In other news

• I finished making my trousers! Huzzah!
  All except the hem on the legs and the button.
  
  
• Today may be the first time in months that it is still a leetle beet light to walk home.
  Horray! Spring cannot come round fast enough.
  
  
• I got trashed on the weekend and decided it would be a good idea to go backstage at Rock City (it is not).
  After deciding it was a good idea to go to Rock City (it is not, we don't call it Cock Shitty for nothing).
  After trying to blag free entry to the Cookie Club (they said no, the expression on the manager's face when 5 drunk women turn up wanting free entry was TOTALLY worth it though).
  
  
• I was pining out a pattern in the lving room yesterday, and left for a second to get a drink from the kitchen. When I returned Bert two-patch-piglarter (sounds like barter) had chewed through my pattern piece, and had a bit of fabric dangling from his cheeky little gob.
  
  After chasing him around a bit, carry on style, he dropped it and made a dash for the hutch. They cannot be trusted for even a moment.

More things to consider

So, my new amazing boots arrived, and they're supremely excellent.

When I ordered them I could get them in either leather, something called ecotan leather (more ecologically sound tanning process and a bit more expensive) or vegan, so I was forced to think about my preferences and personal ethical stance re leather goods.

Leather is the norm for shoes. As a consumer of leather you can get any shoe you want - if you're not bothered about where it came from.

However I don't apply that thinking to other areas of my life or things I buy.

I wouldn't buy clothes from Topshop just because I like them. I boycott Arcadia Group (among others) because I don't want to wear clothes that have been made by underpaid workers in unsafe conditions. That’s not cool.

Despite it being a bit of a pain in the arse, I don't buy makeup that's been tested on animals. Or supplements, or toiletries.

I would never wear fur - and leather’s the same thing really, just less fluffy.

But leather is waterproof, breathable and flexible. And I was brought up to think of non leather shoes as cheap and crappy.

That’s just not the case anymore. Lots of shoes are available with a fabric upper – though it’s a bit cold for winter and not waterproof, this is very breathable for summer. You can buy breathable vegan leather now, which is waterproof and breathable - I have experience of a few pairs of vegan shoes so can vouch for this.

And there are so many good vegan shoes available now, it's hardly like I would be missing out if I didn't buy leather. So, I decided that I would always try to seek out a vegan shoe where possible. I'm going to approach this the way I approach most things – stick to it whenever I can, but be careful not to make a massive crux for myself in making this 'the law'.

I was thinking, though, what is the impact of my choice to buy vegan shoes on the planet? We know that cows produce a shit (ha!) load of methane, and we rear a hell of a lot of cows for eating/dairy/leather purposes - so is my choice not to wear leather good for the planet?

Or, is it ultimately bad? Vegan shoes are made of hemp, canvas or vegan leather. If you want something warm and waterproof vegan leather is your best bet, but I don't even know what vegan leather is made of? I’m guessing it’s some kind of plastic, which ain't good for the world – it requires oil to produce and doesn't biodegrade.

Sadly the internet has failed to find me the easy answer to all this. ‘Buy less’ generally comes to mind but I’ll save my thoughts on that for another post.

Making up the news

I saw this reported on BBC over the weekend, and thought at the time - that's the kind of story you would not believe. Turns out you shouldn't believe it after all.

When someone (the Guardian) bothered to trace it back to origin it turns out it's come from a high profile pro-life campaigner, and it looks to be just another insidious way their agenda is fed into the public conscience.

A little tear

Hilary Clinton apparently attributes her most recent upturn in the polls to... crying.

I'm sorry, did you say crying, in an electoral race, against all male opponents?
How on earth can this have given her an advantage? Being British, I know full well that crying is a sign of weakness (stiff upper lip and all that - really crying is totally OK, you' know when not in a race to lead a country and actually campaigning. in fact I am somewhat of a crier, I cried 4 times while watching crappy/wonderful Disney-type movie Snow Dogs the other week*).

Surely the American populous is not looking to elect someone tearful under stress? Who cries (in public!) when she thinks she isn't going to get her own way?

Oh the double standards! Imagine if Barack Obama cried because he didn't think he was going to win. He certainly wouldn't be reminding us about it and pointing it out as a turning point for his campaign.

* There was a border collie, and a whole team of huskies. The border collie wasn't allowed to pull the dog sled, despite bringing a harness out for herself to use (aw!). Then, in an unexpected twist, she was promoted from lap dog to lead dog of the sled! For a life saving expedition into a dangerous storm! *Cue tears* This is was Christmas is all about.

I even cry at frickin RSPCA and Dogs Trust adverts.

Things are hotting up in the kitchen

I've been trying to write a veggie cookery zine for at least 6 months. I take a long time to finish zines - that Subtext ever comes out even near to the planned publishing time is close to a miracle!

Anyway, someone on my college course (learning to make clothes) mentioned she was planning to 'go veggie' and I said I would finish off my zine so she can have a copy since it's got recipes in it.

Well, today I spent most of my (work) day doing just that. And Lazy Veggies: good food for lazy cooks is born!

If you'd like a copy email me travellingpunk at gmail dot com and I'll send you the pdf - cos I'm a gadget wizard who does zines on the twinkly beeping machine.

* For info, I am also working on anarcho-politico zine 'this land' and random nonsense zine'. For about a year.

Heels aren't good for the feet

The sky is blue, Tuesday follows Monday, the chemical symbol for water is H2O.

These are all things we know.

Except I didn't know exactly what high heels did to feet that made them bad for you - apart from making you unbalanced and in crappy ones, in general pain.

This kind of quashes any ideas I might have had about getting some heels. I have been kind of digging the idea of being super tall recently (I'm 5'10'' in flats, but it's not quite tall enough to touch the sky).

Found via BoingBoing

Babies in spoons

A new publication for transpeople, their families and friends, and NHS staff who care for them was released by the NHS today called Transgender experiences, Information and support. After a quick read I think it comes across pretty well.

Apart from the babies in spoons, what the hell is that about (page 5)

There's another leaflet to accompany it, a guide to hormone therapy for trans people.