Wednesday 24th August 11

A fairly quiet day, spent the morning chatting with Gill about this and that, and dealing with some more plums, and doing admin connected with the forthcoming Galtres Festival.

I needed to go and get a cheque out to pay my Yellow Pages advertising, and to put a cheque in, so I loaded my bike with loads of drinks cartons, scrap metal and two old electrical items, to drop off at Hazel Court.

When I got there a new notice had been put up saying 'no cyclists or pedestrians' which I ignored, as I obviously needed to put my recyclables in the correct place. I thought that common sense had prevailed when the previous notice was removed, following my protestations and pointing out that motor-vehicle drivers suddenly became pedestrians once up at the top, walking things to the various recycling banks and skips.  I did my recycling; two things to the WEEE skip, 3 sacks of soya milk cartons (sacks came home with me) and quite a bit of bits of assorted metal.

I cycled into town wondering if I should make a fuss about the new sign.

I went to the Building Society with the cheque to pay in and the info about the one to get out.  Then on the way to the bank to pay the water bill, I got a tap on the shoulder and it was Karen Cannard, who had been doing some filming in Manchester (she's a reduce waste expert) and had decided to see a friend in York.  We chatted for a few minutes and then I did my bill payment, and cycled off to Alligator.  They were having a repaint, but were happy to see me and give me their compostables.

From here, on to Country Fresh for my last pick up for a while from them, and then Freshways.

I did about an hour of shredding... various hedge materials, and lots of dead pear tree branches etc.  Dug out the Compostumbler and started to refill.

Gill did a rice tea which I had at 8pm when I was finished in the garden.  Got to bed before 2am!

Saturday 31st July 10

A lovely day, woke slowly and had a nice breakfast and after a bit of email/facebook stuff, then got busy in the garden.

Gill had got up early and pruned some lilac and holly, and removed a Buddleia, and she asked me to process this. In fact she suggested that the lilac tree could be taken right down, to maybe chest height, to make more light into the part of the garden currently made a bit claustrophobic by several large trees.

So I got the ladder from the conservatory and, with the bow saw, removed the top branches (with a diameter of about 10cm) and then cut down the trunk, which had a diameter of about 20cm. A nice big log for the front garden and soon for the logpiles. It's good to be able to grow our own fuel!

However, this generated a huge pile of shreddable material, so I spent quite a long time with my Mountfield Quiet Shredder (see this humorous YouTube video of one, worth watching right to the end, and enjoy the Joan Baez song) and got a lot done. I ended up with about 7 sacks of holly and lilac, some of which I used immediately on the current pallet bin, which I nearly filled with fruit/veg and shredded twigs, in layers, surrounded by cardboard to stop the material falling out. It was a very satisfying day.

When the post arrived, there was a lovely get well card from Sheffield Green Party, who had met recently and asked Nigel to send it on their behalf, following my accident at the Green Fair on 26th June. Well, today I've been working in the garden with just wellies on, and my ankle has felt OK, although when I go away tomorrow, I think I'll wear my support, just in case. But it will take several more weeks before I'm completely back to what I was able to do before the accident.

Before the shop shut I visited Richard, since I won't be able to tomorrow, and got a few veggies plus several sacks of resources for my compost heap.

Gill made a nutloaf with grated butternut squash in it... really good! I continued working outside until nearly 10pm, and came in and had a bath.

Both of us are preparing for a busy day tomorrow; I'm working in Pickering and then camping in Thornton Le Dale with the boys til Tuesday, to give Gill a break, and to have some fun with my sons. I'm hoping we can hire bikes on Monday and explore Dalby Forest...

Sunday 19th April 09

Another busy day, but most of it around and about.

My first job, apart from making a couple of sandwiches to take with me for lunch, was to carefully load my trailer with a sack of drinks cartons... mostly soya milk which we've used, but also some of our fruit juice cartons, and some smaller drinks cartons from the school bins, as they don't bother to recycle. Then various electrical equipment... a video player which got the video stuck in it, and was thrown away by someone near Country Fresh, and the AVP computer tower, monitor and assorted cables, a bag of scrap iron from various places including nails from the stove and Pauline's stove, some batteries and a wok I found in some bushes...

