Writing – Ian’s Thing

I Couldn’t Car Less

July 3, 2022July 3, 2022 IBM 5 Comments

I choose not to have a car. I live in West London and there are generally good Transport options; regular bus, train and Underground services. If I need to go out into the countryside I can rent a car for a few days.

Even before the current overpricing of fuel, I’ve been glad I’m able to do without the cost of running one. I can spend that few hundred pounds month on other things.

The thing is though, to get people out of cars more, the alternatives have to be attractive enough.

I’ll admit that depending where I am going, a car could be quicker, but at times it could take longer, when you factor finding a parking space into the total journey time.

Also, for the average car user to use the car less, they have to break the habit of literally driving everywhere. I know people where I live that will drive to the local small shops which are no more then five minutes walk away.

For some the car is a way of life, when it doesn’t always need to be.

Another New Year

January 2, 2022January 2, 2022 IBM Leave a comment

New year resolutions? I don’t do them. Look, this new year thing is just an arbitrary date. We should try and meet our goals every day of every year anyway.

Still I do try to take stock and make a few self improvements. This year I want to ( in no particular order) do a number of things to promote cleaner living.

Keep fasting, eat more healthily, cut right back on alcohol, move more, read more, journal more, spend less.

Let’s see how we do!

Keeping A Journal

November 6, 2021November 6, 2021 IBM Leave a comment

Do you keep a journal? Why? I do. Why? Because I like to make a note of things that I’ve been doing so I can look back on it in years to come. Also, after my demise, there will be a little history for my descendants to read. Perhaps they’ll even find it slightly interesting in a couple of hundred years or so.

In the past, we’ve really only been able to read rich people’s history. Way back, only the well=to=do had any kind of formal education and learned to read and write. The peasants relied on what they were told and they had no way of checking if they were being told the truth or not. Nowadays. there’s so much information out there that it’s still difficult to know whether we’re being told the truth or simply someone’s biased opinion.

We all see, and perhaps report, events in front of our eyes in different ways. We all have, often unconscious, bias. Some is passed down by our parents; some is developed from our own life experiences.

One of the problems in this day and age of having a free-for-all public stage in the guise of social media is that most of us shout from it, but few listen to it. We also tend to only consume media (of all kinds) from sources that we feel aligns with our own bias or ideology, instead of exploring and listening to what the ‘other side’ is saying and/or doing.

Anyway, getting back to my journal. I don’t really make many opinionated comments. I simply record what I’ve done that day. Right now, I’m going to get myself another mug of coffee.