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Thursday 21 February 2013

Some thoughts about the sharing of principles

"Studies show more people are able to stay active in animal advocacy with a lower level shock value on these pictures. So many good animal advocates are lost when they could have helped so much. But if you misuse your power and throw pictures in our laps of gory, horrifying, shocking slaughter photos without one petition, or one cause, or one movement or action, well then you're just risking losing the people who could have helped you, by being repulsive for no reason except to share someone else's report. Where is this exactly or who is responsible, no one knows. Don't risk burnout of those who really care by abusing your issuing powers." - D.M.

This is a very interesting point to consider. On the one hand, for me it has been life-changing because it sent me back to vegetarianism and giving up milk and as much dairy as possible, and I am very happy for that. On the other, sometimes I really can't handle it. In my view it is a social responsibility to be aware of the repercussions that one's actions have and to make an informed choice instead of one dictated by social standards, and act accordingly. But I kind of have a foot in each camp. I don't believe myself to be a "lemon sucker" as a result because I've taken the trouble to find out and make my choices by confronting things I find deeply disturbing and unpalatable. But sometimes I still can't handle it. For the most part though I would rather put myself through it for the awareness than not.

I've also been thinking about that continuum of hypocrisy on which we as animal lovers all exist. There are those who define themselves as animal lovers yet eat meat at one end and committed vegans who seek to eschew all forms of cruelty from their lives at the other, and all manner of variations in between. At the moment I can only truthfully define myself as being somewhere in between. Finding that dairy is really no better than meat, I have given up milk and dairy products - with the notable exception of cheese. I don't eat meat and I am actively choosing cruelty free beauty and household products, but I still wear leather. I see no reason not to eat eggs from my own happy hens but I confess to a weakness for cake which is not made from our eggs.

My point is that I know I have quite some way to go in terms of living a life that supports my principles. That said I believe passionately in being supportive of people making more ethical choices as a more positive and productive way forward than castigating them for the things they are not doing. Although I understand the passion that drives it, because I feel it myself, there is nothing more off-putting to the on-the-fencer than a militant vegan or vegetarian who persists in shoving their views down others' throats. Within that though there is still a vitally important place for raising awareness. My own choice is increasingly to share articles which are informative which might get people thinking and talking but not to share anything truly horrifying.

Consider. This time last year our household began our journey by giving up milk, after a particularly heavy discussion about the vagaries of the dairy industry and the hypocrisy involved in a position which eschews the eating of veal while drinking milk. Shortly after this I stopped eating meat because it reawakened me to the things I knew but had chosen to not think about. Hitherto we'd been getting our meat from local farm shops, the sort where you can see the animals living more natural and happy lives. But the turning point happened when it dawned on me that no matter how good the husbandry, the bottom line was that there was no avoiding that horrifying journey to the slaughterhouse, and all that entails.

When I announced that I was going vegetarian, Sid's reaction was "oh Christ"; imagining no doubt confrontations, inconvenience and a certain amount of haranguery. Don't worry, I said, I'm not going to make an issue of it if you don't. And I haven't. Neither has he.

Since then there have been some very interesting discussions that I don't believe would ever have been possible had I chosen to adopt a combative stance. The net result is a household that is roughly 90% vegetarian and a great deal more consideration on the part of the meat eaters concerning the provenance of their food. Sid, hitherto a confirmed meat eater, has been talking about giving up meat for a month. I can't tell you how awesome that is.

Something to consider, no, about the benefit of awareness and education over castigation?

Thursday 7 February 2013

The dress saga

So House of Fraser had a January sale and I found a couple of treasures while perusing their pages, the highlight of which was an L K Bennett dress knocked down from an unreasonable sum to a really quite tempting and attainable one. Congratulating myself on the imminent acquisition of one excellent bargain, I ordered the dress and a small selection of other items without hesitation.

A few days later and a box arrived bearing my spoils. Splendid, I thought, tearing into it with some considerable enthusiasm, for I loff L K Bennett - albeit usually only from afar in view of aforementioned weighty price tags.

