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nikkai
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In the queue at the supermarket, the cashier told the older woman that plastic
bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and
explained:-
"We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then,
they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the
shops. The shops sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized
and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have a lift
in every store and office building. They walked to the grocers shops and
didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go 400 yards.
But she's right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's nappies because they didn't have the
throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling
machine burning up 220 volts "wind and solar power" really did dry the
clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters,
not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house not a TV in every
room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of Begium.
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut
the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised
by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a
cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They
refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced
the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor
just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the public bus and kids rode their bikes to school, instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service.
They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But that old lady is right. They didn't have the green thing back in her
day.
OMG...that was MY day too!
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There are NO strangers HERE ! Only Friends who have not yet met....
One cannot think well, sleep well,live well if one has not dinned well "virginia woolf"
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morty1753
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Spot on Nikkai
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"I" before "E" except after "C"..... That's weird
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paulears
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True, ladies stayed at home because the washing took them all day, heating up the iron on fir that needed somebody to be up early to bring in the coal and light. The possibility of a warm house was just a dream, and there was no need to labour save, because energy saving wasn't an issue. There was a surplus of energy because coal was cheap, and nobody cared about the environment at all. Coal pollution was everywhere, smog a fact of life. They didn't need electrical gadgets because until somebody invented them, nobody knew any better. TV went off with the National Anthem, and everybody went around the house switching of the few electrical appliances they had. Everybody used the oven to warm up things we now do in the microwave in seconds. TVs and radios were full of valves and consumed far more electricity than our modern ones do. We heated the water with an immersion heater, the idea of radiators in every room just a dream! Every single bit of rubbish was buried in the ground, and we did really bad things with quite unpleasant substances. Motor mechanics poured old engine oil down the drains, we thought nothing of letting kids play with mercury at school, one of the most toxic substances we have.
We didn't need to be green, because we didn't care a tosh for the environment - due to ignorance. Now we know how nasty some of our waste is, and we're trying to fix it. It's a bit late, but we are trying. The only annoyance is that people seem to want to become luddites, and I really cannot see that anyone really wants to go back to a non-electrical, cold, wet and probably smelly existence. In those good old days, we didn't need antiperspirant, we were used to smelling. Our clothes were washed once a week if they needed it or not. We washed our shirts when they were dirty, not when they'd just been worn.
I'd rather have it like it is now - thanks very much. We're still wasteful, but at least we are aware!
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Paul Johnson
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morty1753
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We're still wasteful, but at least we are aware!
Sometimes....... One case in point that almost made me fume was when I bought a coconut in a supermarket and found it was wrapped in cling film.
Excess packaging is what "gets my goat"
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"I" before "E" except after "C"..... That's weird
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Trigger
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"When will they ever learn?"
Line from Pete Seeger's "Where have all the flowers gone?"
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funkychick
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My goodness Paul 'we didnt need to be green because we didnt care a tosh for the environment' what are you on. There was precious little going on then to harm the environment food wasnt driven half way round the world, there werent dozens of high polluting planes taking off every minute, there werent computors blaring on all night from every office.
There is a happy medium with everything and of course none of want to go back to treading the soiled clothes in the river but a bit of awareness from our lifestyles now and a few changes would make a lot of difference
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George27
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Like it Nikkai.
But there is a touch of rose tinted glasses about it. No mention of damp washing around the house, homes so cold people freezing to death. Air pollution so bad that thousand died in a few days.
On the plus side people were fitter as they walked and cycled a lot more, and the local economy was in a better shap as people tended to work and shop close to home.
But can you imagine asking people to give up their cheap flights, 4x4's and year round supply of exotic fruit? try it and see the response you get! LOL!!
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ATHEISM IS A NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATION
cyclelowestoft.blogspot.com
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George27
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"My post is of a light hearted posting"
And it was taken as such!
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ATHEISM IS A NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATION
cyclelowestoft.blogspot.com
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snowdrop
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my goodness novels have been written today.i do a cyber,foot in both camps altho i am green,the days you taliking about richard good days,smog thousands died.childhood diseases many died or left helpless.
would you really want to go back to cutting newspapers up for bog roll or if posh jays square loo paper or the soft roll we use today perish thought but it not green to use it.
we could not been happy because we invented them so we did't have do or not do the things mentioned.
i knew about the ozone layer way back in 60's and result of people then that we are what we are.just great shame the greens were thought of as being cranks then,not so cranky now.i think we listened to late.
