MIGHT I share with readers, without smugness I hope, the rewards of a strong focus on carbon reduction? We have just received a refund from the gas company.

Our electricity bill, despite us opting to pay a slight premium for ‘green tariff’ energy, for 100 per cent renewable energy, is well below average.

Our water bills are low, due to special low flush toilets.

If gas and power were both to be cut, our solar hot water and wood burning stove would carry on. We often take holidays at one of the most popular US tourist spots: Marlow UK .

We live Marlow, we love Marlow. The new term for this trend is a ‘staycation’ and it’s great. No airport delays, wasted travel time, stress or fuel price hikes. I work from home, long hours, but at times that suit my family.

Often I travel by rail, off-peak, to London. I turn down requests to give conference keynotes abroad, as it would be inauthentic for me to fly. My work seldom takes me far from the South East, my business travel is intentionally kept low. I don’t miss it.

We are very fortunate. We have a comfortable life with a couple of cars that we avoid using for long trips. One of them is running on diesel mixed with recycled chip fat. Both achieve 50mpg and go much further between expensive fill-ups. We pay low road tax. We are increasingly shopping local. My wife’s parents moved from Cardiff a couple of years ago, to be closer. We still have a very long way to go before we are living fully in balance with nature, but we are determined to shift our lifestyle in that direction. So far, the results look good, taste good, and by golly, do the children good. My hunch is that many people in Marlow are interested in shifting their lifestyles towards being a little greener, more affordable, more free from fossil fuel, and more ‘resilient’.

The “Transition Towns” movement is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing, and I commend the local leadership being shown by both the Maidenhead and High Wycombe TT groups.

Anyone for Transition Town Marlow?

Dave Hampton, Hyde Green, Marlow.