Wednesday 15th June 11

I was woken with a phone call just after 9 from my friend Gary Haq, who had been rung up by Radio 5 Live, who wanted to interview activists who had an opinion about Mark Kennedy, the undercover policeman who as Mark Stone, got rather too involved in the Climate Camp... and his role caused the trial of some people allegedly planning to shut down a coal-fired power station to collapse.  Gary said that when he spoke to the researcher, he thought of me, and he offered to pass my phone number to the researcher.  A few minutes later, she rang me, and we had a few minutes chat.  However, my views about him were not polarised enough to warrant them ringing me back for the show at 10.

I listened to the show; they had an interview with Mark Kennedy which was interesting, and several people who had known him, and a selection of people who were either damning him or praising him.  Our son listened to the programme with me, and learned about various legal acronyms and other words.

However, I was due to be at David's at 12.15 so I couldn't stay and listen to the whole programme, but what I heard was interesting.  I cycled down to town and met Alanah at David's, another of his PAs, who had got him breakfast and ready to go to the organ recital by Francis Jackson.  He is one of York's best known organists, and David's been looking forward to it for weeks and weeks.

I took him to St Helen's Church and we were almost the first there, and positioned ourselves in a good position to watch Francis doing his thing.  The church filled up, as he's very popular.  Francis is 94 years old and has been involved in making music in York for 83 years, since he was a chorister in York Minster. He played some Bach, Vaughan Williams and a piece he wrote himself as a retirement present for a colleague.  He didn't just play, he introduced some of the pieces and was quite a character.  In one of the last pieces, something by Karg-Elert, he made a mistake right at the end, and he got up and said, 'I'll do that again' and he played the last few chords again.  He came across as a really lovely chap.  And David's seen him perform on numerous occasions and spoke with him afterwards, which was nice.

Then we went to the bank, and to the Library where we filled in a questionnaire about eye health, and then back to David's home.  I made him some toast and got away at 3pm.

Lynn had asked me to come and visit, and give her the caffeine-free coffee we'd been given, so I had a late lunch and then went round for a proper coffee (ie with caffeine!) and a good chat; it's been ages since we spent any time together. I took her some climbing beans as a present and we caught up with each other's news.    I went from here to a Freecycler called Tim who'd advertised a Le Creuset lid, 24 cm across.  I'd measured the pan I found in a skip in 1999, and have been using all this time with an ill-fitting aluminium lid with a plastic Marmite lid on top, which allowed me to balance trays of fruit on top.  I emailed and said that I thought it might fit, but if it didn't, I'd put it back on Freecycle. When i got home and tried it, I was hugely delighted that it fitted PERFECTLY!!!! Gill and I were so pleased!  Tim had the lid spare as he'd dropped his pan and it had shattered, as they are fairly brittle cast iron with enamel on.  At least the lid has another new life!

At 7 I'd agreed to go and visit Sherry, Melody and Simon's lodger, who wanted to make use of our Suma order.  I cycled down there and she got about £10 worth of dried fruit.  I came back via a logpile.

Then I spent some while chopping up the sticks given to me yesterday, and dealing with a load more kindling-style stuff, putting it neatly into fruit boxes.

A nice simple tea... potato, bought pizza, asparagus.

And a fairly good evening, trying to catch up on some writing tasks which are outstanding.  Bed at 3am.

Thursday 10th February 11

A reasonable day, despite having a headache for most of it... lack of sleep I think.  I need to try to go to bed before midnight tonight....

So, in the morning Gill took our youngest into school... she tried to get ready in time for the bus but missed it and ordered a taxi, but that was late so she was in an annoyed mood as she left at 8.45.  She came back by bus. 

I had a bit of time on the computer commenting on a few websites and news articles about greening funerals, and then did some logging and stacking, and I've built a very good looking logpile.

In the afternoon I got 4 sacks of compost together for Keith, and I cycled down to Country Fresh and saw Shirley, and picked up 4 boxes/sacks of goodies plus a few groceries.

At about 6 I set off for a multiple use ride, taking 4 sacks of compost to Keith in South Bank, and I was let into his back yard and I took them in there for him.  Then I cycled on to Copmanthorpe and found the home of the first Freecycler who had left 4 old feather pillows for me, ones which were too manky to let someone else use.  I'll compost them.  Then I found Adrian's house, quite close, and picked up a saucepan rack thing, which hangs from the ceiling and has hooks and might help free up some space in our cramped kitchen.

On the way back, coming home via Bishopthorpe, I found a freshly roadkilled rabbit on the road, so I picked that up and when I got in, put it on Freecycle in case someone wanted to eat it.  If Freecycle won't post the message (some moderators can be a bit funny about some things!) or if no-one wants, I will compost it.

A much earlier night than usual...

Wednesday 2nd February 11

A hardworking day, dealing with the untidy front garden, riddling more of the accumulated sawdust and sawing up most of the logs and wood that I've collected over the past few weeks.  The sawn up logs were split and stacked either on a new stack of 'green' or wet logs, or if dry (like the wood from Mandy) next to the front door for almost immediate use, or on a pile which doesn't need much drying and should be ready by the summer or autumn.  The green wood will take a year or two to completely dry.

One of the best things to happen in our son's home education for a while was that today he discovered that there was speech recognition software on Gill's laptop, so he installed that and 'trained' it with his voice, by reading out a load of sentences presented to him on the screen.  Then he got on with his science homework from Maria, and finished 8 questions.  Had he been writing these, he'd have probably got two done.  Yay for speech recognition software!

And Yay! for Richard at Country Fresh who always brightens my day!  I cycled down there, via a Freecycler who had bits of used candle to give away, (always good to have a bit of candle wax to help light the stoves), and I popped in on St Nicks to give Ivana a sack of riddled sawdust for their compost toilets, and then on to Richard to buy broccoli and onions, and pick up compostables.

