Saturday 20th August 11

I had a fairly late start but got myself together to get to New Earswick for lunch and a 1.30pm start for the AVP meeting.  I'm the Health and Safety Officer for Alternatives to Violence Project, North East and East Midlands, and people from all over the region had come to attend the meeting at Hartrigg Oaks.

This was a good meeting which I enjoyed, and Roswitha gave me some beetroot and Gill gave me some plums.

I enjoyed the cycle back into town with Alan, who'd come over from Bradford, but at the cycle track I peeled off and turned towards Burton Stone Lane as I'd agreed to go and see a friend who everyone knows as J or Jx, who'd asked my opinion about composting, or disposing of, some pyracanthus twigs. I said I'd come and chop them up and put them in paper sacks, and take them for composting.  So we stood and chopped and chatted, which was really nice.

I think it took about an hour, after which I cycled the length of the cycle track to St Nicks, picked up a sack of compostables at Freshways, and called in on Bob as I had some bread for him and his household.  Here I met Lou Mason, whom I've been wanting to meet up with for ages, as I was friends with her brother Tom, and then I saw some art done by Lou and I have been wanting to meet her since.  One of those chance meetings, random and surprising.  Hopefully we'll get to go for a cuppa together sometime.  Would be good to meet at Millers Yard as there's a bench there in memory of Tom Mason, who worked there as a baker when I first moved to York in the 1980s.

Saturday 23rd October 10

I had a lie-in which was really welcome, and because of this, I didn't get up to Hartrigg Oaks for the midday lunch with my friends from AVP, some of whom had already had a Facilitators meeting.  I'm a volunteer with AVP North East and East Midlands... my only official role is the Health and Safety person.  This afternoon's meeting was 1.30 til 4, and I got there just in time.  I was really pleased to see so many people around the table, a baker's dozen of us.  There were attendees from Lincoln, Sheffield, Harrogate, Scarborough and of course, quite a few of us from York, and one from Manchester.  NEEM members are responsible for putting on, overseeing or managing AVP workshops in Doncaster, York, and Newcastle, and there are plans for more. Our Facilitators work all over the UK and several people in the room are active within various parts of AVP Britain.

One of the things we discussed was the possibility that we should employ someone to manage the group... several other AVP regions have a paid manager and our region has now got the level of support and activity to merit a paid worker.  I volunteered to help prepare an initial proposal to start the process, and I'll be working with a chap I don't know at all, Colin, from Wakefield.  I'm looking forward to that.  I also volunteered to look at publicity and social networking with Cecile, whom I've also not worked with before.

The meeting finished on the dot of 4pm and I stayed a while to sort out the meetings I need to attend.  On the way home I collected some sticks from a hedge in New Earswick, and then on the cycle path near Haxby Road there was a pile of freshly dumped Elder logs, so they just managed to fit on the pannier rack.

I was pleased to get back and have a coffee, but at about 5.45pm I went outside to do a bit of log stacking and then chainsawing... not a lot, less than an hour, but the front garden is looking a bit full, so it needs sorting.

I came in before 7 and as there was too much Strictly Cum Dancing on the telly, I went upstairs and listened to Tracey Smith doing her weekly radio show on Apple AM. I like her sense of humour, also her interests overlap with mine... for instance, she visited a landfill site recently and is thinking of doing a programme about it.

I had my evening meal at 9pm and had a fairly relaxing evening, although there was a mountain of washing up and I got through some of it.

Saturday 3rd October 09

Quite an early start... good to have friends here and more chats over breakfast.

But at 9.30 I headed off down Heslington Road to see my friend David, who's gathered together the best of the photos he's taken of Professor Fiddlesticks since Christmas, and put them in a file of about 40 or 50 images. These are ones we both liked from each shoot, one at the Novotel on Christmas Day, one in the Museum Gardens, one at a kids party and one a week or two back at Linton on Ouse, where he also acted as my driver between two gigs.

We went through them and got it to about 12 good images, including cropping some with Photoshop software to make them frame up nicely. We agreed to do one more shoot, next week, to get a couple of specific shots. Once we have our 'top ten', David will create his idea of a publicity leaflet.

