Jason Parlour

Jason of many trades : Maker & Fabricator, Engineer, Massage Therapist, Presenter, Photographer, Web Developer, …

Blog

  • Marshmallow Experiment

    Thinking of the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment from the 1970s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment), I was wondering how this experiment would be played out if one of the disqualified three test subject kids (who didn’t apparently understand the instructions), were taken to a present day outcome.

    —–

    “So we’re going to do a small exercise: I’m going to leave this marshmallow here and…”

    • kid eats marshmallow

    “..sorry, I didn’t finish [gets out another marshmallow], I’m going to leave this marshmallow here and when I get back..”

    • kid eats marshmallow

    “..[frustrated] okay, trying this again.  In a moment I’m going to put this marshmallow in front of you and leave it there.  If you don’t eat it until I get back, I’ll give you two marshmallows as reward.”

    • kid eats marshmallow before they’ve even left the room.

    “[*exasperated, sits back down]… That didn’t work.

    Let’s try a different experiment: If you can avoid eating this new marshmallow while I’m gone, that I’ll put down near the door as I’m leaving, not only will you get three marshmallows as reward, but all your friends outside will also each get a marshmallow too, and you know how hungry they all are.”

    • whilst left alone in the room, the kid eats the marshmallow. Then grabs the bumper pack of all the other marshmallows, stuffs them all into his mouth at once, swallows as many as he can, and then spits out the rest so no one else can have them just as the adult returns back into the room.

    —–

    This kid of course already comes from a wealthy marshmallow background. He already had access to as many marshmallows as he could want or need through his family’s generational marshmallow wealth. His family also funded his early marshmallow startups that had all failed.

    But some time later, the kid finds a locked room with 100 bumper bags of marshmallows that are supposed to be for everyone. He breaks open the door anyway, claims them all for himself, opens all the bags, swallows as many as he can, licks the rest, and builds a pile of the open marshmallow bags in the middle of the room.

    With the now hoard of marshmallow bags furiously guarded and soaked in his own spit, the kid convinces other kids that because he’s so good at eating marshmallows, and also at stopping anyone else eating ‘his’ marshmallows. If the other kids want their own lunch marshmallows to be safe, he should look after all the other kids marshmallows too.

    Somehow, the other kids are convinced this is a good idea.

    Originally thinking it’s a fun game, the other kids now build to expand the marshmallow fortress, guarding it around the clock, working day and night to building a bigger fortress, etc. 

    After a while, if they work hard enough, they might occasionally be rewarded with one of their own marshmallows back for every day of work. Then one marshmallow for every two days. And then one marshmallow for every week of work.

    Times goes on, and the marshmallow kid now requires 10 marshmallows up front payment, and 5 marshmallows a week to store each bag of their marshmallows, even theoretical marshmallows. There’s also a fee of 20 new marshmallows to get your original (even the theoretical) bag back and end the storage agreement. This whole process becomes normalised, and the other kids can’t remember it being any different.

    It doesn’t take long to build a marshmallow debt. The kids are paying him more and more marshmallows, and working longer and longer hours building the fortress, to try and pay off their increasing marshmallow debt.

    The marshmallow kid continues to hoard and eat the other kids marshmallows, as ‘payment for his services’. The hoard expands exponentially. The number of kids working on the fortress increases.

    His original spit laden stolen pile of marshmallow bags are long degraded and mouldy. But he continues to be given more new marshmallows by everyone else, more than he can ever possibly ever eat over his whole lifetime.

    —-

    Teams of workers toil day and night, to build the marshmallow empire. 

    Through newly introduced worker fees, add-on storage contracts, and obligatory insurance packages, each marshmallow dept continues to rise no matter how long and hard they continue to work, and for whoever they work. Meanwhile, the marshmallow kid’s pile continues to increase.

    For years, the marshmallow kid is heralded as the best at the marshmallows. Through lobbying and misdirection, he’s rewarded lucrative contracts to manage government marshmallows across the country, and in doing so, government marshmallows now become property of the marshmallow kid, and the govenment even pays the kid to take control of the government marshmallows.

