E-Day :: The small things in life can make a big difference

Tomorrow night, St Pauls Cathedral will host a candle-lit vigil, a pedal-powered cinema (world premiering “fun and factual films”) and a welcome address by the Bishop of London who is backing Energy Saving Day (or E-Day, not eDay, for short).

Between 6pm on Wednesday 27 through to 6pm on Thursday evening, the organisers are encouraging us to make a conscious effort to save energy in their home, school or workplace and report what they’ve cut down or eliminated on the E-Day website.

Staging E-Day over 24 hours will help to minimise the risks associated with large swings in electricity demand, while allowing time for significant energy savings to be achieved.

Given the number of non-essential household items that are left on, the widespread uptake of this call to action has the potential to result in a 1-3% drop in the UK’s electricity demand.

National Grid has agreed to predict demand the day before E-Day happens and to help the public to access this information via the E-Day website once the countdown has finished. It will also manage any changes in electricity demand and refine its forecasts, used to determine the effectiveness of E-Day, based on the weather during E-Day, as well as any other unexpected news or television events.

BBC’s head of comedy Jon Plowman originally championed the idea of a UK switch off under the banner of Planet Relief. They’d even negotiated the switching off of a power station for 24 hours. However, in early September, the show was cancelled. At the time, a BBC spokesperson explained:

“Our audiences tell us they are most receptive to documentary or factual style programming as a means of learning about the issues surrounding this subject, and as part of this learning we have made the decision not to proceed with the Planet Relief event.”

There is a fine line between raising awareness and campaigning, and there were questions about the use of the licence-fee funded BBC’s involvement with and coverage of the anti-poverty Live8/Live Earth events. Head of TV news, Peter Horrocks, suggested:

“It is not the BBC's job to lead opinion or proselytise on this or any other subject.”

However, environmental expert Matt Prescott pressed ahead with the overall project, working under the banner of E-Day.

So why not turn off those lights in unoccupied rooms, power bricks not actually charging anything, and gadgets sitting on standby and see if it makes a difference (or forms a habit you can sustain)?

Testosteron, a lack of at the QFT

On Friday night, we planned to go out for a bite to eat and see a film. Avoiding The Simpsons, Harry Potter and Transformers, we settled on the Testosteron, an intriguingly-described Polish comedy being shown in the Queen’s Film Theatre.

Dinner at Café Renoir near the top of Botanic Avenue was good as always. (Try out their pizzas with sour cream. Divine!) The evening was dry, and we walked around the corner into the new entrance to the QFT. Lots of people milling around outside and inside in the spacious foyer.

And then our plan went off the rails.

“Sorry. Sold out”

Turns out that Testosteron (no final “e”!) was programmed as part of the successful Polish Film Festival that has been running for the last week. As was obvious from all the Polish been spoken in an around the QFT on Friday night.

As it was only on for the one night, it may be some time before we find out about the

“clever and hilarious portrait of the constant struggle of men and women to understand one another. [Maybe not the best film for your wedding anniversary?!]

The wedding of Kornel, a young well-known TV scientist, to the famous singer Alicja, is to be the social event of the year. In a suburban reception hall, the final preparations are being made.

Suddenly a silver Rolls-Royce arrives on the yard with a screech. Three men drag a badly beaten boy out of the car and lock themselves into one of the rooms. Who are they? Terrorists? Gangsters? Policemen with an unusual approach to the law? The truth will turn out to be very amusing.”

While we didn’t get to see it, it good to know that the local venue had brought together the local Polish community for an evening, in much the same way as they do with the Bollywood matinees some Saturdays for the expanding Indian community in and around Belfast.

And instead of being stuck inside for a couple of hours, we got a walk through QUB quad, and headed home for a couple of West Wings ... just started season five if anyone is tracking my new year’s resolution to watch the entire series this calendar year!

Resolutions … one month on

Time flies like an arrow … fruit flies like a banana.

One month into the new year, how many of our resolutions are broken. Some good news amongst my good intentions.

I’ve managed to have lunch with my wife twice in January. Not so difficult to arrange and schedule after all. (And apparently exceeding once a month in January doesn’t cancel out my target in February!)

