So I headed to this wonderful slow food market today. I've been before but not been able to afford anything other than to stare longingly at a lot of it. Today, however, was different. Because it's all local food, to help encourage British producers, the ration system is different - there's still restrictions but everything's moved down one notch - meaning locally produced meat is less restricted than the crappy stuff in the supermarket, even though it's so much more yummy!

There was only one ration card machine at the market - the way it worked was that everyone had to put their card in before they entered the market. The person at the entrance would swipe the card and give you vouchers for how many ration credits you had left. You could then wander round the market and get what you wanted, handing any left over vouchers back when you left to be put back on your card. A security guard watched the whole thing - not an uncommon sight these days but only a slight dampener on what was a lovely market.



When we got to the featuring many great locally grown and predominately organic produce like this vegetable stall:



and this bread stall:



as well as some fantastic meat, fish and produce like cheese, chutney and even spices! Mum bought us organic pies for lunch with one of our treat rations - I had one with chicken and chorizo in a spicy tomato sauce and I don't think I understand the word 'pie' could be such an amazing thing until I tasted it! We also picked up lots of vegetables for the week, bread and a little meat - it's still expensive but when the rations only allow you to buy three meat items a week suddenly it's easier to spend a little more on each one. I guess those health mags that said we should cut down on our meat eating are getting their desire!

You know another thing that's great about this new ration system? The market stalls were all cleared up, out of produce by the end of the day when we went past again. when everyone's allowed a certain amount, maybe there'll be less food wasted 'in case' people want to buy it. Maybe empty shelves will become a good thing rather than a bad one - a sign that the right amoutn of food was available and eaten, rather than a failure of the Just In Time Mentality my teachers taught us in geography.



the market was popular and as news of the new ration-system in place grows I expect more people will be coming here - especially as due to it being local food the new food mile taxes don't apply.

Once we got home mum sat me down and said;

"Mia, you've got to think about what A levels you'll be taking."

I was a little stunned by this. I'd kind of assumed the schools weren't around because of the crisis, or that mum would want me helping around the house. She shook her head.

"You're going to study," she said firmly, "and you're going to do something useful. College starts on monday. You better have a look on their website and decide what you want to do."

So now I have 4 days to choose my subjects! Eek! Still, although I know it's work I'm secretly quite glad - I didn't want my life to be a housewife or without education. It feels good to know that even after the crisis, I may be able to learn enough to make a major difference, somehow.


Oh yeah! On my way home I saw this on the window of an unnamed holiday shop:



The text says:

'Say NO to holiday tax

Gordon Brown is increasing the price of your holiday. Come inside and sign our petition against Holiday Tax now.'

*sigh* Some people just don't know what's good for them, do they? There's been similar uproar from some quarters about the new rationing system. And you know the funny thing? It's always from the small minority profiting from the way it was before. The minority of rich companies and individuals who don't want equality. Well, they can all go to hell.

-Mia



[author's note - week 17. The food market in the picture is held every Wednesday in Bristol's Corn Street, attracting a lot of growers and producers from the surrounding area. In addition to the weekly one, there's a larger market in the same place on the first Sunday of the month - this is the official 'Slow Food' one - and another on Whiteladies Road the first Friday of the month. The poster in the holiday shop is also real, just going to show just how blind some people are about the greater good.

A quick aside to say that due to the author's third year Phyics exams occurring four time over the next two weeks, posts to this journal may unfortunately be more sporadic or shorter than they have been. I'm going to try and post every day still but there may be some interruptions. Just thought I better say something in case anyone got worried about Mia's silence! Also, many thanks for some of the lovely comments and links by other diarists. It's nice to know you're enjoying what I'm doing in this blog. Shoutouts to lucy_1965 whose comments inspired this post and Deliberately for running an excellent slow food blog and was kind enough to post a comment to this blog - hope you like this entry too!

Also, a little appeal unrelated to WWO. In 2003 and 2004 I was privileged enough to attend the fantastic Alpha workshop in Pittsburgh, PA. It runs every July providing superb teaching for young writers of science fiction, horror and fantasy. I would not be the writer I am today without their help and the scholarships I received to travel over to the USA to study. This year they are struggling to provide enough funds for similar scholarships for promising young writers (14-19 year olds, mostly from the USA but also in the past from the UK, Korea and New Zealand.).This is a very different topic to WWO, I know but if anyone is interested in helping you can do so at this link. Thanks.]