Wednesday 30th September 09

The morning was a re-run of yesterday.

Got to St Nicks for 10am, 'Saint' John welcomed them and introduced me (John the Rotter) and the other people helping, took the group on a walk, and back to the centre and split them into their groups, me with the Rotters first and then, after a juice and biscuit break, the Saints.

I had taken in several cakes and quite a few bags of biscuits, all out of date and destined for landfill, rescued by lil ol me in a freegan moment, and gratefully snapped up by the various members of the recycling crew.

I got a phone call from Gladys during lunch asking if I could pop round and help her get some apples from a neighbour's tree which overhangs her property... the neighbours are students and take no interest in the garden at all, so it was good that she had these dozen apples or so. There were also some plums, which Gladys doesn't care for but I really like, especially if dried. So I picked them too and brought them back.

I did a little bit of shredding before 3.30 when I got tidied up to meet Sasiki in town, at the City Screen cafe/bar. I met her at Austin's funeral and agreed then to have a meeting with her to learn about the plans she has for YUMI : York Unifying and Multicultural Initiative, which are to have a centre where people can meet, display art, cook in a cafe (and eat in the cafe!) and have a garden where interesting foods can be grown. We had a wide ranging conversation, including about links with York in Transition, York Green Festival and others. We spent over an hour chatting.

Came home via Country Fresh where Rich was in good form and I came away with 3 boxes and a sack full of compostables... as well as bought potatoes, cauliflower, eggs and a cucumber.

Spent a good chunk of the evening sorting out plums, for drying.

Tuesday 29th September 09

Gill woke me up just before she went to school with our youngest, and again when she came back after 9. So I got up then as I was due at St Nicks at about 10am, and got there in good time.

The school party were late, they'd come over from Harrogate and got stuck in traffic I think.

'Saint' John did intros and split the group into Saints and Rotters. Then he led all of us into the Nature Reserve and along the butterfly walk where he explained about the apple trees which arrived as pips at the tip with the Rowntrees apple waste and some grew on the top, and are now mature fruit-laden trees. Then to the stone circle and back to the Centre, stopping to look at the green roof.

I then took one group and did a half-hour composting session with them, encompassing what happens in landfills, what happens in an aerobic compost pile, we found lots of beasties including centipedes, millipedes, worms, springtails, woodlice, beetles. Then had a good poke around the Can Of Worms wormery. Then an open Q+A.

After a break I took the second group and we did the same again. I was finished by soon after midday.

Home via Freshways where I was given a lot of interesting compostables/edibles, some of which will have to go in a tumbler along with shredded brambles and hedge.

I got our youngest from school and spent quite a bit of time sorting things out in the garden and brought quite a bit back in for re-use.

Excellent day.

Monday 28th September 09

Up early as I needed to do the minutes of last week's Transition meeting... and got an invitation to put my blog on http://blogs.gogreen.vc/.

I got the minutes done and sent them off to Peter for sending out. I spent half an hour in the garden shredding some brambles which Gill has removed.

Immediately after lunch I wend down to the station with my bike minus trailer, got a ticket to Hornbeam Park and took my bike on the train so I could easily get from the station to the 'Family Chiropractic Clinic' where Karen hires a room to do her acupuncture. She had booked the room from 2pm so she could continue her research about ADHD and acupuncture. I arrived before 2pm and she was waiting outside, no sign at all of anyone within, just a little sign saying 'lunch 1-2' and Karen had already rang their number, and it was on answerphone. Banging on the door and ringing the bell made no difference either. She got reasonably agitated about this and by 2.10, went to ask a nearby shop owner if they had seen any movement at the Clinic this morning. And then the person bothered to come down and open the Clinic door. I was a bit angry about this late start... as I had hoped to get the 3pm train back to York. She told me that they opened the shop at 2.15. I hope they change the note on the door... and give Karen a key so she can get in and get prepared for her clients.

