Thursday 25th February 10

Gill woke me at 8.30 as I'd asked her to, but I wasn't well still. I came downstairs for breakfast and spent some time on the computer but at about 10 I went back to bed, and after 3 phone call interruptions, I fell asleep and slept til about 3pm, when Gill woke me again. I had a small lunch.

But I didn't get dressed, and stayed in my dressing gown all day. Shocking!

I did a lot of reading and some outgoing emails but generally had a very sedentary day, coughing and feeling poorly.

Glad there was nothing important that I missed today, although I'd have loved to go out and meet up with Helen and friends, as she's got a job out of York and tonight was her leaving do.

Wednesday 24th February 10

I woke at 8.30 feeling awful. I was sneezing and coughing and had blocked sinuses. I wondered if it was the pollution I'd inhaled yesterday putting out the St Nicks bin fire, or whether it was just a virus.

I didn't feel like breakfast, which is more or less unheard of for me. But also, I'd run out of muesli, so I made some up with the 10kg bag of Suma organic muesli base plus chopped-up home made dried bananas, apples, pears, homegrown pumpkin seeds and some assorted nuts which were in their shells, so I spent the best part of an hour shelling local almonds (thank you Melody!), hazelnuts and I think the walnuts might be local too. Then I had breakfast.

So I had a quiet day. Gill went to town by bus to meet up with Melody, Natalie and Alison for the Ladies Who Lunch meeting... and also Melody's birthday.

When Gill came back I got dressed and did some housework, although still feeling very grotty.

At about 5pm, freecycler Fraser, who posted a message saying he wanted some topsoil or compost came round. I had offered him a free sack of compost, but told him that I could also let him have some more for a donation. He was really pleased, as he is making raised beds for vegetables. He was fascinated to see my composting set up. I took the wheelbarrow down the garden and loaded up 5 sacks for him. He gave me £10 for the four sacks and also found out he is living in Katharina and Ulrich's old house!

I decided not to attend the York in Transition meeting... I'd already done several emails and facebook messages with regard to some of the content for tonight's meeting, so it wasn't that important for me to go.

I tried to fix our vacuum cleaner which has the spinning brushes not working. We need the motor fixing. What a nuisance. I successfully repaired the indoor clothes airer, which has a pair of plastic clips which hold it up... or held it up until it broke. Some while ago, I fixed it with a length of wood with two grooves cut out of it, which did work. However, the metal bars the wood went around had bent with the weight of the damp towels and other clothes, so I suggested to Gill that I affix some string between the bars, using hooks to hold them in place. Gill got a packet of hooks from the fix it shop round the corner and I used four of them with the strong but thin string that I take out of the potato sacks. It seems to work.

During the evening the whole family watched a remarkable documentary on BBC2 (Natural World) called 'A Killer Whale Called Luna' which had us all enthralled. A young male Orca had become separated from its pod in the waters off Vancouver, and had become used to the company of humans in boats and had seemingly been friendly and enjoyed the company of humans. I strongly recommend watching this programme... despite the commentary being just a bit schmaltzy, it is a brilliant story, very moving.

Still felt poorly and hope to go to bed relatively early... but will the decongestant keep me awake?

Friday 23rd January 09

I took our youngest into school. Came back and Gill was feeling very poorly and was wondering what to do. I told her to ring the hospital and/or her GP and she was offered an appointment for 3.40, but really she was so ill that I thought she needed something sooner, as she thought she was going to die. Our neighbour Marion has just retired from nursing, but is still qualified, so Gill went to ask her opinion. Dave, Marion's husband, offered to drive Gill to the surgery (shows how ill she was, as it's less than 10 mins walk but she couldn't face it. The doctor gave her a prescription for some strong antibiotics as she has an infection in her abdomen.

Somewhere in amongst this lot, we had a visit from our friend Maria who has just handed in her resignation to the school where she's recently started working. She found that the combination of so much prep and marking, having loads of different classes shared amongst relatively few teachers, and various other pressures was too much. Very sad, as she is in fact an excellent teacher... but it wasn't the teaching which she found to much, it was all the surrounding stuff. But she knows we are sympathetic and always have a cuppa and listening ear for her. I'm sure she'll find something else.

