Monday 23rd May 11

A pretty static day doing various things on the computer and in the kitchen, but nothing of note until I went to find a spare 'Can Of Worms' wormery which I bought over a year ago along with a Compostumbler (I think!) and has sat unused all that time.

Mark from BikeRescue had asked me if he could have some info about 'indoor composting' and I suggested a wormery, and said I had a spare one, which he was only too happy to make me an offer for.  So I got some finished worm compost and quite a lot of mature worms and worm eggs, and loaded that up onto my bike trailer.

I had earlier sorted out a makeshift helmet mount for the little camera that Anna got me... I half wedged it behind the styling on my helmet, and tied it in with a pipe cleaner.  So I switched it on before I left the house, and filmed my 14 minute journey down to the Bike Hub.  I switched off there and installed the wormery, and one of the people there helped me take it upstairs.  Mark wasn't there, but had left instructions for payment.

From here I cycled round to David's, as I was due to start work at 5.  The plumber, Graham, was already working, investigating where the moisture in the cellar was coming from.  Pauline, his other PA, was there too and we all had a bit of an explore, visiting the nearby cellar under the York Medical Society and dental practice, and popping into several shops on Stonegate to see if we could work out whether there was a cellar next door to David's cellar.

Graham will sort out the water from David's soil pipe, and I'll get the Council people along to deal with the incoming sewerage from the sewer that Graham showed me, which looked quite full, if not blocked.  I'm pretty sure that the main problem is not a Yorkshire Water problem, however, they are coming on Thursday to listen for leaks.

David was very happy with what his team is doing.  He didn't feel like going out for a coffee, but I suggested he had a walk with his walking frame.  We walked along Stonegate to St Helen's Square, and to St Helen's Church where there was a book sale being sorted out.  As usual, David knew some of the organisers.

We then went back and I prepared his tea.  As he ate his, I had the salad and sandwich which Gill had prepared for me. I left at 7pm.  I went straight down to The Seahorse for the last meeting of the World Naked Bike Ride organisers.  There were a couple of older gents in the Parlour who were good for a bit of banter, then Tony and Hugh came and we had a very productive meeting dealing with the publicity, route... especially the problem junctions and re-grouping areas.  I had two pints of cider.  So much for trying to lose my cider-belly before the ride!

Home towards 11pm, and did another mammoth session on the laptop, messaging assorted folks with mainly YWNBR stuff.

Enjoyed the news of the volcanic ash cloud which I hope will stop flights, and was saddened to learn about mega-tornadoes which have killed people in the USA.  Glad though that some people are asking whether it might possibly be connected to increased atmospheric temperatures.... they are slowly catching on, I think!

And, I downloaded the film from the helmet camera, and although it was noisy because of the high wind, it was a good film. I'll post one to facebook when it's less windy and noisy.

Monday 3rd January 11

What a comfy bed!  Although Jess's flat was cold, I'd been given two duvets and was therefore nice and warm, and it was a firm mattress so I slept well.

Got up around 10 and had a bowl of Weetabix and a sprinkling of porridge oats with a few bits of dried apple ring broken on top.   Watched YouTube videos, including some blasts from my past, Osibisa and Steve Hillage. I logged in to facebook and saw a friend had posted about the death of Pete Postlethwaite, which made me cry as he was my favourite actor, especially after his wonderful performance in Age of Stupid.  What a shame, he was only 64, and by all accounts a lovely bloke.  This coloured my whole day.

Jess was mending Nomi's handbag which had poorly constructed handles, so Jess was replacing them with several lengths of tough rope and then sewing leather round to make a nice looking handle.  But this meant we didn't leave the flat til well after 11, and I wanted to get the 12.19 train to York so I could be back in time for the opening of the BikeRescue HubStation.  Jess and Nomi were heading over to Leeds to buy material, so they waited for the bus, and I cycled down to the Interchange, which only took about 10 minutes, and I was there in time for the 12.05 train to Leeds.  But I said I'd wait until the later train, but they didn't get to that train so I had that hour quiet enough to read my NewScientist.

