Thursday 19th February 09

Well, an early start as the rest of the family were heading off to the station in a taxi at 9.05 for the 9.44 train to Birmingham to see friends at The Think Tank, and I set off a few minutes earlier on my bike to get the 9.27 to Sheffield, to spend the day with Ali and the evening with the South Yorkshire branch of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

Ali collected me after dropping off her daughter at the playscheme and we went back to her place, but not for long, as we decided to go into town, have some lunch at Blue Moon and then get some more footage for her film, for her media degree. So, had a good lunch.... cauliflower and rice in a cheesy sauce with several salads, and were joined by a friendly librarian whose job is to make the library as accessible as possible, which is how Ali knows her.

Then we took the tram up to the University building where there's a massive photo of Ali saying 'I love Politics', and we made a poster which we filmed, for a message for the closing credits. That didn't take as long as we thought it would, and so we leisurely rolled back to the Blue Moon for a coffee, and when Ali's PA and daughter arrived we had a cake each.

Soon after 4 we left and I was dropped off near the station, where I had a few minutes to wait before my Environmental Health contact was due to meet me. On the dot of 5pm, Fiona met me and she took me back to where Ali had dropped me off and Fiona's colleague Martin arrived and we drove to a pub just off the M1 where the CIEH group always meet.

The meeting was the AGM, so there was quite a bit of business to do before my talk. I had a gander at the Agenda, and was surprised to find that I'd been given the job of talking about my 'Carbon Neutral Lifestyle'. So, my small amount of preparation to talk about climate change, peak oil and Transition Towns was ignored, and I proceeded to explain why I hadn't got a carbon neutral lifestyle, but how I achieved a low carbon one. Somehow it all flowed nicely and I produced enough anecdotes, quips, facts and opinions to do a good presentation which was well received. I don't really know how I do it, but it comes naturally. I was given a five minute warning that the 'pie and peas' supper was on its way and as mine was a spinach and ricotta canneloni which I was looking forward to, I came to a swift halt, inviting the audience to ask questions after the meal. This was quite nice, especially the berry cheesecake, and there were indeed a few comments and questions afterwards, including one about Transition Towns. I was also able to explain peak oil in less than 3 minutes.

As a thank you I was given a bottle of Lindesfarne Mead (how DID they know it's one of my favourite drinks?!!!) and a cheque to cover my expenses. Several of the attendees asked if I could give a talk to other groups.... always the best compliment!

The new Chair Janice offered to take me to Doncaster; we arrived at 10.15 and there was a train heading for York just a few minutes later, so got home soon after 11. I was pleased to find Gill and the boys had enjoyed their trip to Birmingham.

Thursday 4th December 08

Gilly walked down to school with our youngest, in the snow. Then she went into town on the bus to try to get something dry-cleaned, but town was empty and the dry cleaners was closed. So a wasted trip... and she waited at the bus stop for ages to come home, but there'd been some kind of accident West of York and there were no buses coming through, so she walked home and arrived cold and with really wet feet.

I however had a lazy morning, with just a bit of washing up to do and filling the logbaskets. Read some NewScientist and played Facebook Scrabble until Gill came in at nearly midday.

After lunch I cycled into town to pay some bills and get some cheques out... one for another 3 year's NewScientist subscription, my Equity dues and my Chartered Institute of Environmental Health dues.

Got home on the dot of 3pm and got ready to go to Green Thumbs at school, where Julia had printed off the Assembly text I wrote, and we discussed various ideas with the children. Julia and I read through it out loud and most of the children seemed to like it. We also learned the song written by the 6 year old about Mission Nutrition, with the little girl's mum teaching us the choruses first and then the two verses. It's easy to sing, sounds lovely.

I came home via a logpile and brought another trailer's worth home.

We all had tea together, pasta and veg with yessterday's soup as a sauce for those of us who like sauce. Soon after this I got on my bike again and cycled down to the Merchant Adventurers Hall where the Blood Donation service was holding a session, I'd booked myself in for 7.10 and was processed and out by 8.15... quite quick, and as usual, painless.

Then went to visit Anita to collect the SUMA catalogue and her cheque. I met her friend Bruno whom I got on well with, discussing business waste recycling (he owns a shop) and 70s/80s music (he's a DJ) and Anita gave me a humourous book on parenting. I wonder if it might help us?

Home via another logpile (I know all the tree-surgeons' dumping grounds in York!) but the icy cycle paths made the cycling quite exciting (read dangerous!). Home to an 'on tenterhooks' situation, once again sparked off by someone having to do homework and ending up letting fists fly. Completely unneccessary, very difficult to know what to do about it and leaving us completely mystified why this happens. But both boys got a kiss goodnight from me, and then Gill and I settled down to our usual 'post kids bedtime' routine of washing up and relaxing.