Making More Of Less

Back in February, I reviewed Patrick Grant's book Less. I really enjoyed the library copy - so bought my own [2nd hand, naturally] His book ends
"Having less but better would be a path to a healthier, more equal society, a source of hope for a better future for the many people of all ages living in what we call our post-industrial communities. Living with fewer , better things is an act of goodness and kindness to people and the planet, and it would make us all happier."

I was so excited to discover he was coming to Norwich to deliver the annual Patricia Clabburn Memorial Lecture and booked a ticket immediately. The event was on Saturday, I took my book... Look at it now! [he has his own Sharpie for signing, a bit like the President] He began by asking who has read the book [surprisingly few of us, I thought] and said there were some on sale in the Foyer*. The talk was, not unexpectedly, a rehash of the ideas in the book, with a few fresh anecdotes thrown in. 
He was urbane, and amusing, and the hour went very fast - then there was a Q&A session - but only time for three questions. I am sorry, I cannot remember the first was "if we buy clothes in charity shops, are we contributing to the Fast Fashion problem?" he said that Charities need our support, and if we are delaying the stuff going to landfill that has to be good. The second was "what about the environmental impact of polyester and synthetic fabrics, you haven't really mentioned that" he replied that he'd run out of time [true] but yes, we should be much more concerned about the fabrics used in our clothing. 30% of the microplastics in the ocean come from clothes**. The third was "I ran a sewing club in my village, because the girls had asked for one - but then they said 'why bother to make clothes, when it takes ages, and you can buy a garment cheaper in Primark and wear it the next day' - so how do we convince our children and grandchildren that fast fashion is a bad idea?" Patrick replied that it was difficult, we had to hope that buying ff will become uncool. He pointed out that vegetarians and vegans were niche groups until quite recently, but now it is more common and more acceptable. Hopefully attitudes to fast fashion will start to change among the younger generation... [Yes, that question was mine, I was really pleased to get his answer] Maybe we older people can make an impact if we try
When we arrived, the woman at the door said 'Patrick is over there and can sign books if you buy one' So I took mine out of my bag [nb mine is hardback, today's were the newer paperback version] After he'd signed I looked behind me, there was nobody else waiting, so I asked for a selfie. A steward stepped forward and offered to take it. It took her quite a few attempts

I am not sure about his expression here. I can't decide if he is thinking "oh dear another mad woman" or "she is as short as Esme" or [hopefully] "I hope this attempt at a photo works"

It was a good afternoon, the women on either side of me were extremely pleasant to chat with, and it was certainly worth the £10 ticket. 

* He also asked who the favourite was to win GBSB - the popular vote was Kit 

** Informative article about microplastics and school uniforms in Saturday's Guardian here