Hallowe'en

 Hallowe'en

• What's your favourite scary movie?
• What's your favourite Halloween treat to eat?
• If you like to dress up, what has been your best Halloween costume? 

Like several others here (a small online community), my family does not celebrate Hallowe'en. I am not comfortable with its identity with death, fear and evil, even if only play-acting.

Neither am I keen on scary movies. However, there are two scary movies to which I am attracted: 'Wolf' (1994), directed by Mike Nichols, starring Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and James Spader, and 'The Ninth Gate' (1999), directed by Roman Polanski, starring Johnny Depp. I have also watched 'Sleepy Hollow' (1999), directed by Tim Burton, and also starring Johnny Depp (I am by no means a Johnny Depp fan), on several occasions, and in some respects fits in better with the Hallowe'en theme, although it is not really a scary movie.

As we do not celebrate Hallowe'en, treat is hardly the correct term. As part of our commitment to 'saving the planet', we grow as much of our fruit and vegetable requirement as we are able. This includes plenty of pumpkins. I make a gorgeous pumpkin soup. I also roast pumpkin in the oven. Best of all is my wife's pumpkin pie. It grieves me to see how much pumpkin goes to waste, thrown out after having been carved into a ghoulish face and displayed for an evening or two on the windowsill or on the doorstep.

I rarely dress up, and then only for weddings and funerals. I recognise that other people get enjoyment out of dressing up. I have known well only one cross-dresser, whose personality and identity was explored, and in part realised, by dressing in clothes identified with the other sex/gender. I get my enjoyment, in part, by watching movies (and, in the past, theatrical performances), an activity that requires the actors to disguise their real personality in order to play the role of a character. I am not a playful person. There is, these days, much criticism of "people who take themselves too seriously", and praise for people who laugh at themselves. The television and radio schedules are overflowing with humorous entertainment, even on news programmes, and it seems that a significant proportion of young people want to work as a 'stand-up comedian'. I hope that, in time, the pendulum will swing back in the other direction, and people are encouraged to embrace the complexities of (modern) life instead of simply laughing at it as a form of rejection. I am not against humour at all, but I am fed up with how it seems to have infected the entire public domain - the Prime Minister seems to be incapable of giving a speech without including jokes, puns and humorous allusions.

When I was in Japan in August 2008, we were in Kyoto at the time of the celebration of Obon festival: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gozan_no_Okuribi

I was moved and impressed by how seriously it appeared to be taken. It seems to me that setting aside a day (such as 2 November: All Souls Day) on which to remember the lives of now-departed family and friends would add much to a sense of community, not least in providing opportunities to support those who are alone due to bereavement.   

First hot bath of the season

First hot bath of the season

I have just re-dressed after a very pleasant long soak in a hot bath: the first hot bath of the season. I’d almost forgotten how to do it. Co-op bath soak (i.e. bubbles) and Epsom salts, and as much hot water as I can bear. Unfortunately, the house was seriously cold, and switching on the central heating at 17:45 was never going to warm up the bathroom for a six-o’clock bath. Moreover, the electric underfloor heating needed to have been on for several hours to make a really noticeable difference. (Yes, I should prefer a sauna, or even better a steam room! But that is for another life.) I took a flask of tisane in with me, and some crackers to nibble. I also had my book about the year 1000 AD, and my spectacles. However, I forgot to take into the bathroom a soft cloth with which to de-steam the spectacles, and nail scissors to attack toe nails once soaked. There is a bath mat, and I like to have a hand-towel beside the bath so that I can dry my hands to avoid my book becoming wet.

My bathing technique is simple, but less than entirely peaceful. It involves first running enough hot water into the bath so that there is sufficient depth not to feel silly. The initial quantity of cold water that runs from the hot tap is just about right so that I do not have to use the cold tap at all. Using the cold tap is something I try hard to avoid. I like to step into water that is so hot that it sends a powerful shiver from my heels running all the way up my spine, but yet not so hot that it is painful. After this, I top up the bath with additional hot water every five to ten minutes (by which time the bathwater has already cooled significantly). The more water there is in the bath, the more hot water I have to add to bring back up the water temperature. Sometimes I get so engrossed in the book I am reading that I leave it too long before topping up with hot water, by which time the water in the pipes has gone cold. This puts cold water in the bath, which has to be neutralised with a considerable volume of hot water. This, in turn, fills up the bath, thus precluding further top-ups. It takes attention and practice to get the timing right. The ideal depth of water in a bath is a depth sufficient to allow me to submerge entirely. Beneath the water, I am no longer in the bathroom: I am in a different element, and in my imagination connected to a tropical ocean.  

