Thursday 5th May 11 Council Elections and AV Referendum

A really busy and well organised day, hardly a minute to spare.

I got up at 7, breakfasted, and put all my circus and balloon stuff in the trailer and panniers, and set off at 8.10, first to place my votes (voting for myself and Luke Capps, the other Green candidate, and YES in the AV Referendum) and then on to Huntington, Strensall, Sherriff Hutton and to the bottom of Terrington Bank, a really steep hill.  This 14.5 mile cycle took one hour ten minutes.  The last half mile, up the bank and into Terrington, took 15 minutes.

I'd been booked by the tiny C of E primary school in Terrington, with their sister school Foston.  The idea was that I'd perform in the village hall.  However, as the election was taking up the village hall, Terrington asked the nearby private Prep school if they could use their new sports hall.  The prep school said yes... but could they add a class of children too.  So, I had 70 children, aged 3 to about 7.

I was taken down to the venue and got the hall right for the gig, with drapes pulled across the walls to reduce echo, and one area curtained off to create a performance space.  I got changed, blew up balloons for the afternoon gig, and waited for my audience.

The show went really well... although it overran, as one group were late, so I couldn't do the unicycle workshop at the end.  But it was a good show.  The children and teachers loved it.  I went back to the small school for lunch, but soon back to the venue to continue blowing up 70+ balloons.

The second show also went well, despite the children being young and lots of them.  I was finished by 2.10, and quickly got changed and loaded up to return, stopping briefly to give in an invoice to the school to trigger payment.

The trip back was slower, despite having more downhill, as it was into the wind.  It took me an hour and a half, getting in at 4.10.

I had a few minutes sit-down and then at 4.45, I set out for St Lawrence's Church to be a Green Party 'teller', collecting poll numbers so that voters who had promised to vote Green could be contacted before the polls closed if they had forgotten to vote. I chatted with the Labour Party teller Lesley, who was very pleasant. In the two hours we were there we had over 100 voters come in... the post working-day rush.

So, I was relieved at 7pm by Alison, and I cycled home.  Gill had prepared a plate of pasta.  At 7.45 I cycled off to David's as he had booked me to take him to vote at 8pm.

I walked him over to Marygate where he placed his votes, and back to his house.  I left him at 9.30 and walked along Stonegate to the Yorkshire Terrier where a group of Green Party folks were due to gather.  Stewart was already there, and soon another 10 or so joined us.  I had TWO bottles of Pear Cider, which is a lot for me... I usually stick to just one.  But a good finish to the day.

I look forward to the count tomorrow.

Tuesday 22nd February 11

A really lovely day... doing one of my favourite activities, working in a 'special school'.

So I had a small lie-in but got up before 10 and packed up all my gear, my backpack with costume, balloons, feathers, 4 wheel and 2 wheel unicycles, my kit bag with sticks, juggling balls and diabolos, my small unicycle and big unicycle, plus my 'handbag' with reading matter, diary, and sandwiches.  Gill plaited my hair, which I washed last night so it was lovely and shiny.

Packed the bike and headed to the station at about 11, as I needed to get my tickets for my trip to London at the end of March.  I am travelling down on the Friday morning and back on Saturday evening; my talk is Saturday afternoon.  I got my ticket to Brough too, and headed to platform 7 for the 11.53 train.  I'd ordered a taxi last night to pick me up from Brough and take me to St Anne's School, and it was waiting for me.

I was ready to do my show by 1.10, and I had about 20 children come along, with a good number of adults with them, as many of them needed support and help; some needed preventing from coming out of the audience area and interfering with the equipment behind me.  However, a core group were happy to watch and interact, I got 4 children up to do devilsticks, maybe 10 to balance feathers, they loved 'Derek the Diabolo' especially when I had to tell him off for misbehaviour, and several volunteers had a go on the 4 wheel unicycle.  The balloon show and workshop was fun too.  We finished sometime after 3pm, I got changed again and Kay sorted out my paperwork, and I got a lift with Carol who was going back into Brough.  I had to wait for the 4.22 but I read my NewScientist. On the train, though, I dozed.

I had been invited to go and see Caroline Lucas on her flying visit to York, scheduled to be at 4.45 at the library.  I knew my train wasn't supposed to get in til 5.15, so I thought I'd miss half of her talk.  We got in early at 5.08, i loaded my trailer and cycled like the wind along to the library, locked up, gathered all my clobber, and as I walked in, Caroline was just walking through the library into the side room where the Green Party meeting was.  She'd just finished giving an interview with Radio York (interview here, 2 hours 6 minutes in).  She spoke very eloquently to the group who had come to hear her speak, about the Green alternative to the ConDem cuts.  The Greens would invest in green jobs, such as the 100 jobs created in Kirklees, insulating peoples' houses and fitting energy efficiency measures, which help people keep warmer for less money.  These workers pay tax and their income means they are able to buy goods, which also raises revenue... the work they are doing cuts carbon emissions and improves quality of life.  This scheme was brought in by Green Councillors.  There are countless other green jobs.... for instance, we have one of the World's best wind and wave resources, and we could be heading towards energy security if we invested heavily.  The Greens would not renew the nuclear submarine Trident scheme, saving £100 billion over 30 years, and would introduce the 'Robin Hood Tax' which wouldn't take away from ordinary people at all, but big financial transactions between banks and traders would have a very very tiny tax slapped on.... raising £20 billion a year, just in this country! 

