I have some news.  Today will be my last day steadying-ish the helm of the Carnaby Street store.

I have had an amazing time working for howies – a company that really does what it says on the tin.  It isn’t a marketing facade, the people who work for this company really are splendid – and what they are trying to do in changing the way people conduct business is actually working!  

I have been given the opportuntiy to move on and work with Sustrans on a variety of sustainable transport policy issues.  I am excited about what the future holds and also grateful for what I have learned and experienced over the past seven months.

It isn’t really a proper goodbye since I will still be loitering around at the Wee Do lectures and helping out with the occasional sample sale.  Also I have been promised a starring role in the next catalogue shoot – along with my own trailer and cold sparkling water whenever I ask.  So that is nice.

Without being too gushy, yet also also engaging with my sensitive nature, I wanted to thank all the customers who have come into the store over the past few months.  You guys have some seriously interesting lives.  Thanks for sharing your stories, jokes, cakes, germs, and giggles. 

Finally, if you haven’t yet had the chance to stop by the London store you are really missing out.  There are six really awesome people waiting for you to come in – so why not take five minutes, over the coming weeks or months, and pop in to say hello……..I promise it will be worth your while.

Hold onto your hats people!  We have the wonderful people (and dogs) from Battersea Dogs Home coming in next Tuesday 3rd November (7.30pm) to give a Wee Do lecture on their work – they will be bringing in two of their canine friends to assist with providing the more technical elements of the talk.

This is going to be a fantastic event.  We are massive dog people here at the Carnaby Street store - next to our till we have two dog breed books, a pack of 3d dog cards, and four dog puzzles.  We all prefer mutts, but we also just put together our top five dog breed lists to celebrate the moment.  What would yours be?

As an added bonus we are providing a sneaky 10% discount, for half an hour, at the end of the talk – just a little bonus seeing as we just took delivery of our winter collection. 

As usual the talk is free – however if you put your name down, but are unable to make it please let us know since others will loose out otherwise – just contact us at the store (0207 287 2345 / carnabyst@howies.co.uk).  We will also have free organic beer and juice. 

We will be taking donations from attendees for Battersea Dogs Home should you feel so inclined. 

To say that I am excited is not a lie.

We had a large delivery today of mens grey Drovers, Audreys, Brooks, Downhill Jumpers, and mens polo shirts – among other things!

So, don’t wait until the weekend!  We are open till 8pm Thursday and 7pm the rest of the week.

Oh, and we also have a cheeky deal on some older teepay Tees – £15 each or 3 for £30.  Beautiful.

(….there is also a rumour going around that the next Wee Do in London is Battersea Dogs Home – and they are bringing dogs!)

and here is a clip from our BioRegional Wee Do!

I have been a little remiss.  I haven’t been quite as quick on the posting of Wee Do clips as in the past.  So, as a result, I am posting two (of three) clips today. I realise that this may cause interest overload and result in a insatiable desire to see the full length versions.  However, I feel that it is worth the risk.  The full talks will be available in the wink of an eye (or a tug of the trouser leg if you happen to be a mason) on the Do Lectures Website.  Until then please enjoy these wee snippets.

…..if it was only a few degrees colder, it would be snowing!

This January my wife is due to give birth to our first baby.  We are really, really excited.  However, we are also a a little bit bummed that we most likely won’t be heading the mountains this winter. 

But that is okay – we were hugely fortunate to get in over 50 days in two years living in Colorado – and at somepoint in the next two or three years we hope to call the mountains home once again. 

Until such a time, we can at least get our fix from watching movies.  Maybe. 

Enjoy.

Since I last blogged about our Rainforest Foundation Wee Do event, one week ago, over 140,000 acres of rainforest has either been burned or cut down. 

The numbers are staggering – to help gain perspective why not find out a little more about the work of the Rainforest Foundation.   We are literally destroying this planet’s lungs on a daily basis – help by coming along and learning how we can kick the habit.

Tuesday 20th October – 7.30pm.  Tickets (which are free) are running low but we still have a few left.  We will have free organic beer and juice available.

On Wednesday we will be having a model shoot for our next catalogue……….to celebrate we are seeking musical suggestions for wednesday.

What music should we be listening to in the shop on Wednesday?  Obviously it needs to be “shop friendly-ish” – other than that we are open to all, and any, suggestions. Perhaps it would be funny to suggest songs that have a “model” connection?

We are hoping to have our spotify account linked up to the stereo. 

