Friday 26th October 07

The boys declared that they didn't want to go anywhere or do anything today. So they played and I spent some time building a logpile on the right of the door (looking out) and spent a bit of time doing some work with the new 'compost mate' tool which is really good at mixing the compost heaps. My neighbour had spotted a rat so I did a lot of mixing of some sit and wait heaps, which makes them less hospitable to rats. I saw no evidence of rats though, none ran out. There are rats in the area, and I think that the neighbours are blaming my composting activities for them as a way of getting at me, because I'm different.

For lunch I went to St Nicks and said hello to Catherine the head Rotter, who asked me to help out at a green market next weekend on the Rotters stall. I met up with Jo and had a sandwich whilst hearing about her week at work, and told her about my weekend away.

During the afternoon I did a bit of emailing and a bit of cycling around, visited Martin's Country Fresh for fruit/veg and compostables, and enjoyed tea of parsnips in baked beans with the last of Gill's quiche from yesterday.

In the evening our friends Simon and Jonathan came round, Si has been helping Jonathan with his computer and when they were finished they came and chatted as Gill and I continued to play Scrabble. The conversation became very frank, as it often does with both S and J, and my odd behaviour was analysed, with reference to my forthcoming trip to the Maudsley Hospital to see if I have ADHD. My 'compulsive' composting activities are giving Gill some problems, as the neighbours find me rather odd and Gill feels she has to defend me, although she wishes I didn't do so much of it on such an 'industrial' scale. She finds herself in a difficult position as she loves me and supports my desire to prevent stuff being landfilled, but she doesn't think it is appropriate that I do so much in the garden.

Anyway, I was happy to have such an honest exchange, I didn't feel attacked, I just feel as if I'm actually quite a 'vulnerable' person in some ways, for instance, my willingness to take recyclables for certain businesses means they get the stuff recycled (not possible commercially) and for free or cheap. I have a lot of processing to do about this, and hope Gill can come down to London next month with me to voice her observations about my extreme lifestyle.