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Verse 1 of Hymn 777 states the following:-

A wiggly, waggly worm, a slipp'ry, slimy slug,
a creepy, crawly, buzzy thing, a tickly, wickly bug;
of all the things to be, I'm happy that I'm me.
Thank you, Lord, I'm happy that I'm me.
I'm happy that I'm me, happy that I'm me.
There's no one else in all the world that I would rather be.
A wiggly, waggly worm, a slippery, slimy slug,
a creepy, crawly, buzzy thing, a tickly, wickly bug.

I have adopted the worm as my logo.

IVYDENE HORTICULTURAL SERVICES’S HYMN

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.
But what we never mention, though gardeners know it’s true,
Is when He made the goodies, He made the Baddies too.

CHORUS

All things spray and swattable, disasters great and small,
All patios paraquatable, the Lord God made them all.
The greenfly on the roses, the maggots in the peas,
Manure that fills our noses, He also gave us these.

The fly that gets the carrots, the wasp that eats the plums,
How black the gardener’s outlook, though green may be his thumbs
But still we gardeners labour, midst vegetables and flowers,
And pray what hits our neighbours, will somehow bypass ours.

The greenfly on the roses, with garlic round each root
Ivydene then assaults their noses, and gives the fly the boot.
The worms that eat your compost, the worms that eat the shreddings,
Help production from your roses for red flowers in your weddings.

All things bright and beautiful ……

I watched the program about the slums in Bombay, India last night (15 January 2010), where the inhabitants wanted fresh drinking water and sanitation.

Perhaps if they had a self-imposed tax - of donating 1 day per fortnight and the pay of that day for those who earn money - to pay for and create that water supply and sanitation. For those too old to earn money, they would only donate 1 day per fortnight of their time.

A large pipe could be attached to the wall alongside the river into which pipes could be put from the latrines overhead. The pipe could lead to a new lake area downstream where the effluent could flow through reeds set A that would clean it up (BritishFlora know which plants to use). If there is no area to create the lake in, then cover over the river for about 300 yards and use that (0-50 yards are cleaning reeds A, 50-100 is solids settlement/ vegetable area, 100-200 settling lake,150 clean water pumped out for recycling to sewage drains and irrigation for vegetable area, 200-250 vegetable area/ solids settlement, 250-300 are cleaning reeds B). When the water in the lake is clean enough, a small fish farm could be set up in the middle of the lake to provide protein for those too young or too old to work. If there is too much clean water for recycling, then the excess can simply be allowed to irrigate vegetable area B, which can be used to grow vegetables for those too young or old to work. The remainder of the end water could then be recycled using solar power to the start of the latrine pipe so that the effluent would drop into a pipe with flowing water in it. Every few months (vegetable growing season time period) the sewage would be switched to the other set of reeds/vegetable area, as would the irrigation water and the excess soil created in the last vegetable growing period could be sold off to become a mulch on the fields for the farmers outside the city. Excess cleaned water could then be discharged to the river.

Another large water pipe could also be attached to the same wall and small plastic pipes could be led off it to 1 of 24 water areas. Each water area would receive water in one of the 24 hours. These small thin 1" diameter plastic pipes could be either put under the walkways between the houses or at first up on the outside walls and strung over the gap to the next house. Smaller diameter 0.5inch pipes would then be taken from this 1" pipe to each household.

Sanitation could be done using 4" pipe under the walkways and leading into the river sanitation pipe (The toilets in the houses could be fitted with macerators to create a sludge to put down the 4" pipe, rather than solids/liquids). Washing up water could be stored and put down the outside drains at the end of the hour when water is supplied to the household, thus clearing the drains in the street or into the household sanitation pipe where the macerator is. Recycled water from the lake could also be used to flush the 4" sewer pipes in the same hour and same area; when the fresh drinking water is being supplied to that area.

About once every 4 months, all workers in one water area could carry out a major project on sanitation/water supply on the same day, like submerging the fresh water and sewage pipes under the walkways between the habitations. These might be put into a Civils Polychannel SK system to provide easy access for replacement or additional pipes.

Low-growing sedums (Enviromat) could be planted on areas of roof to provide oxygen to breathe, flowers and cool the room below.

Vertical vegetable growing areas could be created using the Mobilane system and solar-powered irrigation.

The above systems could all be manufactured, installed and maintained by the slum dwellers, without cost to the city. It would improve the morale and living conditions of everyone living there.

Even the rubbish tips could be split into 2, so that quick-growing trees for paper production or plants for Bio-fuel for vehicle engines could be grown and the methane produced underground used for heating communal showers/laundry water. Once harvested, that surplus ground soil is sold off and the rubbish tipped onto that site, before the other rubbish site then grows that crop.

Perhaps Herbert Dreiseitl from The American Society of Landscape Architects can improve the above idea, since he has the holistic approach and interpersonal skills to be able to improve any environment.

"It has been widely reported that Einstein said that without bees to pollinate our food crops humans would die off in just 4 years. He was wrong, we will die off in 7 years. We have been warned, but will it do any good? We are the most intelligent animal that has ever lived, but we have not yet acquired the ability to learn from our mistakes, and we continue to elect politicians who promise us jam today and jam tomorrow. Isn't it time we grew up?" from The Bumblebee Pages

Heather created the original single website and now she has gone up in the world with photography. You can also view her other 154 images as a slideshow.