A recycled food container makes an attractive flower pot

The modern world is an increasingly ‘throw-away’ one. People choose to replace rather than repair, and manufacturing encourages this. It used to be commonplace to see older cars on the roads but not any more. Take your car to a garage and chances are they’ll put it on a computer that tells them which part to replace – replace, NOT repair. Not too many years ago that shoe or handbag that was chewed by your new puppy could be taken to a traditional cobbler. He may not be able to make it exactly like new, but he could repair it so it was still usable.

Rubbish bins, recycling centres and landfill sites all hold their share of items discarded as soon as anything happens to them. Our forebears wouldn’t have declared an item useless following a chip or crack, but many people today have been seduced into believing it must be replaced. The concept of repair is alien. Likewise the thought of using anything in less than perfect condition or finding a different use for something when its original purpose has disappeared.

Greece offers two angles here, as usual at each end of the scale.

Many Greek people have a ‘throw-away’ mentality, regularly discarding things that other westerners religiously recycle such as plastic bottles. Waste bins at the end of the tourist season are also testament to the Greek throw-away nature, filled with chairs, mattresses and other items of furniture that are no longer wanted. Local refuse services take anything left in, or around the bins, which encourages the practice. Greek people aren’t yet expected to sort their rubbish, or to pay for the disposal of bulkier items like in the UK. The state still happily does it all for them.

But in other areas the Greeks remain re-users and repairers:

Many people use old olive oil and feta cheese tins as plant pots and plastic bags are routinely re-used as bin liners. Some plastic bottles find a new life protecting electric cables in partially built houses – it’s not unusual to see a row of upturned plastic bottles along a wall, where one day there will be lights.

Our washing machine recently needed attention. The door had come off: the metal hinge had broken through. Replacement of the machine wasn’t even considered, nor was searching out a manufacturer’s spare part. A replacement hinge could be fashioned by a local metal worker at lower cost and much faster than tracking down a part.

A friend has a 15 yr old 4-wheel drive vehicle which needed a new front bumper complete with light fitments. Rather than send to the manufacturers for an expensive new part, the local garage had one made up locally, again at much less cost.

Local garages repair many older cars and other vehicles that would either have to be scrapped due to lack of skills and knowledge, or expensively repaired by specialist garages in other countries. I’ve read that Greece has followed other countries and introduced its own scheme to scrap older vehicles, giving payments both for the scrapped vehicle and towards buying a newer, more fuel efficient one. Somehow I can’t imagine that this will be the end of the ‘repair before replacing’ way of life.

There are many things that frustrate me about the Greek people, but I do like the fact that they still work by many traditional values.

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solar and wind power is affordable with a little effort

Save money, go greener and have the satisfaction of doing it yourself!

There are many ways to save money, whether there’s an economic downturn or not.

Often these mean we need to change our thinking, to get away from the modern ways of buying everything we need. There’s a tremendous amount of satisfaction from making things, especially things that – we’re told – can only be made by the experts. Browse the web and you’ll find lots of examples of this: people powering their cars with water, building homes from bags of earth or metal shipping containers, using things designed for one purpose for a completely different one.

In our desire to live a greener, more economical life we’re also trying to do as much as possible ourselves here in Greece. Many Greeks are set in their traditional ways, especially when it comes to building anything, so we’re regularly facing the question: ‘Why do you want to do that?’ Explanations and justifications for our ideas often fail to get across, and we’re increasingly falling back on one of two answers: ‘Because we do’ or ‘Why shouldn’t we do it?’

As we now have an accessible piece of land to build on, we’re starting to make plans of how to use it efficiently. We hope to get mains water, but mains electric is a non-starter, partly based on cost, but also because we have massive supplies of sun and wind available, so we’d be fools not to take advantage of them.

Browsing the web to find out about solar energy systems and wind turbines can be off-putting. There is so much information out there, and so many companies looking for your business, usually at a cost that will take many years to recover. And there’s no guarantee that these companies offer the best route: we have friends who failed to site their solar panels in the best place, because they weren’t given all the information they needed. They were, however, persuaded to buy an expensive freezer that was designed to be powered by a solar energy system, only later realizing that it was no more efficient to run than a normal one that cost much less.

