Getting To Know Me

An update from me,
As expected I am neglecting this blog, treating you to about one post every 6 weeks... So where am I with my life? Still studying at The University of Northampton and working what seems like every other hour I have, thats not to say I don't enjoy it though! 

I'm currently sat in the library at university a tad bored and desperate to eat a croissant which I have in my bag, but I'm not entirely sure of the food in the library policy and the cleaner lady with her retro carpet sweeper looks like she could get vicious if I drop some crumbs. So instead of researching my notes from my lecture this morning and trying to fully understand the definitions of Biomediation, Anaerobic and Eutrophic I thought I'd let you get to know me better...

me

25 Questions Tag

What is your middle name?
James

What was your favourite subject at school?
Probably geography... Yeh, geography.

What is your favourite drink?
Just a cup of everyday basic tea (strong with only a dash of milk)

What is your favourite song at the moment?
Shamefully, I am a closeted Coldplay fan... Loving Missy Elliot//WTF atm too.

What is your favourite food?

I always answer pizza to this question, but I love a lot of foods including cakes, crisps and chocolate. Basically anything you shouldn't eat large quantities of, I eat large quantities of.

What is the last thing you bought?

Ummm... That temptress of a croissant.

Favourite book of all time?

Harry Potter! I did really enjoy The Series of Unfortunate Events books when I was younger though!

Favourite colour?

Blue/Yellow/Green I keep changing my mind

Do you have any pets?

A pet cat called Lucky, as a newborn kitten she was abandoned on our doorstep!

Favourite smell?

Cut grass? Roast Chicken? Weetabix?

Favourite Holiday?

Hard one to pick, I really enjoyed the South of France with my partner this summer

Are you married?

No

Have you ever been out of the UK, if so how many times?

Yes, many times... Not sure I could count exactly!

Do you speak any other languages?

A tiny amount of French & Danish, I'd love to fluently learn them though!

How many siblings do you have?

One brother, one half-brother and two step-brothers... Ladz ladz ladz!

What is your favourite shop?

I've always had a soft spot for M&S and Waterstones strangely... However I love having a good browse around the shops in town

Favourite restaurant?

Tap & Kitchen in Oundle is fab

When is the last time you cried?

Can't remember, was probably watching a period drama...

Favourite blog?

Ummm... A lecturer at uni blogs about ecology and I often have a quick read! My friend Sarah however is an actual real life blogging beauty so that always makes interesting reading...

Professor Jeff Ollerton

Sarah-Rose Goes

Favourite movie?

Harry Potter! Woman in Gold, Pride & Prejudice... I love too many films to list!

Favourite TV show?

Downton Abbey, I am embarrassingly absolutely engulfed by the whole franchise. I love Scandinavian crime dramas too... The Bridge, The Killing and Borgon are incredible!

PC or Mac?

Mac

What Phone do you have?

Black iPhone 6

How tall are you?

6ft3"

Can you cook?

I took GCSE Home Economics; Food & Nutrition and am willing to give most things a good go but I'm no Nigella. Sausage & mash is my speciality.

MJT

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Twitter- @TylerMattyJames

Instagram - tylermattyjames

New Here..? Let me introduce myself!

Northamptonshire Greenspaces Forum

Green & Local?
I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity through my lecturer (Dr Janet Jackson) to assist her in Northamptonshire's first ever Greenspace Forum. The forum is being established to allow communities, organisations and charities with similar interests and plans regarding greenspaces to come together to share, engage and assist each other. The attending parties including 'friends of' groups, The Wildlife Trust, River Nene Regional Park, Groundwork as well as borough and county council represtantives met at The University of Northampton on the 18th November. The groups were asked to think around four main questions...

1. What is working well?
2. What goals do you have?
3. What challenges do you face?
4. What measures/tools/skills do you need to move forward?

The School of Science & Technology at The University of Northampton

The wide range of answers reflected the great variety of groups that were in attendance, it was interesting to see that although on paper these groups shared vast amounts of common goals and aspirations for their own greenspaces, actually there were a few conflicts between the groups as to how these goals could/should be achieved. 

To briefly summarise only a fraction of the findings... The more urban based groups seemed to find anti-social behaviour and littering to be their main obstacle in achieving their goals whereas rural based groups struggled to find enough volunteers especially those of a younger more physically-able age to assist in the maintenance and running of the groups. However working together under the greenspaces forum, other groups who are in a similar situation or have managed to overcome those obstacles were able to advise, as well as having representatives from major organisations such as The Wildlife Trust or Groundwork to give their professional opinions.

If you're interested in finding out more about The Northamptonshire Greenspaces Forum or want to join up with your 'friends of' group (its never too late!), check out the useful link section below!

The forum was a great success in my opinion and I'm interested to see how this new group of likeminded individuals, community groups and organisations progresses. 