In the questions at the end, I asked about whether she thought that in the referendum about electoral reform, whether the Alternative Vote system would help the Greens.  Her answer was that it might, to a limited extent, but that if we get AV this time, we are far more likely to get proper fair Proportional Representation in the future.  So I'll be voting for change, for AV, despite not liking AV that much, as it is not nearly as good as PR... but we haven't been given the choice of voting for that.

Caroline left to go and visit Leeds and Wakefield, and after a bit of chatting, loaded up my bike again and cycled over to Bishophill to meet a Freecycler, Tracy, who'd offered a packet of dried kidney beans.  I'd been chosen as the lucky recipient... her reason for giving it away was that whenever she thought to have them, they needed soaking first, and she never got around to doing this the previous day!  Well Gill and I often plan meals a day or two in advance, so this won't be a problem for us.  Thank you Tracy!

Then I came home, via 2 sacks of recycling from Freshways, getting in at 7pm.  For tea I had some rissoles Gill had made from the remains of yesterday's rice, some new potatoes, and the unusual mushrooms found thrown away on Friday night.  They were quite nice.... the texture was rather soft, and I wouldn't buy them, although rescuing them from a bin is a completely different matter!

A happy evening; my New Zealand relative Wendy hasn't been squashed in an earthquake, and I'm deeply saddened for those who have, or rather their families and friends.  So I watched YouTube vids of that quake and the devastation (for instance, this), and other online things, and then caught a programme about David Nash, a sculptor who works in wood, and I think he probably becomes my 3rd favourite sculptor, after Peter Randall-Page and Andy Goldsworthy.

Friday 4th February 11

Up early, at about 8, in order to go round to Maria's with our eldest, as Maria had asked if I would help with emptying one of her 3 compost bins in return for teaching our boy science.  Gill went to school in a taxi again, as getting our youngest on a bike first thing in the morning or on a bus even earlier is neigh on impossible.  Gill stayed at school to learn how to run the shop.  She came back after her 9 til 10 shift.

I spent 90 minutes digging out the compost heap, sorting out uncomposted sticks to put on the current pile, and uncomposted bits and bobs like twist-ties, nylon pyramidal tea bags and assorted other plastic, and a few stones, and some broken pottery too.  I filled 13 sacks, but have another half of the cubic metre of compost to do, perhaps next week.

At 10.30 we walked back, talking about energy, today's subject.  I cleaned up and at about 11.10 set off to go to town to meet James Houston in El Piano.  He wanted to talk to me about two aspects of
The Galtres Festival... the possibilities re composting, and what Professor Fiddlesticks could add to the event.  I heard what has happened about waste and recycling in the past, and then outlined four scenarios for what could happen.  The Fiddlesticks chat was a lot simpler and shorter, but it looks like I'm going to be booked to do one or both roles. However, I've got to write an email summarising the compost options.

I cycled home via Alligator and picked up a trailer load of goodies... including a huge butternut squash which had a couple of small patches of rot, so later I washed it, cut those out and made a big pan of butternut squash soup.  I was planning on attending a campaigning workshop with Adrian Ramsay, the deputy leader of The Green Party, but there was such a huge pile of washing up after my being away yesterday that I lit the stove, washed up, did the butternut soup, and made a nutloaf instead.  I had that all done by 5.30, so I then went to the University to hear Adrian Ramsay give a talk on what the Greens would do instead of the awfully damaging ConDem cuts. 

I was pleased to meet Adrian, who was just finishing off his evening meal in the canteen, and I told him about Jillian Creasy's comment about how Mozaz always challenged people, including her, and that this was a valuable role that gritty irritating people had.  We then walked over to the lecture theatre and I was pleased to see Kate Lock, so I sat with her, but there were quite a few of my Green Party friends, and People and Planet friends, and the meeting was well attended.

Adrian was a good speaker, and presented a fairly short overview of what the Greens would do if they had the chance, and then there were a wide range of questions.  This easily filled the hour allotted.

I came home and had a slice of nutloaf with baked beans and some slices of fried home-grown squash left over from a few days ago.

Later in the evening, I had a long phone call (one hour forty one minutes, according to our phone!) with Emily who was Mozaz' friend.  We'd chatted a bit on facebook but the chat thing wasn't working too well so I said she could ring me if she wanted.  What a lovely person, I think I've got another friend there.

Thursday 27th January 11

Well the day started really badly; I was going to cycle to school with our youngest but it didn't happen, left me feeling like a completely rubbish Dad.  Gill took him in, and also collected him at the end of the school day.

I had a compost order so I took two medium sacks of unriddled compost in my trailer to St Nicks, participated in the Rotters meeting and then went to deliver the compost to Bronwen, who has converted a bit of lawn into a growing area.  She's a LETS member so I'll get paid Yorkys.

After lunch I went round to Debbie, as agreed yesterday, with the bag of 'Green Light' leaflets... the regular Green Party communication which I deliver... and Debbie always enjoys the walk round too; it usually takes about an hour.

