Saturday 19th March 11

Woken by the phone and it was Richard, David's cousin, saying David's scan earlier this week had revealed something not too good, and he was therefore in hospital.  And therefore don't come at 4pm to work for David.  I may get time to go and see him in hospital in the next few days.

At about 11 I set off for the Steiner School for the financial interview for next year's fees.  As we only submitted our info a few weeks ago, the info hasn't changed and so our contribution is the same. 

I came back via the log pile just off Fulford Road.  I've found out the land belongs to the MoD and therefore they don't want the logs.  The treesurgeon took most of them, but because I spoke to them, they've left some for me.  So I came back with a very well loaded trailer, and did a bit of splitting and stacking, and later some chainsawing too.

I also did some cooking; I prepared some leeks and potatoes and an onion and stick of celery, and made a leek and potato soup which Gill and I had for tea.

At lunchtime I got confirmation that I'll be able to see Colin and Lucy next Wednesday after the Wipe Out Waste event, so in the afternoon I went to town to get my return ticket from Weston Super Mare to York.  I called in to Cycle Heaven as my front sprocket (chain wheel) is wearing down, which is why it's been jumping when I've pushed hard on it.  Also, my brakes are really not up to the job, and I find them very difficult to tighten.  So Ash tightened my brakes and said he'd order a stainless steel sprocket and replace the brakes with much better ones.  That'll be done next week when I'm in London.

I cycled on to the station and then on to Millers Yard and along the cycle track to home.

I popped round to collect more wood off Jamie, and met his wife Bernie. 

The leek and potato soup was lovely, had it with a couple of mini pitta breads warmed on a sheet of aluminium foil on top of the stove.

Gill and I had a game of Scrabble and I chopped up red peppers and put them for drying.  More yummy sweet paprika on the way....

Tuesday 14th December 10

The day started a bit rapidly because Gill had a GP appointment at 9.40 and woke me up at 9.20 as I'd offered to walk round with her, as it was slippery and I really didn't want her to fall over. So my usual routine of having breakfast first thing was replaced by a slow walk round to Tang Hall Lane, using the only ice-free part of Lilac Avenue, the car tyre tracks.  So Gill was happy to have me with her, and I pocketed her presrciption for painkillers and went to get those later.

We got home and I sat down to enjoy breakfast... and the Suma lorry came, so I put muesli on hold and helped unload our order... peanut butter, muesli base, soya milk, bouillon, rice, goats cheese, some other bits and bobs, plus things for Sue and Melody.

So then it was time to do some log stacking, as we're going through loads at the moment and I really need to get a load stacked by the front door to prepare for the forthcoming cold snap.  I also tidied up the Wisteria leaves which had been knocked off by the snow, and some other mess.  I started splitting the softwood rounds I picked up over the weekend. 

Sue showed up sometime between 2 and 3 to pick up her rye bread and tinned lentil soup, and I took the 2 boxes of rye bread over to her van.  I'd noticed a woman rooting through a skip of household goods in a neighbour's driveway, and as I walked back to the house, I spoke to her and we chatted.  She'd seen the skip last night and put a note through the door asking if she could rummage through.  She'd got a phone call with a yes, so had come down to find clothes and other bits.  She had a huge suitcase plus at least 2 rucksacks, a large plastic carrier bag and a child's scooter. 

About 10 minutes later, as I was splitting rounds with my axe, she struggled past and I wished her well.  Five minutes later, I was setting out on my bike to go and get Gill's prescription, and she was outside our neighbour's, still trying to manage her heavy load.  So I offered to help her move her stuff, it wasn't far, just up Osbaldwick Lane, and we had a good natter whilst going there.  Turns out she was at the Pumpkin evening and Apple Day and I'd taught her daughter to juggle...

I got the prescription and came back and didn't do any more outside as it was now dark. 

Gill had made leek and potato soup, and I had mine with two slices of bread.

Then at 6.15 I set out on the bike again to go to Tang Hall Library for the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel, and we had a very interesting and quite long meeting, lasting over an hour.  So it was nearly 8pm when I got back.  I watched a programme about equations with our eldest at 9pm, and had a fairly quiet evening.