Sunday 1st July 07

No lie-in, cannot seem to sleep much later than 8am so came down and joined the family who weren't warring, as a weekend! However, the boys wanted to do some stuff on the 'Uncle Tom' computer in the loft, so they had 40 mins... and so did we!

Then I had to get ready for my gig which is near Selby, and I had decided to cycle there, so I had an early lunch and got going before 12.30, and went via Elvington, Wheldrake, Thorganby, Skipwith and then Cliffe Common. Between Wheldrake and Thorganby I stopped for five minutes at the Lower Derwent Nature Reserve car park and had a conversation with a gent who'd driven there to try to go for a walk, but found it too flooded. I had a heated discussion with him as he declared that carbon emissions weren't changing the climate and that he was going to keep on driving and eating meat, as he didn't believe the hype! I decided not to get too involved and spoil my cycle ride, and wished him a safe drive and cycled off. In Thorganby it rained hard but I just kept going, and minutes later, the breeze and sun was drying me off again.

Got to Cliffe caravan site at 2.15, and had some nice chats with Christine my employer and her shy 8 yr old daughter and more bolshy 11 yr old son.

The party started at 3, about 60 children came, and 20 grownups, and the show got started with 3 warm-up acts at 3.15. An excellent show, went really well, and finished after one hour, but the sausages hadn't arrived, so I did a bit extra with more unicycle workshops and everybody who wanted to try the unicycle was able to, maybe 30 children.

The food went down well, and I inflated about 80 balloons, just with my lungs, as this is now easy and faster than the pump. At the start of the balloon show, about 7 children tried to inflate a balloon, but couldn't, it was quite funny as they all puffed hard and went really red in the face!

The balloon show went well, but a lot of children didn't want to make their own, so I had at least 20 models to make in 15 mins or so, nimble fingers Fiddlesticks! Finished the competitions on the dot of 6, and then finished off the balloonless stragglers for 5 or 10 mins... a very busy few hours. My work was appreciated as both the children said it had been good and both parents did too, and were generous with the pay packet, which is always good!

A lovely cycle home, wind more behind me and got home at 8pm, after a short skip-stop (sounds like an eco grand prix!) to stock up on wood (fuel!).

Gill had a stew ready for me, which was lovely, and I watched a bit of telly, and after this popped out to pick up more skip contents... then did blog and had a long chat with K in America, really good communication at the moment!