When I got in I did a bit of wood management, and started rebuilding the logpile on the left of the front door (looking out of the house).  When Gill got in she told me about going into Archbishop Holgate's School to pick up various things left by our youngest, and to deliver the letter saying he was now no longer a pupil there.  She spoke to someone there and heard about a recent incident where one child was stamping on the head of another and there were Police and an ambulance, with the victim going to hospital.  We know we've done the right thing taking our boys out as we don't want either of them ending up injured.

We had pasta for tea, plus broccoli and carrot, but the pasta was overcooked and it was really soft and I didn't like it.  I cannot remember not liking something we've cooked for ages... maybe since I tried to eat a stinkhorn mushroom 'egg' which are allegedly edible but utterly disgusting.  I did eat the pasta but I only did so as I didn't want to waste it.

I watched a TV programme on 'The Human Planet' about people living in the Arctic, and then went out to a Green Party party, launching Caleb Wooding's candidacy in Heslington Ward for the May Local Elections.  I met lots of interesting people, most of them had seen me speak at the sit-in, or had met me before, but tonight I got a chance to get to know them better.  Lovely.  I came back after midnight.

Monday 31st August 09

How lovely to have a Bank Holiday Monday with no work!

Quite a lazy morning, and then did washing up and had lunch, and at 1.30 set off with our youngest to Fulford Show. We cycled down together, which was nice, as our eldest said he'd prefer to walk, so he and Gill turned up about an hour later, by which time we'd walked round once and I'd settled in to helping on the Green Party stall, selling books at 5op and tombola tickets, which although I never buy my own, I enjoyed selling.

It was a really good event, with lots of stalls... mainly fundraising with tombolas and the like, but also a little train ride, races, tug-o-war, and in the nearby Social Hall, competitions for best vegetable, painting, kids mini-garden and many other categories. I was delighted to see that our friend Melody won second prize in the mis-shaped vegetable competition, for a green bean which had got itself into a spiral, beaten by a cucumber in a broad smile shape.

The boys had a good enough time as they met friends there, and I was pleased to meet lots of people I knew. Our eldest went back with Melody and family, I cycled back with our youngest as far as Melody and Simon's and left him there, and zoomed down to Country Fresh, rather too fast. My trailer tyre hit something and bounced up, overturning the trailer and bending part of the trailer frame which is a nuisance. I either need to hit it back into shape with a big hammer (back of the axe?) or take it to the welders to have it heated up and bent back, for which they will charge me £10.

Anyway, I returned home with a big box of bananas and a box of mixed compostables and a sack of similar. Collected a sack from Freshways too... so as soon as I got home I went to unload the stuff into the Compostumbler which is now full again. And steaming.

The family came home, with Melody and her family, so there was suddenly a garden full, bouncing on the trampoline and making loads of noise. A lovely day.

We had the carrot soup for tea, with toasties... I've got to say it is one of the best carrot soups I've made. Probably as Gill added some cooked potato and whizzed it up and seasoned it, so it was a joint effort.

I had a very late night preparing 17 red peppers and a large pile of plums all for drying. I love dried plums, and my sweet red pepper paprika makes my soups and stews totally yummy. But having the stove burning on warm evenings makes it like a sauna in here....

Sunday 14th June 09

Early start as due to be picked up by Maggie, a facepainter also booked for today's gig who is driving across to Beverley, so she was happy to pick me up... I was ready by 8.45 and we were there before 10, with the event due to start at 11am.

The event was an Armed Forces Day; 'A free family event celebrating Our Armed Forces - past, present and future'. Not really my cup of tea! I provided a non-military alternative, circus workshops and balloon model animals. I ignored the stuff going on around me, and worked with the children, who, of course, have no say over what their parents do or take them to. I personally feel that this country spends too much on our army, navy and air force, and they are hardly a 'low carbon' part of our economy! I do appreciate that members of the forces can help out in emergencies both in this country and abroad, but the offensive warmongering we wage in other countries is difficult for me to be positive about. I'm sure there is a green alternative, but I'm no expert and would refer people to the Green Party Peace and Defence Policy as a starter.

I enjoyed the day, despite the meaty BBQ smells, military songs (although I found if weird that between the live music, The Beatles and Paul McCartney songs were played!) and the heat. I had a coffee Mocha in CAFFE NERD and this helped, alongside copious tap water brought from home. I worked from 11 til 4.30, with 20 minutes for lunch and one 15 minute break mid afternoon. I was kept company by a familiar character, 13 year old C, who is very keen on me/what I do and was with her friend, a couple of years younger, and they wanted to do everything all the time. I was happy to oblige them, and they had loads of goes on devilsticks, unicycle and trying to juggle.

Was back just before 6, exhausted, and ready for the noodles, veg and cashew nuts which Gill had prepared for tea.

A snoozed in front of the telly after tea... almost unheard of... when do I ever fall asleep before 2am? But woke at 9ish and wrote my blog, dealt with emails and half-watched Dr Alice Roberts discovering ancient humans in the Americas.

Thursday 4th June 09

Came down stairs before 8 and the house felt quite cold... we've had a few warm days and then last night was chilly and this morning was cold, so I lit the stove and prepared to do the washing up. Gill got a phone call from the hospital to say her knee physiotherapist was not in today so her appointment was cancelled.

