Friday 25th February 11

Another good day.... not quite as busy as yesterday though, thankfully.

My first appointment was at midday at the People and Planet allotment on Low Moor, as part of their Green Week. Phoebe wanted me to do a composting talk and demonstration, so I was only too happy to oblige. As she wanted me to do a workshop, I took one of the most recent sacks of 'resources' (about 30kg) and a box (less than 10kg) and bunged those in my trailer, with a knife, secateurs and the Compost Mate.  I got there soon after midday and waited for 15 minutes for the students to come down.  There were four that I knew (and may have heard my talk before) and four Chinese students who I'd not met and who knew nothing about the subject.   I started off with photosynthesis and carbon being fixed from the air, then respiration with that carbon being released by bacteria, fungi and animals.  I covered all the basics, about natural decomposition, landfills versus incineration versus recycling, the benefits of composting food and plant waste, and a bit about the carbon rich vs nitrogen rich ingredients.  I felt this 20 minute talk went well, and was keen to get busy with the 3 heaps, two were mostly finished material, the other was a large unruly pile of brambles and earthy sods and root balls, mostly left from the previous occupant.

We (me and two Chinese girls) moved all the nearly finished stuff into one bay, leaving one bay free to take the stuff from the top of the unruly pile, which we chopped with secateurs, and layered with fruit and veg material.  The bottom of the mature pile will be able to be put through a riddle, and I'll sort that job out with Phoebe soon.  I'm not sure how long I spent there, but I wanted to go and check out a strip of unused land just off Fulford Road where some trees have been taken down and they are just dumped there.  I've been watching this since before Christmas, so I investigated it and found a pile of dumped large Sycamore logs, a trailer load of which I liberated and very slowly cycled home, as I had at least 100kg, including a huge lump on my pannier rack.

When I got in, I made lunch (it was after 2.30) and I got a phone call from my friend Carolyn, who has a friend who would like a bit of help on a fairly regular basis.  She didn't know if I was looking for this kind of work, but she wanted to find out.... and if I was interested, she'd organise a meeting between the gentleman, who's a wheelchair user in York, and me, to see if we got on.  So a bit later, she rang back and I'll be going to meet him on Monday.  This work could come in extremely handy, specifically the money earned!

Then I got a phone call from Christine, a parent at the Steiner School who does some of the gardening there.  I'd rang her this morning as we'd tentatively arranged to meet this afternoon... but this morning there was no reply.  But she was ready to go down, so I said, OK, let's meet at 4pm.

I cycled down via the Sycamore logpile and picked up a second large load, and 10 minutes later, Chris arrived and she gave me a guided tour of the school grounds.  There are two main jobs... keeping bushes trimmed and tidy, and sorting out the compost bins.  There are two large wooden New Zealand bins, overflowing with twiggy bits, and two or three plastic dalek bins with mainly fruit in.  I plan to mix this stuff up and make a good compost.  I look forward to doing a fairly regular stint and to making a difference.

I cycled home and did a bit of stacking and splitting, and came in after 6... Gill had made some tomato soup and fried some boiled potatoes, a simple but filling meal.  Later I made up my muesli and popped out at midnight to collect 3 pallets from a builder who said I could take them.

Thursday 24th June 10

Up early enough to see the boys off, despite being out and about at 2am, on a mission to rescue logs from a bonfire pile on a building site. I've now taken all that I can take from there, and fully expect to see the rest of the stuff go up in smoke quite soon. The logs that I rescued I split and stacked, I think there's between 300 and 400 kg that I got from this place over the past few nights. That's a good week's winter heating, at least.

I decided to check with Catherine the York Rotters project manager about the current thinking about composting in blocks of flats, since a friend who lives in a block wants to compost and some of the neighbours do too. I confirmed what I thought, that there are a series of Environment Agency forms to fill in if they decide to have a communal compost heap or wormery, but if they do it unofficially then they'll just have to keep quiet about it and get on and do it without the authorities getting involved. Catherine reminded me that I'm currently not allowed to address public meetings as a York Rotter, because of my Aspergers and the twitchyness of the Council, York Rotters' funder, being worried that I might mention compost toilets or other 'horrific and wayward' composting subjects. So I told Catherine (and later, John from St Nicks too) that it wasn't a public meeting. However, they were still unhappy about my going as a volunteer Rotter, wearing my York Rotters tee shirt. Whilst stacking logs I had a wild thought that if they want me to go as John the Composter, which is my business, that as the 'client' isn't paying (they are expecting a volunteer Rotter) then I should invoice York Rotters... but of course I won't do that. But I am angry that I'm still being prevented from doing what I love. I do hope we resolve this soon.

