Councils

[Bec and Julian]

Hi everyone. Bec and Julian here. Just moved from Australia to Islington. Finding it very frustrating living in a big city that has only just discovered recycling, let alone much else.
Our local energy conservation and energy centre has their lights on all weekend and overnight, and they give out free thermometers to tell you if your heating is too high or low. Naturally the staff were all walking around in t-shirts, the temperate indoors nearly into the 30s.
It's hard to stay positive!
One of our neighbours sabotaged our recycling by putting it all in a black sack for the dust men.
Ah, life in the city. Anyone else out there trying to stay "up" in London? It would be funny if it was a movie - but it's not!

Good to be ranting to like minded (but no doubt more cheery) people.

[Andy Hamilton]

Hello nice to meet you.

Must admit there are times when I am about as cheery as you are in your last post. I think you might find that the whole of the UK is sadly lacking when it comes to recycling and energy saving. Never heard of a neighbour sabotaging recycling before, but I can believe it. We just mcdonalds wrappers and such added into ours.

Have you managed to get the rare London luxury of a garden?

[Bec and Julian]

Actually, we live on a rooftop. It's got an amazing amount of really wide guttering around the whole apartment. Wide enough to put planter boxes all the way around, but not prone to flooding or mankiness. We also have a ladder up to our roof, but I am terrified of heights. Maybe when it gets warmer.

Now I really need some advice from all of you. Is there a decent nursery in London. I need planter boxes and seedlings, but all I can find in florists selling hyacinths, and some sad poinsettias at my local Budgens.

[Andy Hamilton]

Like the sound of it, although not too fond of heights myself just don't look down.

found this link http://www.lfm.org.uk/prod_list.asp#isl for the local farmers market that might be of some use to you.

Also try this http://www.islington.gov.uk/Environment/Parks/172.asp

Contact:
Islington Ecology Centre
Gillespie Park Nature Reserve
191 Drayton Park
London
N5 1PH
Tel: 020 7354 5162
Fax: 020 7288 1717.
Email: islingtonecologycentre@btopenworld.com

It seems to be the equivalent to a place down here in Bath that will give you bit more info on green living. I would think that they could help you with a nursery.

[Bec and Julian]

Andy, this is great, have contacted the eco centre and am very excited about the markets. I had only been to the antique markets and was unaware that the fresh food markets were so close by.

Thank you!
Bec.

[Wombat]

G'Day Bec and Julian,

Sorry to here it is so rough over there for you. Ny son-in-law is Belgian and moved over here to be withour daughter 2 years a go so I got a bit of second hand experience of the joys and otherwise of relocating.

Good luck!

[Bec and Julian]

Yeah, I think moving is rough for anyone and all the little things that irk you about a place just seem magnified.

So you're in Australia? We were living in Surry Hills. I suppose you're a bit of a Michael Mobbs fan?

Bec.

[Wombat]

I live in Western Sydney and while I have his book, I haven't visited his house. I think that there needs to be a focus on low cost things that can be retrofitted onto existing houses without tearing apart the existing house to help make the cities more sustainable.

He has done some good stuff but I don't know how much is generally applicable.

Anyway I am having a go to see what I can achieve!

I used to work in Surry Hills, at the old Tooheys Brewery, but that was about 30 years ago .

[Andy Hamilton]

Glad that the links I gave you are useful. That could be a good idea for a future area of interest a "what going on in my area" I think I shall change the alloments thing to include that. It is difficult to know what is on your doorstep when you first move towns (and countries). I am still finding new places in Bath that I can't believe I have missed and I have been here for 4 years.

- who is this Michael Mobbs character?

[Wombat]

G'Day Andy,

Michael Mobbs is a Sydney Lawyer who renovated his inner city terrace house to make it more sustainable including -
power generation from Photovoltaic panels,
Constructed wetland to treat the sewage from the house
rainwater harvesting from the roof
Composting their organic waste.

He did a lot of good work and wrote a book about it called, imaginateively enough, Sustainable House. He was quite high profile and got a lot of free or cheap stuff to help him out, it was opened by Bob Carr (NSW Premier).

There is no food production reported in the book. It is an interesting book but the process he follows is to do a fairly major (expensive) re-do of the house which most people I think would not be able to do. But I suppose there is only so far you can go with low cost/low tech retrofit solutions.

Nev