Human Lifestyle

Gill woke me by coming and turning the radio on in the bedroom as our friend Anneliese Emmans-Dean was on Woman's Hour, with some of her wonderful poetry (hear it here from about 14 mins 20 seconds in) so after that I got up and before breakfast, went to buy bread at Thomas's. 

A bit later I did a round trip to Hazel Court, disposing of wet carpet, some electrical equipment I found in a skip and I put it in the WEEE skip for recycling, some metal in the metals skip, and 3 sacks of drinks cartons.  I had no hassle whatsoever from anyone... in fact I had 2 nice conversations, one with a pet-fancier (rabbits?) who gave me his old straw bedding and another chap called Jeff whom I had a 10 or 15 minute chat with!  From here I went on to Country Fresh to see Richard and pick up some veg for us and for Debbie, and quite a lot of compostables.

Delivered Debbie's veg, home to deal with ours and before the light went, loaded some gubbins into the Compostumbler and then helped Gill prepare some sprouts for tea.  The sprouts were a bit bitter, (and we'd stir-fried them) so we added a tiny bit of sugar, some bouillon, herbs and sesame seeds... this made them delicious!  I had this with the second half of the rice/stuffing mix, and a bit of celery soup on top.  It was a good meal.

I'd been invited to Andy D'Agorne and Denise Craghill's New Year's Eve party, so I set off at about 8 and delivered Anna's TENS machine back to her... which wasn't really any use to Gill as TENS is good at localised pain, not the all-over type.  But good to know that Anna hires them out.  She was just setting off to the party, with her neighbour Pauline.  I cycled along to Broadway and was pleased to find quite a few people already partying, including a photo quiz which was fun.

I especially enjoyed talking to Will whom I know from the Green Party and his 12 year old son who was very bright and politically opinionated!  My friend Tracy, from York Green Festival days, was there with one of her friends. Guy was there, and Catherine who's voice I like, and Dave Taylor...although I didn't have a chance to speak to his partner Chris who people speak highly of, but I've never really got to know her.  There were others too... a buzzing party.  I left at about 11and cycled home via a collectible waste wooden structure which only just fitted on my bike trailer, but will make excellent kindling.

Saw the New Year in with Gill and the boys, which was really nice, lots of hugs all round. 

I had a fairly chilled Sunday morning, including half-watching Country Tracks, but I had the York in Transition Alternative Energy Event on my mind, and how I could best contribute to this.  I had a phone conversation with Anna Semlyen, who has organised this event, and decided to find or create a placard to stand outside the Mansion House.

I got some cardboard and wallpaper lining paper, and secured a stick handle into the card, and after lunch took that on my trailer, plus marker pens, down to The Mansion House on St Helen's Square, arriving at 2.30pm.  Anna supplied two posters which I stuck on each side, and I wrote FREE TODAY above the poster and RENEWABLE ENERGY below it.

My self-appointed task was to stand outside the venue and announce: "FREE ENTRY TODAY TO THE MANSION HOUSE, USUALLY £5 ENTRY, TODAY FREE.  ALSO FIND OUT HOW TO GET FREE ELECTRICITY" and similar messages.  There was plenty of interest, not just from people wanting to find out more about renewable energy, but a few (tourists) wanting to see the Lord Mayor's residence.  At about 3.30 Ivana came down and said that Anna had just finished her short talk so it was my turn to do a talk on woodstoves.  I had about 6 people listening intently and asking questions afterwards.  I went straight back out and continued pulling them in.  At about 4.45 I did another talk to just 5 people this time, but all were potential woodstove buyers.    The venue closed it's doors at 5pm, and the chap on the door told us we'd had 241 people through... we were delighted!  So were the three solar installers who had their info for people to see.  I'd been asking people on the way out if it had been worth going in, and most said it had been really useful.

So, in anybody's terms, a highly successful event.  About two thirds of the people who came in did look around the stalls and took leaflets from the Energy Saving Trust, who didn't attend but did let us have leaflets. So between 150 and 200 people got information about putting solar photovoltaic panels on their roof, or solar water heating, insulation, heat pumps, woodburning stoves and more.  York in Transition got a load more email sign ups to add to the 500+ we have already.

