If I were young, I'd flee this town

So I was browsing one of my usual web haunts recently when I came across an old project I worked on which I figured I should share. Not because I want kudos, but more to make a point and introduce some of you to the phenomenon that is strawbale construction.

About 2 years ago I volunteered with Amazonails to help with the construction of the Sworders Fine Art Auction Rooms. Basically it was a 4 day training course where you 'volunteer' to help with the construction of a strawbale building in return for gaining valuable sustainable building experience.

This project was by far the largest strawbale site I've ever worked on. A monster by usual strawbale standards. But it represented a milestone in construction in the UK, with Amazonails working with the architects to develop this showcase sustainable building.

During the course we were educated on the challenges strawbale builds face in the world of 'conventional' thinking that is mordern architecture. Whilst the strawbales could have provided the support for the structure, the architects sadly insisted that a timber framework be included in the construction. This in itself introduced some issues later on in the construction. Issues which were conveniently accomodated through the flexibility of strawbale building.

For me, this building represents change. The change necessary in conventional thinking in order to progress and discover. Architects, in the context of this build represent the conventional thinking that we adhere to because it's, "what we know", where as the introduction of a sustainable building material(straw) represents the inventive and progressive approach we need to take if we are to make the changes necessary to improve the ecological state of this planet.

Respect to Sworders Ltd for taking this step. As ever, my thanks and respect goes to the good folk at Amazonails. I look forward to working with them again.

The atmosphere and attitudes that Amazonails bring to a construction site are a massive shift from the norm. Something that I cannot fully cover in words. But I have to say that working with them was one of the finest working environments I have ever been in.

Before - the tidiest construction site in the world! http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk/Stansted.html


After: http://www.sworder.co.uk/pages/new_saleroom.mhtml


And to put this building method into a language you can properly identify with, here's a wonderful home designed & built here in NZ (NZ showcase)

Labels: my Thoughts, strawbale, sustainable building

I've been putting of writing this post as I wanted to really reflect on the magnitude of the task before committing it to the inter-web for public consumption. OK, lets not dramatize things...Let me start at the start.

When I left Microsoft midway through last year I had time to think about what I'd done with my life over the previous 7 years. Whilst there was alot to consider one particular tally stood out above the rest.

Recreational spending...Basically, over 7 years of having a regular paycheck paid into my account, I could quite easily estimate, (rather crudely but amazingly accurate), the amount I spent on socializing over the years. Before I get into the figures I'd like to point out that I'm not an alcoholic( haha, alcoholism denial jokes here we go...). I don't think that I drink more than my friends, although I think my particular spending pattern was flawed in the very fact that I just drank in pubs/clubs as opposed to drinking at home during the week.

So here goes, over 7 years, assuming that I went out once a week and that on each of those occasions I spent 100euros( this is a sum estimate so that accounts for weeks where I went out more than once or when I attended a major social event, Xmas, weddings, funerals..) the total spend would be:

7*52*100=36400.....36 THOUSAND EUROS!!!

Yep, I was stunned too...I mean honestly stunned. It still pains me to arrive at this figure. I'm pretty confident this figure sits comfortably between conservative and exaggerated - meaning its as accurate as its going to get!

In my hand now it could buy me -
A 2nd hand Porsche 911 or
A Phillipe Patek watch or
1.2 Kgs of pure gold..

(Don't believe me? http://sharetabs.com/?moneywellspent ??)

Certainly, in my hands now the money could buy me any one of the above, but since I've already spent that money there's not much point in speculating on what it could have bought me. ( As the saying goes; If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle..)

So whilst mulling over this on the Trans-Siberian( plenty of thinking time to be had on that epic trip) I came up with the only solution I'd be happy to pursue.

To spend the next 7 years fundraising for charity with the goal of raising an equivalent sum. As I've already selected Room to Read as my cause of choice then it looks as if this will be the beneficiary of the majority of these funds.

When I succeed in raising the 36400 Euros(41000 USD) the money will be spent on the following : http://www.roomtoread.org/involvement/adopt.html

So whilst I've been planning this for some time, today marks the true beginning of the project for me. I'm not sure this will be an entirely solo project, but I guess it will have to be to begin with.

And so here goes: http://amillionwordsforcharity.blogspot.com/. Funnily enough completing a marathon is part of a longer term goal for me, so it makes perfect sense to use this as a mechanism for generating cash. The million Words concept just ties into an existing channel and is going to be appearing on the side of my backpack as I run my wee legs off around Wellington over the next few months.

Roll on December 31st 2009, and having a respectable reason to raise a glass!

As promised here's the lowdown on what I've been up to over the last few months of 2008! What a great year it has been and the last few months were no exception.

