Friday 21st November 08

I took out little un to school and came back to try to tackle the pile of paperwork which has built up. Found our house insurance had lapsed, so renewed that with the Co-op (more dividend!) and sent off various cheques and letters etc. Got a nice email from my Mother who's holidaying in New Zealand, and replied to that, and arranged to stay with an old friend in London when I go down next week.

Spent most of the day inside, computer, paperwork, stoking the stove, washing up, slicing fruit to balance precariously on top of the stove on cake racks... a reasonably productive day.

I collected our youngest and in the playground, one of my friends, a Dad collecting his child, had an episode of his Epilepsy, which he has often told me about. I think it is a form of 'Petit Mal'... the first time I've witnessed this. Two of us led him to somewhere where he could sit down, and I stayed with him as the other person went to get someone from inside to see if he could be taken home in a car. I was glad he had forewarned me and that his other friend knew what to do.
Cycled home and soon our eldest arrived back from 3 days of outdoor activities at Bewerley Park. He had suffered from motion sickness in the coach on the way home and was in a bit of a state, feeling sick and refusing to come inside. I stayed with him outside and chatted to him about what they'd been getting up to, and the sickness wore off and he came in and 'normality' returned to our house!

Nice tea, but both boys exhausted and in bed by 8.15, amazing!

Gill and I had a peaceful evening, I chatted to Ali on typeSkype and then had to reply to a parental email accusing me of naming my children on this blog and being too open and honest.

Well the children are not named on any of this blog because I don't give personal details of any 'minor' (despite loads of other blogs naming and having photos etc of children!) But the accusation of being too open is closer to being justified, although I choose not to put lots of details and although it may look like a very frank and open autobiography, there's lots not shared with all and sundry. I am aware that some people have a voyeuristic side, and that this blog might feed that. I am aware that some small-minded people take the piddle and criticise me about my lifestyle... but I have chosen to ignore these, and do not publish rude or stupid comments. When I was young I got bullied... and today people still get bullied. It could be about accent or voice, hair colour, choice of clothes or musical preferences, parent's job or lack of a parent... bullying and teasing happens and whether or not my offsprings' behaviour is mentioned in this blog, they will get teased about something. I choose to write this because for over 20 years I've written every day, and now (some) people are interested in green issues, they might be interested in the mundane day to day life of a low-carbon approach to living a modern life. And as I'm a parent and still trying to be a good one, I sometimes include my failures and successes in this blog too.

If anyone thinks I am doing anybody a huge dis-service, then please tell me. And if you think it's OK to have this kinda stuff out there in the blogosphere, again, let me (us!) know, because I just don't know if the majority of readers think it's acceptable or if it's wrong. The comments box is there for your opinions. I will publish all polite and relevant comments even if they are critical of what I do in writing this blog, referring to the possible effects and repercussions on other people.

Wednesday 20th February 2008 Happy Birthday 'Low Carbon Lifestyle' blog!!!

Yes, one year on and I've a reasonably detailed record of my daily activities.... just emitting approximately 0.46 tonnes of 'fossil' carbon in the process, according to 'ActOnCO2' the Government's carbon calculator, and the other three I've plugged my info into also suggest a household footprint of between 1.2 tonnes and 1.8 tonnes, of which I have a share... possibly a quarter share or, if we ignore the kids and pretend their emissions are due to us adults, a half of this. I think, though, because I travel more due to my work and interests, that I should claim more than half as 'my' footprint, so mine is a tonne and Gill's just half a tonne. This figure is for heating, power and travel only. It does not take into consideration the footprint of the food we eat or other things we buy or consume (for instance, my new bike took quite a bit of energy and resources to construct and weld and transport to York), nor does it consider the 'negative footprint' of the work that I do to keep stuff out of landfill directly or by educating others..... but all that's much more complicated and would take more recording, measuring and estimating/guestimating.

So today started much like many others, got up soon after 8, saw the kids off to school, got a phone call from Beth my gardening friend saying it was too cold and frosty to do the gardening she wants to do, and as I was going to meet her to give some composting advice, she rang to say, don't come. So I put the laptop on to check messages and wish myself a happy anniversary!

Went to the parenting course and it was a good session today, as we had a talk from and with Tim Waudby who I worked with on York Green Festy last year, although in the end he didn't partcipate for various reasons. However, he did help with publicity. So he told us about various children's activities, then after lunch we made a collage of our 'Utopian vision' of our ideal society. Gill and I created 'Ecotopia' and put on lots of images of health, low consumption patterns, helping each other, charitable causes, wildlife and other lovely things!

I went to Richard's fruit emporium as usual and bought local carrots, broccoli and non-local satsumas, plus two sacks of waste veg/fruit/cardboard for composting.

I got the children plus a friend from school, and we all came home quickly as they were all keen on going up to Archbishop Holgate School for their self defence class. I left them there as Maria was bringing them back. I brought back some sticks to decorate the front garden(!) and did a bit of logpile building, as with this intense cold we're going through the logs quickly.

At 5pm, we had a visit from a joiner who we want to give us a quote for making some cupboard doors for under the stairs, as the current system there is difficult to use, they are supposed to clip off and on, but they don't do this easily.

A nap after tea for an hour then came down and watched some TV and did some computery stuff. Created a Facebook page for Professor Fiddlesticks and eventually worked out how to upload photos.

Monday 19th November 07

A good day as had a relaxing morning.. well once the kids had gone to school, although we had the usual Monday morning shennanigans preparing to go. I spent some time writing an article for Primary Times, on Ethical and Green Children's Parties, and doing this gets me a discounted advert. So got that finished and sent before lunch. Gill spent the morning making bread, a pie and a cake. As it was cold, stove going so the bread was put to rise on top of one of the big cans of hot water we use for bathwater.

I got my latest copy of 'Resource' magazine, an issue devoted to composting, which is good, I can't wait to have some time to read it.

In the evening spent a lot of time on the computer and did my very first copy and paste function, putting my reply to Annabel the blog comment person onto the bottom of the comments last week! I am highly delighted that I can now do this function, might use it to do my blogs now, instead of doing it online all the time, on dialup!

Monday 17th September 07

Most of the morning I was with Catherine the York Rotters manager, helping her with some questions for 'Compost Bingo', a game we'll play with some existing Rotters when we have a get-together later in the year.

Home for lunch, and got a phone call from our friend Jenny, whom I know through AVP, the conflict resolution workshop organisers. She had noted that we were having some parenting issues and as she's been a special needs teacher, and is very experienced in helping families, she offered to come over and have a chat... so we said, yes, this afternoon would be great. It was lovely to see her, and she is very caring, non judgemental and a good listener, asking very thought-provoking questions. One of the issues which did come up was this blog. As I am a very open person, I am happy that other people can read about my life, and I put many aspects of my life into my blog. However, my children, whom I don't name on my blog, to give them some privacy, are not so public, and one of them in particular does not want to be mentioned on the blog, especially in negative connotations. So I agreed that I would not talk about personal stuff, to respect their wishes, and would review what I've already written and remove negative mentions of them. I am not particularly happy about this, but I'll try to do it.

I collected them from school and then did some work in the garden. I felt really low, as I enjoy my blogging and feel that mentioning 'family difficulties' is ok, as it shows that my life is very similar to other parents, and gives 'reality' to my blog. However I will try to behave ethically, or more ethically than I have done.

I had a sneezy evening, nose streaming, sinusses aching, but did my column for Community Care, about the University of Central Lancashire and the student services they have.