Sunday 5th June 11

A really busy day... starting with going down the garden to see Ian and Lyndsay and inviting them to come to the house for a coffee...

Ian said he would be able to sort out my computer, which has been running very slowly and saying there wasn't enough space to download my cycle camera videos.  Ian is a bit of a whizz at sorting computer problems, and is a fan of (and contributor to) open source software, which is written by 'ordinary people' (and some extraordinary ones!) and is free and responds to things very quickly... so if there's a virus threat, a patch can be available in 24 hours, whereas with Windows, it might take months.  So he offered to take all my files off my laptop and store them on the external hard-drive that the children have for big Spore files, and then dump Windows and install Ubuntu.  Removing all my files might take a while, so he set it going before I went to work, and they went out to explore York, and I got my stuff together for going to Leeds and entertaining at Middleton Park.

I got the 12.18 train and on it were some of my friends from Edible York, off to Todmorden to visit the Incredible Edible Todmorden project. Bill was with them and we sorted out a date for Edible York people to visit our garden to see the composting.

Leeds soon came and we all got off, they to change trains and I to go and wait for Alan to pick me up and take me out to Middleton Park.  The gig there went very similarly to the previous ones... apart from there were 60 people turned up to see the show!  Alan and his volunteers were extremely pleased with the turnout and the show, and from where I was, the show went really well.  I did the circus show and workshop preceded by the 'warm-up acts' and followed by the free-play circus stuff, and balloon giveaways.  I managed to finish on time, at 4pm, and Alan took me back to the station and I got a train immediately.

I was back in York by 5.10 and home before half past.

Ian had got the computer ready and he showed me how to install Ubuntu and how some of it worked.  I rang David and asked about whether it would be OK to start work at 6.30 rather than 6pm, which was fine.  Gill gave me a slice of quiche, hot out of the oven.... yummy!  Then I said my goodbyes to Lyndsay and Ian and cycled down to town, arriving just before 6.30.  David had arranged to meet Carolyn down at 'Frankie and Benny's' and have a coffee.

However, we had a dessert too, I had a tiramasu. Delicious, but overpriced for what it was.  We chatted... or rather, Carolyn led the conversation, and was surprised when she realised the time was 8.15.  I took David back home and got him his tea and sorted out the bins and recycling.  I got away at 9.15. 

On the way back I picked up a bag of compostables and visited a bin which I know sometimes has 'freegan' goodies in it, and hit paydirt, several kilos of assorted beans and pulses, all in sealed packets.  Great stuff! 

I was surprised the Ian and Lyndsay were still at home, seemingly entertaining our boys!  Ian showed me a bit more stuff on the newly cleaned computer.... he'd cleaned the fan which had layers of dirt on it, and was not functioning at all well, and the vacuumed the keyboard... it's almost like having a new laptop!

Ian likes free stuff and was happy to have a couple of kilos of Gunko Peas and other beans.  We collected sleeping bags from the tent and they got off, back to Cheshire.  I really enjoyed their visit... but have one last thing to do for them; they hired bikes from Bob Trotters, which wasn't open on Sunday, so the bikes have to be back on Monday morning before 9.30am.  So that's my job, to take them back tomorrow morning.... not that easy, but I'll do it!

I spent a long time trying to work out how to do various things on the new operating system.  Some is exactly the same as before (like writing my blog) and others are more complicated, such as opening photos from an email, and playing Scrabble on facebook, neither of which I'm able to do right now.  But it won't take long to learn how to do these tasks, and I'm glad to dump Windows which was clunky and slow.  I had a lovely conversation with Serena who was on the ride on Saturday, and we agreed to go for a coffee tomorrow.  And I washed up at 2am....

Thursday 2nd April 09

Gill left to go to visit her sister in West Yorkshire at just after 8am, so I took our youngest into school and came back via Fastpack on Lilac Avenue, which has an impressive range of nuts and bolts, tools and building materials. They sell bow saw blades, and I'd agreed to get a new one for Pauline's 24 inch bow saw as hers was blunt. Then I cycled down to Cycle Heaven where they have had a new wheel hub waiting for me for ages, and I left my bike with them whilst I walked round to Pauline's, had coffee and chats, chopped a little bit of firewood for her, and got back to the bike shop by 10.40. They had sorted out my back wheel, brakes and a brake cable.

