Fantastic Plastic

 The Woodland Trust is looking at different ways to protect newly planted saplings without resorting to traditional plastic tubes.  The aim is to reduce the amount of plastic waste and remove the need to produce them hence being even more environmentally friendly.  Being a member of the tree planting club myself (although not in quite the same league), I was interested to note that the plastic tubes don't 'rot away after a few years' as I has until now thought was the case.  Evidently, they end up as fragments of plastic cluttering up the countryside, which is not a good thing.  I cannot recall when and where I first read about the 'rot away after a few years' myth, but it sounded plausible, and possibly the author/narrator was basing his/her statement on the perceived wisdom of the time in that if you can't see it, it must have gone theory.  We now know that is not quite correct, with micro-plastics ending up in all sorts of things from fish to breast milk.  Therefore, I must applaud (although I don't like that phrase) the Woodland trust for taking this up, and I'll keep an eye on my plastic tree guards over the next few years and recycle if possible.  

As of last weekend, my annual running and cycling targets are finally back on track.  I had fallen a bit behind with the running, but after a few longer runs over the last month I've drawn level with the target and kept the cycling just in front.  This week I'll lose a bit of cycling time due to a few days in Scotland without a bike, but my running should be higher than average.   

..and not a drop to drink.

 I remember reading somewhere, that there is a fixed amount of water in the world, never more, never less. So, if that is true it always fascinates me why we have water shortages and deluges of rain causing all sorts of misery to the local population.  I make the assumption (probably incorrectly) that the shortage is a direct result of the deluge or vice versa, and everything balances out over a period of time.  It would be good to work out how much water is held in 'storage', or clouds as call them before its' dumped somewhere.  I know some countries have tried to produce rain artificially, but it's probably a chemical that disrupts the storage area and makes the already natural rain fall from the sky.  You can tell I'm an expert.

Intended to go for a run this morning, but a light drizzle didn't look very appealing so stayed dry instead.  If it was late Winter I would be out in it, looking forward to drier, sunnier days but when we look to be leaving those days behind the thought of getting a bit damp is not something I feel I want to do.  I can't imagine we will having a water shortage around my area.   

  

Smoke Free Zone

 A few days ago, an MP (I seem to recall) wanted anyone born after 1995 (or similar) for them to be illegal to smoke cigarettes.  I'm not too sure on the logic on this, as well as the dates and who said it, but this implies that we have given up on older 'established' smokers who might say they are addicted, habitual smokers etc.  It seems an odd way to implement a smoking ban, and would take an awful long time for the ban to filter through, get the benefits to the NHS etc. etc.  So long, it sounds to me like a dumb idea, but a classic compromise to get something done without upsetting the applecart too much, so it has some appeal. Being an ex-smoker myself (albeit 40 years ago) I should have some sympathy with smokers but I have none at all.  Just stop.  Simple isn't it?

I Can See for Miles and Miles

I managed to get 2 long runs in at the weekend, it's a long time since I did that - an 11 and then 10 miler.  They don't appear to have exacerbated any foot injuries I was worried about last week, and hopefully it was a false alarm, but I can't help think that as my mileage increases there's a fair chance that something will give.  The last time I had a bit of a 'surge' in miles (a year last April) I was out of action with a groin strain and the time before that was a hamstring, both taking a long time to get over.

I have my eye on a bit of an adventure in September - I aim to run the Edale Skyline route (20 miles) which basically runs around Edale (as you probably have guessed).  There is an official race along this in Spring, but I don't want the pressure of being timed, just start and go round as I please, I just have to make sure I'm fuelled up and pack enough to keep me going.