This I cycled to the Council-run recycling 'dump' (Hazel Court) where I now know that 'officially' bikes are not welcome. There are limited recycling facilities for pedestrians and cyclists at the gate, but not for scrap metal, waste electrical equipment or drinks cartons. So I again ignored the rule which I think is stupid and was delighted to be welcomed by two staff members, who joked to each other about whether I'd applied for a permit for my trailer... I shouted back that my application had been refused. I put all my potentially recyclable items in the right place and cycled off, thanking the staff and feeling really good that I'd been treated with respect and like an ordinary punter wishing to use the facilities like anybody else. I decided to not reply to the letter telling me I do not qualify for a trailer permit, and that bikes are not allowed in the compound. I think that my occasional use of this facility, maybe once every month or two, will continue and that I'll just risk the potential of being told I'm not welcome, and in this eventuality, having to decide to ignore the person telling me I'm not allowed in, or to comply and dump the stuff on the ground at the gate, which is what I've been advised to do! What a complete farce!

Next I headed over to Country Fresh where Richard was just opening up the shop, and he had a small box of compostables for me, which I took up to the allotment and made a layer on the latest heap of mainly bramble stems and dandelion plants with parsnip-sized roots. I met one of my new neighbours, Caroline, who works at St Johns and is doing an excellent job on her plot, and at midday we walked down to the Low Moor Allotment Association Annual General Meeting.
There were about 25 people attending and it was a low-key affair really, just reports about the past year with the new shop building, the seed and potato order, the number of plots available and the waiting list, the kids allotment and various other bits and pieces. I gave out some Age of Stupid leaflets. I chatted to an American couple, Californians with unusual names that I cannot remember (!) who wanted to pick my brains about their composting attempts. They've been using bokashi and putting the material in a fabric composter and they'd brought this to the lottie today to start a compost heap on their plot. I helped them get it up to their allotment and they'd made a couple of pallet bins so I enthused and helped empty the compost out.

I spent another hot hour on the lottie weeding and preparing the soil for onion sets and potatoes.
At 2.20, zoomed off to Bryony's house in Fulford, where Barry was waiting too. Bryony wasn't around, so we waited for her and 15 mins later she arrived with her Mother after a trip to a Freecycler which took longer than usual. We had an hour discussing the meeting on Tuesday, the York in Transition Fulford Credit Crunch Discussion meeting at The Bay Horse. I'm presenting info on LETS, and we needed to work out the order to do stuff in, and who did what. Bryony has done an excellent job organising it.

I then cycled to Pauline's to remove a load of ivy she's taken off a shed. She had four sacks full and some 'matted sheets' of ivy stems from the side of the building, which is being taken down. I loaded my trailer and realised I had a flat tyre. I pumped it up but it didn't last long, going flat in less than 5 minutes. But I got most of the way home with just one stop to re-inflate. But at 2 mins from home the whole tyre/inner tube came off and the inner tube shredded when it wrapped itself round the axle. Very annoying, and I'll have to get a new tube tomorrow.

Shredded the ivy in my lovely Mountfield quiet shredder, a task I really enjoy.

Gill made spaghetti and beans for tea, home grown (dried and soaked) beans! Boys watched Robin Hood on their computer before bed time.

Tuesday 27th May 08

Quite a relaxed day, didn't have to hurry to get up as the first appointment was at midday.

So cycled into town to get to Parliament St for about 11.55 and met up with Tash who's organising the Big Freeze, and quite a few other people arrived too, at least 20 which was good. We had a talk through and a bit of a practice of the 10 second delay after Tash blew her whistle, which is how we all know when to freeze. Then when the cameras were ready, we all wandered over to the fountain and Tash did a really quiet whistle and no-one knew whether it was the real thing or just a practice... so I suggested she blow it really hard so we all knew. I froze pushing my bike... near me was Kenny doing up his shoelace and a couple of other people just walking... well, frozen in mid walk. We counted to 180 (3 minutes) and resumed walking... my counting was pretty accurate because I got up to 175 when the others started. One person had frozen looking at his watch so he was the person who started at moving again at 3 minutes, and we all used him as a cue. The reactions of passers by were interesting but I couldn't see many of them as I was facing in the wrong direction... but I look forward to the film being available on YouTube. I was interviewed afterwards about why I had got involved etc.

