Since I've learnt that it would be better for the planet if we were all vegetarian, I've never eaten so much meat!

I used to try to keep two days a week meat-free, but now I find myself sneaking smoked bacon lardons into my mac 'n cheese, and a ham stock cube into my mushroom risotto.

Hebe-the-dog, being more mature, now refuses to share an apple with me, declines the offer of a carrot stick and merely puts teeth marks in a green bean, before she sidles away from it - like it's a poisonous squashed slug.

It's not like I'm a deliberate anti-planetter.

I methodically recycle all my tins, paper and plastic waste. I had fancifully thought that the plastics were all recycled into fleeces - of which I have bought many. Colourful, light-weight and warm. What's not to like?

However, I was somewhat alarmed to discover that large amounts of UK's recycling waste gets sent to Turkey to be processed. The mind boggles at the carbon miles involved in that adventure!

Also, I'm very thrifty. I hardly bin any food waste. Besides, I have my own small crumb macerator: Hebe-the-dog.

Oh, and inadvertently and alarmingly, Mrs Rat.

I had only intended to supplement the diet of the nesting sparrows and blackbirds in the garden. But I was freaked out when I saw I was actually feeding a bold rat that nimbly scaled my woodshed for the crumbs scattered on the roof.

Hebe-the-dog wasn't interested in giving chase.

She prefers her meat tinned.

Although, saying that, she won't say no to a morsel of Aberdeen Angus steak, and seems to like organic Scottish chicken as much as me!

And I'm a canny shopper. I look at labels on fresh produce. I always buy Perthshire rasps in the summer, rejecting the Spanish and Moroccan punnets. I'm aware of travelling distances.

But I'm sure that a cut of meat from an animal in the same county is better for the planet than a pack of green beans travelling from South Africa?

I consider tinned food as fair game - I have many in my storecupboard but fresh local produce must be best? A big shout-out for Farmer's Markets!

And canny shoppers can still buy local stuff if they sift about in the supermarket. Maybe therein the problem: lack of supply?

Saying all the above, I'm very partial to fresh Mediterranean & tropical fruit: bananas, peaches, pineapple, mango, kiwi etc. So I'm going to make sure that I have my fill of those this summer - in case they become unavailable. I'm old enough to remember my granny saying that bananas & oranges were rarely-seen luxuries. And she'd never seen a fresh pineapple or mango. Oh, and she kept a phial-sized bottle of olive oil in the sideboard. She applied it to her face in the summer. She had a lovely complexion!

I'm digressing.

My advice is: eat well this summer. Get fat on your favourites, if you can afford it.

No doubt, there will be a winter of: 100 exciting recipes with tinned chickpeas; Get creative with kidney beans; A dozen ways with bottled gherkins.

Maybe start pickling some boiled eggs now?

But be sure to include some charcoal tablets on your shopping list.

'Cos you're going to have a lot of excess gas! And a whole population farting must be way more polluting than all those cows?

Best not bin those facemasks yet!

Haha : )