Another good day... Up early enough to help the kids get out of the house peacefully and then persuaded Gill to spend some time with me which was really nice.
Later, we were downstairs and we had the conservatory door open and we heard a pretty distinctive noise, so we looked outside and yes, it was a thrush breaking a snail shell on the path, to get a bit of escargot lunch.... that's a first right outside the back door. Over the past few weeks, we've had a family of blackbirds coming into the conservatory through one of the top-light windows, which have been wide open... and they've been eating assorted fruit which I've brought back to the house for drying. The first one to come in was a young one with a big bald patch on it's back and a lump on the side of it's beak, and it has brought the rest of the family with it, so we've had up to 4 in there at once! The nicest thing is, that one of them sits and sings loudly in there! We feel so lucky with our wildlife-friendly garden.
After lunch I decided to go to Country Fresh to get fruit and veg... but as I'd be halfway to Cycle Heaven, and I was rung up about them having a leather saddle with springs in the shop for me, I decided to go and get that, as my plastic saddle has begun to seriously fall to bits. The busy people at Cycle Heaven couldn't find the black Brooks saddle mentioned in the phone call... but found me a brown one which was old stock and therefore cheaper! Yay! Still expensive though, but it ought to last for years. I was told that it might be uncomfortable at first as it moulded to my shape, but it wasn't, it was fine. I'm very pleased with it.
I did some work in the garden, assorted compost-based stuff, until 3 when Gill went to school, and I got ready to go to St Nicks for a meeting with John and Edward to catch up with the progress of rehabilitating me into York Rotters, as the current situation is still causing me anguish. Yesterday I attended a private meeting with a friend and two of his neighbours, but was told beforehand that I wasn't allowed to be a volunteer Rotter, but to go as 'John the Composter', because I am currently banned from doing the core Rotters work of giving home composting information to groups as I upset a couple of people at a stall we had late last year with my over enthusiastic and inappropriate humour. It is important that York Rotters is seen to be a professional group offering mainstream messages, and talk of compost toilets or composting funerals is strictly a no no. So today was an update on where St Nicks had got to in helping me back into the role I'm really good at, and due to some staff changes, they haven't got very far in finding me a 'buddy', but they have set a date for some 'diversity training' which will help people understand about disabilities including Aspergers, which should be interesting. Also, the Rotters newsletter has got a section 'meet the Rotter', a chance for people to introduce themselves, a mini autobiography . I've submitted mine and I sincerely hope they will print it word for word, as I was very careful to put stuff in which will help people understand my, ahem, 'special needs'! There was also a suggestion that I should perhaps concentrate on my (paid) John the Composter work, rather than the voluntary York Rotters role. However, Edward saw how passionate I was about the group and the work we do, and how proud I was about how successful it is, and he made it clear that he could tell how much I really love York Rotters, which I hope helps the other managers and volunteers welcome me back soon.
I added a small sack of goodies to the public composting area, which hasn't had any deliveries of sawdust from the pet shop for a while, which is a pity, and cycled home. I then spent a good two hours dealing with an old heap which has had 'visitors' and I bagged up all the mature compost and will rebuild the structure in a way to make said visitations much more difficult, ie on a pallet with a solid base, and up on top of another pallet to make lodging underneath less attractive.
I came in after 7pm for tomato soup. Then went and spent an hour doing Ben and Jill's compost bin, scooping stuff out from the base and putting it through the rotasieve, removing uncompostable 'contraries' and putting uncomposted sticks and bits of Yellow Pages back in the top. I'll get paid in Yorkys for that, which is nice.
I spent most of the rest of the evening with Glastonbury Festival on BBC2, and it brought back really good (albeit hazy) memories of 10 Glastos I attended or worked at when I was younger. Those were the daze!
Showing posts with label Glastonbury Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glastonbury Festival. Show all posts
Friday, 25 June 2010
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Sunday 28th June 09
No work today, but several possible appointments, the first and probably most important was a meeting at midday of the Low Moor Allotment Association committee, to which I had been invited as a special informant about the possibility of a compost toilet on the site. I was second on the agenda after the community policewoman and security.
