Great Britain's electrical sockets are just awesome!

One of the awesome things about living in the UK is how easy it is to make simple changes to ones life in order to live in a more sustainable manner.

This ranges from more walkable communities to the fact that hang drying clothes is the norm here. But one area that I was not expecting was with their electrical sockets.

One of the big energy drains is the fact that all of our appliances tend to stay on standby mode when we are not using them. Essentially just draining power 24/7 and raising our energy rates. In the States people are encouraged to buy serge protectors so its easy to just hit a switch and stop the energy drain.

Great Britain has taken it a step further. All and I do mean all of their electrical sockets have switches built into them. This means that when your done with something you just hit the switch and no energy drain! No needing to buy serge protectors or trying to unplug your appliances when they are not in use.

Its a great simple way to save power and I really wish the States would adopt this system.

Welcome to Lewes

Looking down a side road from High Street

I discovered while working on this blog post that I need more pictures of Lewes. Lewes is an fantastic town that really feel like a small old European town.

As you walk down the main street of town called High Street you see small shop after small shop with restaurants and flats mixed in.

High Street is the main road for traffic through Lewes and yet for the part through the middle its only has one lane and uses traffic lights to keep everything moving smoothly.

One day while walking down High Street I noticed something that surprised me a little. There was a little plaque on the wall of one of the buildings called the "Bull House" and it stated that this was the home of Thomas Paine.

What a long and strange trip it has been

We have a internet connection at last! For a while there it really did seem like we were never going to get it.

It took almost a month for the broadband company to get everything setup and turned on.

But now we can finally start re-engaging with all of you!

So what have we been doing over the past month and a half since the last blog post?

I will be talking about all of that and more after the break.

For the love of stuff (part 2)

I had meant to write this blog post a couple days ago but three flat tires and work took priority. Life has a way for throwing twists and turns into your path in even while doing the simplest things.

In my last “for the love of stuff” post I talked about how I was going to get rid of my extra stuff. I even made a pledge to get rid of 66% or two thirds of my stuff. I realized that I did not really go into why I wanted to do this. I am not crazy really I'm not!

A while back I learned a little bit about the ideas of voluntary simplicity and the transition movement. Both ideas have their differences but essentially they gravitate around the idea that we can live a life style that may have a lower traditional standard of living (in terms of gdp per capita) but will be higher in quality of life. This goes against our traditional ways of looking at the world but here goes.

For the love of stuff

Today I gave away my blob. Now for those wondering what the heck a blob is... well essentially its a bean bag chair that also opens up into a bed. I bought it a couple years ago to serve as both a bed and a couch while I was living in the KA House.

I will really miss that blob. Its strange how attached you can get to objects like the blob. Its big and heavy, hard to move and I would have no use for it for at least a couple years and most likely not even then.

Giving away the blob was just one of many things or stuff that I am either recycling, donating/giving away or throwing away. Part of this has to do with Michaela and I going to the UK but another part is that we are both trying to break our addiction to a consumer way of life.