“I think it’s because we’ve stopped darning our socks”

So says the existential detective, Wallander in the brilliant books by Henning Mankell.
He describes how Swedish society has changed from one where children used to be taught in school to darn their socks, to a throw away society where it is not just socks that get thrown out, but humans too. Mankell could be writing about any Western society, not just Sweden.

I’m writing this while bread is baking in the oven. I’ve been lazy of late and have been buying my bread, but this quote reminded me of all the benefits of baking my own bread (i posted some time ago on the revolutionary act of bread making ).

A few weeks ago at work we were discussing Easter, and i said that this year i’d be making Easter eggs and not buying them. My colleagues looked at me as if i had 2 heads. They still find my alternative lifestyle hard to grasp, so i suppose i should not have been surprised by their reactions. I also explained i’d be making truffles to go inside the eggs. The was only one question on their lips, “why?, why make an egg if you can buy it cheaply?”. Well for a start there is less packaging, it is fun, it is personal, it’s not going to cost as much to make in terms of carbon footprints…the list is endless.

One of Ray’s cameras has recently developed a fault, so i went to the camera shop to discuss getting it repaired. The helpful member of staff suggested that as we live in a throw away society it would be easier just to buy a new camera…i replied that just beacuse i lived in such a society i didn’t have to join in with throwing things away that could be fixed if we put a little effort in.

This all ties in to a brilliant film called The Story of Stuff…well worth watching, thinking about, and acting on.