Water and climate change

 

Water and climate change

Producing and transporting water uses a lot of power and materials — all of this can contribute to future climate change. If customers use less water, then this reduces the impact companies have on future climate change. How could water companies support you in reducing your water usage (information, gadgets, consultations, advertising, anything else)?

The on-street water meter is misted up half the time, making it difficult, sometimes impossible, to read. Moreover, it is located down a hole at a depth of about 500mm. I make the effort, every day, to read the water meter to see how much water we have used over the past 24 hours. I also check the water leak dial. If you wanted to help, you would put an electronic version of the water meter in a convenient place in my house so that I do not have to get on my hands and knees every morning. I have devised a spreadsheet on which I record the water meter readings, calculate the previous day’s water use, calculate a 7-day moving average and calculate the long-term average. I have worked out how much water we use for each of our activities (shower, bath, washing machine, dishwasher - as well as a baseload for drinks, toilet flushing, household cleaning and handwashing). I can now 'see' when extra water has been used, and investigate it. If you want people to save water, then give them the daily figure for actual use and also the 7-day moving average, and give them a spreadsheet on which to record this information. Even better, just give them the information daily in a spreadsheet. Only when people have the almost real-time information about their water use will they be able to change their behaviour meaningfully.

Second, provide me (and everyone who can use one) with a sizeable underground water storage tank to capture rainfall around my house. I do not have anything like the money required to buy and install such a storage tank, but I could use every drop of rain to good effect were I able to store it. The rain tends to fall in the winter, and the water tends to be required in the summer. My fruit and vegetables would prefer rainwater to chlorinated water. This would not be preventing the water from recharging the underlying chalk aquifer, merely delaying the recharge. (The downside for you is that you would not be able to charge me so much, as less the water would be passing through the water meter.)

Third, provide me with the opportunity to use grey water around the house. A toilet does not need to be flushed with potable water, nor floors mopped, nor cars washed.

Fourth, show people that you are serious about wanting to reduce water use: show people exactly how much money they will save by using less water, and show them ways to save it.

Community

 

Community

 

1. In your own words, what does a community mean to you and why?
• How would you define a community?
• What makes a community feel like a community? (Feel free to post any images to help bring your thoughts to life)
2. Based on your definition, what ‘communities’ do you feel you’re a part of? 
• Which ones and why? How do you interact with these communities? (e.g. What about digital communities? How do they differ? And in terms of being a part of it?)
3. Thinking about your local area, what would you say are the top 3 community initiatives or groups you’re aware of:
• What are they? What do they do? (e.g. Consider all types of groups and communities, natural and organised online and offline)
• Why are they in your top 3 - what do they do that is good?

The term 'community' is somewhat nebulous, not least because it means different things to different people. 'Community' inevitably involves people, such as people who live in a village (as I do), or attend a 'community centre', but I imagine that people who work in a zoo or a cat sanctuary also consider many of the animals with whom they positively interact to be part of their community. It is positive interaction that brings 'community' into existence. When I lived in various suburbs of Durham (for 37 years) I never experienced a sense of 'local community': we were simply people who happened to be living in relative proximity. On the other hand, I am a Quaker, and the positive interaction between us (both in Durham and north-eastern England, and now in Canterbury and eastern Kent) gives us a very strong sense of community, despite our geographical spread over a sizeable area.

I have worked in many universities and colleges, mostly teaching. Until my final job, the permanently temporary nature of my forever-part-time employment status meant that I was never really allowed to belong, and I knew that there would always come a point when my contract was not renewed. However, my final job was at the University of Sunderland. Here my employment contract was full-time and permanent. I was not only allowed to belong, I was encouraged to feel a sense of identity with the University. This meant that, for the first and only time in my working life, I joined and belonged to a community of work colleagues.