If, like me, you never studied physics and have no idea about volts, amps, watts and all those other obscure terms, you may feel daunted at the possibility of building your own solar energy system or wind turbine. There are lots of guides out there offering to help, but how do you know whether the one you buy will give you help at the level you need?

Solar energy systems and wind turbines need to be built properly, and for many of us that means we need a simple step-by-step guide with lots of pictures. As far as the technology is concerned we need straightforward explanations of those things we need to understand, without confusing us with the complexities of those things we don’t.

We’ve found a product that looks the business. It has clear instructions, lots of pictures, DVDs so you can see someone actually going through the process, plus a lot of supporting information. Check out this video for a preview of what I mean.

Then if you get the bug, like we have, why not give it a go?

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Sometimes it’s good to take time out to smell the roses.

One of the things that never cease to amaze me is the beauty of natural things. Nature has created a range of flowers and insects that will never be bettered by the graphics people, even with the most sophisticated software at their disposal.

So this post is an opportunity to view a couple of things I photographed just outside our apartment, and marvel at how wonderful it is to be alive in this fantastic, natural world.

Enjoy…

More beautiful than any sculpture

So much detail in so fragile a creature

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In Greek the herb basil is called βασιλικός – vasilikos – a word that also means royal or regal, and known as the king of herbs.

And so it is proving to be.

This humble little plant is turning out to be a real multi-tasker for us.

Food-wise it’s used to enhance the flavor of tomato and pasta dishes, and the leaves also make a nice addition to a salad. But even before the food gets to the table, basil has a role to play. It can be ‘companion planted’ to act as both a flavor enhancer to other plants and a natural insecticide.

It’s proving really effective as a natural remedy for insect bites: just rub with the leaf until the sap starts to run; it takes the itching and inflammation away. We also have pots around the doors and windows, again as an insect repellent. My herb book suggests it will also sooth snake bites – here’s hoping we never get to try this one out!

In Ayurvedic medicine basil is valued as a tonic, giving divine protection, spiritual healing and strengthening the immune system. As an essential oil it is used to lift fatigue, anxiety and depression, and also good for bronchitis, colds, fever, gout and indigestion. The Egyptians even used it in the embalming process.

And all this from a humble herb that you can buy in your local supermarket.

Many Greeks grow ‘standard’ basil plants as decorative additions to the garden. Here’s one we’re cultivating that is just coming into flower.

Not just good to look at, basil also has many culinary and medicinal uses

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Not everyone is a loser in the current economic downturn. The people who prey on the need, greed or gullibility of others are still raking in profits from their scams.

The BBC NEWS website has reported 4 or 5 different types of scam in the last few months:

boiler room operations that suck people in to nonexistent investments and then sell their details on to other schemers so they can try to repeat the process

fake holiday clubs that use scratch card ‘prizes’ in popular holiday resorts to persuade people to  pay thousands for access to services that provide nothing that isn’t freely available on the internet

prize draw scams where the millions you’ve won will be released on payment of an administration fee. And taking this further, duping people to get involved in money laundering in the belief they’re no the way to a big prize

Every day I get several emails from people desperate to give me money.

I’ve either won this in lottery draws I know I never entered, or someone – usually a high ranking government or banking official – put my name forward as the recipient of a large sum of money, if I’d just agree to process an even larger sum through my bank account.

These are so blatantly unbelievable that it’s difficult to understand how anyone would be gullible enough to fall for them, but they do, often losing their life savings before they realize what they’re caught up in. It can sometimes be difficult to feel much sympathy for them.

But I do sympathize with those people who are looking for a genuine home based income and get scammed. These aren’t people who are being greedy or naive, they’re genuine people. They’ll maybe include people who lost their jobs in the recession and are looking for a way to keep some money coming in until they get back on their feet. Or people with commitments that stop them working outside the home. Whatever, they’re not looking for something for nothing.

In the case reported by the BBC the person scammed should have questioned whether £300 per day for filling envelopes wasn’t too good to be true. And parting with money before getting full details isn’t wise, but when the scam is in a national newspaper (aren’t they supposed to check out their advertisers?), alongside legitimate advertisers –  some of whom may also request payments for start-up packages — you can understand that someone could be taken in. And the small amount of money each individual lost to the scammers could mean the difference between paying a bill or going further into debt for some people today.