However, I met a cyclist with a folded Brompton who was going to the HubStation launch... a volunteer from Sustrans, and friends with my friend Gael.

Once in York I picked up my trailer and then had a toasted sandwich at ?Krunchies and then went to the new HubStation, the latest project from BikeRescue, headed up by Bernie Cullen, whom I have a lot of admiration for. The place was already crowded with York's cycling fraternity, Councillors, dignitaries. The building used to be an electricity sub-station, and in 2006 Bernie requested that the Council let it be used as a Cycling Centre.  It has taken £300,000 and 4 years to get it to what it is now... with space for secure bike storage, repairs, sales of reconditioned bikes, spares and accessories, a cafe, shower, and today, a lovely cake and loads and loads of happy people. One really nice touch is a window which will be permanently used for bike-based art.  It currently has a load of decorated plates in it, and is very pretty. It has been put together by Lu Mason, who I think may be the daughter of Tom Mason, one of my cycling friends who died a few years ago.

I stayed til about 3pm and then came away, I would have liked to take part in the ride through the city but I wanted to get home.  Popped in to Country Fresh on the way home though, and picked up a couple of boxes of compostables.

Back to a happy home, where all was well and our eldest had gone out to a film with friends... coming back having really enjoyed it.  Nice simple tea, and at about 7, I went out to the LETS meeting at the Seahorse... but no-one else turned up apart from two non-member ordinary guys who seemed happy to chat with me until their takeaway next door was ready.  I left at 8.30, cleared up some frosted Nasturtiums from the Edible York raised bed, picked up a pallet and came home. 

Gill was on the phone when I got in, chatting with my old friend Cathryn whom I've known since I was 18.  She is considering replacing her oil-fired central heating with a Dunsley Yorkshire woodburning stove, and wanted my advice or opinion.  Whilst on the phone, Gill suddenly got excited, saying 'Earthquake' but I didn't feel or hear anything.  However, after the phone call had finished, I switched on my laptop and went on facebook... and several other people had felt the tremor.  It was ineed a quake, Gill's third, and smallest.  Her first was in Nort Wales decades ago and it threw her to the ground.  We had one in York a few years ago, which was my first (and only!).  This time, Gill heard the rumble, the crockery on the Delft Rack clink slightly, and felt the tremor.  I was so focused on the phone conversation, I'd not experienced anything.

I rang my Dad at 10pm, to wish him a happy birthday as he's reached 70.  I wanted him to know I've not forgotten him, despite not being in contact for a while.

Thursday 8th July 10

A kind of busy but nothingy day.... although lovely to be doing things in the garden and I did quite a bit of compost heap management including taking a very heavy solid pallet down the garden which will serve as a base for a Komp 700 hexagonal compost bin I've got, which I've recently emptied and removed the previous base, as it had been breached by a rodent and I don't welcome that.

I did some filling of a medium sized Compostumbler which is working very well... not the 14 days waste to compost as the company deceitfully boasts, but it is quick, and allows the wet stuff to rot down quickly and get hot before it is taken out after a month and allowed to sit and finish off for a year or two. The value of these tumblers is that the initial decomposition is very rapid indeed, reducing the bulk and preventing the problem of stuff getting compacted and anaerobic... in quickly built 'sit and wait' heaps, I occasionally find mummified oranges etc in layers where they have been compressed and the acidity has reduced the bacterial activity. Composting things in a tumbler first avoids this problem, as the pre-tumbled material rots very well once it has been placed in a maturation bay or dalek.

In the evening I cycled down to Bikerescue as I want to talk to Bernie about something, but she wasn't there so I left a message. Then I went on to the Millennium Bridge to meet up with Dave Broughton and others from Abundance, an 'al fresco' meeting. I was a bit early and spent a few minutes picking up litter left by picnickers or end of term revellers. Candy and Anna B turned up, and then Andy D'Agorne, and about half a dozen other people dropped by and chatted which was great! Enjoyed this social a lot.

