Plastic Bag free, not free plastic bag

It looks as though Arundel is trying to become a 'plastic bag'-free town, following in the footsteps of Modbury. Don't get me wrong, replacing 'free' plastic bags with reusable or recyclable bags makes sense... but isn't this a very minor environmental concern in a tourist town such as Arundel?

This is a town, let's face it, that has more than one "lifestyle" shop selling things people don't need. But where's the campaign to replace them with useful shops that would discourage people from driving to buy elsewhere? This is a town that encourages tourists to visit for no better purpose than drinking tea and looking at the castle. That's an unnecessarily large carbon footprint we're generating, don't you think? This is a town with a Farmers' Market where some of the retailers will travel around 100 miles to sell their local produce... and countless visitors will drive to Arundel - past their local shops - in order to buy here.

Yes, I've shopped at the lifestyle shops. Yes, I've enjoyed tea and cake here. Yes, I shop at the Farmers' Market. And yes, all that makes me a bit of a hypocrite.

So good luck to the campaigners. I probably won't be at the meeting... but I'll definitely be outside the chocolate teapot shop with a placard.

Still here

Jep has gently pointed out that I've not been blogging much recently. I'd already noticed - it's not that I couldn't be bothered - but I've not had much to say recently. I've been reading but not writing.

I'd started blogging, as did most of us here, with the little-lamented Country Living blog competition. One of my friends had pointed me towards it. I'd fairly recently moved to Arundel... which was borderline "country", I reckoned... so, with a little encouragement, I decided to give it a go. Besides, I thought I had a reasonable chance of winning.

I even kept going when the competition ended, this time encouraged by the refugee PurpleCooers. Well, it was fun. But I've recently had less and less to say. Why? I can offer an assortment of excuses - seeing girlfriend, busy working, thinking about moving house, perceived lack of audience, not wanting to give away too much about myself - but I'm not sure which is the real one. I'm also feeling detached from the whole thing.

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention this. I'll either come up with something that'll get me writing more regularly... or I won't. But I won't disappear without saying goodbye!