I would never fall for the email scams but I have been a scam victim. Some years ago we visited a national franchise exhibition, and were interested in a company offering a franchise related to property sales. We had lots of early contact, got prospectuses and legal checks, met other prospective franchisees and had many meetings before we finally signed up. We were provided with expensive marketing resources, supported at exhibitions, even taken on a trip to Spain as part of our induction.

Not for one minute did we ever think the opportunity we had bought into was anything other than 100% genuine. Until the police contacted us and we found out that we had been scammed by a real professional, along with a large number of other people. Last we heard he was in custody, awaiting trial. We were never called to give evidence. Probably because I still can’t work out how the scam was pulled, and find it difficult to believe I was being scammed.

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Lots of Free Books for Everyone

What have Sherlock Holmes, Jemima Puddleduck, Peter Pan, David Copperfield and Huckleberry Finn got in common?

If, like me you’re an avid reader you’ll know that the price of filling your bookshelf with new acquisitions is high. Even with low prices from Amazon. eBay and similar sites, you can spend a small fortune feeding your habit. Public libraries are okay, especially for the latest offering from a best selling author if you’re willing to join a waiting list to read it for free.

But maybe you’d prefer a well written classic, or you want to keep the book, to pull it from your bookshelf and read it again, free of the time constraints imposed by a library? Or maybe you’d like your children or grandchildren to enjoy stories that have been loved by the generations before them?

Here's how to have a constant supply of new books for all ages at almost no cost...

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A Christmas Plea

It’s no surprise that Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year. There is so much pressure on people: to spend money they may not have, to socialize more than they normally do, to spend time with people they don’t get along with, to produce magnificent meals for large numbers of people, the list of stressors is endless.

Sometimes what’s right for one person is wrong for another so too much tight planning in advance can just fall apart on the day.

These tips can help you cope with different situations, and keep stress away from your Christmas celebrations:

Don’t leave it all to the last minute

Stagger food and present shopping over several trips. Plan food and entertainment in advance, and prepare as much food in advance as you can. If you don’t have the room to store things, or want to keep presents away from prying eyes, ask a friend or close relative if you can leave things with them.

Don’t expect too much of people

If you have relatives who don’t get on, chances are that things won’t be that different if they’re thrown together for Christmas. They may make an effort to get along, but there’s no guarantee they will succeed – or that they’ll be willing to try, for that matter. If you’re having a large gathering make sure the warring relatives are spread out. If numbers won’t allow this, make sure you have activities on hand to keep people occupied. Children can be good at getting adults to suspend their prejudices and join in. And if you’re a guest and spot potential arguments brewing, help out by distracting the participants.

Don’t try too hard

Whether you’re a host or a guest, it can seem like you have to be on your best behavior, which can be very stressful. Be sociable and friendly, but don’t go too far out of character or you could find it hard to maintain. If you’re responsible for the food, try to relax. Christmas lunch isn’t a competition, and no-one should be judging your efforts. It doesn’t really matter if things don’t work out as perfectly as you want them to. Everyone will appreciate the tremendous efforts you have made.

Don’t do it all yourself

Christmas should be a time for sharing. Whether it’s buying presents, writing cards, putting up decorations or preparing food make it a shared experience. If the tasks are spread out among a few people there’s less chance of anyone getting stressed trying to keep all the balls in the air. And when someone offers to clear the table and wash the dishes accept gracefully, don’t fight them.

Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses

Set your own spending limits for presents and food that fit your budget. You don’t have to exceed, or even equal, what someone else has done. Be happy with what you’ve done, and don’t worry what anyone else will think.

Don’t provide – or consume – too much alcohol

When faced with an endless supply of their favorite tipple some people just won’t (or can’t) refuse another drink. And that’s when they can change from their normal mild selves into difficult, embarrassing or accident-prone guests. You don’t want to spend part of your Christmas break sitting in casualty because Uncle Peter fell down the stairs. Make sure you offer lots of non-alcoholic drinks, and keep the alcohol in the background whenever you can.

