Further to my last blog on this subject I am pleased to be able to say that the powers that be have since seen sense and home business waste can now be disposed through domestic waste channels in other words in your usual rubbish and recycle bins or by taking to your local waste disposal point.
There is however one note of caution. Anybody disposing of large amounts of waste may be reported to the local authority who may investigate. Under current legislation a home business is where a building is primarily used as a dwelling otherwise it will be classified as a business premise and will be expected to pay business rates etc. The same applies if a garage or outbuilding is used for the business.
Saturday 4 August 2012
Home Business Waste Update
Thursday 13 October 2011
Dunwich - East Anglia's Lost Port
I was brought up on the coast of East Anglia, a battle ground between the ocean and the land which the land is gradually loosing. I can well remember the stories told by elderly relatives who had worked & lived on those coasts of lost villages that had disappeared beneath the waves during terrible storms and whose Church bells could inevitably still be heard tolling as a harbringer of death or storms. One of the most poignant of those was the story of Dunwich in Suffolk, because a) it is a true story and b) Part of Dulwich still exists. Now a tiny village clinging to the cliff top it was once East Anglia's biggest Medieval port ntil a series of storm swept most of it out to sea.
At its height Dunwich was one of the largest ports in Eastern England, with a population of around 3000, eight churches, five houses of religious orders, three chapels and two hospitals. The main exports were wool and grain and the main imports were fish, furs and timber from Iceland and the Baltic region, cloth from the Netherlands and wine from France.
Dunwich is first referred to in the 7th century when St Felix of Burgundy founded the See of East Anglia at Dommoc in 632. Years later antiquarians would describe it as being the ‘former capital of East Anglia’, although this reference is almost certainly a romantic creation as no documents survive from the town’s heyday attesting to this. The Domesday Book of 1086 describes it as possessing three churches. The historian and diver Stuart Bacon, who has made several visits to the seabed in a bid to find the remains of the old town, has found evidence that it may have possessed up to 18 churches and chapels at the height of its fortune during the 12th and 13th centuries
In 1286 a large storm swept much of the town into the sea, and the River Dunwich was partly silted up. Residents fought to save the harbour but this too was destroyed by an equally fierce storm in 1328, which also swept away the entire village of Newton, a few miles up the coast. Another large storm in 1347 swept some 400 houses into the sea. A quarter of the town had been lost, and most of the rest of Dunwich was lost to the sea over a period of 200-300 years through a form of coastal erosion known as long-shore drift. Buildings on the present day cliffs were once a mile inland. In 1754 the antiquarian Thomas Gardner published a highly influential history of Dunwich (and two other towns, Blythburgh and Southwold) with images of some of the lost churches, but some of his claims have been disputed by later historians.
Most of the original buildings have disappeared, including all eight churches and Dunwich is now a small coastal “village”, though retaining its status as a town. However, the remains of a Franciscan priory (Greyfriars) and a building constructed as a hospice for lepers can still be seen. A popular local legend says that, at certain tides, church bells can still be heard from beneath the waves
By the mid-19th century, the population had dwindled to 237 inhabitants and Dunwich was described as a “decayed and disfranchised borough”. A new church, St James, was built in 1832, after the last of the old churches, All Saints, which had been without a rector since 1755, was abandoned. It fell into the sea between 1904 and 1919, with the last major portion of the tower succumbing on 12 November 1919. In 1971 the historian Stuart Bacon located the remains of All Saints’ Church a few yards out to sea during a diving exhibition. Two years later in 1973 he also discovered the ruins of St Peter’s Church which was lost to the sea during the 18th century. Most recently, he has located what may be the remains of shipbuilding industry on the site.
As a legacy of its previous significance, Dunwich retained the right to send two members to Parliament until the Reform Act 1832, making it an example of a rotten borough.
http://www.lostvillages.co.uk/dunwich/
At its height Dunwich was one of the largest ports in Eastern England, with a population of around 3000, eight churches, five houses of religious orders, three chapels and two hospitals. The main exports were wool and grain and the main imports were fish, furs and timber from Iceland and the Baltic region, cloth from the Netherlands and wine from France.
