Sunday 13th March 11

I really enjoyed today, despite it being very tiring.

I got up before 9 and after breakfast I went down the garden to find another 5 sacks of compost for the Edible York collector today.  Barry had been tasked to transport 30 sacks to Peaseholme Green and 15 sacks to the Barbican bed; but I'd only got 10 sacks ready for this second delivery.

I found some very mature compost in a builders 'dumpy' bag and dug some of it out and filled 5 sacks with at least 20kg per sack.  These came up the garden in the wheelbarrow, and I brought a carrier bag of riddled mature as well, to show the Edible York volunteers what it's like!

This took about 45 minutes by which time it was rapidly getting towards my next deadline... I had to be in Thorpe Willoughby near Selby for 1.30pm, which meant that I should ideally leave home at about 11.30am, to allow 2 hours cycling to get the 16 or so miles to the Sports Club on Field Lane at the South West corner of the village.  I allow 10 miles per hour and then some time for stops and for cooling off after I arrive!

I had a short stop in Stillingfleet but got to Thorpe Willoughby at 12.50, just an hour and 20 minutes after I set off.  I had lunch sitting on a bench on the green, and arrived at the venue before the partygoers.  I spoke to one of the staff and she opened up a back door to the room and I got my bike into the room.  My employer arrived, with her football playing 7 year old daughter.  She'd invited 17 of her friends.  I got changed and my equipment ready.  I welcomed the guests by being silly, introducing them to the birthday girl and suggesting they might like to be friends.

When all the partygoers were at the venue, I got the grownups to sit on chairs at the back and all the children to sit on the floor in front of them.  I did a fantastic show, really enjoyed it, and as I wasn't doing the balloons, i spent a bit longer with the circus show, including letting a self-confessed diabolo player have a go with my smaller diabolo.  One of the more vocal kids said, towards the end of the show, that it was 'the best party he'd ever been to' which was nice, with his shrill voice quite loud, so everybody could hear!

I finished at about 3.15 and packed up, took the bike out of the back and round to the front, so I could go back into the building and get changed.

Then i cycled home, by the same Cawood, Stillingfleet and Naburn route.  I saw a dead deer (roadkill) and a badger, and a pheasant, plus live hares chasing round a field.

I got in after 5pm, and immediately rang David, whom I'd said I'd go and work for at about 6pm.  I wanted to have a bit of a rest before going to see him, and wanted to get to him at 6.30.  But he'd arranged to meet Geoff at 6, so I had a quick potato salad and cheese sandwich and quickly cycled down to town, getting to his house at 6pm on the dot.  We went round to City Screen and had a coffee, and Geoff arrived. 

We got talking with a nice woman called Alison who's an acupuncturist, and her daughter Erica, a chef from the South of France, and Erica's boyfriend Alan.  David enjoyed chatting with them.  Geoff didn't stay long; for me the highlight of his being there was showing me a tee-shirt which had written on it "Christians Who Fly are Christians Who Kill".  He asked if I'd wear it at the UK Aware event, but I declined.  I don't set out to upset people.... and although I agree that flying (in aeroplanes!) is contributing to climate change and therefore killing people, it's not a teeshirt I would wear as it could be misconstrued.  My agnosticism sets out to respect other peoples' religious leanings.

I took David home and put the wheelchair away, and made him soup and veg.  I also cooked him some fish, as requested. After I'd washed up, David suggested I sit and had a glass of wine, so I said, OK, stop the clock and I'll have a drink and a chat.  I did 2 and a half hours for him this evening, then 40 minutes chat.

I was very pleased to get home... a long day, but a goody!

Tuesday 8th March 11

A good day as a lot got done.  Gill took our youngest into school in a taxi, and I got up as Hector was due to arrive at 10am to replace our sink and to put up a shelf.

I've met Hector through YorkLETS, I supplied a couple of bags of compost to Bronwen his wife, and saw that Hector did all sorts of jobs, including plumbing and joinery, for half Yorkys and half Sterling.  So we booked him to come and install the Freecycled stainless steel sink and drainer, and put up a shelf as we desperately need more storage space in the tiny kitchen.  We do such a lot of cooking and food preparation, this kitchen just isn't really suitable.  But there's not much we can do... and another shelf is a good move.

Once he'd got the old sink off, he could tell that the new sink fitted the hole -just - and that he needed some silicone sealant, some pipework to put the half-sink bowl (where a macerator could go) to attach it to the U bend, and brackets to hold the shelf up.  So I went to B+Q, and eventually got everything I was looking for.  I found a large plank in the garage, something I'd salvaged a long time ago, and Hector cut it down  to the right length, and it's now up over the top of the gap which connects the kitchen to the living room, the missing wall which is partly responsible for the lack of storage space.

Gill went to town with our eldest after lunch, to eventually pick up our youngest.  They went to Barnitts for something. I stayed in until Hector had finished, and then got my 30 sacks of compost up to the front, where I piled them all into a builders 'dumpy' sack, which holds a cubic metre.  The 30 sacks take up more than that volume.  They'll be collected on Saturday when I'm away, and used for Edible York's raised beds.  I emailed Chloe to ask if she wants the other 20 sacks brought to the front too.  They are destined for the Barbican beds, whereas the 30 sacks will go to Peasholme Green.

That took quite a while, but I also riddled a large pile of mature fine compost and got 11 carrier bags of sieved or 'graded' compost together.  This will mostly go down to Country Fresh.  I might offer some to Freshways too.

I really enjoyed washing up tonight.  The new sink is a bit of a novelty, and isn't fully plumbed in yet... Hector is back for an hour or two tomorrow.  But I like our nice shiny new-to-us sink.

Thursday 15th April 10

A good day. Up not too early and got some paperwork done, cheques into envelopes and into the post box.

And then had a busy day in the garden, getting lots done, a bit more shredding and lots of tidying, riddled the last of a builder's bag of very mature compost, bagged it up into about 20 bread bags and 14 carrier bags. All the big bits... sticks, chunks of bark, etc, went back on the new heap. I did a bit of stacking, very green alder logs which I've split to get them dry quickly.

At 3pm, my composting friend Jo came round to borrow both my Rotasieves, as her son is doing a thing with Scouts and they need to riddle lots of compost, in preparation for planting seeds.

I worked in the garden til 6pm and came in for pasta with broccoli and carrot, with home-made tomato soup as a sauce on top. Very welcome and filling.

Then later, something I've been looking forward to doing for ages... I planted the first seeds of the year. I filled about 50 toilet roll inners with home-made seed compost with a spoon... it took quite a long time, but I did then 'in situ' in a stainless steel catering dish, the sort used in ban maries to serve hot food from,which I rescued from a skip years ago. The bog-rolls were put into it, all up against each other, and the growing medium carefully spooned in. Then I put a pea-bean in each one, and a bit of seed-compost on top. Then I got water from the water butt and gave them a good dowsing from the base, so the water soaks up to the beans. I love planting seeds. And especially these climbing beans as they are just about my favourite crop. The toilet rolls will be planted in 4 to 6 weeks without disturbing the roots.

I'll do the pumpkins and squash over the weekend, and sweetcorn, brassicas, and I don't know what else. A lovely time of year. Let's hope the Icelandic volcano doesn't affect the summer temperatures too much... it could make a cool summer. I've enjoyed today partly as I was pleased the volcanic ash has closed all the airports today. One comment on facebook was that Gaia is getting her revenge....