She took a little while to get ready, and then did her pre-acupuncture routine which involves looking at my tongue and asking various questions and taking my pulse. We discussed my diet and food routine. Then I had the rather nice experience of having the needles put into my skin (most of them I couldn't feel, some I felt a tiny pinprick, one was uncomfortable for a couple of minutes) and then lying there for 45 minutes or so. I felt very relaxed and calm, almost knocked out, and I might have even drifted off to sleep at one stage. It is most curious. But at 3.20 I had the needles removed and I had another conversation about my carbohydrate-rich diet and four to six cups of coffee a day.

I cycled into Harrogate and popped into Waitrose to get some goats milk which Gill had asked me to buy, and onto the station where I got the 4.05 train back to York, along with 2 other cyclists.

I called in on Freshways and picked up a small box of recyclables, and headed home.

I did about an hour of loading a heap with shredded brambles and food 'resources'. For tea I had a sandwich with two small home-made veggie burgers from a couple of days ago (basically a nutloaf mix cooked in small patties in a frying pan) and some salad and potatoes.

At half six I went out to the Theatre Royal to see what I thought was a play by my friend Kate Lock. 'Script Factor' was in fact a weird concept... five new scripts or mini-plays, read unseen by volunteer audience members, the script writer/playwright answering a few questions, and then at the end, voting for the one you wanted to win. I liked Kate's play which was based on one of her early journalistic experiences, and the winning play which was by Charlotte Court, called 'Bus Stop 21', about a conversation between 3 women of different ages. Age, specifically youth, was a recurring theme in all the scripts, as the Theatre Royal is in the midst of a 'youth take-over' with a bunch of under-26 year olds in control, and free tickets for people under 26. The winner of tonight's Script Factor certainly looked younger than 26, and it was her first play ever read out to an audience. I think she deserved to win, as her idea was so simple and elegant. Kate's was more entertaining though... a play within a play, someone having a seizure during a sex scene, a sexist critic choking to death on a scone after being assaulted with a lucky Buddha... all good dramatic stuff... darkly humorous...

I left at about 9.30 and was home 10 minutes later. Enjoyed watching 'The Cell' on BBC4.

Sunday 27th September 09

Far too early a start today... had to be in town by 9am. Urgh.

But, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's punctuality. So I got there on the bongs of 9am (I heard a church chiming in case you don't quite understand what kind of bong I'm talking about!) and got the York Rotters stuff together... various leaflets, and tied the marquee side back with some string begged from the butcher next to us. The Council waste minimisation people were there too, doing the Love Food Hate Waste bit of the stall.

I had a very full-on time... really enjoyed it, despite a bit of a quiet start, it was fun to smile at people and say, "Would you like to tell me about your compost heap?", and only one person said 'No' and walked away! I had a short time off at about 12.30 and found a stall selling Foccacia bread rolls with feta cheese and salad... it was a bit expensive but I got a receipt as I think York Rotters will pay me back... but it really doesn't matter as I had such a fun day. I particularly enjoyed working with 'MeJulie' who is a Council accountant but into waste reduction and recycling, and I met at John Morris' funeral. She was very friendly and chatty. Jo turned up just before 2pm and I was able to go after my 5 hour shift.

I popped into Country Fresh on the way back and Rich had more compostables for me... whoopee! Every day I go there is like a birthday!

Things were all quiet and calm at home so I had a few minutes with a coffee and the laptop, and then popped round to the house round the corner where one of the tenants Simon said I could have as many apples and pears as I wanted. Simon wasn't in but another tenant was, and he said 'go ahead', so I went back home to get some wooden fruit trays/boxes and my giant ladders, which reach up to 9 metres leaning against something or 6 metres freestanding in an A shape, with a ladder sticking out of the top, like a Greek lower-case Lambda.

I started with the lovely but rock-hard 'winter pears' which need to sit quietly for a few weeks and ripen, when they go very juicy and sweet and aromatic and soft and are perhaps my favourite fruit of all time. The tree is very tall and I wasn't able to pick them all, but did get about 3 boxes full. Then I picked loads of apples, which are eaters (not cookers!) and are delicious too, and ready to eat now. I also picked the small Victoria plum tree, so that Simon could have what he wanted from what I picked. When Simon came back, I was up the apple tree again and I came down and showed him what I'd picked. He had just a few of each variety but said that I could have everything else.