Then to the main Post Office, as someone has sent me a package with not enough postage on it, and to the Council to give in the Planning Panel paperwork. Walked through the footstreets and then, cycling down Walmgate, saw a 'ripe' skip containing some good-looking wood, so stopped and chatted to the builders who were happy to help me load up some very old oak beams. Then, on Hull Road, as I was pulling up to the traffic lights, a van overtook me with a good pile of tree-prunings in the back, including some huge cherry logs. I pulled up alongside and asked them if they would like to drop off some of them just up the road. They asked where, and when I said it was just a minute away, they said they'd follow me, so I sped off, despite my heavy load, and they followed. Well worth it, as they gave me some massive chunky and dead-dry cherry logs, one trunk is about 50cm in diameter!

Stopped for a few minutes for lunch, but then got going again, sorting out some of the wood at the front and then started to prepare tea, ingredients for a lasagna. I did a roux and added lumps of cheese for a cheese sauce, and brought some sliced carrot and cauliflower up to the boil to take off the crunch before adding it to the lasagna. When I got back from school I layered up the sheets of pasta (no-pre-cook type), dollops of butternut and leek soup, slices of tomato, slices of carrot and cauliflower florets and the cheese sauce. I only put the cheese sauce in one of the bottom layers and all over the top, and then microwaved it for 10 minutes. Then, to finish it off and crisp the top, I bunged it in the gas oven for a few minutes. Gill arrived in and after saying hi to us all, tottered off upstairs to go to bed; she needed an hour's rest after going over to Ilkley and seeing her nephew's new baby and their delightful toddler too.

The lasagna was really good, both boys loved it, and so did I. I don't cook as often as I used to, and should do more really. At least I don't leave it all to Gill to do... and I won't let her do any washing up as I'm definitely better than her at that!

We had some fruit for pudding and then the boys went outside to play. Gill came down and I put the remains of the soup on the stove for her, this is what she had said she wanted. I went out to finish off the shredding. I was nearly done when our next-door neighbour Ken shouted at me to come and look at something. He showed me his lawn, which had two patches of pigeon feathers on it, and Diane, his wife, told me she'd watched a Sparrowhawk pulling the feathers off the pigeon and eating the whole thing up. There were literally only feathers left. It is fantastic to know that this urban environment supports a top predator like this. I've not seen the Sparrowhawk here, but Gill saw it swoop towards our bird table a while ago, but it didn't get anything that time.

I showed the boys the evidence of the Sparrowhawk, and then it was time for their supper, and at about 9 they were both heading for bed, having had a happy day. Looking forward to the holidays!

Monday 30th March 09

Woken with a phone call from a friend who's applying for a job and wanted to check that I was OK being a referee. When the post came I had to do some fairly urgent paperwork and this took til lunchtime. I got an email reminding me (or telling me for the first time, I think) that I have a column due in today, so I emailed back expressing surprise, and have til tomorrow lunchtime to get it in. Some thinking time needed.

I got a phone call from a new LETS member who had listed that they wanted some structural timbers, so weeks ago I said, yes, I have some tanalised timber which I don't want to burn, and want someone to use... so this person said they could be with me in 10 minutes! She came by car. However, I was happy that she and her husband will be able to use about a dozen lengths of timber, also helping to tidy our front garden, slightly! She was also happy for me to deliver, as she said she'd have to get a friend with a van. I can do it with my bike and trailer, in two or three loads. Fortunately they are just 6 minutes cycle up Hull Road.

I popped out to get some bits and bobs for Gill from the Co-op and bakery, and on the way back found a large rosemary bush in a skip, one where previously the owner had said I could have something out of it. So, I loaded up my trailer with lots of lovely-smelling rosemary, and then a nice chap called John walked past and asked if I wanted some bits of tree he'd just removed from next to his garage where it was beginning to cause some structural damage. I went to check, and he had quite a bit of Ash and Elder, already chopped up and some of the twiggy bits already bagged up. I was very happy to accept his offer. The alternative was him driving it down to the Hazel Court recycling depot.

