The times, they are a-changing

So the move is almost upon us, and I can proudly announce that I will be moving house in the most eco-friendly way possible - by train. (That's not the reason, it's actually cheaper because my boyfriend gets these vouchers from work, which give him money off green stuff like train travel). However, the flipside of this is that I can only take what I can carry with me - one suitcase and a big rucksack. That's not a huge amount of stuff, but we're leaving some here.

So there's a lot of emotional stuff flying around right now - I've had an interesting year here, and I think I've learned a lot, but I also feel that I let a lot of opportunities pass me by. Places I didn't go, museums I didn't see, people I didn't befriend as thoroughly as I could have... Some of it was beyond my control - I spent a lot of this spring helping my parents with stuff, but a lot of it was just due to laziness, bluesiness and apathy on my part. I have an ongoing problem with apathy, and it frustrates me no end because I feel that by this age I should be able to get on with tackling problems like a sane adult, rather than putting my head in the sand and hoping they'll go away!

Somehow, I never manage to convert this sense of general regret into a determination to get more out of the next experience - always the apathy and always the sense of lost opportunities. But I'm going to try, this time. Maybe I should make a list? :-)

Expat Excitement

This is the second time I've lived abroad, and the longest, and I am firmly convinced that something strange happens to the wiring in your brain.

I've been to two expat shops in the last week, courtesy of an English friend of mine here. There's an Irish shop a few metro stops away, and an English shop just out of town. She was amused by my reactions in both - I went around squealing and gasping my appreciation at finding items I would never buy normally in the UK. Oh, the excitement at seeing clotted cream, Hovis flour and Cadbury's chocolate! I swear, I nearly fainted when I found the Battenberg and Cherry Bakewells. (He does make exceedingly good cakes, doesn't he?) They had Dip-Dabs, sherbert lemons and sour Skittles. It was like going back in time - I can't remember the last time I had a Dip-Dab, I used to eat them with my sister when we were wee things. (No liquorice toffees, though!)

I did of course spend far more than I should have done, which will result on some fairly strict budgeting for the next couple of weeks. I did get tahini, so I can have a go at making my own hummus soon. And Wensleydale cheese and some pickle, for sandwiches. (This country makes 80 different types of cheese, why am I buying Wensleydale??)

This is the thing. I only came back from England a couple of weeks ago, but it was like a starving man at a feast. Heinz spaghetti hoops in a tin - I ask you! What was I thinking?? It does strange things to your brain, does living abroad. Or perhaps it's just me?

Greetings, World of Online-ness

So hello. Welcome to the first post of this blog, in which I shall explain a little about who I am and what I shall be writing about.

I am a 21-yr-old graduate from the UK, currently taking something of a gap year in Europe. I'm supporting myself by teaching English while I work out what I want to do with my life, and while I try out various interests and hobbies.

Over the last year or so, I have become increasingly interested in the life-cycle of the things I own and use. We use things without really thinking about where they've come from and where they're going to after we're finished. I am increasingly a supporter of the do-it-yourself mentality. Earlier this year, I completed my first blanket, which I crocheted from wool accumulated over a decade of unfinished projects. I've rarely felt so satisfied and proud of any achievement. The act of physically making something both useful and (sort-of) decorative was, strange to say, empowering.

This has combined with my historian's interest in the old methods of doing things by hand, which are now less and less common. I want to learn some of these skills for myself - and top of the list is spinning.

This overlaps with ecological concerns about the manufacturing and disposal processes of the things I use, and I also dabble in making my own cleaning products, cosmetics and (most recently) growing herbs.

Finally, the name of this blog. A meadow orchard (also known as a Streuobstwiese) is a traditional landscape layout found in Western Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The mixture of plants encouraged wildlife whilst providing fruit to local communities. As this blog will contain a variety of topics, mostly related to doing things from scratch and in an eco-friendly manner, this seemed an appropriate name. Finally, it has long been a dream to have an orchard of my own. Ideally in a walled garden, accessed by a gate hidden by ivy, tucked behind a stone cottage with a log fire and gabled windows...