Came back via Country Fresh and picked up a sack full of compostables and two boxes worth.

Then zoom back, made my sandwiches and cycled at top speed (when the wind was behind me!) up to Hartrigg Oaks, which took just 20 minutes, to attend an AVP core group meeting. Members came from as far as Newark and Bradford, as the group is one of the AVP regions, which we call NEEM, North East and East Midlands (don't ask why we have a regular from Bradford!) and it was a very productive meeting, with several new attendees, which is always nice. My official role is Health and Safety, but I contribute quite a bit, since I've been involved in the organisation since at least 1994.

This drew to a close at 4.15 and I again bombed home, but I stopped in two places for different reasons and got in at 5.

Then I needed to prepare to go to Beverley for the Food Festival tomorrow.

I got the 8.15 bus from just outside the house, with just my big unicycle, my sports bag of sticks, balls and diabolos, my rucsac with costume, wash bag and balloons, 'handbag' with reading material, hairbrush and some edibles, and my laptop, which I wanted to have some offline time with, to delete stuff from my nearly always full inbox, which I have a problem doing with the distractions that happen when online.

I got to Beverley bus station in an hour, and to the Cross Keys within 10 minutes, and got my room keys without hassle. Once I'd dumped my kit in my room I went back down to get a pint, and back to my room to delete emails from various folders. I think I got rid of about 100. A nice quiet evening.

Saturday 18th April 09

A very busy day.

Got up quite early and both felt like doing some spring cleaning and sorting out. Gill made a start on the conservatory, which has become somewhat cluttered, and I did some washing up including a load of storage jars which have been building up.

Gill also rang a chap who'd advertised two flat irons in the back of the Press. She's been wanting to have a couple of these to heat up on the stove so she doesn't have to use electricity (despite it being from renewables, and us not using very much, it still costs, so using less would be good!). Gill isn't into ironing everything, but the school uniforms and my work clothes need to look good, and the electric iron is quite heavy on the juice. So a pair of flat irons will be a good addition to our low carbon lifestyle. The old fella wanted a fiver each, as they were antiques, but was happy to hear they'd be used. He lives in Easingwold so Gill might take the bus out there next week to get them, or he might deliver if he's coming down the Hull Road.

Soon after this telephone conversation, we discovered our phone handset wasn't working... it was completely dead. Gill tried to 'ring home' with her mobile but only the base rang, not the handset. So, with the phone being important for my work, it was essential that we get it sorted. So, within the hour I cycled down to town to take it to where we bought it to see if they knew what was wrong with it, or maybe buy another handset. I felt a bit daft when the chap in the shop told me t was just the batteries which had expired. I thought they were rechargeable, but apparently they don't keep recharging for ever. I bought new batteries... and a second pair for when this happens again!

I also visited the Friends Meeting house where the old AVP computer has been waiting for me to pick it up and bring it home to erase the hard disc data, before taking the whole lot to the recycling depot at James Street. The monitor is huge! It only just went in my trailer but with bungees, it came home safe and sound. I set it all up and tried to run the DBAN 'boot and nuke' floppy disc that Ben had supplied, but I didn't quite understand the commands so I phoned Ben and asked him if he could pop round and press buttons in the right order.

Gill was doing wonderful things with the conservatory and I helped too, being ruthless about throwing stuff away, for once! Ros came round with her son, and she stayed and had a coffee and chatted about some of the stories from when she was a customs officer. Our boys played happily all together.

Ben came round and found that the software would work if the computer was tweaked slightly first, and so he reset a password by doing something to the innards and then set the disc to AUTONUKE and completely wipe the hard disc. He also showed me how to take out the disc afterwards and extract two very strong rare-earth magnets, which make excellent fridge magnets. After 40 minutes nuking, the monitor declared it was now 'done', so I switched the whole thing off and extracted the hard disc (actually 3 of them in a stack) and the two magnets. The rest of the hardware will be going to Hazel Court tomorrow for recycling.

