Sunday 24th July 11

I woke to find that the wasp stings had started to turn into tiny spots or pimples, where the wasp had actually stung me.  This revealed that I had two stings in my groin... so I was stung 7 times.  The red patches around the stings are still sore and a bit itchy.

However, another work day, with a gig for the City of York Council at Burton Stone Community Centre,  a 'Family Fun Day' from 11am til 3pm.

So I reorganised my equipment into the trailer box and set off at about 10.30, in costume as it's easier than changing there.  I cycled along the Sustrans cycle path all the way to Wigginton Road/Crichton Ave, and then over the railway and to the Community Centre, it took about 15 minutes.

There was slight confusion about where I was going to work... I was down to do a show inside at 1pm, and there wasn't really a good place for me to work outside but I found one so I could be busy all day, which is my preference... the day goes more quickly if I'm busy, and the client gets better value for money.  I certainly didn't want to be hanging around til 1pm!  So I did a good 90 minutes of workshop, then moved inside to set up, but had to wait for some dancers to do their thing, so I watched them whilst eating my sandwiches.

The show I did went OK but the audience was obviously unused to live entertainment and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, but some core audience stayed for the hour and there was enough participation to make my usual show possible.  Afterwards I did some balloon models in exchange for youngsters trying out the unicycle toys... the balloon were a reward for doing the four-wheeled unicycle, really.  The last hour was therefore quite easy, with a stream of children trying the various unicycles and me making balloons for them.  I finished on the dot of 3pm, and zoomed home.

I quickly got changed and unloaded, and immediately set off for Country Fresh, as I knew Rich would have stuff for me... he did, about 4 boxes which I condensed into 3.  I got some veggies too, potatoes and onions and a couple of avocados.

There were about 10 bags of spinach leaf in with the compostables, so I washed the lot and picked out some good leaves to add to my tea, and cooked them to have with the last of the nutloaf and a potato salad.

I managed a half hour outside before coming in and trying to write an email that I've been trying to write for weeks.  Sometimes it is so difficult to know how much or how little to say.  I guess this is why I've been putting it off.

I got a phone call from my Green friend in Basingstoke about a potential gig there, and had to research train times and prices.

Saturday 20th February 10

Got up at 8.30 as I had to be out of the house at about 9.20, and at the Burton Stone Community Centre before 10, when the family fun day was to get underway. I cycled in costume along the off-road cycle path from St Nicks, past the Rowntree factory and along to Burton Stone Lane, getting to the Community Centre at 9.45. I was allowed to bring my bike and trailer into the Gym where there was a bit of space for me, amongst stalls from various organisations, some of whom had people I knew behind them.

I started by doing some 'meet and greet' at the front door, just saying hello to people who came in whilst spinning my devilstick, and telling them that one of the St John's student helpers would take them to the part of the building they wanted to go to. I only did an hour of this, and then went into the gym and did assorted circus demos and workshops, plus balloon models, pretty continuously until nearly 3pm, when it quietened down. I did manage to have a few minutes for lunch, and chatted to some stallholders.

So, by 3.15 I was cycling home again, and picked up a log from the cycle track where some trees have been pruned and felled, with some logs just left there, specially for me, I think! I might pop back later and get a trailer full. This time I had space for just one, on my pannier rack, as my trailer had unicycles and juggle kit in it. I also stopped off at the log with Oyster mushrooms on it, and picked a few more. I fried these on the stove when I got home, to add to the evening meal.

Gill had been having a mixed day and was glad to see me. She had doctored the pumpkin soup to make it into a stew, with big chunks of potato, and this was well received and much nicer than my plain soup yesterday.

I was tired when I got back, and though I'd wanted to use the rest of the daylight to do stuff outside, I didn't and I just flopped, did my mushrooms and once I'd got changed, filled the woodbasket and did the washing up... and before I knew it, it was dark and I couldn't do that much outside.

Enjoyed 'The Virtual Revolution' on BBC2; I am an example of Homo interneticus as I spend a lot of time on facebook and blogging, reading other blogs and e-newsletters, surfing and catching up on tv and radio that I've missed. Tonight I listened to Farming Today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qr4hr/Farming_Today_Farming_Today_This_Week/
on iPlayer, after a facebook friend suggested that I'd be interested in it as it's about renewable energy.