Why not come in on Wednesday – say hello to the models, listen to some eclectic world music chosen by you (the people), take a look at our full Autumn lineup, and finally have a nice chat with us.

Hopefully see you Wednesday!

“We cannot sit back and watch plant species disappear like so many lights going off in the darkness”

- Paul Smith, Millennium Seed Bank

The wild banana seed (Musa itinerans) marks the 10% mark for Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank – a project which aims to collect and conserve seeds from 25% of the world’s flowering plants by 2020.

The seed bank partnership, which involves more than 120 organisations in 54 countries, stores the seeds under conditions that will allow them to be regrown should the need arise.  All samples are kept at Wakehurst Place, West Sussex, where they are stored in temperature controlled underground vaults. 

Over the next ten years the aim is to secure a further 15% of the world’s seeds - with a focus on bio-diversity, food security, and climate change. 

As exciting, and scientifically significant, as I think the project is – I hope that we never get to the point where we have to turn to the seed bank, beyond reinstating what are already seriously endangered species.  However, unless we put a halt to climate change, redress our intensive agricultural methods, and slow the destruction of our natural habitat we may not need to test the longevity of the storage process much beyond fifty years. 

What seed would you want to see saved?  It is hard to decide.  I think that my choice would be an acorn from the English Oak.  Obviously, I would be relying on other people to save seeds from plants that I could actually eat…….

It should be a fantastic talk – the organisation have just celebrated their 20th Anniversary in London. 

Tickets are free – just give us a ring (0207 287 2345) or email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) to reserve your ticket.  We will also have free organic beer (Pitfield) and fruit juice available. 

The talk will start at 7.30pm.  Look forward to seeing you there.

My wife and I did a car boot sale this past weekend.  It was successful for a number of reasons:

- We made (after entry fee and coffee) £75

- We got rid of pretty much everything

- We learnt that there are some serious early morning “Booters” who come as you are setting up equipped with torches, walkie talkies, and a keen eye for a bargain…..these people frightened us.

In the run up to getting ready for the sale (ie/ at about 11pm the night before) I was sorting through my books.  I fully admit that I have something of a problem when it comes to the purchasing of reading material.  I cannot go into a book shop without coming out with a book.  About a year ago, I had a serious clearout and took about 100 books to Oxfam (to try and balance my carbon footprint having moved them accross the US twice and once to London).

While scouring my bookshelf for potential car boot merchandise, I discovered a whole bunch of books that – for one reason or another - I had not got round to reading.  So it looks as though I will be good on the reading front for a while – sorry Mark (owner of the Kew Bookshop) I may not be around until some point in the new year!

PS – And yes, the wallpaper on my computer is Barbara from The Good Life……………..

Whenever I think about a new bike, in particular a new mountain bike, my mind usually flits briefly to the possibility of purchasing a Moots.  However, that fantasy is usually checked within a few moments as reality once again gains the upper hand. 

Moots make lovely bikes.  They also make very expensive bikes.  However, you really do get what you pay for.  It is a family run business based in the truely beautiful Rocky Mountain town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado - if you get the chance you must visit for the skiing/riding, flyfishing, hiking, mountain biking, breakfast, micro breweries…….and take a tour of the Moots building.

The Moots blog is also worth the occasional read.

So here is to good/faintly unobtainable taste on a wet monday evening in London!

This awesome story appeared in the Independent over the weekend.  Clay Marzo is about to turn the surfing world on it’s head with his fearless style and natural ability. 

The clarity of mind that he possess in a wave is in stark contrast to his difficulties when on dry land.  Clay was diagnosed with Asperger’s a couple of years ago and, as a result, he finds social interaction difficult.  However, some believe that his condition may partially help to give him an edge in the water due to his ability to predict how a particular wave will break. 

His story is captured in a new film, which goes onto itunes next month, called Just Add Water.

If you happen to be passing through Carmarthen over the next few weeks make sure you stop by the Oriel Myrddin gallery and check out Edwina Bridgemans’s installation.  She has put together an incredible exhibit that has been inspired by the loss of hundreds of Britain’s orchards over the past few years.

This BBC link provides a brief slideshow of the problems associated with the loss of orchards in the uk. 

If this has got you into the mood here is a nice little recipe for apple pie:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ApplePie.html

Tonight (Tuesday at 7.30pm) we have BioRegional coming in to give a talk as part of our Wee Do lecture series. 

As well as working on the sustainability strategy for Londons 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, BioRegional have also developed a strategy for One Planet Living.

