I did quite a bit of driving this weekend, but i ended up buying a trangia style cookset from Blacks, and some fuel called greenheat. This is an eco-friendly fuel made from by-products of sugar cane. Whilst the idea of a gas twin burner was tempting, i was uneasy about using even more non-renewable energy. The trangia uses meths, which is more environmentally friendly. However, i was a bit scared of maths, so i googled for alternative fuels and found greenheat. Each pack comes with two cans of a gloopy greengel. The can is supposed to fit in the tangia where the burner normally goes, but the eurohike trangia knock-off is a little smaller, so the can didn't fit. I poured the gel into the burner instead and this worked well. The first go, it lit for a short while but then went out. Perhaps i had filled it too much? The second go, there was a definate pop sound, and the gel light. You can't see the light, but you can feel the heat. I put a tin of beans, sausages, potatoes etc in a pan and left to heat. It didn't take that long to heat through and have a warm meal for me! The actual food wasn't that great, so i won't be doing those for breakfast at gorsley.

I'm going to experiment over the next few weeks, so that when i'm actually there i am confident that i can feed myself! I'm planning on cooking pasta, maybe a lentil curry, some minced beef stew affair, and more pasta! I'll throw in a couple pf pastansauce's and some dried rice meals for snacks. tins are heavy, but i'm coming in the car, and of course they won't be there on the way back.

I made a start on tma05 part one, a little under half way through, and a plan for the rest of it. Part two is one of the longest essays i've had to do through the OU. I can't get myself motivated at all to write. I have around 31 days, although several of those are going to by Gorsley days, so i do need to get started with this. I am again instituting my 100 words a day rule, so that I can do it at a steady pace, but i'm still finding it hard. Maybe i need a break from OU? That said, i will get a few months break over christmas, maybe that will be enough?

Had to fork out for car tax on Saturday, but i've now added that to my monthly saver, so next January, there will be no big shock. So again, i now have left my credit card, and future spends on mots and fixing the car. That said i do have to pay 55 quid for Gorsley...

There is a little bit of expenditure for my camping adventures, but once i have most of the stuff, thats it. Just refueling and more food. I wouldn't mind a tent with a little porch, so i could have somewhere to sit and do stuff when it rains, but thats way off (plus would i even be able to put it up?)

posted by small 3:28 PM