It’s in the bag

It’s no bad thing that buying or binning plastic is becoming the new smoking or drink driving , but too much plastic zealotry could be counter productive. Yes, single use plastic bags  have become an environmental menace and the reuse of plastic items is urgently to be championed but it essential to consider the counterfactuals. 

Even the detested flimsy supermarket bag may do less environmental damage than the seemingly virtuous cotton tote bag. Britain’s Environmental Agency calculated that a cotton bag would have to be used  at least 131 times  before its contribution to global warming fell below that of a single supermarket bag*.

Even a paper bag would have to be used three or four times before being greener than plastic. 

The figures were based on the agency’s finding  that 40% of plastic bags were used more than once.  … Continue Reading

Know your town

Buckeridge’s Martinborough Hotel

Newspaper item from NZ Mail May 20^th 1882: ‘C Chatfield, Architect, shows plans for a new Hotel Martinborough. Two frontages 55X86 feet balcony all around building, to be 2 storey. It will catch traffic on both streets. Interior; dinning room &commercial rooms, separated by Folding Doors, this to provide greater  when needed, 40 feet in length when opened, also Large Billiard Saloon. Upstairs 22 Bed Rooms plus 3 sitting rooms. Also on plan 3 parlours, Bar and  Tap Room. Building of wood and iron roof. When completed will be one of the most comfortable in the Wairarapa’. 

Construction commenced at the end of May. There are no reports on the construction however there was one in August of that year  on the construction of the billiard table by Mr John Ruck ‘from scratch an unaided. He turned the legs and fitted all the wood work, only portions not his the Rubbers and Cloth’. 

An advertisement from that time for a barmaid:  ‘A piece of Bar Furniture (Barmaid)’. A reply included three photos of the young lady in different dresses each suitable for a different duty, cleaning, serving etc. It was not recorded if the lady got the job. Under the employment law of the time it was illegal to employ females between the hours of 6 pm and 9 am or for more than 8 hours a day. Fine fifty pounds ( 2019 = $6,690).

Mr Buckeridge advertised his new hotel in the Wairarapa Standard thus: … Continue Reading

Letters

I am writing to acknowledge the wonderful martinborough Music Festival held recently.

I am a newcomer to town, and was fortunate to be able to get tickets for two of the concerts. I was delighted by the quality of the performers, the programes and the setting.

I have had the good fortune to experience beautiful music in many venues around the world, and was blown away by being able to get as equal an experience in what is now my home town.

A big thank you to the amazing people who made this all happen.

I have scheduled next years festival in my diary already.

Maree’s musings

WAKE UP and SMELL …

  Reading this month’s musings title, I’m sure my readers will wonder what I’m getting at, or possibly concerned that I can’t remember what I’m saying. Surely she means ‘… the Roses’? Well, I’ll get to that later. Meanwhile, I was treated to a fascinating talk recently about rescue dogs, and discovered how important their sense of smell is to detect live victims of earthquakes. This requires the combination of super sensitive smell detectors – noses, that is – and lots of training.

Us mere mortals have noses and a sense of smell too. We probably don’t rely on it as much as we could, although you might be surprised. Here’s a useful fact you can bring up in conversation: our noses have about six million and 400 different types of smell receptors. Whe knew? Scientists have discovered that every armpit odour is unique and early humans chose companions and recognised family from them without even realising. Today, not so much. But we still rely on sniffing things out. Things that smell bad warn you of danger. Some folk can even detect illness with a sniff test. Who hasn’t ‘smelled a rat’ when trouble is lurking? And smoke – leads to ‘where there’s smoke .. etc.’  … Continue Reading