I enjoyed today as I had no appointments or meetings.... the only one that was possible, Cafe Scientifique, I didn't go to, as our eldest, who comes to these meetings with me on occasion decided to go and see his younger brother performing in a puppet show instead.
So I had a day mostly spent indoors, avoiding rain. I typed out the York in Transition notes from last night and sent them off to all participants, which was a bit tedious.
But at least one good thing happened.... I was out the front during a dry spell, chopping up a load of Viburnum sticks given to me by a gardener down the road, and a young chap stopped and asked me if I knew where Thief Lane was. Well it's very close to here so I showed him the two ways of getting to it. He thanked me and wandered off. 10 minutes later, he was back. He couldn't find 140 Thief Lane. I got the laptop and found it on Googlemaps, and offered to walk with him to see if I could help him find it. When we were on Thief Lane, I spoke to a resident and she said that the road only went up to 114 on that side. I suggested that he might have been looking for 114 not 140. It began to dawn on the chap; he must have mis-heard his friend on the phone, and heard 'one hundred and fourteen' as 'one hundred and forty'. He called at 114 and it was the right house. Poor guy, was embarrassed, but he thanked me for coming with him to try to solve the puzzle. Weird that if you put a house that doesn't exist into Googlemaps, it still comes up. Maybe the algorithm thinks it is between 139 and 141?
I called on Country Fresh to get eggs and bananas, and brought back another generous load of rubbish, sorry, resources. I spent a considerable part of the day preparing food; 6 sweetcorn, boiled on the stove and stripped of their kernels, and an immense number of cherries, I think 90 punnets, with some bad cherries in each one, and some good ones. I sorted through as many as I could and stewed a massive pan full. Not sure what to do with them. Decide tomorrow. I also picked a lot of loganberries, which Gill mixed with sponge cake mixture and cooked in the microwave. Her microwave cakes are always really good, especially if choc-full of fruit!
I got a phone confirmation about working at the Galtres Festival, from Mary Passeri, who's doing the kids area. There is also news about the composting, but I don't know what that is yet.
Boys were happy with the school puppet show. Although I enjoy the Cafe Scientifique, I was glad to have an evening in, for once.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Tuesday 5th July 11
Another long day... working in a school near Leeds. I had decided that to get me there on time, I'd use a taxi from Leeds station out to Farnley Park Maths and Computing College. So I worked backwards to get my start time.... Work at 11, so needed to be at the college at, say 10.30, so needed to be in Leeds at 10ish, therefore needed to leave York 9.30ish, and leave the house at 9ish.
Actually, most of these times got shifted forwards by about 10 minutes, but I got to the College at 10.40 and was changed and ready to perform by 11, as contracted.
My role was to be part of a 'Gifted and Talented' day, for about 60 kids who were all 14 or 15 years old... so hardly children any more! I had 3 one-hour shows, each one a circus science and maths thing, my 'Professor Fiddlesticks Fun Physics' show.
This starts with me about to do the juggling and then I stop and say, oops, I'm supposed to do some maths here, aren't I? Let's get it over and done with, so watch this please and tell me where the maths is, and I throw a single ball up and let it come down onto the floor nearby. From this we often get a comment of 'gravity' and then, with prompting, the other forces of pushing it up and pushing it across. These three variables (although gravity isn't really a variable here) make the lovely parabolic curve.
So, with that out of the way, I get on with devilsticks and then explain/show the way that the baton balances on the fulcrum if either side is of equal weight, but falls off if one side is heavier. If allowed to fall, inertia keeps the stick rotating, so it's easy to catch on the second stick... and if caught off centre, it falls off in the other direction, and can be caught by the first handstick again. Easy physics, so then I make it much more interactive and invite two volunteers to come and have a go. With young children, there's a forest of hands goes up, but with 15 year olds, they need persuading.
The next thing is easier to get them to participate in, the feather balancing. And this is a good way to demonstrate friction with the air, or air-resistance, as the feathers have much more surface area than a simple stick.
The diabolo shows gyroscopic force, and yo-yo balls chaos. Then the 4 wheel unicycle is usually popular, and only a select well-balanced and controlled few get as far as the 2 wheel unicycle. No-one got as far as the one wheel unicycle in any of the 3 shows I did today. I then finish the show with devilsticking and unicycling at the same time, as a 'clever' finale.