All other items were exactly as anticipated - except for the dress which, no matter which way one held it up to the light or from which angle one viewed it, bore all the hallmarks of... a jacket. An L K Bennett jacket, true enough, and the right colour, but a jacket nonetheless.

Awash with emotions which could reasonably be gathered up under the heading "disappointed", I lost no time in getting on to their Customer Services department to politely enquire after the obvious error. Not to worry, their standard auto responder seemed to imply, simply reorder on our web site and return the item that was sent in error. Mmph, I thought, slightly disgruntled, but went ahead as directed.

But wait! Said dress was no longer available! Arghhhhhh. I duly fed back this information to the good people at HoF, wailing about being on the point of missing out on this great and much coveted bargain through no fault of my own and enquiring as to what they intended to do by way of recompense.  No, they replied, it is definitely still available. A quick search showed that in fact two sets of the same dress were listed, at different prices. One indeed was sold out but wait! the other one showed one dress remaining in stock, in my size and everything. It must be meant to be. So I placed another order and gaily awaited my parcel.

A few days later saw the arrival of another box.Splendid, I thought, tearing into it with even more enthusiasm than I had the first time. See if you can guess what was inside.

Yes, another jacket.

Working as I do in a front facing, customer service-oriented environment, I appreciate more than most the great importance of not taking out one's impotent rage on the poor sap whose misfortune it is to answer the phone when some sort of fuckery has taken place, as above. So I left it a few hours until my vital signs had returned to normal, and called them up once I was in a position to conduct myself in a friendly and amenable manner. The nice customer services lady (Jane) and I even bonded over the incredulity of being caught up in this improbable web of crapness not once, but twice. We left it with Jane placing the order herself directly with the warehouse to offset the possibility of any further malpractice and parted on splendid terms; I to await my third parcel, and she to do whatever the hell it was that she needed to do next. She even put it on free express delivery for me and gave me a tenner off.

The third parcel arrived yesterday. It looked a bit small to me but nevertheless I pressed ahead with the ceremonial opening, pushing down that little voice which was attempting to set off all those little alarms I have set up around the boundaries of my psyche to guard against attacks on my sanity and general wellbeing.

See if you can guess what was inside.

A skirt.

An L K Bennett skirt, true enough, and the right colour, but a skirt nonetheless.

There is only one thing to do in such a situation, which to give oneself over utterly to the undeniable humour of it all. Indeed, we speculated as to what might arrive next, were we to continue along this path which we knew by now to be strewn with veritable boulders of ineptitude and chasms of crapness. Some pantaloons, perhaps, or a playsuit. Maybe a coat of arms. By this point the mind was boggling freely while galloping off cackling into the middle distance.

On the plus side I now have a nice bargain L K Bennett suit. Less positively, it's clear that it was just not meant to be with the dress.

Jane and I thoroughly enjoyed this new development on the phone today, concluding with irrefutable logic that clearly, clearly there was some sort of issue lingering between what was listed on the web site and what was stored in the warehouse, all cunningly bearing the same product code.

So I ordered a Hobbs dress instead.

Sunday 3 February 2013

More vegan recipes

I spent some time over the weekend making a feast of Indian food, as follows:





Two of the recipes are Madhur Jaffrey's; spicy chick peas and green beans and peas with ginger and coriander, with rice, bombay potatoes and a red lentil curry that I was inspired to recreate after having a very good one at the Natura cafe at Goldies last week.

The green beans and peas were delicious! I cooked them with a little oil and stock in a frying pan, covered for five mins then reduced the stock until there was just 2-3 tbs of water left, then add 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbs chopped ginger and 3tbs of chopped fresh coriander.

The chick peas are a real favourite; vegetable oil, garlic and onions, softened, then added ground cumin and coriander, the chick peas, 6tbs of chopped tomatoes plus a little stock, cook for 5-10 mins then and paprika, cayenne pepper, garam masala, lemon juice and fresh coriander. All the better to be simmered for a while.

The lentil curry was based on my preferred tomato base (see prior blog) then added red lentils and spices.

Nom.