So a good haul of compostable and stove-able material. I delivered the tanalised planks up the road, and came back via John's logs and twigs. I got completely engrossed in processing the twigs and at 7.15 Gill called me... it was Dave from City Screen ringing and reminding me that I was due to be at a meeting at 7pm... whoops! I quickly cleaned up and jumped on my bike, and was at City Screen to meet up with Dave, Edward and Barry for 7.30. We discussed the forthcoming showing of Age of Stupid at City Screen on 26th April, who is going to speak at the panel discussion afterwards, and how we are going to publicise it, on top of the existing publicity offered by City Screen.

Back by 9pm, via the cycle track logpile, where someone else has been removing logs... so I'm not the only log burner in York! (Well, I knew this, but renewable fuels are an increasingly valuable resource.)

Spent til 2.30 am writing my column, on 'Buy Local'.

Saturday 28th February 09

Had a mini-lie in... til after 9. But then zoomed into the garden to continue riddling mature compost so I could take some down to the veg shop for distribution. I got just 5 carrier bags worth ready and took them down to Country Fresh, getting some provisions at the same time, and then heading off to St Nicks for their 5th anniversary of the surrounding area being designated a Nature Reserve.

Met Jean Claude my new Chilean friend, who bought my last Carbon Detox ticket off me... that means I've sold 18, not including mine and Gill's. I'm pleased with this. There is now a special deal on at the Theatre Royal, two tickets for the price of one... a 'Buy One, Get One Free' offer! so any folks still thinking about whether to come to see George Marshall's one-man stand up comedy show can now come with a friend for a tenner... see you on Tuesday folks!

The event at St Nicks was good, soup and bread, coffee and good company. Gill and the boys came down, and some of the boys' friends appeared which was a blessing... A photographer took some commemorative pictures and there were speeches from Pat Hearn, chair of the Friends of St Nicks, Barry Potter, chair of York Natural Environment Trust and Andrew Waller, leader of the Council, who just happens to be a trained Rotter and keen composter too!

I didn't have time to go on the new Tree Trail guided walk, as I had to get back home to tidy myself up, get changed, circus stuff packed and cycle off to Osbaldwick to do a party at 3pm. It was, as usual, a good party. The children were on the lively side of average... quite a noisy audience but lots of participation and fun, and the mum commented on my ability to hold their attention. Several of the youngsters said to me afterwards that they wanted to have a Professor Fiddlesticks party, so I told them to tell their parents! Finished on the dot of 5, having had a 55 minute circus show and workshop and 40 minute modelling balloon activity.

On the way home I spotted a skip with some good big chunks of untreated wood in, so I stopped and knocked on the door, and asked if I might later go and retrieve them to recycle them, to which the answer was of course!

Home soon... and needed to collapse as the concentration and unicycling around is hard work, and both my sons were both very cuddly and loving, which was unexpected and very welcome! Watched 'You've Been Framed' and 'Harry Hill's TV Burp' which are definite favourites in this house!

Later, at about 11pm, I popped out to retrieve the wood from that skip, quietly. Two cycle trailer loads... excellent!

Answered several composting queries on Facebook, and prepared an interesting fruit leather... about 15 passion fruit which had been rejected by one or other of the shops, plus maybe 15 bananas... liquidised together and pushed through a sieve and the resultant smooth pulp put in a tray for drying on the woodstove. Smells heavenly!

Wednesday 5th November 08

A good start to the day. Gill took our youngest to school and then went to art. I had a relaxing morning.

Gill came back having drawn an apple which looked like a dog basket or ball of wool or possibly a tam o shanter hat.

We had a pretty good afternoon and then she offered to go to pick up our child if I would go to the only place in York which she'd found which sells 'Buffalo Mozzarella' cheese (phone poll of 4 or 5 places) so that my eldest can do his food technology class tomorrow. I called in on Kyi-Po on the way through town, and gave in the Planning Application forms from last night to the council.
I found the mozzarella needed at the delicatessen in the market.