I started with the statement that humanure can easily be composted if put with some carbon-rich materials such as sawdust or finely chopped straw, but care should be taken with how the resultant material is used, ie, on permanent plantings like hedges, trees, canes etc, but not salad carrots or lettuce... I then said that as far as I was concerned, there were two possible designs of a 'long drop', one with the chambers at ground level, and therefore the room with the pedestal in it at some height, needing steps and a ramp for wheelchair access, and the other option, which I've seen in a lottie in London, is to have the chambers below ground level, 'tanked out' (lined to make them waterproof) and the room with pedestal at ground level, and this room made of bricks, blocks or strawbales, and a secure lockable door. The chambers at ground level would be very easy to dig out, but the structure liable to vandalism, and probably too large due to needing a ramp. The below ground option is more accessible for users but more difficult to empty, needing a special shovel with the blade at right angles to the shaft, accessed through the opening above, which has the pedestal bolted to it when that chamber is in use, and has a cover bolted to it when rotting down. The below-ground version must also have passive ventilation chimneys to draw air over the pile and help dehydrate the manure and prevent odours coming up through the pedestal.
However, the below ground option might have a cost of £10 to £30 thousand, depending on how it was constructed, and there are the issues of who cleans it and keeps it usable, and the occasional task of digging it out. This latter task would be every few years, but the former would be at least weekly. The committee agreed to canvas opinion about whether a toilet would be welcomed on the site, to gauge need, and if there was deemed to be a need, then fundraising could begin and designs submitted. I really hope the questionnaire finds that lots of people would welcome a loo on the lottie, and I can get involved in designing and fundraising.
I got home at about 2pm for lunch, and at about 3.30 went for a cycle ride with my eldest son round to Hull Road Park where there was a YorkLETS social planned. Lynn was there with her two offspring, who are at the same school as my son, and Stephen and Alison were there too, with their son. On the way to the park, we discovered a puncture in my son's back bike wheel, so on the way back he had a lift on my rack and his bike went on my trailer. We'll fix it this week...
I did a load of home composting work after this, re-building a pallet bin which I completely took apart a few weeks ago, and riddling a large amount of quite dry compost which has been in a builders bag for a few weeks. The unrotted sticks etc are going back in the bottom of the newly built pallet bin, for drainage.
Came in for tea, I had a couple of reheated dishes from the last couple of days with two stale pitta breads. The rest of the family had something nicer and fresher, but I'm renowned for being able to stomach anything and not liking waste, so I'd rather eat something than compost it.
Later in the evening when the boys were in bed, Gill and I had a slow game of Scrabble whilst watching Blur and The Prodigy on telly, at Glastonbury Festival. I thrashed her this time!
I started with the statement that humanure can easily be composted if put with some carbon-rich materials such as sawdust or finely chopped straw, but care should be taken with how the resultant material is used, ie, on permanent plantings like hedges, trees, canes etc, but not salad carrots or lettuce... I then said that as far as I was concerned, there were two possible designs of a 'long drop', one with the chambers at ground level, and therefore the room with the pedestal in it at some height, needing steps and a ramp for wheelchair access, and the other option, which I've seen in a lottie in London, is to have the chambers below ground level, 'tanked out' (lined to make them waterproof) and the room with pedestal at ground level, and this room made of bricks, blocks or strawbales, and a secure lockable door. The chambers at ground level would be very easy to dig out, but the structure liable to vandalism, and probably too large due to needing a ramp. The below ground option is more accessible for users but more difficult to empty, needing a special shovel with the blade at right angles to the shaft, accessed through the opening above, which has the pedestal bolted to it when that chamber is in use, and has a cover bolted to it when rotting down. The below-ground version must also have passive ventilation chimneys to draw air over the pile and help dehydrate the manure and prevent odours coming up through the pedestal.
However, the below ground option might have a cost of £10 to £30 thousand, depending on how it was constructed, and there are the issues of who cleans it and keeps it usable, and the occasional task of digging it out. This latter task would be every few years, but the former would be at least weekly. The committee agreed to canvas opinion about whether a toilet would be welcomed on the site, to gauge need, and if there was deemed to be a need, then fundraising could begin and designs submitted. I really hope the questionnaire finds that lots of people would welcome a loo on the lottie, and I can get involved in designing and fundraising.
I got home at about 2pm for lunch, and at about 3.30 went for a cycle ride with my eldest son round to Hull Road Park where there was a YorkLETS social planned. Lynn was there with her two offspring, who are at the same school as my son, and Stephen and Alison were there too, with their son. On the way to the park, we discovered a puncture in my son's back bike wheel, so on the way back he had a lift on my rack and his bike went on my trailer. We'll fix it this week...
