Sunday 29th January 12

A nondescript morning but had been asked to provide balloon entertainment at a social event in Leeds, at A Nation of Shopkeepers from about 1pm.  So I went over on the train and arrived on the dot of 1.  My friend from Manchester, Simon, had come over and we chatted, before Alexa, the main organiser, turned up, and we managed to commandeer a couple of sofas and several chairs, moving a table to enable us all to sit together.

I had some good chats with a chap called Ben, who had a shared interest in compost toilets and green funerals, and his wife Lea who was very nice too.  There was Edafe and Mercedes, Bluebell and Riley, plus about another 10 people who I didn't get to know names of. The balloon models were appreciated, I think most people had a go and it added to the fun.

I left at 5pm and was home by 6.30, having stopped off at a logpile with my trailer, and I had rice for tea, did an enormous pile of washing up and prepared two racks of apples for drying.

Thursday 26th January 12

Up early as had been invited to go to Malton for lunch with my friend Antonella.  However, I had a bit to do first at home, and set off at 11, got back home about 4 in time to get the front room warm for the boys to use this evening.

During the evening I was trying to sort out whether to go to Liverpool tomorrow, and if so, how.  But, I had a dreadful attack of the sneezes and felt really snotty and grotty, so whether I'm able to go to the exhibition tomorrow remains to be seen.

Saturday 14th January 12

A happy day.  I got up fairly early and did a few bits and bobs around the house, including finishing off the soup I made last night.

But shortly before midday I cycled down to the station and met up with Nick who told me there was a problem with the trains the other side of Leeds and there was a bus replacement between Leeds and Huddersfield.  He was unsure whether he wanted to go with me if the bus was going to take ages, but I assured him that replacement buses didn't take that much longer.

Anyway, there wasn't a problem with the trains in the end, and I went to my usual cafe-haunt and met up with friends.  After this I took the tram to go and see my festival friend Kerry, whom I haven't seen for quite a while. 

Tuesday 6th November 12

Up early and I did the 'bread run', cycling round to Thomas The Baker and getting loaves and rolls from the Yesterbake shelves. Then I sorted out a quite large volume of compostables from the kitchen and conservatory, and did a bit of HotBin management, scraping out the bottom layers and putting them into the dalek next to it. I did a bit of lime-stick stacking and at midday, Shirley arrived with her car full of mixed willow twigs, most of them very small and in fact, probably better for composting rather than fuel.  It will take me AGES to process that lot!

After lunch I got ready to go to Sheffield, and I got the 3.44 train.  I met River in Sheffield station, and we went for a meal together; I had pumpkin ravioli.  At 6 we went to the event we'd both come to attend, Sense about Sex.  This was part of the Economic and Social Research Council Science Festival and they marketed the event as Sex myths and sex research.

However, I think it was wider than this. The facebook event page promoted it with this:

Join us in Sheffield on 6th November for an evening of discussion and debate about sex, sexuality and sexualisation. We will be exploring common myths, assumptions and attitudes about sex and drawing on cutting edge scientific and social research to consider how we might look at things differently.

* What is normal sex? And who is having it?
* Is society becoming too sexualised?
* Are young people becoming sexual too early?

* What impact does pornography have on people?
* How can we find out what we'll enjoy sexually? And how do we tell our partners about it?
* What secrets do sex therapists learn about what people get up to in the bedroom?
* Why was 50 Shades of Grey so popular?
* How common are sexual problems and what can be done about them?
* Where do our sexual desires come from?
* How do orgasms work?
* Can you get addicted to sex? Has the internet made this more of a risk?
* Sexually speaking, are men from mars and women from venus?
* What new rules are there for sexual relationships?
* Is the media sexualising our children?
* When it comes to sex, what are the vital statistics?

The evening will take the format of a question-time discussion where you can put your queries and comments to a panel of experts including Feona Attwood (porn researcher and author of Mainstreaming Sex and porn.com), Clarissa Smith (author of One for the Girls and regular expert witness in sex-related legal cases), Clare Bale (expert on sex in young people), and Meg Barker (sex therapist and author of Rewriting the Rules).

