Tuesday 25th January 11

Gill woke me at 8 with a dilemma about our youngest and school, as he wasn't very well, and was wondering what to do re school and a dentist appointment at 4ish... her frustration about various things boiled over and she gave me an earful about the mess in the garden that I'm responsible for, so I got up immediately and did 2 hours clearing up before breakfast at 10.  I do wish I was tidier.  I am productive but untidy.  I will try to remain productive but be less messy.

I didn't manage to get the garden completely tidy, and I had a succession of phone calls, a couple of which were really good and positive, about work in the summer, quite a few were to do with advertising, and one was a bit sad... I'd agreed to do a summer gala in North Cave, which is a short hop away from Brough railway station.  The organiser had asked me to find out my train times and we'd confirm the following week.  Well I found out that train times for the summer aren't published yet, but I knew I'd be able to get there, even if it meant an early start on a Sunday and a change at Doncaster.  So today we spoke and she was so apologetic, as the committee of 18 (yes, a committee of EIGHTEEN!) had outvoted her, saying they were worried that I wouldn't be able to get there because of using public transport.  This is I think a first. 

I got a message from Richard inviting me down to do a pick up.  I groaned but later did go and collect.  I got a cheque in the post for 30 sacks of compost supplied to Edible York last year, which is really good, and a phone call from a LETS member asking for a delivery of two sacks, which I'll take round on Thursday after the Rotters meeting.

The day slid by quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for me to get ready to go to the station to go to Harrogate for the RSA meeting launching the Harrogate Community Enterprise Hub.  I met Chris James on the train, a fellow Fellow, as it were, and we talked about peak oil and assorted serious subjects, and he told me about his project Inspired Youth.

We walked up to Cafe Culture from Hornbeam Park station, and watched the presentation about this project.  The basic idea is to provide a structure and place for mentors to be able to meet 'mentees', ie people wanting to start a business or a project being able to have the benefit of some already successful business people, entrepreneurs etc. 

I did have all the details of the speakers on a 'running order' piece of paper but I've stupidly left it behind, so I may or may not be able to post links to the websites.  I'd like to as some of the projects were very inspiring.

Came back on the 9pm train, and on the way home from the station collected a large number of thrown away bedding plants and polyanthus, put aside by County Fresh instead of tipping them all into the bin.

When I got home and went onto facebook, I was extremely saddened, devastated even, to see about the death of Mark 'Mozaz' Wallis, one of Sheffield's most well known anarchists, whom I was very fond of.  I knew I liked him but it's only when you lose someone and the tears flow and flow that you realise how much you cared.  He developed some kind of infection, possibly following flu or a respiratory illness, and died in hospital on the 23rd.

However, my friend Ann posted wedding photos of Keith Jackman and his long term partner Aree, out in Thailand.  This cheered me up a bit.

Monday 19th July 10

No lie in as the phone rang and woke me. But I'd got quite a bit to do so I got up.

I first worked out the train times to Harrogate and the whereabouts of the Cedar Court Hotel, as I've got my first RSA meeting tonight. I used Googlemaps to pinpoint the hotel, and drew a basic map on the back of an envelope so I could walk from the station to the hotel.

Gill was doing accounts, and we worked together on this task, mainly me interpreting scrawls in the diary! She asked me to tell her how much I'd earned selling compost, so I looked through the diary and marked things there, but also needed to check my blog, to see how much has been taken to Country Fresh, so I spent quite a long time checking this blog for any mention of taking compost down to the shop, and started listing these loads plus other compost sales. I've done April, May and June. OK, 3/4 of the year to go!!! I had two Fiddlesticks letters to deal with and one phone call. I spent most of the day doing this, until 3pm when I got dressed and had an hour and a half in the garden.

But at 4.30ish I came in as my train was at 5.17, in order to get me to Harrogate by the 6.30 meeting start time. I took a sandwich with me to eat on the train and chatted with a chap who works for the people doing the 'Scores On The Doors' website which tell users of catering establishments how good the place is from the perspective of the local authority hygiene inspectors.

When I got to Harrogate it was raining and I followed my map, but unfortunately the Googlemap had the hotel in the wrong place, and I had several minutes of being confused before retracing my steps and asking a local where the Cedar Court Hotel was. So I found it and there were already quite a few Fellows there.