I did a load of home composting work after this, re-building a pallet bin which I completely took apart a few weeks ago, and riddling a large amount of quite dry compost which has been in a builders bag for a few weeks. The unrotted sticks etc are going back in the bottom of the newly built pallet bin, for drainage.
Came in for tea, I had a couple of reheated dishes from the last couple of days with two stale pitta breads. The rest of the family had something nicer and fresher, but I'm renowned for being able to stomach anything and not liking waste, so I'd rather eat something than compost it.
Later in the evening when the boys were in bed, Gill and I had a slow game of Scrabble whilst watching Blur and The Prodigy on telly, at Glastonbury Festival. I thrashed her this time!
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Saturday 27th June 09 Sheffield Green Fair
Woke late... Ali had said there was no chance of oversleeping as her daughter is always up early, but today she slept in til 9.20, went in to see her Mummy, Mum realised the time and told her to go and wake me up and the overnight PA, Kaisa.
I had a fast bowl of cereal and got myself ready for work, and Ali got herself together in record time... went to get the bus soon after 10 and got to the Green Fair venue really quickly, at about 10.30... so woke up late and got there early!
Had a quick mooch around and just before 11 went to get my Fiddlesticks clothes on, and by 11 was up on the unicycle and livening the place up a bit!
I had a busy day... lots of fairly unstructured circus workshops, reacting to the audience's needs and requests, and one particular chap stood out, a pre-teen who I'm proud to give a plug to; Kyle P. who started the day as a non-unicyclist and finished the day being able to unicycle about 10 metres. Brilliant! I think he should get along to Green Top Circus and learn more, he'll go far if he continues practising with the dedication he put into the unicycle today.
Was glad to meet my sister and brother in law too, and Anna had some good chats with Ali, which I was glad about. Douglas watched quite a bit of one of my workshops but I think he fell asleep a couple of times, it was that exciting!
At 1.30 I had been timetabled to go and speak on the main outdoor stage about low carbon living, so I had 10 minutes in which to explain about measuring carbon footprints and what makes up the biggest chunks of it, and therefore which bits to try to cut...
Ali volunteered on the gate and somewhere else for a couple of hours. Kaisa and 'Littleboo' arrived and my biggest fan spent a lot of the rest of the day with me, her disability not stopping her trying as many of the activities as possible. She's even found a way to hold the devilstick handstick in her hand which doesn't do as it's told... I'm really impressed by her desire to just get on with it!
Soon my last timetabled slot arrived, a 3.45 balloon modelling show/workshop inside St Mary's Church, this was well attended and loads of fun.
At 5, the finish time, I found my handler and got paid, and all four of us trundled down to the station where a Newcastle-bound train was waiting and I managed to get on it just as the doors were closing. There was a jolly and drunk chap Tony whom I chatted to, he was very amused by the Professor Fiddlesticks name.
I got home via Country Fresh, soon after 8pm. Had a mellow evening playing Scrabble with Gill and enjoying Glastonbury on TV. I beat her by just one point.
I had a fast bowl of cereal and got myself ready for work, and Ali got herself together in record time... went to get the bus soon after 10 and got to the Green Fair venue really quickly, at about 10.30... so woke up late and got there early!
Had a quick mooch around and just before 11 went to get my Fiddlesticks clothes on, and by 11 was up on the unicycle and livening the place up a bit!
I had a busy day... lots of fairly unstructured circus workshops, reacting to the audience's needs and requests, and one particular chap stood out, a pre-teen who I'm proud to give a plug to; Kyle P. who started the day as a non-unicyclist and finished the day being able to unicycle about 10 metres. Brilliant! I think he should get along to Green Top Circus and learn more, he'll go far if he continues practising with the dedication he put into the unicycle today.
Was glad to meet my sister and brother in law too, and Anna had some good chats with Ali, which I was glad about. Douglas watched quite a bit of one of my workshops but I think he fell asleep a couple of times, it was that exciting!
At 1.30 I had been timetabled to go and speak on the main outdoor stage about low carbon living, so I had 10 minutes in which to explain about measuring carbon footprints and what makes up the biggest chunks of it, and therefore which bits to try to cut...
Ali volunteered on the gate and somewhere else for a couple of hours. Kaisa and 'Littleboo' arrived and my biggest fan spent a lot of the rest of the day with me, her disability not stopping her trying as many of the activities as possible. She's even found a way to hold the devilstick handstick in her hand which doesn't do as it's told... I'm really impressed by her desire to just get on with it!