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nikkai
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Being sensible is the way to go
There is no real need to have foods from outer wherever just because it is 'fashionable' food which are in season will and can be made to be very tasty. There is no need to have patio heaters, and there was a post where it had been suggested that all new builds be fitted with solar panel units as a standard (never happen though will it) things like the way we use water, have the rain water and used bath water filtered and used to flush the loo's (again with the reduction in garden sizes that will never happen) lots of little things that can be done would make all the difference
IMHO
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There are NO strangers HERE ! Only Friends who have not yet met....
One cannot think well, sleep well,live well if one has not dinned well "virginia woolf"
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Aussie K
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Nikkai, I am uncertain about much of your last post, Solar heating is not a huge success in this country It costs so much to purchse & install it. It's not very efficient unless you have a back up of other sources of power and you wont have a very hot bath & certainly not if two of you need a bath in tandem. In about ten years the Algae will have covered over it making it less eficient and other faults will be occurring and it will probably all need replacing.
As for smaller gardens, it might be much better if we had larger ones & grow real good tasty food and also there is much more water in this country than we could possibly consume for most years .
I can agree with you that it is a waist having drinking water for flushing toilets and watering gardens but a dual water pipe system may be much too expensive.
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nikkai
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Solar panels can be an aid to the energy you 'import' into your home, and like most things would need to have a service plan running. dual water systems are not expensive and the filters are formed with sand you have the pipe work, you only need a tank (below ground) and a small pump to supply that water back to the system any over flow from your secondary would enter the normal waste water system through a non return valve. the pump and control valves could be controlled via the solar panels so the operation is almost FREE
The tank (under ground) would have a soil layer above which would be deep enough to support planting.
Composting your food trimmings would be added to the ground (natural fertilizer)
there are also alternative to water flush and that give you another means of fertilizer though some would squirm at the thought of a worm loo.
Learning how to use the old with the new is where it all may fall down
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There are NO strangers HERE ! Only Friends who have not yet met....
One cannot think well, sleep well,live well if one has not dinned well "virginia woolf"
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funkychick
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Some people are thinking all or nothing like SD and Paul ( who'd want to go back to newspaper loo roll and freezing houses) its not about that as Nikkai says its about making SENSIBLE adjustments which wouldnt have any need to go back to the old days but we need far more common sense than is used in most areas nowadays ware all encouraged to not leave our electics on standby yet all the offices leave thousands and thousands of computers on. Sorry to (was it Morty) but why do we need to eat Zebra or buffalo or crocodile leave that to if you are staying in Africa or whatever continent but why import it here when we have plenty of local meat why do our chickens have to come from China ( they re cheaper ) but to what detriment. Do we at all cost have to eat strawberries in winter Why do people have to spend £20,000 on the average wedding is it really necessary do they enjoy their day any more than a £5,000 one or even a £2,000 one. Does every child ( not teenager but child) need a DS a play station a DVD their own computer TV and a mobile phone I know children of 6 with the latest blackberry. I could go on and on but it gets boring
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kerch
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Can't understand a 6 yr with a blackberry or all the latest gagets not very"green"minded parents there or is it anything for a quiet life as all little Johnny's friend's have the same .
I turn things off as the household bills are eating up more and more of my pension .
This year I'm finding new home for alot of my plants they are in pots and need a good water at least twice a week in an attempt to reduce my water bill (all water is metered here) .
I try to buy in season food most of the time .It's not much but I suppose every little helps .
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morty1753
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Sorry to (was it Morty) but why do we need to eat Zebra or buffalo or crocodile leave that to if you are staying in Africa or whatever continent but why import it here when we have plenty of local meat
I apologise to anyone who thinks I am wrong to eat zebra because it is not "local grown".
Please don't have a go at me because I work in Algeria instead of "round the corner" and therefore have to use a plane to get to work.
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"I" before "E" except after "C"..... That's weird
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funkychick
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Ok Morty i apologise I thought you were talking of eating in Lowestoft not Africa but I stand by what I said about the fact that food is shipped all over the world uneccessarily
You certainly dont have to apologise Morty its a matter of choice it was just part of my opinion of why we are eating up fuel faster than we can produce it
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morty1753
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Along this line I was looking at salad ingredients in Tesco and could not believe that we ship them in from France, Spain, Morroco and, believe it or not, spring onions from Argentina.
What a joke.
