Monday 23rd May 11

A pretty static day doing various things on the computer and in the kitchen, but nothing of note until I went to find a spare 'Can Of Worms' wormery which I bought over a year ago along with a Compostumbler (I think!) and has sat unused all that time.

Mark from BikeRescue had asked me if he could have some info about 'indoor composting' and I suggested a wormery, and said I had a spare one, which he was only too happy to make me an offer for.  So I got some finished worm compost and quite a lot of mature worms and worm eggs, and loaded that up onto my bike trailer.

I had earlier sorted out a makeshift helmet mount for the little camera that Anna got me... I half wedged it behind the styling on my helmet, and tied it in with a pipe cleaner.  So I switched it on before I left the house, and filmed my 14 minute journey down to the Bike Hub.  I switched off there and installed the wormery, and one of the people there helped me take it upstairs.  Mark wasn't there, but had left instructions for payment.

From here I cycled round to David's, as I was due to start work at 5.  The plumber, Graham, was already working, investigating where the moisture in the cellar was coming from.  Pauline, his other PA, was there too and we all had a bit of an explore, visiting the nearby cellar under the York Medical Society and dental practice, and popping into several shops on Stonegate to see if we could work out whether there was a cellar next door to David's cellar.

Graham will sort out the water from David's soil pipe, and I'll get the Council people along to deal with the incoming sewerage from the sewer that Graham showed me, which looked quite full, if not blocked.  I'm pretty sure that the main problem is not a Yorkshire Water problem, however, they are coming on Thursday to listen for leaks.

David was very happy with what his team is doing.  He didn't feel like going out for a coffee, but I suggested he had a walk with his walking frame.  We walked along Stonegate to St Helen's Square, and to St Helen's Church where there was a book sale being sorted out.  As usual, David knew some of the organisers.

We then went back and I prepared his tea.  As he ate his, I had the salad and sandwich which Gill had prepared for me. I left at 7pm.  I went straight down to The Seahorse for the last meeting of the World Naked Bike Ride organisers.  There were a couple of older gents in the Parlour who were good for a bit of banter, then Tony and Hugh came and we had a very productive meeting dealing with the publicity, route... especially the problem junctions and re-grouping areas.  I had two pints of cider.  So much for trying to lose my cider-belly before the ride!

Home towards 11pm, and did another mammoth session on the laptop, messaging assorted folks with mainly YWNBR stuff.

Enjoyed the news of the volcanic ash cloud which I hope will stop flights, and was saddened to learn about mega-tornadoes which have killed people in the USA.  Glad though that some people are asking whether it might possibly be connected to increased atmospheric temperatures.... they are slowly catching on, I think!

And, I downloaded the film from the helmet camera, and although it was noisy because of the high wind, it was a good film. I'll post one to facebook when it's less windy and noisy.

Sunday 18th April 10

I had a late start... after all, I got in last night at nearly midnight and then Gill and I stayed up chatting til after 2am and then we didn't get to sleep until after 3. So I woke and dozed and slept til about 11.

I did a big wash-up after breakfast.

And a late lunch, listening to Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4, but got outside after this. My main job today was to get up into the James Grieve apple tree and remove all the unwanted honeysuckle. I found a honeysuckle 'volunteer' a few years ago and thought it would be a good idea to replant it next to the apple tree. Little did I know how well it would do, and it had climbed right to the top and started to get too much for the tree, and was shading it so much that last year, the amount of apples was quite reduced. So a couple of weeks ago I cut the main stem of the honeysuckle and today I put my ladders up and cut out all the now dead winding vine, pulling it out and feeding it through the shredder. This was a messy job... I got completely covered in bits of lichen and dead honeysuckle leaves.

I also sorted out the cans and bottles from last night and flattened the cans... with a little bit of help from the energetic feet of a pre-teen. Gill took our younger one for a jolly in the park with a couple of his friends.

Tea was a burger thing made from the tea Gill made last night, a rice and bean creation... I think she mixed it with breadcrumbs, and used a hommous pot as a mould, and fried it. Had it in a bread roll, with salad. Had this watching Countryfile.

Later I had an intense discussion on facebook about flying... all triggered off by the Icelandic volcano's ash cloud stopping flights in the UK and most of Europe. Lots of people are delighted about this... comments about airline companies going bust and the like, and lots of comments about the peace and quiet and the clear skies, but some other people don't understand this point of view and I've challenged their view that they have a 'right to fly'. My opinion is that as flying is the single biggest contributor to climate change that any individual can decide to do, and that climate change is already killing people and will certainly kill vast numbers in the future, that flying is directly connected with their deaths. This view doesn't go down too well with some of the frequent fliers who have been inconvenienced by the volcano.

And then I found this NewScientist article by my favourite York author. It maybe that we have to get used to more disruption. Not that I mind that much....