Don’t get serious

Stop people getting into discussions about politics, religion or any other serious topic as this can quickly lead to disagreements. Keep distractions such as popular movies on standby.

Don’t leave people with nothing to do

Not only are they likely to drink more, or snack on that tin of chocolates, but idleness offers the ideal opportunity for bickering and quarrels to break out. Organized activities don’t appeal to everyone but even if they don’t join in with the charades they’re probably going to watch. If the weather is okay try and get people out for some fresh air after a heavy meal, rather than vegging out in front of the TV. Even a quick stroll round the block will help to clear heads and give people some space.

Don’t expect everyone to stay together

People who live on their own, or who don’t have young children, can find the sudden onslaught of excited youngsters daunting. They may cope for a while, but if there’s somewhere they can go for a bit of peace and quiet they’re likely to appreciate it.

Don’t make things complicated

Let things flow naturally if you can. You shouldn’t be working to a schedule or you’re bound to get into hassles. After lunch on Christmas day isn’t the best time to try to learn a difficult new game, or lay out that race track on every inch of available floor space. Make sure you’ve got some simple games and activities that everyone has a chance to join in, even if it means not letting the kids play with some of their presents right away.

Don’t try to score points against divorced or estranged partners

Christmas is not the time for snide comments, or retelling the wrongs of the relationship. Children are likely to suffer from not being with both parents at Christmas, and may feel guilty towards the parent they’re not with. Don’t make them feel any worse by rolling out the old dramas.

Don’t give a pet on Christmas day

There’s enough to cope with, you don’t need a new addition to the family to worry about as well. If you want to give a pet, don’t pick it up until after the festivities are over, when things are more or less back to normal. You may then get the pick of new pets that didn’t survive the stress of Christmas in another household.

You may also be interested in:

Save Money This Christmas
An Ideal Gift for Someone Trying to Lose Weight
Save Money By Giving More this Christmas
Make an Elephant Sneeze this Christmas
Save Money on Christmas Presents

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free myspace layouts

Have you reached the point where you just can’t face giving uncle George another bottle of malt whisky, or you don’t want to buy another toy for the child who gets so many already? And there’s always someone who seems to want for nothing who’s so difficult to buy for.

Rather than spending money on presents for people who receive lots already, why not buy things in the name of your loved ones that will be appreciated by their final recipients. Many charities will provide you with a card or voucher that explains exactly what gift has been bought, so your recipient does get something, but not quite what they were expecting!

Here’s a sample of gifts and other activities I like from national and international charities:

Present Aid is part of Christian Aid, who work in some of the poorest countries in the world, providing things that help people improve their lives. You can choose from gifts such as a bucket of worms to help a Bolivian farmer fertilize his fields; brushes and paint to help women in Afghanistan gain skills and confidence; or hula hoops for children in early learning centers in South Africa. www.presentaid.org

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution provides 24/7 life saving services and lifeboat crews around the shores of the UK and Eire. Self heating cans of food make sure the lifeboat crews maintain their stamina during long rescue missions; choose free RNLI e-cards and make a donation www.rnli.org.uk

Help the Aged works with older people in many poor countries. A seed box and tools will help an older person to start growing their own nutritious food and generate a lasting source of income. A cow could provide an older person with milk that can be sold at market or provide the family with a valuable source of nutrition. A mosquito net can defend an older person against malaria and make the difference between life and death. www.cowsnthings.org.uk

Good Gifts brings together a large number of charities giving you a very wide range of gifts including adopting a donkey in the Holy Land; water filtration systems so Bangladeshi people can enjoy clean, arsenic-free water; and a sheep (or a whole flock!) for people in India. You can also choose gift vouchers so your recipient can choose what they would prefer to give. Another good idea is their stockingfillas such as a memory box for an African orphan. www.goodgifts.org

I’ve been a fan of the Salvation Army since my dad used to bring the ‘War Cry’ and ‘Young Soldier’ home many years ago. They’re always very busy at Christmas. In Canada the Annual Santa Shuffle fun run & elf walk for families and friends is held in several cities on Saturday 6th December 2008. Find out more at main sponsors runningroom.com They also have an online version of the Red Kettle appeal: the ikettle online bell ringing program. Find out more at www.salvationarmy.ca

In the US the Angel Tree program provides new clothing or toys for children. You take a name tag from the tree and buy a suitable gift for a child of that age and gender. www.salvationarmyusa.org If you’re lucky enough to get a new car for Christmas you can even donate your old car to them, and they’ll use the proceeds from selling it to fund their work.
In the UK and Eire there is an annual Christmas present appeal. Presents can be for any age, as it’s not just children who can miss out at this time of year. Find out more at www2.salvationarmy.org.uk

If you live in a different part of the world find out about what your local Salvation Army is doing by searching for them on Google.

