Tuesday 12th July 11

Quite a good day, got up early as was due into the Steiner School to move furniture at 10am.  I took in my composting stuff as I wanted to continue to sort out the New Zealand bins. 

When I got there Gillian was nowhere to be found but I spoke to a couple of people and asked them to pass my message on that I was available to move desks etc out of the office.  I went to get on with the composting.  A bit later, Gillian came to see me, and told me that the carpet people had said that the desks could stay in the office.  So I just continued doing the compost bin.

There were a trio of small boys playing in the front of the school, and I asked them if they'd be able to help me.  I asked them if they could build the brick walls of the finished compost area, and they happily went to get the bricks I showed them, and had great fun finding huge spiders, and carried up to 6 bricks at a time to the enclosure I'd started to make, and they got it to be 4 bricks high.

I worked til after midday, and got a big pile of the most wonderful finished compost, plus materials for the new heap, a good layer of sticks (chopped up with my secateurs) and uncomposted moss and other bits and bobs.  When I'd done enough riddling I chopped up a sack full of fresh fruit and veg materials I'd brought with me, and spread that on top, and on top of this, another layer of the vegetation which had been used to decorate the place last week.

But I wanted to come home for lunch, so I left and popped in to Alligator to pick up their resources.

Gill had taken the boys to Scarborough for the day, on the train, so I had a couple of quiet hours over lunch to catch up with emails and other messages.  I found out that the bottle of Port from David might be worth £100, and that there's an auction site which would sell it for me.  I rang David and told him, and he agreed that I could sell all of his Port via this Manchester-based auction house, and he'd split the money with me!  Exciting!

I lit the stove and did assorted washing up, and made myself some tea.... a tiny throw-away squash, half a huge onion and some cooked rice which had been in the fridge for quite a long time.  Fried this all up on the woodstove.  It was passable.

Then soon after 6 I emptied my trailer and cycled off to Tang Hall Library for the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel.  I'd not put a change of start time into my diary and the meeting had started at 6, so I was late.  But glad I went, as one of the new Councillors was there, Neil Barnes.  We had some interesting applications to look through, and we didn't finish til after 7.30.

I did a little bit more work in the garden after I got in, just an hour til 9pm, when I came in and had a fairly 'normal' evening for me!

Monday 11th July 11

Today I had agreed to go into the Steiner School for 11am and take part in 'work week' where parents do a day's work helping to clean and decorate the school.  I'd agreed to help move furniture out of the office so that the carpet could be removed and replaced.

So I got up fairly early and at about 9.45 went to get assorted stuff from the garden to enable me to take the old compost heap apart... and riddle the sticks and uncomposted stuff out of the stuff out of the usable material.

I got to school at about 10.30, via Country Fresh who let me have 2 bags of goodies to help the school heap work nicely!

I let Gillian in the school office know that I was available to help move furniture when she wanted me to, and got on with sorting one side of the New Zealand bin which has been filled up with lots of assorted stuff, including whole branches, over the past maybe 3 years.  There were lots of ants in it, but I just got on with riddling the nice stuff out and putting the sticks and unrotted moss in the new heap.  There were also loads of stones and a bit of rubbish too, some glass, plastic ties, etc.

I worked til 1pm and then went to the office to say that I was going to get lunch, and was told that there was a bit of lunch provided.  I was pleased with this! I chatted to Jonathan and Hannah the Gym teacher, who wants to start a circus skills class after school next year.  I had a chat with her about purchasing equipment.
 

After lunch Gillian asked me to move one thing in the office, and if I might come back tomorrow to finish the job.  As I have loads more compost riddling to do, I agreed... and anyway, parents agree to do one day's work to help the school during work week, and I'd only done half a day so far.


I tidied up my composting stuff and cycled home.


At 4.30 I got ready to go to work; David was expecting me at 5pm.  He asked me to do 2 jobs in the cellar, replacing the old lightbulb and removing stuff from around the back of the metal beam which is holding the house up, and has some moisture around one end.  The structural engineer who looked at this said that removing any loose material from around the beam would help the moisture evaporate.