The only other significant thing which happened was that we got a hate letter from someone we know which was full of disgusting slurs and accusations.  Gill was so angry and wanted to go and remonstrate with the sender but I persuaded her to leave it.   I'm used to criticism and I wasn't too bothered... sad, for the sender, but I've far more people in my life who like me, think I'm doing the right thing and have the right approach to life.  I've never said I'm perfect or get it right all of the time, but I don't think anyone should have to receive treatment like that.  I am currently composing a 'page' about the assorted criticism I've received and this letter will definitely go in that.  I wonder why some people read my blog?  If reading something makes them angry, why oh why do they read it?  Some people are daft.  Or maybe I've missed something?  Maybe it's like the thrill of watching a horror film... something else I don't understand, or do!

At 9, I watched a good programme with our little science expert, about the science of waves.  Really interesting stuff... I learned lots too!

Sunday 30th January 11

I got up fairly early wondering if I had a gig today; I'd written 'Goole?' in my diary but no details.  I hadn't got a booking letter... well I don't think I had anyway.  But I did half expect a phone call saying 'see you at 2pm then' or somesuch!

Fortunately this didn't happen and I was able to spend the day doing useful things at home. So first thing I lit the back room stove and watched Country Tracks and did the washing up.  The newly empty bowl allowed me to sort through a carrier bag full of pretty manky tomatoes, thrown out by the two retailers.  I washed them and cut out the bad bits... which ended up as over half of the bag full.  However... I collected a large colander full of trimmed tomatoes.  I used a reject onion, a bought potato, a stick of celery, and fried these up first, then added the tomatoes, chopped with scissors.  I stewed this gently on the stove for several hours, and will tomorrow season it and 'whizz' it to a smooth soup.

After lunch I did some work outside... I gathered together a load of twiggy bits, trimmed off sticks and branches, and hedge trimmings, and shredded them as I needed some woody stuff for the composting.  I cut back some old brambles and fed those through the shredder too.  I didn't get a chance to put the stuff on any of the heaps though, as I remembered that Mandy Waggett had invited me to collect a load of wood she'd sorted out of her garage (and put on Freecycle) so I went round with some paper sacks to load it up, and filled the trailer and two sacks.

Gill made tea... the left over butterbean and veg stew with some extra bits, and a topping of mashed potato and sweet potato, so a sort of cottage pie.

I went out after this and brought another trailer full of logs home, and decided to call it a day.  But then I sorted out a load of nails and ironwork pulled out of the grate, and put this for recycling (I take it to Hazel Court) and stripped a bit of copper wire, and shelled some pumpkin seeds too.  As usual, I didn't start winding down til about 2am, well after The Sky at Night.

Thursday 6th January 11

A fairly quiet day... I cycled round to the bread shop to get Yesterbake, and then to the Co-op to get goats milk for the people in the house who like dairy, cereal for me, margarine and paracetamol for the painful people, which today includes me, with a headache.

Stress today helped by a phone call from the school, asking where was our son?  I was absolutely gobsmacked... I'd given in a letter, by hand, yesterday, explaining why he was away before Christmas and why he hadn't gone in yesterday.  The communication within that school is abysmal!  So my head was full of schooling problems... I really don't want to have to deal with this.... the school should be good enough to send our children to without them feeling so much fear they can't go in. 

I usually feel better if I'm doing something outside the house, so I dismembered 4 waste pallets with my chainsaw and pure muscle, pulling the bits of wood apart to make stackable planks and nice long-burning cubes of wood with easy-to-pull-out nails in, once the cube is mostly charcoal.

In the afternoon, Gill had an appointment and I was just settling down for a late lunch when there was a knock at the door and there was my old friend Maggie, whom I haven't seen for ages, with two small dogs on lengths of string!  She said she'd walked up to B+Q for something and had walked past our house and recognised the logpiles.  She put the dogs in the back garden, tied to a bench, and came in for a coffee and chat.  We got to talking about a chap we both know, called Andy S. whom we both called a friend at one time.  However, he stole a bike from Maggie, and he's borrowed a large sum of money from one of my friends and not paid it back.  Maggie told me about someone else who Andy had possibly hoodwinked, so I sent this person a message on facebook to find out more.  What I want to do is to alert the police about this abuser so no-one else suffers in the future.  I'm wondering how to get the message out without being accused of slander/defamation or getting a brick through the window. 

I did a favour for Maggie who had taken out a stainless steel sink from somewhere and had it sitting in her back garden, and she asked me to put it on Freecycle.  By the evening I'd had 4 replies and sent them Maggie's phone number.  So I hope one of them gets it!

Anyway, Maggie stayed quite a long time and so I was unable to work with the boys as I'd planned to, after lunch, to get emails and letters sent off to family members to thank them for Christmas gifts.  However, our eldest didn't need much persuasion to email some thank yous, but letter writing is a completely different thing.  More stress.

Anyway, Gill came back, I did some more work outside til it got dark, and for tea I had a pile of old rice with a pool of pumpkin and parsnip soup in the centre, with some unidentified pickle on the side.

The highlights of the evening were watching a good programme on BBC4 about the brain, and finding an interesting forum called SelfSufficientish, which I joined, and read quite a few posts.  The site is run all or partly by my friend John Headstrong, whom I met whilst getting involved with the (We Love The) Earth Centre thing in spring 2010, and I loved this YouTube video about the Robin Hood Tax which he's put on his blog.

Finally, I was pleased to find out today who the mystery visitor was, with the Internet Service Provider based in Buckingham.  It is the spouse of an old friend whom I've known for a very long time, dealing with insomnia and getting ideas about domestic food and energy security, Transition communities and peak oil.  I'm delighted to have been 'useful' and to have helped an old friend.  So, 'hello' and your message made me smile!