I’ve now got a stash of Sainsburys’ plastic bags in the back of my car, and I’ve even remembered to bring them in with me to the store once. And I’ve stopped bothering to bag cereal boxes and bottles—they’re quite safe rattling around in the boot of the car and aren’t hard to carry into the house without a handle.

And although I’ve picked up a Smartlink card, I haven’t managed to catch a bus into town yet. Maybe this month. (And I’d like to know why Translink feel it’s appropriate to steal unused journey’s back from customers if journey’s aren’t used within three months.)

6. Journeys will be valid for 3 months from when you first purchase your card. Each time a card is ‘topped-up’, all valid unused journeys have their validity extended for a further 3 months. Any journeys not used within 3 months of a top-up are removed from the card and will not be refunded.

We’ve also making inroads into West Wing—only four episodes short of finishing the first series.

And I’ve been reading most free trade magazines the same week they arrive, got though a fair amount of the backlog, and deliberately not filled out the renewal forms for some.

So it’s beginning to work ... a positive start. What about your resolutions? Any joy?

New Year’s Resolutions … I hate the idea, but I made some anyway

I’m not a lover of hard and fast rules. My work environment revels in a sea of gray—with few absolute constraints. While technical strategy often seems set in stone, there’s very little that is so concrete that it actually can’t be challenged or changed.

I do countenance some exceptions to this liberal indecisiveness! Including the Ten Commandments and wedding vows.

But when it comes to New Year’s Resolutions, it all seems a bit Pharisetical. Making yourself rules and commitments that you know you won’t be able to keep for the first twelve days, never mind twelve months.

Doesn’t the maxim state what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger? Maybe it’s time for a change. Time to at least continue to develop and stretch some existing trends. (I originally wrote this post on Christmas Eve, so at least that was non-conformist!)

It feels less publish and be damned, more publish and damn yourself. So if you meet me in real life, be polite and don’t ask me how I’m getting on with these goals. No nagging. Just assume absolute failure and we’ll all agree to move on!

I’d like to …

• … be home at tea time and bath time more often that in 2006. Family is important. And family time is important for partners and for children. (Anyway, bedtime story books are wonderful.) A corollary would be not to receive “gold cards” for any further hotel chains or airlines! (It’s too late for Holiday Inn and bmi.)
• … have lunch with my wife on a weekday once a month. Given the hours I end up working, and the days spent away from home, making a date for lunch in town (“in town” translates to “in Belfast” for non-locals) once a month seems perfectly reasonable (if unattainable in 2006).
• … be more mindful of my life’s effect on the environment. Turns out that recycling paper, milk cartons and tins is pretty easy. Even pulling out the staples is manageable. But what’s the next step? I suspect that a wind turbine in urban East Belfast would be inefficient and unsightly. Feels a bit eco-nerdish too. But then nearly any eco-friendly action feels silly and over-the-top. But given the number of flights I take in a year, I owe the Earth some repayment. I’m wondering whether I could start to bring plastic bags with me when I’m going shopping. (Frankly I’m embarrassed to even suggest it.) But stopping filling our house with yet more Sainsbury’s branded white bags wouldn’t be a bad idea. (Could just keep a stash in the glove compartment of the car?) And maybe once in a while, I'll get the pink Metro bus into work. After 18 months I should really give it a go!
• … watch through the first six series of West Wing (132 episodes, lent to me by a colleague) before the end of 2007. Bonus: watch the seventh series! Extra bonus: finish watching the Blake’s Seven DVDs too. Update: started this one early. Up to Series 1, episode 5!
• … de-clutter my life, leaving more room for God & others. Recurring theme on AiB? Specifically I’m going to apply a “month rule” to lots of areas. I’ll try to file away all those bills and receipts once a month. I will try to ditch free trade magazines that aren’t read within a month of popping through the letter box. And I’ll try really hard to rid our house of the large cardboard boxes provided by the removal firm when we moved in 18 months ago. With more space, less clutter, there might be fewer distractions and excuses to spending time with God each day. Not that the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God isn't already around quite a lot and capable of squeezing into the tightest of corners. But I'd like to intentionally spend more time listening, and less time bluffing. And a tidier house might be more conducive to inviting strangers and friends around for coffee or even dinner.

I think that’s enough for now. Someone remind me to review them at Easter to see if they’re viable!