There was a part-case of very old Port down there, and David said I could have a bottle.  It was a bottle of 1962 port, bottled 1966.  He thinks it will be undrinkable.  I wonder if I should try to find out, or whether it would be better to sell it?  Ebay doesn't allow alcohol sales, so I wonder how I could get this to a buyer?


We then went for a coffee at City Screen and shared our stories from the past week.


I finished working for him at 7pm and went to the Seahorse for a York in Transition Cosy Homes meeting; I didn't take notes or chair, which was really nice!


Home for about 10pm, did a pile of washing up.

I wrote my blog but then the internet went down and so I copied it and saved it in an email to myself, and got to bed at about 2am.

Wednesday 29th June 11

I got up early to load up my trailer with the shredder.  Then at 8.30 I cycled in with our youngest and when he was in school I got the school extension cable and ran it from a socket in the sports hall to the path next to the compost heap.  A few weeks ago the school was decorated with a vast amount of vegetation, which before I arrived would have just been thrown in a pile and forgotten, once it had been taken down.  However, I asked for it to be put next to the compost bin I built, and today was the day to process it into something compostable.

I spent about 3 hours dealing with it, and also started to manage the existing compost bins, a pair of New Zealand bins, full to overflowing with uncomposted sticks and quite a lot of soil, and ants.  I pulled out lots of sticks and shredded these too.  I'll be riddling all of this material quite soon, so that Dave the gardening teacher can have some nice composty soil to do things with.  He commented that it looked a bit time intensive, so I told him it would make great compost and not need riddling, like the unruly pile of soil and sticks would... and that will take some time!  I got quite prickled with the bits of rose stem in amongst the shreddables, and bitten a lot by the ants.

I chatted to several people whilst working, all pleased to see something being done with the compost.  I'm glad the school are positive about it!  Much better than Lord Deramore's; that was a battle.

I came home for lunch and spent an hour on the computer before going back to pick up our little cyclist.  I went via Country Fresh and collected about 80kg of stuff, some of which I put on top of the woody shreddings, to help rot them down.

When I got home I did another batch of riddling, compost and loam, to make a potting mix for some tomatoes and cucumbers, which I proceeded to plant up.  I also did some weeding under a hedge in preparation for cutting it soon.

So a productive day outside.  In the evening I lit the stove and did a massive wash up, and prepared 24 'Chiquita Minis' for drying, tiny and very sweet bananas, from Country Fresh.

Friday 24th June 11

Woke Gill at a minute past midnight and gave her a snog and cuddle for her birthday.  She fell asleep again and came upstairs with me when I went to bed after 2am.

I woke again after 9 when Gill had already left the house to work at the Steiner School shop, and I had some time with our eldest.

Gill came back and we spent some time discussing what to do for her birthday.  We thought about going to City Screen... but there wasn't anything on we liked the look of, nor at the Theatre Royal, and the Grand Opera House had Deacon Blue... not our cup of tea either.  So we decided that if Simon could babysit (he said he would) then we'd go to El Piano and have a meal together.

Gill and our eldest went out soon after lunch to watch the fire-jumping ceremony at the Steiner School.... it is some Saint's Day and they have a 'traditional' festivity, our lad's first, so Gill went to watch him.

I went to visit Carolyn, to discuss a few things regarding my work with David.  I got back at 5, Gill was just in with the boys.  Simon wasn't able to come til 7.30 so we said don't bother... I'd made a nice soup and Gill said she'd prefer that and a game of Scrabble instead.

So that's what we did.  Nice soup, we all liked it, and a game of Scrabble which didn't get finished.

Wednesday 22nd June 11

Gill took our youngest to school by taxi and I got up at around 9.30.  I had a relatively sedentary day attempting to get some writing done, but felt fairly frustrated.  I did have a few nice chats online though.

I got some of the WNBR notes done, but failed to finish the notes from last night's meeting. I am easily distracted.