I said hello and went to get a drink, a pint bottle of pear cider was a whopping £4.50, very expensive. I won't be drinking there again! The meeting was good, met some interesting people, quite a selection, although most (all but one, I think!) were older than me. We had time to chat and move around, then the facilitator, Marion Simon, introduced a gentleman who wanted to float an idea to have a regular meeting in a Community Cafe in Harrogate, to attract young people to make a difference and perhaps get better employment possibilities. He also mentioned about promoting low carbon lifestyles and low carbon businesses, which made me take more notice. I said I might be interested in getting involved to some extent, and suggested that the Transition process might be a good one to look at for inspiration. No-one in the group had heard of Transition Towns... I was flabbergasted!

There was a bit of discussion and a few more ideas floated, and then it kind of drifted into the end of the meeting, with no real way forward other than the suggestion of doing 'something' at this cafe. I look forward to the notes being sent out to see if I had a 'petit-mal' and missed a whole chunk of the meeting somehow!

A few people wanted to chat to me afterwards so I must have made some kind of good impression, a chap who knows Edward Harland and another who's about to get involved with the Credit Union.

I was offered a lift to the station in a posh car which was going in that direction anyway so I accepted.

Uneventful train trip home, nice cycle home, and during the evening I contacted both Googlemaps and the Cedar Court Hotel people about the inaccuracies in their map.

When I went on my blog to write up the day, I noticed that today I've passed the 30,000 visitors mark with the Bravenet Counter thingy I installed in 2008! Amazing. Thank you to all visitors who've enjoyed reading my diary.

Saturday 5th June 10

Up early as working today, over in Harrogate. The gig started at 11, so I had to get the 10.11 train, which meant leaving home soon after 9.30. As I had very limited time at the Harrogate end (the train was due to get in at 10.43) I decided to travel in costume, and I cycled down to the station with my bag of sticks, balls and diabolos, two unicycles, a pedal go and a fun wheels, two bags of balloons, something to read on the train and my sandwiches for lunch. No problem!

A hassle free ticket purchase and ride over to Harrogate, and then a 10 minute walk to Party Fever which had a gazebo outside covered in baloons and contained a facepainter. There were several people with collection buckets, as the event was a fundraiser for St Michael's Hospice. I met the boss and she showed me where I could work, which was on the South side of the street, facing the shop, and fortunately in the shade, as it was a very hot and sunny day.

So, I worked from 11 through to 1.30 when I had 10 minutes for lunch and carried on til 2.5o, when i quickly packed up and got to the train as it drew into the station. The day in Harrogate was really jolly and I had a brilliant time, lots and lots of positive interaction. I worked with several groups of teenagers, quite a few talented individuals, lots of small children and a surprising number of 'game' adults. I did loads of balloons, plenty of devilsticking, diabololing and unicycling. I taught 3 people how to do the 3ball cascade, the basic juggling pattern. I got paid a charity fundraiser size fee, about half my average, and it all worked like clockwork. The trains were on time and I read most of a NewScientist whilst on the train.

I called in on Country Fresh on the way back but didn't take recyclables, I just got some fruit and veg, and a cucumber plant as one of the ones I got a couple of weeks ago has died.

So, when I got home I needed some quiet time, and after I unloaded, I went upstairs and listened to Tracey Smith's Taunton Hospital Radio-over-the-net on Apple AM. I like this as she is reasonably bonkers and the music she plays is ok too, nothing too cheesy. I had tea upstairs whilst avoiding Dr Who. I chatted with a friend on facebook and played Scrabble, a good couple of hours relaxation.

But I had a Freecycling offer I couldn't turn down, a load of pallets and a tree trunk over in Leeman Road. So I hopped on my bike and bombed over to the other side of the city, and then very very slowly brought back four large pallets and a 6 foot tree trunk on the trailer... possibly the heaviest load I've ever towed home. I'm glad the roads were quiet.

So, a busy and productive day which I enjoyed and I think I brought some happiness to quite a few people, plus raised some money for a worthwhile charity.

Monday 19th October 09

A bit of an unusual day as our youngest is heading off to Todmorden to have three days of fieldtrip. So Gill and our little one headed off at 7.50am, on foot, to get to school by 8.15. I spent time with our eldest, and chatted carefully about things which I hoped wouldn't piss him off, and he got out of the house at the normal time.

So at 8.45 I was out in the garden finishing off the shredding of the twiggy bits of hedge... and completed this job! Hooray!