I came back for tea, Gill had made a lovely veg stew with broad beans, celery, potato, mushroom, butternut squash, Brussels sprouts and quite a few more ingredients, with a goats cheese cobbler - a scone topping. A delish nosh...

I did one more trip up the apple tree after this, but when it got too dark I brought the ladders back.

I popped round to Woodlands to pick up some logs, and met Debbie who asked if she could have some apples so I walked back with her with my first trailer load of logs, and gave her a dozen apples. Collected a second load of logs and came back home to put my bike away and relax.

What a busy day! Glad to have so much quality fruit to keep us going through the winter. Thank you Simon and the absentee landlord for not being interested in your bountiful fruit trees...

Saturday 26th September 09

A busy and tiring day, but fulfilling.

I got up early enough to be on my bike and going down to town before 10 to be a York Rotter at the Food Festival, from 10 til midday. There were assorted Council bods there already, doing the Love Food Hate Waste info and giveaways. I immediately launched into my Rotter mode and enthusiastically engaged with as many people as possible.

Town was busy and in the two hours I chatted to about 25 people about home composting and sometimes other subjects. Very enjoyable.

I came home via Country Fresh to pick up compostables and had some good chats with Rich before zooming back for lunch, a quick email session and then got changed and bike loaded with Fiddlesticks gear to go up the Hull Road to a four-year-old's party, booked less than a week ago. I'd suggested that as they'd already got a bouncy castle arranged, that a shorter circus skills show would be best, with reduced workshop content, followed by a balloon model giveaway rather than a workshop.

So this format worked well... most of the partygoers were four, two were twelve years old (I think) and there were plenty of adults too, which was good. Everything went as planned, and I was given a veggieburger when all the children had received their balloon animals, and a slice of delicious cake. I had to ask about the cake. It was unlike anything I'd had before... and I was introduced to the cake-baker, the Jamaican Grandma. I asked about the recipe and she said she never used a recipe. She used butter and sugar, blended with a bit of milk, and assorted essences, vanilla pods etc, and some raisins and currants soaked in wine for several months, gravy browning (!) and bicarbonate of soda, and a whole bag of flour. Oh, and some rum, white rum. The secret, though, was to add a few slops of rum to the cake as soon as it came out of the oven. So, and interesting and delicious creation.

I stayed on at the party well after the 4pm supposed finish time as I wanted to make sure that as children left, they had an intact balloon model... and of course there was fizzy pop to drink and the Jamaican Grandma to chat to...

But was home by 5pm and I got changed and did a load of chainsawing. Gill had made a sort of ... veggieburger for tea! I didn't watch the stuff that our boys were engrossed in (some Merlin fantasy stuff I think, and saw an awfully rubbish ITV programme on the other telly which was dire). I switched off and did a lot of Scrabble on facebook, and several interesting conversations with new facebook friends, including a gent who works for the US Environmental Protection Agency and was interested in my uber-low carbon lifestyle. Interesting stuff.

A quiet evening, bit of washing up, lots of computery stuff. (Gill finds this last line funny, can't think why!)

Friday 25th September 09

I enjoyed several things today, including an early start when I settled down to write up the minutes of the York Green Festival meeting on Wednesday. This took several hours during the morning and Gill went out to have her hair cut. I didn't manage to finish the write-up, as I got distracted.

I was due to meet Hannah my Re-enactment friend during the afternoon, but she rang and put it off til Sunday afternoon. But I had to go into town anyway, as we're doing a SUMA order next week and I needed to shuffle some money around our accounts and put a cheque in from Melody. I looked in on the York Rotters stall after this to see where it was, as Parliament St is full of Food Festival stuff.