    Now with a hoard greater than could be eaten in a thousand lifetimes, all the supplies of marshmallows produced are all going straight to the marshmallow kid’s hoard.

    Laws are passed and violently enforced, ensuring no-one else can produce marshmallows for themselves or for anyone else. The hoard continues to increase, but it’s still not enough.

    He becomes the marshmallow dragon, feared by all, draped over his constantly expanding hoard, burning anyone who dare question or try to get back any marshmallows for themselves.

    Did I say marshmallows?

  • Privatisation of Government Departments

    Privatisation of Government Departments

    25 years ago, I was working for my local council on what was supposed to be a brief two week contract.

    For whatever reason, council bosses had been convinced a particular department could be run more efficiently if privatised.

    The existing database management system was being upgraded to new system via this third party, of which they were paying about £8million (about $15million) just for the custom database software alone, plus ongoing support contracts, training, etc.

    Further, the entire department was now suddenly no longer employed by the council (after 20+ years in some cases), and now all staff had new private contracts with this third party company, who also charged the council agency fees for ’employing the specialists’, on top of the regular wages of the staff, all of whom still sat at their same desks, and were still paid the same salary, with the same job roles.

    The new database system was supposed to be rolled out in three phases over just two weeks, and so they employed me and someone else, both at just over minimum wage, to manually manage client applications, filing, etc. for the ‘brief period’ of the new database installation during the ‘two week rollover’.

    6 months later, I quit. They hadn’t even installed phase one of the new database system.

    So for my ‘just over minimum wage’ job, on the fly I’d had to build and maintain my own custom client records database for 15,000 clients, to track the dozen or so stages of their respective benefit applications, with codes, filters, keys for other staff to understand, and to generate reports to chase missing application parts, share records with the respective staff at various stages of their process, and make it remotely accessible whilst also being secure, etc.

    So yeah, when someone tries to claim privatisation is better, it’s only better for the profit of the shareholders, not for anyone else.

    I’ve seen first hand what a complete waste of money privatisation can be.

  • Mind like a cauldron

    Mind like a cauldron

    There are many things I just assumed were ‘normal’ in my brain, but a few are not so much.

    So recently I’ve been thinking about the way my brain often processes a bunch of things to solve problems. And to me, it makes sense when represented by a magical cartoon cauldron.  

    So into the pot, I throw in a bunch of ideas, problems, challenges, thoughts, or whatever it is I’m currently dealing with, give it a stir, and generally leave that bubbling away for a while (hours, days, weeks, or occasionally years).

    Typically my brain is chanting up to four bars of a random song recently stuck in my head, whilst other thoughts are twisting and dancing around the pot in weird movements.

    I’ll stir it with a giant spoon every now and then if I can find one, and try to breakdown the lumps of some ideas stuck unhelpfully together.  I’ll also be trying to fish out the long stray random hairs, plant matter, and random bits of plastic that somehow got blown into the pot from who knows where. 

    I might occasionally be able to let it simmer and/or forget about it whilst getting distracted by something else. Other times the cauldron feels like some thoughts have combined exothermically and it’s now boiling out of control with no way to turn it down : I’m just doing my best to stop it sticking to the base, whilst trying not to get too scalded by hot splashes of the bubbling mess throwing thoughts around everywhere right in front of me.

    Often there will be flavours and burnt on concepts left behind, that want to taint the whole pot.

    Sometimes a single magical ingredient of an idea, instantly brings it all together. 

    Other times it’ll take a few weird combinations of things to make it work. 

    Sometimes the sludge needs to be left to cool a while, reheated, and cooled again a few more times before a solution is found.

    There’s no rhyme nor reason why it does or doesn’t work on any given day. If it’s something similar to what I may have dealt with before, I might have a better idea of how to get there a little bit faster. But generally every pot is a unique set of available ingredients and intended outcomes. I can try to guide it all in the right direction by throwing in a bunch of things that may have helped in the past, and by trying to make the kitchen a good enough place to work without tripping over things in the process, and by hopefully remembering to put the lid on as it simmers.

