of The Options
Make sure that you check tour operators, airlines, hotels, and other travel companies before you make a choice. Check their eco credentials before handing over any money and make sure that you write and tell the best and the worst why you will or won’t be using them this time!

Be Generous And Kind
Don’t offer kids and beggars money and sweets - as this can lead to all sorts of social issues. Take pens and other useful but possibly hard to come by items for the local people you meet to encourage education and entertainment rather than tooth decay and stealing!

Be An Ethical Tourist
Come away from your vacation knowing that you have not only visited an amazing place and experienced amazing things, but that you have left it as it was before you arrived, or possibly made it a little bit better!

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I counted in 3 different locations for the bird count, my mum’s, my niece’s and in my own garden!

And I was quite intrigued by the results, as I live in a village next to a small nature reserve, my niece has a huge lawned garden in the suburbs and my mum has a tiny garden in a town filled with greenhouses, pots and bottles for her allotments!

So who saw the most species?

Well, the species in all 3 gardens contained some common elements, but my mum’s tiny garden saw the most individual species - and was the only one to see a tiny wren!

The Counts:
I chose to help with them all as I can better identify birds than my mum and my niece is only just getting interested in nature - so what better way to help her learn some of the most common garden birds?

All 3 counts were in the afternoon, mum’s from 1-2pm on the Saturday, followed by a quick drive to my niece’s for a 2.30-3.30 slot.  My garden count was on the Sunday afternoon - I was saving the best until last.  Or so I thought!

I get all sorts in my garden with small flocks of long-tail tits raiding the orchard for food, jays screaming through the woods and blue tits virtually over-running the feeders - but they weren’t about when I did my count! Neither were the partridges or pheasants that often cross the lawn!

And I forgot that birds flying overhead don’t count, so that ruled out the gulls, buzzards and red kites that regularly turn up here.  Only things that land on the ground counted - and they needed to show up in that hour! 

Both Saturday counts took place from upstairs windows with the Sunday count from outside on the step - but this kept attracting to cats to come over in the hope of a stroke - not so good for birds!

The Results:
Well, there were some species that we all saw and as expected they were blackbirds, magpies and wood pigeons - all very common everyday, but I was quite surprised that both the urban environments saw collared doves and blue tits when my garden saw none.  Where had they gone for the hour?

My nieces garden had only 1 species that wasn’t found in the other 2 gardens, and that was a group of 20 (that I counted) rooks all squawking away in a great big fir tree!   The other 6 species were all shared with at least one of the other locations.

My mum’s urban garden brought up some great species including 3 song thrushes, a wren, 5 house sparrows, 26+ starlings and pied wagtail!

Great stuff for such a small space and so close to so many other houses.  Maybe it was all the containers and buildings that had attracted insects and other delicious invertebrates that were irresistible to these types of birds.

My garden had some equally interesting species that included a great spotted woodpecker, a pair of bullfinches and some jackdaws. 

But I still thought that my mum’s garden had more life in it than I thought it would - and that’s what made the count so much fun!

Go to the RSPB website and send in your results, and you make a difference!  You might have seen all my ‘missing’ species!

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I had 2 weeks booked off work to spend on days out - and I was very disappointed!

There are 2 main reason why planning a day out in the UK at this time of year can be a bit difficult - and it seems that when you do decide on where to go, it can let you down a bit too.

Planning:
I decided to look at houses and gardens for some day trips - and I don’t mind driving a few hours to get to them if they are going to be a full days entertainment with plenty of photo opportunities!

However, a lot of properties are closed for the winter either for cleaning and maintenance, or because the expected number of visitors won’t raise enough money to pay the staff that they will need for wardens, guides and ticket office staff.

Both of these are fair points when looked at on a personal level, but it doesn’t really go towards helping to keep holiday makers in the UK:  ‘It’s cold here and half the places are shut - let’s go on a cheap sunshine holiday instead!’

Most of the place I found open were ‘free entry’ landscape and beaches etc - so going there can be done anytime you want - so not worth making an effort to go and see while on your holidays!

Arriving:
We finally selected an ornamental gardens, with woodlands, water features, long walks and a special butterfly event in the glasshouses apparently with butterfly experts on hand to discuss wildlife tips and the butterflies themselves.  It also had a great garden centre attached so we could be sure of a full days fun.

Wrong.

Firstly, there was no butterfly expert on hand, there really weren’t even that many butterflies - and half of those in the glasshouse were still in a state of inactivity, having only just escaped from their chrysalis.  So they were hanging lifeless from branches with their wings all wrinkled up.

Secondly, most of the grassed areas and many of the large plant beds were closed off for re-working and planting.  Quite a lot of the beds from autumn were completely gone with just earth in their place, and many new projects hadn’t started yet, so were just fenced off.

I wasn’t expecting full beds of bright flowers and beautiful bushy shrubs - as I like plants in winter - but closing off these areas was a bit of a disappointment in my eyes.

Thirdly, we left an hour or so at the end to look around the garden centre and to take away some plants and seeds as well as a great cactus for a birthday pressie - but it was closed!

