Tuesday 23rd October 07

A very good day as I spent the morning in the house doing some paperwork and housework, Gill went out for an appointment and the boys played inside the house. I also did a bit of compost heap management for half an hour.

Gill came back and we lunched, I then used Gill's bus ticket (an all day adult rover thingy) to get to town and participate in a Green Party/York Residents Against Incineration demonstration protesting about the Lib Dem Councillors voting to spend loads of money on a waste treatment plant but they don't yet know what it is going to be. I do not think that an incinerator is a good idea as it wastes materials which should be recycled. They are very expensive and can give out polluting dioxins, as well as loads of CO2 which is 'fossil' CO2 from plastics, made from oil. I would like more investment in recycling, and also think that anaerobic digestion of food waste and manures is a good idea, as it captures some of the energy which is normally lost in composting, but cleanly in the form of methane which can be efficiently used as a fuel for heating or generating energy, or even put in a fuel cell to make electricity and heat.

We had our photo taken on the steps of the Mansion House and then I walked along to Cycle Heaven to purchase my new bike. I got a set of panniers too. I had asked for 'tri-bars' to be put on the handlebars, but the shop said that the ones they would get would be another £80, so I asked them to transfer my old ones over. So the whole set up is new, apart from the tri-bars which allow me to drop down if there's a headwind or if I'm going fast. I'm glad the frame was made locally, it's steel and quite heavy, but very strong! I enjoyed cycling back with it, and got my trailer fixed up to it as soon as I got back.

Soon it was time for me to cycle along for a doctor's appointment, for a flu jab (I'm asthmatic and have taken daily medication since childhood, when it was much less prevalent) and to wave a weird patch of flaky skin on my knee at him. When I got back home, I went to the Co-op shop for some essentials and then to the allotment.

I love my bike!