A Great Post (not mine)

Every so often I like to sneak a quick blog post in about what I do for a living. Basically I work as an energy consultant, pretty much with the end users.

Here goes: I help out large industrial and commercial clients with engineering, systems development and change management on all aspects of energy efficiency and renewable energy project implementation. This tends to be in utilities, heavy industry and large scale retail sectors.

I have also been known to undertake climate change related work in policy advice, compliance, purchasing and even 'shudder' carbon offsetting (don't get me started on that).

For some reason, this means that when people ask what I do, I generally have to field large numbers of questions about whether I am a tree hugger and my opinion on two weekly bin collection. From a surprising number of people who I have known for a long time.

People have also been asking my many, many questions on the Copenhagen summit. I have to admit to them that, although I have read many articles on the subject - I am not keen to enter into debate on the subject.

This is not because I don't think its important, I think its very important.

It is partly because I don't feel like many of the people I talk to in my every day life really understand the issues (understanding appears to have been getting fuzzier due to the emergence of more powerful pressure groups in the last year or so distorting the issues), but its mainly because I am really not interested in the politics, bullshit and woolly target setting that is involved - being of the opinion that long term energy security should be reason enough to pursue these policies.

I much prefer to be at the actual implementation end. Making things actually happen rather than talking about it (this is why I left my last job).

However, I did find a very excellent blog on CiF on the Guardian website from one of only 60 individuals who was party to the 'behind closed doors' discussions that went on in Copenhagen. I can't rave about it enough and hope that it gets reproduced in other media across the world.

And hey - this is one article where America comes of pretty well!

Another Year

In the absence of anything exciting to write about this week - bar the usual misery around another year passing me by and feeling like I all but missed the noughties (surely it was only just 2000?), I thought I would post up some pictures of some walking in the snow that Lucy and I did this weekend.

We've had a fair but of snow in Sheffield, which in normal countries wouldn't really matter and things would go on pretty much as normal. However in the UK we are crap at snow...

We don't use snow tyres (for the 10 days or so per year they would be useful), don't use snow ploughs, we have tiny little narrow roads, we don't stock enough grit (if you believe the papers), its not really that cold (so snow generally becomes slush and ice pretty quickly), and generally people dont really know how to drive in snow. 

Its the English way. 

We purposefully don't help ourselves in any way what so-ever in order that it increases the chance of us being able to have a good moan when things do go wrong. Oh yes we love to moan.

I was actually quite surprised yesterday when I spotted someone cleaving through the snow in snow tyres. Very un-British. Far too prepared.

In the Hills Above Ladybower Reservoir

Lucy Rests at the Botanical Gardens in Sheffield

A Tree

A Photo I Missed from the Last Set!

Seasons

A few different people have mentioned to me recently that they love the changing of the seasons, and in fact it is one of the best things about living in England.

I am inclined to agree. Especially after a walk we did today to the top of Kinder Scout in the peak district in the freeing cold. The failing light (failing so much we had to use head torches for the last half hour) was pretty spectacular on the peat bogs and the red heather. 

I took loads of photos that I really like that I have uploaded onto Flickr, but I really can't figure out which one is my favourite - so here are a few for you...

Lucy facing the winds on Kinder plateau

Walkers in the distance above Jacobs Ladder

Footpath to Nowhere at the Start of the Pennine Way, Edale

Rock Formations on Kinder Plateau

Treading Where Millions of Photographers Have Trodden Before

Blogging has been on the back burner recently due to the ridiculous amounts of work I have had to do. For some reason they expect me to go in every week day from 9 till 5! This only leaves weekends, evenings and lunchtime in which to blog. Its ridiculous. I am going to complain.

Lat week I was in Canada yet again. This time I think it will be my last trip for which I am glad. Although it is interesting and always a good opportunity to visit another country with work. It is blooming tiring.

Another trip means another set of photos of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Though this time it was dark, so at least there was some variation:

Its a bit grainy as I don't have any kind of mini transportable tripod (hint for Christmas). But I like the people standing around the Centennial. In fact, they were all snappy happy tourists like me. 

I also hit Canada's National War Museum and the National Gallery, both of which were surprisingly empty (considering it was a weekend!), but both excellent if you happen to be passing by Ottawa.

On Hobbys

WARNING: THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS UNSUBSTANTIATED GENERALISATIONS

I was driving back from a business trip in London a couple of days ago with a work colleague of mine. We are both grumpy Yorkshiremen so we like to have a good moan and a whine when we get together. We usually put the world to rights through a strange process of mutual agreement and re-enforcement of each others views. A communal re-enforcement of views which is experienced by many men when left together with no supervision. Thats pretty much how wars start.

I think in that trip we solved all of the UK's problems relating to energy security, social housing and planning law in the space of only 3 hours which was good work. Next week we plan on tackling world peace and creating a Windows operating system that works. 

Our discussions turned as they usually do, to generally complaining about women and specifically that our women folk have the cheek to be different from us and to hold opinions which are not directly in line with our own.

We agreed that generally, the source of all of the issues which our women have (or we generally have) is rooted in their lack of a hobby. You see, men can't really get their head around how many women can get by without having any particular interest in anything. 

And more than that, men can't understand how, if women do have a hobby - they often aren't particularly bothered about being any good at it. They just don't care. If men have a hobby, they have to be the best at it, whether that is getting as many blog comments as you possibly can, or having a faster car than all of your mates, or going to the gym more than anyone else you know. We all feel we have to have a niche skill in something. Its in our nature.

By way of example, my colleague is obsessive about music and spends his weekends perusing record shops, attending hi-fi conferences or inspecting the home-made insulation on his specially converted garage sound-room. Whereas I spend my weekends in the gym, climbing or galavanting around hills somewhere (also obsessively).

We thought about this for a while and something struck us. What do our other halves do as soon as they get home from work? What do they spend their weekends looking at and what do their evenings revolve around.

The answer .... crap TV.

Both of our partners are completely obsessed with crap TV. Whether it be crap reality TV, crap talent shows, crap cooking competitions, or Kirsty and Phil helping Gerrard from Staines find the crappy 1 bedroom flat of his dreams - crap TV rules both of our homes. Lucy even likes to watch 'wedding TV' and more surprisingly 'wedding TV asia' which even my colleague thought was weird.

I have to say though, one programme in particular is the bane of my life. It serves absolutely no educational purpose (as some of the above may be argued is some bizarre roundabout way, to do), it is dragged out to lengths I cant even contemplate (one episode spanning an entire week), and I can't even bear to be in the room when it is on. Sound familiar?

Yes its 'Come Dine with Me'.

Basically if you haven't seen it, it involves a group of complete misfits who are never in a million years going to get on together, cooking for each other and generally falling out and providing mild entertainment of the worst variety. Actually that sounds a bit like Big Brother doesn't it?

Its on ALL the time.

However. 

I can't criticise 'Come Dine with Me' too much, for one reason. A bunch of friends and me (The Lawyer and The Nurse) have decided, with out girlfriends, to recreate the show in our houses using a video camera and everything. 

We were first this week. I have to say it was a little stressful as I am not too keen on people judging my Chicken Udon soup.  With actual pieces of paper with scores on and everything.

I am sure I will post the video up when it is all edited together.