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"I" before "E" except after "C"..... That's weird
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funkychick
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Definately agree there and I was told by a friend living in Spain that most of the vegatables and fruit grown there is grown water free using chemicals only, I have never brought them from Spain since also the prepared salad ingredients that we are too lazy to chop for ourselves has had more bleach used to clean it than is found in a swimming pool
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snowdrop
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Unsustainable consumption patterns,this all comes at a price,to those with the least are finding it hard to live off the land.growing food like this for all year eating is ruining the land of these people which opens the doors to conflict.we really got take on the green issue better in that we are part of the earth dont own it.growing stuff like this on this scale is causinf ero
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snowdrop
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sorry posted that before finished
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Trigger
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Last week there was a BBC2 programme “Great British Food Revival” (available on iPlayer) and James Martin took on the challenge on reviving the British Apple.”
Facts from the programme:
65% of all apples sold in this country are imported.
This country grows many different varieties - but few of them are sold by the supermarkets.
Martin went to a supermarket one mile from where they were filming. It had no English apples on sale but did have them from New Zealand and Chile.
British apples can be picked and transported to UK stores within a few days - yet stores sell apples that have been transported 8,000 miles for selling here.
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funkychick
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There was also a documentary about the Peoples Supermarket recently where they went to a beautiful English orchard that was having to stop growing as the supermarkets wouldnt stock their apples and this lovely lovely orchard gave away all the pickings before it was forced to close
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snowdrop
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i think i saw that,dont you mean that greg bloke with bald head the master chef man
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Aussie K
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This all sound very well supermarkets buying British, I would love it but one great obstacle in the way is the common market or should I say the EU. Britain could not subsidise their foods because it's not allowed, and the other major obstacle is that super markets who did not buy goods at the cheapest market value would price there selves out of business.
My second point is that all the waste of money that many of you talk about is not all waste, much of it is produced in this country and is money just going round. The wasted parts are in those goods which we purchase abroad.
A person buys cans from the tinker, the tinker buys bread from the baker and the baker buys backing tins from the tinker, equals money going round.
Or a person buys cans from the tinker, the tinker buys bread from abroad , equals the baker is unemployed.
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Trigger
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i think i saw that,dont you mean that greg bloke with bald head the master chef man
sd - just for info: The programme about British apples - the presenter was James Martin.
"That greg bloke" (Gregg Wallace) presented the episode on "The Great British Spud".
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funkychick
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......and the programme I was talking about The Peoples Supermarket was Arthur Potts Dawson an interesting programme trying to engage the people in an area to operate their own local shop by being share holders making it a co-operative really and asking each to do I think about 2 hours work A MONTH it was incredible hard to engage anyone to make even this minor contribution which shows how UN community minded we have become
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kerch
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Think we 'er been brain washed into buying fruit from other countries .
Exotic fruits are ok can't grow them in UK but apples,Plums, Pears taste much better when home grown .
I recently made the mistake of buying apples from Chile and most finished on the compost heap as they were too bruised to eat and the rest had no taste .
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funkychick
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So guess the same happens over there Kerch it is brain washing by the supermarkets to invest in the cheapest but not necessarily the best such a shame we have all gone along with it and given them this power to interpretate for us what we 'should' be buying
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kerch
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I've stopped buying fruit and veg from the supermarkets I buy from the local market which is three time a week but sometimes they have fruit and veg from other countries the worst being tasteless spainish strawberries.
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funkychick
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the Spanish fruit and veg is very tasteless I agree
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malcolm
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Salad and fruit always tastes better in France even from the supermarkets.
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Forever Yellow
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funkychick
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Thats not what Kerch said a few posts back
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Don't you also think that the fact of being on holiday, being away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life - and the general ambience of one’s surroundings . . . . plus a soupcon of “the other man’s grass is always greener” . . .
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Boatbuilder
John
Administrator
Lowestoft Online Addict
Gender: 
Posts: 4714
I've learnt to take everything life throws at me!!
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the Spanish fruit and veg is very tasteless I agree
Have you eaten a Seville Orange, Funky? I assure you they are certainly not tasteless!
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funkychick
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Of course BB but I was thinking of the awful salad stuff that gets flown over to the supermarkets its the fruit and veg that are chemnically grown not coming from orchards as Kerch said its things like the strawberries and forced tomatoes
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kerch
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The fruit and veg in our local supermarket is not good ,often looks as if it's seen better days .Other's are better but not in walking distance .
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Jamesw82
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You can beat home grown/allotment food totally organic, cant wait for summer and the harvest.
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Boatbuilder
John
Administrator
Lowestoft Online Addict
Gender:
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I've learnt to take everything life throws at me!!