I also did a compostables collection by request from Freshways and came away with some interesting tubers which I might have a go at growing. Today I also harvested some Oca from the molasses drum at the side of the house... it's a frost-sensitive plant and the recent cold spell has rendered the tops into a collapsed state, but the soil was completely full of lovely shiny pink tubers, which can be eaten raw or stir-fried, and have a tangy lemony flavour and are crunchy. Latin name is Oxalis tuberosa, for pictures of Oca, see http://www.potager.dk/index.php?id=18&la=en and there's an excellent article with photos here: http://www.greenharvest.com.au/Plants/oca_info.html I will eat some and replant the smallest ones in pots so that I can grow them on in the conservatory for a few months before planting them out or letting other people have them.

At 2.30 I went down to school and helped prepare for the Blue Peter Mission Nutrition Bring and Buy. I got a load of tables out of the hall and put them up in the playground... Julia suggested a circular shape which did work well. One of the mums brought a load of fairy cakes and Julia had already collected some stuff to sell from a previous Mission Nutrition sale (afterwards, the stuff which hadn't sold) and parents brought stuff in today. By 3.15 we were ready to sell and it was a very busy few minutes. We hadn't put prices on anything... we just asked for offers and reminded people that it was for Mission Nutrition, and many parents and children were very generous. Lots of people got some fantastic bargains though. Later during the evening, I got an email saying we'd taken about £120. I was delighted!

I helped pack up and took some clothes which will be OK in the forthcoming York in Transition Clothes Swap, on 14th February. Then I cycled home with our little one who was pleased with his little computer game (50p) a laughing furry ball, a paper clip holder and a wooden snake for a pound, he also bought two buns, ate one and brought one back for his older brother.

Gill was back in the house when I got back but went to bed. I prepared the boys' tea on the woodstove: sliced and fried butternut squash, pasta parcels and shells with a leek, cabbage, tomato and cashew nut stew/sauce. Gill had a little bit afterwards... we all enjoyed this nosh.

At 8 our friend Will came round, as agreed during the week. He had wanted to play a game of 'co-operative Scrabble' but we also had a funding application form to fill in for the new LETS software, so we did that instead. Will left at 10.30 and I did a bit of wire stripping and Gill came down after midnight needing painkillers.

Friday 12th December 08

Our eldest went to school today but the little one is still poorly, as is Gill, who slept most of the day.

I finished the minutes from last night and got then sent off, and did various other computer-based stuff.

Quite a boring day as could not go out to the allotment as I'd like to, although did go to the Co-op and bread shop before lunch and Country Fresh after, and brought back a large number of over-ripe bananas, some of which I made into milkshakes for the boys' puddings. I reheated the lasagne from yesterday and added broccoli and slices of butternut squash, both cooked on the woodstove. Gill had soup. I had both soup AND lasagne n veg... and some liquidised banana... and then felt too full for a few hours.

Boys behaviour mostly fine this evening, just one temper tantrum which resulted in a bottle getting knocked off where I'd left it to go outside for the recycling box, and it smashing noisily all over the hall floor. This I think shocked the tantrum-owner into a different mindset. Certainly, within a couple of minutes, all was calm again.

So a mostly quiet and, unusually for me, quite a boring day.

Thursday 11th December 08

A late morning... Gill had got up at the normal time and our eldest was due to go to school, but he threw up his breakfast so he didn't go. Youngest still with poorly mouth.

So I stayed in and made lasagne and did stuff around the house. I did get to build a woodpile and manage some compost but was mainly inside.

At 5ish went to see a friend and had tea there and looked through some documents. Then at 7.30 went to the York in Transition meeting and I took minutes. Feels like we're getting to the end of a bit of a tunnel with this stage of organising this group.

Home to write up the minutes but got distracted and didn't finish. Will have to tomorrow...

Wednesday 10th December 08

A late start to the morning, boys still unwell, Gill worse.

I lit the stove and did a wash up.

A very quiet day, just busy around the house, keeping it warm, keeping the family looked after, fed, medicated. I did pop down to Country Fresh to pick up from Richard, came back with veg for a meal and a sack of goodies for the compost.

Did baked potatoes for the boys, and played Downfall.

Played lots of Scrabble with assorted Facebook friends.

Tuesday 9th December 08

All the others unwell today, both boys off school again and Gill's caught the bug and is achy and tired. I was reasonably OK health-wise although tired because of a late night playing on the computer and then sleeping on the futon downstairs. Our youngest slept in our bed and was sick first thing... lovely!

So a quiet day... I popped out for medicines, as our little one has a blister on his tongue and we needed more kids paracetamol.

At lunchtime our SUMA order arrived and I checked all the goodies off and paid the delivery chap and then sorted the pile into Anita's, Simon/Melody's and ours.

