Compost and nerdiness

You will all, of course, be extremely excited to hear that it is Compost Awareness Week. I dig composting, but that's because I've been a bit of an eco nerd since I was made "light monitor" at primary school (cue switching everything off at home and driving my brother mad for the next few years).

I'm also a gardening nerd. An unrepentant one at that. I can name more types of tree that most country-dwellers (me being a city child), and I'm getting pretty excited that my hostas seem to be thriving at the moment despite the rampant slugs and snails that patrol Sheffield gardens. The sunflower seedlings are starting to emerge for my planned sunflower hedge at the allotment, and our random anenomes in pots look ace.

I'll take pictures soon to prove it.

The only problem I have with Compost Awareness Week is its stupid name. It must be the done government thing to name everything "awareness week", regardless of what it is. For example, "Islam Awareness Week" was roundly mocked by a host of people - could non-Muslims be any more aware of Islam in the current climate?

The word "awareness" seems perjorative in this sense, as if "compost" were a sexually transmitted disease you needed to protect yourself from, rather than a good way to take the strain off your wheelie-bin. We should be "aware" of gonorrhea, but "educated" about recycling facilities for fuck's sake.

What's wrong with just a "National [insert topic here] week" or "[Insert cause] Education Day"? Or failing that, get rid of all these bastard days and weeks that mean nothing.

Which reminds me: I need to send off all the letters my Year 10s wrote asking the culture minister (Andy Burnham - I hadn't heard of him either) to adapt St George's day to National (or International - I'm not fussy) Shakespeare Day. Pork on a spit and ale up and down the country - sounds good to me.