Nice telly people

Well that was interesting. I just had a meeting with the nice telly people. I can’t tell you what they’re up to, but it all could be happening rather soon, and it’s all pretty exciting stuff. Watch this space… there’s more to come…

Swopaplot – or swapaplot – in G2

Oh, blimey, we’ve been namechecked in today’s Guardian, and I’ve not posted anything here for NEARLY A YEAR. Help!

And I only found out because someone who’s developing a TV project about garden sharing and read the Guardian piece just emailed me about it.

I still think this is a great idea, but I’ve been into other things. Does anyone fancy getting involved? This might suddenly become popular… (I knew I was onto something…)

Welcome Freecyclers? Or, er, not.

I was hoping we might be welcoming a few London Freecyclers to this site, as I posted a comment on the London Freecycle group this evening offering Swopaplot’s services. I’d been thinking the motives of Swopaplot and Freecycle were mutually compatible, and that Freecyclers might welcome the invitation to come and participate in Swopaplot…

But it seems that an overzealous moderator has immediately banned me from Freecycle without explanation, despite Freecycle’s stated “two strikes and you’re out” policy. I had hoped I wasn’t too badly in breach of the Freecycle house rules, but they don’t appear to have seen it that way. My wife just told me I should probably have posted it in the Freecycle Cafe, not the main posting list, as it was a bit off topic. They may have objected to the post as Swopaplot might count as “trading”, which isn’t allowed within the bounds of Freecycle. On reflection perhaps that is the case, although what was being offered was the opportunity to get involved in setting up a free service, not any specific trade.

Oops. It seems I’ve upset somebody. Sorry folks. Maybe I’m just being soft, but perhaps rejecting the propsed post with a short but polite email and a referral back to the terms of Freecycle might have seemed a more civilised thing to do, rather than a summary total ban after one attempted, enthusiastic if possibly ill-judged post; after all, wasn’t it enthusiasm that got Freecycle started in the first place? And there I was thinking people were allowed to make mistakes occasionally.

As Jack Nicholson once said just before the Martians got him, why can’t we all just get along?

In spite of this little disagreement, I would heartily recommend Freecycle to anyone who wants to get rid of any physical stuff that might otherwise end up in landfill. Anyone with any old gardening equipment that’s no longer needed, Freecycle’s your place. (And if you’re after any old used tools etc you might be able to help somebody out and pick some up there too – but be sure to offer something to the community first – otherwise you might just get yourself banned…)

Schools vs allotments

OK, I’m delighted that Sutton Council are prioritising giving local kids the best educational facilities they can, but should this be at the expense of greatly-valued allotments? Or a popular ecological community project?

Now I’m not always one to jump on local paper nimby bandwagons, but on this occasion I’m right behind the Sutton Guardian’s Save Our Lavendar campaign.

Design a society

This looks cool: www.designingasociety.org/ A bit crazy, but cool. Hmm. I’ve always wanted to be a bit crazy but cool.

Come to think of it, I can take or leave the crazy bit. Maybe.

Trashing allotments for the Olympics?

James posted a comment here pointing out that Manor Garden Allotments is to be swallowed up by the 2012 Olympics site. Crazy!

There’s a petition you can sign at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/manorgardens/
and more about the allotments here: http://www.lifeisland.org/

Surely there should be a way to incorporate the allotments into the site as an example of best practice in the development of urban green spaces?

Thanks for the links James. I think there’s a hell of a lot the Olympics can do for raising awareness of environmental issues. But they’re clearly not doing enough!

Locally energised

Great piece on local energy here found by my wonderful wife. Micro generation is the future – so why aren’t the government installing the gear in every school in the country to inspire the kids who’ll convince the parents that if they don’t insulate their houses and switch their lights off and maybe even get some hot water tubes on the roof there won’t be much of a planet to hand over…?

Just a thought like.

Yes but isn’t “swap” spelled* with an A?

A very old friend of mine also said this to me recently. Well actually, he said: “I’m hoping you intentionally misspelled swap ;-)”

And this is what I said to him (more or less) (and I’ll say it to you too):

Absolutely. It’s more symmetrical typographically and possibly
easier to trademark, should that be necessary. You’ll also have noticed I’m sure that www.swapaplot.com etc redirect to it. I heard that Weetabix did something similar, and it never seems to have done them any harm. (Hmm… I wonder, given the misspelling, if Weetabix is made from spelt.)

In fact, as you will see here (where OK admittedly it does say “obsolete” – at least it did when I posted this, but you never really know with Wikipedia do you?) and with even more authority here (if you type “swop” into the search box you’ll see it described as “MAINLY UK” and – good Lord – I appear to be English!) it’s accepted as a “variant spelling” and not a misspelling. So nur.

A very conscious decision, taken after registering both sets of domains.

Well, actually, come to think of it now, I did dither. But did I get it right? (What, indeed, is right? Oh no, he’s musing again. Er, sorry…)

* or indeed spelt

Swopaplot Manifesto!

Well, something like that. I’ve updated the About swopaplot.com page, bringing together some of the things I’ve been saying so far in the blog. Please take a look! Or don’t. Up to you really.

Proper allotments!

I just found this great site about managing allotments. It’s written with the outer London borough of Sutton in mind, but has tips for allotment management in general, some of which could also be applied to other gardening projects.

Now you might think that what were growing here at swopaplot.com could be seen to be in competition with traditional allotments, but the way I see it, the more urban land there is out there being used productively (and the more people there are looking after little bits of our urban environment) the better! So raise your tomatoes to the allotmenteers, and long may their leeks grow!