Well, as you can imagine, it was fascinating stuff. 

I'd not really heard of 'society becoming too sexualised' and didn't really know what that was about. However, it's a fascinating subject.  Not all of these questions were discussed, and there was quite a bit of 'debunking'.

Afterwards, there was an hour before the train I wanted to get so a group of us retired to the bar next door, and chatted.  Clarissa was on the same train as me so we chatted all the way back. 

I got in at about 11pm, feeling intellectually refreshed.

Friday 16th December 11

A very early start.  I had to be in Meltham near Huddersfield before 10am... meant I left the house at 7.30 to get the 7.55 train which got into Huddersfield at 8.44, and I then got the Number 324 bus to Meltham at 9am.  It all went very smoothly, which is pretty normal for public transport.

I found the venue for the Pre-School Playgroup building, a Church Hall, very easily but couldn't find the door as two seemed sealed shut and one was locked.  However, the locked one was eventually unlocked and I was let in.  I talked through what I was going to do and what their timings were before getting changed.  I had only agreed to do the circus show for them but I thought that for the money they were giving me, they could have the balloons too, and they were pleased with this.  My only deadline was to be finished for 11.45 for Father Christmas to visit.

The shows went well, although they weren't easy as the children were very young and that has it's difficulties when you've a circus workshop show and a balloon workshop... however, the grown-ups seemed happy, no child burst into tears and nothing went wrong.  And I finished on time, got paid, and was waiting for the bus back to Huddersfield by 12.10.  The train came 10 minutes after I got to the station and I was home before 2pm.

I then got busy with the chainsaw as I really want to clear the front garden, as I'm expecting to get more logs over the winter, and I need to make space.

I made some tomato, onion and red pepper soup when it got dark at 4ish, and at 6 the family had that, along with bread.  Delicious. 

Monday 5th December 11

Up early so we could catch the 8.04 bus to Scarborough.  I'd asked the hotel staff about breakfast, and they said that cereals and toast would be available from about 7.30.  So I got all my stuff ready for 7.30 and taken downstairs, ready to go.... and we all got some breakfast.

And we got to the bus stop on time... but the bus was a few minutes late and the road to Scarborough was busy, so we missed the train which went just 3 minutes after we were due to get into Scarborough.  So we had a coffee and waited for the next train, an hour later.  Our youngest attempted to concentrate on some French homework, and I deleted emails.

I continued on the train, and got a lot, several hundred, out of my inbox and into 'trash'.  We were soon in York.  Gill put our eldest onto a bus to go towards The Stables and went home with our youngest, so he could finish his homework, and go into school this afternoon when Gill goes in to see his brother's puppet show.

I cycled home and lit both stoves to take the chill off the house, do the washing up, go buy some bread and vegetables... that sort of thing.

I sorted out some of the pears which had dried nicely whilst we were away, and halved, cored and peeled another load.  When I visited Country Fresh, I bought a job-lot of 'seconds' kiwi fruit, and I put these to dry too, as dried kiwi is really good.

At 7pm, after a really good home-made meal (much missed whilst in Robin Hoods Bay!) I cycled over to Priory St for our LETS meeting.

Friday 2nd December 11

Got up at 9am and got busy with phoning Equity as I found that my membership expired on November 30th and I need to be insured for this weekend.

I paid for 3 months membership by phone and card, and got a certificate of cover on the Equity website, which I was able to take a copy of and email to my client in Robin Hoods Bay.

I went to buy bread, and installed a compost bin for Eve up the road.  Then I went to St Nicks to pay for that bin, which Keely delivered a few days ago, and bought another to install at David's house.  I put it over his fence as he wasn't in.

I got home for lunch and after that, moved a few bits around in the garden, as Gill had asked me to, and then made a batch of gungo pea, carrot and tarragon pate, similar to hummus but all the ingredients (barring some rape oil, bouillon powder and soy sauce) were free, and it was all cooked for free... and took just 5 minutes of hand-held whizzer to convert it into 7 tubs of delicious spread.