Cycled home through Walmgate Stray and the University.

Thursday 17th June 10

Up early to get out of the house before 9am. Gill got on a bus at about 8.45 and got to the station before me, and had bought the tickets to Sheffield already.

It was a nice journey... apart from a broken-down train in front of us as we approached Sheffield.

We were about half an hour late, but Gill got a message to Tom, my brother, who had offered to take us over to my parents' house, and he waited and read a newspaper.

But, by 10.50 we were with Tom and we went to pick up some salads from his house, then we picked up Kate his wife and Jenny her mother, who had also gone to buy a paper.

Eventually we got to my parents' house where my Aunty Lizzy was enjoying the sunshine. I was pleased to see the garden... quite a few things have been changed, including a new greenhouse and Daddy has been busy with his logpiles!

We had lunch and then at about 1.30, we had to leave as our train back was at 1.54, to get us in before 3pm, so we could deal with the post-school stuff. Gill went on the bus home so to be there before our eldest got in, and I cycled back so I could then cycle down to school to pick up our youngest.... only to find out that he was in Drama Club, so I came home and went back to school for 4pm. Nice chats with Paul, another dad, and then at 4.20, the drama kids came out, and I brought my little charge home.

After tea I cycled down to Bikerescue to meet with Graham, who had agreed to lend his megaphone to the WNBR organisers, and I met Sarah W. there and introduced them to each other.... they might get on.

Then I cycled on to Fulford to deliver some Fiddlesticks paperwork to my agent, and back via a logpile at the University.

Tuesday 16th June 09

Both boys off to school today... I came down and sat bleary-eyed on the sofa until the house was empty, and then had breakfast, did my e-paperwork and then when Gill came back she persuaded me to come back to bed. We are very lucky to have this time... the low income and only working part-time does have it's upside.... plenty of time to do what we want to do...

But I couldn't stay in bed all day, much though that has some attraction, as I was expecting a visit from either Rowena or Adrian who have done a clear-out and found a stash of wood, much of it only fit to burn. So I did a load more work out the front, slicing the pear, apple and lilac logs from John Bibby, and splitting them and stacking round the back. It's a huge job... I'm only half-way through and I've already got a really good stack of split logs, perhaps 2m x 2m and nearly as high as me.

Adrian came after lunch, with a load of planks and other structural timber, and a whole lot of very dry and mostly all logged to the right size Leylandii chunks. I split these with the maul... they are easier when wet.

At 3 I went to school to pick up our youngest, and cycled with him on to the Millennium Bridge and up to BikeRescue where the 'Specialised Rockhopper' reconditioned bike was waiting. Our little boy was delighted with this... it was £65, but well worth it as it is a good make, 18 gears and will last for years. I put his old bike on my trailer and zoomed off after him, as he is now twice as fast as he was!

Got home well before what time I told Gill I expected us to be back, and I continued outside for a bit, cutting the front hedge and putting some of it through the shredder. Then tea which was cauliflower and macaroni with the tomato and leek soup on top as a sauce..

I then had an appointment at the allotment with a bunch of University students who have an allotment but don't know about composting, and I had offered to do a talk going through the basics. There were about 8 of them, on a rather weedy allotment but with plenty of lettuce, strawberries, onions, potatoes and a fire area in the centre with pallets around it to sit on. I did a basic run through of what composting was, what kind of materials biodegrade, the conditions needed, some stuff about landfill and my composting ops here. I answered a few questions. Then we went to look at the existing composting areas, showing them evidence of a rat in one pile. They gave me some lettuce as a thank you for the time.

I went up to my half plot and did some clearance, opening up a path up one side using the hedge shears, and worked til 10.15 when it got too dark to continue...

A lovely chatty evening with Gilly, and feeling positive as we looked at photos of Randall and Annie's baby on Facebook. Ahhhh...

