Thursday 16th June 11

A really good day, some very positive things happened. 

As usual, I had a fairly gentle start to the day, getting up at 9 and not doing anything very active until I needed to get dressed because I was due to meet Harry, a MSc student from the Centre for Alternative Technology, at midday at St Nicks.  He had approached me as he wants to do a PhD on composting hemp and lime plaster.  He thought I'd have a few answers and pointers for him.

So, I met him just after 12; he'd come over from Leeds and cycled from the station.  I gave him the briefest of tours of St Nicks and then over our sandwich lunch, he asked me a very wide range of questions to do with all sorts of aspects of his proposed PhD.  The aim of this was to find ways of reusing the hemp-lime render/plaster from end-of-life buildings, by composting it alongside the more usual biodegradable materials to create a soil amendment.  I was pleased to be able to provide some very sensible answers, including ones based on my insights into commercial composting operations and economics, my understanding of the chemistry and physics of composting (stuff like forced aeration and Effective Microorganisms) and had suggestions such as contacting the planet's top mycologist, Paul Stamets, to see if there were any lime-loving or lime tolerant fungi which could be used to inoculate the material, and seeing if there was anything similar going on at the Leeds University composting department, with Professor Ed Stentiford.  Another American resource I use is the US Composting Council, which has a newsletter and an email 'listserve' Compost Discussion List, which I participate in, and a forum, which I don't.

After this, and meeting John from St Nicks and Catherine our head Rotter, and signing up for the next York Rotters free training, I took him on a bike tour of the nature reserve.  I asked if he was interested in seeing the EcoDepot, as it's made from straw panels and lime render, and so I arranged for him to be shown the room where the straw can be seen through little windows in the render.  Whilst in there, I was highly delighted to spot something which assorted York Rotters have been talking about for months: a cut-away display compost bin, something we use on stalls and events to stimulate interest and discussion.  We used to have 4 of these, but one had mysteriously gone missing and several people had been wondering about it.  It had been left in the EcoDepot, and they didn't know where it had come from, yet were loath to dispose of it as it was obviously a 'nice object'.  Why they hadn't connected it with York Rotters I don't know, but never mind.  Had the done, I wouldn't have had the chance, once I'd said goodbye to Harry, of putting it securely on my trailer and carefully cycling it back to St Nicks.  I felt SO pleased to be able to go to Catherine and tell her I had a little present!

So from here I went home, very happy.  I didn't have long at home as I was working for David at 5, and after we did a bit of stuff in the house, we went to City Screen.  We met Carolyn, and Dave Taylor and Andy D'Agorne, and then my friend Azra came in and it was just lovely to see her... and then I spotted Melanie and I chatted to her... a very social time.  David loves the buzz of it all too.  I took him back at 6.30 and got him his tea ready, did his recycling and left at 7, with 4 large sacks of Barley Hall decorative vegetation in my trailer.

I went to Edward's house, and he gave me a bowl of home-made leafy soup, with produce out of his garden.  Then other York in Transition people started appearing and we had our first meeting about the thermal imaging camera project.  I took notes and enjoyed the cut and thrust of the meeting.... and contributed some useful bits I think.  However, writing the notes out took over an hour on the laptop, but I got them done before writing my blog.  Bed after 3.30am, whoops! 

Friday 26th September 08

I took my little boy into school... he carried his own schoolbag instead of it just going in my trailer, to 'prove' that he could do it, so if one or other adult cannot carry it because bike basket or cycle trailer is full, he knows that he can carry the bag and cycle at the same time.

At about 9.30 I set off St Nicks for the second day teaching the kiddies from the Harrogate school, and popped into Bob's to give him the final cheque to pay him for stuff he spent for the Green Festival. The Harrogate kids arrived soon after 10 and John and I worked as a team, well a double act, Saint John and John the Rotter.

So whilst John took one group I did the rubbish game and half-card game, then we swapped and he took my first group to the EcoDepot to see the straw bales, big wind turbine and acres of solar panels...

The two groups ate lunch separately and I did the post-lunch waste activity with them, showing them how much of their packaging could be recycled, reused, composted or landfilled. After a play on the play area (swings, climbing equipment etc) I did a 25 minute composting and worms info/demo whilst John did something on climate change.... then we swapped over, finishing at 2pm.