I came home via the Mail Box Etc shop where I get photocopies, and got a photocopy of my Equity Card which a client wants to see as proof of my insurance as Professor Fiddlesticks. Then to Country Fresh to pick up 2 sacks and a box, bought a cauliflower and some broccoli too.

Home for lunch, and after I went to the lottie to put the compostable materials on my latest heap. After this went on to my agent's house to deliver the photocopy, and doubled back to Anna's to pick up yet another load of cut vegetation to take to Hazel Court. This time no-one stopped me or accosted me... I was able to dump the compostables in the green waste skip without any hassle, which is how it should be. There was a fellow unloading conifer prunings as well, then he opened his boot and revealed a pile of holly logs, which I asked if I could have... so returned home with these!

Home by 5ish, and did a bit of woodpile building followed by tea followed by cutting the front hedge which has become rather shaggy. Some passer-by had pulled a chunk of it and although I tried to push this back before cutting it, when I did cut it, this area became a hole in the hedge which is annoying. It looks as if I'm an incompetent hedge cutter!

I collected all the cuttings on a sheet and shredded them all and was finished by 9.15.

Spent quite a bit of evening dealing with emails and reading the US Composting Council quarterly newsletter which I found very interesting.

Monday 19th May 08

Oh bliss, I slept through the early morning stuff, Gill took the lads to school without any problems at all, and then came back to bed, waking me up in the process, which was just the best way to be woken up!

Got up at 10 and breakfasted and disappeared into the garden, coming back in for lunch.

A quiet afternoon, doing jobs around the house and in ther conservatory, seedlings needing management etc.

I went to the lottie just before going to school and picked some leeks for tea, and then picked the boys up.

Had tired nutloaf for tea with a leek sauce, then zoomed into town for a meeting with the organisers of the York Freeze which is happening next Tuesday, May 27th, in Parliament Street. Several groups of people, and individuals, will be randomly near the fountain at middayish, and will all at the same time become still for 3 minutes.... a sort of art installation thingy. It is to raise awareness of volunteering. We watched the youtube vid of the New York Feeeze in a railway station, very effective, and then the much smaller Bristol Freeze, filmed partly by my friend Chevvy. We discussed tactics and how we would know when to freeze and to unfreeze, got this all worked out.

This meeting lasted an hour, and I then came home via Anna's where there are still twigs and stuff to pick up, so brought a load home and put them through the shredder when I got back.

Wednesday 9th April 08

A good day! I went to the parenting class but Gill didn't as she wanted to do some cooking for this afternoon's activities... one of our boys is in the tag-rugby team and Gill wants to make a quiche for him to have a slice of as a picnic.

I got a certain amount out of the class, it's not revolutionary or particularly life-changing, but it is useful.

I got back at about 2.30 and Gill was getting ready to walk down to school, as she was getting a taxi to the rugby pitch, in Huntington, 3 or 4 miles North of us. I cycled down to the school just after 3 to pick up our other son, came back with him, did some stuff in the garden and came in to heat up tea..... enjoyed a 'bundle' with him, a sort of play-wrestle cum acrobalance session! His request!

I did some shredding in the garden and rebuilt a logpile which had been demolished by our angry child in a fit of rage.

In the evening, our friends Ben and Jill came round for a cuppa and a chat. Always good to spend time with them.

Monday 31st December 07

A quiet day... didn't do that much except spend a couple of hours shredding hedge down the garden, and preparing huge 'lumps' of hedge for shredding by chopping the twiggy bits away from the sticks, and the sticks from the stumps, so the sticks can be cut down to size for the stove and the twiggy bits fed into the shredder...

Earlier I did spend a short time at the lottie, putting 3 20kg sacks of compostable veg and fruit on top of the last layer of brambles and weeds. I had a chat with an old fella who saw 10 bunches of unsaleable spring onions and said 'you can plant those and they'll sprout and be perfectly edible' so I planted 3 bunches in 3 rows just to see what happens!

Helped Gill get the house ready for a few visitors tonight, by clearing up some of my mess.