Monday 11th October 10

A mixed day, as had a fair few meetings and things to do.  My first appointment was at St Lawrence's to help Barry move the apple press, which had been left in the staff room since Saturday, out to his car, and I then cycled down to St Nicks and he drove... I got there first... and then we got a third person, a young lad volunteering at the Centre, to help us carry it in.  It is a big heavy piece of equipment, but three people can carry it easily. It will next be used for Apple Day on Saturday.

I cycled back home and then only had a short while to wait until a midday appointment to deal with and wrap up an incident I was involved with a few weeks ago, and then at 3, I met a friend in town who is experiencing quite severe mental stress and she'd asked me to meet her to bounce some ideas off, so we had 90 minutes together in a cafe, and I hope I was a good friend and was a good listener and helped.  But I had another appointment at 5, so zoomed home at 4.35 via Country Fresh and Freshways, and got in just as the Peter the Freecycler was ringing to say he was on the way.  He'd advertised that he wanted an electric bike, whether working or not.  Several years ago, I'd bought a 'Yamaha Easy' electric motor-assisted bike, second-hand, for £100. It needed a new battery, which cost another £100.  I used it a bit, but my trailer didn't fit on it as far as I can remember, and I lent it to a friend and it never worked properly after that.  So since then, it has sat in the studio just taking up space.

So, I hope that Peter is able to rectify any problems and get it back into use; I think it's for his wife, and I've asked to be told if it is brought back into working order.  I'd be really happy if it is used, and helps someone with increased mobility, rather than gathering dust and taking up space.

So after this I spent a few minutes building a logpile with some recently chopped dryish wood, and came in and lit the stove and flopped. 

I had the tea that Gill cooked yesterday but didn't eat, and then had a series of interesting conversations and phone calls.  I eventually got some time to chop up some fruit for drying, as I've emptied the racks and they are crying out to be refilled.

Tuesday 21st September 10

A good day for me...  up early and then at 10.30 I headed off to St Nicks to meet Peter, whom I met yesterday.  He was very interested in our local eco centre, as he believes that to spread the message of how to keep our Planet habitable, we need a network of similar places for people to be educated and be inspired, find information and hold meetings.

So I showed him the various 'bits' of the Environment Centre, the passive solar design, Sedum roof, rainwater harvesting, compost toilets/waterless urinal/strawbale urinal, photovoltaic and hot water solar panels, the energy balance display, woodstove and the York Rotters stuff.

Then we went out onto the nature reserve and looked at the John Lally Wood, the original mature trees in their dips, where the clay cap on the landfill wasn't put.  And to the stone circle, the kids playground where a very friendly little boy was playing on a swing with two women with him, and then back to the Environment Centre.  Here I had a brief chat with Catherine and left Peter chatting with Ivana.

I came home via Freshways and picked up a sack of wilting greenery and sad foreign vegetables.  I had the usual sandwiches for lunch.  Whilst eating lunch Gill and I spotted the very persistent squirrel leaping over to the walnut tree and leaving with another nut.  It (or they?) has had about half of the crop so far, and I'm getting increasingly annoyed as I really want a crop of walnuts.  The live trap is being ignored... fresh walnuts are obviously too much of a pull.  A few days ago, last week, I rang the RSPCA about their advice about squirrels and how to deal with them.  Drowning them is illegal, as is releasing them elsewhere, as they are officially vermin.  We're talking about the American Grey here, introduced as a novelty by the Victorians, and they've pushed our native Red Squirrel to the brink of extinction due to competition for habitat and because of the Squirrel Pox virus that they carry, which kills the Reds. The RSPCA told me that I ought to get a pest control person out to kill the squirrel in the trap.  They'd either do this with a gun, or release it into a hessian sack and hit it on the head when it was in the corner of the sack.  So it's a bit of a problem, as I don't fancy the clobbering method and I understand why drowning them is inhumane, and I haven't got a gun.  Still trying to work out solutions, and a second phone call to the nearest vet didn't get any results either.

But I'd heard that squirrels don't like chilli so Gill mixed up some curry powder with Vaseline, and we spent half an hour wiping as many nuts as we could with this, just a thin smear, to get the taste onto the nut.  I have no idea if this will prevent them getting taken.

At about 2pm, a Freecycler called Chris called, and delivered a stainless steel sink which he's taken out of a kitchen he's doing up.  Our white enamel sink is horrible and stained and Gill's been asking for a while about replacing it.  This one seems to be the right size, although it needs the tap moving so the drainer is on the right. 

I did some chainsawing, to keep on top of the bits and bobs I regularly bring home.  I also did a bit of compost management, and some weeding, and picked the three remaining Winter Squash.

For tea I had a stir-fry of courgette, home grown sweetcorn and green beans, the pakora from the Sheffield Freegle Ceilidh and a couple of felafel, which Gill bought.  Gill had made a delicious chocolate and banana cake so I had a small square of that... yummy!

In the evening I made up my muesli, made some carrot and tromboncino squash soup, and did another large batch of fruit for drying...

Friday 10th September 10

Up early despite a late finish last night.  I had been booked by Tara to help finish off her water butt installation, using the drill bit 'borrowed' through Freecycle.  This was achieved by saying in the WANTED post 'Wanted for drilling just three holes in plastic waterbutts, on one day only'.  When the lovely John the engineer contacted me, I said I'd be very happy to return it, which I intend to do early next week.

So, I set off at 9.30ish and got to her house on the dot of 10am... this time, she was yawning and not quite ready.  But at least she was dressed.  The water butt installation was actually very easy, the most difficult bit was cutting through the plastic downpipe to insert the diverter.  But all three went in and as it was a wetish day, we saw that they worked.  I did a little bit of couch grass root removal and explained how to prepare this for composting safely in a cold compost heap.  She has a lot of work to do, as the lawn is just a mass of couch grass and she wants to make a vegetable patch.  But I predict that next spring she'll have at least some of it ready for planting.  We also dealt with her beech hedge and wove some twiggy bits into a new fence.

