Debbie

Profile picture is of a bumble bee sitting on an echinacia flower
Header picture is of Harry the Handcrank
Accidental collector of handcrank sewing machines, currently have 1 treadle and 6 handcranks in the house but hopefully will go down to 3
Enjoy sewing, knitting and mending things

Last Notes

2026-10-16 20:25:59 UTC

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also in the UK there are regular and mainly free events to learn basic first aid and how to use them the defibs. The defibs to tell you how to do absolutely everything.
Really useful experience and some things I did not think of. They gave out a leaftlet afterwards.
Advice if someone collapses or you find someone on the floor.
1. Ensure the scene is safe if unsure leave and call the emergency services (I never thought about this, except when I used to work in a lab with huge nitrogen gas dewers )
2. Talk to the casualty in both ears and tap them, but don't shake, to try and get a response. We were unofficially suggested an ear pinch
3. If casualty is not responsive, shout for help try and get others to support you, call emergency services put on loud speaker and continue.
4. Check airwaves - Open airways by lifting the persons chin and tilting their head back.
5. Check breathing - Look at chest for 10 seconds to see if the chest is moving. If not
6. Compressions 2 per second whilst someone goes to get the nearest defibrillator - in the UK they should be able to direct you. (Compressions are a proper workout so ideally have others to take turn. Place both hands together in the center of the chest, keep your arms lock straight and use your whole upper body to apply a strong, quick, compression, 2 per second.
7. When defib turns up open the case and follow the instructions. It will monitor the patient and tell you exactly what to do. (It will also tell you when to restart compressions)
Definitely take the training if offered. I felt a lot more confident afterwards, especially how much force is needed for the compressions. I didn't realise how much was needed.

2026-10-09 12:29:10 UTC

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hope you are now fully rescued. Nice you got police protection... although the police van looks like its been through the wars as well.

2026-10-09 08:26:41 UTC

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has no one actually stopped and checked you are ok? Hope things get sorted sooner rather than later.

2026-04-04 09:37:18 UTC

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Cambridge and the surrounding villages do have some cycling infrastructure.
It is very expensive to live and we couldn't afford to buy a place near Cambridge. We currently live about 50 mins away by bike, but most of the route is offroad on a decent sized cycle path.

2026-02-06 15:41:55 UTC

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for me personally I'd love to learn some lentil curries that are tasty and easy to make.
I'd love to know your weekly/fortnightly curry that you can make with your eyes shut that you love eating.
The only thing that might make it tricky is that I have a nut intolerance so without nuts is best for me.
I currently have a really nice chilli non carne recipe that has evolved from Jack Monroe's veganish book that gets made monthly as a huge batch that I'm happy to share if anyone is interested. It takes 24hrs from prep to eating although it can be shorten if you use tinned beans.

2026-02-06 15:04:09 UTC

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if it doesn't totally bore you I'd love to see some lentil curries that you love to eat. Have borrowed a few cook books from the library but it's hard to know where to start to discover new favourites.

2026-01-27 16:40:00 UTC

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The older I get the more aware I am of how politics controls of lot of our choices.
One of the current issues is that it harder and most of the time costlier to chose the lower carbon option.
In the UK, it is cheaper for me to drive a car than it is to catch a train. To get food from a zero waste shop with no plastic is more expensive. There seems to be so many more hurdles to chose the more enviromentally friendly option for the public.
That is definitely a political choice and one we have minimal control over.
Ok, will get of my very grumpy high horse.

2026-01-27 15:00:54 UTC

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Yep, it is not released directly. However the methane is burnt in place of fossiel fuels. So technically its better, but its a very twisty logic.

2026-01-27 13:18:28 UTC

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Definitely. I'm really for composting food waste and really proud of what they are currently doing.
I'm talking to a council that want to move away from composting food waste to anaerobic digestion and I really want to know if they have done their due diligence. The fact they are moving from no bags to plastic bags that are to be incinerated is giving me scepticision.

2026-01-26 17:49:29 UTC

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Interestingly, so far the burning of the biogas as a product is not counted as part of the carbon footprint.
It is magically turned into a green biofuel.

2026-01-26 17:18:02 UTC

I really need some help with some specialist knowledge. Please boost for reach.
Does anyone have a detailed comparison of the carbon footprint of composting foodwaste as opposed to an anerobic digestor with the gas being collected and burnt for fuel?
Background and more info.
Tomorrow I'm going to be asking a question at my local District Council (UK) about their new food waste initiative.
They are going to provide a new weekly food waste collection with the rollout providing new bins but also plastic bags to put food waste into. The plastic bag is be removed at the disposal facility which will be incinerated.
Food waste, after the plastic bag removal will be put in an anerobic digestor with the aim to syphon off the gases for "energy use" which I'm pretty sure means burning them.
Our current system is the food waste goes in our green bin and goes to a large composting facility.
I'm pretty sure of my assertion that providing single use plastic bags that will be burnt will increase rather than reduce their carbon footprint.
My question I can't find the answer is the following:
Is it more carbon friendly to hot compost food waste or to use an anerobic digester which harvests the gases to be burnt as fuel.
Does anyone have a detailed, nuanced, comparison of the carbon footprint of composting foodwaste as opposed to an anerobic digestor.
Deadline to question is 20hrs (sorry for short timeframe got the original date wrong). However if you miss the deadline but have useful info I'm sure this is the first round.
Please boost for reach and thank you for taking to time read this long post.
#fedihelp #ClimateChange #CarbonFootprint

2025-10-01 13:17:38 UTC

I'm a member of Metro Bank and recently had to deal with their AI on the phone.
It was a complete waste of my time, kept on misunderstanding me and in the end I just grey rocked it and repeated that I wanted to talk a person.
After said lovely person helped me with what I wanted, I also asked to raise a complaint about the shittyness of their AI.
My complaint was upheld.
I recommend each time you come across shit AI that is wasting your time to raise a complaint. The more people that push back against this the better. It also helps people inside the company to push back against it as well.
I also got apology in the form of money.

2024-07-31 10:27:04 UTC

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thank you so much for putting this data online. It is lovely to see real EV usage in the uk.