I did lots of washing up and had to deal with some red-tape type stuff, a couple of phone calls and letters.  I couldn't decide whether to take my shredder to the Steiner School to deal with the pile of vegetation-decoration, and in the end, to save Gill going in again on the bus (as I wouldn't be able to take the child's bike AND the shredder) I decided not to, but to collect our son myself.

So, at 3 I cycled to the Steiner School with out youngest's bike on my trailer.  I met my old friend Andy White whom I haven't seen for ages and that cheered me up.  We cycled home quickly since I made my son's bike saddle higher and pumped the tyres up.  I stopped on the way home to collect a good big trailer full of scrap wood from a house having building work done, with permission of course.  My son didn't stop, and carried on home by himself.  I think he's old enough and a good cyclist enough to cycle all the way home by himself, but Gill disagrees. Having to do two trips each day to the Steiner School eats up so much of the day!

After I got in, I couldn't stand any more time inside, so I started on the raised bed I've been planning for a while.  I made the back wall, from bricks, to stop the soil going onto the fence.  I did a bit of composting and some planting up. 

I did some fruit drying in the evening, and listened to Last.fm.

But all in all a bit of nothingy day.  Hope I'm more cheerful tomorrow.

Monday 7th March 11

A grumpy day mostly.  I got up early as Gill was taking our youngest to school in a taxi. and then going on to the Credit Union to put some money aside so we can pay the Steiner School for the second term in May.  So they were ready more or less on time and as they got going, the taxi broke down.  So they had to wait for a replacement one.  Apparently they weren't very late and people were rolling in behind them.

I tried to do some home education and failed. This is what caused my stress today.  I was glad to see Will, who arrived just before 11, to do some maths with our home-schooler.  Gill arrived back then too.

I helped Gill do some sorting out, as we have Hector coming to install a new sink tomorrow, a Freecycled stainless steel sink which we hope will be less yukky than the white enamel one we have now... He's also going to put up a new shelf, which will give us more storage space.

I managed to get outside and do some more prep for getting the 50 sacks of compost up to the front.  I think I'll need to do this for the best part of a day... but maybe it won't take that long.  I stacked a load of cut logs from the front into the covered shed down the garden, and dismantled another compost bin ready for re-installing it in a rat-proof  way, up off the ground more than it was previously.  They like hiding places, so the less cover they have, the less likely they will be attracted to the heaps.

At 2pm I set off with some of my circus gear to the Steiner School, plus our youngest's bike on the trailer. Angela, the class 8 teacher, had requested that I go in and help one of her 3 children (yes, a very small class!) with his 'walking ladder' trick.  I cannot do the walking ladder, but as I do assorted other physical skills, including balancing and unicycle, I was able to go through some of the science.  So I covered pendulums (as a ladder or unicycle are similar to a metronome or upside-down pendulum) and gravity, and how best to learn (little and often) and how playing and experimentation is the best way to learn too.  The 50 minutes seemed to go well. 

I cycled home with our youngest, a good ride, but as he arrived home he too had a teen turn and this didn't help my headache. 
Ros came round and needed help with her bike, as it had a flat tyre and her pump seemed to be letting more air out than in... However, I managed to get it hard and ride-worthy. 

Gill made toasties for tea.  Then, although I wasn't feeling like it, I went to the LETS meeting, as I have an obligation to go... and within about 10 minutes of the company of my friends there, I'd cheered up considerably.  It was a laughter-filled meeting, minimally chaired by Melody.  At the end of the meeting, I gave a copy of 'The Curious Incident' to Kay and Ben (to give to Jill).  After the meeting I went looking for the skip which had the beer in it a few days ago, but it had gone, so no rooting around in that tonight.

I was happy to get home and warm up as it was cold in the pub.  I did one batch of washing up and then got trapped into facebook and Jango.

