Sunday 21st August 11

Well a quiet day at home but did do a compost collection from Country Fresh, and then after that, got my fancy dress costume ready, so I could participate in the York City Cycle Races, in the opening race, on a Brompton (a small folding bike) as one quarter of Team Green.

Andy D'Agorne had organised this, texting me a few days ago and saying we had to decide by the end of the day.  I said yes, without knowing very much about it.  I did check abut the fancy dress, so I put on the most colourful and barmy clothes I've got.

So I cycled in on my usual bike and locked that up and met up with Andy, Jane McWeeny and Ginnie Shaw.  The Brompton race was first, at 5pm, and I took the chance to try the Brompton and check out the route round the city centre before the race, a good idea as I knew which corners were toughest and could judge what speed to take them.

Andy had said he wanted to go first, then me, as I'm about the same height, followed by Jane and Ginny, who had the seat-post lowered.  I was surprised how slow Andy was... he later admitted that he thought the circuit was dangerous and he hadn't pedalled as fast as he could have done.  Maybe he was wise as another team, the General Practitioners team (family doctors) didn't finish as one of their members crashed and was taken to hospital with broken ribs and a damaged liver.  However, I cycled as fast as I could, managed to overtake one other team, and crossed the line feeling I couldn't have done better.

Out of the six teams who entered, we came fourth, not bad considering our combined ages (all in our 40s and 50s!), and our fancy dress caused a fair amount of mirth and merriment.  I believe that some money was raised for charity, too.

We had a few group photos taken but I didn't stay to watch the other races.

I cycled home, via Grape Lane and Swinegate where there were assorted festivities taking place, and felt pleased that I'd taken part in my second ever bike race.

Saturday 20th August 11

I had a fairly late start but got myself together to get to New Earswick for lunch and a 1.30pm start for the AVP meeting.  I'm the Health and Safety Officer for Alternatives to Violence Project, North East and East Midlands, and people from all over the region had come to attend the meeting at Hartrigg Oaks.

This was a good meeting which I enjoyed, and Roswitha gave me some beetroot and Gill gave me some plums.

I enjoyed the cycle back into town with Alan, who'd come over from Bradford, but at the cycle track I peeled off and turned towards Burton Stone Lane as I'd agreed to go and see a friend who everyone knows as J or Jx, who'd asked my opinion about composting, or disposing of, some pyracanthus twigs. I said I'd come and chop them up and put them in paper sacks, and take them for composting.  So we stood and chopped and chatted, which was really nice.

I think it took about an hour, after which I cycled the length of the cycle track to St Nicks, picked up a sack of compostables at Freshways, and called in on Bob as I had some bread for him and his household.  Here I met Lou Mason, whom I've been wanting to meet up with for ages, as I was friends with her brother Tom, and then I saw some art done by Lou and I have been wanting to meet her since.  One of those chance meetings, random and surprising.  Hopefully we'll get to go for a cuppa together sometime.  Would be good to meet at Millers Yard as there's a bench there in memory of Tom Mason, who worked there as a baker when I first moved to York in the 1980s.

Friday 19th August 11

A really good day as we met up with my parents for the first time in ages.

The arrangement was that they'd meet Gill and the boys off the bus in Pocklington, and take them to Swing Bridge Number 6 on the Pocklington Canal, at Melbourne.  As the car only carries 5 people, there was only room to pick up 3 passengers. So I cycled the 10 miles out through Elvington, Sutton on Derwent and on to Melbourne.

I set off at 10.15 and the others got the 10.24 bus. They arrived in Pocklington at 10.54, and I got to Melbourne at 11.05, ten minutes before the car with canoe on top arrived.

The canal has lovely clear water and plenty of fish.  We sat on one of the jetties which boats moor up against when the bridge needs to be moved, and ate our lunch.  I fed the fish crumbs from my sandwiches.

My father first took our eldest out on the canal, and Gill and I chatted with my mother, and we all enjoyed watching the damselflies and fish jumping.

Then I went out with my Dad, with him at the back steering and my youngest son in the middle, me at the front.  We went along the canal towards Pocklington, and the canal gets very blocked with reeds and vegetation.  I picked a load of watercress, which I'll clean up and make into soup.  It's not a good idea to eat wild watercress raw, as there's a chance of getting a parasite, but if cooked it's completely safe.

We got back to the landing area and I took Gill out for a very slow paddle, as she's not used to boats and was a bit nervous.