Soon my last timetabled slot arrived, a 3.45 balloon modelling show/workshop inside St Mary's Church, this was well attended and loads of fun.
At 5, the finish time, I found my handler and got paid, and all four of us trundled down to the station where a Newcastle-bound train was waiting and I managed to get on it just as the doors were closing. There was a jolly and drunk chap Tony whom I chatted to, he was very amused by the Professor Fiddlesticks name.
I got home via Country Fresh, soon after 8pm. Had a mellow evening playing Scrabble with Gill and enjoying Glastonbury on TV. I beat her by just one point.
Friday 26th June 09
Up ridiculously early as a very early meeting in Sheffield this morning... so up before the boys, breakfast, got various Fiddlesticksy things packed, loaded the bike and trailer, and woke the boys up to say bye... and down to the station to buy tickets and get the 7.44 train.
First part of the journey I just quietly read my NewScientist, but then chatted with a future student who was off to Birmingham University Open Day (some good chats about his hippy parents!) and a banker going for interview in Cheltenham to re-apply for his job, as the bank have slimmed down by half and everyone has to reapply. He seemed confident, and curious about cutting his oily footprint, since his job involved oil futures markets, and he was aware of 'peak oil' and Hibbert's Peak.
Sheffield came soon, and I didn't have long to wait until Ali rolled up with a car-full of PAs all helping her prepare to interview another batch of prospective Personal Assistants. The interviews were in the Friends Meeting House, 9 were scheduled but 2 didn't turn up, and in my opinion, all 7 who had been shortlisted for interview were very capable of doing the job. Three stood out as definites and one, a summer-only temporary was taken on there and then. Ali will have to work out timetabling to see how many of the others she invites to work for her. She has a 'Direct Payment' scheme which means she and her daughter are allocated a certain number of hours care per week, give a budget and told to get on with it! Well, almost!
We had a break for lunch, extended by one of the no-shows, and went on til after 4, and we left the building on the dot of 5pm. We then collected Ali's daughter from after school club and went home, where there were four local pre-teen girls waiting to play with her. One was Polish and chatted away to Ali's Polish PA. I did a bit of unicycling at their request, and let them do some devilsticking, then made them all a balloon model as a present.
Ali decided to take us to the Norton Pub for eats which was nice, I had veggie lasagne, chips and onion rings. And a Koppaberg Pear Cider, yummy!
Arrived home in time to watch Glastonbury on't elly. Ali and I both miss John Peel.
Tried to have not too late a night as I'm performing at Sheffield Green Fair tomorrow.
First part of the journey I just quietly read my NewScientist, but then chatted with a future student who was off to Birmingham University Open Day (some good chats about his hippy parents!) and a banker going for interview in Cheltenham to re-apply for his job, as the bank have slimmed down by half and everyone has to reapply. He seemed confident, and curious about cutting his oily footprint, since his job involved oil futures markets, and he was aware of 'peak oil' and Hibbert's Peak.
Sheffield came soon, and I didn't have long to wait until Ali rolled up with a car-full of PAs all helping her prepare to interview another batch of prospective Personal Assistants. The interviews were in the Friends Meeting House, 9 were scheduled but 2 didn't turn up, and in my opinion, all 7 who had been shortlisted for interview were very capable of doing the job. Three stood out as definites and one, a summer-only temporary was taken on there and then. Ali will have to work out timetabling to see how many of the others she invites to work for her. She has a 'Direct Payment' scheme which means she and her daughter are allocated a certain number of hours care per week, give a budget and told to get on with it! Well, almost!
We had a break for lunch, extended by one of the no-shows, and went on til after 4, and we left the building on the dot of 5pm. We then collected Ali's daughter from after school club and went home, where there were four local pre-teen girls waiting to play with her. One was Polish and chatted away to Ali's Polish PA. I did a bit of unicycling at their request, and let them do some devilsticking, then made them all a balloon model as a present.
Ali decided to take us to the Norton Pub for eats which was nice, I had veggie lasagne, chips and onion rings. And a Koppaberg Pear Cider, yummy!
Arrived home in time to watch Glastonbury on't elly. Ali and I both miss John Peel.
Tried to have not too late a night as I'm performing at Sheffield Green Fair tomorrow.