BioRegional have worked with developers to promote the above 10 principles of One Planet Living.  Through a range of practical projects and partnershps accross the world, Bioregional have demonstrated how we can live within our fair share of the worlds resources.

The talk (which starts at 7.30pm) has proven popular, but we still have a few tickets available.  To sign up for your free ticket to tonights event please ring (0207 287 2345) or email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk).  There will be free organic beer and fruit juice as always!

BioRegional is an entrepreneurial charity which initiates and delivers practical solutions that help us to live within a fair share of the earth’s resources – their vision is of thriving regional economies where we meet more of our needs from local, renewable and waste resources, enabling people to enjoy a high quality of life - what they call one planet living. 

The Wee Do will take place this Tuesday (22nd Sep) evening at 7.30pm.  As usual we will have organic beer and juice for general consumption – free of charge of course!

Places are limited so please contact us via phone (0207 287 2345) or email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) to secure a free ticket!

We had a great time. 

Here is a photo – the video clip (followed by full podcast) will be out soon!

Do you fancy taking your fixed gear onto the track?  Here is a video from The Guardian, which gives you a taster of what it feels like the first time you take to the circuit.

If you are in London and fancy giving it a go, you should get yourself down to the Herne Hill Velodrome, which is the last remaining finals venue from the 1948 London Olympics.  Bradley Wiggins started at Herne Hill, so you never know where a trip out to South London will take you – and afterwards you should reward yourself with a cheeky beverage at The Florence, which happens to be one of my favorite pubs in London.

My friend Adam is currently hiking from Canada to Mexico following the Continental Divide Trail.  This is not the first time that he has hiked the length of the country he calls home.  He has previously hiked the Appalachian Trail (of Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods, fame) and the Pacific Crest Trail.  When he isn’t hiking thousands of miles, Adam is a graphic designer (working for Nike and Burton snowboarding) living in Portland, Oregon.  He is hoping to pop over to Blighty for a visit once he finishes – I have asked if he would mind giving a Wee Do on his latest adventure, and he is up for it so watch this space! 

The above photos include a hiking tanline contest, a rare visit to a local town for ice cream, and a fairly routine view.

In the meantime you can follow Adam’s adventures on his awesome blog:

http://www.everythingsgonnabeok.com

Here is a short clip of our last Wee Do with the Hungry Cyclist. It was an awesome talk and we wish Tom all the luck for his next journey, cycling up the Mekong River.

The full version will be available on the Do Lectures website shortly.

Our next Wee Do takes place on Tuesday 25th August and we have the girls from Cooler Magazine coming in to talk biking, skating, and surfing.  It should be really good.  We still have a handful of free tickets left, so if you want one please give us a ring (0207 287 2345) or drop us an email (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) and we will be sure to put one aside for you. 

As always organic beer (thanks to Pitfield) and soft drinks will be available free of charge.

Hailing from Portland, Oregon – MC SpandX sums up the absurdity of being a little too keen on one particular cycling identity.  It made me chuckle…….

Spandex festooned road cyclists have had fun poked at the them for a while now – it is amusing to see hipsters get a little bit of flak too, although bless them…..they have been through a lot recently with the release of the movie Bruno.  Anyone else see the resemblance…..or is it just me? 

I found the clip on Bike Portland’s fantastic website – if you ever get the chance, it is a great city to ride your bike around!

A big thank you to Tom (aka the Hungry Cyclist) for coming in and giving such an awesome talk on his journey from NYC to Rio – and all food that enjoyed on the way.  Judging by all the emails we have received you guys liked it too!!

A video clip will be up shortly and then the full downloadable podcast to follow. 

Good luck to Tom with his ride up the Mekong River – we will be sure to have him back in to tell us all about it. 

In two weeks time we have the guys from Cooler magazine coming in to talk about girls and action sports.

Here is a clip from our Cycle Chic lecture at the last Wee Do.  Thanks again to Caz for coming in and giving such an illuminating talk.  The full length video should be available to download from The Do Lectures website this month.

Tomorrow we have the Hungry Cyclist coming in to give a talk on his love of cycling and food.  It should be really good.  Unfortunately, we have given away all the tickets, but we always get cancellations so give us a ring tomorrow and we will see if we can fit you in.