No-one else wanted to have a go so we stopped there, at about 2pm, and the canoe went back on the car, and Daddy drove it up the muddy track without the other 4 passengers, as the uneven ground meant that the car had 'bottomed out' with the extra weight on the way down.  So we all walked up the track, and then they all got in and turned left to Pocklington and I turned right to York, and cycled fast all the way home. 

I worked for David from 6 til 8, got on well as usual!

Thursday 18th August 11

A bit of a nothingy day to be honest.

I took the tent down as it was dry and our eldest has decided not to use it for his birthday next week.

I did a couple of hours composting and a bit of wooding.

Did more pears.

Wednesday 17th August 11

I enjoyed today as I had no particular things to do, get to, or any obligations, but I got a lot done. During the morning I interspersed watching Concrete Circus on 4oD with various jobs in the kitchen, but it was good to catch up with this programme which Gill watched on Monday night, whilst I was at Just Do It.  I'm a big fan of Danny MacAskill, and enjoyed his part of the film most... but all the 'urban sports' performers were good. 

Gill went to Malton with our youngest to buy two young female guinea pigs, which he's wanted to have for quite a while, and are his birthday present.  They came back after lunch with them in a travelling pet box, one is mostly ginger brown with some white bits and the other is mostly nearly black with some other colours.  Their names have yet to be decided but Fudge and Toffee might stick (haha!)

I got a message from Rich to go and pick up from Country Fresh and I did do, and got some eggs and veggies too, and some stuff for Debbie.  She had her daughter's friend Vicky there and we all had a nice chat.

I got a phone call from a woman who attended a recent Fiddlesticks gig, with her son, who had some very extrovert behaviour which made him stand out from the rest of the audience.  I had dealt with him in my usual way, made sure he was included and I didn't tell him off, but did explain a couple of times about how the audience was supposed to behave in a live show.  At the end, she apologised for his behaviour, and I said something like "no problem, he was great, and anyway, I have Aspergers so I know what it's like to be a bit different".  I had no idea what a profound effect this comment was to have on her.  She rang me to thank me for doing the show, and to tell me her son had loved it, and that she'd like to book me for his birthday party.  She has had several people suggest that her son has got Aspergers Syndrome, and she was quite mixed up and confused by it, as she's had quite a bit of negative reaction from some teachers who couldn't cope with the boy's intelligent questions and unusual ways, and my comments had really given her hope and some sort of positivity.  Actually, I don't really know what I did or said that had such an effect, but she was profusely grateful.  We spent quite a bit of time on the phone, and then chatted on the internet later, and her feedback made me very happy.   

I did another big pear tree pick, and got about 6 kilos of lovely Jargonelle pears, which will mostly be dried, as this concentrates the flavour and dried pears are my favourite dried fruit.  I got my 9 metre ladder fully extended and then climbed into the tree off the top of it, it felt quite dangerous and exciting.  These pears do not keep at all, most of them go bad in 24 hours, so drying is the best way to preserve them.  The ground underneath the tree is thick with fallen pears, wasps and Red Admiral butterflies, so I needed to harvest what I could.

The only other useful things I did were to do loads of washing up and help prepare tea. Oh, and load up lots of wire racks with halved pears.....

Tuesday 16th August 11

A slow start to the day, as didn't need to leave the house til after midday.  I got my kit moved from my bags which I use to carry stuff on the train to the Curver Box which goes in the bike trailer. And then, got the costume put in my pannier and four-wheeled unicycles in the other pannier... had my sandwiches and jumped on my trusty steed and headed to Poppleton Library.

The rain started.  I got soaked.  But it only took 35 minutes to cycle up to Poppy and I got to the library at 1pm.  My show was due to start at 1.30, so plenty of time to dry off, get changed and unpack my gear.

We had a 'full house' with at least 20 children and about 8 mums and dads, and we had a really good show, lots of participation and laughter; I really enjoyed it.  After my routine I did a circle game, throwing and catching, and then 35 minutes of free play.

We finished at 3.30 and by 4 I was cycling round the village to see Kate Houghton, who is an 84 year old who was great friends with Gill's mother, Betty Adelaide.  I had a coffee and a chat, and then another friend of hers popped in and it was 5pm, and time for me to go, as I was supposed to be working for David at 6pm.

I got to Stonegate before I needed to go and see David, so I went to chat with Purpleman, who last week suffered an unprovoked attack.  He's OK though, and resilient, and quoted Gandhi.