I then found time to sort through seeds and plant some courgettes, squash, pumpkin and basil. This felt extremely satisfying. All three boys ate together and then played til 9pm when I took our visitor back up the road to Ros. I spent some of the evening peeling some giant pumpkin seeds I found from last year, and sorting out old seed packets from newer ones which I will hopefully plant up soon.

A very productive day. And destructive too, with the mangling of the old computer and throwing away of loads of unrecyclable and unusable stuff. Satisfying!

Wednesday 11th March 09

I took our youngest down to school and when I got back, Gill was nearly ready to go to her art class. I did a big pile of washing up and made some mushroom and leek soup, from fresh leeks and a bag of very out of date and unidentifiable Chinese or Japanese dried mushrooms, which I'd soaked overnight in cold water. I fried the chopped leek and cut up the 'shrooms into this and added some water and a stock cube, and a bit later, once I'd whizzed it to reasonable smoothness, some red lentils to add a bit of thickness. I've no idea what it'll taste like but the mushrooms needed using as they've been hanging around for ages, sealed in their packet, but taking up room. So, tomorrow night's tea will be that, for me... I doubt the boys will have any, but I'll offer it in case! I've been surprised by their ability to enjoy some mature tastes, on occasions.

I popped round to the bread shop and got a big pile of 'Yesterbake' loaves and rolls, and came back to have an avocado sandwich (one which was thrown away as it had a damaged side... this I cut off for composting, leaving t'other half for a mayo and granary deliciousness...) and at half 12 I jumped back on the bike and zoomed over to the home of an AVP facilitator who was hosting the biannual AVP NEEM meeting. AVP is an organisation I've been involved with since 1995, when I found myself having occasional difficult conflict situations which led to me not respecting myself, and at that time a new group had just been set up in York called Alternatives to Violence Project, and they ran workshops on how to resolve conflicts in a creative and non-violent way. The first weekend course I went on was a revelation... I'd never learned anything like it before and I went away feeling like I could deal better with provocation and things which made me angry, and had previously led to me being verbally and physically aggressive and violent.

Anyway, I joined the organisers and started helping to put on more workshops. I did a further three, all 'level twos' where the participants explore a particular subject in detail. I remember them well despite them being many years back. My first level 2 was 'Anger in the parent-child relationship', which was excellent as I was then still angry about the way my parents had treated me (I've more or less got over this now!) and the pivotal point was when I took part in a role play with me being me and someone else being my father. That was when I realised I could only change myself, not anyone else. The second level 2 was quite odd for me, as it was decided at the beginning of the session by the participants, by consensus. The group chose 'Blame and Forgiveness'. I wasn't very thrilled by this topic, as it didn't seem to relate to me much. However, the weekend showed me that many other people are very much affected by both blaming others and blaming themselves, also forgiving others and forgiving themselves. I realised that I didn't think like many other people and didn't use these concepts... I tended to use the idea of 'responsibility' which, for me, encapsulate all the blame/forgiveness areas. But it was a good workshop, and after a gap of a few years I went on another level 2, on 'self development' which by that time I was exploring in other ways too, not just through AVP.

So, 14 years on and I'm still committed to what AVP is doing. In York we hold 4 community workshops each year, in Doncaster we've a partnership with MIND and run 6 a year. We also run them in prisons and occasionally with other groups. AVP Britain reorganised a while ago and now AVP York is part of AVP North East and East Midlands, or NEEM. We had a good meeting, with representatives from Whitby, Sheffield, York and Manchester (a member of one of the AVPB bodies). I always enjoy these meetings and it was productive, with another interesting partnership on the near horizon (with a hostel for the homeless) and news of prisoners from an open prison attending a community workshop, which is good. This meeting ran from about 1pm til just before 5, and I was pleased to meet a new person, just recently trained up as a facilitator, and a facilitator who heard me enthusing about AVP a few years ago and got involved... I didn't know til today it was my talk to her group which caused her to become involved. That makes me happy!

Home via George Hudson St where I got rid of an invoice which I should have done weeks ago... but, better late than never!

Boys playing video games when I got in so I went in the front room where it was quieter.