So, I did one show before lunch and two after, and all seemed to go well.
At about 3 I got changed and walked up to the bus stop, and the bus took me to within 4 minutes walk of the station... and just managed to get a train home, with one minute to spare.
When I was in York I remembered that I needed to get my Fiddlesticks boots re-soled, so I went to the cobblers behind the Spurriergate Centre and left then there, to be collected on Thursday.
So was home before 6pm, had a bit to eat and went to a Transition meeting at 7.30, at The Seahorse. There were a young couple using the parlour, but they were quite interested in what our meeting was about so they stayed, and contributed. Dave Merrett, Kit and Ivana turned up, and we discussed the various ways we could get a Community Generator project going; I have some notes to type up and weblinks to forward.
Home before 10pm and then a late night followed......
Actually, most of these times got shifted forwards by about 10 minutes, but I got to the College at 10.40 and was changed and ready to perform by 11, as contracted.
My role was to be part of a 'Gifted and Talented' day, for about 60 kids who were all 14 or 15 years old... so hardly children any more! I had 3 one-hour shows, each one a circus science and maths thing, my 'Professor Fiddlesticks Fun Physics' show.
This starts with me about to do the juggling and then I stop and say, oops, I'm supposed to do some maths here, aren't I? Let's get it over and done with, so watch this please and tell me where the maths is, and I throw a single ball up and let it come down onto the floor nearby. From this we often get a comment of 'gravity' and then, with prompting, the other forces of pushing it up and pushing it across. These three variables (although gravity isn't really a variable here) make the lovely parabolic curve.
So, with that out of the way, I get on with devilsticks and then explain/show the way that the baton balances on the fulcrum if either side is of equal weight, but falls off if one side is heavier. If allowed to fall, inertia keeps the stick rotating, so it's easy to catch on the second stick... and if caught off centre, it falls off in the other direction, and can be caught by the first handstick again. Easy physics, so then I make it much more interactive and invite two volunteers to come and have a go. With young children, there's a forest of hands goes up, but with 15 year olds, they need persuading.
The next thing is easier to get them to participate in, the feather balancing. And this is a good way to demonstrate friction with the air, or air-resistance, as the feathers have much more surface area than a simple stick.
The diabolo shows gyroscopic force, and yo-yo balls chaos. Then the 4 wheel unicycle is usually popular, and only a select well-balanced and controlled few get as far as the 2 wheel unicycle. No-one got as far as the one wheel unicycle in any of the 3 shows I did today. I then finish the show with devilsticking and unicycling at the same time, as a 'clever' finale.
So, I did one show before lunch and two after, and all seemed to go well.
At about 3 I got changed and walked up to the bus stop, and the bus took me to within 4 minutes walk of the station... and just managed to get a train home, with one minute to spare.
When I was in York I remembered that I needed to get my Fiddlesticks boots re-soled, so I went to the cobblers behind the Spurriergate Centre and left then there, to be collected on Thursday.
So was home before 6pm, had a bit to eat and went to a Transition meeting at 7.30, at The Seahorse. There were a young couple using the parlour, but they were quite interested in what our meeting was about so they stayed, and contributed. Dave Merrett, Kit and Ivana turned up, and we discussed the various ways we could get a Community Generator project going; I have some notes to type up and weblinks to forward.
Home before 10pm and then a late night followed......
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Monday 4th July 11
I came back from my visit in the morning, arriving back at about 1pm, in time for lunch and sorting out some assorted paperwork. I was glad to have had some space and time to read two complete NewScientists, mainly on the train.
I dealt with some stuff in the garden but didn't do much, but got ready to attend the LETS AGM, although I didn't have a lot of preparation to do as Melody had got it all in hand.
I got to the Seahorse at 7 at the same time as Melody. We'd ordered a buffet, but as the management of the hotel are seemingly changing on an almost daily basis, and the current bar person was only on her third day, there was no buffet. So Melody popped to the corner shop and bought a handful of snack-type things which would have to suffice for the buffet... a large pack of 'onion-ring' crisps, some olives, Bombay mix, and some muffins. The AGM was fairly poorly attended, although great to see Geoff and two new members Carol and Andrew. All four core group members were there, and later, Melanie arrived. Melody got us through the AGM with humour and efficiency. We had the snacks.