It didn't take me long to get myself ready to go away for the weekend.... Gill went to pick up the boys by taxi and I cycled down to the station with all my stuff plus a cool-bag of food.  I paid in two cheques in town and got out some cash to keep us going for the weekend.  I met Gill and the boys in the ticket place and got our tickets to Scarborough, using our family railcard which halved the cost.  The train was crowded but we all got seats, but not together.  I chatted with a lovely 80 year old woman called Jean, and the journey went really quickly.

Our bus to Robin Hoods Bay came 10 minutes after we got to Scarborough, and we got a family rover ticket as it was cheaper than 2 adults and 2 children.

We arrived soon after 6pm and walked to The Victoria Hotel, where Rob, the chap who'd booked me, had arranged for us all to stay... I won't get a fee, but do get a family break for 3 nights... in a really quite posh place!  The boys had a twin room, and we got a double... but they got the sea view!

Gill had made a quiche earlier, so we had that and then went down into the bay to see if we could find some chips.. a bit of a treat.  The chip shop fries in beef dripping, so wasn't suitable for us, but a hotel did some quite expensive chips but in vegetable oil, so I got 4 take away chips and we ate them on the slipway, buffeted by a strong wind.

And back to the hotel. I went to ask to borrow an iron and ironing board, and Gill did my costume so I'm tidy tomorrow...I've a show at 10.30 in the family room of the hotel!

The hotel has free WiFi so I was able to do things on my laptop, which kept me occupied.

Just as we were settling down for the night there was a huge crash which made us both jump, and a picture had fallen off the wall.  Very odd!

Sunday 20th November 11

A good day, despite a tough gig.  I was roused at 8.45 and dragged myself up and got ready to go to work on the 10.40 train to Hull.  I chatted with a nice Manx couple, now living in York, she a Barrister and he a writer.  They were off to explore Beverley... I was getting off two stops later in Driffield.

There were no taxis at Driffield Station, so I asked a local and he said that there was a taxi firm in the centre, so I walked there only to find a notice on the window with a telephone number.  Glad I had my mobile phone!  I said to the taxi driver who answered that I'd be happy to meet at the train station... he said yes in 10 minutes and I walked back, and he was there waiting for me.

He took me to the other side of Beeford where I'd been invited by the grand-daughter of a 90 year old 'birthday girl' Mary, to entertain at her big family gathering. The venue was wonderful, a huge hall, and shortly after I arrived, and before I got changed, I was asked to press the camera shutter for a group photo or three... with everybody else in the photo, I was the only person available to do the photography.  The camera was on a tripod, which made it very easy.... Then I was provided with food, which was delicious. 

Then it was time for the entertainment.  There were relatively few children, and I always find it more difficult to do a good show if there's less than 15 or 20 audience members.  Also, several of the older children decided it was going to be 'bait the entertainer' day, and did their best to annoy me.  I pushed on with the show, which was enjoyed by some of the children and some grown ups... but it was a difficult gig, at one end of a noisy venue, and a distracted and very 'at home' (ie, NOT on 'best behaviour'!) audience.  I did the balloons too, again, I had been told at the start that I'd do this show immediately after the circus, but then a different person said could I wait until after the speeches, and I had to say that, no, actually, I was being picked up after the balloon show was scheduled to finish so I had to start very soon!  I really like it if the plan goes smoothly, and isn't changed during the event.  Anyway, I gave a balloon teddy bear to the lovely 90 year old, and got myself ready to go... got paid, and went to stand at the end of the drive where I hoped Joanne would pick me up. 

It was getting very foggy, but her sat nav thing directed her correctly and she picked me up, and drove me to Scarborough.  The best thing about this journey, apart from chatting with Joanne, of course, whom I'm very fond of, was some HUGE wind turbines looming up in the fog, and my surprise, although it seemed like there was no wind, they were spinning round and I fell in love with wind turbines all over again.

