Friday 4th March 11

Quite an early start as I went round to Maria's with my eldest so he could do his science lesson and I moved about 20 sacks of compost in the wheelbarrow from the back garden, through Johan's workshop and tipped them out into the front garden, in piles all over, so that Maria can rake or brush them over the soil.  I finished that in about 40 minutes and then carried on digging out the second New Zealand bin and putting it into the third, removing sticks and stones and rubbish... not that there was a lot of rubbish, but a few uncomposted tea-bags, bits of plastic, etc.  The sticks went on the top of heap number 1, with all the fresh material on.

Maria and our lad did experiments to see how quickly hot water cooled down in differently insulated receptacles.  Simple, but good hands on experiments, good to see scientific technique being done.

We came back at the same time Gill came back from the Steiner School, she'd been volunteering at the shop.

I was sorting out something outside when a neighbour, Jamie, stopped by, and invited me to see his logpile!  He was planning on getting a stove; he'd visited me a couple of years ago and seen the stoves.  However, he hasn't got round to it, and he's just learned that his wife has a serious illness, so he's selling his logpile for £50.  I said yes, because it is a mix of hardwood and softwood, well seasoned, and there's a lot of it. I think £50 is a good price.

I came back for lunch, and arranged to go and see David on Sunday night. 

In the afternoon I needed to sort out various things as I'm going to Sheffield tonight to attend the Community Composting Network meal, and tomorrow the AGM and conference.  I'll be staying over at my brother's house.

I popped down to see Richard to give him another 5 bags of seed compost, collected 4 sacks of 'resources'.  I also collected two trailer loads of logs from Jamie round the corner.  Then needed to get ready to go to Sheffield!

I got to the station in good time to get my ticket and take the bike (no trailer!) over to Platform 9 to get onto the Plymouth Train, which went via Leeds and Wakefield to Sheffield.  I got into Sheffield just before 7 and it didn't take me long to cycle up to the Blue Moon where the Community Composting Network members were gathering for a social meal.

As usual with Blue Moon, the food was excellent, and I enjoyed meeting the other CCN people, some of whom I knew and others I got to know!

It wasn't far from Blue Moon to where my brother lives, behind the station, and I found myself slowly tacking up a huge hill but it was really only about 5 minutes cycling uphill, the rest was either flat or down a gradient.

I got to Tom's at 10pm, and he and Kate were out at an event, so I knew there were babysitters there.  They left as soon as I'd got my bike into the garage, and I went on Tom's computer to chat on facebook, before peeling off to bed and reading more of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, my World Book Night title.

Thursday 3rd March 11

I woke early with a sort of sense of urgency... not sure why, although I did have several meetings today, and I'm awareI haven't got 50 sacks of compost ready to be collected next weekend and I really need to get that done!

But I didn't dive into the garden, as I had various things to do inside.... lighting the front room stove, as we had a meeting scheduled in there, and the back room stove, as it was cold and we needed washing up water.

Then I washed up.  At 10.30 we were expecting someone to visit, one of their roles was to see how our eldest was getting on with home education.  She didn't turn up... and then we got a phone call... she was expecting us to go there.  However, she hadn't said this.  She came in a taxi, with her guide dog, as she is blind, and spent well over an hour talking with us.

I had another meeting at 1pm, so I grabbed an early lunch and bombed off into town.  After this one, I went to the Steiner School to start the compost bin build.  I leveled some ground a bit and placed two pallets at right-angles against a wall which was also a corner, so forming the other two sides to the heap.  Maurice said he'd bring in a drill with a selection of masonry bits... I'd then choose the right sized bit for purchasing (or finding!) a screw, hook or one of these plus a rawplug to help it stay in the wall.  This will allow the pallets to be fixed to the wall, for safety, as Steiner Kids are all brilliant at climbing and will definitely try to climb on the compost bin.  However, I did sort out a bit of stuff for the base, some assorted twiggy bits.

After this I had a conversation with Angela, one of the teachers, who has a pupil in her class who is trying to learn the 'walking ladder', and has asked me if I'll go in and give them some feedback.  I agreed, despite not being able to do the walking ladder myself!  So that's on Monday.  Should be interesting!

I came home via Alligator, and the Waterstones, where I picked up my 48 copies of Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' for World Book Night. Later, I got an email with the 48 unique codes of my books, so I wrote them out in the back cover, so that wherever they end up, my book can be traced back to me as a giver.  However, I had real problems trying to log into their website. 

I enjoyed today, was a good one.  Tomorrow promises to be just as busy!

Friday 3rd December 10

Another quiet day.  Our youngest was off school as it was a training day, so both boys had a computer game-based day.  Gill had planned to take them both out to see a film but eventually they decided not to go, and a friend came round and they all played computer games. 

Gill did go to town and got some clothes and perspex to continue triple glazing the house.

I did a little bit outside but generally had a lazy day inside, due to the bitter cold and deep snow. I kept it warm inside by keeping both stoves going all day.

Mid afternoon I received a phone call from Jane who was about to set out on foot to deliver her broken laptop to the computer shop on Hull Road, very near us, and she asked if she could pop in.  So she came for a wood-fired cuppa and chat, and met Gill... they got on well.

I spent a lot of the day reading, including the questions for Julian Assange about the WikiLeaks intrigue, and later, his answers.  I submitted my application to World Book Night, a plan to give away a million books next March.  I also did some cooking to add to tea... just slices of winter squash, boiled on the stove and then roasted at the same time as Gill's potato and leek quiche cooked.

So, a fairly nothingy day.  Hope tomorrow is more active.