She fed me sandwiches for lunch, and gave me two chocolate muffins as she's started a diet today.  I expect my boys will like these.  I also got a tub of highly fattening Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  I'll eat it slowly.  I should be aware of my waistline too...

And then away, zooming into town to call in on the Council Offices to find out about the fate of the Hull Road Ward funding applications I put in, and to try to find out about what the role of a 'sponsoring organisation' is, for future reference.  I met a senior officer but he didn't know the details of individual applications, so I got an email address and need to write to that officer.

And to home, via Country Fresh where I was a bit shocked to see that Rich had been in hospital with a cat bite on his finger.  His whole hand had swollen up and he'd been admitted overnight. Poor Richard!  However, had he not contacted NHS Direct, who told him to go to the drop in, who told him to go to A and E, who said, we need to admit you overnight, he could have lost a limb, or even lost his life.  Blood poisoning can be very very serious. He was given antibiotic injections into the afflicted area, and oral antibiotics, and was today pretty well recovered.  I picked up a couple of sacks and a box, and came home.  There was more, so later, I returned, did some shopping and picked up the remainder.

I had a relaxing afternoon, weeding the pond area, loading a compost bin, recovering fruit for drying.

In the evening I did that fruit management, jarring up a load of dried pears and refilling the racks with wet fruit.

Wednesday 8th September 10

Another late start... I've got into the habit of going to bed in the wee early hours (was after 3am last night) and then getting up late. So I had breakfast when some people would be having an early lunch, and then I got dressed just in time for a mid afternoon appointment with Lucy from Yellow Pages and Yell.com... and I agreed the same package as this year for advertising Professor Fiddlesticks. I've dropped Thomson Directories and I might drop the BT Phone Directory too... I don't know. But Lucy and I didn't just talk business... we covered peak oil and diet, amongst other subjects. I promised to send her a couple of links via facebook, and later in the day she 'friended' me and I sent her a link to the peak oil article and also one to a nutloaf recipe I wrote yonks ago in the Community Care blog I wrote.

I responded to a Freecycle offer of a drill bit which Tara asked me to find so we can do her water butt on Friday. I cycled round to meet John, a chap of mature years who has a lovely engineers workshop in his back garden. He showed me a Sterling engine he'd built... but lamented that it didn't work very well.

Gill went to town and found a second-hand desk in the Banana Warehouse for our youngest to use in his bedroom. It was delivered, and Gill and I took it upstairs and it looks great there. Our son was pleased with it.

After this, I collected a load of windfall fruit from the garden (apples, pears and plums) and spent some of the evening sorting these for drying. I also dealt with a lot of hazelnuts. I am inundated with hazelnuts. A bucket full of them takes a LOT of time to process. I have only just started, perhaps a fifth of them, probably less than this. Maybe this is why I'm not sleeping much, I have too much to do.

Tuesday 31st August 10

I had a slow start to the day as I'd worked hard yesterday but after lunch I decided to get my trailer mended, and as I got it ready to put on my rack to cycle it down to James St, a wiry old chap walked past and stopped and came down the drive asking where I got it made, or if I'd made it myself. I told him a friend had made it (Rob Kay) but I was getting it mended and was just off down to The Raylor Centre where there is a welder and car bodywork repairer. Tom, his name was, suggested that I should go to 'Blackers' in Osbaldwick, and then proceeded to tell me how to get there three times in a row! He said they'd do it for a couple of quid and on the spot, there and then.

So, I decided to give his suggestion a go, as the place at the Raylor Centre always needs me to leave it overnight and charges £10 cash or £20 with a receipt. I easily found Blacker Steel and a gent said he'd do it there and then... and indeed, only wanted a couple of quid for it. I gave him a fiver. I'll use that company in future!

On the way back I noticed an apple tree in the hedge which I went to look at, and then a greengage. I picked a couple of greengages but most weren't ripe, and a very little old lady came past and pointed down the Osbaldwick Link Road and said there were sweeter ones down there. So I went to look... and found two yellow cherry plum trees, one still with lots on the tree but lots on the ground, so I picked up quite a few there. Then I continued towards Hull Road and found another similar tree, with almost the whole crop on the pavement; it was thick with yellow cherry plums, and I almost filled the carrier bag I had. Opposite here were some damson trees absolutely laden. I have put these trees on the York Wild Fruit map which is part of the Edible York project.

I came home and my youngest son was enjoying his birthday party... although he had his big day earlier in the month, his party was today and he had 3 friends round, and they were all playing computer games together. I did a big load of chainsawing.

A Freecycler came round and picked up our unwanted armchair, at last! We advertised it yonks ago but it wasn't picked up... but Mairi posted a wanted and she came to see it and loved it... and put it in her car. Great!

A bit later, Melanie came briefly to pick up a carrier bag of compost.

I stacked logs and prepared a few plums from our Victoria Plum tree, then worked til 3am doing various things including a VAST pile of washing up. Enjoyed Ideal on BBC3 and Glasto revisited on BBC4.

Thursday 26th August 10

I had a very sedentary day, doing mainly paperwork and admin.

I created an invoice for a gig in a few weeks time and sent it electronically to my client, a Housing Association. I wrote a confirmation letter to a lady who's booked me for her retirement party. I confirmed a gig in Preston with my agent and sent a Freecycled DVD to someone who'd requested it, one of a large pile of DVDs and CDs I'd found in a skip. I decided I'd see if anyone on Freecycle wanted the insulating plastic flex from all the copper wire I've been stripping, and was amazed and delighted to get a taker.... but I don't know what she wants it for yet! (not that's any of my business, but I'm curious!)