I stopped by the Edible York Barbican bed on the way home and did some weeding and picked some peas and courgettes.
When I got in I tried to work out how I'm going to get to my gig in the morning, over to Leeds but then a bus or a taxi to Old Farnley?
I dealt with some stuff in the garden but didn't do much, but got ready to attend the LETS AGM, although I didn't have a lot of preparation to do as Melody had got it all in hand.
I got to the Seahorse at 7 at the same time as Melody. We'd ordered a buffet, but as the management of the hotel are seemingly changing on an almost daily basis, and the current bar person was only on her third day, there was no buffet. So Melody popped to the corner shop and bought a handful of snack-type things which would have to suffice for the buffet... a large pack of 'onion-ring' crisps, some olives, Bombay mix, and some muffins. The AGM was fairly poorly attended, although great to see Geoff and two new members Carol and Andrew. All four core group members were there, and later, Melanie arrived. Melody got us through the AGM with humour and efficiency. We had the snacks.
I stopped by the Edible York Barbican bed on the way home and did some weeding and picked some peas and courgettes.
When I got in I tried to work out how I'm going to get to my gig in the morning, over to Leeds but then a bus or a taxi to Old Farnley?
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Sunday 3rd July 11
I had a nice lazy morning, and was pleased to see my friend Simon and his son, who came round to collect our eldest, and take him out to find fossils on the East coast. Simon's son is a keen mycologist like me, and we excitedly chatted about mushrooms and other biological things.
I then got ready to go away, visiting friends near Manchester, and I won't be back until Monday, so no web access and no more blog til Monday.
I then got ready to go away, visiting friends near Manchester, and I won't be back until Monday, so no web access and no more blog til Monday.
Saturday 2nd July 11,
A hard working day, but very satisfying. I got up in time to get the logsplitter out for Tony Castle to see if he can replace or refill the hydraulic fluid and make it work, as he said he'd be here at 9.30.
I had breakfast and got myself ready to cycle to work, in Haxby, at Headlands School. Tony Castle didn't turn up at 9.30 so I rang him and left a message. I decided to cycle to Haxby in costume and that would mean no faffing around when I got there.
It didn't take me long to get to Haxby, less than half an hour, and my handler told me my first show was in the school hall at midday, and then at 1.30, a second slot outside in the playground. So at 11, when the event opened, I had about an hour of unicycling round the playground and playing field, and when I got too hot to unicycle, I just devilsticked madly to the music, which was mostly 60s stuff, and I enjoyed this. At midday I got an audience inside and I did my usual one-hour show, which went really well.
I had a quick lunch at 1pm and then got set up outside... i had to wait a little while as the Fire service were doing a display, but after this I did a series of workshops, and a few balloon giveaways. I was given my cheque at 3 and I spent a short while helping to tidy up a load of aluminium cans, and came home, arriving at 4pm. Tony hadn't been, despite Gill leaving a message on his mobile.
I had an hour of collapse and then something to eat, and at 6 set out to David's, as he was expecting me at 6.30 to go to see the Torelli Quartet. This was at St Helen's Church, and comprised 2 violin players, a viola and a cello. David paid to get in but as his carer, I didn't need a ticket. I got David installed at the front, and ha chatted to a couple sitting behind him, holidaying in York.
The first piece was some Haydn, it didn't grab me and I nearly fell asleep during it. The second was by Barber and I didn't like it at all, lots of discords. After a short interval, there was a better piece by Tchaikovsky, which was bearable. I think violins are my least-favourite instrument. I liked the cello being played pizzicato, that is plucked. But this concert for me was a painful reminder of an overdose of classical music when younger. There is a very limited number of classical pieces which 'speak' to me, and none of these did it. I think the composition is clever, and the musicians talented, but I just don't like it. I guess we can't help what we like and don't like. I can't explain why I dislike Jazz and Opera, but love Ambient, Psychedelia and Reggae. I cant easily say why I don't like the sculptures of Barbara Hepworth but adore Peter Randall-Page, or why I love pear but hate grapefruit. I guess that it's one of life's great mysteries, and for me, it's a good thing that such diversity exists.