They hadn’t even told you this on the way in, or on the way out or even at the start of the path to get there.  You literally had to walk all the way to the doors to find that it was shut. 

After standing there for a minute or 2 in shock from this, you then walked back down the path past all the other people still walking up to the door to find out the terrible news for themselves!

The Result:
It’s a shame when you are charged the full amount for entry to somewhere, when they don’t tell you that around a 3rd of the attractions are closed!  I mean, there are plenty of other gardens out there - and you want to feel that you got value for money.

If that was the first time I had been there, it is possible that I wouldn’t return!  The butterflies were enough to make the day not a total waste, but having known about the closed plant centre, and the fenced off areas, we may have gone somewhere else that day and come back here another time.

I know the bosses won’t want to be turning people away, but if this one entry fee from Family A is all they ever get from them - then it wasn’t worth it.  But if Family A turn up and have the best day ever - then Family A may be coming back next holiday - or may even become members.

We won’t be!

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Which charity should you donate to, to help the Haitians get through this terrible natural disaster?

Well, that is the point of the DEC - the Disasters Emergency Committee which have been working hard for humans since 1963 - basically they join all the main humanitarian charities together to fight one cause.

These humanitarian agencies include Save The Children, Help The Aged and the British Red Cross, and in times of emergency - like the earthquake that recently devastated Haiti - they join together to make big things happen - and fast!

This way funds, supplies and more importantly - information, gets passed to the right people at the right time  - rather than having all of the 13 single charities all trying to ‘do their bit’ to help separately but at the same time basically treading on each others toes!

It makes perfect sense to organise emergency relief this way - otherwise there will be too many people all on the same place at the same time all using valuable funds to do the same thing.

The DEC makes sure that none of the funds are wasted and that every charity can work in it’s area of expertise without wasting time deciding who is going to do what.

Your Donations:
By donating directly to the DEC, you can save even more of these funds by limiting the administration costs (and wasted time) of transferring money to Help The Aged, who then have to process and bank this money, only to then process these funds again when working with the DEC.

And, donating directly to the Disasters Committee means that that is exactly what your donation is going to be used for.  It isn’t going to pay wages for charity workers who are not directly helping the victims of the earthquake; it is going straight to the problem - and fast!

The DEC can also call upon huge international broadcasting agencies and distribution companies to help spread the word and facilitate collections and direct action - like free-phone numbers and televised broadcast appeals.  Your money makes this possible - and gets results.

Emergencies:
No one can plan for such emergencies, so these ‘on demand’ appeals are the best way to get the publics attention and to get one-off donations from companies and individuals.  These disasters don’t happen every week - so treat them as a rare event that you can help out with.

I mean, no-one is going to become a member of the DEC and get newsletters from it - it is an instant decision charity, and everyone can help by lifting the phone or getting online.

If everyone in your street gave just £5 that could be over £500 raised - multiply up your close neighbourhood - and it rises to £3000+. 

It might only be a small amount to you - but it soon treats thousands of wounded people - feeds hundreds of families and eventually helps to rebuild homes, hospitals, schools and cities.

Have you donated your £5 yet?  Donate Now.

If you think that ‘green’ issues are just personal choice - then try dropping litter in NYC!

The police force there have an Environmental Conservation department who don’t take kindly to pollution, litter or protected species amongst other things.  And won’t be shy in telling you so either.

Apparently there are 20 officers currently dubbed ‘green police‘ working in the city itself and they will respond to anything that breaches current eco friendly incidents like polluting vehicles. 

One such reported incident got the driver of the truck a $700 fine - raising to $1300 if the truck wasn’t upgraded to meet current emissions regulations in 30 days!  The officers have portable monitors they just hold on the exhausts - so there is no second chance once pulled over!

Now that is what I like to see - positive action that really hurts the offenders!  No one is going to stop speeding for fear of a small fine - but throw $700 at someone - and I bet they won’t make the same mistake twice!  Hopefully green offenders will start to get the message too - and buck their ideas up.

And For The Animals:
The police also look out for wildlife law breakers too.  The wider arm of the green police work throughout the whole state of New York, taking care of hunting and fishing licences and regulation - and this extends right into the city.

Fish markets and butchers can all be investigated by the officers looking to spot endangered species amongst the tonnes of produce reaching the restaurants and vendors on the street.  They also know about the acceptable sizes for catches too.  Many species can only be kept for food if they are mature adults and above a certain size.

Shellfish too are monitered with juvenile sizes and protected species not boding well for the trader!  Registration and records of sources for these things are also checked for - and woe betide anyone that can’t prove where they got their products from!

There should be more of these people about - so make sure if you are a resident; you support them to keep them on the streets - and if you are an offender; you need to green up your act - fast!

Why not book yourself onto an old-fashioned steam train - in a Pulham car of course!

I recently had the privilege of travelling from London Kings Cross to the beautiful city of Cambridge on-board a working steam train.

I love the idea of travelling by rail - and I am a real fan of historic English cities, so the combination of the two was perfect!  And more eco friendly than driving there.

The Train:
The train I travelled on was called the BR Pacific No. 70013: Oliver Cromwell - and was the same engine used on the last steam rail journey by British Rail in 1968.