I also found several bills which need paying and some paperwork which needs filing. However I didn't find the paperwork from the WHSmith gig in Malton weeks ago, which I need to process before I get paid. More searching tomorrow. One of my facebook friends joked that I needed an administrator and yes, I reckon I could use her.... I think she works in an office and seems very organised!

Before tea I went down the garden for an hour of compost tumbler filling, bean picking and windfall collecting.

After tea I chopped up a lot of James Grieve windfall apples and liquidised them with the stewed blackberries, then put the puree through a sieve, and the seed-free and fibre-free slurp went into a non stick tray on the stove and will end up as fruit leather. The stuff that didn't go through the sieve is going to be mixed with water, boiled on the woodstove and left to drain through the sieve to make a blackberry and apple drink. I really like to get the most off my home grown fruit crops.

Saturday 5th June 10

Up early as working today, over in Harrogate. The gig started at 11, so I had to get the 10.11 train, which meant leaving home soon after 9.30. As I had very limited time at the Harrogate end (the train was due to get in at 10.43) I decided to travel in costume, and I cycled down to the station with my bag of sticks, balls and diabolos, two unicycles, a pedal go and a fun wheels, two bags of balloons, something to read on the train and my sandwiches for lunch. No problem!

A hassle free ticket purchase and ride over to Harrogate, and then a 10 minute walk to Party Fever which had a gazebo outside covered in baloons and contained a facepainter. There were several people with collection buckets, as the event was a fundraiser for St Michael's Hospice. I met the boss and she showed me where I could work, which was on the South side of the street, facing the shop, and fortunately in the shade, as it was a very hot and sunny day.

So, I worked from 11 through to 1.30 when I had 10 minutes for lunch and carried on til 2.5o, when i quickly packed up and got to the train as it drew into the station. The day in Harrogate was really jolly and I had a brilliant time, lots and lots of positive interaction. I worked with several groups of teenagers, quite a few talented individuals, lots of small children and a surprising number of 'game' adults. I did loads of balloons, plenty of devilsticking, diabololing and unicycling. I taught 3 people how to do the 3ball cascade, the basic juggling pattern. I got paid a charity fundraiser size fee, about half my average, and it all worked like clockwork. The trains were on time and I read most of a NewScientist whilst on the train.

I called in on Country Fresh on the way back but didn't take recyclables, I just got some fruit and veg, and a cucumber plant as one of the ones I got a couple of weeks ago has died.

So, when I got home I needed some quiet time, and after I unloaded, I went upstairs and listened to Tracey Smith's Taunton Hospital Radio-over-the-net on Apple AM. I like this as she is reasonably bonkers and the music she plays is ok too, nothing too cheesy. I had tea upstairs whilst avoiding Dr Who. I chatted with a friend on facebook and played Scrabble, a good couple of hours relaxation.

But I had a Freecycling offer I couldn't turn down, a load of pallets and a tree trunk over in Leeman Road. So I hopped on my bike and bombed over to the other side of the city, and then very very slowly brought back four large pallets and a 6 foot tree trunk on the trailer... possibly the heaviest load I've ever towed home. I'm glad the roads were quiet.

So, a busy and productive day which I enjoyed and I think I brought some happiness to quite a few people, plus raised some money for a worthwhile charity.

Monday 31st May 10

Gill woke me up absolutely ecstatic. She'd found my shaver recharger. And it wasn't what I'd remembered what it looking like. Friends, this is what senility looks like. You are CONVINCED that the trimmer lead you are looking for is two-pronged and has a curly flex. You look everywhere and at one stage find the old one which does look like that... but the jack on the end fits your old, now dead, trimmer. You have the vision that the lead you are looking for is curly and has two prongs, and look everywhere for it. Your wife looks everywhere. Your wife finds all sorts of things which were lost, some of which are very welcome finds. You go to great lengths to get another one, as your beard continues growing and you don't want to look like a hairy monster... just a well groomed one. You even bother a friend who customises another piece of equipment to enable you to charge the bally thing.

Then the next morning Gill looks at a mini transformer doodah which has been sitting on a shelf in plain view all the time with various other bits of electrical nonsense... it is three pinned, has a straight flex... and it has 'Remington' written on the back. An OMG moment when you realise that you are fallible, have a faulty memory which leads you astray (no pun intended) and that you cannot totally trust your brain anymore. This must be what senility feels like.

So, I took my trimmer off Ben's charger, and tried to trim my beard. I managed half of it before the trimmer died on me. Ben's charger hadn't worked. So I plugged the gadget into the newly found charger and the green LED came on, indicating it was now charging.

I was disappointed that the weather was really nice and I could not help going outside and tidying. At lunchtime I came in and on a freecycle message, saw that someone was offering a garden parasol, something which Gill has been hankering after for a while. So I messaged the offerer and got a message back quite soon from my friend Linda, saying yes, I could have it. I hadn't recognised her freecycle name. She had got it from another freecycler but had realised it was too big for her little yard. So I said I'd go over within the hour to pick it up.

So I cycled over to South Bank and Linda was pleased to see me, and she was on good form, looking lovely and healthy and happy. The parasol looked perfect. Linda showed me her little compost bin, which she said I inspired her to have, and it was looking good too (not quite as attractive as Linda!) but good looking nevertheless. I offered to riddle it for her, to create a small sack of material to top-dress her many pots and planters. I'll do this in a few weeks when it's convenient for her.

So, home via Country Fresh where I picked up a box of gubbins and a sack too. I then spent some time down the garden, I dug out an old pallet bin and put all the contents in a builders one tonne bag. This allowed me to start filling the newly emptied pallet bin. Which is good as Gill was doing a lot of pruning and tidying, and had produced a lot of vegetation for this.

But I'm feeling torn as I really should be shutting myself away and sorting out the website which is going live soon. But I cannot let a good day go, and I've seen the weather forecast for tomorrow... rain all day! Which means I should be able to do the website...

I'd soaked some beans and boiled them on the stove last night, and Gill mixed this with some tomato/onion stuff, to have with rice. It was delicious.

