Sunday 16th December 07

A lazy start, kids quiet and stayed in bed til 10. Then breakfast, my usual 'brain flakes' and muesli, the home-made version.... organic SUMA muesli base and lots of dried fruit, done on the stove from thrown away fruit (mainly) and home produced pumpkin seeds and nuts from trees in Heslington, collected by Melody and Simon and swapped for something I had an excess of.

Then did a quick foray into the garden, put 2 sacks of cabbage stalks and rotten fruit on the latest hot heap, covered with a bucket of shredded hedge and bramble stems.

Then watched Countryfile whilst getting ready for work, which today is in Fangfoss, about 10 or so miles East of York. Should be a good cycle ride.

I left at 12.20 and swiftly went along the A1079 through Kexby and to Wilberfoss, got here at 1pm so soon after the Fangfoss turn stopped and had my sandwiches. Got to my party venue soon after, and put all the gear in their playroom and got changed ready to entertain at the Christmas party which started at 2pm. There were about 25 children, from toddlers in arms to 14 year olds plus a few grown ups. In the rest of the house there were about 50 adults. I performed my circus show then they had their food whilst I blew up balloons and then did the balloon workshop, finishing just after 4pm.

I then got changed again and cycled home. On the way back I picked up several items of roadkill which I'd noticed on the way out, so came back with a carrier bag full of animals killed by motor traffic which I'll recycle on the current hot compost heap. Home by 5.40 and had a lovely welcome from the boys, and Gill had made baked potato and nutloaf burger thingies done on the woodstove.

I was pretty knackered after the cycling and entertainment and collapsed for an hour after eating... but got myself together as I had to write and type in my paid blog (did it on a cruelty-free alternative Christmas meal recipe) and got my emails. Got another anonymous one commenting on this blog, so 'hello' to 'Dr Evil', obviously a regular reader, and I'd still like the chance to reply personally to her (probably a female going by some of the comments and language!) as this public diary blog cannot go into some of the issues in detail which she is interested in. However I would be prepared to explain via an email address. But she seems to be keen on remaining an anonymous comment maker, in which case none will get published on my blog. Only people sending meaningful or authored comments get published, sorry! I do, however, look forward to entering a dialogue with this person, if allowed.

Listened to 'The Westminster Hour' on R.4 as there was a geezer called David Cox going on about his desire to continue polluting the planet with his CO2 emissions, and hoping that future generations will be able to solve the global warming problem by putting small reflective particles into the atmosphere to reflect 1% of the sunlight. I think he's selfish and shortsighted. He seems to think that being green isn't fun, well I'd love to tell him some of the low carbon fun things I do, and get a lot of satisfaction doing.

Bed after 1am as usual.