David chatted to two women called Sally in the interval, and had a couple of conversations afterwards, before I took him to City Screen for a coffee. Then home where I put his meal in the microwave and sorted his fruit juice out, before leaving at 9.30.
I got back and noticed that our variegated maple tree, we call it the blond tree, had got several prominent non-variegated bits, plus dozens of small dark green shoots. So I got the big step ladders and spent an hour cutting the green bits out. I was surprised how much there was!
It was well after 10pm when I came in, really knackered, but then stayed up til after 3am doing things including the washing up and various online things.
I had breakfast and got myself ready to cycle to work, in Haxby, at Headlands School. Tony Castle didn't turn up at 9.30 so I rang him and left a message. I decided to cycle to Haxby in costume and that would mean no faffing around when I got there.
It didn't take me long to get to Haxby, less than half an hour, and my handler told me my first show was in the school hall at midday, and then at 1.30, a second slot outside in the playground. So at 11, when the event opened, I had about an hour of unicycling round the playground and playing field, and when I got too hot to unicycle, I just devilsticked madly to the music, which was mostly 60s stuff, and I enjoyed this. At midday I got an audience inside and I did my usual one-hour show, which went really well.
I had a quick lunch at 1pm and then got set up outside... i had to wait a little while as the Fire service were doing a display, but after this I did a series of workshops, and a few balloon giveaways. I was given my cheque at 3 and I spent a short while helping to tidy up a load of aluminium cans, and came home, arriving at 4pm. Tony hadn't been, despite Gill leaving a message on his mobile.
I had an hour of collapse and then something to eat, and at 6 set out to David's, as he was expecting me at 6.30 to go to see the Torelli Quartet. This was at St Helen's Church, and comprised 2 violin players, a viola and a cello. David paid to get in but as his carer, I didn't need a ticket. I got David installed at the front, and ha chatted to a couple sitting behind him, holidaying in York.
The first piece was some Haydn, it didn't grab me and I nearly fell asleep during it. The second was by Barber and I didn't like it at all, lots of discords. After a short interval, there was a better piece by Tchaikovsky, which was bearable. I think violins are my least-favourite instrument. I liked the cello being played pizzicato, that is plucked. But this concert for me was a painful reminder of an overdose of classical music when younger. There is a very limited number of classical pieces which 'speak' to me, and none of these did it. I think the composition is clever, and the musicians talented, but I just don't like it. I guess we can't help what we like and don't like. I can't explain why I dislike Jazz and Opera, but love Ambient, Psychedelia and Reggae. I cant easily say why I don't like the sculptures of Barbara Hepworth but adore Peter Randall-Page, or why I love pear but hate grapefruit. I guess that it's one of life's great mysteries, and for me, it's a good thing that such diversity exists.
David chatted to two women called Sally in the interval, and had a couple of conversations afterwards, before I took him to City Screen for a coffee. Then home where I put his meal in the microwave and sorted his fruit juice out, before leaving at 9.30.
I got back and noticed that our variegated maple tree, we call it the blond tree, had got several prominent non-variegated bits, plus dozens of small dark green shoots. So I got the big step ladders and spent an hour cutting the green bits out. I was surprised how much there was!
It was well after 10pm when I came in, really knackered, but then stayed up til after 3am doing things including the washing up and various online things.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Friday 1st July 11
A bit of a lie in. Gill went to school to do her volunteering in the shop. So, a late start and I then spent an hour finishing off the notes about the WNBR meeting we had ages ago but I got stuck. I did finish them and send them off, hooray!
I also phoned Sargent Dave Horn, the police officer who looked after the ride, and asked if it was OK for our report to describe how the ride was policed, as what actually happened on the day was so very different to what the other officer said would happen. I wanted to make sure he didn't get into trouble if I described how the police had controlled the traffic, which according to the ACPO guidelines, they're not supposed to do. He was quite happy for me to say what happened, as he'd filed his own report on the night of the ride, and what he'd done was to do a risk assessment for each junction as he came to it, and with each non-traffic-lighted junction, he'd decided to get the ride over in one group, and momentarily stopped any motor vehicles getting into the middle of the group, to reduce the possibility of anything dangerous happening.