I got to David's a bit before 6 and he was pleased to see me and wanted to go to City Screen for a coffee.  There were quite a few people there whom we knew, gathering for a film about the history of railways.  We went to sit upstairs and got a lovely view of the river, and chatted briefly with various people.  But when the film started, we went for a wander, down Coney Street and then retraced our steps to go to Museum Gardens, went through and round onto Marygate and down to the river and back through the Gardens, and then to the Minster, round the back and along past St Williams College and along Goodramgate, where we bumped into Claire from Grace Preserves, and her husband whom I've not met before, and eventually home to David's, where he was very happy to get some tea, which was waiting for me to microwave for him.

Monday 15th August 11, 'Just Do It' film

A good day, a bunch of positive things happened.

Not sure why I woke up when I did but soon after I got a phone call which rang off after I failed to get to it on time, so rang back and it was my Mum, arranging a meeting for a family trip out in their canoe, at the Pocklington Canal, and we needed to fix a date; we're all busy people!  I'll be cycling out to the canoe launch site, Gill and the boys will be collected from Pocklington bus station and have a short car journey to the launch site.  I'm quite looking forward to it!

My computer has had some problems with a loose connection to the power supply, and it has been getting worse, so I visited two local computer shops for a verdict.  One said it would be £80 to go inside and take out the DC port, and £10 to replace it, and £40 for a new power pack, and £40 to £100 for a new battery pack, since that too is old and only gives me 20 minutes battery time.  The other shop said £60 to go into the computer, and £15 to £40 for a power pack (they said they'd look on Ebay) and an unknown price for a battery (again, this shop uses Ebay).  I was a bit dismayed at the potential cost, so I emailed Ben to ask his opinion.  He rang me back quite soon and said that he'd be happy to look at it, to confirm whether he agreed with the diagnosis.  I walked round and left the laptop there and within the hour he'd tightened up the connections inside and done a little re-soldering on the plug which goes into the back of the box.... and the problem is (temporarily) solved!  He wants paying in £10 worth of dried fruit and a £5 note!  Wow!

I then cycled our eldest son over to his friend's house in Fulford, and noticed a pile of waste logs so once son safely delivered, I cycled back past them and brought some back with me.

When, towards 5pm, I went back to pick him up, I collected another load.

I had a bread and soup tea and then towards 7pm headed to City Screen to meet up with Nick, who had agreed to go to see Just Do It with me.  I've been looking forward to this film for quite a while, as it is about a movement I care a lot about, admire, and am, in a small way, part of.  Also, it was really good to see Nick, I'm very fond of him.  We always have great conversations.  And whilst having a pint with Nick, David Ward Maclean came to say hello.

This film is about a group of people I feel close to, people who care enough about our planet to put themselves in situations of personal danger and risk in order to try to highlight the issues and reduce the perceived problems.  I feel close to them not because I do what they do, but because they are equally passionate about the same things.  My way of 'doing direct action' is to live every day of my life in a low carbon, ethical manner, rather than get involved in noisy colourful protests and camps, although I did attend a Climate Camp at Drax.  They may have lifestyles which emit more (or less!) carbon than me, but they get involved in direct action with Climate Camp, Climate Rush, Plane Stupid and other groups and actions.  I have HUGE respect for these people, and the film followed a few of them for a year, including getting busy at the Copenhagen Conference in 2009 and the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight.

The film was very inspiring and I hope moves people to get involved with actions which have positive effects for future generations of people and other species on this planet.  I believe that anthropogenic climate change is the biggest challenge that Humanity is facing, and in order to turn the problem round, we have to not only drastically reduce the rate of CO2 emissions, which continue to rise year by year, but we should find ways to reduce the actual amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, which has risen from a generally accepted 270 parts per million pre Industrial Revolution, to 392ppm today, primarily because of the amount of fossil carbon we're emitting through burning fuels, plus the reduction in forested land and increase in other activities which emit CO2, such as draining peat bogs.  So far, there is no tried and tested way of sequestering atmospheric carbon in the amounts needed to reduce the concentration..... but we need to stop emitting so much as a starter!

After the screening, Emily James the Director answered questions, and there was a chap from the Free Frank Fernie campaign too. I was amused when Emily noticed someone filming this speaker and was holding the camera on 'portrait', and she grabbed the camera and turned it to 'landscape' which, as she is a film-maker, she knows gives a much better picture. 

I loved Just Do It.  I think it will be a testament to those who heeded warnings and took the action they thought necessary.  Whether they/we are successful in these endeavours, only history will tell.