may the fun begin :)

Thom a tout juste quinze jours aujourd'hui. Ci-contre une photo prise hier, alors qu'il était en plein bain de soleil londonien, avec son doudou de Saint Jean de Braye, pour fêter ses deux semaines. Que la fête commence, maintenant que Thom est la.

Tellement de choses se sont passées lors de ces deux semaines, j'ai l'impression que cela fait plus longtemps que ça qu'il est vraiment parmi nous. Évidemment cela faisait un peu plus de neuf mois qu'il était la, mais maintenant qu'il est bel et bien la et le fait savoir haut et fort, c'est encore différent.

Les journées passent différemment, au rythme de Thom, des tétées, des siestes, des couches à changer... :)

Il est très inspirant ce petit bonhomme, il a une force en lui qui est très impressionnante. Depuis qu'il est né il est comme gravé dans notre esprit en permanence. Nous nous réveillons et nous endormons avec son image dans la tête, qui est tout le temps la. Nous avons constamment cette vision à l'esprit, c'est très fort. Depuis sa naissance j'ai vraiment sentie ce sentiment maternel s'emparer de moi, et j'ai pu observer un raz-de-marée paternel similaire s'emparer de Paul. C'est comme une énorme vague d'un sentiment indescriptible mais très fort, a l'égard de ce petit bonhomme qui est arrivé dans ce monde et qui a déjà fait preuve d'une grande force et d'une sacrée ténacité. Une grande source d'inspiration ce petit Thom :)

Bonne nuit,

Noémie.

Thom.

Ci dessous l'annonce que Paul a écrit, qui raconte la naissance de notre fils Thom, je vous la copie/colle telle qu'elle, avec la petite photo ci-dessous qui va avec :)

Thom Rimmer, Saturday 17 May 2008.

Hello,

On Wednesday the 7th of May, at 16:35, Thom Rimmer was born in a pool in our living room. At first it wasn't obvious, but the two midwives soon realised that he had the umbilical cord around his neck, and this meant that when he finally emerged, he wasn't breathing and was all floppy and a pale blue colour... It seems that he had been without oxygen for a little while and so needed to have his breathing resuscitated. One of the midwives was struggling to accomplish this, and it was only when I started talking to him that he opened his eyes and took a big inward breath!

Still though, he wasn't in the best shape, and so an ambulance was called to take Thom, Noemie and myself to St Thomas' Hospital in Westminster. Despite this unexpected turn of events, Noemie was doing so well and was focused completely on Thom. She did amazingly well throughout the entire labour and I was so proud of her. Despite being offered pain relief numerous times she never accepted!

So, Thom went straight to the intensive care unit where he underwent 50,000 tests, including having spinal fluid taken amongst other things... His condition began to stabilise after a couple of hours and he was looking much better. He stayed there for a couple of days before being transferred to Noemie's room in the post natal ward. We were so much happier when this happened as our time with had been fragmented and constantly interrupted until now. This was our first real opportunity to begin our roles as parents and give Thom the support and love that he desperately needed. He became so much calmer once he was spending all of his time with us and saved all of his crying for the needles that came around twice a day.

After spending five days in hospital, being constantly tested on and monitored, and after much deliberation, Thom was given the all-clear to head home which was such a relief as we could all finally be at home together.

Thom is now a week and a half old and is in great shape. He is a very easy going baby and great company too!

The whole post-birth experience was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster, but it has all ended well as Thom has a totally clean bill of health and everything has settled perfectly.

Here's to Thom!

Paul.

Activist Biscuits

Ci-dessous, le texte que Paul a écrit et envoyé à Howies, accompagné par une boite de cookies vegans faits maisons. Le texte a été posté sur le blog d'Howies ce matin, avec une photo des dits biscuits...

Written by Paul Rimmer

Someone who is considered to be an activist is generally thought to be a vigorous advocate for a cause, someone who is willing to risk their personal freedom in the great fight against exploitation. Such people are seen to be cementing their feet to the floor or chaining themselves to trees to protest against deforestation, or perhaps they are positioning themselves between a pod of sperm whales and a Japanese harpoon. Some wear balaclavas and operate at night, liberating our fellow earthlings from 'scientific research', while others choose to hang banners from parliament, raising awareness through the jugular of the media... These are all great people, and without them the populous would undoubtedly be even more ignorant than they are currently unaware of being.

However, it must be said that such acts of pure selflessness are not to be expected of everyone. Not everybody is comfortable participating in such a way, and some are quite simply not capable. Either way, it is totally unreasonable to expect everyone to revolt in such an organized manner, or even to revolt at all. Not everyone is cut out to be an 'activist'..........or are they?

It seems to me that the basic needs of this planet, its' ecosystems and all that dwell upon her are ignored and violated for a multitude of reasons, although they all have something in common - Consumer Capitalism. There are humans, animals, and huge areas of this planet that are exploited beyond imagination, all for an insatiable and unquenchable thirst for profit. There is never a point of satisfaction for profit, as it always wants to expand, increase, merge, cluster, globalize.....

