The other thing that occurs to me about time saving is layers of paint. Sounds odd, I know. But the kitchen I now have has deep dark red over every wall, and its appalling, frankly - when I switch the light on at night, it doesn't make any difference really :(

My sister gave me some kitchen paint - excellent! Brilliant white too, so thats fine. But it needs a minimum of 3 coats, and could actually do with a fourth. And in contrast, a friend came round and swore that the One Coat paint would cover even this dismal crimson in one coat, as long as I did it with a roller. Is she exaggerating? Whats in it that it will give such coverage? I know that oil based paints are not only bad for the environment they make me feel sick for at least two days afterwards.... is One Coat paint as bad? And is *any* kitchen paint bad - why is it more stain resistant, why is it wipeable?

And another green issue in all of this - this kitchen paint, I've been given it. Is it more green to throw it away unused because its not green, or at least use it now that I have it, use the resources that have been taken out of the earth and give them meaning, rather than discarding them uselessly?

Using our time

I've been thinking about this quite a lot recently, both before and after the move. And I'm convinced that good use of our time is extremely green - deep, dark luscious green, actually :)

Of course, permaculture theory said it first, with zones in the garden according to how often you visit each one, and planting to go with ease and accessibility - herbs by the kitchen door, wildlife area furthest away from it, and so on. And they have taken it into the house as well.

But its more than that, its across everything - like the old time management studies, but in a green way - the less energy goes into doing something, the more energy is conserved - either to do other things, or to be left where it is. In relation to time, that means that either we can fit something in (like, going into town and visiting half a dozen shops or banks or charities or whatever) or have the time free (to sit in our green gardens and admire the flowers, or read a book).

The point is liberation!

Getting back on track

Last weekend, I went to one of the eco house Open House events, run by The Sustainable Energy Academy, which is a charity with the following aims:

"finding new SuperHomes, assessing their carbon savings and coordinating Open House events. We also feed into reports on energy efficient refurbishment and offer advice to organisations promoting energy efficiency and renewable technologies."

Sounds good to me. This is the one I went to visit:

http://www.sustainable-energyacademy.org.uk/get-inspired/superhome-locator

It was beautiful. And energy efficient. And light, airy, easy to clean, All Good Things.

I've had lots more paid work than usual this week, so working on my own house has been difficult, but I did combine the visit to the Superhome with a trip to Burgess Hill, to the Wilkinsons there - a very different level of quality, but still, not bad. A steel shower curtain rail, a brushed steel curtain pole for the front door and the associated windows, plus bogstandard, very cheap lampshades to take the glare of some of the bulbs here .... about £37, not bad at all.

And I was working hard on the garden - I'm getting the buddleias back into shape, so they don't fall against the spiffy new fence over the winter. I'm keeping and shaping the beautiful hazel tree, which is home to lots of birds and squirrels. I'm definitely getting rid of most of the rhodendrons - most! in a garden this size, fifty feet long, they're ridiculous, as well as no good for native wildlife.

I plan to widen the southern facing border to plant things that I love - more of that later - and some foodcrops too - but that will have to wait till we've found the drains so the second toilet can be installed, and till the fence is weatherproofed, and we've finished tramping all over the border.

Its a juggling act.

Isn't life strange

Well, was I ever unprepared to move! I thought I'd prepared so carefully - been decluttering, because this move was a downsize - this included selling stuff on Amazon and Ebay, giving to charity shops and via freecycle, and dumping things at the recycling tip, as well as the landfill bin being stuffed to the gills every week. Contacted builders beforehand about the work I wanted done. Printed out Building Control forms from the new District Authority. I even used up food I didn't want to take with me, and used T shirts and whatnot to pack some electrical goods I don't use very much. I thought I was *so* ready....

Turns out I wasn't. And one thing I crucially didn't take care of properly was my telecoms: I told Virgin Phone people I was moving, but I didn't tell Virgin Broadband. The result was that I waited almost 3 weeks longer than I should have to get my phone and broadband connected up - which was wasteful financially, if not in resources.

And because I didn't do enough planning and preparation beforehand, a lot of things that could have been recycled, weren't. They went to landfill. And it turns out I *didn't* use one of the removals firms that use green materials or collect the boxes back or anything like that, because there wasn't time to contact them - there was only two weeks between exchange and completion.

Its been a chastening experience.