Alert! Bad jokes and vegan-musings ahead
So, am back in London once more, and hotdamn! it's sweltering… Although I’m not really a heat/sun person (someone remind me why I ever moved to Spain?) after this dreadful summer it’s actually quite nice. Being back at work felt easy peasy, what was depressing was when I realised on Friday afternoon I didn’t actually want the weekend to come – even if I sleep *a lot*, it still means at least 35 awake hours spent entirely on my own. Iik. Today I feel fine though, and having internet again (after about 3 months without it in the house) does help. While the messenger/facebook/blog combo is no long-term substitution for a social life, it does mean you don’t feel completely disconnected (because you’re connected! haha! and I’ve clearly spent to much time with my father again - Holger-humour alert...).
Still, something needs to be done. Even had a look at some volunteering opportunities, but nothing seemed appealing. I’m still hoping I’m going to find accommodation with people who actually talk to each other, preferably whilst in an actual living room. While it seems like a very luxurious concept at the moment, I don’t think it’s entirely impossible to achieve.
Today I engaged in my usual ‘longish-walk/sightseeing/light shopping' trek through London. My main purchase was a vegan cookbook (and oh my gosh, my spelling program doesn’t recognise vegan! how appropriate). Not that I think I’ll ever become 100% vegan – mostly for cultural and practical reasons. Now when I was home and travelling around I experienced just how much my choices inconvenience others, which makes me really uncomfortable. My main objection to meat is the whole breeding concept – inducing life just so it can suffer in horrible conditions and then kill it and chew on it, well. I just suddenly find it distasteful. I think I will continue eating fish though, as although I try to minimise it for sustainability reasons it doesn’t really clash too bad with this reasoning.
The main hurdle I still need to overcome is completely eliminating dairy products. As I’ve found out since I became vegetarian, milk production inevitably leads to meat production as the cows (or goats for that matter), need to give birth at least once a year to keep producing milk. The males go directly to slaughter (except for a select few that can be used for breeding), and become veal. So unless I start my own farm and keep the males alive just for the hell of it, I don’t see how I could ever justify it to myself. At the moment I’m incorporating more and more soy in my diet, so most likely I will keep to that when I do my own cooking but accept dairy when I’m a guest (end of lecture!).
There is still of course the remote possibility that I will one day wake up in oblivion and with the ability to not listen to my conscience, but this seems less and less likely, and really only occurs to me when I am hungover and everyone in the office is having a bacon sawnie.
Still, something needs to be done. Even had a look at some volunteering opportunities, but nothing seemed appealing. I’m still hoping I’m going to find accommodation with people who actually talk to each other, preferably whilst in an actual living room. While it seems like a very luxurious concept at the moment, I don’t think it’s entirely impossible to achieve.
Today I engaged in my usual ‘longish-walk/sightseeing/light shopping' trek through London. My main purchase was a vegan cookbook (and oh my gosh, my spelling program doesn’t recognise vegan! how appropriate). Not that I think I’ll ever become 100% vegan – mostly for cultural and practical reasons. Now when I was home and travelling around I experienced just how much my choices inconvenience others, which makes me really uncomfortable. My main objection to meat is the whole breeding concept – inducing life just so it can suffer in horrible conditions and then kill it and chew on it, well. I just suddenly find it distasteful. I think I will continue eating fish though, as although I try to minimise it for sustainability reasons it doesn’t really clash too bad with this reasoning.
The main hurdle I still need to overcome is completely eliminating dairy products. As I’ve found out since I became vegetarian, milk production inevitably leads to meat production as the cows (or goats for that matter), need to give birth at least once a year to keep producing milk. The males go directly to slaughter (except for a select few that can be used for breeding), and become veal. So unless I start my own farm and keep the males alive just for the hell of it, I don’t see how I could ever justify it to myself. At the moment I’m incorporating more and more soy in my diet, so most likely I will keep to that when I do my own cooking but accept dairy when I’m a guest (end of lecture!).
There is still of course the remote possibility that I will one day wake up in oblivion and with the ability to not listen to my conscience, but this seems less and less likely, and really only occurs to me when I am hungover and everyone in the office is having a bacon sawnie.
posted by LibrarianGirl at 9:16 em
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