The global economy has become a rather stifling and humid one, and this economic weather is set to get a lot worse. It's no use waiting for revolution, and attempts at radical change are all too often infiltrated and divided, or just simply destroyed. This planet is plundered for profit - profit which is generated by us buying stuff. Where there is demand, there are always products - products that have been created as fast as possible for as cheap as possible and designed to last 5 minutes. This is only made possible by some natural resource somewhere being completely exploited.

So what can the average Joe do about this? Surely it would be naïve to expect the general public to totally change their lifestyles in order to accommodate a sustainable and carbon neutral future..... Self sufficiency is an unattainable option for the over-populated herds. We have come to be utterly dependent on our market economy, and this is what got me thinking... A market economy basically means that we decide what we buy. If we create a demand for something, it will appear, if the demand disappears, so does the product. This puts us in a very powerful position, one that so few people recognize. Our power as consumers is perhaps the greatest power we have in this society, and by creating the demand for ethical products, WE can help reverse the adverse effects consumer capitalism is having on the world WE live in. WE can choose to buy less of the things WE don't really need. WE can choose to buy things that aren't made in places where human, animal and environmental welfare is an alien concept.
WE are capable of not being fooled by marketing campaigns that convince us WE need stuff that WE clearly don't. WE are capable of taking the responsibility of ethical conduct away from the people whose only concern is to generate yet more profit, and WE can be responsible ourselves by creating an increased demand for ethically produced goods that benefit people, animals and the environment. In this respect, WE ALL have the capacity to be activists.

Better still, we can stop buying things that we can make ourselves. Just think of how much more impact a pre-packaged, mass produced product has on the environment than one you have made, selecting the raw materials yourself from only the finest ethical sources. It seems to me that we can all make a huge positive imprint on the world, by the simple method of ethical consumerism and making things ourselves. Reducing the need to use a car (or use it at all), using as many organic products as we can, recycling everything, composting, growing our own fruit and vegetables, visiting the supermarket less, refusing to use plastic bags, buying local and seasonal food, home cooking and baking our own bread... these are all ways that we can be active in the fight against exploitation, without any need for violating the 'Domestic Terrorist Act'.....

Even something as seemingly innocent and inconsequential as making biscuits can be an act of ethical rebellion. These biscuits have been made as ethically as possible, and demonstrate that doing things yourself truly does reap a sweeter result! They are 100% vegan, 100% organic, and 100% made by me. Of course, making biscuits isn't going to save the world, but it demonstrates the point that we all have the ability to affect a huge positive change in our world, by taking back the responsibility that capitalism has stolen from us. It is up to us whether consumerism is the grotesque monster that it currently is, or whether it is a reforming monster that is attempting to rectify its' deeds of the past. It is up to us, as we are very much in the driving seat.

Using biscuits as one example out of many, commercial biscuits often contain additives and preservatives that make them taste unnaturally sweet and last a long time, but once they are off the supermarket shelves, how long do they need to last for? Not long at all. The ingredients all too often come from overseas where some people get a raw deal for their hard work in producing them, and they are usually not 100% organic even if the packaging states that they are, sometimes being as little as 2% organic... Then the ingredients are shipped over long distances using up huge quantities of fuel and causing tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide emissions (food production and distribution uses up eight tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per UK household per year). Then the packaging needs to be manufactured, and if we're lucky it will be made in this country. Even so, large amounts of energy will be used in this production process, contributing yet again to the endless stream of pollution - all for a packet of biscuits.

By taking time to find the right places, we can find all the necessary ingredients which are organic, locally produced and either without packaging or at least with recycled packaging. We can ensure that the carbon emissions from our biscuits are at an absolute minimum, and that none of the ingredients have been tested on animals or contain any additives or preservatives. This process doesn't take long and once you have found places to get your ingredients, you know for next time. One of the best aspects of making your own biscuits is that it can be an activity that you can take part in with other people... Everyone likes the smell of biscuits in the oven and certainly the eating of them afterwards!

Here is the recipe for my activist biscuits..... Enjoy!

Chocolate Almond Activist Biscuits

Ingredients -

• 50g organic almonds
• 100g organic dark chocolate
• 140g organic plain flour
• 50g organic caster sugar
• Pinch of sea salt
• 85g organic vegan margarine
• Splash of organic rice milk

Equipment -

• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutters
• Nut grinder/food processor
• Flat baking sheets
• Wire rack

1) Pre-heat the oven to 160 C/Gas Mark 3.
2) Bake the almonds in the oven for 20 minutes. Leave them to cool, then grind them in a food processor, nut grinder or similar. Finely grate the chocolate.
3) Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the sugar and salt and mix through, then cut in the margarine, rubbing it in with your fingers.
4) Add the almonds and the chocolate, and form this into a dough with a splash of rice milk.
5) Roll out on to a floured surface 3-5mm thick, then use the cutters to cut into shapes and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until they start going brown underneath. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
6) Eat!