“We place no reliance on virgin or pidgeon. Our method is science, our aim is religion.” -- Aleister Crowley

Environment I've spent the day in Chester beginning the preliminary round of my Christmas shopping which as you know can take many days and many hours of thought. I did manage to buy a few things, although as the years pass it is becoming more and more difficult to find the right thing and more importantly something which will actually be seen out after December 25th.

As I was passing through the Virgin Megastore nostalgically buying a copy of Betty Blue (Version very, very intégrale) the sales clerk asked me if I wanted a bag -- up until this point they've automatically put the goods into one. I nodded the affirmative and he put it into a brown recyclable paper bag (as opposed to the landfill friendly plastic). It's a small step towards helping the environment, but as I was walking out of the shop I considered why I needed a bag in the first place.

The dvd is already wrapped in plastic. I had my backpack with me which would have been a perfectly safe place to put it. Also, I visited a couple of charity shops on my way around town today also and bought a couple of cds and on both occasions the clerks were automatically going to put them in bags and I said 'I don't need a bag' which means I've been using a bizarre double standard that says 'New = bag' 'Second hand = doesn't deserve a bag'. Next time then, when I'm in a Virgin, I'll be letting my purchase go natural. So to speak.

And just while I'm here. It's always the quite, slightly sonorous, sycophantic ones, isn't it?

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