The UKs NSPCC offers individual letters to Santa including a letter for a baby’s first Christmas. A real keepsake. www.nspcc.org.uk/santa

World Vision has a range of gifts to enhance the lives of children throughout the world: Education expenses such as school fees, uniform and textbook costs for a child in Rwanda; bible studies for children in former communist countries; 10 fruit trees to provide food and surplus for sale; household and personal care items to families in need in the US. donate.worldvision.org

Heifer International help struggling third world families earn income through the sale of honey, beeswax and pollen. The family receives a package of bees, the box and hive, plus training in beekeeping. Or contribute to the cost of trees and other plants that can be used to keep soil in place, and naturally fertilize the land for crops. www.heifer.org

Through Save The Children you can give sewing kits to help orphaned children gain skills to earn a living and chilli kits to protect plants from elephants – the chilli makes them sneeze! savethechildren.sandbag.uk.com

If you prefer to support local causes there will be many organizations looking for cash donations or specific gifts at this time of year. Local hospitals may want presents for those who have to spend Christmas on their wards; charities working with homeless people may welcome clothing or food as well as more traditional items; animal shelters could have an influx of ‘unwanted presents’ after Christmas so may need to stock up on pet food. Make your own gift card to show what you have given on someone’s behalf.

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There I was in the supermarket toilets when someone in the next cubicle started talking to me – or so I thought.

A few seconds later I realized it was someone who was so attached to her cell phone that she couldn’t wait (if you see what I mean). Listening to her conversation wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind.

But I wasn’t aware that cell phones and toilets were such a hazardous combination. According to a survey conducted by mobile phone operator SimplySwitch.com2, a staggering 885,000 Britons flushed their cell phone down the toilet in 2007, not having noticed it had fallen out of their pocket or been knocked off the cistern.

That might be embarrassing enough, but spare a thought for the 26 year old French TGV train passenger who dropped his phone in the toilet recently. He was trying to rescue it when the suction controlled flush system activated and his arm got stuck. Bad enough, but firefighters had to cut the toilet away from the train and he had the dubious pleasure of going to hospital still wearing it on his arm!

Other mishaps cited in the survey, as reported by The Daily Telegraph, included 116,000 people who put their cell phone through a wash cycle, and over 50,000 whose pet thought their phone was an edible treat.

Read the rest of this entry »

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My partner Ken and I have finally escaped from our previous life and started to live the way we actually want to, which means a move to a new country (Greece) and the opportunity to get involved in – a personal development focused website that’s dedicated to helping you live the life of your dreams, to achieve your own destiny, whatever that may be.

We’re really excited by this opportunity to share our knowledge, ideas and experiences about personal development and self improvement with you and plan to feature articles, tips and resources to help you overcome the barriers that are stopping you achieving everything you want to. We want a site with content you’ll want to read, so we won’t be featuring hundreds and hundreds of articles on the same topic – sometimes too much choice actually stops you making decisions and moving forward, and the urge to look at just one more article before you do anything is a sure sign of procrastination having set in.

We’re already finding out that moving to Greece is a definite adventure with downs as well as ups. We know that learning how to cope and survive will mean applying many of the personal development techniques and using the self improvement tips and resources we’ll be featuring on our site. We look forward to telling you how we’ve put them into practice and what personal development outcomes we get.

Along the way we’ll be sharing our experiences and insights about this beautiful country we’ve moved to, which is different in so many ways to the England we left behind.

We’d love you to bookmark the site and keep reading the blog, and hope that in time we’ll get to know many of you.

Maggi (and Ken) – Personal Development Resources at www.facedestiny.com

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