Dunwich is first referred to in the 7th century when St Felix of Burgundy founded the See of East Anglia at Dommoc in 632. Years later antiquarians would describe it as being the ‘former capital of East Anglia’, although this reference is almost certainly a romantic creation as no documents survive from the town’s heyday attesting to this. The Domesday Book of 1086 describes it as possessing three churches. The historian and diver Stuart Bacon, who has made several visits to the seabed in a bid to find the remains of the old town, has found evidence that it may have possessed up to 18 churches and chapels at the height of its fortune during the 12th and 13th centuries
In 1286 a large storm swept much of the town into the sea, and the River Dunwich was partly silted up. Residents fought to save the harbour but this too was destroyed by an equally fierce storm in 1328, which also swept away the entire village of Newton, a few miles up the coast. Another large storm in 1347 swept some 400 houses into the sea. A quarter of the town had been lost, and most of the rest of Dunwich was lost to the sea over a period of 200-300 years through a form of coastal erosion known as long-shore drift. Buildings on the present day cliffs were once a mile inland. In 1754 the antiquarian Thomas Gardner published a highly influential history of Dunwich (and two other towns, Blythburgh and Southwold) with images of some of the lost churches, but some of his claims have been disputed by later historians.
Most of the original buildings have disappeared, including all eight churches and Dunwich is now a small coastal “village”, though retaining its status as a town. However, the remains of a Franciscan priory (Greyfriars) and a building constructed as a hospice for lepers can still be seen. A popular local legend says that, at certain tides, church bells can still be heard from beneath the waves
By the mid-19th century, the population had dwindled to 237 inhabitants and Dunwich was described as a “decayed and disfranchised borough”. A new church, St James, was built in 1832, after the last of the old churches, All Saints, which had been without a rector since 1755, was abandoned. It fell into the sea between 1904 and 1919, with the last major portion of the tower succumbing on 12 November 1919. In 1971 the historian Stuart Bacon located the remains of All Saints’ Church a few yards out to sea during a diving exhibition. Two years later in 1973 he also discovered the ruins of St Peter’s Church which was lost to the sea during the 18th century. Most recently, he has located what may be the remains of shipbuilding industry on the site.
As a legacy of its previous significance, Dunwich retained the right to send two members to Parliament until the Reform Act 1832, making it an example of a rotten borough.
http://www.lostvillages.co.uk/dunwich/
Tuesday 11 October 2011
its easy to take our modern world for granted- take medical care for instance. Not that long ago I would, in less then a year, gone from beinhg apparently fit to having a crippled wrist due to untreated osteoporosis and the inability to reset shattered bones. The osteoporosis would be starting to cause a deformed spine and would cause other serious fractures as I was going blind due to cataracts, that's if I didn't suffer a stroke or heart attack due to high blood pressure. All in all I consider myself lucky to live in a modern world
Sunday 14 August 2011
Claude Monet & I
A month on from my official diagnosis of cataracts in both eyes and I have seen a slow but progressive deteriation in my eyesight. Like most people I always thought of cataracts as simply as like having a fuzzy gauze like obstruction to my eyesight, and that is true, currently my right is is almost totally obscured and the left is starting to move fromd blurry to foggy. A more surprising symptom wast the increase sensitivity to light which in retrospect was actual the first sign of forthcoming problems and this has reached the point where I am actually glad of our current dull overcast summer, but a new symptom rarely seems to get mentioned. Over the last few weeks I have noticed an increasing loss in my colour perception, blues are increasingly difficult to see at all, green, brown and yellows appear as black unless seen up close or in a bright light (shinning over my shoulder to avoid dazzle).
Reading up about this new symptom I found that I am in august company as none other then the great French landscape painter Claude Monet painted what are considered some of his greatest works while suffering from cataracts, however after receiving surgery Monet destroyed most of his canvases from his cataract period considering them too dull and dark, indeed during that period he frequently complained of the deterioration in his colour vision.
Although Monet was diagnosed with nuclear cataracts in both eyes by a Parisian ophthalmologist in 1912, at the age of 72, his visual problems began much earlier. Soon after 1905 (age 65) he began to experience changes in his perception of color. He no longer perceived colors with the same intensity. Indeed his paintings showed a change in the whites and greens and blues, with a shift towards "muddier" yellow and purple tones. After 1915, his paintings became much more abstract, with an even more pronounced color shift from blue-green to red-yellow. He complained of perceiving reds as muddy, dull pinks, and other objects as yellow. These changes are consistent with the visual effects of cataracts. Nuclear cataracts absorb light, desaturate colors, and make the world appear more yellow.
