Although usually its outside rather than in! We had a small, erm, ‘water feature’ develop in our house yesterday. Which wasn’t intentional, attractive or particularly welcome. The insurance supplied us with a plumber within an hour or so, so the leak itself didn’t last, but we’re still dealing with the aftermath- damp walls, bulging wallpaper, possibly water damaged roof space… and a bubble on my bedroom ceiling which we burst in a slightly more controlled way than would have happened had we left it.. I retired to the sofabed rather than get dripped on all night! Anywyay, apart from having to wait for the next lot of workmen (a ‘drying company’ are expected sometime, visions of men turning up with huge industrial hairdryers.. ) we’re ok. In one piece, not too damp, muddling along.

The slight inconvenience is put into perspective by other news. I won’t go into details here, but I found out just today that my cousin is struggling with some quite serious health problems. He’s in good hands, and there isn’t a lot that we can do but watch and wait, and hope. And pray. For him, his mum (my mums sister) and brother. For my mum who will bear a lot of this herself, along with my dad. If you can, I don’t often ask, but please remember Matthew and his family. Thank you so much.

I’m a member of the Co-op, and I also bank with them, having made a decision a few years ago that I don’t want my money to be invested in unethical practices. In witholding my business from those who would invest in anything from arms trading to animal testing and unsustainable environmental policies, I can very easily, and with no inconvenience to myself (the co-op offers competitive interest rates and I’ve *never* had a problem getting online or phone support unlike friends who bank elsewhere!) make a real stand for what I believe in. Have a look at the website, make the switch, I’d reccommend it. Anyway, this wasn’t supposed to be a plug..

As a co-op customer, I recieve information with my bank statements updating me on their latest customers who care campaign, which every year donates a percentage of money spent on debit/credit cards to a range of charities working towards a particular cause. Every customer is sent details of a number of charities, and invited to vote for one. The funds are then shared out between them according to the percentage of the vote each recieved (so everyone’s say is important!). This years campaign focuses on climate change, and offers 5 charities to choose from. This time I was torn, two possibilities caught my attention. The first is Transport 2000, an initiative to encourage sustainable transport solutions in the UK, aiming to bring people together to combat possibly the greatest cause of rising CO2 levels. An admirable cause surely? The other possibility was Waste Watch, another charity promoting sustainable use of resources. However, with this one, the co-ops funding will go towards its ‘New School: New Environment’ project, working within schools to educate and inspire children (and staff) to put into action various solutions to sustainability within their everyday lives.

So, while the idea of sustainable transport is appealing, surely the future in terms of saving this planet lies with the children? If the next generation can grow up not only believing in the need to conserve energy and reduce waste, but doing such without thinking, then we might have a chance. But is all this just pie in the sky? Is there really any chance for one small campaign, run by a movement which many people would classify as being full of idealist hippies, and really not up to competing with the ‘big boys’? Well, the answer would be no, if we all were to give up on that basis. But what if we don’t?

Obviously I can’t be in the same place without a trip away for more than 2 weeks, so this weekend I made the trip up to Sheffield for the SCM summer gathering. This promised to be a fairly action-packed weekend, with meetings a plenty, things to organise, plan, present and decide on, and trying to ensure various people were in the right place at the right time, as well as maybe trying to squeeze in some time to relax and enjoy the company of some good friends.

The weekend went well, I might even be tempted to say very well. Meetings were successful, decisions made were (in my opinion) the right ones and had few objections, and for the most part everything went to plan. Even if I do say so myself.

In the middle of all this craziness it was inevitable that I would be thinking and reflecting a little on the past year, on everything that’s happened, and all the changes that this weekend represented and reminded me of. In the last year I have learnt so much, about SCM, about the people I’ve been working with, the job I was doing and about my own ability to do so many things. This time last year I was wondering what on earth I’d let myself in for, and yet, even though nervous at times, I managed to chair this years AGM, including presenting some rather complex ideas and leading discussions. Its amazing what a year can do! Now I’m still involved, but I’ve handed over my ‘crown’, and with it a lot of responsibility and headaches. Though I do know my successor just a little bit, so I have a feeling I’ll be hearing about those..

During the year I’ve also made some very good friends, people who I may only see once every two or three months, but who I share many things in common with, and really enjoy spending time with. I have found myself part of a community, which is unique, and very real, despite it coming together only once a term, and which has in a year become a huge part of my life. Not to mention changing it rather significantly in more ways than one.

All in all, I’m glad I did it. There has been stress and difficulties, and times when I wanted someone else to worry about it instead, but its been good, and if I could turn back the clock, I’d do it all over again!

No sooner had I blogged about there not being much to blog about, than an email appeared in my inbox telling me about this film. It highlights the struggle of Ethiopian coffee farmers to make a living from their work, and follows Tadesse Meskela, General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Co-operatives Union, fighting on an international scale to get his farmers a better deal. The multinational coffee industry is worth around $80 billion, which makes coffee the most important trading commodity in the world after oil, yet farmers are paid so little for their produce that many can no longer afford to farm at all.

This isn’t a new concept. For many of us buying fairtrade, and the reasons for doing so, is second nature by now, and not something we even stop to question. But its not a universally accepted phenomenon, its not commonplace in every home and work place. And its certainly not something you expect to see on a cinema screen. This film is bringing into the mainstream the idea that much of the food and drink we take for granted is produced by people who simply aren’t paid fairly. Its not often that these issues; the plight of the coffee farmers, the work of co-operatives and the very real difference they can make to the lives of the poorest people in the world, are brought to the attention of the media. By highlighting the trade of a seemingly normal staple such as coffee, this film shows the extent to which this is a problem inherant in every aspect of our lives, which no one can distance themselves from.

So, check out the films website (linked above) for screenings, and pledge to go and see it. The more people signing up, the more the cinemas will realise the demand. Above all, publicise it. If you’ve got a blog, add a banner (available from the website), if you’re going to see it, take a friend, if you’ve been, write a review.

I seem to manage a blog about every month or so these days. I’m not quite sure when life got so busy, or maybe its just that I don’t feel that whats happening is worthy of sharing. I don’t know. But I thought I should pay a visit and try to get myself back into this blogging thing. I do miss it.

So anyway, whats new you ask? Thats just it, I don’t know. And when you get out of the habit of blogging regularly, you feel like you have to have something amazingly earth shattering to say or it seems like an anticlimax.

Well, I’ve had a busy couple of months running up and down the country.. feels like I’ve not really been at home properly at all! Since my last blog, I’ve had… a weekend in London with my parents, seeing the Renoir landscapes exhibition in the National Gallery, and the Watersons in the Albert Hall… a lovely long weekend in Paris, with (partly) glorious sunshine (and a fantastic thunderstorm thrown in for good measure!) and good company , a good mix of sightseeing and sitting around doing nowt … and a weekend at home for my *youngest* cousins wedding! A lovely service in the Catholic Church I went to as a child, and glorious weather all day. A nice chance to catch up with the family, aside from the ‘you’re next’ comments (err, not just yet I’m not!). Add to that three trips to Birmingham for various SCM stuff, at least two (unsuccessful) job applications, a Local Preachers meeting (as a visitor, not quite that mad yet!) and a fair amount of working, and you don’t get much time leftover. Phew. I feel tired just thinking about it.

And just to keep up the trend, I’m away this weekend in Sheffield for the SCM summer gathering, where I get to hand over my responsibility (and maybe swap it for a different one..) and see this delightful (!) city for the first time. I have a feeling it won’t be the last. Day off tomorrow, I might manage to breathe a little before I go off again. I’ll try to stop by a little more regularly, feel free to prod me if I dissappear again!