After this I went round to Ben to give his big transformer back and he showed me that it would have charged the trimmer if I'd have put the voltage up a bit. He had also sourced a solar charger which might do the beard trimmer and will probably do mobile phones. He didn't want this and gave it to me... so I'll give him some more dried fruit, which he and Jill really like.

When I'd collected the 'resources' from Country Fresh I'd found perhaps 40 pears of usable condition in one of the boxes. So I spent over an hour loading up several drying racks with sliced pears. So I was again not in bed til after 2am.

Friday 14th May 10

A much more relaxing day than yesterday. I was woken up at 8 to cut my youngest son's fingernails, and I came down for breakfast and went on the computer for half an hour but went back to bed and slept til 1pm... I must have needed it.

I felt a lot better for that and had a positive day, despite not getting my website work done again! I have set myself a deadline though.

But I did do some website work... I got Gill to take a head and shoulders photo of me, which I think looks sober enough for the intended use.

I did assorted jobs in the house until our eldest got home, then cycled down to Country Fresh and Alligator to do my compost pick ups. I took a photo of my mate Richard outside his shop (ok, his brother's shop!):
Then I went to the Cemetery to take some photos for the website... and got there just as it closed at 4.30. What bad timing... I didn't know it shut so early.

I'll have to try to fit in a visit there over the weekend.

I spent an hour in the garden and at 6pm, Vicky came round. I'd advertised the RHS Plantfinder book on Freecycle... my lovely Auntie had given it to me, but I've no space on the bookshelves and it's not really a book that I would use, as it's about all the different plant varieties and which nurseries stock them. I got about 6 replies, and one of them was Vicky, who is the Clerk of the Planning Panel, and she's just joined Freecycle, and said she would find the list of plants very useful for her work, which is helping an architect make the paper plans better, with landscape elements... including planting schemes.

So Vicky got the book... not the other very deserving enquirers. She said hello to the family and then had a wander down the garden. I gave her a couple of climbing pea bean plants, as she's just making a raised veg bed......

I had tea, a rice-based dish with chopped-up vegan hot dog sausages in, from Rakesh. I watched Gardener's World.

Then I went out again to feed a load of pruned-off branches through the shredder and put a woody layer on the current heap. Came in just before 10, as a facebook friend Sean, who organises the Manchester World Naked Cycle Ride said he'd be on TV, on 'Opinionated' which is a dire programme which I'll never watch again. It was a very brief interview anyway, no film or photos.

Enjoyed Jools Holland as usual, and the LCD Soundsystem, and chopped up another load of fruit for drying.

Sunday 9th May 10

Gill woke me with a question.. do you want the good news or the bad news?

The good news was that she'd done a bit of tidying up and had found the envelope which had contained the birthday card from my Auntie Lizzie. I hadn't found the cheque for £25. The bad news?

It wouldn't pay for the cost of a new microwave oven... our old one had finally stopped working. This was the microwave that I got when I arrived in York in 1987, so it's had virtually daily use (in fact, several times a day as we do our hot drinks in it, or did) for 23 years. Not bad. RIP Electrolux Mealmaker.

So I posted two messages on Freecycle... one offering the broken microwave (well, you never know!) and one asking for a replacement.

A relaxed day ensued, although it seemed like I spent most of it at the kitchen sink! But I was delighted to get an email from Chrissie, offering me her unwanted microwave. I replied and later she rang me to arrange collection, this evening. Wow!

I was still in the house when Gill took the boys into town so I listened to Gardeners Question Time and did things with fruit, paperwork, computer. But I went outside once I couldn't do any more washing up, and took some compostables down the garden and loaded up another layer. I found some exotic looking yellow-topped fungi growing from the sawdust in the sacks... lovely!

Then at about 4pm I cycled down to Country Fresh to do a pick up and get edibles. I came home via Freshways and they had 2 sacks for me too. I feel another hot heap coming on!

I came in at 6.45 and ate the final slice of yesterday's veg pie, cold.... delicious. Then at 7.10 I bombed over to Dringhouses to collect the microwave, which is very small, compared to the enormous 1980s model. But it works and we are very pleased. Nice one Chrissie. Gill was dancing round the kitchen singing with happiness. Good ol' Freecycle! And Chrissie had got it from the British Heart Foundation second-hand shop, so it's 3rd hand! I like re-use!

As there had been no takers for the broken microwave, I started taking the door off; it will make an unusual planter, on it's side with the aperture uppermost. More reuse. Bob Flowerdew would be proud of me!

So, a good day.

Wednesday 5th May 10

Gill woke me at 9 asking if I was supposed to be doing anything this morning... my only diary date was that between 11 and 12, Stewart from Freecycle was cycling down from Huntington to pick up 5kg of brown chapatti flour... donated by Freshways, not sure why, as the best before date is 10th May 2010, so it's in date. But we'll never get through 25kg, so I advertised it on Freecycle and got four requests, which is 5kg each, as we'll hang on to some. I've never made chapattis but am going to have a go. Stewart told me how easy it was.

I did some housework and spent time with Gill, had lunch and then at 1.45 met my neighbour outside the front because my Freecycle request for wall capping materials had been answered by the daughter of a woman in Holgate, Julie, who was happy for us to take away some capping tiles. So, we drove in his huge car over to St Paul's Square and found the guest-house car park.

The capping 'blocks' were huge! They might look OK on the wall, but if not, they could also be really useful as planters (in a group of four) or as a retaining wall for a raised bed. The car, despite being a monster, would only take 10 or 12 of them, so the first lot went and I stayed and moved others, cleaned them up and sorted them into good ones for wall capping, ie without damage. There were more than three loads worth, but we took just three, leaving quite a lot for Julie to use for holding back a terrace or for planters.