Gill went to her birthday lunch with Melody, Natalie and Alison. I worked outside and came in over lunch, watched some Wimbledon tennis stuff. I heard someone with a chainsaw nearby so I went to say hello, and was promised some apple and pear logs to pick up later.

I did a bit of log stacking in the afternoon, but to do this I needed to clear up a lot of aluminium cans which I've collected over the past months. So I had a stamp-fest and filled a sack with them, and then I stacked the very dry logs from the building site. Gill came back at about 3 and I went to school to pick up our youngest... he walked some of the way home and had a lift on the pannier rack for the rest.

Our eldest went down the garden at about 6pm and came back in excited, as he'd had a close encounter with a 'bird of prey', and he gave us a quite detailed description, it was grey and had a stripe on the underside of the tail. This only matched a Honey Buzzard, in the assorted books we have... but I wonder how likely that is?

I enjoyed tea... some burgers made of rice from yesterday, along with pan-fried new potatoes and some asparagus, Gill's favourite birthday vegetable.

But then at 6.45 I set out to go and visit a friend called Owen, who lives in a flat in a block of six. He wants to do some composting, and had asked for a York Rotters visit, to which I'd agreed. I went to his flat and two other residents came to join the discussion. Earlier, I was asked/told to not go as a York Rotter but to go as John the Composter. But this turned out quite lucky really as if I'd been with my 'official' tee shirt on, I'd have had to give them advice about Community Composting and the dreadful Animal By-Products Regulations, but as I was 'just John' I was able to give them two options.

So, there are no regulations at all about what a householder can home compost in their own garden or property. BUT, if you have more than one household contributing to a compost heap, or in a communal garden, then officially, this is known as Community Composting and the ABPR comes into play. This means that any food waste which has come into contact with processed food, or dairy, or meat/fish must not be composted on an open heap or in a dalek... it has to go into an 'in vessel' system where the temperatures are controlled and measured, and any Community Compost set-up needs a licence from the Environment Agency.

So my talk explained what composting was, and how to get the best results, and why it was good... and then the choice: for one of the residents to set up a compost bin or two, and for it to be used by that person and others, if they wished, without the owners explicit knowledge (!) and not have any of the red tape, or to contact the authorities and get the permissions and get assistance from York Rotters (although probably not me). I explained about Bokashi and wormeries and tumblers. We looked at the potential positions for the bin/s and then I left them to decide what their approach would be. My guess is that a simple dalek system will be used and it will be unofficial, without the ridiculous rules and regulations. 40 minutes later I was cycling home, and I picked up the apple and pear logs which were promised earlier.

Later on, Gill and I had a game of Scrabble on a board, but it was an awful, low scoring game which I won.

Thursday 19th February 09

Well, an early start as the rest of the family were heading off to the station in a taxi at 9.05 for the 9.44 train to Birmingham to see friends at The Think Tank, and I set off a few minutes earlier on my bike to get the 9.27 to Sheffield, to spend the day with Ali and the evening with the South Yorkshire branch of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

Ali collected me after dropping off her daughter at the playscheme and we went back to her place, but not for long, as we decided to go into town, have some lunch at Blue Moon and then get some more footage for her film, for her media degree. So, had a good lunch.... cauliflower and rice in a cheesy sauce with several salads, and were joined by a friendly librarian whose job is to make the library as accessible as possible, which is how Ali knows her.

Then we took the tram up to the University building where there's a massive photo of Ali saying 'I love Politics', and we made a poster which we filmed, for a message for the closing credits. That didn't take as long as we thought it would, and so we leisurely rolled back to the Blue Moon for a coffee, and when Ali's PA and daughter arrived we had a cake each.

Soon after 4 we left and I was dropped off near the station, where I had a few minutes to wait before my Environmental Health contact was due to meet me. On the dot of 5pm, Fiona met me and she took me back to where Ali had dropped me off and Fiona's colleague Martin arrived and we drove to a pub just off the M1 where the CIEH group always meet.