We picked Glenn up who was walking from work to home, and then I chatted with Joanne as Glenn created a delicious meal.  It was lovely to see them again and we had some good conversations.  Glenn took me to Seamer station where I got the train back to York, getting in late and feeling very tired, but happy.

Saturday 29th October 11

I woke having had an odd dream that a young foreign woman had come to the door saying her business needed to recycle some food scraps, and would I help.  Gill had answered the door and sent them away saying that we didn't need yet more composting going on, and then I got to the door and called the woman back and it turned out she was from somewhere like Norwich Union, and I got a contract with them to set up a Jora system, composting at their premises, and managing it too, so an ongoing 'job'.  Funny dream!

There wasn't much morning left after I got up and breakfasted and got dressed....

The afternoon was good as I went up Marion and Dave's Winter Pear tree again.  I saw Marion on the way down the garden and she said she was very happy with the 3 trays of pears I'd taken up the garden for her, and I could have all the rest.  I'm very happy with that!  I picked a load more but there's still more to get.

I'd agreed to go over and see Anna, Douglas and Loony, in Sheffield, and Anna had suggested we have a meal out, and said could I be at the station for 5.30?  I got the 4.09 which went via Leeds, and I chatted a bit with a pleasant young law student called Natasha, from Newcastle, and visiting a friend in Birmingham.  I also took my pumpkin seeds (last years) and peeled the outer layer off them, one by one.  I got a lot done, on both legs of the journey.

Anna and Douglas like a particular Chinese restaurant called the Hong Kong Wok, and they'd booked a table. I had spring rolls and a green pepper in batter for starters, and then tofu and veg with egg fried rice for main meal.  It was lovely to have some relaxed chats with Anna, sitting opposite me, and Loony's 3 year old daughter was very entertaining too.

We spent just over an hour here, and then Anna drove us back to Middlewood where she and Douglas live, very close to the end of the tram line.  I had a coffee and shelled more pumpkin seeds, and at just after 9 set off for the tram, the 9.26 which would get me to the station for my 10.06 train back.

A late night but all went like clockwork, very smoothly.  A lovely evening, thank you Anna and Douglas.  

Sunday 14th August 11

A work day but not an unpleasantly early start; had to be in Leeds to be picked up by Alan at 1pm.  So I set off for the 12.15 train at 11.45, although a minute into my journey I realised I'd left my rucksack with costume and balloons in back home, so I turned round and went and got it.

But I got to the station in plenty of time, and bought my day return and was waiting at the meeting area for 12.50.

The weather was not perfect for doing outside entertainment, as just as my audience were gathering at Middleton Park, it began to rain.  It isn't possible to do devilsticks in the rain, and wet diabolo string doesn't behave as expected, either.  So I changed the order of my shows and did the balloons first, filling the time when I was blowing up balloons for the workshop with getting volunteers out of the audience to try to blow one up.  It is nearly impossible for an ordinary person t inflate modelling balloons (260s anyway!) with their lungs, so whilst I blew up about 40 of them, a succession of mainly children failed to blow any up. There is a knack to it, but basically it's strength, pure diaphragm and chest muscle power.

So the balloon workshop went well and was attended by over 60 people. I didn't have enough balloons to go round with the ones I'd shoved into the spokes of my unicycle, so I had to blow up more to accommodate the large numbers of participants.  At 3 I did a shortened version of the circus show, and we had about 35 minutes left to have a free-play workshop.  Everybody had a good time, and Alan, the chap who books me, seemed happy.

Alan took me back to Leeds station and I got the York train 10 minutes after getting there.  I was back in York soon after 5pm.

When I got back home I immediately got the big ladders out and picked a load of Jargonelle pears... lots are falling off the tree and therefore they're ripe.  The wasps and butterflies are having a great time!  I picked 2 buckets full but also took out a lot of dead wood and climbing hop and honeysuckle which has got somewhat over vigorous. I spent over 2 hours up the tree.

During the evening I sorted out lots of the pears, setting them to dry, as they don't keep at all.