Friday 28th January 11

A much better morning.  And therefore a better day... despite spending most of it doing paperwork!  Gill and I finished off our financial declaration for the Steiner School... we had to work out our gross income, then all our household bills, and other unavoidable costs, such as my Fiddlesticks advertising and travel.  The amount of 'available money' left gives the school the guide as to how much the fee (or donation as they put it) should be.  So, despite our saving money by not having a car, by being really careful with our electricity and gas use, we're going to have a lean few years ahead, because of the large chunk needed to pay for our youngest's education.

I also worked on my CV, which had been requested by a potential employer, and was really happy to get that finished. 

I took the Steiner School paperwork into the school before chucking out time, and Judy checked it over and I agreed (and signed) the annual fee, and agreed to pay a third of this at the beginning of each term.  As I was handing the forms into the office, I asked about the help that's needed in the school that most parents offer.  I said I'd be happiest doing garden-type stuff, and was told that there was a 'gardening teacher' but also a parent called Christine who did most of it.  At that moment, Christine walked past, so the office person stopped her and I introduced myself.  I'll have a meeting with her next week to see what sorts of things need doing.

Then our boyo appeared, I unlocked his bike and we slowly cycled home.  I found some pruned branches and brought a few home.  When we got back, I spent a bit of time with loppers filling a couple of potato sacks with cut sticks... they dry well in these paper sacks, and I use this size of stick for kindling.

Just before dark I popped round to see Tim Jones to pick up the second load of sticks from his garden, and he invited me in for a cuppa, and I met his wife and two daughters. I made a balloon animal for them both. Tim paid me for the half-day's work on Monday.  I now have a large pile of logs and sticks to chop up... again!


A bit later, after tea, I cycled down to Heslington with our other son so he could do his computer graphics lesson with Simon.  I cycled back home via a pile of branches recently pruned back, and got home in time for some washing up and then another cycle back to pick him up again.  I've no idea how many miles I've cycled today but it seems like quite a lot.

Wednesday 26th January 11

A paperwork morning; I'd found a missing booking letter in my diary/journal whilst looking for the info for the RSA Harrogate event, so I penned a reply and cycled it over to the Malton Road area.  I popped in on John Bibby too, whilst I was in the area, and he invited me to chop up a big log he's had outside his house for years.  I'll do that when he invites me to go and spend the day doing it.

Then bombed into town to pay in a composting cheque and pay our annual gas and electricity bills.  I came home via Country Fresh and said hi to Richard and got home in time for lunch.

After lunch I got the second bike sorted out, so our eldest could cycle down to the Steiner School with me, get some exercise, and I'd take the youngest's bike on my trailer (he went to school in a taxi with Gill) and we'd cycle back.  This worked well... there were no problems getting there and coming back was even easier.  I picked up a pallet on the way back and when home, did a bit of chainsawing to chop up this and another pallet, and chop some logs too.  Did some stacking until it started to rain.

Gill got an offer of a ticket to see The King's Speech with Melody, so I got the children sorted for bed.

Still feeling emotional about Mozaz, but pleased to see his friend Sam has set up a website in his memory, with it's first purpose to help co-ordinate his funeral.

Gill came back having enjoyed the film and had a good night out, and used the day rover bus ticket she got when returning from the Steiner School this morning.

Friday 21st January 11

Up early but I'd have liked a lie-in, but as Gill was taking our youngest to school, I got up and ensured that our home-educated child got to Maria's on time for his science lesson with her.  Once Gill came back, I went to the bread shop for £4 worth of yesterbake bread (2 big loaves, 4 bags of assorted rolls, 4 iced spirals and 2 bags of flapjack offcuts) and I posted a big parcel of home made dried fruit to Tracey Smith, in swap for her book 'The Book of Rubbish Ideas' which she sent to me to review here!  I haven't started reading it yet, but hope to get around to it soon.

