Saturday 9th January 10

A reasonable day... Gill was getting ready to take our two and a friend to see Avatar, so I went to the baker and the Co-op and by the time I got back they were gone.

I did a bit on the computer and had lunch, and washed up, then went outside and did more woodpile. Also started to dig out a semi-finished pallet-bin and turn it into it's neighbour, to make way for the stuff which is currently awaiting it's final resting place alongside sawdust, hedge trimmings, straw and cardboard, and some warmer weather! I got very cold and was glad to come back in.

Gill had made a pizza dough before going out and when I got in, she was in the middle of cooking a pizza for the children. All of them had enjoyed Avatar, though the glasses had made Gill's eyes water.

So, a nice pizza for tea, with home-made baked beans. I'd done these earlier today: beans from the garden, soaked and boiled, then drained and put with a litre of out of date tomato juice, and brought to the boil again and left on the stove for a couple of hours simmering. Not bad at all!

The boys watched The Simpsons Movie on TV whilst I played Scrabble on facebook and waited for the bathwater to heat up enough on the stove for my bath.

Through facebook I was pleased to learn about the latest news from Georgina Downs' campaign to prevent pesticides being sprayed near where people live. She won in the High Court and the Government appealed and her victory was overturned. So she's taking the case to the European Court, and I hope she wins. See here for today's article in The Ecologist . The other thing I found was that the Royal Mail, apparently, are going to reduce the number of posties who use bicycles, and replace them with vans. How stupid is that? If you feel the same as me, and live in the UK, you can sign this 'Number 10' petition to the Prime Minister: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Royalmailbikes/

Wednesday 21st January 09

Got up at much the normal time, despite going to bed at 2.30am having done my column for Community Care... but had to get up as had a busy day ahead! I cycled down to the station at 8.20 to get the London train just before 9, for which I got tickets well before Christmas.

I popped into the WHSmith at the station to see if they had the February issue of The Ecologist, which several people have told me has the article about my low carbon lifestyle in... and yes, I was able to buy this and the article is pretty good, the photos are excellent. It was written by a journalist called Sam Southgate following a conversation we had, and it is mostly correct, apart from I'm sure I never said my diet was 'well over 99.99% non animal products'. The truth is it's probably over 95% non-animal, as I do eat some cheese, occasional egg and very occasional dairy milk. I am vegetarian, and am a 'wannabe vegan' apart I've never had a good vegan cheese, so I'd miss my occasional fancy cheeses...... Gill also makes cakes, and some of these contain eggs (free range of course, but out of chickens' bottoms) But, I'm DELIGHTED to be featured, under the banner 'How to reduce your carbon footprint'.

I was due to meet Peter Hale on the train, but he wasn't in the seat he was booked into so I just sat where my seat as booked, and chatted with a woman who was into arty fabrics and makes felt and all sorts of other things, and a Polish mum with a lovely smiley 10 month old baby girl who was the epitome of beautiful baby.

We were soon in Kings Cross, I bought a map which I didn't need as the meeting house, opposite Euston, was only 10 mins walk away in a straight line. I could have just asked... but I bought a £2.25 map and then asked the kiosk person. So, to the Friends Meeting House at Euston where there were already a couple of people from the Climate Speakers Network. Including Peter, the organiser, who had been on the train but had found a table seat so he could stretch his legs. It was good to finally meet him after much email conversation.

By 1pm, the start time, there were 15 of us and another 3 joined us soon. A very good turnout. The aim of the meeting was to meet other people who do talks and education about climate change, share information about what works and how to get bookings, and who from. I was particularly pleased to meet Anthony Day, who's from York and is on the York in Transition email list, and has written a book 'Will Climate Change Your Life', a CRAGger called Robin Smith, and my Green Party friend Janet Alty, whom I'm very fond of as she's very outspoken, radical, sensible and friendly. But everybody was interesting in their own way, and the meeting was very enjoyable and useful, lots of ideas, things to research and look up, read, people to email.

The meeting finished at about 5pm and a few of us went for a drink (bottle of 'pear cider' cost £4!!!) and then sometime after 6, walked along to Kings Cross to get the 6.30 train. This journey went quickly as I dozed for some of it and read the rest of The Ecologist. Got back home soon after 9pm.

What a day... really positive and inspiring. I'll have to send some notes to Peter so he can do a mail out to the attendees.

I had some left-over leek and potato soup and some toasted stale bread which was lovely! The family was happy to see my photo in The Ecologist and I read the article to the boys, who seemed proud of me. I am very happy today. VERY!

Tuesday 9th September 08

A reasonable morning... cycled into town via Hazel Court Recycling Centre with a load of drinks cartons, which are not collected on the doorstep, but can be put in a 'bring bank', the nearest of which is the one at the Council's skip site. I also took a few bits of scrap iron and our old phone which had stopped working, for the WEEE skip (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment) for recycling. I was not shouted at by the staff who seem to have realised that cyclists can use this facility as safely as motorists who then get out of their vehicles and wander around putting stuff in different skips.

From there on to see Dylan at the Healthy Living Centre, Millers Yard, where we had a conversation about where the York Green Festival was going, and what might be said at the forthcoming meeting. To the Council to give in some paperwork, and to the Building Society to put in a cheque. On to Boots but they didn't have what I wanted (little brushes to get between my teeth) and to Cycle Heaven to buy Gill a D lock as hers has gone wrong...

Home for lunch... and had that before a pre-arranged visit from a journalist, Sam, who used to work for the Press and knew me from those days, who's now working independently and is doing a piece for The Ecologist. So we had an hour and a half chatting, talking about carbon footprints and motivations and some quite detailed stuff. I do enjoy this, explaining about carbon calculators and 'easy to measure carbon and much more difficult to measure carbon' and the fact that it's not actually measuring, just approximating, guessing, but also the value of doing the exercise. At 3, I went to pick up our only child who now needs picking up from primary school... the older one arrived home soon after we did.

I then went down to town again to meet Ali who's in York for a meeting. We went to El Piano and had a lovely meal together, lots of chat about a huge range of subjects and we sorted the World out! A lovely evening.