Tea was nice... more mashed root mix, home made 'baked beans' and toasted cheese on a roll (thanks Richard... better to feed me than feed chickens!!!)

Popped out at midnight once I'd done another batch of washing up to get the neighbours fence which she offered me, and today asked me to take away. I did it quietly.

Friday 17th October 08

A bit of an argy bargy this morning due to someone not doing his homework... but both boys did go to school and got there on time. I spent the morning with Gill who was feeling very tired, and I went to the Tang Hall Library to take back two books the boys have finished, and pick up another in a series that one of them is reading and had ordered. That'll mean a peaceful weekend with a good book to be immersed in... Melody with her CVS Funding Advice hat on was there, so I slipped on my YorkLETS hat and asked her about funding stuff for the new software... she was excellent and gave me some really good advice.

Home and then cycled down to Counrty Fresh to get some veg for the weekend and then back in time to make sandwiches to take up to New Earswick Quaker Meeting Housefor the AVP NEEM meeting... we usually gather for lunch at midday and the meeting kicks off at 1pm. I chaired and got us through the meeting by 3.30. A good meeting... it's like being amongst old friends (well, I am amongst old Friends, literally, hahahaha) (they won't mind me putting that!) It was a productive meeting anyway, got lots done.

Then zoom home and made up the stove, had a coffee, did a 10 min wash up and zoomed into town to see Ali, who's in York to make a film. She did some filming at the Indian restaurant we ate at and she was happy with what we did.

Home quite late, Gill had had a peaceful evening, thank goodness!

Saturday 12th April 08

Not a good start to the day as was woken by boys fighting (or, one irritating the other, the irritated one over-reacting and causing such a din as to be irresistable to the irritating one) and then later there was a huge paddy as the irritating and angry one tried to put on a belt and fed it through his trousers the wrong way. As parents, we offered to assist or tell him how to solve the problem, and he kicked off. There was so much yelling and slamming of doors, we feel really sorry for our neighbours. Gill says we need to move to a detached house where our activities (both my logging/composting AND the extremely noisy child) won't affect anybody else.

I got ready to go to my AVP management meeting with a 'heavy heart' feeling depressed that I am unable to solve conflict in my own household when I'm going out to help run a group which aims to help other people solve their conflicts.

I cycled up to New Earswick to the Hartrigg Oaks 'older persons' housing and care development, where three of the AVP volunteers live. The development also has a central building which has meeting rooms, which is where we met for today's meeting. The group of nine of us are 'AVP NEEM'... Alternatives to Violence Project North East and East Midlands, a member of AVP Britain (http://www.avpbritain.org.uk/) We put on workshops and courses on conflict resolution, some people come for anger management help. We work in prisons and in the community. One project works in conjunction with MIND and a local NHS Mental Health service, putting on a workshop every other month. The workshops are quite long and 'deep', the ones we put on start on Friday night, take most of Saturday and Sunday until teatime. We can provide somewhere for participants to stay if they don't live locally. All the facilitators AND participants are volunteers, and the process really works. It helped me and I've heard very few negative comments, more than 9/10 coments are 'All Very Positive'!

So this meeting was one of our twice-yearly management meetings and it went well. Afterwards I popped in to see our old Treasurer Harry, who in his old-age has gone blind but is receiving good care from the Hartrigg Oaks team.

I cycled back and whilst collecting some logs and positioning them in my trailer, my buddy Philip cycled past, coming home from his gardening job, so we cycled together back to Tang Hall chatting, and when I got back to Hull Road, Gill told me that all had gone smoothly and peacefully since I left. Thank goodness!

Gill had created a lovely tea and we all ate together.

Sat 21st April 07

Got up early to complete yesterday's blog and get ready for a long day chairing an important meeting of 'AVP NEEM' the North East and East Midlands branch of Alternatives to Violence Project, a UK organisation (AVP Britain) which organises workshops on conflict resolution, in prisons and for the wider community. I owe a lot to AVP as I could have got into big trouble for my lack of self contol during my 20's, when I did an AVP workshop and learnt about what my triggers were, how violence starts and where it ends up and how to manage that energy and emotion creatively and sustainably. I believe that AVP is part of 'social sustainability' as it promotes social cohesion and helps hot-heads, bullies, those bullied or abused deal with their problem. It enables people to learn how to communicate in a non-violent way. It has helped me with my environmental activism, NVDA (non violent direct action), family life, my work as an entertainer and many of my inter-personal relationships.