    But finally, when I’m lucky, often with what feels like a poof of smoke, a flood of light, and the sound of an angelic harmony, (and my body suddenly feels lighter), all the thoughts seem to suddenly merge and vanish in the pot, and out the gloop appears the often simple vial of a potion, that’s the solution I’ve been trying to find or make sense of : I get a full 3D moving render overlaying the physical space, of whatever physical thing it might be accordingly.

    Those are the very good times.

  • Living my new dream

    Living my new dream

    Although I have been extremely privileged to already be living my dream of making it out to New Zealand, I’ve increasingly recognised that I’m happiest in a workshop space, problem solving, finding elegant & effective solutions, and being active with my body, hands, & mind. It’s in a workshop space I also get to indulge my desire for accuracy, precision, efficiency, and quality.

    To this end, and due to the ongoing risks of Omicron and Covid in general, I needed to step down from a number of my other paid and voluntary roles. The long term risks around Covid have been too high.

    However, we have been able to secure the lease of a large workshop space in Masterton, which we’re now configuring into an incredible workshop space.

    A number of new and old tools are on the way. However being on a remote island of Aotearoa New Zealand, during a pandemic, with a war in Europe, and recent flooding in Australia, has meant that many tools and materials are heavily delayed. I’ve been looking at a 6 months typical wait time for tools and materials that would normally arrive in in 3-4 weeks at the latest (if not carried in-stock). Similarly goods that have been holding their prices pretty well for the last few years, have now suddenly increased by 50% during the last 4 months alone.

    We’re clearly not living in a time ‘as it was’, this is the new abnormal.

    Hopefully the new workshop venture will at least cover the lease & living costs, providing affordable items for things that are needed, and supported by things that are wanted.

    I’m looking forward to what the future holds.

  • Making all my dreams come true…

    Making all my dreams come true…

    I’m here.

    In the late 1990’s, I set myself a target : to retire by 2012 (aged 35), emigrate to New Zealand with a million in the bank, and still have my health to enjoy it.

    After working mostly 100 hour weeks for most of the last 13 years, I was about 18 months behind my planned schedule, and quite a lot under budget (depending on your currency), but my health is fortunately still great, and I’m now here in Aotearoa NZ, living my dream.

    My VW California Campervan was shipped out to arrive a couple of months after I got here. So I’m now sat in it, in a gorgeous secluded valley with a river alongside, near a gorgeous beach on the North Island, the waves slowly rolling across the sandy shore.

    I have enough money coming in from my prior and ongoing work in the UK, to just about support myself financially for the immediate future (so long as I’m careful, managing various things remotely via email as much as possible).

    I fortunate to have developed a good few strings to my bow, that I can call on as desired, so when I want to earn some extra money to pay for something special, I have plenty of options to choose from.  With the work I’ve previously done, I’m also not afraid of the hard work, rolling up my sleeves, and whatever it may take to get there.

    For the last two months (waiting for the camper to arrive), I’ve restricted myself to relaxing in the bigger cities, just switching between Auckland and Wellington. In the process, meeting loads of incredible people, integrating with the locals, and enjoying each and every day.

    With my camper now here, I now have the freedom to go beyond. To explore new lands. To seek out new ideas. To boldly go where I’ve been dreaming of going for so long.

    It’s an amazing feeling.

    So what do I do when all my dreams have come true?
    Enjoy it.

  • Retiring at 36 … really?

    Retiring at 36 … really?

    I’ve been very fortunate that through a lot of hard work over the years, I’ve been able to have had many opportunities.

    For my 13th Birthday (literally the day of my birthday) my older sister gave me her paper-round to start that day (the legal age I was able to start work).

    Prior to that (before I even remember starting school), my ‘pocket money’ was only given to me when I’d properly tidied my bedroom, and cleaned a share of the bathroom.  So you could say that from an early age, I was given a strong work ethic.

    At University I had a part time complimentary therapy clinic (and in addition to my full time Engineering degree, I was also a barman, student warden, and ran a few clubs and societies).

    On leaving Uni I worked as a door-to-door salesman for a few months, had a challenging office job (in that it wasn’t challenging intellectually!) .. and then started setting up my first Limited Company in June 2000.

    I’d already heard that in general, only one in five businesses succeed beyond the first few years, so I set up multiple variations of businesses, running them alongside each other, hoping that at least one would succeed longer term.

