Thursday 30th July 09

Woke wondering about why I hadn't been contacted by the insurers re the York Green Festival. So after breakfast I rang... and found that the email I sent on the 21st hadn't been received. So I resent it and then had a chat to the recipient, who wanted several other bits of info plus a signature, electronic or otherwise. I knew nothing about electronic signatures, and I didn't have the other info either, so I sent out a 'help me' email to the other YGF-ites, and got a reply from Tom who offered to help me do an electronic signature.

Gill went down to the station to collect our eldest and his buddy, they'd travelled up on the train together from Leamington Spa, and immediately they came in the noise levels in the house rose about 100-fold. I soon went out to go to see Tom, who scanned my signature and put it into various formats so I have a chance to add it to documents, like the insurance document I need to send to the insurers. I'll have to have a play around later.

After seeing Tom I called in on Anita who told me that next month she is emigrating to Spain for a couple of years, to live in the house she's refurbished. I will miss her as although I don't see her very often, I am fond of her. She says she'll be back in a couple of years.

I came home via Sainsburys as Gill wanted flour, ice cream and a baguette to make garlic bread with.

I popped in to Freshways on the way back and picked up 3 small sacks of compostables, and then spent an hour or so down the garden sorting them out.

Pasta and home grown veg for tea, and garlic bread, and I then shot out to St Nicks for the AGM and a talk on the National Bee Unit which was really interesting.

Ben Jones is a researcher there and he talked us through the work of the Unit which is based at Sand Hutton. Their role is to ensure the health of the honeybee in England and Wales... there are probably no 'wild' or feral honeybees left, all are managed or farmed, either by commercial beekeepers or by hobbyists. Most people think of bees as responsible for honey, but this is just worth between £10million and £30million a year, but their value as pollinators is somewhere between £120million and £200million.

He told us about the assorted diseases, legislation, how the inspectors identify the problems, the different sorts of beekeepers, and lots more. There were lots of questions asked too, so many that we over-ran and therefore missed the little film that was planned about the tree planting on St Nicks, but there will be another chance to see that.

The AGM was very straightforward. I collected some logs on the way back from a chap round the corner who had invited me to pick them up whenever I wanted, and I got in just before 10pm.