Last night in London it was raining cats and dogs.  We closed the shop at 8pm and I started my ride home at about 8.15pm.  My shorts were soaked in about 30 seconds – even before I reached Regent Street.  By the time I rode past the US embassy my boxers were saturated.  My ride takes me through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, along Kensington High Street, into Hammersmith, along the river to Chiswick Bridge, across the bridge, and finally along the river to Kew. My commute is usually pretty great – of the 9.5 miles, I have 5.5 of it on footpaths, singletrack, and towpaths.  However, last night was the best work-related ride I have had in a while.  I stopped and took the above photo of the river at low tide in between Hammersmith and Chiswick bridges – this city always has a surprise up it’s sleeve.

How do you fancy becoming a beneficial owner of a nice plot of land just outside of London, whilst also putting a stop to a third runway being built at Heathrow Airport?  Airplot is free and part of a Greenpeace initiative to save the village of Sipson, prevent a significant increase in carbon emissions, and protect the local flora and fauna.

You can download the Greenpeace briefing on The Case Against Heathrow Expansion here

It is a fantastic initiative and it just shows what we can achieve when thousands of people come together – the hope is to get 100,000 individuals signed up onto the land deed, which will delay the planning process to such a degree that the plans for expansion will be dropped. 

The aim is to get every howies staff member signed up – why not take the time to do it too!

Last night we had Caz from Cycle Chic come in and give a Wee Do lecture on starting your own business, cycling in London, and putting the glamour back into riding a bike. 

We had a full house and the questions came thick and fast at the end of the talk. 

We really appreciate Caz taking the time to come in and talk. 

The full podcast will be available to download shortly.  Keep an eye out for a video clip of the talk, which will be posted tomorrow.

Here is a quick clip from our Wee Do with Chris from Hackney City Farm.  The full talk will be available as a podcast via our Do Lectures website shortly.

It was a fantastic talk and a visit to the Farm is a real break from the hectic city.

The howies shop on Carnaby Street has recently got involved with the Soho Community Environment Fund.  A study has been released, involving Westminster City Council, the Soho Community Environment Fund, The Crown Estate, English Heritage, and Shaftesbury PLC.  The project – Retrofitting Soho, Improving the Sustainability of Historic Core Areas – aims to address the sustainability challenges of historic, mixed-use, and urban areas, in particluar that of Soho.  The aim is to reduce local carbon emissions and improve resouce use efficiency.  This project would be used to demonstrate how greater sustainability can be achieved in the Soho area, and then used as a test case in other cities around the world. 

As a company, howies already does a great deal to ensure that we are as sustainable as possible.  However, there is always more that can be done.  I was hoping that you would help us in providing suggestions as to how the London store, and Soho in general, could make greater strides towards total sustainability.  Any suggestions would be gratefully recieved. 

If you are interested here is the link to the Retrofitting Soho report – it is well worth a read.

Our sale here in Carnaby Street is reaching a frenzy.  We now have an amazing selection of men’s and women’s merino on sale for up to 50% off.  We currently have a decent selection of sizes, styles (long and short sleeve) and colours.  Winter might not be here yet, but that is no reason not to stock up! We also have a fair amount of our light merino on sale, which is brilliant for sporting activities all year round.

Real Time Carbon is a really useful website, which approximates how the carbon footprint of a unit of energy changes depending on the time of day.  It allows us to ascertain the best times to run our dishwashers, washing machines, and other appliances.  I was amazed that, according to the website, you can reduce your emissions by as much as 40% depending on when you choose to use energy.

At the time of posting (10.39am), each unit of electricity I am using causes 405 grams of CO2.  However, if I had chosen to post this blog at 5am I would have only caused approximately 286 grams of CO2 per unit .  That would have mean’t a pretty early start, but it does make you think about what you can run when the impact is reduced.

We are in need of an extra set of hands at our Carnaby St store.

We need someone who can work either a Saturday or Sunday each week.

Do you regularly either skate, ride, climb, surf, or generally enjoy outdoor sport?

Do you like books, music, design, and technology – not all necessarily equally!

If the answer is yes to the above then we would love for you to send us a CV (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) and also please attach the answers to the following questions:

1) What sport do you participate in most regularly?

2) Do you have a favorite magazine?

3) Coffee or tea (or neither)?

4) Best book you read in the last twelve months?

5) Best album you listened to in last twelve months?

6) Cats or dogs?

7) What do you want to be when you grow up?

8) If you had the power to fix one thing that is wrong with the world – what would it be?