I cycled up to New Earswick to Hartrigg Oaks where the meeting was due to be held, and as usual, was a few minutes early and waited for the others to arrive. When a few had come, I asked one person how Harry was, he lives at Hartrigg Oaks and used to be the Treasurer of AVP York but he has gone blind and is now in the care-home part of the Oaks, so I asked if I could visit him. He has begun to develop dementure but he did work out where he knew me from and we had a nice chat, just 10 mins, but it cheered him up, he said.

By this time the other five AVP NEEM (Alternatives to Violence Project North East and East Midlands) representatives had arrived so my chairing abilities were put into operation and we had a 2 hour session in the morning, lunch, and several hours in the afternoon. The structure of the organisation has changed and AVP Britain now has 7 members which are regions. We have a lot of organising to do and it was a full meeting.

I managed to pull it to a close at 4.30 and bomb off to Heslington Road where Richard was just shutting up the shop, he gave me 2 sacks of 'ready to compost' stuff and two trays of kiwis which weren't selling and were surplus to requirements so I got 2 trays... sounds like a kiwi leather to be created.

Anna my sister rang soon after I got in and said she was near to York, and arrived 10 mins later in time for tea, then they all watched Dr Who, which I don't like, and immediately after that the taxi I'd booked came and my boys and their Aunty went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Grand Opera House.

Gill and I played scrabble and watched telly. Got a phone call during the interval saying they were ok and enjoying it. They got home at 10.30pm which is the latest they've ever been up.
Both happy though, although the youngest very tired.

Sat 14th April 07

Awoke at 9.10 and got up quickly as I was due at St Nicks for 10! I have been booked by Keely to teach at the latest York Rotters training session, to do the 'basic home composting' part of the course.

This covers what composting is, and some terminology, and where it happens in the wild, and how we tame it for our benefit. I talk about why it is good and why the alternatives are bad, and the range of materials which can be composted. This includes the two basic types of materials, greens and browns, or wets and drys, or high nitrogen and high carbon, which when layered or mixed make a good heap. We briefly discuss the living organisms which populate a typical 'cold' heap and 'do' the composting for you, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, worms, insects, mites, other arthropods and the complex ecosystem within, and of course how the heap's diaspora fuel the wider ecosystem of arachnids, amphibians, birds and mammals. And of course this touches on some of the percieved problems of composting, flies and rodents, and how to dissuade them.

We covered hot turned piles and cold 'sit n wait' heaps, different compost bins and containers, and how to use the material once made. We went outside to view the range of composters on display at St Nicks, and the leafmold pile and the wormery. This led onto 'advanced composting' which Keely led, on composting in urban yards and how to do cooked food, including using 'bokashi' which is a pre-treatment with a culture of bacteria and fungi which 'pickle' the food materials anaerobically before they are composted, making them much less appealing to vermin. I was allowed one minute to talk about my compost toilet, and how I use partially composted sawdust to cover and compost the humanure with.

Then we had lunch which was an opportunity to chat with some of the new people who had attended and re-connect with some old friends who had come for their first official compost training or for a refresher. I was pleased to chat with 'Kate the Columnist', perhaps gathering more material for her writing, my good friend Jenny who helps run AVP Britain, and I first met over a decade ago through the New Economics Foundation before we started York Local Agenda 21 and before I went on my first conflict resolution workshop run by the new AVP York, which I then joined and helped to manage for the next 10 years or more. We have now morphed into AVP NEEM (Alternatives to Violence Project North East and East Midlands)! And I was delighted to chat with an old LETS contact Anneliese who is a fabulous poet and wordsmith and is gathering ideas for a series of poems about, you guessed it, home composting!

