Thursday 5th January 12

I spent a good part of the day dealing with assorted paperwork and admin stuff.  I really don't like doing this, but now and again it has to be done!

I found, much to my annoyance and dismay, that our home phone is not working properly... well, at all!  The buttons when pressed don't register the number on the screen with a bleep immediately, making me think that press hadn't made contact... so I pressed it again and thus got the wrong number on the screen... and then when I pressed 'call' it just wouldn't, and finally when I tried to ring it from my mobile the base station rang but the handset didn't.  Very annoying.  I do hope we don't have to buy another phone.

Gill went to the hospital to see why her right elbow was hurting so much, after her tumble.  She came back late lunchtime having had an X-ray, which revealed she has chipped her ulna and burst a synovial bursa.

I needed to make some phone calls and did a couple with my mobile but not those which I had to wait for a long time in a queue... and the lovely Maria round the corner came to my rescue, saying I could come and use hers, mainly for the call I had to make to Yell to deal with a problem with a recent invoice.  I'd already called with my mobile and the 0800 number, which is free from a landline, is not free on a mobile, so I wasn't happy to just wait for 10 minutes and pay I don't know what... so thank you to Maria for letting me do that call from her house.  I also got through to the chap at the Council who the compensation form went to, and he asked us to put Gill's new medical diagnosis in writing and send it to him.

Late in the afternoon I had a bath... washed hair as I was due to perform in Leeds, an event hosted by Leeds Green Drinks, called Yorkshire Green Laughs. 

This was a successful event, doing my balloon show plus banter.  I got some positive feedback. 

Wednesday 14th December 11

I slept later than I really wanted to... I have on the previous several Wednesdays taken pears into Scoop for 10am, or soon after.  However, today, I hadn't collected the pears together the previous day, and I got up late too... so I got some pears from some I've got stored in the garden, and took a tray-full in at 11.30.  I bought a tub of peanut butter as we've run out.

I came back via a large pile of leaves and collected a dumpy bag full, which I brought back on my trailer, and added these to my leafmould enclosure.  I did a little bit of work down the garden, sorting out an empty pallet compost bin which had collapsed.

Then, due to worsening weather, I came in and focused on editing a 'guest blog' which someone had emailed me about.  The idea is that I publish an article on something, which has a link to a website, and get a small payment for it.  I get a lot of offers to do this but this one, on wood-burning stoves, is the first one I've said yes to.  I get a lot of really unsuitable offers, nothing to do with anything I'm interested in, or low carbon living.  However, this one looks good... and I edited together two articles, adding my own stuff too, and then emailed it back to the chap who sent it to me, and now await his decision.

I also wrote a 'note' on facebook about a study design I have been thinking about which I think would ascertain whether homoeopathic remedies work.  This stems from a discussion with a good friend who's into complementary and alternative therapies, and said that you couldn't test homoeopathy in a scientific manner.  I'm also interested as a few years ago, I knew someone who consulted a homoeopath about her bi-polar disorder. The homoeopath advised her to stop taking her medication and start with homoeopathic remedies instead, and a couple of days later, my friend had committed suicide.  I don't know the name of the homoeopath who did this, and if I had done, I would have reported them to the police as I hold them partly responsible for my friend's death.  I also accept that my friend was partly responsible as she'd listened to the homoeopath and done as they had suggested.  As far as I'm concerned, homoeopathy is based on 3 illogical and unscientific 'laws'... and is no more than a placebo.  I'm a huge fan of placebos, they often work really well!

I also dealt with an enquiry, from a chap in Leeds who runs Leeds Green Drinks.  Next month he's running a Yorkshire Green Laughs event, with a comedian, and he asked me to help with publicity, as I run the York Green Drinks facebook group.  I told him I'd be willing to do some entertainment too, and have got myself a gig.... no fee, but it's exposure, which is great, and I get my train fare paid!

Later, I went out to collect unsold pears, and then to town to see David and take him to YAYAS.