Perugia, view with a rainbow, and Saint Dominic church, at sunset. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, August 5, 2006.
Classic case of some of the dilemmas that face us all in our attempts to try and follow the low carbon life. There I was having a very pleasant dinner with friends in London on Friday evening when the host issued an invitation.
"We've just finished the villa in Italy outside of Perugia. You must come and visit. I'm going to get my diary and we can all fix a date." My heart sunk. I really don't think flying for leisure is compatible with the work I am doing here at Operation Noah. It's just a personal decision, but I fell very awkward extolling the importance of changes to our lives while I am out on the road, and yet carrying on flying.
The train you say! Well, it's a messy old trip to Perugia with lots of changes and if I took a week off work, three to four days would be on the train...and of course it's much more expensive that one of those cheapo flights. So, I told my host that I simply couldn't come, but thanked him for his kind offer. The reaction! not anger, but a look of rejection: as though I was doing this because I didn't value our friendship enough. It rather spoilt the evening...these things are going to occur more and more frequently for all of us and many of our long-established ties are going to be challenged.
