Saturday 18th October 08

Quite a busy morning at home, and went to pick up Ali at 10.30, and on the way to St Nicks I (and then Ali too!) stopped to chat to a Corpus Christi Carmelite Nun called Sister Ann, who was working in the Convent garden, and was delighted that I offered to remove a couple of cut branches and invited me to help remove several 'weed' trees (Sycamore) which I hope to make time to do. She said I was a gift from God! I didn't reply to that comment! Then Ali and I rolled along to St Nicks as they were having a 'taster art day', preceding a project called 'Seeing Green' and Ali filmed me explaining about the design of the building and some of the projects that are based there. She interviewed my buddy Martin who just happened to be there, and both John and Ivana who cope really well with my enthusiasm and make the most of it, including today asking me to help move some heavy metalwork which is needed to take the turbine down, as it's having new blades fitted next week.

So then we wheeled up to our house, where Ali was able to just get in, our hallway being just wide enough for her chair, and we had lunch. She filmed me lighting the stove and explaining about the renewable fuels, how efficient the stove is compared to open fires, and the dried fruit and bathwater systems...

After lunch, the boys took her camera down the garden to show how long it is (the garden is very inaccessible... narrow paths, encroaching vegetation, mud etc) and after that I took it down to show my view of it. Then she came outside the front to watch me chainsawing, splitting, stacking and crushing cans ready for taking them to the metal merchant, and Ali filmed lots of this.

Then we all had tea together ; Gill had done vegetable rice and I did some home grown squash on top of this. Gill and Ali had a long chat which was good, I'm glad that they get on so well, as I met Ali at a gig in Sheffield, she's become my friend and now she's become a friend of the family, which is lovely. She is extremely easy to be with and very understanding and friendly. We are all very lucky, I think. During the evening I had a short telephone chat to Ali's daughter who's a massive (5 yr old) fan of Professor Fiddlesticks, which is lovely too.

I put the boys to bed (ie made supper for them, found their PJs, told them to go upstairs before 9pm, switched their lights out) because Ali was interviewing Gill for her film, and they were chatting intensely. I went to get the washing off the line and then we had a game of Scrabble...... I won and Ali came a close second, but Gill was falling asleep by this time and had bad luck with the letters she picked. A good end to a lovely day.

So at 11.30 I walked down towards town with Ali to help her get ready for bed.... and on the way noticed a body lying on the pavement at the bottom of a hedge. I went to investigate and he was snoring (proving he was alive!) and I thought it best to see if he was allright, and tried to wake him up and ask him. He was very groggy but came to and I found out his name and where he lived, and that he did want to go back home. As I was talking to him a chap approached from the other side of the road saying he'd already called an ambulance. He'd seen the chap fall over after staggering around, but hadn't come to his aid. A couple of minutes later the abmbulance came, I briefly gave the driver the details and we continued on our journey.

I helped Ali get her stuff together, which in her own home is easy for her to do, but in an allegedly accessible hotel room is not as easy, and got home for half-past midnight, had a bath and was in bed for before 2am.