The meeting was the AGM, so there was quite a bit of business to do before my talk. I had a gander at the Agenda, and was surprised to find that I'd been given the job of talking about my 'Carbon Neutral Lifestyle'. So, my small amount of preparation to talk about climate change, peak oil and Transition Towns was ignored, and I proceeded to explain why I hadn't got a carbon neutral lifestyle, but how I achieved a low carbon one. Somehow it all flowed nicely and I produced enough anecdotes, quips, facts and opinions to do a good presentation which was well received. I don't really know how I do it, but it comes naturally. I was given a five minute warning that the 'pie and peas' supper was on its way and as mine was a spinach and ricotta canneloni which I was looking forward to, I came to a swift halt, inviting the audience to ask questions after the meal. This was quite nice, especially the berry cheesecake, and there were indeed a few comments and questions afterwards, including one about Transition Towns. I was also able to explain peak oil in less than 3 minutes.

As a thank you I was given a bottle of Lindesfarne Mead (how DID they know it's one of my favourite drinks?!!!) and a cheque to cover my expenses. Several of the attendees asked if I could give a talk to other groups.... always the best compliment!

The new Chair Janice offered to take me to Doncaster; we arrived at 10.15 and there was a train heading for York just a few minutes later, so got home soon after 11. I was pleased to find Gill and the boys had enjoyed their trip to Birmingham.

Thursday 5th February 09

Gill took our youngest into school and I had a lie in... thank you Gill, I needed it.

Gill and I had a lazy and enjoyable morning.

I tried to prepare some notes for tonight but kept on getting distracted. I think that detailed notes won't actually be necessary.

Had an early lunch and then headed into town to get some money out to buy a block of 10 tickets for Carbon Detox on March 3rd at the Theatre Royal. Met up with Edward and co in the Theatre and he told me the password for the block of ten cheap tickets... just £5 each!

Home via the cycle track where a large group of workers were taking down quite a lot of trees, shredding the branches but leaving the cut up trunks. They were happy for me to take some on the trailer, and invited me to take as much as I could... there must be over a tonne. Nice!

I picked up our little one and he came back on the luggage rack, as it's still too slippery for him to cycle safely and confidently. I'm happy to, though... I've been cycling in snow and ice lots... nothing puts me off!

When I got back I did some more washing up and had a bowl of soup and a sandwich, and did manage to think about my talk to the York Pain Management Support Group tonight. At 5.40 I set off for the hospital where I had agreed to meet Jess, who is going to supervise me (!) and make sure I get my facts right, and hopefully add some of her own expertise too.

Jess appeared soon after I arrived and we had a sit down and chat, and the structure of the talk became clearer. I would first say what the talk was going to be about (Climate Change, Peak Oil, York in Transition and what we could do) and then introduce Jess and myself. The Climate section would have info about the greenhouse effect, gases and the sorts of activities that these gases come from, plus the complications from positive and negative feedbacks, and some of the possible effects of increased greenhouse effect. Then the peak oil section would be pretty straightforward... about Hubbert's predictions and how they came true, and what the post-peak would mean for humanity. The Transition Towns bit too would be fairly simple, with Jess doing her bit about inclusion and participation re the non-usual suspects, including people with disabilities. We'd talk about York in Transition and what our aims are, to probably focus on food. Finally I'd talk through some of the things that we can do to reduce our impact, including diet, reducing our resource use, recycling and composting, plus ideas such as calculating your carbon footprint. We'd invite them to get on YiT's email list and to come to the Carbon Detox show.

Then we walked over to the venue on White Cross Road and met the organisers. After 15 minutes, just six people had turned up... they usually get between 5 and 20. The cold icy weather had probably put some folks off. The group organiser bought us both a drink and soon I was invited to start. The talk went well and there were quite a few questions afterwards, and comments and anecdotes.

We left at about 8.45pm, and walked along the cycle track together... I collected a good stash of logs and then parted company with Jess. I got home soon after 9.30, and rang Ben who had rung Gill, saying the memory chip had arrived. He came to fit it... this took just 2 minutes and he went. My computer now works more quickly... it has 1.24 whatever it is now... double what it used to have!

Watched a good programme on exploring the Amazon on BBC2... a low-carbon method of enjoying the planet.