Monet was both troubled and intrigued by the effects of his declining vision, as he reacted to the the foggy, impressionistic personal world that he was famous for painting. In a letter to his friend G. or J. Bernheim-Jeune he wrote, “To think I was getting on so well, more absorbed than I’ve ever been and expecting to achieve something, but I was forced to change my tune and give up a lot of promising beginnings and abandon the rest; and on top of that, my poor eyesight makes me see everything in a complete fog. It’s very beautiful all the same and it’s this which I’d love to have been able to convey. All in all, I am very unhappy.” – August 11, 1922, Giverny.
http://www.psych.ucalgary.ca/PACE/VA-Lab/AVDE-Website/monet.html
Reading up about this new symptom I found that I am in august company as none other then the great French landscape painter Claude Monet painted what are considered some of his greatest works while suffering from cataracts, however after receiving surgery Monet destroyed most of his canvases from his cataract period considering them too dull and dark, indeed during that period he frequently complained of the deterioration in his colour vision.
Although Monet was diagnosed with nuclear cataracts in both eyes by a Parisian ophthalmologist in 1912, at the age of 72, his visual problems began much earlier. Soon after 1905 (age 65) he began to experience changes in his perception of color. He no longer perceived colors with the same intensity. Indeed his paintings showed a change in the whites and greens and blues, with a shift towards "muddier" yellow and purple tones. After 1915, his paintings became much more abstract, with an even more pronounced color shift from blue-green to red-yellow. He complained of perceiving reds as muddy, dull pinks, and other objects as yellow. These changes are consistent with the visual effects of cataracts. Nuclear cataracts absorb light, desaturate colors, and make the world appear more yellow.
Monet was both troubled and intrigued by the effects of his declining vision, as he reacted to the the foggy, impressionistic personal world that he was famous for painting. In a letter to his friend G. or J. Bernheim-Jeune he wrote, “To think I was getting on so well, more absorbed than I’ve ever been and expecting to achieve something, but I was forced to change my tune and give up a lot of promising beginnings and abandon the rest; and on top of that, my poor eyesight makes me see everything in a complete fog. It’s very beautiful all the same and it’s this which I’d love to have been able to convey. All in all, I am very unhappy.” – August 11, 1922, Giverny.
http://www.psych.ucalgary.ca/PACE/VA-Lab/AVDE-Website/monet.html
Monet suffered from cataracts. His later paintings of the lily pond and the Japanese bridge at Giverny, when adjusted to reflect the typical symptoms of cataracts, appear dark and muddied. The artist's signature vibrant colors are muted, replaced by browns and yellows. Monet wrote of his growing frustration with his deteriorating vision, describing how he was forced to memorize where the colors were placed on his palette. In 1914 he wrote in his correspondence "colors no longer had the same intensity for me...reds had begun to look muddy...my painting was getting more and more darkened. on the one hand trusting solely to the labels on the tubes of paint and, on the other, to force of habit".
As his vision continued to deteriorate, Monet's paintings became darker, less detailed and more abstract. The subject matter of the above painting from 1920 - the Japanese footbridge at Giverny, immortalized in his earlier water lily paintings - is barely recognizable.
Recent scientific studies no suggest that some of Monet's most famous paintings are not as abstract as was believed but in fact accurate depictions of how the world appears through cataracts.
Sunday 17 July 2011
Waste Hierarchy
All businesses now have to sign a statement on their waste transfer notes to the effect that they have applied the Waste Hierarchy or in others words done everything they have Reused as much as possible, to Reduce the amount of waste they produce in the first place and to Recycle as much as possible of what they do dispose of.
Far too many householders however feel that so long as they fill their recycle bins once a fortnight twice a moth then they are doing their bit, but it is not enough, every household in the lands needs to also be applying a Waste Hierarchy and cut down on the amount of waste they produce in the first place.
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Home Business Waste
Many people work from home, even run their own businesses from there and i am sure most diligently sort the waste produced by the business and place it in the appropriate household recycling bins. But how many realise that is in fact illegal? The fact is that under current legislation any business, no matter how small, cannot use the free household waste collection services, whether door step collection or municipal disposal sites.
The reason for this is twofold, first of all the Environment Agency is forcing businesses to take responsibility for their waste and where possible Reduce, Reuse or Recycle it by hitting their pockets by making them pay to have their waste removed. Secondly business are legally obliged to be able to demonstrate how and where their waste is being disposed by being able to produce appropriate documentation.
Business waste can only be removed from your premises by a registered waste carrier and can only then be taken to a registered disposal site, businesses are also legally obliged to ensure their waste is correctly sorted so that the maximum amount can be recycled, this is known as your Duty of Care.