After lunch and chat we met up with Izzy and Hel from WRAP who'd come to teach us 'compost drumming', samba rhythms performed on compost bins and caddies and other items connected with recycling. I've tried drumming before and never really got on with it, but Hel was a good teacher and I did better than ever before. We learnt a basic rhythm and a few breaks and are now ready to perform at the May 6th York Green Carnival... except I have paid work on that day and won't be able to fully participate. But I'd like them to come to the Green Festival in July.

One of the new Rotters, a South African called Sarah, was interested in seeing my composting demonstration garden, and as there was no reason to defer this, she cycled back with me and had the tour. She was also interested in the Ethical Man stuff, and as she doesn't watch much TV, I put the tape on and put a glass of juice in her hand and let her see what the Beeb has been doing over the past year.

Gill and the boys had gone into town on the bus to go to the City Art Gallery for a hands-on art day, and they also went to the Yorkshire Museum for a dinosaur exhibition, and between these visits had gone on a boat trip up and down the River Ouse, and eaten a picnic they took with them. They came in just before Sarah went, and they'd obviously had as enjoyable a day as I had.

We concocted tea between us, a stove-top stirfry of pumpkin/squash slices, mushroom (including home-grown shiitake), tomatoes and vegetatian sausages, with baked beans, cabbage salad, pickled beetroot and guacamole. As this was nearly ready, a person appeared at the front door, a woman who we've been friendly with in the past, but whom had on one occasion been very agitated and abusive, and then on a subsequent occasion apologised and told us she had a mental health problem and had been admitted to Bootham Hospital because of this. She was in an agitated and paranoid state, and was saying that she was unable to return home because her neighbour was persecuting her and the police would be waiting, and she had nowhere to go. I offered her the chance to sit in our garden with a cuppa in order to calm down, and I'd talk with her when I'd eaten my tea. I made her a herbal tea and had my meal, and then went to see if there was anything I could do to help. She was unable to suggest any practical actions I could do to help, and refused/ignored all my offers, as I would have really liked to help as she was in distress. I told her she seemed agitated and that I couldn't just listen to her tales of woe, and she became abusive to me saying that I was as bad as all the others and she left in a huff, saying she was just going to have to walk the streets of York all night with nowhere to go and no warm clothes. I was left feeling quite sad as I wanted to help but her mental state wasn't compatable with being able to accept help. I feel sure that she will probably spend some more time in Bootham. I will talk to her about what I should do if she turns up like that again when she is out and more rational.

This occurance rather put a damper on a good day. Another damper was that late at night when I'd spent an hour doing my blog, it refused to publish and I couldn't do anything about it. I lost the lot. I had to retype it all in on Sunday morning.

Sat 31st March 07

A very nice family day, with an early start as the Green Party are doing a candidates launch this morning at Clifford's Tower. As Gill and I are both candidates, we had to be there for 9.30am for the group photo. I cycled down with the boys and Gill followed on, a different route as she doesn't like cycling down Heslington Road for some reason. But there's many ways into town and Gill got there about 10 minutes after we did, on time for the photo. We all stood on the steps of Clifford's Tower with our 'Keeping York Special' banner.

I was very pleased to meet up with John Gray, whom I first met years ago through AVP York, the conflict resolution group Alternatives to Violence Project. He's an experienced facilitator and helped run some of the workshops, but he left the group to start Face to Face, a neighbour mediation service, I think. It's such a long time ago... and he's now married with two children. This is the first time he's stood in an election.

My sister Anna rang yesterday and told us that she'd like to take our boys to see 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' musical at the Grand Opera House in York in April. She asked me to get tickets so after the photo session I queued in the GOH ticket office and bought 3 tickets for the Saturday night show. The boys waited outside with the bikes, and then we walked on to Barnitts to buy some seeds as a treat for the boys, who want to buy, sow and grow some of their own vegetable seeds in their own bit of garden. I'm so glad that they are becoming keen on gardening. They got Morning Glory (Ipomea) Heavenly Blue, 'Walking Stick' cabbage which grows very tall and has a tough stem similar to the Brussels Sprout, but it can be made into a walking stick as it's name suggests. I got some Crown Prince Squash and Russian Giant Sunflower, and chose some free Purple Sprouting Broccoli seeds as I'd purchased two packets of Thompson and Morgan veg seeds. A good bit of shopping! Boys happy, Dad happy, nice cycle home along the cycle path, and a 15 minute stop at the St Nicks play equipment.