    Then as some businesses didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, I’d phase them out and develop alternative ones.  And as new opportunities became available, I’d take them on too.

    The longer term plan (from a comparatively early age), was to ‘retire’ at 35 years old (in 2012), with the equivalent of a million pound in the bank, so I wouldn’t have to ‘work’ again.  And then, I could move to NZ, and enjoy the incredible outdoor lifestyle whilst still young and fit enough to maximize my time there.

    However, in December 2009, the opportunity became available to take on a luxury boutique hotel the following summer of 2010, on a minimum 3 year lease (taking me to the end of August 2013, so a year behind my planned schedule).  But it seemed too good an opportunity not to miss.

    This hotel has been going pretty well (although not quite as well as I’d hoped, because of the naivety of many locals perpetuating historical myths about the hotel). And although I haven’t quite reached the million in the bank, through the acquisition of some property, share options, and savings, I’ll have enough to support myself for the coming years (i.e. enough to cover my living costs whilst living in my own property, with the option to ‘work’ if I want to buy something a little more expensive, as and when).

    I can then focus on the dreams I want to, when I want to.

    However, I’ve now had it confirmed that literally the day after my hotel lease expires (the final definitive date of my hotel lease), I begin the first actual race day of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race!

    So how did I do it?

    • My typical working week is at least 100 hours plus (often more).
    • On average, I manage about a half day off every couple of weeks (and even then I’m still on call)
    • I don’t tend to sleep too much (i.e. 6.5 hours a night seem to work okay when I’m busy)
    • I’m not afraid to turn my hands to doing whatever needs doing (whether that’s unblocking toilets, fixing websites, dealing with challenging customers, etc.)
    • I work ‘smart’ (although this has been a long and slow process, learning just what is smart working and what’s less effective).  – In the main part for me, it’s about employing the right staff / sub-contractors, to do whatever their job is well, so I can leave them to it without question or concern, with trust, (and provide them with all the training they might need to carry on learning as they go along).
    • I also try to rethink through virtually every process and system I’m involved with, to maximise its efficiency and performance.  Also helping ensure consistency for my businesses customers (whoever they are).
    • There are countless books on the subject, and too many apt quotes to describe what I do.  For each person though, you need to work out what works for you, and go with that.
    • As my sister once said about someone else “he had to work really hard to be consistently that lucky” ..  to me, that about sums it up.
  • How running out of coffee, made me attempt to sail around the world

    How running out of coffee, made me attempt to sail around the world

    Picture the scene if you will, the background can highlight how the little things can make the massive differences!..

    I currently own/manage a small boutique hotel (along with a few other businesses) .. I’ve also been planning for years, to bring these all to a close soon when I ‘retire’ from regular work at the end of my current hotel contract.

    Part of the hotel is that we offer a range of all 16 Nespresso coffees to our guests.  For whatever reason I forgot to add my own favourite variety to the most recent order.  The minimum order is 200 capsules (typically every few weeks), so it wasn’t worth doing another order just for the one extra coffee type (and being Nespresso, there are only a few places to actually buy it in person, ie near Harrods).

    So last Sunday evening (13th April), we had a rare case of having an empty hotel, while I was on shift..  So I decided .. it was a nice day .. why not get the train into London to buy more coffee .. and then have a bit of a wander around whilst up there. (I do appreciate the rail fare was more than postage of the coffee order).

    20 minutes later I was on the train, including a travel card to ensure I could make it to Harrods before they shut (a rare thing for me, I tend to prefer walking across the surface of London, as I’ve been doing for the past few years)..  And then on the underground system this woman catches my eye:

    This image flashes me back 20 years, to a presentation of a friend of my C.O. (while I was in the ATC), from a lovely woman called Cherry (I think).

    With no previous professional sailing experience, she skippered a yacht full of other amateur sailors, across the Atlantic (or so I can vaguely remember)..

    Even without recalling too many of the finer details, it sounded like an incredible journey .. something to aspire to in years to come, but finding that place in the recesses of my mind along with the other countless thoughts and ideas I collate over the years.

    So Monday morning, and after a great night’s sleep, I booted up the laptop and completed the online application.