I also unloaded a couple of sacks of compostables from either Country Fresh or Freshways and found a large stash of tomatoes, of which about 25% were compostable and the rest washable and I therefore brought them in and washed them, fried an onion on the stove (in a pan, lol) and added about 40 small to medium tomatoes and a stick of celery, and cooked that up on the stove top to make a delicious soup.

Then I made sandwiches and had them before cycling off to the station to get on the 13.11 to Harrogate for my last acupuncture session with Karen. I fell asleep on the train and again on the acupuncture table. I asked her quite a few questions today, about what she was doing. Few of her answers made any sense to me, but I do come from 'Western medicine' background. I decided not to take her up on a further two sessions as although I've enjoyed this experiment, I haven't really got anything positive out of it. I agreed to fill in her questionnaire at the end of this week.

I cycled quickly back to Harrogate station and got the train to Knaresborough, and then mooched around the tile and stove shop whilst waiting for the York train. I had a fiddle with a Dovre stove and chatted to the shop assistant about flat irons and stoves. Then the York train came and took me and my bike home.

Gill had taken a phone call from a Dave on Windmill Lane, who's taken down a cherry tree and has offered me the branches. He wanted me to go round after 6pm, so I did and picked up a trailer and panniers full of freshly chopped cherry logs. He hadn't managed to take down the trunk and asked me if I had a chainsaw and could do it? So I'll go round in the next few days to help him out. Then I popped down to see Raj as he had asked me to help him with something, and after I'd spent half an hour with him, he gave me two veggie samosas.

Then I came home for tea, at about 7pm. Once again, a good tea... tomato soup followed by cauliflower, macaroni, potatoes, quiche, salad, olives... yummy!

Enjoyed some telly and tried to catch up with emails which are again building up...

Monday 12th October 09

A good day... got the paperwork for the new quote for solar panels, using Solartwin. My friend's worries about the photovoltaic-powered pump being from a car windscreen washing device are unfounded, and the reports from another nearby installation are really good, so we're going for Solartwin. Harris Builders are using the Solartwin installers, and Harris will provide the scaffolding, take down the unused chimney and make good the roof and re-do the fascia boards.

We are pleased we've made this decision. It will fulfill our desire to reduce our already low carbon footprint yet further. We will get some cash back from the Government for putting it in, and also will qualify for a small amount of money off our gas/electric bill from Good Energy. I don't know how much this will be.

So, after dealing with this paperwork, I spent quite a bit of time doing the shredding of the hedge that I've removed so far. Last time I took a load of hedge out, I left all the twiggy bits to the end, and then spent AGES processing them. This time I'm removing hedge, passing the roots on to people who want a Privet hedge, and processing the tops as I go. Much more sensible.

I came in for lunch at 1pm, as usual, and then at about 1.45 cycled down to the station minus my trailer so I could put the bike on the train to Harrogate, and cycle over to Karen who is using me as a subject for her Masters degree on acupuncture and ADHD.

As I experienced in the previous two sessions, I found the lying down on the treatment table to be most relaxing. I'm not sure why this is... proponents of Traditional Chinese Medicine would say something to do with Qi and energies, but I'm not sure. I wonder if it's because I rarely get a chance to lie down in the middle of the afternoon, and usually get only 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night?

Anyway, I'm enjoying the experience. I haven't felt any changes in my energy levels though, nor am I any tidier! Karen thinks I might need 15 to 30 sessions to get any lasting effect.

I got the 5pm train home and was home by 6 via Freshways... and went straight into the garden to do another hour of hedge processing. Beautiful sunset.

Pasta tea. Lover lea.

Quiet evening, did some more plums.

Monday 28th September 09

Up early as I needed to do the minutes of last week's Transition meeting... and got an invitation to put my blog on http://blogs.gogreen.vc/.

I got the minutes done and sent them off to Peter for sending out. I spent half an hour in the garden shredding some brambles which Gill has removed.

Immediately after lunch I wend down to the station with my bike minus trailer, got a ticket to Hornbeam Park and took my bike on the train so I could easily get from the station to the 'Family Chiropractic Clinic' where Karen hires a room to do her acupuncture. She had booked the room from 2pm so she could continue her research about ADHD and acupuncture. I arrived before 2pm and she was waiting outside, no sign at all of anyone within, just a little sign saying 'lunch 1-2' and Karen had already rang their number, and it was on answerphone. Banging on the door and ringing the bell made no difference either. She got reasonably agitated about this and by 2.10, went to ask a nearby shop owner if they had seen any movement at the Clinic this morning. And then the person bothered to come down and open the Clinic door. I was a bit angry about this late start... as I had hoped to get the 3pm train back to York. She told me that they opened the shop at 2.15. I hope they change the note on the door... and give Karen a key so she can get in and get prepared for her clients.