Managed to get boy 1 out of the house on time but boy 2 was late, and Gill rang up school to say she would be in as soon as possible with him. I have deliberately ceased to get worried or upset by this type of morning. I am generally very very punctual, nearly always arriving early (apart from things which drop off my radar, like this week's Planning Panel cock-up) and I am slowly learning not to project my likes and dislikes, my agenda, onto my children and wife. I just have to let them get on with it.

I did a variety of housework jobs and waited for the post to come, as it promised to contain Charles's Proxy Postal vote which had not yet turned up. And it did, so I filled it in and took it to the polling station, gave it in and placed my vote. I collected a trailer-load of wood from a skip on the way back... with permission of course!

Had a good chat on the phone with Dave Hampton, the 'original' Carbon Coach, about how he does his specialised form of life coaching, and I enjoyed talking to him for the first time. Weird, as I feel I know him quite well, despite having never met him!

Funny old afternoon. I got tea ready as Gill was late returning from town, but had to rush out at 6 as I'd promised to go and sit at a polling station with my Green Party rosette on. There was another Green supporter there when I arrived, Jane, who is relatively new to York, and it was good to meet her and chat for a bit. She'd been there since 4pm and was cold, so left at 6.45ish, and I stayed on for another hour or so. I was surprised how many people grinned at me, or put their thumb up, or just told me they'd voted Green. But we'll have to wait for the count over the weekend to know the results.

Came home via Freshways and collected the usual sack of beginning to rot 'foreign veg' for my heap.

A nice tea... pasta, broccoli, pastie, fruit salad. Felt full and satisfied. Enjoyed 'Ideal' on telly... what a totally surreal programme, hilarious!

Sunday 17th May 09

Woken by shouting but things seemed to calm down, thankfully. Our eldest got ready to go to Games Workshop with a friend. This is a shop space in town where people can buy different models, mostly plastic, and there's a central table where the different games can be played. He took sandwiches for lunch and ate those outside the shop.

I did quite a bit of paperwork, Gill got some documents photocopied at the Co-op and I sent those off.

So Gill and our youngest had quite a bit of time in the garden. I filled three containers with a mixture of old used compost and fresh rich compost, and planted three varieties of potato. I also planted two types of sweetcorn seed (Indian Rainbow and Blue Jade) in modules (little pots) and several sorts of beans, including unidentified runner beans, Cherokee Trail Of Tears and my favourite, Jack Edwards Climbing Pea Bean. Some of these bean seedlings I hope to sell at Country Fresh, but most will go in the garden and at the allotment. I sorted out a lot of detritus from the conservatory and planted yet more tiny yam balls, some of which were beginning to sprout on the floor of the conservatory.

Gill and our youngest went to visit Ashley and family up the road, leaving me to wait for our eldest to get back.

Charles rang up... he's a Green Party friend but he's going away for a Scottish Mountain-Climbing holiday over the Euro-Election season, and won't be able to cast his vote, either in person or by post. So he's asked me to be his proxy, and a postal vote will be sent to me to fill in and send off. We had a good chat and a wander down the garden, and the family returned from their various travels.

A good tea; spinach, chard, broccoli with pasta and chunks of yesterday's nutloaf, with garlic bread and cheese.

Bathed the kids (hey, they do it themselves these days, but I carry the water upstairs!) and watched telly and played Scrabble.

Wondered whether to do my Community Care Blog on the new North Yorkshire Credit Union which has opened this weekend. This means that the services of a Credit Union are now available to anyone living or working in North Yorkshire, as well as the City of York. I am feeling very pleased, and indeed a bit proud, since I started the ball rolling with York Credit Union, and am member number 0001. I've had nothing to do with the development of North Yorkshire Credit Union, but am still really happy that the Credit Union advantage is now available for so many more people, in Selby, Scarborough, and all over the County.

Watched my counter approach 10,000 page views since September last year...

I did eventually write my Community Care blog! It took over two hours.

Monday 11th May 09

Kids at school today, Gill making a cake for Tony who is 65 today. She made it in the shape of a narrow boat, as Tony is very keen on canals. She spent ages icing it, making it look pretty and , well, rustic (not rusty).

I did more clearing up in the garden, went to the bakers and the Co-op, made carrot soup out of some very large and mysteriously thrown out carrots (I really don't know what's wrong with them!) and some tomato/onion base for tonight's tea, spaghetti.

But yet again, I didn't get to the allotment to plant onion sets or potatoes. It is getting rather late!

Our eldest did his cycling proficiency training today, but left his bike at school by accident, so after he came home, I cycled up to school and picked it up and cycled back with it.

I really enjoyed the Green Party Euro Election broadcast... if you missed it, here it is:



At about half 7 I loaded the cake carefully onto my bike rack, and the two quiches (one with home-grown broccoli in) and headed off to Tony Martin's birthday party in Clementhorpe. This was a fairly small affair... a Planning Panel member called Dave, John, an ex head-teacher and Labour Party member since the age of 17, now 71, my old friends Rowena and Adrian, Isobel, and Andy Chase... so, not that crowded, but good people to chat with. Tony had organised a curry delivery, and this went well with the quiches. (I thought so, anyway!)

The cake was admired, photographed and devoured, well, most of it!

