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STOP PRESS!! Have you tried the YouTube Playlist featuring all of my compositions for the TRANSFORMATES? Here it is:

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Although this is only my second weekend in the mountains the recycling waste builds up quickly (helped by five months of junk mail in the post box). So on Sunday I made one of my regular trips to the local recycling centre. This is not any old waste centre – in fact I think this is one of the most scenic trips to the rubbish dump you can imagine. It is probably best to describe it using pictures so I made sure I took my camera – a bit of a challenge as it had to travel in the same rucksack as the rubbish.

Heidi Country – part of my extended but scenic trip to the local recycling centre.

My weekend alpine retreat is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is traversed by numerous mountain streams accompanied by their associated waterfalls. It is, in fact, a Spa resort and is well known for its ‘Wellness’ Clinics – we get many health tourists, especially in the summer. The local Authorities have gone to a lot of trouble to create lots of pleasant and interesting walks for visitors and residents. Many of these follow the streams. You guessed it: one of these walks happens to go from my house to the recycling centre!

I normally follow the stream downhill to the ‘dump’ with my rucksack of rubbish (and camera) and then follow a more strenuous route home. The walk is important because on my less energetic weekends this, and a walk to the local supermarket, may be my only exercise (I will talk about the more energetic weekends in another blog entry).

On the return route I take a stroll up the hill through ‘Heidi’ country walking past the grazing cows with their rather noisy cowbells around their necks. This is not a bad idea as it is very easy for the cows to stray into the woods and get lost. My journey also takes me through a mountain forest rising gradually until I reach the mountain stream I followed earlier but higher up the mountain. I can then follow this all the way back down to my house. The many waterfalls along this mountain stream or ‘Bach’, together with the oxygen from the trees, create a very refreshing atmosphere.

The round trip to the waste centre takes about 90 minutes and in addition to doing my bit for the environment I feel that the mountain walk has ensured the environment has also done its bit for me. After this peace and tranquillity I am ready for another week of excitement with the RiskBusters in London pushing forward the frontiers of risk management in big business.

Not bad for a trip to the rubbish dump eh?

Until next time….