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Funky, You made a comment recently about Spanish fruit and veg - "most of the vegatables and fruit grown there is grown water free using chemicals only". I used to visit southern Spain in a previous employment to purchase fruit and can assure you that what I saw was fruit being grown that had some of the most modern irrigation systems of the day. Also, if they are grown 'water free' why is the typical water content of stawberries, just to highlight this fruit, 92%.
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An Oyster 575
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funkychick
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I dont know your answers BB I just know my friend who is a very intelligent lady told me that when she was staying with her sister who lives there ( but I m not sure what part) that is what she saw all over the place and was shocked
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Aussie K
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I have to say that I do buy most of my fruit & veg. from super markets, & I have to agree that a lot of it is of poor quality, I do this because of convenience Just a mile away and one hour and the weeks shopping behind you.
However I purchase British if I can and unwrapped where possible. Carrots, tomatoes, Cucumber go bad so easily and are tasteless, with carrots I often buy those with the top growth still on and they are better. I do buy chicken at the super market but all my meat etc is from the local butchers, but again when you get a lb. of bacon it comes out of wrapped packs and have their share of added water.
If I get to a good green grocers they get my purchases.
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freelance
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Who is green? ... The Incredible Hulk.
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Who is green? ... Shrek
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Mel
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Who is green? ... Kermit.
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freelance
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I see I am not the only one procrastinating this morning instead of working.
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snowdrop
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the green grocer in britten centre is on my speed dial he delivers,chuffed about that
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funkychick
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So does the one in Kirkley SD free delivery
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Boatbuilder
John
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I've learnt to take everything life throws at me!!
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I wonder how long they will be able to keep up delivering for free - unless of course they are using bicycles. Just been watching on the news about petrol/diesel prices once more reaching new record highs.
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snowdrop
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i not sure fc but i must find out,he moving his shop as trade not so good he says....the chap in town uses 20mile radious.i cant lug veg so delivery good option for me
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funkychick
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SD I m not asking you to find out I'm telling you that he does free deliveries yes hes moving in April further down into Kirkley his business has suffered because soon after he opened his son had a near fatal accident and is still in a very poor state so obviously he has not had the time or probably ability to build up his business as he was expecting too
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frankiesays
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I wonder how long they will be able to keep up delivering for free - unless of course they are using bicycles. Just been watching on the news about petrol/diesel prices once more reaching new record highs.
I paid £98.60 to fill my car up with diesel one day last week at Tesco prices. The Inland Revenue rate for reimbursement of fuel expenses for work is now 15p per mile. I now need to do 46 miles to the gallon to break even.
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frankiesays
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I did 1200 miles last week alone. I'm having to start my journeys much earlier and drive much slower which means I spend even longer on boring motorways with just the sat-nav for company and she doesn't say much at all except when I'm trying to negotiate a complicated junction and then all I get is incessant inane chatter from her.
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Boatbuilder
John
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I've learnt to take everything life throws at me!!
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You seem to travel up and down the country so much, Frankie, I surprised you actually need a Sat Nav, I'd have thought you'd know your way without one.
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frankiesays
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It's handy for seeing ahead and avoiding jams that I wouldn't usually know about until I'm in them.
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freelance
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FC - About the greengrocers.
I was going to mention about how the quality of his shop went down while he was visiting Addenbrookes a lot. Many a day there were three blokes spending hours of their time in his shop. One looking after the place, and his mates. All smoking - quite illegal. It stank of smoke. They were also trying to make clever remarks to customers. One woman I know was quite upset by them.
A friend of mine had to ask one of the hangers-on to move so he could even get in the door.
I bought some potatoes and they were green nearly all the way through. I had to throw the lot away. They had been out in the daylight for way too long.
I now realise I can get much better ones in the supermarkets, after all.
I bet lots of his customers will never go back. I doubt if I will.
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funkychick
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Yes I agree FL I stopped going in too mainly because I felt intimidated by those blokes hanging around in the shop and the quality of everything went down the pan He has now taken a lady shop assistant on and I havent seen the blokes there for a few weeks so I am hoping when they move to the bigger shop there will be an improvement but not actually holding my breathe Its a shame because it could have been a gold mine with the right care and attention
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Great picture of the chinese water deer Boating Jo; I am green with envy as I have seen them in the past but have never been close enough to get a decent picture  |
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Mel
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I walked into that one Freelance....
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snowdrop
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i was't to know that fc.mick you should try him because more customers he has the better for all and his vegs as in the one in brit centre taste much better than supermarket
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funkychick
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 Not sure I understand that one SD Mick explained why he stopped using it and what werent you to know?
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