Sunday 26th April 09

Two visits to do this morning... to deliver compost to Caroline, to swap for some vegetable seedlings. I checked first that someone was in and cycled down to Fishergate with 4 sacks of well rotted but unriddled. In return I received a 'Small Sugar Pumpkin', a single Brussels Sprout seedling, a tray of Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli and 3 'Stringless Polestar' runner beans, and a bag of Tares seeds, a green manure which fixes nitrogen. I am happy with this swap. My allotment will be too.

As soon as I got home I set out again with a single sack of the same compost as Lynn had indicated that she needed some... and would swap it for a couple of squash seedlings. Lynn wasn't in but her daughter was and was happy to take the bag of compost... but didn't know which squash plants might be mine, so I said I'd be happy to have them another time.

Home for lunch and all too soon it was time for me to head down to town to go to the screening of The Age of Stupid at City Screen, hosted by York in Transition. About 140 tickets were sold, so the auditorium wasn't full, but we were reasonably happy with the turnout. This was the third time I'd seen the film but it still moved me to tears. But I sorted myself out by the end as I had been asked to sit on the panel table alongside Andy Chase the Green Party candidate for the Parliamentary seat for York Central, Daniel Vockins from Not Stupid and Andrew Waller the Lib Dem leader of the Council. Daniel talked about the film and the Not Stupid campaign first and then there were questions from the audience. This went well, apart from Councillor Waller firing off cheap party political jibe about Ralph Nader (Green Party in US) being responsible for Bush getting in. But apart from that, it was a good Q+A session.

Afterwards I gave out leaflets and some Calendars of Climate Change which Diana at Flipside Vision has sent me. Then a good chat with Bill who works for the Youth Service, about the Youth Parliament (I think it's called) and a myriad of other things, over a coffee. I also had a good chat with Alison and then Carolyn, before getting away at about 7pm.

Gill had made a rice and veg dish, which I had when I got in, and I then had an hour or so in the garden til just after 9.

Sunday 7th September 08

Gill woke me up as the wonderful Caroline Lucas was on an early-morning politics show being interviewed. I am a fan of hers, and am glad that she has been elected to the position of 'Leader' of the Green Party. Now I didn't really want the Green Party to change and have a leader, although I think that the reasons to have a symbolic leader are pretty convincing. So, despite my reservations about my party having a leader, I think we've got exactly the right person. She is extremely articulate and seemingly an accomplished politician, being able to slag off the 'grey' parties extremely well (ie firmly but politely!) and remind the interviewer that being green is fun, gives a better quality of life than the materialistic capitalist nightmare which is ruining this planet. So I say 'Good Luck Caroline' and I hope you become the first of many Green Party MPs.
The rest of the day was marred by homework... well, not homework in itself, but the children's attitude to it, and their behaviour towards Gill and myself. They are incredibly resistant to actually getting on with it. They need constant cajoling, encouragement and help. And even then, there are many bouts of CENSORED...

I went to the allotment for over 3 hours, dug up loads of potatoes and onions.

Friday 14th December 07

A relaxing day... Gill did the morning shift and then came back to bed, we have both got blocked sinuses and are feeling grotty, so soon we were both asleep and slept til after midday!

Between us we finished putting together the SUMA order, the food co-op we run. This time there are just three other parties ordering stuff, but it's good to help these families get access to organic, fair trade and yummy wholefoods and other products at wholesale prices. It's also very convenient getting, for example, a 10kg sack of muesli base delivered rather than having to go and get a kilo at a time.

So Gill phoned that in and I popped into town to put money into our Co-op Bank account we have for the SUMA transactions, and got back just in time to cycle down to the school and get the kiddies.

On the way into town, I had noticed that the stumps left from the treefelling at Woodlands had been ground out, and there was a large pile of woodchips, so after school I went over to shovel a load into sacks as it's perfect compost heap material to balance all the fruit and veg that goes on.

Had a small tea as going out to several parties tonight and there'll probably be nosh at some of them.

The first party was the YorkLETS Christmas Social at Belinda's house in Fulford. I got there at 7.15 and was one of the first there but it soon filled up, and I was happy to meet up with about 20 people I knew and just a few I didn't. At about 8pm I did a little balloon modelling show and workshop for the 8 or 10 kids there, which was appreciated by some of them but a few declined to participate, which was a surprise. I was particularly pleased to meet Maureen who has just got funding to do a project connected with advocacy for people with learning difficulties and other 'Neuro Diverse' ways of being. I'm looking forward to learning more in the new year, and possibly helping her. Also very good to see Rowena, Will, Ann, David, Liz and others.

Soon after 9pm, I cycled off to St Nicks for their party at the Environment Centre... and this was in full swing and I met up with some more of my more eco-conscious friends. I had my second bottle of perry here, and a small slice of Christmas cake, and good chats to Carol, Pat, Catherine , Chris and other Rotters and volunteers at the centre.

Left soon after 10 and cycled back to Fulford through the University to arrive at the Green Party party at Candy and Eugene's, and was pleased to meet Charles, Andy D our Councillor and Denise his wife, Tracy, Will, Andy C and several others... there was some food left which I had a plateful of, leaving after midnight.

Came back through the Uni again, and loaded up with a trailer full of logs and got home safely just before 1am. Watched snowboarding and skiing with Gill to wind down, whilst catching up with blog.

