Some suggestions you may never entertain: you may never wish to cross the Atlantic, so feel good as you tick niet op vakantie naar New York – no holidays in NY. Others might be equally easy to do: de thermostaat op 18.5° zetten – set the thermostat at 18.5°; well, ours is set at 19° unless our daughter is home alone. Some we have no choice with: geen plastic zakken meer gebruiken – no longer use plastic bags, since they’ve become as rare as hens’ teeth. Or some you may have done so years ago, as in dubbel glas plaatsen – install doubleglazing. Some are asking for domestic strife: de wasdroger wegdoen – get rid of the tumble dryer. OK if you live alone and don’t mind brushing past damp sheets hanging over a clothes horse. Likewise, de auto wegdoen – get rid of the car is fine if it’s your other one. With some ideas I think I am as close to perfection as you can get: korter douchen – take shorter showers, and een ecologische rijstijl aanhouden – adapt an ecological driving style, which I reckon I do, apart from when I don’t. Some I don’t need to do: een boom planten – plant a tree; our garden seems to have populated itself. We thought of this one last year: de boiler vervangen door een zuiniger exemplaar – replace the boiler with a more efficient one, only to discover that our old one is as efficient as they come. So far so good, you may be thinking. However, in one aspect I’ve formed a one-man resistance group. Yes, I love my instant oldfashioned light bulbs. I started hoarding them some months ago before they finally disappeared from the shops and have enough squirreled away to last years. So I’ll not be ticking gloeilampen vervangen door spaarlampen – replace light bulbs with energysaving bulbs. Just to show how illogical humans can be, if I may generalise, I will wait with this one: een zonnepaneel installeren – install a solar panel, until they are more pleasing to the eye. I have a final voornemen for you, dear readers: increase the number who read your copy of Flanders Today. Are there 10 or more? Then let us know. Happy reading to you all in the New Year!

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