I found a skip on the way home which had assorted electrical flex in it, so asked the electrician who was tipping stuff in it if I could have the wire... he was only too happy to know it would be recycled. I strip the plastic off with a craft knife and eventually take the copper to a metal merchants. Home via Country Fresh in good time to house/baby sit whilst Gill went to the parents' evening at the secondary school. Good news from school, which is nice to hear.

For tea I finished off the vegan beany hotpot from last night whilst the kids had a chips and omelet meal... and I went out to a short night out to Cafe Scientifique where Dr. Lynda Boothroyd was speaking about the science of human attraction, something I find fascinating.

Home at 9pm, joined the family in the loft watching fireworks from the Velux.

Sunday 28th September 08

Walked to South Landing and along the cliff tops to nearly as far as the lighthouse. Found a skip which had a load of vegetation in it, including a couple of tomato plants absolutely laden with tiny cherry tomatoes. Couldn't help myself, picked the lot, probably 100 of them, at least a kilo, and bagged them up for use during the week. Why would someone throw these away? Madness prevails, even in deepest East Yorkshire.

Monday 21st July 08

There was the predicted difficulty this morning with our eldest as he hadn't done all of his independent learning project which has to be in this morning. One of the reasons was that last week Gill's sister Linda offered to help, by writing down what he dictated and then he could copy out what he had said.. basically an amanuensis for him. So last week he took this into school and he told us that he'd told them what he'd done and they'd told him off, so he'd thrown it in the bin. So this morning I took them into school and went and explained to his teacher about him not finishing this work, and they told me a different story. He'd not been told off... he'd started to copy out what Linda had written down, and been very slow, wasting time and getting distracted. The teacher had suggested that he might want to just take the basic facts from what had been written down, in order to speed up. He'd got angry and screwed up the sheets written by Linda, and then all weekend, refused to do the required work.

We are dreading the new school's heavy homework load. He will get into major trouble if he refuses to do it and might get expelled if he continues to behave like this. We are at a complete loss at what to do. It is not possible to force a child who doesn't want to work to do the work. If we push, or encourage, or cajole BLOG CENSORED There are no easy solutions but sharing this problem with blog readers makes me feel better even though it publicly reveals information about his private torment, and ours as parents....

Anyway, I told him that I'd spoken to his teacher and all he had to do today was to do a one-minute talk about his chosen subject (Marco Polo and Genghis Kahn) and I got a kiss from them both.

Came home with a headache and went to bed. Got up at 10.30 and tried to sort out my computer glitch... justabout successfully, although I still get an error message with sending emails, even though they are being sent! Weird...

Anyway, got on with the day, did lots of housework as Gill was working hard to finish the accounts.

I picked up the boys, they'd had a good day. School have hired a skip and I asked this time if I could recycle stuff from it, and got a 'yes', which was good. So I took a load of cardboard and some metal, and a bag-full of plastic bottles. There will be more tomorrow...

Quite a quiet evening... Ben came round to see the last remaining glitch on the computer and he instructed me how to take it off... and I gave him a Yorky check for Y45 to spend on LETS members' goods and services. I expect I'll see some of it for dried fruit! We also had a visit from our 'pet' electrician, Justin, who checked out our electrical problem and diagnosed what the solution would probably be, and offered us the name of a reputable and qualified Sparky who might be able to do the job.

Gill spent most of the evening making cakes but fell asleep after midnight and almost burnt a couple of them. Just been informed that two of them have been burnt, partly my fault as I thought she'd finished and let her snooze, rather than waking her up earlier. Never mind... she'll cut the edges off and they'll get used! I feel a trifle coming on, with loads of raspberries and loganberries....

Thursday 24th January 08

Quite a busy day in the house.