Monday 24th December 07

I got up quite early as I had agreed with Rashda that I would go and process her pile of trimmings... not the Christmas lunch type but the pile in her front garden!

So I took my 'quiet shredder' down in the trailer and by 9am was feeding sticks and pruned-off vegetation into the machine. I did about 2 hour's worth, and produced 5 sacks of shreddings, although didn't actually finish the job. I did all the bigger bits which are easy to poke into the shredder, but there was a lot of smaller bits which firstly dont go into the slot easily and secondly don't need shredding as much as the larger pieces. They will get bagged up and I'll put them onto one of the allotment compost heaps. The sacks of shredded stuff will help the fruit and veg I bring back rot down better, as they will help keep the wads of moist putrescibles apart...

I had a coffee and a chat with Rashda and then loaded up the trailer with as much as I could and came home. The boys were very excited... cannot think why.... and I think Gill was happy to get out and go to town and do some last-minute purchases. Actually she's taking something back which she decided wasn't right... a watch for our eldest, which looks a bit too military.

I did some housework and then went outside to build another logpile... the recent cold weather has meant we've been through a lot and so I built a large stack on the left of the front door (when looking out) whilst the kids helped (yes they actually helped me bring dry logs for me to stavk!!!) and cycled up and down the drive, they also used the 'flying turtle' thing we have.

Gill came back at 4ish and I zoomed off to see Richard at Martin's Country Fresh to collect the last of the compostables before they close for Xmas. I got several sacks worth plus a load of seconds bananas and slightly sprouting potatoes, not green but just starting to sprout, so still edible!

During the evening I had an hour's bed rest which felt like a luxury, then later made a large nutloaf using local chestnuts (Poppleton Road 2006), local carrots, a home-grown onion, cheap bread from Thomas's 'Yesterbake', 2 free range eggs, home-made sweet paprika and home-produced pumpkin seeds. Should be good!

Monday 29th October 07

Up fairly early as was due to help one of Gill's friends Beth with some gardening. She needed to take out some shrubs but doesn't feel strong enough to do that kind of work, and I offered the use of my 'wrecking bar', a metal bar which is brilliant at helping take out stumps.


Gill took the kiddies to school and I got to the garden with the shrubbery removal job soon after 9am. I worked til nearly lunchtime, and came home with a trailer-load of shrubbery and sticks.


During the afternoon I shredded all the stuff I brought home and then at 3 went to get the boys plus one of their friends from school. He came for tea and then at 5.15 I cycled with all three of them down to St Nicks for the Pumpkin event. This was organised by York Rotters as they distributed pumpkin seeds at the beginning of the season, as pumpkins can grow well in garden compost-enriched soil, or even on old compost heaps. The event was a pumpkin competition, for the biggest, the most interesting, and the best carved, adult and child categories.

So I had bought two pumpkins for the boys, as mine didn't grow well this year. The friend's mum and younger brother arrived, also with two bought pumpkins. My friend Jo arrived, with quite a few bought pumpkins. More than enough to go around.

The event was well attended, including my friend Jim and his girlfriend and her kids, and Jim's mum whom I'm fond of. After signing in, and saying I had responsibility for my sons with knives, they got going with the carving. I chatted to a florist who works nearby about composting, and the competition's judge, a lady named Sue who's a fundraiser for Marie Cure Cancer Care, who may also take up composting...

When 7pm came the judging took place. Jean had managed to grow a specimen about 12 cm across, and won the biggest pumpkin section, and got a Can O Worms, donated by Wiggly Wigglers, lucky her, I paid nearly £100 for mine! John from St Nicks had submitted a tichy pumpkin about 2cm diameter, it won the most interesting pumpkin. Not sure what he got for that. The florist won the adult carved pumpkin, with a wonderful image of a witch on her pumpkin-lantern. Finally, the kiddies section, and amazingly, my eldest son won! He was so happy! He won a wormery, one with a thin cross section so the tunnels could be seen easily.

We came home happy, with the two pumpkins and the prize, and they went to bed very tired.