    The website showed the event starting in August 2013, and finishing the following June, so with my timing of the hotel, and my NZ BUNAC work exchange Visa expiring in mid March 2014, I applied for legs 3,4,5 of the 8 legs around the world.  This would take me out on the water from South Africa, to Western Australia, Eastern Australia, and finish in China, from October 2013 to February 2014 (seemingly nicely placed with my hotel lease contract finishing on the 31st August 2013).

    Buy that same afternoon I had a call back from a guy called David, at ‘Clipper Ventures’ .. asking if I could I make it to an interview that Friday from 10am-2pm.  Normally this wouldn’t be a problem (I normally have staff working all day on Fridays at the hotel, but one staff member was on holiday for the mornings)..  I had three rooms in, but I should be able to get them paid up early, and head down after breakfast.

    So Friday morning, I head down to Gosport, and see this lovely 70′ yacht in the Marina.

     Clipper Yacht 2013/14

    I watch and listen to a great presentation, apparently trying to put you off, but making those of us present to want it even more.

    Then it’s mentioned.. the race starts the last weekend in August (not early August as I’d expected)..  I look again at the ‘Round the World’ map, taking in the incredible journey that may be available to me … if I can do three legs, why not do all eight? .. The ‘last weekend’ in August is Saturday 31st August, and Sunday the 1st September .. could they mean that one?

    Yes, apparently the race actually begins on the 1st September, possibly from London.  The timing couldn’t be more perfect.

    I have a great interview, my diverse range of experiences and skills seemed to be well matched to the challenge  (40,000 miles, with up to 50 strangers (around 20 at any time), in a confined space, on a race through all weathers to the finish, and massively hard work)..

    So stuff the holiday after the hotel : I’m going on a boat race!

  • The tipping point, how a £2.59 gift can lead to £3,520.00 of new business

    One of the businesses I’m involved with is Hotel de Vie: a small boutique style hotel, of just 8 en-suite rooms.

    Obviously I’ve taken countless steps to try and ensure we provide the best accommodation we can provide (and just last week, it finally took it’s rightful place as the number 1 guest accommodation in the Farnham area, according to the independent review website TripAdvisor.)

    The hotel already provides various things for free, that many other hotels charge a premium for, ie a range of snacks, chocolates, fruits, fruit juices, yogurts, cheeses, biscuits, mineral waters, broadband WiFi, toiletries, freshly cooked breakfasts, etc.

    I’m also very fortunate (after much selection and training) to have some really great staff who treat each guest as an individual (ie not just another room booking), they’re also always professional, and friendly at the same time, and of course great at their job.

    We already have a good working relationship with a local taxi firm (they are our default choice of recommendations for all our guests).

    We also have one of our regular guests (who’d stayed at virtually every other hotel in the area, before finding us, and now stays with us whenever she’s in the area), who also had a good relationship with this taxi firm prior to staying with us too.

    This particular guest made a mention to me, during her last stay some months earlier, how she particularly enjoyed one of our organic teas.  So when re-ordering, I added an extra box of tea for her (costing me £2.59).

    She came and stayed with us again in early September for a couple of days, and I’m sure that the ‘thoughtful gesture of her favourite tea’ (that she’s also not been able to find herself) encouraged her to share her happiness about the hotel, with the taxi driver again.

    This same day, the same driver was picking up one of his other longer term international clients (who’s been visiting the area on and off for years).  That particular guest was complaining that morning about his current accommodation to the taxi firm, who I’m sure prompted by this conversation with our other regular guest, recommended my hotel…

    A couple of phone calls later, and that guest was booked in to stay for nearly one and a half months, for over £3,500 of new business to the hotel!

    There are countless fables and stories about ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’,  ‘the mouse and the giant turnip’, etc.  In the hotel’s case.. it was a box of tea!

    The hotel has also just experienced it’s busiest month since taking over 13 months ago, and it’s busiest week yet (and there’s not even a major event going on in the area!)

  • The Kama Sutra Hindu 64 Arts – Modern Day UK equivalents?

     was fortunate to find a book that was pretty life changing for me many years ago. This is not the picture book version, but the ‘Penguin Popular Classic’ which is entirely a text based version!