I got back after 4pm and helped unload. A good haul, let's hope they get used for something worthwhile!

I had tea... the last of yesterday's nutloaf, and a hard-boiled egg sandwich, using an out of date egg which I reclaimed form somewhere, and two boiled carrots.

After tea I popped over the road to a friend who's a drinker, who has collected a load of aluminium cider cans for me... I squashed them all and put them in a bin liner, ready to be taken to the metal merchant and sold.

Then towards 7pm I set off down to St Nicks where Sandra Geere was doing a talk on gardening in small spaces. I was pleased to meet my friends Nick, Tracy and Anneliese as well as the expected St Nicks regulars Ivana, Jean and Catherine, plus Catherine's mum Susan, and a new person Melanie. A reasonable turnout. I enjoyed the talk, and contributed to it a bit but tried to keep my gob shut as much as I could. I was inspired to do more growing. I am more of a composter than a grower, but I should try harder to have more food plants.

I got back at about 9.30 and all was peaceful at home. Gill had met up with another Freecycler called Jo, who was delighted with her 5kg of chapatti flour.

Washing up, 10pm news on TV, Newsnight, computer, stove. A pretty normal evening.

Tuesday 27th April 10

Up earlyish and feeling bouncy.

Not sure why but I was feeling good... despite knowing that Gill and I had lots of paperwork and admin to do. So we spent a couple of hours going through a pile of paperwork, ringing people up, putting stuff in envelopes, posting them, putting envelopes into the compost pile, minus their stamps which we occasionally give to a worthy charity. Gill started on the 09/10 accounts.

I bought bread and pasties, and posted yams and pea beans to a chap in West Yorkshire and the same to my folks in Sheffield. The beans they saved from last year didn't germinate, so I hope some of mine do. The ones I've planted are erupting from their toilet roll beds. I love seeing that!

I responded to a Freecycle offer of a commode, to replace the wooden one I got all those years ago for my compost toilet, which is now falling to bits. Jo in Huntington said that I could come and get it. One of her next posts mentioned that she was making a raised bed, so I offered her some compost as a gift. I found her road on Googlemaps and memorised the shortest route, and set out. When I arrived, I realised that I'd forgotten the piece of paper with her actual address on it! Duh!

So, I started knocking on doors and found a Jo... but it was the wrong one. No-one knew the Jo I wanted to find. I had a nice chat to a little tubby man who was tending his garden bare-chested, and I told him that if I couldn't find Jo, I'd give him the compost... which I did as Jo wasn't in the 40 or so houses I tried!

I cycled into town and got two cheques out for adverts in 'Book of Green' and one other cheque for someone. Then I came back via Country Fresh, where Shirley had one box of gubbins for me. When I got back, I rang Jo and explained my stupidity, and asked if I could come at 5.30.

So, I had a bit of time to..... do some pallet butchery! I've collected half a dozen broken or unwanted pallets over the past week or so, which needed dismembering and then chopping up into bite sized pieces. Before I set back out for Huntington a second time, I had the Thomas's pastie, and got another sack of mature unriddled from down the garden to pop in the trailer.

This time, I knew which house I was going to, and Jo and her partner and child were waiting for me. The little boy was fascinated with the compost beasties in the sack, and I worked out how to put the commode into my trailer, and cycled back to my neck of the woods. I'd timed it just nicely, arriving at Tang Hall Community Centre just before 6pm when the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel was meeting. I decided to bring the commode in with me, as it looked far too interesting for the local wildlife to ignore.

I was the first there, followed shortly afterwards by a couple of young men from York University who have joined the panel. One of them is the President of the Student Union, and the other is also a SU officer... they are graduates, not students, but they've joined our group as they represent students and there is a certain amount of tension between student houses and the more permanent community. So they want to learn about the house conversions we deal with every time, enlarging homes from 3 bed to 5, 6 or more, making them 'Houses in Multiple Occupation', and possible scenes of loud parties, messy gardens and other accusations. Not all students are like this, and some non students have untidy gardens too (me, for instance!) but they are an easy target for locals to complain about.

We dealt with quite a few good applications, most of them pretty standard, and some of them house extensions, so our new members saw a good range of applications.

I got in just after 7.30 and did a bit of tidying up in the front garden before coming in and having some potato salad and other salady bits, with olives.

A very peaceful evening... enjoyed the new BBC programme 'The Story of Science', and had a good few goes on Scrabble on facebook.

Monday 29th March 10

Woken by screaming and yelling at 8am. I feel so sorry for our neighbours. I came down to see if my quiet presence might help smooth the exit off to school, and it did, with one child. Great!

However, there was an absolute refusal from our youngest so I quickly got dressed and got my bike out and Gill and I plonked him onto the pannier rack and took him to school, and he was not late. Hooray. (and, when he arrived home at 3.40, he reported having a brilliant day, so it was worth it)

I had a lot of assorted paperwork to do and Gill did a vast amount of sorting and tidying upstairs. I was doing the washing up after buying bread before lunch and she came down, beaming at me, told me she loved me, and pulled my left hand towards her, and slipped on my long-lost wedding ring. This went AWOL at least two years ago... I had taken it off as I was getting eczema underneath it and put it 'safely' in a pot on the sideboard (so I thought!) and that was the last I saw of it. I wondered if it had slipped off into one of my compost heaps, or had disappeared somewhere else.. but I had obviously put it safely somewhere, just forgotten where. It was on the dressing table in our bedroom; this hasn't been tidied or cleaned for, ahem, some while!

After lunch I cycled round to South Bank to visit a Freecycler who had advertised some logs on Sunday. I'd emailed him and said I'd be unable to come on Sunday but if there was anything left on Monday, that would be good. So, as there were some logs left, I popped over and picked some up. The householder, John, had moved in less than a year ago and had just finished doing up the house, and was starting on the garden. There had been a row of huge bushy Leylandii, two collapsed apple trees and a selection of other trees. I was the seventh visitor to take some wood... most of the apple had gone, and so I only got a few chunks of that, but I took a trailer full of Lilac sticks up to 7 cm diameter. We had a chat about fruit trees, compost and conflict resolution... the usual range of conversational subjects I have with strangers!