I came straight home and started to get ready for going away tomorrow, when I'm off to Flamborough to go on a retreat, where I'm hoping to do a lot of writing and not much blogging!

However, as I'm away this weekend with no guaranteed internet access, I wrote my paid blog, on my take on the Credit Crunch, as well as doing a lot of washing up so I don't leave a huge pile of it for Gill to do...

Tuesday 23rd September 08

I took our youngest into school... I'm impressed with his road sense.

At about 9.30 I went to St Nicks (See their new website!) to help them with a group of 36 primary school children who have booked an 'eco day' with them. John had asked me to come today and Friday, two days work... paid and something I like doing, helping people understand about waste and recycling, composting and re-use.

So I was there from before 10 but the school party didn't arrive til nearly 10.30. They were given a brief intro to the centre from John ('Saint John') and then I took half the group as 'John the Rotter' and we discussed composting whilst John did something with the other half inside. We then swapped over and I had the other half for another 30 minutes. They loved the wormery and asked some great questions! Then it was lunch (in two halves again, the non-lunching half going to the play area) swiftly followed by a 'sort your waste' game. Then I had half the group for a re-use/recycle/dump game and a matching card-halves game..... then the second half for the same, whilst John took the other group to the Council's 'Eco Depot', which is the largest straw bale building in Eurpoe and has loads of PV panels, rainwater lorry wash facilities and now, a large wind turbine.

So, we were finished by 2.15 and I came home with a cycle trailer load of chunky branches which I saved from going through the hired shredder a few weeks ago, and have been donated to me.

I went to school to pick up my little one and came home tired, but needing to get on with my column which has to be in by the end of the week.

However, I had a phone call from BBC Radio York who wanted to interview me about tomorrow's Harrogate Car Free Day so I agreed to cycle down to the studio and chat to Gemma. When I got there, via my GP surgery to give in a repeat prescription request, she wanted to do two interviews, one on Car Free Day and one on York in Transition's eco building walk on 28th September. I obliged.

On the way back I went to Sainsburys to get Marmite and Ribena, and succumbed to one of their superb multi-seed loaves, which are delicious although expensive.

I cooked some fresh spaghetti and an onion/tomato topping for Gill and myself, and she made a microwaved cake to create a trifle using home grown raspberries, blackberries and a tin of 'summer fruits' I found in a skip. Delicious!

Later in the evening, watched Griff Rhys Jones on Anger which was very interesting since all three males in this house have some degree of it. I hope the second programme offers a few solutions! I wonder if they'll visit an AVP workshop or a graduate of one? I recorded the programme but I think it has too much swearing to show it to our eldest child. Pity.

Saturday 6th September 08

Busy busy day... although a fairly relaxed morning.

I had to decide whether to do a gig in Haxby in aid of SNAPPY.. I'd been invited to go but the organiser rang back saying they couldn't afford to pay me even my (officially) lowest charity fundraiser fee. But I sometimes do my Fiddlesticks work for nothing and I said if the weather was ok, I could go up and do some balloon modelling to add fun and colour and perhaps make a few pounds on donations for the balloon models. Chris my contact said if I did go up and do that, he'd give me an 'expenses' type cheque, but I wasn't contracted to go up, and he wouldn't expect to see me if the weather was poor.

So as the weather was good I got myself into costume and at midday was ready to go to the charity football match on the Ethel Ward Memorial Playing Fields in Haxby, 5 miles North of York. The spot I had to work in was tiny, a bit of hard-standing in front of the changing rooms, but enough space to do some devilstick workshops and juggling, but only one person wanted a balloon model so I found Chris and told him I'd go. Everybody was there for the football!