Home in good time for lunch. After lunch I went to the lottie and planted a crown of rhubarb given to me by Linda and Duncan. They've taken several of them out to make raised beds for Linda's vegetables. I'll donate a couple of sacks of finished compost to them for this project. I like this giving culture!

At 4 our friends Bill and Dinah came for a visit, as Dinah hadn't seen the garden, and I'd responded to a Freecycle offer of a nearly perfect black plastic dustbin... I'll find it useful to store 'dry, carbon rich' materials in, to layer with the copius quantities of 'wet, nitrogen rich' materials I bring home for composting. Bill had borrowed a couple of books, one on compost toilets and 'The New Woodburner's Handbook' which has inspired him to install a woodburner in the skate park shed he's been responsible for. He gave me a bottle of wine as a thank you for the loan. Had a nice tour round the garden and a cuppa afterwards. They are easy people to be with, and we enjoy their company. We gave them an open invite to come again and spend a chunk of evening with us sometime.

Boys to bed after Dr Who and Gill and I really enjoyed 'About Schmidt' on telly, a thought provoking film with one of my favourite actors, Jack Nicholson.

Recorded a film late into the night which I've been looking forward to seeing, the final offering in the Koyaanisqatsi/Powaqqatsi trilogy, Naqoyqatsi, with music by Philip Glass. Koyaanisqatsi is one of my favourite films, it's fabulous.

28th Feb 07

Another busy day, with a meeting to prepare for a meeting, AVP this time. Alternatives to Violence Project has re-organised its structure and AVP York has joined up with AVP Sheffield, AVP Nottingham and AVP Northumberland to become AVP North East and East Midlands. This new group has its first annual meeting in April or May and it'll be in York, so today a small group of us are planning that meeting.

I cycled up to New Earswick via a Freecycler who has offered my son a CD player. The lady I met was offering it on behalf of a friend in the same sheltered accommodation block ,who thought Freecycle was a great idea but didn't want to do it herself. The CD player was more than that, infact a compact radio, tape and CD system with seperate speakers. It's been in storage for a couple of years. I hope my son is happy with it, my wife and I will check it out tonight to see if it works.

The AVP meeting went well. I facilitated/chaired and took notes and offered to type them up and circulate. Such is the life of a hyperactive overenthusiastic sustainable communities idealist.

Then into York to see one of my favourite people, an unconventional professional and well-off woman who always has time for a coffee and chat. I don't entirely approve of her jet-setting lifestyle, always off to somewhere far-flung, but she intrigues me and we are good friends, just good friends! I moved off to Cycle Heaven to return the Filibus bike and collect mine... but my back wheel was still being built, so I went to Out Of This World to pick up compostables on the Filibus. Home for 2.40, just 20 mins for a late lunch before leaving to pick up the kids. Gill my wife has gone to Scarborough to see her Uncle who's in hospital. She'd made potato salad and quiche for the boys tea before going, so I had little to do when we got in. At about 4.30 my friend Mark came to visit for the first time, and I gave him a cuppa and a tour of our large garden and 30 compost systems. I think he was impressed!

Gill came back and met Mark, which was nice as I'll be working closely with him over the next few months, on the CrUST Green Gala scheduled for July. Mark left and we had tea. The boys wanted to go on the BBC 'Shaun the Sheep' website, so before bedtime I went online and got onto the site, but we couldn't really get it to work properly. A bit of a let-down.

My friend Justin Rowlatt emailed me to say I will be on Panorama next Monday, which is on Justin's 'Ethical Man' experiences as part of his job with BBC Newsnight. I must phone my Mum and Dad to tell them. It's nice to be able to do/be something they can be proud of, as for many years they viewed me as a failure and a dropout, but all that time I was 'incubating' my green-ness, which is now fashionable! Justin came to film last year as he was intrigued by my compost toilet. It's very satisfying to use the BBC media machine to promote sustainability.