Gill had a very easy morning, the boys were on best behaviour, and ate a big breakfast. Gill puts this down to them enjoying Martial Arts Class yesterday. Also, our eldest woke Gill up in the night and said he was hungry, so she got him something to eat. On several previous occasions he has woken up hungry and just lain there, awake and hungry, not wanting to wake us up, but then been fractious in the morning. Gill has told him to wake one of us up to get him something if it happens again, and she was really pleased that he did this last night/this morning, as it seemed to have a beneficial effect, with him going to sleep again afterwards.

I did lots of housework in the morning, tidying and sorting and even some cleaning! Don't know what came over me!

At 12 we had a visitor we weren't expecting (it wasn't in my diary) and then we got a phone call saying that a visitor we were expecting had been in a car crash (only a little one, no one hurt) but he couldn't get to us.

Did a bit of cooking (well, slicing fruit and putting on the racks to dry) and sorting out (well, taking stuff to the compost heaps!). At 2pm I went to the Hazel Court Skip Site on James St and put loads of cartons in the recycling bank and clothes in the clothes recycling and some foam in the skips for landfill.

Gill got our youngest at 3 and I got the other at 4, after his Drama Club. Whilst I was waiting for him to come out, I did my usual composting collections from the school playground bins, taking about 6 or 7 kilogrammes of banana skins and half eaten apples and pears out of the waste stream and to the compost bins I administer. I feel this daily event is a good little achievement, adding up to a big reduction in waste when you look at the compost bins filling up, about one per term. I lookied in the big wheelie bins for some cardboard (the school does not recycle cardboard) to use in the compost bin to balance the fruit, and found a very large pile of books and catalogues... so I loaded up my trailer with a box full and a bin-liner full of these and took them home for putting in the paper recycling, I'd say about 20 or 30 kg. Another small bite of green-ness, but it does make me angry that the school says it recycles paper, but then throws away stuff like that, which could have easily been put with the paper recycling. A good cycle home from Drama Club, with him telling me about a forthcoming Drama Festival where they are going to do a Court Scene, apparently.

Then he did an email to his friend who's moved to Leamington Spa, and Gill made a good nosh for all of us, and then I got ready for work, with the Southlands Cubs. I took three unicycles down and three 4-wheel unicycles and two 2-wheel unicycles (Fun Wheels and Pedal Go), plus a load of devilsticks, diabolos, feathers and juggling balls, for their 'Entertainment Badge'.

The session went very well. I got an email from the organiser saying how much he'd valued it and thanking me for doing it at a very reduced price for the two sessions. He also offered to pay for the diabolo which one of the lads (or lasses, as cubs can be female too) broke by putting their foot on it, which was kind of him. Fortunately it was only a small diabolo so it should only cost perhaps £15, I'll find out from the Anti-Gravity shop tomorrow or over the weekend.

A late night doing more dried stuff.... sliced up a further 5 pineapples and about 10 red and orange peppers, these strips, once completely dry, will be put in the blender and reduced to dust, which is fab 'sweet paprika' for cooking.... really adds to soups, stews, nutloaves etc. And the peppers were destined to go to landfill, which is even better than having to buy them!

Monday 3rd December 07

Quite a good day but didn't get as much done as I wanted. I got the children to school, as Gill's feeling poorly. I took a long time to write my paid blog, did it on the recent experience of recieving a chain email with some incorrect information, which I then researched and found out the truth and then sent this information out to the other recipients of the chain, and back up the chain towards the originators.

I got a reply from one of the people up the chain with a bit of a reaction, so I replied and the answer I got made me very happy,as he said that he'd check the validity of the info if he was in a similar position again, rather than just relying on knowing the sender.

So I wrote about this and also the forthcoming climate march on Saturday which I cannot go to as I'm working at Castle Howard.

So I did write this piece, but then Gill reminded me that I had to deliver a sack of compost to someone in Heworth so I rang and did that, then found a skip with a load of apple branches in it which I filled my trailer with, then went to Morrisons (as a shopper today!) to get some goats cheese for Gill, and on the way home got waylaid by my friend ol' John, who told me all the gory details about his recent operation on his kidney... using local anaesthetic and the natural opening... not a very comfortable thing to hear about. But glad he's still with us!