So, my next WNBR job is to write a brief post-ride report. I'll wait until my colleagues get back to me re the meeting notes.
Then I went to buy some bread, and came home to have lunch.
So, then got outside, did some clearing up in the studio, so tomorrow I can get the log splitter out and hopefully Tony Castle will render it well again. I think it needs some more hydraulic fluid, but he's the best person to know.
I visited Richard who'd asked me to come and collect a shed-load of compost able materials.
At 6 I was at Davids to take him to City Screen for a coffee and a chance to spot Carolyn on a boat.... we did spot her, waving at us. After this, I introduced David to Richard, who as about to have an evening as Ray Spike, raising money for Alzheimer's research with his band The Falling Spikes, in the basement of City Screen. I decided not to go to the gig as I needed to finish off in the Studio, digging out the log splitter, and sorting out the mountain of crap Richard gave me, and I don't need to be hungover tomorrow as I've got work in Haxby.
And I need a bath, so got the stove going for hot water......
I also phoned Sargent Dave Horn, the police officer who looked after the ride, and asked if it was OK for our report to describe how the ride was policed, as what actually happened on the day was so very different to what the other officer said would happen. I wanted to make sure he didn't get into trouble if I described how the police had controlled the traffic, which according to the ACPO guidelines, they're not supposed to do. He was quite happy for me to say what happened, as he'd filed his own report on the night of the ride, and what he'd done was to do a risk assessment for each junction as he came to it, and with each non-traffic-lighted junction, he'd decided to get the ride over in one group, and momentarily stopped any motor vehicles getting into the middle of the group, to reduce the possibility of anything dangerous happening.
So, my next WNBR job is to write a brief post-ride report. I'll wait until my colleagues get back to me re the meeting notes.
Then I went to buy some bread, and came home to have lunch.
So, then got outside, did some clearing up in the studio, so tomorrow I can get the log splitter out and hopefully Tony Castle will render it well again. I think it needs some more hydraulic fluid, but he's the best person to know.
I visited Richard who'd asked me to come and collect a shed-load of compost able materials.
At 6 I was at Davids to take him to City Screen for a coffee and a chance to spot Carolyn on a boat.... we did spot her, waving at us. After this, I introduced David to Richard, who as about to have an evening as Ray Spike, raising money for Alzheimer's research with his band The Falling Spikes, in the basement of City Screen. I decided not to go to the gig as I needed to finish off in the Studio, digging out the log splitter, and sorting out the mountain of crap Richard gave me, and I don't need to be hungover tomorrow as I've got work in Haxby.
And I need a bath, so got the stove going for hot water......
Friday, 1 July 2011
Thursday 30th June 11
Gill came to wake me up at 8.30 as she was going in a taxi to school, with our youngest to drop him off at school, and with our eldest, who was being taken for a day out to explore Selby, getting there by bus.
At 11 I set off to see Melody the funding advisor at CVS, in the rain which had started just before I set out. I'd booked to see her with two York in Transition projects in mind, the Thermal Imaging Camera one, and the more difficult Cosy Homes idea, about how to persuade private landlords to insulate their properties. We had an hour's chat and she helped me understand a bit more about how to take these projects forward.
I called in on my opticians as they'd written to me telling me I needed my annual check up, and I was pleased to get an appointment for 6pm tonight.
I put 2 cheques in, collected some squashed lemon halves from the lemon juice stall to add to my compost and collected a big bag of maybe 50 Chiquita Mini bananas from Country Fresh, plus an avocado, all for £1. Then from Freshways, a sack of mixed compostables including some orange tomatoes which were in good enough condition to make soup out of. So after lunch, I made soup. I used one onion, one potato, 10 orange tomatoes, some basil and bouillon.
I had some loganberry juice leftover from Gill freezing a load of loganberries, so I soaked some dried apple rings in it and they soaked it up, and I re-dried them, making 'loganapple rings'. I also prepared and laid out for drying about 34 tiny bananas.