Sat 13th October 07

No work, so spent lots of time with the family.
In the morning went to the bread shop with one protesting child, as they were fighting and needed separating. Once on his bike, my son was fine, and we went to the bakers and the Co-op, then down to St Nicks Fields where we spent nearly an hour playing in the play area, on the climbing equipment, mucking around, really nice.

During the afternoon I had a short nap and then piled up a compost heap, cut hedge, shredded hedge and cut back brambles which have fruited and need to be removed before next season.

Tuesday 11th September 07

A good day, quite a slow start, but went into town before lunch to do my 'Monday' pick-up from Out Of This World, got a couple of cheques out, and a postal order to pay back the B and B chap in Norwich, who has returned our youngest son's bag containing books and toys. Also got a large tin of fair-trade coffee, some string for my diabolo sticks, and checked out 'point and click' digital cameras, which I'm investigating and planning to purchase. I used to be a keen photographer, but gave up over a decade ago as I was unhappy with the 'ecofootprint' of traditional film, which uses many chemicals and is wasteful, as any duff shots still have to be printed. With Digital, I would have batteries to recharge, and some initial hardware, but after that there should be few ongoing costs/carbon footprints.

Got home in time for lunch and soon after that had a visit from a reporter from Minster FM (radio station) who are doing a piece on my forthcoming appearance on ITV on Thursday. Chatted to her for a while, all with a microphone under my nose. Will be broadcast tomorrow afternoon.

Then got on with some compost heap sorting. Loaded more onto one of them, and riddled more stuff, very relaxing! Gill got the boys, and I cut some hedge and did some shredding, next door was pruning the lilacs and gave me all the branches, so they got processed too, into bigger diameter stuff for logging and twiggy bits which I shredded.

Wednesday 30th May 07

My hundredth blog-diary entry!

Today was a quite flat day, spent most of it in the house, Gill and the boys went to town and did get trousers and shoes. I did some emails, lots of Googlechat with my friend, a fair amount of housework, some paperwork and about an hour in the front garden cutting the hedge (by hand, low carbon method, with very nice freecycled shears) and an hour shredding the twiggy bits ready for a new batch in the compostumbler.

So for a landmark online diary, quite a boring day really. Didn't even get on my bike! Miss my bike when I don't get out on it!

Thursday 5th April 07

A fairly quiet day, compared with yesterday. Lovely sunny weather and a good day for doing stuff in the garden, however did pop into York to visit a Freecycler who had offered some veg seeds, and to pick up my 'Wednesday's' Out Of This World compostable materials.

Simon invited the boys to go and play with his son, who has created a den in the woods. Gill made a picnic for them and they all cycled off had a good time. Gill spent quite a lot of the day trying to book a late summer holiday in Norfolk, just before her older sister's 60th, to which we're invited. I think we've secured a week in a static caravan in Wells Next The Sea!

Gill also put up a small shelf in one of the boys' rooms, and doing that, knelt on the the bit of the futon on the 'stomper bed' which cannot take that weight, and it broke under her. I had rescued some nice pine boards from a skip just last week, and fortunately these were of a size which fitted, when sawn to 59.5cm long. I got two reclaimed supports from each board, and put 8 of them in. I think they'll be stronger than the original chipboard.

I got a phone call in the morning from one of my LETS friends Patrick, who occasionally borrows my quiet shredder. He was dismantling a willow bender in his garden and wanted to render it into a mulching material, so he drove round and picked it up, delivering it back just 6 hours later. He brought it back with his partner Jo and she spotted some 'three by two' wooden lengths in the front garden, again rescued from a skip, and asked if she could have three for a little job in her bathroom. I am only too happy to see stuff being reused, and I'm glad I hadn't sawn them up immediately. They looked as if they could be reused. There's lots more, so they'll go in my garage waiting to get another life. I was happy to be offered 12 Yorkys for the shredder loan and the wood.

As well as doing the usual composting jobs, I sowed some basil seeds in modules, plastic trays with planting voids, each with a drainage hole. I put in 3 types of basil; bush (small leaves), Genovese (larger leaves) and 'Freecycled' (looks like the Genovese on the packet!).

Nutloaf from Tuesday for tea, with a quick ratatouille stewy thingy to add moisture and interest. Enjoyed 'It's Not Easy Being Green' on telly, caught up with e-paperwork.