Walk The Line

  

Everybody has a place where they draw the line, right? I mean, in what they are willing to entertain the idea of.  For some people, for example, it’s the power of crystals - that just seems silly.  For others, crystals are fine, even witchcraft is perfectly sensible.  But primal scream therapy, say?  That’s just a step too far! 

Well, for me, the line gets drawn at dumpster diving, as in the Freegan practice of foraging food from commercial bins. Don’t get me wrong, I am very enthusiastic about the whole concept of ‘free’.  I’m on a mission to reduce the amount of stuff I buy and I’m about to embark on a scheme in which that pesky middleman Wages is eliminated completely.  I’ve been thinking extremely hard about every little thing I purchase for a few months now – do I really need it?  Is it the cheapest version that will do the job? etc.  And that includes food items.

For a friend’s wedding recently, I not only made them a gift (it was nice though! I'm sure they were very grateful), I also squashed my urge to buy a jacket and a new pair of shoes for the ceremony and instead wore a cardigan I already had and spent some time stretching a pair of old shoes that were too small.  And I felt fine! That’s a big deal for me.  When it comes to issues of image and clothes, I have historically ALWAYS allowed my insecurities to take control of my wallet and do whatever it takes to make me feel on a par with my contemporaries.  

I've also been trying the odd super-scrimping meal from this blog: A Girl Called Jack (with mixed results I have to say - although that's probably the fault of my dubious cooking skills than her recipes).

Anyway, you can see that I’m trying to take this whole spend reduction thing seriously.  But dumpster diving?  Sneaking around the back of shops at dusk, opening up their skanky bins and rifling through them to find my dinner?  I, just… no.  I’m aware of the arguments for:  it’s free, obviously;  use-by dates are very conservative and often fairly arbitrary; the food is still packaged; throwing it away is  needless waste and a crime against the world’s finite resources which we are using up with no thought for the future. Yada yada, I know it’s a good thing to do! But I just can’t do it.  And to be honest, I thought this was quite normal and reasonable until the other day. 

I’ve been volunteering at an organic farm just outside the city (to, you know, get a bit of experience in for the big trip, because I’m a giant lame-o with soft office hands) and had The Money Conversation with one of the guys there.  Freeganism came up, I mentioned my resistance and this is what he said: 

‘You mean you’ve never been dumpster diving?’

I’ve clearly been moving in the wrong circles. Wanna take me dumpster diving? No? Good!!

In other completely unrelated news, I finally watched that Tyrannosaur film and like, WOAH, the awful, terrible, relentless awfulness of everything the whole way through!! Also, the touchingness though - I cried, I cried real human tears when they hugged in the kitchen.
 

Well done Paddy Considine, you may remain on the giant pedestal of adoration I have built for you.   I know you're married and everything but, well, I'm here if you if you need me.  That's all I'm saying.