    I didn’t get all that far through the book the first time around, as I was distracted by the pages referring to a the ’64 Arts’ which apparently should be studied in conjunction with the rest of the book (the traditional Hindu Arts).

    Although these original arts are a bit different to the culture I was growing up in, I figured that the an equivalent I could work out, would probably be good to try and develop for myself over the subsequent years.

    So the original arts (with what I see as many of their modern equivalents where appropriate) are as follows (I can’t do all of these yet, but they were a base for me to look out from and head towards):

    1. Singing
    2. Playing musical instruments
    3. Dancing – Salsa, ballroom, pole
    4. Performance combining the above
    5. Writing and drawing
    6. Tattooing
    7. Adorning an idol with rice and flowers – Floristry and flower arranging ?
    8. Spreading and arranging of bed of flowers, or flowers upon the ground
    9. Colouring the teeth, clothing, hair, nails and bodies – body painting and hair styling
    10. Fixed stained glass into the floor – mosaics
    11. The art of making beds – hotel housekeeping
    12. Playing musical glasses partially filled with water
    13. Storing and accumulating water, aqueducts, etc. – household plumbing
    14. Picture making – modern day photography
    15. Stringing of necklaces and garlands –
    16. Binding of turbans and chaplets –
    17. Scenic representation /stage play – Amateur Dramatics?
    18. Art of making ear ornaments –
    19. Preparing perfumes –
    20. Proper disposition of jewels and decorations in dress – fashion accessories
    21. Magic or sorcery – stage magic and slight of hand
    22. Quickness and dexterity in manual skill – computer typing speed.
    23. Culinary art – cooking and baking
    24. Making lemonades, acidulated drinks – smoothies, cocktails and fruit drinks
    25. Tailors work and sewing – same today (including curtain making)
    26. Making parrots and other decorative items out of yarn or thread – cross stitching
    27. Solutions of riddles and verbal puzzles – same today (+ debating contests)
    28. Connected stories game – Modern day politics or sales
    29. Mimicry or imitation – acting and imitation
    30. Reading, including chanting and intoning – public speaking / corporate training
    31. Tongue twisters
    32. Sword, quarterstaff, bow and arrow – martial arts
    33. Drawing inferences, reasoning and inferring – psychotherapy and counselling
    34. Carpentry – carpentry and furniture building (both flat pack and from scratch)
    35. Architecture or the art of building – build your own home and/or house extension
    36. Knowledge about gold silver and gems – same
    37. Chemistry and mineralogy – same
    38. Colouring jewels, gems and beads
    39. Knowledge of mines and quarries
    40. Gardening – gardening and tree surgery
    41. Cockfighting, quail fighting and ram fighting – boxing or martial art tournaments
    42. Teaching parrots or starlings to speak – dog and horse whispering
    43. Applying perfumes to the body
    44. Writing of cipher – code writing and code breaking / computer programming
    45. Modifying speech in abstract ways
    46. Knowledge of languages – speaking foreign languages
    47. Making flower carriages
    48. Spells and charms – Spells and witchcraft
    49. Memory and mental exercises – brain challenges and IQ tests
    50. Composing poems
    51. Knowledge of dictionaries and vocabularies – well read and well spoken
    52. Knowledge of disguising people
    53. The ability to change cheaper items to appear as of a higher value (ie cotton to silk, etc.)
    54. Gambling – gambling and stock market share dealing
    55. Art of mantras or incarnations to gaining possession of others’ property – positive thinking and witchcraft
    56. Skill in youthful sports – sports and athletics
    57. Knowledge of the rules of society, and paying respects and compliments to others – well mannered, respectful to all, and ability to give genuine compliments
    58. Knowledge of the art of war, armies, etc – military service (paid, part time, or voluntary)
    59. Knowledge of gymnastics – modern day gymnastics
    60. Knowing someone’s character by their features – personology, face reading and body language
    61. Knowledge of scanning and constructing verses – speed reading and writing
    62. Arithmetical recreations – maths challenges / chess
    63. Making artificial flowers
    64. Making figures and images in clay – pottery and sculpture

