Small Plastic Free Steps

So ... two days of freelance work over and that is my work finished for the week. After I finished this afternoon I went to M & S Food as my menu plan had got in a muddle and I needed something for dinner. I had been avoiding shops because of the high Covid rates and leaving it to the younger and vaccinated members of the family, but the Covid rate locally has now come down a lot and I was getting a bit stir crazy so a trip to the supermarket was a minor excitement in my week. My 21 day yoga challenge fizzled on day 18 and I missed both yesterday and today, partly because I was tired (yesterday) and partly because the day ran away with me (today). I had Zoom band last night and we had a long FaceTime chat with R tonight, and I just didn't manage to make time for it. Yesterday should have been a flow class and today should have been pilates - I guess I'll have to do them next week instead. I am signed up for live classes tomorrow and Saturday, so should at least finish with a burst of effort! 

Another minor challenge I have given myself is to make small changes to avoid single use plastic in toiletries, even if it is only for myself - I am not managing to convert the rest of the family (apart from TG who has joined me in using Wild deodorant), but anything is better than nothing. Before Christmas I tried Ben & Ann's natural whitening toothpaste, which comes in a glass jar with a little wooden spatula to scoop it onto the brush. I really like this! The peppermint taste is lovely and fresh, and the couple of times I have used "normal" toothpaste since switching it has tasted chemical-ish and too much like chewing gum. They also do an activated charcoal version, but I can't get my head around the idea of brushing my teeth with something black to turn them white. 

I had various things I needed to order from Boots (lots of plastic for everyone else, but it is as it is!) so decided to try a new shampoo bar. I have been using shampoo bars for a few months, switching between bars from Lush and Faith in Nature bars, but haven't really found one I am totally happy with. I picked this one by Garnier as it was on offer, not realising that the offer also included a free tin in the same shape as the bar. It smells good and I like the tin; let's hope the shampoo matches up to the first impression. I also rarely use shower gel now, and have switched that out for nice moisturising soaps from the Body Shop. Another plastic free item I love are Hydrophil bamboo interdental brushes, which I actually find much better to use than the plastic ones - they seem a bit more robust. I haven't moved to a plastic free toothbrush - yet? - as I use an electric one on the dentist's advice. 

I am very much enjoying my current book - Sightlines by Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie. I read her most recent book, Surfacing, last year and loved it. Both are collections of essays, with those in Sightlines generally shorter. She writes beautifully and descriptively, travelling slowly and taking the time to see deep into things. So far in this book I have seen the aurora in Greenland through her eyes, been on a 1970s dig at a Neolithic henge, and visited a Shetland gannetry, a pathology lab, and a hall full of whale skeletons in Norway.