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Saturday 23rd June 07
Woken by torrential rain... and I'm working today at the Cyclist's Touring Club Cycle Rally on the Knavesmire this weekend, so I'm expecting to work in the undercover area with 'hard-standing', because what I do doesn't work on wet grass, so I've already decided where I'll be working.
I got to the site after 10am and set up in the covered dry area, after telling the organisers where I was. I had a busy day, lots of 'punters' to try out the four-wheel-unicycle (pedal-go) and the two-wheel-unicycle (fun wheels) and quite a few had a try at the genuine one wheeler. My brother in law Mike showed up, as he has been a keen cyclist, although hasn't done much over the past couple of years.
At lunchtime Gill and the boys turned up, so I closed the show, locked up my bike and bungeed on my unicycles on top of my trailer, which is how they are transported. Had a good wander around with the family and ate lunch. Enjoyed watching bicycle polo!
Got back to my pitch to find someone had unbungeed my unicycles and removed one of them, the largest of the 3 smaller ones, which is about the right size for large children or adults. I couldn't report this as stolen as I immediately had customers, so I just got on with my work. However a cycling policeman came past and I had a word with him, and he told me that there was a police station on site, and I should report it stolen there. I had a busy afternoon, but at 4pm I packed it in and went to report it to the police and the organisers.
What a bummer, I'm more annoyed that I won't be able to do my full range of workshops without it than the hassle of replacing it.
On the way home I popped into the rail station to get train tickets for my trip to the Big Green Gathering, and came home via the veg shop for a pick up of the usual biodegradables, 2 sacks worth.
Gill made tea, a good rice and veg dish, which was lovely. I did a stint in the garden afterwards, and planted some beans and yams, as well as loading up a dalek composter with 3 sacks worth.
Enjoyed Glastonbury on the telly...
I got to the site after 10am and set up in the covered dry area, after telling the organisers where I was. I had a busy day, lots of 'punters' to try out the four-wheel-unicycle (pedal-go) and the two-wheel-unicycle (fun wheels) and quite a few had a try at the genuine one wheeler. My brother in law Mike showed up, as he has been a keen cyclist, although hasn't done much over the past couple of years.
At lunchtime Gill and the boys turned up, so I closed the show, locked up my bike and bungeed on my unicycles on top of my trailer, which is how they are transported. Had a good wander around with the family and ate lunch. Enjoyed watching bicycle polo!
Got back to my pitch to find someone had unbungeed my unicycles and removed one of them, the largest of the 3 smaller ones, which is about the right size for large children or adults. I couldn't report this as stolen as I immediately had customers, so I just got on with my work. However a cycling policeman came past and I had a word with him, and he told me that there was a police station on site, and I should report it stolen there. I had a busy afternoon, but at 4pm I packed it in and went to report it to the police and the organisers.
What a bummer, I'm more annoyed that I won't be able to do my full range of workshops without it than the hassle of replacing it.
On the way home I popped into the rail station to get train tickets for my trip to the Big Green Gathering, and came home via the veg shop for a pick up of the usual biodegradables, 2 sacks worth.
Gill made tea, a good rice and veg dish, which was lovely. I did a stint in the garden afterwards, and planted some beans and yams, as well as loading up a dalek composter with 3 sacks worth.
Enjoyed Glastonbury on the telly...
Friday, 22 June 2007
Friday 22nd June 07
Took the boys to school, and when got home, Gill was leaving to go to the physio, I spent all of the morning dealing with emails and doing a quick blog entry for yesterday.
I spent much of the day inside, did a load of washing up, twice (not the same stuff, two loads!) and went to school at 3 to pick up just one child as the other was visiting a friend after tea. I bombed down to town then to fill in some forms for York Green Festival and picked up stuff from Out Of This World and the Hes Road greengrocers, and went to Sainsbury's too.
After tea I did a bit of 'planting medium mixing' and potted up peppers and tomatoes.
It was well after 10pm when I came in and did a stint on the computer and watched Glastonbury on the BBC.
I spent much of the day inside, did a load of washing up, twice (not the same stuff, two loads!) and went to school at 3 to pick up just one child as the other was visiting a friend after tea. I bombed down to town then to fill in some forms for York Green Festival and picked up stuff from Out Of This World and the Hes Road greengrocers, and went to Sainsbury's too.
After tea I did a bit of 'planting medium mixing' and potted up peppers and tomatoes.
It was well after 10pm when I came in and did a stint on the computer and watched Glastonbury on the BBC.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
