Turtles-Paradise

This weekend is the spring bank holiday weekend – a three day weekend (at least for those who don’t work in retail, call-centres, waste collection services, pubs, restaurants, and whatever other businesses have had to shift to a 24/7 working culture) that I take as an inspiration to celebrate the beauty of late spring.

Over the last week I have added six tomato plants to my garden, courtesy of a work friend who grew too many. I have also lost my two out of three of my thyme plants that had just progressed outside and then got battered by a surprise rainstorm.

On bin collection day I had no landfill rubbish to put – a testament to the compost bins more than anything.

The Great Decluttering Project goes slowly but steadily onwards. I have almost finished all my CD’s – a long task as some were full of old backed-up work and art that had to be transferred onto my hard-drive. I have discovered a company that you can ship old CD’s and DVD’s to and who will recycle them for you. SImply send the CD’s, by themselves, to

Polymer Recycling Ltd
Peninsula Business Park
Reeds Lane
Moreton
Wirral
CH46 1DW

Now, however, I am off to Wales. One of my favourite places to go, a quiet little town near Cardiff. I am going to spend time with a good friend, and just relax for a couple of days and enjoy being alive.

There are a lot of minimalist blogs out there that talk about the joy of being location independent. Living – and working – from anywhere. Travelling the world.

I have a confession to make. I’ve already done that. I started in University, by taking advantage of an exchange program, and was immediately bitten by the travel bug. I spent around a year living out of what I could carry, making my own shampoo, and travelling on a shoe-string.

And, truthfully, it’s brilliant. It is easily possible to live on almost nothing, especially when you have a network of awesome friends who are happy to let you crash on their couch for a few days. I spent my days looking at some of the natural wonders of the USA – the Appalachian Trail, Red River Gorge, and the Florida Wetlands. I spent my nights writing the amazing novel that would take the world by storm.

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I’m off to Amsterdam in about two hours. I’ve packed light, and we’re heading there by bus thanks to the recent volcanic eruption. I’ve got a few posts lined up for the next five days, but I won’t be around to respond to comments etc until I get back.

Benefits of this holiday:

• Spending time with family. It’s me and my husband, my Mum & Dad, my brother and my brother’s friend.
• Disconnecting from the internet. Because I don’t have a portable internet-friendly device (no laptop, no smartphone, no PDA) I won’t be able to succumb to the desire to check my emails/comments/facebook/twitter. Instead I’ll be able to fully experience Amsterdam.
• Alone time. Of my family, I’ll be the only one getting up at 6am. That gives me a good couple of hours to just explore the city by myself. I love that part of travelling – when you’re on your own in a new place.
• No work. I work full-time and run a part-time business. I spend a lot of time on the computer and a lot of time working and focusing. This is a perfect opportunity to truly relax and leave the stress behind.

The packing:

• Underwear
• One pair of jeans
• One jumper
• Three t-shirts
• One skirt/top combo for any fancy dinners
• One pair of shoes
• Toothpaste, toothbrush, ‘deodorant stone’
• iPod
• Canon 400D
• Point and Shoot camera
• Purse with bank cards and money
• Passport
• Travel Insurance

I think that should cover it!

The Great Decluttering Project

This will be on hold while I’m away. I only managed to get about half of my CD’s backed up and they’re in a plastic bag now. I’ll finish them off when I come home. Meanwhile, any creative ideas for what I can do with around 100 CD’s would be much appreciated!