Send your applications to us by the 31st July. If you have applied in the past please reapply.  Look forward to hearing from you :)

I was doing my usual ride into work this morning on my old Falcon.  The bike must be 25-30 years old and it usually creaks like crazy.  I was waiting at a red light on the big roundabout in Hammersmith.  As the light turned green I pedalled off, pulling up on the handlebars for extra leverage.  Before I knew it the handlebar had broken in half and I was left waving the righthand side around above my head – with the brake lever still attached.  Obviously this was kind of embarassing.  Therefore, I proceeded to pretend nothing had happened and carefully wheeled the bike to the nearest rack holding the bar in place.  This fooled noone and there were a fair few smiles. 

I then ended up catching the tube from Hammersmith into work.  Now I need to figure out how I am going to get the Falcon home tonight.  However, I can’t really complain because I got really lucky – that scenario could have gone very pear-shaped had I been riding at speed or in heavy traffic. 

The trials and tribulations of the daily commute.

I came across an interesting article in todays Independent, which analysed what the UK would be like if it were a village of 100 people. 

It threw up some really eye catching facts.  I found it sad that there would be more mobile phones and televisions than people.  Yet there would only be one teacher. 

I found it really helpful having the UK scaled down to this size.  It certainly makes it very clear where our excesses and shortages lie. 

Were there any facts that caught your eye? 

(The article also comes with a  selection of wonderful illustrations by Laurent Taubin, which are well worth a look).

We hope those who have attended  a past Wee Do enjoyed the experience.  We have certainly enjoyed putting them on.  We are really excited about the line up for the rest of 2009 – so much so, we have decided to let you in on who we have coming up:

London:

28th July – Cycle Chic (http://londoncyclechic.blogspot.com/)

11th August – The Hungry Cyclist (http://www.thehungrycyclist.com/)

25th August – Cooler Magazine (http://coolermag.com/)

8th September – Prick Your Finger (http://prickyourfinger.blogspot.com/)

22nd September – Shared Interest (http://www.shared-interest.com/)

6th October – Liberty TBC (http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/)

20th October – Rainforest Foundation (http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/)

3rd November – Battersea Dogs Home (http://www.battersea.org.uk/)

17th November – Respect the Mountains (http://www.respectthemountains.com)

1st December – Salomon and Libtech Snowsports (http://www.salomonsports.com/uk/)

15th December – Good Energy (http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/)

Bristol:

24th July – Richard Spink from Carbon Neutral Expeditions (http://carbonneutralexpeditions.com/)

August  – Bristol Beer Factory (http://www.bristolbeerfactory.co.uk/)

September – Jon Bradshaw: Explorer

October – Fifty Fifty Skate Crew

November – Nick Hand (http://twitter.com/nickhand)

December – Fairbridge (http://www.fairbridge.org.uk/)

We look forward to seeing you at a Wee Do in the near future!

Today in the London store we are listening to:

Vampire Weekend, Starsailor, Phoenix, Seasick Steve, Fanfarlo, Modest Mouse, TV on the Radio, and Discovery.

What are you listening to right now?

We need someone who can work either a Saturday or Sunday each week.

Do you regularly either skate, ride, climb, surf, or generally enjoy outdoor sport?

Do you like books, music, design, and technology – not all necessarily equally!

If the answer is yes to the above then we would love for you to send us a CV (carnabyst@howies.co.uk) and also please attach the answers to the following questions:

1) What sport do you participate in most regularly?

2) Do you have a favorite magazine?

3) Coffee or tea (or neither)?

4) Best book you read in the last twelve months?

5) Best album you listened to in last twelve months?

6) Cats or dogs?

7) What do you want to be when you grow up?

8) If you had the power to fix one thing that is wrong with the world – what would it be?

Send your applications to us by the 31st July. If you have applied in the past please reapply.  Look forward to hearing from you :)

It starts at 7.30pm-ish, there will be organic beer and juice, and tickets are free.

Just give the shop a call (0207 287 2345), or better still pop in and see our smiling faces, and we will put your name down for a ticket. 

There are around 5 tickets left so if you want to come you had better get in quick!

I have just recently started commuting on my bike from Kew to Soho.  The ride is 9.5 miles one way.  Of that distance 5.5 miles of it is off road – following the Thames path and cutting thorugh Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park.  It is an amzing route and I feel like I get a really good workout every day. 

But.

The above enterprise makes my meagre 100 miles a week look like chicken feed. 

Where do I sign up – and does anyone have a spare tandem?

WOOD is an exhibition of ethically designed products for the home and garden designed by TEN, which is a group of 10 designers who collaborate once a year.  The exhibition is on from the 14th July until 29th August at the Oriel Myrddin Gallery in Carmarthen, Wales.

You can check out some more photos on the Guardian website.