Late lunch and did a little bit of outside stuff before getting the kids and then continued outside until dark. Then I fairly quickly typed in my blog into Community Care and had tea with Gill, then went to my LETS meeting. This was good, amongst friends who value my skills.... I was asked to chair the meeting, and there was a new member there and her partner, who were interested in how the system worked.

As an AOB I told them all about my experience last week at the Maudsley, and my friend A (I've learnt to keep some people's identity private if I don't know if they're happy to appear in my blog!) said she knew I wasn't ADHD the day she met me, and told me that when she first met me, I behaved inappropriately and she thought 'I never want to meet this man again' but then thought 'maybe he's got Aspergers' and gave me a chance... she also said that in her opinion, I'd got a lot better and was losing the condition/syndrome. I suggested that I had actually done a lot of learning about how to read others' expressions and body language and how to behave appropriately, and she agreed that that would have the same effect of lessening my negative impact on other people. I was happy to hear this and share the info.

Home via Ben and Gill who gave me some spare hot chocolate which they have found is surplus to requirements, and a fair swap for the yoghurts I gave them last month.

Watched a bit of TV with Gill on flooding and climate change, on C4+1.

Blogged and chatted with K who seems to be having computer problems and has gone offline mysteriously.

Friday 17th August 07

Felt like a real holiday day today! Lie-in til 9, kids quiet, all had breakfast together and then they went to play in the loft, with the model railway, so we were able to slip back to bed...

Got up an hour later and very soon there was a huge rumpus upstairs, our eldest had broken the 'Virgin' passenger carriage which his brother had bought with his birthday money. This behaviour and noise completely spoilt the good levels of endorphins we had been experiencing beforehand. DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT CENSORED. I asked the younger one to wait upstairs and eventually got up there and mended his carriage, which fortunately wasn't broken, just popped apart.

When all was settled, I went to the Co-op to get some groceries, and came back via a ripe skip which yielded a pasting table, a wine rack and an unopened box of polyfiller compound, as well as some burnable wood and reusable wood.

After lunch I did some emailing and booked a cottage in Wales for the first week of October, which is a little holiday I'm having with my friend from America. Makes it more real, she's already got her ticket, and I'm already feeling guilty about contributing to a plane journey. However, the next thing I'll do is to look at offsetting (whether it's worthwhile or not) as it will reduce my off-green conscience. I do have such a low carbon footprint, that the carbon cost of half the plane trip won't make my annual footprint as high as the average in the UK (which is apparently 11 tonnes, mine's part of the household footprint of 1.4 tonnes, ie about 0.7 tonnes). But still feel bad about it, but will enjoy seeing my friend again.

After this, Cycled to town and popped in on Cycle Heaven to check on the progress of my new bike, then to CVS to book the room in September for our CRAG meeting on transport, and the one in November on insulation and home heating. Then to collect recyclables from Out Of This World, and posted some letters before popping in to my building society. There was a problem here, as my two books had been sitting next to each other in my bum-bag, and thir numbers had got mixed up when the computer scanned them. Weird, and it took a long time to get it sorted out.

Home via another 2 boxes of compostables from Martin's Urban Perishables.

Put them on the current heap, picked the first of the Bramley apples for making blackberry jam, and windfall James Grieves apples for drying on the stove. Made mixed veg soup, mostly on the stove... carrots, pumpkin, onion, celery... the only thing which was paid-for was the celery.

A warm evening making jam and drying assorted fruit.

Friday 20th July 07

A busy day working, got the 9.30 bus to Pocklington and changed to the Bridlington bus and got off at the Driffield Bus station, and was soon met by my booker Ruth, who's a mum on the Board of Governors for Langtoft School.

I recognised the school, I'd done something there a couple of years ago, and this event was a bit of a sad one as the school has been told it is too small to be able to deliver the curriculum to the juniors, so they're moving to a larger school some way away, leaving the infants.

So they had a sports day in the morning and then a party tea, which included much food flinging, then after clearing up, my shows which were well recieved and provided much fun for all, and a suitable last day. Was dropped off in Driffield at 3pm, went to Boots to get prescription, and waited for the bus. Snoozed on the bus as absolutely exhausted, home by 5, went on email to do more YGF, oh I'll be glad when it's over!