She took a little while to get ready, and then did her pre-acupuncture routine which involves looking at my tongue and asking various questions and taking my pulse. We discussed my diet and food routine. Then I had the rather nice experience of having the needles put into my skin (most of them I couldn't feel, some I felt a tiny pinprick, one was uncomfortable for a couple of minutes) and then lying there for 45 minutes or so. I felt very relaxed and calm, almost knocked out, and I might have even drifted off to sleep at one stage. It is most curious. But at 3.20 I had the needles removed and I had another conversation about my carbohydrate-rich diet and four to six cups of coffee a day.

I cycled into Harrogate and popped into Waitrose to get some goats milk which Gill had asked me to buy, and onto the station where I got the 4.05 train back to York, along with 2 other cyclists.

I called in on Freshways and picked up a small box of recyclables, and headed home.

I did about an hour of loading a heap with shredded brambles and food 'resources'. For tea I had a sandwich with two small home-made veggie burgers from a couple of days ago (basically a nutloaf mix cooked in small patties in a frying pan) and some salad and potatoes.

At half six I went out to the Theatre Royal to see what I thought was a play by my friend Kate Lock. 'Script Factor' was in fact a weird concept... five new scripts or mini-plays, read unseen by volunteer audience members, the script writer/playwright answering a few questions, and then at the end, voting for the one you wanted to win. I liked Kate's play which was based on one of her early journalistic experiences, and the winning play which was by Charlotte Court, called 'Bus Stop 21', about a conversation between 3 women of different ages. Age, specifically youth, was a recurring theme in all the scripts, as the Theatre Royal is in the midst of a 'youth take-over' with a bunch of under-26 year olds in control, and free tickets for people under 26. The winner of tonight's Script Factor certainly looked younger than 26, and it was her first play ever read out to an audience. I think she deserved to win, as her idea was so simple and elegant. Kate's was more entertaining though... a play within a play, someone having a seizure during a sex scene, a sexist critic choking to death on a scone after being assaulted with a lucky Buddha... all good dramatic stuff... darkly humorous...

I left at about 9.30 and was home 10 minutes later. Enjoyed watching 'The Cell' on BBC4.

Monday 21st September 09

A very busy busy busy day.

But I didn't have to actually get up until just before 11, although I did do a bit of housework in my dressing gown after breakfast.

At 11am the replacement solar panel surveyor man arrived. The chap who looked round a few weeks ago has hurt his back, so someone else has taken over. Alan was a young and enthusiastic chap, and we had some lively conversations whilst he looked at the outside of the house, the boiler in the bathroom and the roof space. I also showed him the solar panel on the house down the road which has an integral photovoltaic panel which runs the pump. That's what I want. Not a 60w pump wired in and using mains power all the time... sort of defeats the object of the exercise.

Then shortly before midday I bombed into town to attend the Avaaz 'Wake Up Call' flashmob which was aiming to give world leaders the message that there are a lot of us who think that the forthcoming Copenhagen talks are possibly the last chance to set firm and binding targets to reduce CO2 emissions. The York Press photographer was there, and BBC Radio York, and I was able to inform listeners that Gordon Brown, our Prime Minister, had decided to attend Copenhagen himself, demonstrating how important he realises it is. This decision is partly due to the rising clamour about this event. Today, people were given Gordon Brown's phone number and asked to ring him up. What good this will do I don't know, but it's worth trying.

Very soon after this I walked my bike through town and as soon as out of the pedestrian zone, cycled quickly to St Nicks where the load-carrying trike was waiting for me. Tom gave me the key to the lock and told me he wanted it back within the hour. It was not easy to ride, as it hugs the road camber and doesn't lean into corners, but I got the hang of it and plodded up to B+Q, parked up, locked it and went to find someone in the gardening section. There was no-one there. I wandered around and found a B+Q staff member in the paint section. I asked her if I could ask her a question and she looked terrified and said that she was on her lunch hour and actually buying paint. I said that I just wanted to know where I could pick up the turf and she smiled and said she was responsible for the garden bit and would take me to the turf waiting for me. She had looked terrified as she thought I was going to ask a technical question about paint!

I loaded up the 12 rolls of turf onto a trolley whilst she did the paperwork, and I scooted it all outside to the tricycle. It was a heavy and slow cycle back to St Nicks, but the whole trip took just 45 minutes.