I also read our gas and electricity meters, as I'd received a gas bill and the last two readings were estimates.  I buy both gas and electricity from Good Energy, which supplies 100% renewable electricity, and the gas bill helps pay ROCs to people with solar panels.  The way I pay my bills is to pay a whole year annually in advance, and this means I can easily work out our annual consumption.  So, over the past 12 months, this household of 4 people has used 65 cubic metres of gas, which equates to 726kwh, and cost £65, with £40 standing charge... so our annual gas bill is £111.61.  We use more electricity than gas, 2009kwh last year, which is 5.5kw per day.  The national average is 10 to 28kw/day I was told.  This makes our annual electricity bill £342.84.  I will pay by bank transfer next week.

I enjoyed lunch, and after this bagged up some very well rotted (and dry and powdery!) compost from a rotating barrel tumbler.  It will need riddling but the majority of it is really lovely stuff.

Gill had already gone down to town by bus and then out to the Steiner School, and was awaiting an interview with the class teacher and anther staff member.  I cycled down, getting there just in time for the 3.45 interview.  It seems that our boy has settled in to this new school well, and has made friends and is already pretty well integrated into his class.  We need to fill in a form and work out our gross income to work out our financial contribution, but this should be relatively simple.  We were away by 5pm, Gill and Junior got the bus and I cycled quickly home and put the oven on, as Gill rang and said she'd bought oven chips in Iceland.  We don't have chips very often... maybe once a month, but now and again it's quick and easy.

At 6.45 I took our eldest down to Heslington for his computer graphics lesson.  I picked up 2 loads of wood in the intervening hour and then walked back with him after 8.

I'd been invited to a party this evening but I decided to stay in, and was glad I did as my authority was welcomed when some behaviour happened which merited intervention.    So another busy and full day.

Thursday 20th January 11

Up early, as Gill got up at 6ish and I asked her to wake me up at 8, but I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up at 7.30 and had a shave and a bath, as I wanted to be very presentable today.

Gill took our youngest off to the Steiner School in a taxi at 8.30, and I set our eldest a task to do, some English language work to do, and at 9.10 I cycled off to the Steiner School for their enquirers day.  This is part of the process of deciding whether our youngest will become a pupil there.

Gill had been chatting in the cafe, and when I arrived, one of my friends was there and she told us about her children at the school, and how happy they were.  Then the enquirers sat in a circle and had two teachers introduced us to the school, the ethos, the school year, and the school day, especially for the youngest in the school, as most of the enquirers were there with very young children, including one 9 week old baby with parents thinking about which school he would go to, nice and early.

Soon we went on a tour of the school, starting with the 6 year olds in Year 1 (we just observed the kindergarten kids through windows off the corridor) and in each class we saw what they were doing, for instance how mathematics was being taught, poetry, zoology, two classes performed a song for us and when we got to the class our son is in, they showed us an interesting 'eurythmy style' method of looking at social interaction based on geometry.  The class demonstrated this and then asked the visitors to join in.  It was great fun!

But by now it was 11am and although Gill was able to stay on for the question and answer session, I had to cycle back and take our eldest on the bus to Rawcliffe Pavillion, for a gathering of the 'YorkDistrict' home educators.  I got some lunch together and then on the No. 6 bus. we discussed about nouns, proper nouns, collective nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, gerunds, interjections, expletives, assorted punctuation and more!  The long bus journey was soon over.  The event was a general meeting, not the 'Chess/Bored' meeting which sometimes happens, and there were quite a few younger children there so it was quite noisy.  We had our sandwiches and my lad had a game of chess with another boy... a close game, which our son just won.  Then I had a game with him, and he comprehensively beat me... the first time he's beaten me, and he felt really good about this.  Towards 3pm we gathered up our stuff... I took away a large crisp packet full of teabags and plate scrapings for composting.

When we got the bus, I was delighted to see my old friend John Huggins, whom I've known for over 20 years, but haven't bumped into for a couple of years.  He was looking really well, and is a few months away from retiring.  He got off at the Theatre Royal and I then resumed chatting with my boyo.

So, a successful and interesting day, but I was knackered, so after tea, I decided to have an hour's kip before going out to the City Screen to see the new Talking Heads film, with a live link interview with David Byrne afterwards.  But when I got up at 8pm, I decided not to go, but to stay in with the family and enjoy a couple of good tv programmes instead. I'm sure I'll get to see the film sometime.