I wrote up the Melody info and sent it to YiT Thermal Imaging people.
At 5.15 I headed to Millers Yard as Dylan had asked me to pick up his halved oranges, after which I went on to the opticians. I was very pleased that I don't need glasses yet, although my eyesight is slowly getting worse.
Home, quiet evening in, although the internet went down at a crucial time, so Gill and I did a diary check, which was good as she hadn't got all of my summer bookings in her diary.
I am very intrigued by what I'm seeing in my 'Feedjit' thing, which tells me where blog-visitors are coming from and how they arrive. At the moment, and over the past few days, I've been having a lot of visitors from Sri Lanka, many of whom are entering a search term 'Do low carbon lifestyles lead to discomfort of the people' and similar. I think someone must have set a project or essay title with something like that, but I'd love to know!
And the answer is 'no', my low carbon lifestyle is quite comfortable, although things like public transport need a bit more thought and planning than just jumping into a car. And, mentally, I feel good about it. I feel that I'm doing the right thing. I feel that the resources I'm not using are being made available for others. However, it does sometimes feel like a bit of a lonely furrow I'm ploughing, as so few people in the West are taking the issues seriously. For the vast majority, it is 'business as usual' even though many people are warning of a forthcoming climate emergency. We'll see. Time will tell whether I'm doing this in vain, or whether people like me will be hailed as the heroes who cared enough to try to do something about it. Thing is, I won't be around to know the answer, as I'm over half-way through my life and might have, at best, another 30 or 40 years to go.
At 11 I set off to see Melody the funding advisor at CVS, in the rain which had started just before I set out. I'd booked to see her with two York in Transition projects in mind, the Thermal Imaging Camera one, and the more difficult Cosy Homes idea, about how to persuade private landlords to insulate their properties. We had an hour's chat and she helped me understand a bit more about how to take these projects forward.
I called in on my opticians as they'd written to me telling me I needed my annual check up, and I was pleased to get an appointment for 6pm tonight.
I put 2 cheques in, collected some squashed lemon halves from the lemon juice stall to add to my compost and collected a big bag of maybe 50 Chiquita Mini bananas from Country Fresh, plus an avocado, all for £1. Then from Freshways, a sack of mixed compostables including some orange tomatoes which were in good enough condition to make soup out of. So after lunch, I made soup. I used one onion, one potato, 10 orange tomatoes, some basil and bouillon.
I had some loganberry juice leftover from Gill freezing a load of loganberries, so I soaked some dried apple rings in it and they soaked it up, and I re-dried them, making 'loganapple rings'. I also prepared and laid out for drying about 34 tiny bananas.
I wrote up the Melody info and sent it to YiT Thermal Imaging people.
At 5.15 I headed to Millers Yard as Dylan had asked me to pick up his halved oranges, after which I went on to the opticians. I was very pleased that I don't need glasses yet, although my eyesight is slowly getting worse.
Home, quiet evening in, although the internet went down at a crucial time, so Gill and I did a diary check, which was good as she hadn't got all of my summer bookings in her diary.
I am very intrigued by what I'm seeing in my 'Feedjit' thing, which tells me where blog-visitors are coming from and how they arrive. At the moment, and over the past few days, I've been having a lot of visitors from Sri Lanka, many of whom are entering a search term 'Do low carbon lifestyles lead to discomfort of the people' and similar. I think someone must have set a project or essay title with something like that, but I'd love to know!
And the answer is 'no', my low carbon lifestyle is quite comfortable, although things like public transport need a bit more thought and planning than just jumping into a car. And, mentally, I feel good about it. I feel that I'm doing the right thing. I feel that the resources I'm not using are being made available for others. However, it does sometimes feel like a bit of a lonely furrow I'm ploughing, as so few people in the West are taking the issues seriously. For the vast majority, it is 'business as usual' even though many people are warning of a forthcoming climate emergency. We'll see. Time will tell whether I'm doing this in vain, or whether people like me will be hailed as the heroes who cared enough to try to do something about it. Thing is, I won't be around to know the answer, as I'm over half-way through my life and might have, at best, another 30 or 40 years to go.
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