I decided to pop in to Kyi-Po on the way back, as I'd heard a rumour that because of their behaviour, Matthew and Sarah had been beaten up or even stabbed. Now their behaviour towards me hasn't been very nice, but whatever they've done I don't believe that they deserve this kind of treatment. I also wanted to ensure that I don't remain in their list of persona non grata, so I went in and chatted to them for a while. I was frank about my displeasure about their behaviour towards me, but also said that I was sorry that they had been attacked. Sarah showed me her huge bruises, but I didn't ask for any details about what happened. I didn't spend a long time there and soon arrived home.

However, I only had a half hour or so to have a wash and brush-up before I needed to get off to the station to get the 4.37 train to Scarborough for the launch of the 10:10 project there. I had been invited by Jane Gresham, a passionate activist, to do a talk to introduce the Age of Stupid film. On the way over I was able to continue typing out the Green Festival minutes, as I took my laptop and this train had a plug to keep my laptop knackered batteries going!

The venue was just across the road from the station, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, and I found my way through a labyrinth to the room Jane had been given. I was very happy to meet my friend Sarah there, and I chatted with her til the event started.... at about 6.30. Jane did introductions and I did my bit, perhaps 10 or 15 minutes.

I started with an introduction and a quick plug for Professor Fiddlesticks (people always like to know what you do!) Then I shared my green journey from the 1980s when I chose to live an 'environmentally friendly' lifestyle, which was soon labelled as 'low impact', and then during the 90s, when I got involved with Local Agenda 21, it was renamed 'sustainable'. It was at this time when I signed all my letters 'yours in sustainable development'. But more recently, my approach is relabelled 'low carbon'. I explained how I know it is low carbon, by using carbon calculators, and review your score regularly, such as I do with The Carbon Account. I didn't spend a long time talking about why I've chosen to live like I do, just a mention of climate change and more of an explanation about peak oil, and wanting to leave this precious resource in the ground for my grandchildren's grandchildren to use, sparingly. And that I wish to be remembered as a responsible ancestor, not a selfish and greedy ostrich. Finally, as I'm a solutions person, I covered, briefly, personal actions and group or community solutions, then how politicians can help... both councils and governments. I referred to the 10:10 movement and then introduced the film.

Then the DVD of The Age of Stupid was played. I didn't watch the first half, but finished typing out the Green Festival minutes. However, I did watch the second half and as usual, it rendered me into a blubbering wreck. I only just pulled myself together for the Q+A straight afterwards.

There were some interesting questions, observations and comments. And I think I made a few good points. Enough for two people to buy me a drink afterwards.

My train was just after 10pm and soon I was in York and home.

Thursday 24th September 09

A very quiet day in many ways.... nothing much happened in the morning, apart from me washing up and Gill cleaning the fridge, and in the afternoon, again, not a lot to report. However, at 3.15 we had visitors... the solar panel people, Harris Construction, with a rep from Solarwall who will supply the panel.

So this chap took a couple of photos of the boiler, roofspace and from outside, the roofline. He said it would be very straightforward to install the hot water panels. We even have a choice between panels made in Germany or in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The UK ones aren't quite as efficient, but they're cheaper. So, we'll get a detailed breakdown of the choices and prices, and hopefully we'll get our system fitted quite quickly. There's only one problem... our loft is rather, err, 'congested' (read: untidy, chaotic, full of stuff) and it will be quite a job to get it sorted out, I estimate several days work.

Anyway, I'm glad we're moving on with this project.

Soon after 4.30 I headed down to Heslington Road, popped in on Country Fresh to pick up compostables, and then locked my bike up outside David's, so I could look at the most recent photos he took of Professor Fiddlesticks, and I could pick out the best ones. Dave will now put together an album of all the best ones taken over the past months, and from that I'll choose the best and most appropriate ones for my new advertising flyer. We agreed a price, in Yorkys and Sterling. Once a proof has been made, I will then get some printed.

This evening, Avaaz posted this video about Monday's myriad of ways in which people all over the Planet participated in the 'Wake Up Call'. What a brilliant stunt.. well done Avaaz and all the people who did these creative things.


We had Bulgar wheat and home grown green beans for tea and I chopped up loads more apples for drying. Enjoyed Question Time on BBC1.