Must go, I'm really tired tonight. But I'm loving blogging!

22 Feb 07

A busy day today, with a 'freecycle' meet-up, a 'Professor Fiddlesticks' gig and 2 social visits.

A few weeks ago, during the gales, a sheet of expanded polystyrene blew into our garden. It was too big to be called litter, so it didn't get tidied and put in the bin, it got put in the conservatory and we wondered what to do with it. Last week I was delighted to read on my 'Freecycle' email digest that someone wanted a sheet of polystyrene, so I offered it to him. Freecycle is great. You find your local Freecycle group on the net and sign up with your email address, and wait for the first emails. I wanted to get a block of up to 25 emails at once, and the messages are from people offering all kinds of things for free, and a few wanting free things. The aims are to stop items going into landfill which could be reused. All sorts of things are offered, from kitchen cabinets to childrens books, old computers suitable only for spares to as-yet-unwrapped (but unwanted) bathroom toiletries, and everything inbetween, and then some things you didn't think of!

So far I haven't recieved anything I've asked for, as other people are invariably online as the message is posted, but I've helped out several people with their wants... wood for repairing something, an electric toaster, and now the polystyrene sheet. The happy recipient said he could collect it by car on Wednesday, so I emailed back and suggested that I could deliver by bike on my way to my gig today. So at midday I met him at the Fox and handed over the polystyrene. He wanted it to place under a heated propagator for germinating seeds, to reduce heat being conducted away through the staging in his greenhouse.

I cycled on to the school I was working in, a lunchtime circus skills workshop with some slightly special-needs youngsters. This is the third in a series, today was focussing on 3 ball juggling. I earn my living as 'Professor Fiddlesticks' (www.kidspartysurvivalguide.com/fiddlesticks), an entertainer performing circus skills workshops and shows, and teaching balloon modelling. I've been doing this since 1992 and still love it! The youngsters all had a go with juggling and some suprised themselves by learning the basics. One lad was keen to show me his yoyo tricks, others are diabolo-mad. My favourite is devilsticks, it really grabs my attention and I love doing it. Seemingly I perform it well enough for others to enjoy watching me, and I'm a good teacher, patient and good at explaining 'how to'. Infact my science background and my ability to explain stuff means I have developed a show called 'Professor Fiddlesticks Fun Physics' which has key stage 1 and ks2 science in a fun interactive format. I'd like more gigs presenting this.

After my 45 minutes full-on circus teach-in, I visited my lovely old lady-friend Jean. She was 90 years old a week or two ago, and she resides in a care home. We have been friends for over 10 years and she's very unconventional and free-thinking. We can talk about anything, no subjects off-limits. She doesn't get a lot of physical contact anymore, so I always give her a foot massage which she finds very relaxing. Next week I'm going to visit and she'll dictate a couple of letters to people who sent her letters for her birthday. She got so many cards, quite a few were from people she couldn't remember or work out where she had met them. But in 90 years you must collect quite a few contacts, and by that age it must be easy to forget some of them!

So I had two hours with Jean and then nearly an hour with my good friend Pauline. She is a 'low carbon lifestyle' person, and is keen on her Clearview stove and her Freecycled kitchen. I met Pauline through a project which helped me when I was younger and angrier, AVP, Alternatives to Violence Project. They put on workshops to help people understand the conflicts in their life, and to help them resolve them creatively. It certainly helped me, as now I am able (most of the time!) to deal with my anger and to recognise my triggers. AVP puts on workshops in prisons and in the community, and I am still involved, helping to run 'AVP North-East And East Midlands', which is a member of AVP Britain. AVP runs worldwide and has helped so many people. One of the jobs I do is to phone up participants a month or two after the workshop and conduct some followup, to find if they found it useful. Most people say it has changed their lives and they have used what they've learnt in everyday situations. Pauline was the coordinator at one time. Then we worked together on the Local Agenda 21 group... but that's another blog!

Home to a big bowl of pumpkin, butternut and leek soup, cooked on the woodstove. Delicious!