    Particularly where I couldn’t work out a modern UK equivalent, I also felt there was a few modern day skills not included in the above list, but useful in the UK society I lived and grew up:

    1. Sailing and navigating on water
    2. Ship building
    3. Plastering a wall
    4. Painting and Decorating
    5. Household rewiring
    6. Massage therapies
    7. Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis
    8. Meditation
    9. Anatomy and physiology
    10. Website design and development
    11. IT software skills (ie Windows, Linux, Mac)
    12. IT hardware skills (repairing / rebuilding your computer hardware)
    13. Sales skills
    14. Presentation skills / after dinner speeches
    15. Voluntary work with children
    16. Movie making / directing
    17. Advanced driver training
    18. Skills in piloting a plane  (ie private pilots licence, or gliding certificate)
    19. Sustainable living / renewable energies
    20. Growing your own fruit and veg
    21. Survival skills (remote living)
    22. Surfing
    23. Rock Climbing / Urban Free Running
    24. Car mechanics and repair
    25. Swimming
    26. Scuba diving
    27. High Board / Cliff Diving

    Your thoughts?

  • Encouraging Recycling

    Encouraging Recycling

    Having recently taken over a hotel (accommodating for up to 16 guests 7 days per week), so far we’ve managed to reduce our landfill by at least 85%. We still have further to go, which will be progressing over coming months, but it’s a pretty good start.

    This was quite simply achieved by seperating our rubbish, and putting most of it to recycling.  (ie down from an 1,100 litre dumpy bin, to the equivalent of around 2 dustbin bags a week of landfill: less than the average families landfill I see at the side of the road).

    For example we now recycle:

    • all suitable paper and card
    • recyclable plastics (numbers 1-5), metals and tins
    • recyclable glass
    • tetra-pack cartons (lids seperated)
    • Tassimo disks from our various machines at the hotel (2p for each one recycled also goes to charity)
    • Nespresso capsules (recycled by Nespresso directly).

    We also:

    • Reduced food wastage by cooking great food, to order (so there’s also less left by our guests)
    • Buy only fsc approved toilet and facial tissues (ie recycled, and/or sustainable)
    • Use energy saving bulbs throughout most of the hotel (both halogen, and tube style)
    • Turn off thermostats in our rooms when they’re not booked
    • Open windows to naturally air the place as much as possible (rather than just using chemicals)
    • fix leaking taps, etc

    We’ve now found a suitable commercial recycle company, who can collect much our recyclable materials on a fortnightly basis.  Those items they can’t recycle directly, but we can, we still keep aside and recycle ourselves through other companies.

    We also reduced the visits by the waste companies (fortnightly or less), to reduce the environmental impact of their travel to us in their large heavy vehicles.

    It’s unfortunately, that in my experience, most businesses aren’t willing to take these steps to reduce their environmental impact.

    I do appreciate there is still a lot more we can do ourselves (and already have plans to do so), and we’re trying to maintain the balance of luxury and quality with our environmental impact.

    However, speaking to the guy changing over our dumpy bin recently (to one much smaller), he was also sharing how for the farm he also works on, they are still heavily discouraged by price.

    For example, on his farm, plastic bags and wrapping (from feed, etc.) can either be recycled, or put in a skip for landfill.

    • If they put it in the skip, and it goes straight to a hole in the ground, they get charged around £200 a year.
    • If they collect the same volume for recycling, it’s around 3 times that price!

    Not surprisingly, and unfortunately, for immediate cost reasons they therefore choose to put it all in landfill.

    I also remember, back in 2001 when I used to work in a call centre in a town centre, virtually all the rubbish we ever disposed of was shredded office paper.  At that time, business landfill waste was free.  Recycling the premium paper however was quite a considerable cost in addition!

    Until these basics change, I can’t see many other businesses taking steps to reduce their environmental impact.  I haven’t seen the figures, but I’m sure it will make a significant difference if more businesses are encouraged with their bottom line, to change.

    It doesn’t take much once the changes are made, the biggest challenge seems to be in the change in work practices initially.  Trial it for a couple of weeks if you need to (even if you still keep sending it to landfill), and when it works, you can make it company policy on a constant basis!