Tuesday 28th September 10

A mixed day, woken by yelling so came downstairs to just be around and I didn't have to do anything but be there.  Both boys went to school. 

Gill went to Physio and I spent some time dealing with emails and then got the chainsaw and chopped up 3 large pallets, and a few branches and logs.  I had lunch at the usual time, on the dot of 1pm, and then I got a phone call which changed the mood of the day.

I'm well known for collecting waste wood to replace fossil fuel use, and find untreated timber in skips, and sticks and logs in nearby woodland, and people with gardens sometimes let me have fuel, and tree surgeons sometimes drop stuff off.  When I arrived in Hull Road in 2001, I saw that there was a small patch of woodland in the front of the Woodlands MS Respite Care Centre, and I spoke to the grounds managers who said that they put chopped branches and shrubs there, and I could have them if I wanted them.  So since then, I've been collecting bits and bobs of sticks and branches from there several times a year.  I'd not seen the need to ask every time, taking the gardener's words as good enough.  When the Centre was going to fell a tree, I offered to pick up the logs and they were more than happy to save money and let me do the clearing up.  This has happened twice.

So, last Thursday, I went into the wood in the afternoon and tidied up some tipped branches, and in the evening, at dusk, went back to pick up a wheelbarrow full of sticks.  As I was doing this, one of the volunteer managers, Mel, spotted me in the woodland and asked what I was doing there. I answered truthfully and she went and left me to finish what I was doing.

This afternoon, Rachel, the Volunteering and Fundraising Co-ordinator, phoned me and told me that I hadn't had permission to go in the woodland and that I was trespassing, and what was I doing there in the dark anyway?  The upshot of the conversation was that she is no longer wanting me to be a volunteer there, and help the grounds management staff with their clearing up behind the Centre. I feel this is unfair, as I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, and I didn't hear any message from her when we arranged the induction, which was to be on Thursday, about ceasing to use that space... in fact, I didn't mention that arrangement and she claims that she didn't know.  So it's a sad situation, as they have lost a potential keen volunteer worker, and I've lost a source of logs which I was looking forward to.  All the logs at the back will now be burned on a bonfire, instead of me sorting through them and making a wildlife pile with the smaller bits, and taking bigger bits off site in my own time.  Shame, left me feeling sad.

But then Clive my Green Party friend arrived.  He'd asked if I wanted help delivering some of the election leaflets, so we walked for nearly 2 hours around the local area and delivered several hundred of them.  We got a bit of a chance to chat, and it turns out he worked in the same place as Gill's father, and remembers him.  This was nice to come back to Gill with.

I had a quick tea and at 6.15 went to Tang Hall Library for the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel.  We had quite a jolly time, and dealt with just 3 applications.

I came home via a skip; I'd spoken to the builders earlier and they were more than happy for me to take some wood out. I got two trailer loads of big roof beams.

Later on, I lit the stove, washed up, chopped apples, watched Ideal and played Scrabble on facebook, which is pretty well back to normal.  So, a mixed day.