Tuesday 23rd October 07

A very good day as I spent the morning in the house doing some paperwork and housework, Gill went out for an appointment and the boys played inside the house. I also did a bit of compost heap management for half an hour.

Gill came back and we lunched, I then used Gill's bus ticket (an all day adult rover thingy) to get to town and participate in a Green Party/York Residents Against Incineration demonstration protesting about the Lib Dem Councillors voting to spend loads of money on a waste treatment plant but they don't yet know what it is going to be. I do not think that an incinerator is a good idea as it wastes materials which should be recycled. They are very expensive and can give out polluting dioxins, as well as loads of CO2 which is 'fossil' CO2 from plastics, made from oil. I would like more investment in recycling, and also think that anaerobic digestion of food waste and manures is a good idea, as it captures some of the energy which is normally lost in composting, but cleanly in the form of methane which can be efficiently used as a fuel for heating or generating energy, or even put in a fuel cell to make electricity and heat.

We had our photo taken on the steps of the Mansion House and then I walked along to Cycle Heaven to purchase my new bike. I got a set of panniers too. I had asked for 'tri-bars' to be put on the handlebars, but the shop said that the ones they would get would be another £80, so I asked them to transfer my old ones over. So the whole set up is new, apart from the tri-bars which allow me to drop down if there's a headwind or if I'm going fast. I'm glad the frame was made locally, it's steel and quite heavy, but very strong! I enjoyed cycling back with it, and got my trailer fixed up to it as soon as I got back.

Soon it was time for me to cycle along for a doctor's appointment, for a flu jab (I'm asthmatic and have taken daily medication since childhood, when it was much less prevalent) and to wave a weird patch of flaky skin on my knee at him. When I got back home, I went to the Co-op shop for some essentials and then to the allotment.

I love my bike!

Monday 9th April 07

A fairly early start and as a nice day I bombed into town to do a visit to Out Of This World, who had obviously been having a clearout, and waiting for me was a large pile of assorted stuff for my to recycle, some to compost and other stuff to recycle in other ways!

The most exciting thing that happened today was a visit from Dave Taylor (Green candidate, Fishergate Ward), with his 'Castle Area Campaign' hat on, with some posters about the forthcoming election and which parties and candidates had opposed the proposed development of a shopping mall around Clifford's Tower, and a brief note about those who had been in favour of the unpopular development. As I spoke at the Public Enquiry about the development, and don't support the building of yet more shops, especially in that area, I am listed in the 'Vote For' section, as are lots of other Green Party candidates, some Conservatives, a Labour candidate, a Liberal, the Respect Candidate and the Looney. The Lib Dems are the only political party who have sided en bloc with the developers, and the Castle Area Campaign suggests voting tactically to push them out.

The next most exciting thing was that I made such a filling tea, and the boys had eaten so much chocolate, that halfway through tea, as they were struggling, Gill suggested taking them on a cycle ride to check out the Fair on St Georges car park. So we cycled up to Green Dykes Lane, to the University and accross Walmgate Stray through the Barracks and down to the River Ouse near the Millennium Bridge where we turned right and went all the way into York. We walked our bikes round the Fair but it wasn't that exciting as hardly anyone was there, so we cycled on and then through town, Coppergate, Piccadilly, Walmgate and home along the Hull Rd. Their cycling is getting so much better! When they got home they both finished their tea.

Gill and I had the same basic nosh, marmite water bulgar wheat and couscous (washing out a finished marmite jar) and a stew of leeks, tomatoes, chard/spinach from the garden and cashew nuts. I also had a 'sea cake', a tofu burger with smoky seaweed from Out Of Date World!

During the day I made up some more seed compost and planted a load of pumpkin, squash and cucumber seeds. I've planted over 20 Butternut squash as they seem to do well on the allotment and I can't get enough of them. I'd eat it every other day if I could.

My evening included washing up, making raisins by blanching grapes and setting them to dry, and having a very long e-conversation with an old flame I'm back in contact with.

Another satisfying and productive day.

Friday 6th April 07, A 'Good Friday!'

Today really started with a phone call from a photographer from the Press who was supposed to come at 10am but rang wanting to come earlier... so he arrived at about half past nine to get an image of me with a bin bag I took off the pavement outside Lloyds TSB in order to find out what kinds of materials they were throwing away, and if there was any personal information that people could get at... I found lots of recyclable materials and evidence of very wastful practices, so I recorded the evidence and wrote to the bank complaining. I copied the letter to the council to keep them informed, and eventually recieved a reply which thanked me for my committment to waste reduction and warned me that if I removed bin bags off the pavement again I could be prosecuted. This juxtaposition warrented more publicity so I contacted the Press.

Soon after he went, my friend Suzanne arrived, with her daughter who's in our youngest son's class on Fridays, as she goes to another school for the rest of the week. She has dyspraxia and recieves special help in the other school, but when she goes to the secondary school she'll do better if she has some friends there. Suzanne came round to see the garden and recycling, and I gave her some plants ('Poached Egg', Limnanthes) which are good at attracting beneficial insects. Had a really nice chat and cuppa, she left at midday.