From here I recrossed the Ouse on the Millennium Bridge and cycled into Fulford to my agent's house, as I had a booking letter from him I needed to get back to him. And from him through the University back home.

I had a quick tea... mashed potato, pastie and peas, and set out on my second Freecycle trip of the day. Someone else had offered a load of bricks... so I thought that I'd add to the bricks for the wall, and get a trailer load. I managed to get 37 in one load... 6 in each pannier and 25 in the trailer. The Freecycler didn't have time to let me go and pick up a second load, but an extra 37 'clamp bricks' for nothing is worth having.

Despite the rain, I did an hour of shredding before it got too dark to continue. I came in and helped with some homework, cut some fingernails and settled down to watch Newsnight and do more washing up.

Monday 22nd March 10

Soon after I came downstairs for breakfast, Gill told me some interesting news: the duck is on its nest. This story goes back about two weeks. We have an area just outside the conservatory which is nearly always in the shade, it used to be where a coal-house stood, and it has a concrete base. I put a load of leafmould in there and planted ferns: it's our fernery.

So, a couple of weeks ago, we saw a pair of Mallard ducks investigating the area, and they pushed over a mushroom log. I removed the log, to let them continue their interest in the area. A few days later, I found 5 eggs in a roughly formed nest, which had been partly covered over with some fern fronds. But the duck was nowhere to be seen. The eggs were cold. I told Gill and we were saddened that they'd been abandoned. Then a few days later, another 5 eggs appeared! But still, no duck. At last week's City Farm event, I asked if anyone knew if wild duck eggs were edible and could I eat these abandoned eggs, and would they have a chewy embryo in the centre?

There was fortunately a duck expert there, who said that ducks laid eggs over a period of days, and they remained viable(and edible!) for a long time if kept cold, but in 'suspended animation'. They start developing when she starts sitting, and she will incubate them for about 30 days. I was advised that she wouldn't be able to look after 10 chicks, and up to half of them would become 'rat food'. However, I'm not a huge fan of eggs so I didn't do anything with them. And today, the incubation has started! Exciting.

Not sure what happened with the rest of the day... I did some work outside, Chris my Permaculturalist friend rang me and asked if I'd like some wood he'd just cut (he's a gardener) or he'd take it to the Council green waste recycling skips... well of course I was happy to have it. He thought it was Witch Hazel, and it had trunks up to 15cm in diameter. He brought me a car-full. At 11.30 Radio Leeds rang up and asked if I knew that Leeds was going to get trollybuses? Would I like to comment on that on the Radio live at 12.40? So they rang back an hour later and asked my opinion. I had a meeting at school at 1.30, and assorted parenting duties later in the afternoon. Before tea I de-twigged the branches, and cut up the thinnest sticks with loppers. The rest I think will cut easily with the bow saw.

A Freecycler in Burnholme contacted me... I'd responded to his offer of some wood, as he's having an extension built, so I cycled round and picked up a trailer-load of kiln-dried timber offcuts. Nice.

Gill had made a lovely tea, a stew, broccoli on the side, and garlic bread. I did a fair amount of post-meal tidying and sorting... the usual.

Monday 8th March 10

Woke at 9ish feeling somewhat better and mid morning I'd got both the large cans of water warm enough for a bath... the first one in some while! Shave, hair wash, lovely!

I felt much better after this, not that low mood is necessarily connected with grubbiness...

I did lots of washing up after this and after lunch, did some work in the garden, including a job I've been wanting to do for a while but not had the enthusiasm. I've been chainsawing logs on the front garden on top of a large tarpaulin sheet, to catch the sawdust and other bits... the sawdust is my compost toilet cover material, the largest bits and bobs are bagged up and dried for kindling, and the medium sized bits, wet bark and small twigs etc are a useful 'carbon rich' constituent of my compost heaps. So I got the large flat riddle up to the front garden and put it on a bedsheet, and started riddling the large pile of sawdusty twiggy barky stuff... I filled two paper potato sacks with kindling-sized bits, 3 plastic sacks of sawdust and 3 plastic sacks of compost additives. I am perhaps a quarter of the way through the job, but there is several months worth of cutting and splitting frass which needs putting to good use. Anyone want a sack or two of compost toilet cover material?

At about 4pm I loaded up my trailer with our old television which has been going on the blink over the past few days, and has finally stopped working. I took it down to the repository for dead electrical equipment, the 'WEEE table' at Hazel Court. I also took two loudspeakers that I rescued months ago and didn't find a taker for, and a plastic bag of metalwork from the stove (mainly nails from pallets) and some metal from various street-skips. I had no hassle whatsoever from the nice skip-site workers, who obviously don't give a damn that i use my bike trailer to deliver recyclables to the right place. I approve of this attitude.

From here I picked up a few logs from where tree surgeons had dumped stuff and also a sack of compostables from Freshways.

After tea I cycled round to my Freecycling (and soon to be unicycling!) friend Mark, who had responded to my Freecycle request for a TV. His Mother in Law had upgraded her system and was going to chuck out her old TV and freeview box... so he said, no, I'll put it on Freecycle and someone will be very happy with it. And indeed we are. It is slightly bigger than our previous one, which was £20 from Woodlands MS Respite Care Centre, and had a scratched screen. This one has a really clear picture, good colour and no scratch! Brilliant, thanks Mark. One unicycling lesson as and when you want it!

After I delivered this home, for Gill to install, I went to a friend on Melrosegate who had some sticks for me,and I brought those back home. And I did some more after-dark riddling too, before coming in and sorting out hot water for yet more washing up....