{"@context":{"rdf":"http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#","rdfs":"http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#","owl":"http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#","foaf":"http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/","dc":"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/","dct":"http://purl.org/dc/terms/","sioc":"http://rdfs.org/sioc/types#","blog":"http://vocab.amy.so/blog#","as":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#","mf2":"http://microformats.org/profile/","ldp":"http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#","solid":"http://www.w3.org/ns/solid#","view":"https://terms.rhiaro.co.uk/view#","asext":"https://terms.rhiaro.co.uk/as#","dbp":"http://dbpedia.org/property/","geo":"http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#","doap":"http://usefulinc.com/ns/doap#","time":"http://www.w3.org/2006/time#"},"@graph":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/09/chair","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"
I finally picked a place to live in Bulgaria in November, and what swung it mostly was a chair in the apartment that looks super comfortable and like I could be very productive in that chair. The important things.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-09-29T21:30:00+01:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/life"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/09/reflections-climate","@type":"as:Article","as:content":"Since my day job is part of a workers' co-op, it doesn't make sense to strike against ourselves.
\r\n\r\nInstead, we're spending time conducting a thorough review of our internal policies (travel and equipment expenses mostly, but also what powers our servers etc) to find and act on areas where we can minimise our environmental impact. We're also looking for ways the co-op as an organisation can take some of the burden from individuals to help make environmentally friendly decisions in day-to-day work and home life. Because it's no one person's individual responsibility* and it is at best unfair, at worst impossible, to expect people to take the weight of the world on top of their immediate concerns; any real change will only happen at organisation, collective, corporate levels. We're a small organisation, but the least we can do are things like:
\r\nAnd besides that, we're a remote organisation, so homeworking or local coworking spaces mean none of us are required to commute, and we don't have to power an office space. We also consider carefully the work we do (things for public good) and who we take money from, and every member of the co-op has equal input in this. Not to mention - we are a co-operative. We provide an alternative to power-hungry, profit-driven, top-down companies beholden to greedy shareholders; our existence is a protest in itself as best we can muster given we still need to function in a capitalist society.
\r\n\r\nThis afternoon we had a meeting, optional, to share our collective trauma over the current state of the world**. Some of us will go out and find our local #ClimateStrike protests to join.
\r\n\r\nIt's small, and seems kind of futile in the grand scheme of things. Why even bother? What difference are fewer than 20 people going to make? It seems like most people are in a complete state of cognitive dissonance, and who can blame them? The best we've got is to scrape together our collective energy - make space for our colleagues to breath and take stock - and do the small things. Nobody is under the illusion that this is going to fix the problem overnight. But at the very least we can spread the message, the intent, the energy to our friends, family, and possibly our clients, who might spread it onwards. I'm trying to write this from a position of hopefulness, rather than my usual semi-apathetic nihilism, and honestly, it's a struggle.
\r\n\r\nI count myself lucky to have co-workers who are open to talking frankly about these issues and making changes at an organisational level, when many people can't or won't even do that. It's reassuring and even delightful to be able to bring my personal ethical stances to a group without feeling like an annoying nag. For example:
\r\n\r\nI mostly do these things quietly, for myself. But if it comes up, I can use myself as evidence that living this way is possible, and to encourage other people to try it out even just occasionally to start with. And to offer my now years of experience with inconvenient land travel planning and finding vegan food in veg-hostile places to anyone who needs help.
\r\n\r\nI'm aware that the fact I travel has a negative environmental impact in itself. In order to be able to do that, I make more extreme tradeoffs for a lot of things to try to offset that. Things I should be doing better:
\r\nWhen I fall short I try not to make excuses for myself, but I do sometimes. When I have energy to be, I'm angry at people with privilege and power who make excuses to not even make the smallest of changes to their own lives. I'm angry at people who use other peoples' disadvantages and circumstances as an excuse to not change their own behaviour, or scapegoat those less fortunate than themselves (see: disabled people and plastic straws; food deserts or poverty and particular diets). I'm angry at the society and power structures that make this happen.
\r\n\r\nBut mostly I'm not angry, just dead inside.
\r\n\r\nAnyway.. counting my blessings, noting my privileges, trying not to bury my head; acknowledging the futility without giving up hope entirely, supporting and being supported by people who feel the same.
\r\n\r\n* Though there are a few powerful individuals who could make a big difference if they weren't such greedy and/or oblivious assholes, of course.
\r\n\r\n** In the last minutes of the meeting, it was proposed to make a time-tracker job for \"existential crisis\" and log hours against that where necessary to see how much it's really costing our business.
","as:name":"Reflections prompted by #ClimateStrike","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-09-20T16:58:00+02:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"http://opendataservices.coop"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/apocalypse"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/climatestrike"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/coop"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/life"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/environment"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/ods"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/work"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/09/to-rwot9","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"On the way to RWOT9 from Bulgaria, my bus got stuck at the Serbia-Hungary border for SEVEN HOURS, so I missed the entire pre-RWOT meetup in Vienna and my train to Prague. And I have no food and a headache. And I'm still in Hungary.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-09-01T17:07:00+02:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/rwot9"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/09/vegan-donut","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"There's a vegan donut shop in Prague less than ten minute walk from where I'm staying. Indecisive, I entered, and asked the guy working there which was his favourite. He said salted caramel, so I asked for that and a matcha one (because who buys one donut at a time anyway?). The pb&j was really calling to me though so I figured what the heck. Then he offered me a wild berry and vanilla for free.