During the afternoon I completed the latest dry logpile outside the front door and chainsawed
and split some logs which I'd brought home a couple of days ago. Melody cycled up with her son and filled all four of their panniers, and later Anita came round in the car with Bruno, who wanted to see our stoves, and collected their big pile of stuff.

A simple tea of pasta and broccoli, boys very subdued and behaving extremely well, probably no energy for anything too enthusiastic! I sorted out a store cupboard and found some very out of date flour, rescued from I don't know where, and now a home for psocids and their arachnid predators, so I disposed of them. Don't like waste. Need better rotation, even if stuff is rescued!

Had a good long chat with Ali during the evening, on the phone. I think she has free evening calls or something...

Monday 8th December 08

A very slow start to the morning as was late to bed last night and had a hard-working day. Gill had got up earlier, as usual, and had decided that both boys were unwell enough to go to school. One had a definite temperature and the other, well, don't really know what's wrong with him, but I wasn't arguing! When Gill rang the schools, both reported lots of people ringing in sick, so it's probably a bug going around.

So the whole family lounged around. I was delighted to hear the news about Plane Stupid heroes once again disrupting an airport and again putting the issues of LACK OF ACTION re climate change on top of the agenda. I am at one with these brave young people, and have huge respect for them. The politicians have had plenty of time to DO SOMETHING about cutting emissions and have done very little apart from producing a lot of hot air... including doing a hell of a lot of flying to climate change conferences (such as the one in Poland, happening now) and the like, and some of us are fed up and angry that selfish people are continuing to trash this planet without a thought to future generations or those in developing countries who don't deserve to suffer because of the actions of a few people in 'developed' countries. So I wrote my paid blog on this news plus what I had intended to write about, which was solar hot water panels.

During the afternoon I cycled into town and put in a cheque from Anita for her SUMA order, and got some medication for my children and a new battery for one of the few battery-using gadgets in the house, a TV remote control. Visited a juice bar called JuicyMoosey which is owned by my newly found friend Bruno, and met a possible friend-to-be called Jade who runs a vegan recipe website. I also went looking for a pair of specific drawing pens for one of the boys. The make of pen requested by him was unavailable so I got something similar... but when I got home and explained to the child in question, he threw a huge paddy about this and started hitting out and being violent. I had to sit on his legs and hold his wrists, and told him that if he decided to strike any of us like he has been doing, that I would ring up the police. I of course do not want to resort to this, but he has to take responsibility for his actions, and if it takes a visit from the police to shock him into not hitting us, then we will do this. Parenting is not easy.

However, he did calm down within a couple of hours, and apologised, and we had a peaceful evening. Watched a programme about steam trains and then University Challenge.

Tried to continue doing assorted paperwork, putting cheques in the post etc.

I slept downstairs as our youngest was in our bed, feverish and not sleeping well.

Tuesday 18th November 08

Awoke at 4am and went downstairs, put a log on the embers in the stove, had some soluble aspirin, did some washing up and went to bed again at about 5, getting up at 8ish to get ready for work. Last night's bath seemed to have made me feel just slightly better, better enough to cycle down to the station with reduced Fiddlesticks kit and get the 9.44 to Leeds.

This was my second year working for the Leeds Metropolitan University's 'Responsible Tourism' event, where a group of schoolchildren are invited to create a poster about responsible tourism, have it judged, be given lunch, get some entertainment and a little bit of PR about Leeds Met. This is a difficult gig for me, for three reasons, although a good one to do for at least two! Firstly I hate judging things as I really dislike creating a 'winner/loser' culture, possibly because I don't remember ever being a winner (except once, the High Jump in the second year of Humberstone Juniors in Leicester!). But as my role is to be part of the judging panel (Damn, I'm head of the panel this year!) I have to fulfil my role!
Secondly, my view of 'responsible tourism' is probably quite a lot more deep green than anyone else there... I am open about pledging never to fly again and my opposition to airport expansion and flying as a transport mode, yet the mainstream view of responsible tourism includes many measures within the country visited, ie things to do/not do once you are there, often by aeroplane.
Finally, my usual one hour routine has to be shortened for the time frame allowed, so I have to prune out bits of the show which I think make it more enjoyable and rounded... but hey, if I'm given 35 minutes, I am professional (and just about flexible) enough to do a 35 minute set with a beginning, middle and end.

So, I walked from the Station up to the University, getting there in ample time to get changed and meet the schoolchildren, and explain why I was with them today. Then starting at 11 I had two half-hour sessions looking at the posters and talking to the creators about what they'd included, which this year was a lot better than last year, as there was a focus on the responsibility aspect rather than particular destinations. They'd nearly all included not flying (!!!) but had suggested boats and ferries instead, one or two were anti car and pro train and bike! There was lots about not littering, disrupting local wildlife, shopping locally, not buying animal-based trinkets, learning the local language, fair trade and the like. One of the other judges was a ?Masters student called Paula, from Spain, and I ate my lunch with her, good chats as we shared some interests.