I also froze several batches of the tomato/onion base I made a day or two ago, and made the rest into soup.

Monday 10th January 11

Up early to help ease our youngest out of the house.  Today was his first day of a two-week trial at the York Steiner School, where we hope there will be a nicer atmosphere than at Archbishop Holgate's where bullying is rife and the school don't admit there's a problem so they don't have to deal with it. 

So, the taxi arrived at 8.15 and 5 minutes later, he and Gill were heading away, in the freezing rain. It was a good idea not to try to cycle there on the first day.  Amazingly, Gill got a bus back into town and then another one straight out and was home by 9. 15.  She got an all day rover ticket as she'd planned to go to the library with our oldest child as part of his home schooling, but actually he wasn't feeling up to it so that didn't happen.  Gill and I were discussing things when there was a phone call at 10.15 from Catherine at York Rotters asking me if I was planning on coming to the Management Group meeting.  Whoops!

So i quickly got dressed and jumped on my bike and got down to the Environment Centre in about 10 minutes.  The meeting was subdued as my colleagues wanted to know what I knew about Stella Rawson, and of course this saddened all of us.  However, we had to get on with the meeting, which was mainly about our work plans for the 2011-2012 financial year, so our talk was of targets and aims, objectives and how to communicate, how to enthuse, persuade even.  We decided to target two wards, which we have data for from a Council survey last year, and we decided to see if we could get the composting rate up by 5% and 3% in those wards, we worked out how many households this would be and how many tonnes of landfill it would prevent, based on DEFRA figures.  It was an excellent meeting for discussion, decisions and successful group working.

I got home at about 1pm and Gill was in the house, not heading for the library as I'd expected.  I had a quick lunch and just before 2, cycled off to see Pauline who'd asked me to help her cut some kindling.  She has been buying logs at £70 a load, but to get them lit, needs kindling.  So I spent about 45 minutes doing that, then it was time for coffee and some good conversations, about all sorts of things, as always with Pauline.

I visited Alligator on the way home, picking up a good load for my compost heaps, and then popped in on Country Fresh where Martin gave me 4 spare pineapples.  Nice!

When I got home, Gill was dancing round looking very pleased... the day at the Steiner School had been very successful and our little one was happy.  HOORAY!  This is a huge weight off our minds.

A fruity evening... carving up pineapple for anyone who wanted it and a load on the stove to dry, and watched a programme on measuring temperature with our eldest, ad I enjoyed Newsnight as I'm very interested in the Kingsnorth collapsed trial and the undercover cop story. 

However, although I heated bathwater, I didn't get as far as a bath so I must have one tomorrow as I'm working tomorrow evening and the next day.

Friday 17th December 10

Up early as working this morning... due to be performing a Christmas party show 9.30 til 10.30, at a nursery in Poppleton.  So, working backwards, I had to be there for 9, and it takes up to an hour to cycle there, especially with a trailer full of equipment, so left the house at about 8am.

The gig went really well, though.  The audience were 3 and 4 year olds, so I had no expectations of lots of participation.  I decided to do both my shows in one hour.  I blew up a load of balloons before the show started, and held them carefully in a kind of horizontal paper holder thing which was on the stage behind me.  The circus show started well, with the juggling ball dropping trick, which works even for the very young.  I got a few of them up to try the feather balancing, and they enjoyed saying hello to Derek the diabolo and counting his jumps on the trampoline, and two children had a go with the yoyo balls, and three had a go on the four wheel unicycle.  Then I made a few demonstration balloons and then gave all 30 or so children their own balloon of their choice.  I finished on the dot of 10.30.