I came home on my bike, unhitched my trailer and made a sandwich to take down to the station, as I needed to get the 2.11 train to Hornbeam Park. I put my bike on the train, as when in Hornbeam Park I needed to get to the place on Leeds Road just outside Harrogate to meet Karen the acupuncturist for my first session. I got there at 2.55 and she was expecting me, so I was led to her treatment room. She had already done a full history on Saturday, so she just needed to check my tongue (why, I have no idea!) and pulse, then I lay down and she put about 6 pins in me, only one of which was slightly uncomfortable as it went in... the rest I didn't feel at all, just the pressure of the guide tube. The I lay still for between half an hour and 45 minutes which was LOVELY... being told not to move just felt great... and I felt totally relaxed, but I didn't fall asleep, though I think I could have let myself... The session was over all too soon and she took my pulse again (as before it had been racing as I'd just cycled quickly) and off I went, in the rain which had started. I got to Hornbeam Park with loads of time to spare, and waited in the rain feeling very calm and slightly elated.

It didn't take long to get back to York, and home via Sainsburys as I had forgotten to get Danish Pastries this morning from Thomas's Yesterbake for tomorrow's CarFreeDay picnic breakfast.

I came home via Country Fresh and Freshways.

When I got home, with the pastries, and a nice loaf and some cereal, I went straight out again, to the Co-op to get some more bits and bobs for tomorrow's event.

Tea was a pastie and roast potatoes and some sweet potatoes, rescued from the compostables. They had been thrown out as they were beginning to sprout... I cut of the sprouting ends and will try to grow them on, in the conservatory through the winter.

Then out again to a Transition meeting. I went via Lynn's to pick up a parasol for the CarFreeDay demo. The meeting was good as there were two new faces, but it was also a tough meeting as we had a bit of sorting out to do with regards which activities are 'core Transition' activities and which are 'community building' activities which pave the way for the core Transition activities to take place. I took minutes, and also agreed to work with Diane, to help set up a Huntington and New Earswick Transition Initiative.

Home quite tired but had a lot of typing to do, so to bed at the usual time of 2ish.

And here's what Rich filmed today (added a few days later)

Wednesday 24th September 08

I took our youngest to school and came back in good time to get myself ready to go to work in Harrogate, for their CarFreeDay activities.

I got the 10.11 train and was met in Harrogate by a camera operator from BBC Look North who wanted to get some footage of me advertising the event. So we walked to the St Peter's Church and I got changed into Professor Fiddlesticks and went outside to unicycle around and invite people into St Peter's to see the exhibition materials from Sustrans, the Christian Ecology Network , FoE and others.

As I finished doing the unicycling around, the group toddle arrived... actually a group of about 10 mums with pre-school kids in push chairs and buggies. I don't know where they'd walked from, but they were the sort of 'customer' who might usually go places by car. I was expecting a school group to entertain but it turned out that the youngsters were these pre-schoolers! So I did a half-hour show aimed at the mums, Vicar and his helpers, and the CarFreeDay volunteers... which seemed to go well.

Then Yvonne invited me to come to lunch... which I wasn't expecting. We went to a mock-French place and the service was slow and several people didn't get what they asked for. I had a tomato soup and baguette 'pizza'. Thanks to Malcolm Margolis for this. At least the long wait allowed us to chat!

Back to St Peters where the displays were starting to be taken down, and I chatted to a nice couple called Rachel and Dan, with a cute baby, and an enthusiastic chap called Lee and his friend Adrian...

I went to get the 3.05 train but missed it by 3 minutes so read my NewScientist and got home before 5. On the Leeds 'Look North' there was a brief mention of Professor Fiddlesticks, see
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/ondemand/england/realmedia/looknorthyorkslincs/looknorth?bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&lang=en&nbwm=1&bbram=1&ms3=6&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=1&size=16x9&bbwm=1#
It's about 3 minutes 20 seconds in...

Later in the evening I got a call from a friend/neighbour who had a bust-up with her 17 yr old daughter and she'd locked her out of the house, partly as the daughter had some large chaps with her and Mum was not feeling safe. I negotiated that the daughter came in, got her overnight stuff and rang one of her brothers who said he'd let her sleep over for a night. I stayed in the house whilst the daughter got her stuff together and left. Happy families eh?

Nearly finished my column on Electrics and Gadgets, but it's too long so will edit it down tomorrow.