This handsome green engine was a regular visitor to East Anglia - and in fact carried on past Cambridge to Ely and Norwich if you wanted a longer journey.

It was great alighting mid-way on the journey as not only did we get to see him pulling away from the station - and of course returning head on (for some great video footage) - but we spent a lovely 5 hours wandering around the many colleges and historic sites in the city.

The Journey:
The first thing everyone on the carriage realised as we pulled away from London was that the steam that gives us the characteristic white ’smoke’ from the front engine isn’t just steam - it has all the coal particles in it! 

Needless to say after we came out of the first tunnel and the ash had all blown into the carriage and onto absolutely everything - people closed all the windows and started wiping the thin layer of soot off their belongings!

However the smell was delightful and all part of the experience!

The company running the service had provided every passenger with a route map of the journey and all the stations we pass through or stop at and some information on the original services and the engine itself.

All along the route, we saw random people standing in fields to get a good look at the engine as it passed across the landscape.  Hundreds of people crowded into station car-parks and bridges along the way, craning to get a good photo of the train as we passed by!

It almost seemed like we were a celebrity - a 13 carriage long celebrity throwing soot and steam up into the air and hooting our steam whistle at everyone along the way!

If you fancy a day out in style, then find yourself a steam company that can take you to a place you want to go for a great eco friendly adventure!

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If local women are not allowed to visit somewhere - why should female tourists get access?

I was just reading an article in last months National Geographic about a peninsula in northern Greece filled with around 2000 monks.   This self-governing state is seen as the focal point of Orthodoxy in this region, and is home to over 20 monastical buildings and various other shelters and buildings - and not one single woman!

The males here have decreed that there should be no women allowed to visit, work or live on the peninsula - and they have lived here a long time holding on to this wish.

Mainly as they do not want to be distracted from their busy lives of worship and also as the land they occupy is hemmed in by great mountains, and only accessible by boat, so they have a certain amount of control over who enters.

Everything that happens here is ruled by the self appointed ‘rulers’ and they are sticking to their word.

However, now Greece has become involved in the European Union and many of the monasteries are receiving financial support from it - there is talk of ‘changes’ to modernise the area and bring it into line with the rest of the country.

And this could mean allowing women to visit!

Is That Wrong?
Just because we (as travelers) can visit virtually anywhere in the world that we want to, including remote Amazonian tribes in Brazil and Aboriginal families in the vast wilderness of Australia, does that mean we can ignore their culture - and their history - and in this case; their beliefs?

So, should men be able to stop women visiting this region?  Well, I think so.  Or more correctly - women should see how important this is to the monks and refrain from going there.

It is directly comparable to our personal space.  For example: when we go to the gym - we don’t just wander into the men’s locker room?  When we visit someones home - we don’t just go looking around their bedroom - so why should we go and ‘look’ at their monasteries?

It’s a matter of respect really.

Preservation Of Culture:
We all know that as the world expands, so history and culture are lost - so why are we not helping to preserve them?  Things may well eventually have to change - but we shouldn’t be the one’s speeding it up.

There are plenty of people living in the world today that do not want to or do not need to become modernised and have everyone trampling all over their land to see what they are like.

They should be able to just continue doing what they have done for centuries before without being ’studied’ or dissected to see how they ‘fit in’.

It is amazing to think that their are still places in the world that we don’t know about - and I must admit that I enjoy reading about such places and the people who live there.  People living their whole lives in religious seclusion or totally isolated from the rest of the world.

And sometimes, I just hope it will stay that way.

Looking for an alternative way to travel to Europe for your short break just got easier!

There has been a lot of talk about taking less flights to help reduce your carbon footprint, or stopping them altogether - but you still want a holiday, right?

So, use the train from Ashford International Station

There is a huge train network right across Europe with trains taking you to all number of destinations.  These include Paris, Istanbul, Rome, Madrid and even out further to Moscow and even China - although you can’t pop there for just the weekend!

I know everyone is talking about different modes of transport, but people still think that the train is ’slow’ so they don’t even consider it for continental travel.  But you should.

The UK now has an amazing International train terminal in Ashford, Kent, with over 2000 car parking spaces, one of the largest shopping centres in Europe and it is only an hour from the continent!

A quick visit to their helpful website will give you all the details you need for planning your journey through Ashford International, including links to other rail and coach networks across the UK. 

For example, a trip from Leeds to Paris for a long weekend over the new year with your partner will take less than 6 hours - where you can watch the British countryside pass by and a new country appear! 

Just For The Record:
It could take you around 7 hours just to get to Weymouth for the same weekend.  I know where I would rather go!

And even more suprisingly - there was very little in it costwise either, they were virtually the same price!

Obviously you don’t have to just visit Paris or Brussels, you could use Ashford Railway Station as your rail link to start your next longer holiday or overseas adventure! 

Just by stepping on a train at your local station, you could travel the world without a carbon chugging plane in sight! 

And Eurostar journeys are now completely carbon neutral - at no extra cost to you!!

So before you cancel your holidays overseas - check out the train.