I got packed up, changed and cycled down to Holgate and from there on to the Millennium Bridge which is very close to the Steiner School.  We'd been invited to come and see the school, and meet Jonathan, who has the class which our youngest would go into if he wanted to go to this school.  Gill and our youngest had got there in a taxi, and had seats reserved for them, and we watched the Christmas Festival, with each class presenting a song or a poem, or a mini play.  However I had waves of depression whilst I was sitting in the audience.  All I want is my children to be happy and go to a nearby school where they aren't bullied and beaten up.  I don't want to home educate and I don't want to have to take my boy all the way to the Steiner School which is quite a long cycle away, maybe 20 minutes each way. I don't agree with the teachings of Steiner although there are some lovely people at the school, lots of my friends have children there, and I do like it that they are very child centred not subject centred.

Anyway, we had a good chat to Jonathan afterwards, with our son, and then a few minutes without him.  Depending on what happens early next term at Archbishop Holgates School, he may have a trial two weeks at the Steiner School. 

Gill then took our boyo into town on the bus to collect his glasses, and I cycled home where our eldest was supposed to be working.  I got in at 2.30 and had lunch.

I did a bit of stacking after this but it got dark early and was very cold.  I popped round to see Debbie to see if she was a grandma yet, and to give her some support regarding a difficult social situation she's dealing with.  After tea I was very tired and feeling low so I went to bed for two hours, getting up after 10 to do the washing up and write about today.  I did enjoy a programme on BBC4 called Festivals Britannia.  Memories.

Another early start tomorrow, as going to Dewsbury to do the Santa in the grotto gig again.  Grit my teeth.

Thursday 16th December 10

A busy morning, dealing with the arrangements for our youngest son's schooling. 

In preparation for today's event, Gill made a load of small quiches with goats milk and goats cheese, after I'd been out to buy the milk.  I grated cheese as we'd promised to bring that, and I collected together a bag of dried fruit together. 

The YorkDistrict Home Educators were gathering for a Christmas party at 1pm at Rawcliffe Pavilion in Clifton Moor.  This is really convenient for us, as it is less than 5 minutes walk from a bus stop on Rivelin Way, with the No. 6 bus, which also goes along Tang Hall Lane, which is 5 minutes from us.  The only disadvantage is that this journey with the No. 6 takes 50 minutes, winds it's way through Heworth, Layerthorpe, town, crosses the river, almost gets to the station before doubling back, crossing the river again, going past the hospital, through the Burton Stone Lane/ Burton Green area, and eventually gets to Rivelin Way. 

So I reckoned that if we left the house at about midday that would be about right, but there were major shenanigans and messing around, so I announced that I had got all the mini quiches, cheese and fruit and was ready, and went outside the front door, as I reckoned my presence inside wasn't helping my mental health OR that of any family member.  I stacked logs for half an hour whilst things calmed down and people got ready.  When the bus came, about 5 minutes after we got to the bus stop, I got a family Day Rover for £7.40.

We got to the event just after 1.30 and there were others still arriving.  Our eldest immediately found a group of boys his own age and was all smiles and laughter, it was so good to see.  Our youngest was determined not to enjoy any of the event and therefore didn't.  I enjoyed chatting to one of the other dads and a few mums, and helped by doing a short spot of 3 ball juggling workshop, and lots of clearing up at the end, taking 2 sacks of paper plates and food waste back home on the bus to put in the tumbler.  It was good to meet some other home educators, and although I'm only slowly coming to terms with this change in my life... and not really enjoying it, this event will have helped me move towards acceptance.

When we got back it was dark.  I lit both stoves as the house was cold.  Tea was yesterday's nutloaf and I made a sauce with the rems of the leek and potato soup and some dead pasta and cauliflower. It was delicious!

I kept myself to myself this evening, didn't interact with the children, thought it best not to, and just let them do as they wanted.  I fielded a phone call from Jonathan, a teacher at the Steiner School, about us coming to see the school and discussing our youngest going there.  I also had a crisis message from a friend who's an alcoholic and has an Aspergery boyfriend who had put the phone down on her as she'd admitted to having had a drink, which although he's a drinker himself, he disapproves of.  Complicated, and I'm not sure I was able to help much, but I did ring and listen, in case I was able to help.