I came home and decided to go to Anna's Street Party in aid if 20's Plenty and York in Transition with my colourful Fiddlesticks costume on, and taking my entertainment stuff with me. However, I knew that the City of York Council were installing their wind turbine at the eco-depot, something they've had planned for well over a year. The eco-depot is the biggest straw-bale building around (not sure if that's just UK, Europe or in the World, but it is big) and has a huge array of photovolteic cells on the roof. The wind turbine was planned to complement this design. When I arrived I met Kristina P, the ex-sustainability officer who has moved on to work for another authority and responsible for the installation. 'Twas good to see her again, she still lives in York but now commutes by train. The turbine is 15 metres tall to the nacelle (where the blades are attached) and will be 3 or 4 metres higher than the surrounding buildings. It has a maximum output of 15 Kw, and using electricity prices from a year and a half ago, was due to pay back it's financial cost in 16 to 20 years, based on the measured wind speeds at the site. But if it gets windier or electricity prices go up, this payback time will come down. And of course, it's giving us carbon neutral electricity (once the equivalent of it's embodied energy has been generated) and helps us reduce our carbon footprint. Excellent stuff.... I want one!

And so on to Anna's street party which turned out to be excellent, a big turn-out, lots of people watched the film The Power of Community and heard Edward Harland speak about the Transition movement and York in Transition in particular. The children had a fun time drawing in chalk on the road, and cycling up and down. Two police officers attended and gave out some information to help residents avoid being burgled. I unicycled and blew up balloon models for a donation to YiT... raising more than the SNAPPY event this morning! The event was supposed to be 4pm til 6, but I didn't leave til 6.45, when the rainclouds were ominously gathering...

Later in the evening, I spoke to my good friend Jonathan who I hardly ever see anymore and he invited me round to spend a couple of hours with him. I watched a couple of programmeswith my eldest son about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN on the French/Swiss border which is due to go live this week, and at 9.45 headed off to see my buddy. He earns his living as a nurse but has ambitions to be an artist, which seem to be coming true. There's lots of interest in his work, which aims to help people reminisce and remember their past. He's known as Dexter in the art world and his fun website can be seen here.

Had a lovely chat and a can of cider, got back soon after midnight.

Wednesday 2nd May 07, York Rotters Interviews

Up early so that I was able to be at the Council's Ecodepot by 8.45 am, as the Project Manager job interviews start at 9am. We interviewed 5 candidates, all of whom could have done to job. The interviews were very structured, with a list of printed questions with the initials of who was asking the question, and a box for scoring out of 10 the answer given, and a box for notes. There were 11 questions including two relating to the presentation we had asked them to prepare... 'you have a 5 minute presentation to members of the public about the benefits of home composting', one score for presentation and one for content.

There were also a few questions about practical issues, such as a CRB police check, availability to start work etc. After this 'formal' interview the candidates were taken over to St Nicks to meet other Rotters and St Nicks people for the informal part of the interview process.

Once all 5 had been through this, and after lunch, we all met up and we added up the scores and one person came out ahead of the others, with the second close behind. However two of the interviewers had scored the highest overall scorer with the most points, the other two interviewers preferred another candidate. This provoked lots of discussion, especially when the other St Nicks staff came and gave their feedback, it didn't make the process any easier. We discussed and argued for over an hour before managing to decide. A really difficult process, but made possible by the points system which really helped clarify things.

Managed to get home just in time to go and collect the children.

25th Feb 07

Another day not working, and a chance to go and visit the new City of York Council 'Eco Depot' which had a well-publicised open day today. This facility has been built to replace the previous 'Foss Islands Road' council depot, and one of the buildings has been constructed using sustainable materials. So shortly after 11am, my boyos and I cycled down to the James St/Hazel Court Eco Depot and it was already quite busy. After a chat to the York Rotters team and quick look around, we booked onto the midday tour of the Depot. A film crew found me and I obliged by answering their questions. The tour was interesting, but I was disappointed that only the office building had been constructed from renewable resources, the other buildings were traditional brick and steel, although the roof water is collected and stored for vehicle washing, negating the need to use drinking water at great cost. I was also saddened to learn that the council has formed a partnership with a company connected with the military, and are therefore, in my view, not totally committed to sustainability. There is nothing less sustainable than warfare, and a sustainable society wouldn't spend so much on armed forces. I would avoid any such partnerships or collaborative working, as it signifies support for this wasteful activity. However, I'm not in charge, so my views are nowt!

I'm delighted the council has invested in offices which are built from renewable, low carbon materials, and that generate much of their own energy from solar PV panels, and have lights which switch off when not needed and windows which open and close automatically. Wouldn't it be nice if all future buildings were built this way?