My sister is gay, and she clearly identifies with, and feels a sense of belonging to, 'the gay community'. On the other hand, I am a strict vegan, and have been so for nearly 30 years. I have met a handful of vegans during my life, and although we have some values and interests in common, I do not interact with them, and consequently do not feel as though I belong to a vegan community. My daughter is severely physically disabled and profoundly deaf. A significant proportion of her contacts have disabilities of one kind or another. Mostly, her interactions, including disability rights campaigning, are on-line, where her physical disabilities are less of a problem. She uses a specialist electronic communication device with voice synthesis, and strongly identifies with other people who use such devices: she is active within an organisation called One Voice, which is a community of people who use assistive communication.

I have been around computers since 1976 (an IBM 360 series mainframe at the University of Durham). When personal computers started to be more widely marketed in the 1980s, I became something of an 'early adopter' (which explains my unusual e-mail address). I saw myself as part of a 'personal computer community', although I interacted with relatively few people about it, mostly because, in those days, only enthusiasts were interested. However, a lot of hardware and software was aimed at 'early adopters', which is what lent a sense of community.

Key words in what I have written are 'people', 'proximity', 'shared values/outlook/purpose', 'identity' and 'belonging'.

As your local water provider, Affinity Water want to be part of your community

1. What do you think Affinity waters' role is, as an organisation that services your community? Why?
2. How can Affinity Water build relationships with customers and drive a sense of community? Why?
3. What other businesses or organisations could Affinity Water partner with to better support the community? Why?
4. What do you think is missing in your local area that Affinity Water could support, in order to help customers? Why?

As with many people who have signed up to this project, I have an interest in water, especially in my local area. As it happens, I talked at some length with a young man who works for the Environment Agency who I encountered while he was carrying out his job of measuring the depth (115 metres today) of the water table in the chalk aquifer that underlies the North Downs. Winter rainfall will reduce that depth. I asked about the quality of the water, and he said that the groundwater round here is good, although there are some problems with nitrate run-off from agriculture. I mentioned about heavy rainfall causing sewage to drain into the River Nailbourne, and when the water table is very high, the Nailbourne floods, carrying sewage into people's houses. Water issues can and do become very real and immediate. If Affinity Water would like to interact meaningfully with the local community, then it needs to find ways to participate in the local community. Here are some ideas:

1. An annual talk in the Village Hall about some aspect of water management.

2. A stall at the annual 'food fayre' / farmer's market.

3. Regular reports about water issues to the Parish Council.

4. Appointing a named person working for Affinity Water as a liaison and someone to whom questions could be directed.

Movie musings: War of the Worlds

Movie Musings: War of the Worlds (2005)

Re-watching the Steven Spielberg movie War of the Worlds (2005) yesterday evening, I became aware that a significant aspect of the movie is about the need to see, even the desperate need to see. When there is something dramatic happening in the centre of his town in New Jersey, the character Ray Ferrier, played by Tom Cruise, has to go and see, despite every indication that the situation is dangerous. When the US Army is battling the aliens in the New England countryside, Robbie, Ray Ferrier's son, played by Justin Chatwin, begs to be allowed to go and see. Towards the end of the movie, we are introduced to the aliens by means of a snake-like eye peering at everything while searching for human prey. 

This need to see is contrasted with the desire Ray Ferrier, to prevent his daughter, Rachel, played by Dakota Fanning, from seeing what he believed she would be unable to cope with: he tells Rachel to close her eyes or to look only at him. Later in the movie, he blindfolds her to what he is about to do to the character Harlan Ogilvy, played by Tim Robbins. The blindfolding was more symbolic than necessary, because the unwatchable action was to take place behind a closed door. Moreover, Rachel was placed facing in the opposite direction. The character's absence from the room in which the murder took place, her physical orientation and the blindfold all served to underline the importance of not seeing something terrible that is taking place. However, we are perhaps invited to consider the Nazi Holocaust. This latter idea is emphasised by the several scenes in which there are images of discarded clothing floating down from the sky. Clearly the aliens, in their tripods, are being compared with the Nazis with their both with their industrialised murder. However, the blindfolding of the little girl also highlights that Ray Ferrier commits murder, and is, if only in a small way, comparable with an individual Nazi soldier who commits an act of murder against an enemy combatant. No-one is without guilt. 

When Rachel leaves the house in which they have been sheltering, because they had been spotted by the aliens, she sees evidence of carnage all around her. She then gets lifted into the concentration camp beneath the belly of the tripod. The only thing that the blindfold served to achieve was to attempt to hide the crime being committed by her father.