At 9pm, popped down to Heslington Road greengrocers to pick up 2 boxes of stuff left out for me, and raided a skip for wood on the way back!

Sunday 1st July 07

No lie-in, cannot seem to sleep much later than 8am so came down and joined the family who weren't warring, as a weekend! However, the boys wanted to do some stuff on the 'Uncle Tom' computer in the loft, so they had 40 mins... and so did we!

Then I had to get ready for my gig which is near Selby, and I had decided to cycle there, so I had an early lunch and got going before 12.30, and went via Elvington, Wheldrake, Thorganby, Skipwith and then Cliffe Common. Between Wheldrake and Thorganby I stopped for five minutes at the Lower Derwent Nature Reserve car park and had a conversation with a gent who'd driven there to try to go for a walk, but found it too flooded. I had a heated discussion with him as he declared that carbon emissions weren't changing the climate and that he was going to keep on driving and eating meat, as he didn't believe the hype! I decided not to get too involved and spoil my cycle ride, and wished him a safe drive and cycled off. In Thorganby it rained hard but I just kept going, and minutes later, the breeze and sun was drying me off again.

Got to Cliffe caravan site at 2.15, and had some nice chats with Christine my employer and her shy 8 yr old daughter and more bolshy 11 yr old son.

The party started at 3, about 60 children came, and 20 grownups, and the show got started with 3 warm-up acts at 3.15. An excellent show, went really well, and finished after one hour, but the sausages hadn't arrived, so I did a bit extra with more unicycle workshops and everybody who wanted to try the unicycle was able to, maybe 30 children.

The food went down well, and I inflated about 80 balloons, just with my lungs, as this is now easy and faster than the pump. At the start of the balloon show, about 7 children tried to inflate a balloon, but couldn't, it was quite funny as they all puffed hard and went really red in the face!

The balloon show went well, but a lot of children didn't want to make their own, so I had at least 20 models to make in 15 mins or so, nimble fingers Fiddlesticks! Finished the competitions on the dot of 6, and then finished off the balloonless stragglers for 5 or 10 mins... a very busy few hours. My work was appreciated as both the children said it had been good and both parents did too, and were generous with the pay packet, which is always good!

A lovely cycle home, wind more behind me and got home at 8pm, after a short skip-stop (sounds like an eco grand prix!) to stock up on wood (fuel!).

Gill had a stew ready for me, which was lovely, and I watched a bit of telly, and after this popped out to pick up more skip contents... then did blog and had a long chat with K in America, really good communication at the moment!

Thursday 29th March 07

Well, another busy day. Even though it was a bit damp out, I had a pile of Green Party leaflets to deliver in Fishergate Ward, where we have two Councillors already and want to retain them. Cllr Mark Hill is standing down but Cllr Andy D'Agorne is standing again. Standing with him is Dave Taylor, an experienced activist and a very committed Green and already doing good work representing various interests. I think he'll be a very good Councillor if he gets in. And these leaflets should help him get in. I popped round to my friend Debbie who had offered before to help deliver leaflets and asked if she would be willing to do so this morning.

As she was we set off on foot at about 10.15 and did the 300 leaflets in 40 minutes. We had a cuppa together afterwards, and she offered to do another round when we have one.

After lunch I visited a skip I'd spotted on the delivery round, and asked the builders if I could have some of the contents to reuse. Of course they were happy for me to do this, and I came back with a well loaded cycle trailer, with some building-quality wood, some stove-destined wood and some aluminium cans which I collect and sell to a metal merchant from time to time.

I also visited Alligator for some vegan ice-cream and some emergency peanut butter, as we're out pending our next food co-op delivery, which should be next week.

Our youngest child had come off his bike on the way to school this morning as the chain came off. So before collecting them from school I sorted his bike and then took it to school on the trailer so he could cycle home. On the way back from school there was another skip, again I asked if I could have some of the contents. I got some new turf offcuts, which I stack into a low wall for a year or two and then use for loam in my containers, mixed with garden compost and leafmold.

