The Hawksworth's September Diary - Doing the Dishes
| Published: 18th October 2007 20:43 |
Doing Those Dishes!
Soapy Hands or just chuck it all in that Dishwasher... What's the score when you open that door?
Around the kitchen is possibly where most time and energy is spent doing that everyday chore ... the dreaded dishes!! (Cue Psycho Music).
BBC Breakfast Crew
Dave Webb (camera & sound), Tara (producer), Declan (presenter) and Francis (Energy Saving Trust)
Sally our usual BBC producer was on her jolly hols... must admit they deserve a break, this early morning television may look glamorous, but getting up, dressed and on site for 5 a.m. really isn't that inspiring!
So it was Tara from the Beeb, into the breach, and the experience of working with the Hawksworths.
VT Day (Video Tape to you and me) ...
Venue, the Kitchen and the Dining Room ... Huntingdon Drive, Castle Donington.
Carol and Dave Webb - Lights Camera Action!We normally use the Dishwasher, but knowing we were to cover the subject we ensured we had plenty of pots available to wash by hand. We were asked to provide details of how many pots we use over a certain amount of time, also what make and specification was our dishwasher was.
Anyway, Carol set too and produced yet another marvellous meal, Spanish Chicken I believe, and we filmed the pots coming in and our plates being filled.... We even fed Tara and Dave the cameraman. And then, when empty it was time to break the bad news to the kids... "No dishwasher tonight kids - guess who is washing up!"
Ooo' the faces!
Jacob donned the rubber gloves, and the rest of the gang made up a line of dryers and putter away'ers... Some nice camera work by Dave and hey presto a really nice bit of VT for the Live hit.
Live Day
Venue... "In Da Kitchen" - at the Hawksworths ....
"How does it go again? Dirty plate in the water ..."We had Declan wearing a "nice little pinnie" number along with some lovely yellow rubber gloves and accessorised with dishcloths and scrubbing brushes! Eat your heart out Kate Moss..... And we had quite a bit of fun between and during the live hits with me, the kids or Declan doing some of the breakfast pots!
We also had Sara and Francis from the Energy Savings Trust on hand to give us the low down on the results!
Thankfully for us anyway! The Dishwasher came out on top. It seems in our case it is cheaper and greener to use the dishwasher.
Declan goes through the schedule with TaraAs with most households its down to time and lifestyle, by utilising the dishwasher the decks are cleared quicker following a meal (especially if entertaining) they clean much better than most people can, and better still, can be emptied by the kids, etc.
There are varying makes and models of dishwashers available, but if you looking at Green ones, then when purchasing, seek a little advice and checkout the Energy Usage Labels.
Ourselves we have a Bosch, although at the top end of the dishwasher price range. It seems well made, sturdy, energy efficient and it has Eco programmes. (Uses a little less temperature and water but the cycle is longer - so goes on under the Economy 7 during the night .... saving us money!) And ideal for our needs as a large family.
There are even better ones on the market now, using an incredible 9 litres only of water on a wash cycle. Along with supermarkets also giving us new ranges of "Bio Friendly" products, if you want to be really environmentally friendly!
PS Tara really enjoyed the experience by the way!
Over the next few months - coming up!
October
We are guinea pigs yet again this time for the Mark Group and a Solar Water heating system! This is hoping to give us 70% of our hot water needs and equates to around 15% of our utility usage! Oooo a noisy start expected on Live Day - that thermal camera on the crane will be waking my neighbours at 05:30 ... so I bet I'm not Mr Popular !
November
We are I believe covering Personal Travel... all that running about we do as parents, school runs, swimming, sports, etc. and all the car sharing we have done over this year to get our mileage down. Along with replacing our vehicles with greener models!
December
Christmas shopping and what impacts that madness has on our Carbon Footprint!
Useful Links
BBC Breakfast Video Stream and September VT of the day.
BBC Breakfast Home Page
How green is a dishwasher? BBC page relevant to the topic with other links
The Energy savings Trust
Bosch and info on reduced water use in dishwashers
I have set up a temporary email address for those wishing to seek any further advice or submit useful ideas - please feel to contact us HFM@ntlworld.com
Paul & "The Hawksworth's"
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