Monday 9th March 09

Gill took our youngest into school and I had a slow start, doing a bit of paperwork (rewriting an invoice which got ripped up by someone with a temper) and writing my Community Care Blog, which I'm very happy with, and thanks to reader James who suggested I do something on Earth Hour. Gill went out to the dentist as part of a filling had broken off, so I had a quiet lunchtime and then went to get our youngest, walking back through the woods along Windmill Lane chatting.

I washed and blanched a load of grapes when I got in, putting them for drying on the stove, and then took 4 sacks of rubbish from the composting operations down to Country Fresh to put in their bin... after all, it would have gone there much earlier if I hadn't have taken it home wrapping up all the biodegradables, sorted it out to recycle the compostable stuff and bagging up the waste, mainly plastic film and packaging.

Richard was visibly upset when I arrived... there'd been an incident in the street which had saddened him. A member of the public had gone into the Spar shop just up the road from his greengrocers, leaving their little daughter's pet Staffordshire bull terrier dog attached to the railings outside. When they came back out, the pet had been taken. Now this in itself is upsetting, but more so when the reason is inferred. Apparently, docile domestic pet Staffies are targeted by people who get a kick out of watching dog fighting, and they use the non-fighting dog as 'bait', for training purposes. Absolutely sickening. I'm not keen on dogs but I dislike animal abuse a lot more, and I think that anyone who gains pleasure from using animals as entertainment, or seeing animals getting hurt or killed is pretty low. I include fox and deer hunters, badger baiters, hare coursers, dog racers, horse racing enthusiasts, dog fighters, people who go to watch animals in circuses and more. I think we should completely rethink our relationship with animals. We can have ethical relationships with animals, there are plenty of well-kept pets and companion animals which have their needs met and do not suffer. Then there are 'working' animals such as draft horses, sniffer dogs and guide dogs/hearing dogs, truffle-hunting pigs, pigeon-scaring birds of prey... there are so many species of animal we use, and there is heated debate about the rights and wrongs of this. I haven't even mentioned laboratory animals, used to test drugs, vaccines and cosmetics, and many other procedures... it's an ethical minefield! I've been vegetarian for well over 20 years and have opinions about the millions of animals which are kept specifically for slaughter... another ethical dilemma.

Anyway, diatribe over... life goes on despite all the suffering, and I came home with a new garden fork and spade which were on sale in the greengrocers, a buy-one-get-one-free deal, for £8, plus a penny's worth of compostable resources. Called in on Freshways on the way back for more.

Gill and I had the last of the amazing tomato soup she made yesterday, plus a mix of mashed swede, potato and butternut squash, and a rice-loaf thingy with red pepper, done in the microwave, and mushroom sauce on top! Restaurant Cossham is a good place to get fed! And I didn't mention stewed pears with chocolate sauce and a slice of lemon cake... no wonder I'm a bit tubby round the middle....

Evening... a York Green Festival meeting at St John's College/University or whatever it is now, with just 10 of us there... quite a good turn out, I think we're a strong team! We have a team leader on Music, Kids area, Infrastructure and Council liaison, Publicity, Finances and Stalls. Excellent! This meeting lasted less than two hours and I got home, with logs in the trailer, at 10pm. To a peaceful house, hooray!

Wednesday 21st January 09

Got up at much the normal time, despite going to bed at 2.30am having done my column for Community Care... but had to get up as had a busy day ahead! I cycled down to the station at 8.20 to get the London train just before 9, for which I got tickets well before Christmas.

I popped into the WHSmith at the station to see if they had the February issue of The Ecologist, which several people have told me has the article about my low carbon lifestyle in... and yes, I was able to buy this and the article is pretty good, the photos are excellent. It was written by a journalist called Sam Southgate following a conversation we had, and it is mostly correct, apart from I'm sure I never said my diet was 'well over 99.99% non animal products'. The truth is it's probably over 95% non-animal, as I do eat some cheese, occasional egg and very occasional dairy milk. I am vegetarian, and am a 'wannabe vegan' apart I've never had a good vegan cheese, so I'd miss my occasional fancy cheeses...... Gill also makes cakes, and some of these contain eggs (free range of course, but out of chickens' bottoms) But, I'm DELIGHTED to be featured, under the banner 'How to reduce your carbon footprint'.

I was due to meet Peter Hale on the train, but he wasn't in the seat he was booked into so I just sat where my seat as booked, and chatted with a woman who was into arty fabrics and makes felt and all sorts of other things, and a Polish mum with a lovely smiley 10 month old baby girl who was the epitome of beautiful baby.

We were soon in Kings Cross, I bought a map which I didn't need as the meeting house, opposite Euston, was only 10 mins walk away in a straight line. I could have just asked... but I bought a £2.25 map and then asked the kiosk person. So, to the Friends Meeting House at Euston where there were already a couple of people from the Climate Speakers Network. Including Peter, the organiser, who had been on the train but had found a table seat so he could stretch his legs. It was good to finally meet him after much email conversation.

By 1pm, the start time, there were 15 of us and another 3 joined us soon. A very good turnout. The aim of the meeting was to meet other people who do talks and education about climate change, share information about what works and how to get bookings, and who from. I was particularly pleased to meet Anthony Day, who's from York and is on the York in Transition email list, and has written a book 'Will Climate Change Your Life', a CRAGger called Robin Smith, and my Green Party friend Janet Alty, whom I'm very fond of as she's very outspoken, radical, sensible and friendly. But everybody was interesting in their own way, and the meeting was very enjoyable and useful, lots of ideas, things to research and look up, read, people to email.

The meeting finished at about 5pm and a few of us went for a drink (bottle of 'pear cider' cost £4!!!) and then sometime after 6, walked along to Kings Cross to get the 6.30 train. This journey went quickly as I dozed for some of it and read the rest of The Ecologist. Got back home soon after 9pm.

What a day... really positive and inspiring. I'll have to send some notes to Peter so he can do a mail out to the attendees.

I had some left-over leek and potato soup and some toasted stale bread which was lovely! The family was happy to see my photo in The Ecologist and I read the article to the boys, who seemed proud of me. I am very happy today. VERY!