I did some logging whilst Gill cooked tea, a good cauliflower and broccoli thing with mushroom sauce and mashed potato on top. The boys enjoyed it too, and we all ate together, with French stick warmed on top of the stove wrapped in aluminium foil to prevent it burning.

Then I had to go out as I had a CrUST/ Green Festival meeting. A pleasent guy called Rob turned up, a DJ known as Green Renegade, and keen on having a DJ area within the York Green Festival. He's offered to help co-ordinate this side of things, which is good.

Then went for a rare meeting with my best friend in York, probably my best friend on the planet. When I lived in Emerald Street he was just round the corner and we saw each other often, but now it's only every few months. He works as a nurse, doing 3 nights a week, but loves his work as the artist 'Dexter'. He does text-based pieces, his first was called Dexter's World of the 60s and it has hundreds of words from his experience of the 1960s. He's also done one on the 70s and several private commissions. He used to do something called 'Retro Graffiti', recreating graffiti from the past, but in biodegradable flour and water paint. A very creative chap, and we supped Innocent blueberry and blackberry juice and chatted about our current projects.

And guess what, on the way home I cycled past another skip, wasn't able to ask this time but the planks found their way home for re-use. Down with landfill!

Enjoyed the second offering from the second series of It's Not Easy Being Green which Gill had been good enough to record.

Saturday 3rd March 07

Ah, nice to have a day when I'm not expected to do anything in particular. My boys were up early and the noise meant no lie-in, so I got up too and as they had lots of energy I invited them to cycle down to school with me, so I could pick up the plum logs I chopped on Thursday night. Whilst down there, I did a bit of gardening, tidying up, pulling out a few nettles etc, whilst the boys played in the grounds.

I spent some time later in the day building a logpile, I put a pile either side of the front door to fully dry off before they come in and sit near the stoves. For me, logpile construction is a bit like an adult jigsaw puzzle, as it has to fit together and stand up, and cope with some shrinkage as it dries. It is common for the pile to shift and lean over, and it's quite an art to build a good one. I use a varity of logs in these 'final' woodpiles, taken from several 'single type' woodpiles of ready wood. Different wood has different burning qualities, some burns easily and very hot (ie hawthorn) and some burns quickly and with low heat output, such as poplar. Some pine and most dense wood like oak will stay in overnight, and enable the stove to be lit on the embers in the morning. Split logs dry better than whole ones, and burn better too. This knowledge is important if you cook on the stove, boil kettles, and choose not to use central heating (runs on gas). I love Clearview Stoves, but this week will ring Town and Country Stoves, in Pickering, to see if their model tested recently was deemed to be 'smokefree'. I had a good chat with the son of the MD recently, who told me lots about the testing process that enables a particular model to have a certificate enabling it to be labelled smokefree.

In the afternoon I prepared my seed compost, five parts riddled leafmold, four parts loam from upturned turves and one part garden compost. I then looked for my pepper seeds, and Gill told me that sometime over the past few months, during a clearup (I'm very untidy and chaotic!) she'd put all of the veg and flower seeds in a large airtight plastic box. Unfortunately she'd also put in some onion sets. The moisture from these had cause the whole box contents to rot, including the majority of the seeds. The only ones to remain dry were the ones in foil/plastic sachets, unopened. This was dreadful, as most of our seeds are now no good. However, in a way it was a good way to 'weed out' the old ones which would have had poor or no germination anyway. Fortunately, the most recent seed order from the allotment store was not in this box, it was sitting (untidily) in a bookshelf in an envelope next to envelopes of bean pods and last season's pumpkins. So they were OK, and they included some peppers. So they got planted.

In the evening my LETS friend David called, asking if I could cut a sheet of woody material to size for him, for an art project. I went for a walk with him, as I'd noticed a ripe skip with a holly tree (combustable logettes and compostable twiglets) and some unpainted planed wood and several pallets for building another compost bin, New Zealand type, to replace one which is itself turning into compost. I loaded up my bike trailer and again reduced our overburdened landfill.

Later, gazed at the lunar eclipse with binoculars, totally wow.