Thursday 28th May 09

Up at a reasonable time and Gill was planning the trip to the IMAX cinema in Bradford, as the boys wanted to see The Night At The Museum 2. She bought tickets over the phone yesterday and had sorted out which train to get, and booked a taxi. But due to factors which I don't fully understand, the boys said that they didn't want to go this morning, so Gill did a second round of ringing round and cancelled everything, and will hopefully get her money back from the IMAX.

So, both Gill and I spent quite a bit of time in the garden. I was busy most of the day, potting up peppers and more tomatoes, sieving compost and loam to use as growing media. I did a load of weeding, mostly ground elder and green alkanet. Also compost heap building, so a perfect day in the garden.

Our youngest is complaining that his bike is too small for him, so after tea I cycled with both boys down to Bikerescue via Walmgate Stray and the Millennium Bridge. When we arrived at the Parkside Commercial Centre, the Bikerescue dog, a friendly enough hound, was there, and my son who is scared of dogs ran away and had to be coaxed and cajoled back, and I asked the chap who dealt with me to put it in the office so my boy's fear didn't prevent us deciding on a bike. We chose one, and it needs a bit of work so I put down a deposit and was told it would be ready in a week or 10 days. We cycled back a shorter way.

I cycled back into town immediately, as I'd agreed to help a friend who's moving house soon. She cannot get into her loft as the hatch is quite narrow and her hips are not! So I went up to the loft space and handed down assorted boxes, bags, piles of books, electrical items and more. Then we had a good chat before I came home, getting in after 9, but doing some sorting in the front garden before coming in.

A quiet evening, enjoyed watching 'Surgery Live' on C4 with Gill.

Thursday 23rd August 07

Awoken far too early by an excited 10 year old, eager for his presents.

Sleepily watched him open them, finishing with his 'big' present, the walkie talkies. We told him that we wouldn't be able to do them immediately, as they are complicated and we'd need to read the instructions first.

They played with the lego present and read a book we'd got him 'The Alchemist' and I was able to read NewScientist and doze. Was re-awoken by the older one shouting, and Gill coming upstairs, to get me up to come downstairs to mediate. I came down to try to sort things out, but this seemed to inflame things, and the voices were raised higher, backchat got ruder and more insolent, and I sent the birthday boy to his room. The shouting made the younger one cry and Gill also.

Things calmed down a bit, and play soon resumed with no problems really.

So a bit later in the day, I carefully opened the packaging and I spent quite a long time reading the instructions. They worked well, even to the bottom of the garden, with me on one inside and the boys down the garden, 80 metres away, communicating clearly. However when my impatient 8 yr old was using the handset, without waiting for training, his handset stopped working, it just wouldn't turn on.

The mood changed again, with some more tears, more shouting and anger, just the worst kind of birthday, and everybody unhappy. I said I'd go down to town to sort it out, to see if it could be mended or replaced. When I did this, it seemed a simple job for E Roy to sort out, and it was working again. I visited Bike Rescue to drop off a smashed-up bike I found over a month ago, and as no-one had claimed it from the police, I gave it to the bike recyclers, and had a good chat to Andy Scaife, the Bike Rescue person.

Then on to drop off a picture of me as Prof Fiddlesticks at my agent's, who's run out of them, and back via Anneliese's, to install her new compost bin, for which she paid me £10.

Home to an empty house, they'd gone to the park, so I bottled my out of date and hard-boiled eggs, in vinegar, then did the washing up, then they arrived back, and I'd had an idea of getting some house ground rules sorted out, so I told the boys to write some ground rules for Gill and myself, this as a prelude to our developing some for them. Hope this helps.

The boys were happy the walkie talkies were working again, and we had a lovely tea, the birthday boy's favourite, and after tea, I went on a cycle ride with him to test out how far it would work between. We went to the York Maze and could just get a signal. But not from Heslington, as shrouded in trees and behind the University. Gill and our youngest were in the loft, so getting a good 'view' of the area.

Back in time for supper and their bedtime, hooray, and excellent behaviour.