My show went well, although more exhausting than normal due to my less than 100% health situation, and giving the prizes was OK too. I was finished by 2, back in York by 3, in bed by 3.20, sleeping til 5. Very very unusual for me to need so much sleep.

Then repacked the bike trailer and at 5.30 set off for Dunnington for the second bite of Brownie Circus Performers badge, from 6 til 8. At 7.45 all the Brownies' families arrived, perhaps about 60 of them, to see the Brownies perform the tricks they have begun to learn. I was really impressed by some of the girls, they all worked hard and some achieved quite a lot, and we all had fun, even though I felt nauseous and tired through most of the workshop.

Home and unpacked by 9pm... a very long and exhausting day, but worth recording in some detail as despite my feeling unwell, I have enjoyed it.

Monday 17th November 08

Woke at 3am with headache. Went downstairs for a lemsip (paracetamol) and put a log on the stove, and 10 mins later did a batch of washing up whilst waiting for the lemsip to kick in. Back to bed at 3.45 and slept til 8 when shouting downstairs awoke me. I went down to see if Gill needed any help... it was just our youngest being mightily resistant to putting on his socks and shoes! We all have our quirks, and he hates footwear..., putting on a sock and then off again, and on again, trying to get it 'just right'. Takes about 5 or 10 minutes per foot.....

When they'd gone I had breakfast and then went back to bed, with another lemsip to help me get better... I hope.

But nothing worked, headache all day, spent most of the day in bed. Gill is calling it 'Flu' but I don't think it is as Flu is a different set of symptoms and I had a Flu jab, so if it is Flu then it's a weird one.

The only good thing about today was that I got through quite a backlog of NewScientists! Oh, and a surprise visit from Damian and David, Gill's friends from the Arts Centre, who are back in York. Lovely to see them, but couldn't socialise much as feeling too poorly.

And I finished writing my column for Community Care, on reuse and repair plus Buy Nothing Day, which this year is on Saturday 29th November, just two days after the magazine comes out.

Spent some time trying to update Windows and when I got back on this blog, found my Bravenet Counter and Feedjit live stuff had gone... more than weird! However, my email to Feedjit was answered by Mark Maunder, the CEO/inventor of the tool, and he told me that the Live stats thingy was loading after the Bravenet counter, which was taking about 3 minutes. Also he explained a possible reason why the location/geographic database might be doing weird things, and told me he was developing a tool to allow users to confirm where they were. So that explains some of the weirdness...

Took bathwater up for our youngest and put the refilled can straight back on the stove so I could have one later, as if I'm going to try to go to work tomorrow, I might as well be clean but unwell rather than dirty and unwell...

Sunday 16th November 08

A relatively peaceful morning but boys full of energy and aggression. I wasn't feeling up to much, tired and a bit headachey, so just sat and watched Countryfile and after lunch did a bit in the garden and then at about 2.30, to the allotment to dig up the last row of potatoes and remove some more brambles and lay a bit of mulch material... cardboard and a split bamboo window blind.

Came back to find Simon and his son visiting, after going to the York in Transition Eco-Freecycle-Swap event at the Friends' Meeting House, organised by Anna Semlyen. Apparently it was very successful and Simon was able to offload some spare keyboard stuff and a huge pile of butterknives found in a skip, and come back with a Christmas present for our friend Dexter plus a few other bits and bobs.

I wasn't my usual chatty self and as soon as they'd gone I went to bed and slept, coming down sometine about 8, and had a bowl of soup and the pastie Gill got yesterday. A quiet evening, although frustrating as something is going intermittently wrong with my email and internet... it keeps going off. Perhaps it's caught my bug and needs more sleep!

Later though, I was able to access the net and get emails and do this blog (but not my paid blog!) and I found a bug in my fairly new 'Feedjit' live stats tool. Previously, when I've accessed my blog and then left to see the live stats, the tool tells me that I've come onto Feedjit from my blog and has correctly identified that I'm in York. However, now it thinks I'm from Leighton Buzzard! I can tell this as when I hit the button 'remove my details' the Leighton Buzzard stuff goes. I emailed Feedjit to ask why they thought this was happening.

Monday 10th November 08

Woke still feeling poorly with cold, so had a lemsip with my cereal (not together!) and had a fairly lazy morning.