Anyway the thing I love about being a grownup is that nobody can stop me from having donuts for dinner.
\r\n","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-09-11T17:40:00+02:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/cake"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/prague"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/food"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/09/week-in-review","@type":"as:Article","as:content":"After two days of buses, arrived in Bulgaria as planned in time to not have to cross any borders around brex- oh they moved it again. To correspond exactly with my next UK visit. Again.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-10-30T23:29:00+02:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/brexit"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/life"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/10/week-in-review-2","@type":"as:Article","as:content":"Bulgarians who don't speak any English when you need directions or to know how much something costs tend to suddenly have enough vocab and perfect grammar when they realise they can laugh at you about Brexit.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-11-04T17:03:00+02:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/bulgaria"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/politics"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/11/fave-sofia","@type":"as:Note","as:content":"I love love love to see the nice cafes I visited in Sofia not only still around but progressing! Edgy Veggy was a tiny hole in the wall when I was here a year and a half ago, and now it's a full sized cafe with comfy seats, wifi, and vegan groceries to boot.
\r\nVeda House is as a tranquil and cosy as it ever was, and I tried a new place for breakfast - KIND - which wasn't here on my last visit but has a fantastic hearty budget all-vegan daily menu. I went to Kring yesterday too, which was here last time and I just didn't have time for - pay by weight vegetarian, super delicious and calm ayurvedic vibes.
","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-11-01T15:21:00+02:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/food"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/vegan"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/sofia"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/11/night-train-to-varna","@type":"as:Article","as:content":"I took the night train from Sofia to Varna. I'd read good things (it's amazing, super clean and comfortable, friendly staff) and heard bad things (you'll get robbed, Bulgarian trains are awful). One thing I was sure of is that it's slower than the bus. But overnight, that just meant I actually had the potential get enough sleep before I arrived.
\r\n\r\nI ended up with the help of a local to buy the ticket, which I left til the last minute. She strongly suggested that I buy business class so I would have a sleeper cabin to myself. Otherwise, they're a three-bunk deal shared with strangers. The price was the same as a bus ticket (~€25) so what the heck.
\r\n\r\nThere are also first and second class seats for sale. Through the window I saw them and they looked plenty comfortable enough for me, tiny person, expert bus sleeper, to have been more than happy with. But having a cabin to myself was nice too.
\r\n\r\nI bought the ticket online at bdz.bg which was fairly painless. The later train I wanted said it was sold out of business class tickets, so I got a slightly earlier one. The site gives you 15 minutes to fill in all the details and pay. I timed out a few times, and when I went round again it said business class was sold out on the other train too.. I just let it time out again and try again and eventually it worked. My new local friend printed the ticket for me. The instructions about that are ambiguous, so better to be on the safe side.
\r\n\r\nI got to Sofia Central station about 40 minutes before departure (not on purpose, I was just extra efficient). The station has clear signs (as long as you can recognise Bulgarian place names in Cyrillic) and I found my train already on platform 6. The ticket had my coach and berth number on. When I boarded a member of staff took my paper ticket, cross checked some lists, and told me to go to berth 81 (which is not what my ticket said). She didn't speak much English, but was very friendly and enthusiastic with the words she did know.
\r\n\r\nThe train wasn't super busy, but it wasn't deserted either. Plenty of people from all walks of life seemed to be entering sleeper cabins or settling into seats.
\r\n\r\nBerth 81 turned out to be a triple bunk room. There was a sink, and various different lights, and temperature control, and high up storage, and a little cupboard. I wasn't sure if this meant other people would be joining me after all. Oh well. I settled into the bottom bunk (as instructed) with my kindle.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAbout ten minutes later the train lady knocked on the door and I got out of the way from the bunk. She hoisted the middle bunk against the wall, so I could now sit upright on the lower one. \"Business!\" she beamed, and left. I see.
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe train trundled along throughout the night. There were lots of stops, some very short, and some where it sat in a station for a while. There were no announcements. The bed was comfortable, and I slept well in between being woken up by irregular train movements, or sudden station light. Every time I woke up and looked out of the window at the passing night, and felt the rumble of the train, I was filled with joy and a feeling of adventure; this is exactly what I want my life to be like. The feeling encapsulated by night trains.
\r\n\r\nWe arrived in Varna about half an hour late. Fifteen minutes or so before arrival, the train lady knocked on my door again (I was already up, having heard knocking on the doors of my neighbouring berths getting closer and closer). She told me \"Varna!\" and returned my printed ticket. As we pulled into the station, and the sun was rising, there was finally a tannoy announcement, presumably because the train was terminating.
\r\n\r\n","as:name":"The night train from Sofia to Varna","as:published":{"@type":"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime","@value":"2019-11-02T23:15:00+02:00"},"as:tag":[{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/sofia"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/bulgaria"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/life"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/train"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/travel"},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/tags/varna"}]},{"@id":"https://rhiaro.co.uk/2019/11/week-in-review","@type":"as:Article","as:content":"