Tuesday 22nd November 11

Bit of a lie in, and a fairly relaxed day. I was supposed to take my bike into Cycle Heaven in the morning but I didn't get it together til mid afternoon.

Ash told me that they had this one last Weber hitch left, and their supplier couldn't get any more.  However, I'm not that happy with the Weber trailer hitch, as it wears through (with the hammering I give it!) really quickly... this last one has lasted about a year.  So this one might be the last one that Ash fits, and he showed me another trailer hitch which might be more suitable for my needs.  However, he doesn't know if it comes separately from the trailer that it's attached to!

I left my bike and trailer at Cycle Heaven and walked into town to pay our water bill, get a cheque out for my Leeds Yellow Pages, and put two cheques in.

That didn't take long, so I walked up to see Pauline, who was in, and seemed glad to see me.  We chatted for half an hour and then I walked back to Cycle Heaven, paid for my trailer hitch and cycled home.

Had a quiet evening, didn't do much apart from turn out the pear leather from it's tin onto a non stick sheet to continue drying.

Monday 21st November 11

Slept til after 10, as it was a long weekend and I didn't get to bed til 3am.

I rang Cycle Heaven about the Weber trailer hitch I asked them to get for me, and the chap said there was nothing on my records about asking them to order a trailer hitch.  He said it would be available in a couple of weeks... I protested, and he said he'd speak to the boss and see if things could be sped up.  Later, I got a message on the answerphone to ring them... and apparently they DO have one in stock, and will fit it tomorrow!  Brilliant, but a bit of a heart-stopping moment to think my trailer wouldn't be usable for a fortnight!

I did quite a bit of washing up, and wood stacking, and some composting, and later in the afternoon, because Gill was out, I made a nice tea.  Boiled spuds on one woodstove, fried leeks and onions on the other one.  Put the nearly cooked spuds into the leek/onion with the remains of the tomato soup stuff I made a few days back and has been in the fridge.  This I cooked up with some Marmite water (cleaned out an old jar with hot water) and whilst that was cooking on the stove top, I made a breadcrumb/pumpkin seed/walnut/goats cheese crumble topping, which I put on top and put more grated goats cheese on top.. and 20 minutes in the oven to crisp off the top.  This was ready just as Gill came in with our eldest, and it all went, and was appreciated.

In the evening I cycled round to Edward's for a York in Transition Directors' meeting.  Good to see Barry and Colin too, it was a productive meeting.

Home to jarring up pears and turning out the pear leather, halving, coring and peeling more pears for drying, and answering composting and wormery queries on facebook.

Wednesday 2nd June 10

A good day with not too early a start, so had a lie in til after 9, and then a fairly quiet nothingy morning doing I don't know what. But I had a date with Cycle Heaven whom I'd asked to fit an new Weber trailer hitch, as the old one has almost worn through. It is an excellent piece of equipment, and the rubber thingy inside lasts quite a long time, and when that disintegrates with the exceptionally heavy use I give it, the metal links rattle but continue to do the job, but they do gradually get thinner and this is my third hitch in maybe 12 years, not sure exactly.

On the way into town I popped into the Council's Civic Amenity Site (skip site or recycling site) at Hazel Court, with a whole load of electrical stuff that Ben asked me to take in, a couple of electrical things I'd found in skips and wanted not to go to landfill, a sack of scrap iron and two sacks of soya milk cartons. I had absolutely no hassle with the gentlemen there and the sign saying no cyclists has been removed. I think we have won. A victory for common sense and sustainability over petty rules. I'm pleased with this.

So then into Cycle Heaven and the wonderful Ash modified the trailer hitch to make it compatible with my pannier rack. In the hour that it took, I walked into town, tried to visit Pauline but she wasn't in, and found somewhere to sit for a while. At 2pm I went back and handed over my money and cycled away happy, with a now non-rattley trailer.

Back via Country Fresh and Freshways.

Late lunch, and then a bit of time on the computer... and had a phone call from NewScientist who are interested in Novaterium and greener funeral options. I'd actually been thinking last night that I'd like to write an Opinion piece for them, and I suggested this. I hope someone will get back to me with a positive response.

Spent more time in the garden, composting and pruning and shredding and planting some beans.

A good day.