My friend Philip arrived at 9pm, we had several ciders and good chats and a late night.

Monday May 7th 07, my birthday

Yes my birthday but work anyway, nice to have a bank holiday birthday. I had asked my family to make it a very minimal day, if they wished to celebrate it at all. So when I got up I was given a home-made card from the boys, with a large opening mouth inside and their favourite blowy blob patterns. For a combined present I got a LED torch which lights as you squeeze the handle, and any spare power goes to a rechargable battery or capacitor, and the torch can be switched on for use without squeezing. This was £1.99 from Barnitts, reduced from £2.99, and Gill got both the boys one as well.... a brilliant bargain. I'll be able to use it whilst using the compost loo!

I cycled down to the National Railway Museum with my trailer loaded up with unicycles and both boys in tow. We arrived early and I got started whilst the boys decorated bicycles and played on the assorted bikes and trikes in the try-out area. I had lots of unicycle workshops and loads of interest, loads of happy customers.

During lunch break we had a walk around and at 2pm when I was to resume, Gill arrived to take them back home. At 4pm I got a visit from Lorna, Saturday's unicycling success, and we chatted and after Bernie from Bikerescue had paid me for the two days work, Lorna and I had a hot chocolate together, as we had made friends over the unicycle workshops. A lovely person and her positive feedback was a lovely birthday treat.

Home just after 5pm and Gill had made a veg stew with chickpeas, my creative eldest son had created savoury biscuits to go with the stew, and my youngest had followed a recipe to make buns. Good for mum, teaching my boys to cook!

After tea I planted the rest of the sweetcorn seeds, germinating in a margerine tub.

Saturday 5th May 07

A work day.... but a type of work I particularly enjoy, at a cycling event, teaching unicycle and entertaining people with my ability to unicycle and do the devilsticks. The event, 'Cycle Tracks' was at the National Railway Museum and was organised by the Bikerescue team, Bernie and Andy. They had got lots of decorated bicycles, and were decorating more, and had Bo the Clown, who does assorted cycling stuff and a Punch and Judy, stalls inside from a cycle shop and Sustrans and others... a good medium-sized event.

So I arrived, in costume, at about 10.30am and found my way to the South Yard and got set up by 10.55. I did my workshops, mainly with 'Pedal-Go' and 'Fun-Wheels' (four-wheel and two-wheel 'unicycles') and also coached a few people on the four one-wheel (ie normal) unicycles I had taken down on my bike trailer. I particularly enjoyed teaching a 13 year old boy who went from Pedal-Go to being a basic unicyclist in about 25 minutes, and a pair of lovely petite twin ladies (Lorna and Claire) in their 30's who both spent over an hour trying to get the hang of unicycling. Good chats with them afterwards, whilst Bo was doing a show.

So I worked 11 til 1.15 and 2 til 4 and then got off back home feeling tired but happy that it had gone so well.

I was able to do a bit of pottering about, and as the phone line had been mended, catch up on blogging and emails.

Monday 30th April 07

Woke late and feeling grotty with throat feeling swollen, but decided to get up and get on without fuss, and as I have so much to do, starting with Fiddlesticks confirmations, as the summer bookings are coming in. I have 4 to reply to today, two which need an invoice and one which also needs a risk assessment.

We had three visitors for coffee in the morning, two residents of Emerald Street where we used to live and one of their young sons who was very cute, even though he wasn't feeling very well.

Then for lunch my friend Jo came and met Gill for the first time and we all had a nice chat over a sandwich.

After lunch I did some washing up and 3pm came so soon, my time to go and get the kids. But immediately I arrived back I cycled down to town and picked up my recyclables and paid in a cheque and also popped in on Bernie at Bikerescue, a bicycle recycling organisation which is organising a 3 day cycle event at the National Railway Museum, and I have been booked as Professor Fiddlesticks the unicycle teacher, on Saturday 5th and Monday 7th May, next weekend.

Nice tea made by Gill, based on bulgar wheat.