And had a similar afternoon, infact one of the most boring days I've had for ages.

The only highlight really was the arrival of 'The Calendar of Climate Change' from Flipside Vision. This is lovely, and I'm going to get some more for assorted family members for Xmas. (sorry if a family member has just had their wonderful suprise wrecked!)

I was still feeling rubbish (not in my usual way head down in a bin hahahahahaha) when Gill came home and went to get our youngest, and when our eldest came back, I wished I'd been in bed as his testosterone levels are obviously painfully high at the moment.

But the outbursts don't last long and are followed by apologies, and a peaceful evening, mostly.

Friday 10th October 08

I took my youngest into school, not without incident though. He's been wearing a cycle helmet since he was put on a bike, at less than a year old and the whole family wear them as a normal thing to do. So why was it this morning that our little darling started to have an issue with the straps? They are not tight but he pulled them too loose, so that the helmet might come off his cranium if he were to fall off his bike or be knocked off. I tightened them, not overly so, just so they stopped the helmet slipping, and a huge paddy ensued! Oh the joys of parenthood! I just love it!

Gill is still unwell with toothache and yesterday fell down the stairs so she spent some of the morning in bed.

However, during the afternoon she got up and made some pastry for a pie for tea, I did a small amount of leafmould removal from last year's pile, digging it up and crumbling the lumps into garden refuse sacks where it will reside for another year before riddling and adding to potting media. All I have to do to know it's worth it is to eat a tomato from the vines in the conservatory... so tasty and delicious, and the only financial cost is the seeds, and they come cheap due to my having an allotment and the lottie holders can make an order for seeds, onion sets and potatoes.

I picked up our little one who had forgotten his weird ten minutes of hating the straps on his cycle helmet and came home via the logpile. I did some chainsawing whilst the kids played 'Spore' on the computer, making creatures and engaging in online battles with other Spore users... However they fell out for some reason, probably as they are sharing an account and disagreed over whether or not to spend or save some 'Sporebucks'. Gill and I threatened to prevent them using the computer over the weekend if the fighting didn't stop... and predictably they started to get on!

Gill made a veg pie for tea with home grown potatoes and tinned sweetcorn. We all watched Mastermind and Gardener's World, and then I went to get a bag of electrical flex which I'd pulled out of a skip a few days ago, as I wanted to strip the insulation off to retrieve the copper wire for recycling. I do this with a craft-knife blade which can be carefully run down the length of the wire, which enables the metal to be pulled out. Both boys were intrigued by the growing pile of copper wire and asked if they could play with it and make sculptures... so the rest of the evening til nearly 10pm was spent with copper wire sculpture making. Gill made a dragonfly and the boys made glasses, funny animals, an umbrella and several others. It was lovely! Even after the sculptures were made there was still lots of wire left for recycling, and I hope the boys will keep one creation each as a memento.

A busy evening followed.

Weds 8th October 08

I took our youngest into school as usual and then went into town to go to the Building Society.

Gill isn't well and went to see her medics and when I came back she also came in and went to bed.


Registered to participate in Blog Action Day on 15th October. I will try to write two blogs on poverty, one in this blog and one in John's Weird World on Community Care.

If you have a blog and want to participate, go to http://blogactionday.org/

I went to get our little one from school, and for tea heated up the last of the carrot soup with pasta, and one had a pastie, the other an egg sandwich followed by fruit. I had forgotten that St Nicks were sending their electric vehicle to pick up my fruit press and crusher, to do Apple Day on Saturday...

The usual nonsense in the evening with homework sparking off outbursts, tears, one child striking the other.

Once the children were in bed we had a quiet cosy evening and enjoyed watching Paul Merton exploring India (Channel 5) after which I had a good skype chat with a friend who wants to do a short film about my low carbon lifestyle and activism as part of her degree. It needs lots of planning.

Monday 21st January 08

Monday started with the children not wanting to go to school and making their feelings known loudly. I came down to mediate and I managed to change the subject by telling the boys about the paid blog I wrote on Summerhill last night. They went to school.

I went back to bed after getting my emails as I was feeling grotty, running nose and blocked sinuses, so read and dozed... Gill went to town to find some kids clothes and got back for lunchtime, so I got up and had lunch with her and then mooched around and did some stove maintenance and housework, but wasn't feeling too hot, so took some paracetamol and decongestant.

I picked the kids up as I try to be fair and even if not 100% I try to do my fair share. But I went to bed when we got in. Got up for 6 to see the programme on Summerhill, it was very moving, and the boys enjoyed it too.