As December drew to a close I decided it was time to get my ass in gear and make my way to New Zealun(as its pronounced here). I booked flights from Saigon to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Brunei and then from Brunei onwards to New Zealunnn. the journey was spread over 3 days without much break time between flights. That didn't stop me taking advantage of my time in Saigon to get royally smashed with some travelers I'd met along the way. Waking up 50 minutes before my flight was due to depart was enough to have me muttering Lethal Weapon cliches such as "I'm getting to old for this shit".

Due to the savoury hangover I instigated in Saigon the next 2 days of travel were somewhere between unmercifully uncomfortable and mildly tolerable. Although I did have a stroke of luck in Brunei, they were screening folks for Visas, and sending you back if you didn't have the proper documentation. I met 2 Canadians who were unlucky enough not to have been born with the irish charm. It was a bureaucratic nightmare for them, but they made it in the end. All the while I smiled and cursed Vietnamese whiskey breath..

I arrived in Auckland and quickly made my way up to Anne and Red. Pretty choice situation really, as they live in Mt. Maunganui. A beautiful coastal town on the Bay of Plenty. ( Mr. Cook has alot to answer or his ridiculous naming policy..) My time with them flew by and I made my way down to Wellington.

Once in Wellington I found a room at the Nomad Hostel. An enormous building right opposite the Train station. It's an okay hostel although unless you need to be near the train station I'd recommend getting a place closer to town. Sharing in Nomads was my first experience of a western hostel. For some reason I felt more conscious sleeping there, as if the gutter-slum places I'd stayed in in Asia encouraged one to abandon all adherence to social conventions, and now that I was back in the real world I wasn't so sure what was acceptable.

So on my first(and only) night I went to bed later than the others in the room. About an hour after I fell asleep I woke to the sound of the girl above me sleep talk. Amusing and quaint I thought to myself I returned to the land of slumber. Little did I realise that the next time I woke it would be to the sound of my own sleep talking, except mine wasn't so quaint. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was a string of profanities I'd *somehow* heard somewhere.....Needless to say I'm sure the other inhabitants of the dorm were delighted to be sharing with Elvira the Ranter and Richard Tourettes. So I promptly found a more permanent place to live ;)

I ended up getting work with the Ministry of Education here in Wellington. Working as part of their Interoperability Team. It was a great contract and opened my eyes to a totally new environment having spent years working for Microsoft. Some of the things happening in the education space right now lie somewhere between exciting and downright frightening. But nonetheless the nerd in me enjoys being part of new technology and seeing cool solutions come into play. Although...I can;t say I'd like to be a student in school nowadays. Parents being equipped with online access to you latest homework results - eek!!

Once contract finished I decided to take a little break from the 'real' world and head down to the south Island. Somewhat randomly I ended up booking a trip to KaiKoura. Easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Nestled between a snow capped mountain range and a crystal clear sea, the town is certainly a candidate for the very definition of the word haven.

I stayed in a hostel called Dusky Lodge, which was homely, happy and had such essential facilites as a swimming pool, Hot tub and Sauna...hmmm...I ended up staying there for 12 days. Meeting some really cool heads and eventually meeting up with those I'd end up ringing in new year with.

ducky lodge ahs a great view over the hills around KaiKoura and one morning whilst sitting eating my breakfast the idea came to me that I'd really like for my neices to see this palce someday. Alex and Isabelle are 6&3 respectively right now so it'll be a while before they can travel anywhere on their own. But nonetheless I thought it'd be sweet to give them an incentive to visit this place, if my words of praise were not enough for them.

So I bought them some gifts and decided to bury them in a prominent loation in Kaikoura. Funnily enough the clouds came in nice and low on the day I choose to complete this task, so I got to complete my work under the cover of a thick fog cloud. It felt somewhat Lord of the Rings like to be honest. It was a great day and I truly hope the 'treasure' stay in its rightful place until the intended recipients come to collect it. The idea of reading a note from me to them, written 15 years previously is very exciting, i just hope they like the gifts! :)

I spent Xmas on an island off the south coast of the south island. Stewart Island is home to 10,000 kiwi birds and 370 human inhabitants. Its a fantastic place, but you really need to spend a few days there to appreciate it beauty. I didn't see a single kiwi by the way...sheesh! Apparently they were all at some sort of Flighless Bird Package holiday convention. I did however see KaKas, the native parrot like bird with a rather distinctive cry. The can be seen swooping all over the place, clumbsy in the air, they fly like how I imagine prehistoric creatures did.

All in all its been an amazing few months. A really fantastic round off to 2008. Lets hope 2009 can be even better.

Happy 2009 All!!

Labels: travel