Friday 30th March 07

Last day of term before the Easter Holidays... and Gill took the boys into school, and came back to inform me that as our youngest arrived into school, he got a puncture. So during the morning I cycled down, asked at the office, and unlocked his little bike and popped it on my trailer so the puncture could be repaired.

At midday, I had a visitor, Christina, who is organising the York Green Carnival on May 6th. There's to be a carnival procession with samba bands and choirs and jugglers, around the streets of the centre of York, followed by stals and live music in Parliament Street. I'm working on that day between 2 and 4, but am willing to be involved before and after work. I showed Christina the garden, shiitake mushrooms on logs, compost bins, compost toilet and the logpiles. She came in for a hot drink from the stove top, and asked lots of questions and told us all about the plans for her event. I shared my plans for the Green Festival on 29th July, I feel we will probably work together. She's studying Politics and Economics at the University, and is very keen to see how sustainability fits in (or doesn't, at the moment) with these subjects.

I had lunch towards the end of our meeting, and so she didn't feel left out, she had some stove-dried fruit. I then shot-off to the emergency York Rotters meeting. We have been offered another year's funding from City of York Council, but our wonderful worker, Keely, has had to resign and so we, the management group, have to advertise the job post, shortlist down to half-a dozen applicants or so, interview and choose our new project manager. We had to work out our timetable and some of the details of this process. York Rotters is a partnership between CoYC and Friends of St Nicks, so the selection team is one of the St Nicks trustees Pat, John the St Nicks manager, me and one of the CoYC wast minimisation team, recycling to most people.

So exciting times ahead, but sad to be losing Keely, although we're not losing her as she has said that she'll continue as a volunteer on a regular basis. This is good.

I cycled swiftly off to town to go to the bank to deal with our Suma Food Co-op account, as we're having a delivery next week. Then onto my friend Jean, in her care home on Poppleton Road. I gave her watch back, with replaced battery. She wasn't in her room as it was being cleaned after 'an accident', she was settling down to have some soup and sandwiches in the canteen. She was more confused than before, but very pleased to see me. So were two of the other ladies (they're mostly women) and I was attempting to have several conversations at once, with several deaf and not-always-making-sense women. It was quite distressing, seeing how they were. I really don't want to get old and end up like that, it's not the way anyone should live their life, it's not really living, it's waiting to die. I felt quite sad and contemplative cycling away, but happy that I'd visited and lifted their spirits for a while.

Then I collected the two remaining water-butts that were advertised in the back of the Press last week for a fiver each. One on the trailer, one on the bike rack. Popped in on my friend Y and had a good chat and a cup of nettle tea, my first I think. Then onto Out Of This World to pick up the compostables, and home with a heavy and bulky load, arriving about 7pm.

I had a 'use it up' tea, cooked on the woodstove, and watched some gardening telly with the family. My boys like watching Gardener's World but by the end of it their eyes were drooping and they needed help getting to bed. Gill was very tired after two trips to school, mending the puncture and cooking the boys' tea, so I did emails including a person researching LETS and Green issues in York.

Excellent programme about the amazing life of John Lennon late on at night. What a pity he's not around now. He is sorely missed. I'm too young to have been an original fan, but I recognise he was a really great man with his ethical, uncompromising attitude regarding the evils of war. I wish war was over. It is the least sustainable of all human activities.