Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Swimming update. I've been going three times a week since June. I've gone from managing 2km to well beyond two miles (3.2km) in a session. The coach has worked out a programme for me for the next year, and he's timed a couple of swims to get a bench mark of where I'm at. This is the cool bit (for me). I managed 1:11.0 for 100m backstroke and 1:03.8 for 100m crawl. For some perspective, my best ever was about 1.04 for the backstroke and 58 seconds for the crawl (with a dive), so I'm pretty pleased with that. Friday I'm doing a 1500m time trial - that used to be my best event. I'll be delighted if I can do it in 19 minutes.

Monday, September 13, 2010

For a few years now, I've tried to be a part-time vegetarian and have just one meat-based meal per day (usually dinner). It doesn't always work out - sometimes, I just fancy a chicken baguette or someone else is spontaneously cooking me a chicken baguette or it turns out my pasta salad contains chicken baguette - but I would say I have, at most, between six and nine meat-based meals in a week, which is a lot less than before.

It's a simple thing relating to overconsumption. My substitute for meat often involves cheese - OK, fine, cheeses - so it's really not a health thing. Also, I have no ethical problem with our position in the food chain, I just try to avoid the worst parts of the production process and pretend I never stop at motorway service stations. I believe our current level of consumption is too high, and that this has a huge impact in terms of the inequity of global nutrition, the destruction of natural environments and on climate change.

For some clarity on these vague points, I would point you in the direction of George Monbiot's latest piece on the myths and realities about meat production. Don't worry, it's actually a argument against the need to give up on all animal products on ethical grounds, but to change our methods of production away from the inefficient use of grain feed. This suggests we would have less meat, but not zero. It also suggests that some claims about environmental damage have been overstated. They are still real, of course, so moderation is still worthwhile.

And now, for some cauliflower cheese. OK, fine, shut up, some cauliflower cheeses.