Waste carriers are mainly private companies although some councils do offer a business waste service, but all will charge for it, as part of your Duty of Care you must ensure any company you use is correctly registered (Your local Environment Agency office will tell you this).
A waste carrier will supply you with Waste Transfer Notes detailing when the waste was collected and how it was disposed, you are legally obliged to keep these for three years and have them available for inspection by an Environment Agency inspector at any time during this period
I hope this helps clear up an often overlooked area of British waste legislation
The reason for this is twofold, first of all the Environment Agency is forcing businesses to take responsibility for their waste and where possible Reduce, Reuse or Recycle it by hitting their pockets by making them pay to have their waste removed. Secondly business are legally obliged to be able to demonstrate how and where their waste is being disposed by being able to produce appropriate documentation.
Business waste can only be removed from your premises by a registered waste carrier and can only then be taken to a registered disposal site, businesses are also legally obliged to ensure their waste is correctly sorted so that the maximum amount can be recycled, this is known as your Duty of Care.
Waste carriers are mainly private companies although some councils do offer a business waste service, but all will charge for it, as part of your Duty of Care you must ensure any company you use is correctly registered (Your local Environment Agency office will tell you this).
A waste carrier will supply you with Waste Transfer Notes detailing when the waste was collected and how it was disposed, you are legally obliged to keep these for three years and have them available for inspection by an Environment Agency inspector at any time during this period
I hope this helps clear up an often overlooked area of British waste legislation
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Cataracts
I am the Amberlady and I have cataracts.
Like many people I always thought of cataracts as being a disease of the elderly so when my eyesight began to deteriorate in my late forties I went into denial. I had been bothered by glare from brights lights and sunshine for a while so I'd spent a fortune on new spectacles with anti-glare & react-a-light coatings, but withing a few months I was struggling to read with them and glare, especially when driving was still a problem but there was no way I was going to admit, especially to my partner that those expensive specs had been a waste of money.
Over the next few months my eyesight continued to worsen, bright lights developed a halo around them and I had to give up driving as anything more then a 200 meters away disappeared into a fuzzy fog, from which other road users suddenly appeared out of nowhere, At this time I was having other health issues and a rare side of effect of my drugs was distorted vision so I blamed my eyesight on them, although I never mentioned it to my doctor.
The crunch came when I realised I could no longer make out the faces of people across the street, glare was now almost crippling, going out in bright sunlight was light staring into a thousand suns as any reflective surface dazzled me then finally I closed my left eye for some reason and to my shock realised I see virtually nothing with the other eye, it was as though a opaque smudge was obscuring my central vision. Finally I plucked up the courage to go to an optician and was told what I already suspected. My right eye has an advanced cataract and my left eye is in the early stages.
So at the moment I am waiting to see a specialist who hopefully will refer me for cataract surgery which I have learnt has evolved out of all recognition over the last few years, the operation takes less then half-an-hour and there is a good chance that my eyesight afterwards will be better then it has been for years - this story will continue
An informative site on cataracts
Like many people I always thought of cataracts as being a disease of the elderly so when my eyesight began to deteriorate in my late forties I went into denial. I had been bothered by glare from brights lights and sunshine for a while so I'd spent a fortune on new spectacles with anti-glare & react-a-light coatings, but withing a few months I was struggling to read with them and glare, especially when driving was still a problem but there was no way I was going to admit, especially to my partner that those expensive specs had been a waste of money.
Over the next few months my eyesight continued to worsen, bright lights developed a halo around them and I had to give up driving as anything more then a 200 meters away disappeared into a fuzzy fog, from which other road users suddenly appeared out of nowhere, At this time I was having other health issues and a rare side of effect of my drugs was distorted vision so I blamed my eyesight on them, although I never mentioned it to my doctor.
The crunch came when I realised I could no longer make out the faces of people across the street, glare was now almost crippling, going out in bright sunlight was light staring into a thousand suns as any reflective surface dazzled me then finally I closed my left eye for some reason and to my shock realised I see virtually nothing with the other eye, it was as though a opaque smudge was obscuring my central vision. Finally I plucked up the courage to go to an optician and was told what I already suspected. My right eye has an advanced cataract and my left eye is in the early stages.
So at the moment I am waiting to see a specialist who hopefully will refer me for cataract surgery which I have learnt has evolved out of all recognition over the last few years, the operation takes less then half-an-hour and there is a good chance that my eyesight afterwards will be better then it has been for years - this story will continue
An informative site on cataracts
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