I went into town after lunch, to deliver some leaflets about next Thursday's CrUST meeting about the Green Festival, and to pick up the compostables from Out Of This World. Whilst cycling round to give out the posters about the meeting I visited Miller's Yard in Gillygate, wher my friend Dylan and his partner have set up a healthy living centre. I used to work in the same buildings nearly 20 years ago, when Gillygate Wholefood Co-operative was there. I had one summer's employment and fell foul of the two feminist lesbians who ran it. One morning I greeted them with 'Hello Ladies' and they took umbridge and growled at me that they weren't ladies, they were women. I didn't understand, but this confrontation led me to discover a bit about sexual and gender politics, feminism, and from there, discovered the Green Party and 'environmentalism' (later known as sustainability)and the rest is history.

I hope Dylan's venture succeeds. He has a cafe which just sells hot drinks and juices so far, and a series of treatment rooms and a meeting room and a yoga/pilates room. He's invested everything he has into it, and he's the lovliest, gentle, kind chap. I hope to be able to have some meetings there.

So home with compostables to process, which included a large number of punnets of strawberries, each with about half the fruits inedible and going soggy, and the other half perfect for making into fruit-leather. So at midnight, after having much trouble trying to write my blog and failing to get it to publish (lost an hour's worth of typing, very annoying) I chopped up the strawberries and some apples, liquidised then, rubbed the puree through a seive and poured the slop into one of the non-stick trays we have primarily for drying fruit. This was balanced on the stove for an overnight drying. It should take just a couple of days befor it is dry enough to turn out onto another non-stick sheet and finish off the drying. Then I'll get busy with the scissors and create a jar-full of delicious strawberry snacks...

Sat 31st March 07

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday 18th March 07

A cold day outside and lovely and cosy in.... that's the beauty of woodstoves!

At 11 had two Green Party visitors, as the local elections are rapidly approaching and I'm standing in Hull Road Ward, alongside Andrew Collingwood, as there are two councillors in this ward and therefore two votes. Andrew Collingwood came to start the extensive paperwork and Andy Chase our agent brought the packs with him. He is a past-master at local elections. The paperwork has to be done before we're official candidates, and I have to find Proposer, Seconder and a pile of nominees who are happy for me to stand. I'm getting Andrew's paperwork sorted too, as I've stood several times before and he's a novice, and doesn't know many people in the ward. It's an interesting and exciting process, local democracy, if that's what it is!

During the afternoon I started to deal with the preparation for 'The Death Of Ethical Man' and dig out my 'radiator raised bed' which is made of two old bay-window radiators put back to back, and filled with loam and compost. Last year we grew pototoes, beans and pumpkins in it. This week it will be converted into a coffin-like composter and featured on telly. In the meantime I have to remove at least 25 sacks of soil... and this afternoon I found some suprise potatoes which I hadn't dug out last autumn. That's tea sorted then!

Thursday 8th March 07

I did the school run today as I had arranged to cycle on to Bishopthorpe to collect a computer which was offered on Freecycle, and I asked for it on behalf of a friend who really needs to improve her skills and break out of the rut she's in. She has started a computer course but hasn't got one.... until today! I wasn't expecting to transport such a lot of stuff... not just a computer and monitor, but printer, scanner, speakers, mouse and paperwork instructions AND a bag of electric flex to make it all work. The donor had upgraded their system and was happy that the old one was going to a deserving person, rather than going to landfill. Do people really put 6 year old computers in the bin? Even in these days of the WEEE Regulations, I expect that they do.

My friend was amazed and very grateful, and just a bit flummoxed as to what was what and how it all fitted together. I told her that I expected her daughter would be able to help with that. The system needs an 'external modem' so when it's working, I'll find out what it needs and try and get one on Freecycle. Hopefully I'll be able to get my boys a computer soon, as my wife has sugested that one would be helpful with their homework.

Before lunch spent some quality time with Gill who was happy to have a day off from taking the children to school. I also fitted in some time managing some of my compost systems, emptying the huge 'Compostumbler' and immediatley starting to refill it with shedded twigs and chopped fruit and veg materials, and bagging up some finished stuff, well, unriddled but ready to use as a mulch. Really it still needs riddling to remove unrotted sticks and the inevitable 'comtrairies' such as plastic tape, plastic fruit stickers and glue-strips from cardboard boxes.

Picked up the kids at 3.15 and did some more pruning of spralling mallow, brought it home for a sit-and-wait pile. I do wish I could compost it at school. Maybe oneday? I live in hope, eternally optomistic that school will start to embrace sustainability and take responsibility for recycling their own waste materials.

Did some deliveries of the 'Green Light' pamphlet, announcing the forthcoming ne Green Party candidate for Fishergate Ward, Dave Taylor, who is standing as Mark Hill is standing down. Dave would make a great City Councillor, I hope he gets in.

Before tea did some bowsawing of planed timber rescued from a skip recently, and was ready for the spaghetti and veg that Gill had put together. Shortly after this I shot off down to town again, for the second meeting of CrUST, to firm-up the Green Gala, which we renamed York Green Festival as the word Gala was percieved to be a bit Morris Dancers and Cream Teas. The word Festival implies fun, music, excitement, interest, creativity, which is what we want the gig to be. The different chunks of the event were divvied up and we meet in a week to feed back the info.

I got an exciting email from the Yorkshire Post today, but it would be inappropriate to discuss it here and now as nothing is decided yet. However I will reveal all when I know more myself...