MJT

Useful Links

Northamptonshire Community Greenspaces (Facebook page)

Dr Janet Jackson- Senior lecturer in Environmental Ecology and Management

Stay Connected

Twitter- @TylerMattyJames

Instagram- tylermattyjames

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Pint of View

Milk Matters...
We all know that there is a constant battle between Britain's supermarkets to keep us customers revolving through their doors, they're forever tempting us with lower prices, better offers or fresher produce. The ever lowering price of groceries in a world where everything else seems to be getting more expensive is a mind boggler, how can the supermarkets afford to still make a profit?

-Farmers Weekly Campaign-

The answer is probably at the expense of someone else. We all know that the supermarkets (the bigger ones especially) have a bit of a reputation for being bullies when it comes to their buyers and suppliers, with all their power and might reigning over the market suppliers would rather be short changed than lose their contract with the supermarkets. The current average price for a litre of milk in Britain is 45p, the entirety of that forty-five pence has got to pay everyone in the chain of the milks production, distribution & retail: the farmer, the lorry driver, the shelf stacker, the checkout attendant, etc etc. is it much surprise that many dairy farmers are left feeling a little deflated about their income. 

-Not sure that the cows particularly enjoy standing in the dairy aisle all afternoon-

Many farmers and their supporters as you may have seen on the news recently have started taking matters into their own hands... We've seen tractors blocking the gates into big industrial dairy units, supporters buying every last carton of milk in a supermarket and then distributing to customers to raise awareness of their cause & now we've even seen live cows parked up in the fresh dairy aisle.

-Many farmers make a loss from their dairy herd-

The amount of dairy farms and young people choosing a career with the cows is on a constant decline, the industry on a whole needs a big boost before a time comes when the milk you pour over your morning Weetabix has come on a boat from a distant land. Imagine a Britain where the grassy pastures lay silent and the only cows you see are those dodgy (but kinda cool) concrete ones in Milton Keynes.

-Milton Keynes' famous concrete cows, bringing the country to the city-

The sensible thing for many of these struggling farmers to do would simply be to change jobs, for instance if you were in a job which took money from your account rather than paid you for your efforts, would you stick around for long? Problem is, for many dairy farming is not just a job, its a way of life. Many farms have been run by the same family for generations and to be the failing link in a long line of farmers, must be devastating. What about diversification? We see a lot of farmers expanding their income through new and interesting propositions: put aside a field and open a campsite? Music festival? Segway tours? The list is endless! I suppose for many diversification is easier said than done and many farmers do not possess the skills required to operate other commercial businesses successfully.

-Worthy Dairy Farm, Home of Glastonbury Festival- 

Raising awareness of this campaign for fairer pay and supporting your local farms and British farmers in general could make all the difference for many farmers and families across the country... Lets not forget however that it's not all doom & gloom across the industry. Some supermarkets such as Waitroise & Co-Op who are already renowned for their fairer, higher quality and forward thinking approach to your groceries are pledged to support their farmers. So, naturally although their milk prices are higher, everyone gets a fairer price and benefits from supermarket led schemes to encourage consumers to not only support, but buy British.

MJT

Stay Connected
Twitter - @TylerMattyJames
Instagram - tylermattyjames

New here..? Let me introduce myself!

New Here..? Let me introduce myself!

Hello, I'm back! 
To all of you new & old... After some serious neglect I have revived the deep earthy lungs of this blog, I've renamed it and hidden all my previous posts so we can start afresh! So with a handful of crisps and lashings of goodwill I'll make time to document my day to day thoughts, opinions & interesting snippets of information I stumble across. This is blog is more for my personal use as a method of ventilating my mind, however other minds are obviously more than welcome to come and peruse the depths of my posts.

A few things to mention; Don't come here expecting too much, that way you won't be disappointed- I'm no Shakespeare. Northamptonshire is my home and I love it dearly, expect a bombardment of posts dedicated to The Rose of The Shires, the home of Princess Dianna & England's best kept secret. The British countryside is another of my passions, I study about its inner workings at university and spending all my available free time stood in a field/village/forest surrounded by sheep/ramblers/pheasants is my idea of absolute bliss.

I thought I should also quickly mention where else you can find me on the wonder that is the world wide web! I'll link to my Twitter & Instagram below, but be warned that I am prone to getting in to very passionate ramblings on Twitter, about topics such as my addiction to Ribena, Scandinavian Crime Dramas, Antiques Roadshow & Caroline Quentin's choice of attire for clambering up piles of rubble on the BBC's Restoration Home. You can find peace however in my Instagram, which is usually just full of pictures of rural villages & the sky.

-The beautiful Caroline Quentin in a fetching tweed number-

Realistically I have absolutely no idea how often I am going to post, so lets not make a schedule for me to not stick to, but lets speak soon.

MJT


Stay connected
Twitter - @TylerMattyJames
Instagram - tylermattyjames


*Any posts you see posted before this post are part of the Blast From The Past Series, where I have republished popular posts from the older blog.