Prince of Wales on climate change

As Blair, Brown and everyone else continue to prevaricate on this most pressing issue, pretending that economics can somehow continue to take precedence over our very survival, it's good to see Prince Charles showing real leadership (see here).

I'm one step closer to ditching the car after a horrible accident on the road to Sudbury yesterday resulted in my having to kill a duck on the roadside that had been hit by our car. It was gloomy, the lights suddenly picked out a group of six crossing the road just yards ahead and despite slamming on the breaks I hit one. I've almost come to terms with it now - it's probably hypocritical getting so upset over an accident when I eat meat on a daily basis, but it was a stark reminder (not that I needed it) that these machines we drive so recklessly are dangerous, killing machines.

Toni has a new job for the New Year which will be in the centre of town, meaning she can ditch the car and use public transport. It makes it easier for us to drag ourselves out of our anti-social existence and go into town for meals and the cinema after she's finished work, plus get some much-needed exercise in the swimming pool. It reduces the car to occasional use, and who knows, yesterday's horrible event might finally persuade me to become a completely car-less family if we can find ourselves living happily without it. It would certainly be easier to do in a town like Colchester with decent public transport links than it was in Trowbridge... Might even persuade us to get the bikes out of the shed for short journeys to the large number of places to walk in the local area. But for now I guess just trying to use it as little as possible will be the order of the day.