Tuesday 6th March 07

A houseworky morning, with a rude awakening at 8am by my sister Anna on the phone saying can she visit this afternoon? Gill took the boys to school and I got on with lighting the stove, having breakfast, doing the washing up, attending to various post including the lovely Student Loan Company and sending Justin the Ethical Man the Yorkshire Post article.

I had a Green Party election paperwork thing to give in by today, so after an early lunch I bombed over to Bishophill to deliver that and popped into Cycle Heaven to ask about rebuilding my front wheel, which is wearing through at the rim, like the rear was. My personal assistant responsible for my bike wasn't in, so they said could I go in tomorrow. I also popped into Abbey National, who are not YorkLETS bankers anymore, and they're being very slow to send the account book back to me and the closing cheque. We have started the process of opening an account with the Co-operative Bank who have an ethical investment policy, but they need the details of our last account. We left the Abbey because they were inept and made several silly and annoying mistakes. I got home in time to cycle to school and pick up the kids, and whilst there, I pruned some sprawling mallow shrubs that I'd been given permission to do. The alternative is the school (or Education Authority?) employs a company based in Leeds, who come and do grounds work, and take prunings away in a lorry back to Leeds. Ridiculous! All the grounds management waste could be composted on site, helping to compost the volumes of fruit and veg stuff which STILL gets put in the playground bins. I am past angry about this, so I take the fruit, veg and paper out of the bins on a daily basis and pop it in the plastic box provided for compostables (only some of the kids use it, and the kitchen staff, fortunately) and put it all in one of the 3 'dalek' bins I've installed and manage. I'd prefer a larger 'New Zealand Box' system which would take more of the cardboard which clogs up the landfill-destined bins, as well as grounds materials. I cannot get the school to move on this, and the Director of Education at City of York Council hasn't replied to me either. I feel another letter coming, it's one way to release my anger about unsustainable stick-in-the-muds. It sometimes helps get things changed, too.

I cycled back with all the Mallow, and will compost it at home. I soon found it doesn't shred well, as it's mucilaginous and stringy, clogging my favourite 'quiet shredder'. I'll do the rest on a 'sit and wait heap' rather than a fast shred and tumble and turn hot heap. Whilst unclogging the shredder Anna (my younger sister) and her hubby Douglas arrived, by car from Sheffield. They haven't been 'up North' for long and one reason the moved was to be nearer family. It is lovely to see them and the boys are very fond of them. A nice tea-time, easy baked spuds and salad with a Gilly rice and bean loaf. We finished the Butternut soup too. They stayed til about 8, perhaps next time they'll be able to stay over. I've been to their new house in Sheffers but the rest of the family hasn't, so we ought to visit them next. They are conveniently close to the end of the tram line.

Monday 5th March

Today I'm in the Yorkshire Post, as Justin the Ethical Man had given them my details and suggested that they do a feature on me. Gill took the boys to school and then went to buy the paper. I am always amazed how much of a forehead I have, receeding hairline, shiny and large. The Post had published a photo of the untidiest part of the garden and the best view of my forehead. Never mind, it was a good story with only a few mistakes. I'll write in to them with a letter with the factual corrections.

Soon after getting the paper, Justin rang and asked if it had been published and if I was happy with it. He asked me to buy a second copy and send it to him. Then a media company rang up, saying that they'd be interested in doing a feature about our family in a women's magazine, and were we interested? What they'd do is to send a short synopsis of the article to a number of magazines, and if any were interested they'd agree a deal, as we'd recieve a fee if we respected the contract of exclusivity, ie not giving interviews to any other people/papers/media organisations. I said we'd consider it.

I needed to do some photocopying in town and buy a Yorkshire Post and collect compostables, so I biked it in and did all that, getting back at 1pm hungry for lunch. However, before eating I prepared some seconds butternut squash for soup tonight, chopping out deteriorated bits and steaming the remaining chunks in a pan on the woodstove. Then did some unloading of compostables onto the heap and suddenly it was time for me to pick up the kids.

I had recieved an offer of two bags of logs from a Freecycler the other day, so I cycled over to Heworth and collected them, and elivered a Green Party leaflet requested by the nice lady who gave us the CD player for my son. She seemed very pleased to see me, and I expect we'll meet again.

I enjoyed the squash soup but Gill says that soup is always better a day after it was made, as the texture is smoother and flavour more developed. So perhaps she'll enjoy it more tomorrow!

I cycled off to my monthly LETS meeting, York Local Exchange Trading System has a core group meeting at the Seahorse Hotel near the Barbican on the first Monday of the month, and as I'm on the core group, I had to go.... it's always nice to see my LETSy friends but tonight I had to leave within the hour as I wanted to watch Panorama, as I was on it. The programme was good, and my little bit came accross well. My best buddy Jonathan rang up after, congratulating me! How lovely of him.

Later in the evening I got a good Freecycle message. I had replied to an offer of an old computer that someone was offering, on behalf of a friend of mine who wants to learn computer skills but is jobless, skint, and doesn't have many social contacts. The offerer had had loads of replies but had chosen my message as the deserving one. I rang her number and spoke to her husband, and I'll be able to pick it up on Thursday, and I emailed her with a big thank-you. I popped round to tell my friend, she was very moved and happy.