Wednesday 23rd January 08

I woke earlier than usual and flopped downstairs, and Gill asked me to take the boys to school as she'd been up since 6am and made them pancakes and done some sewing and made their lunch..... so how could I refuse?

Gill went to the 'Strenghtening Families, Strengthening Communities' parenting course whilst I went to the dentist for a check up. My new 'between the teeth' brush is doing a good job and I had less gunge than usual needing to be ultrasounded away. However my lovely dentist discovered something called 'a pocket' which is apparently a bit of bone loss caused by my less than strong gums and the less than efficient brushing they've recieved. However, I've still got no fillings from caries, just two from a congenital abnormality called 'dens indente' which means I was born with two hollow teeth.... So I've got to go for an X-ray to check how much bone has gone. Oh dear.

I cycled over to the family centre to do the 12-2 bit of the parenting course, which was quite good today.

Went to visit Richard after, at Martin's Veg Emporium, and the wholesaler had left me a huge pile to pick up and recycle... only just managed to get it home. Then, as soon as had unloaded, went down to school to pick up my boys, raced back and very soon took them up to Archbishop Holgate's school for a 45 min session of Martial Arts/Self Defence which one of their friends had invited them to. They both loved it! There were only 6 kids there, but it looked fun and they want to go back next week.

I had an unusual tea... an out of date 'instant meal in a pot' left over from Out Of This World, a potato-based thing called 'tru-free', which was dried powder which needed a cupful of added boiling water to make it rehydrate. The rest of the family thought it looked horrible, but it was actually delicious! I wouldn't go out and buy it, but it was worth eating to stop it being composted or landfilled!

I did a bit of emailing, including one to an Observer reporter who'd made enquiries about CRAGs and wanted some info about how they worked etc... did this just before going out to the Black Swan to a CRAG meeting. James was there first and me second, and two others came soon and a new member after that... then halfway through the meeting, another two members arrived. We had a very full meeting, with discussions about the next public meeting, where, when, what format..., and publicity, and future meetings, and subjects we could cover such as biofuels, food, waste and recycling... We discussed some other groups who have similar aims like Greenspeak, York Green Festival 08, and the No Miles High Club. Very much enjoyed our conversations and conflicting views and takes on things, we have a very busy meeting with a lot going on. We do not all agree, there is rarely harmony, but we all are passionate about cutting carbon and leading green(er) lives. I left at 11pm and came home via St Nicks and found two lonely logs which will look happy on my stove next winter...!

Good chats on Googletalk with K whilst finishing blog....