I came home pretty quickly, picking up two bags and a box from Countyr Fresh which had just closed, and some scrap metal out of their bin. 

Carrot soup for tea, and a bit of rice the kids didn't eat, and then I sorted out some beans which I'm drying, and some nectarines, and I sliced the membrillo into thick slices as it has dried off and set sufficiently, although the centre of each slice is soft, so I put each slice on it's side to dry further.  I tasted it again and it's wonderful.  Despite being time consuming to make, I'm sure it is worth it.

An early start as I had to be at St Lawrence's before 10 to help set up... I thought my fruit press would be there but it wasn't; it was delivered at about 10.30.  But the Transition stall was there, as were lots of other campaign and community groups, the Council's 'Nappacino' stall with reusable nappy information (it costs the Council thousands of pounds to landfill disposable nappies), some people doing fruit smoothies, a bike and trike try-out demonstration outside in the playground, and more.  Anna had done well to co-ordinate this event. 

A fair few people came through the doors and the York in Transition stall got another half-dozen signatures for the mailing list.  I chatted with a nice lady called Karen who runs or works for 'Grace' preserves.  I met my old friend Kate who was with the cycling try out.  Chloe and Dave from Edible York and Abundance brought loads of apples and washed them, halved them and they got put through the grinder and into the press, and we made loads of very sweet and tasty juice.  This was popular!

Cleaning up was not too easy. The press and grinder are easiest to clean with a hose, but we only had a jug and a sink.  We left the press at the school, to be picked up on Monday and taken to St Nicks ready for Apple Day next weekend.  I took home a large amount of apple press solids and the bits of fruit skins etc from the smoothie maker.  Oh, and a large pile of compostable paper cups from her too. 

Andy D'Agorne took the remaining leaflets and a map of the roads in Hull Road Ward which haven't yet been leafleted, and a few hours later he popped in to give the remaining undelivered ones back and the map. 

I loaded up one of the heaps with shredded apple and shredded twigs.  I want it to be hot for tomorrow when I'm holding a 10:10:10 'Work Party' to show people composting and invite then to help dig out a large heap.

I was tired and didn't want to be subjected to the Come Dancing nonsense so I had a couple of hours upstairs and found a nice dance music website called Limbic Frequencies.

Later, had a real game of Scrabble with Gill, not on facebook. 

Not too early a start but I soon realised I had an appointment at the RSPCA animal home at 11 to deliver compost to Julia, who's doing a garden there.  So I got 4 sacks of very mature compost plus a sack of leafmould, and cycled it round there.  Julia was waiting for me and she took me to see where she's making raised beds, and showed me her compost bins which she's using to compost animal bedding.  On the way out I asked the person in the office what they suggested I do with any squirrels I caught in my live trap.  They said they wouldn't be able to accept them.

I didn't spend long there but as I left I noticed some clear plastic sacks of garden waste had been dumped in the undergrowth, so I emptied them out (it was all biodegradable) and took the sacks with me... they'll come in useful for something composty...

I cycled back towards town, and passed the Minster Vets in Salisbury Road, and decided to find out if they had a policy on squirrels.  After some discussion, the answer was they would have to kill it or 'put it down' as this is euphemistically called, and charge me £24 for doing so.  A very unsatisfactory situation. This issue of 'pest animals' is a real ethical dilemma for me.  I think I need to write a note about ethical dilemmas.(now done!)

I came back via Country Fresh, and after lunch went to do a load of leafleting in the Tang Hall area.

In the evening I attended a 20s Plenty for York meeting at Anna's, and was glad to meet a York Press reporter who's keen to cover the campaign. I have a few actions against my name.  Our main focus is to persuade people to fill in the consultation, despite it being very poorly worded. The information about the consultation is here, but a pdf of the YourCity is here, with the 20 mph consultation on page 4. The council also provide this information. I'm backing the 20's Plenty for 3 main reasons: lower speeds mean if there is a collision, there is a reduced likelihood of injury or death; reduced speeds mean less acceleration and braking, and therefore reduced fuel use; lower speeds mean quieter roads. Additionally, lower speeds may encourage people currently scared of cycling to get back on their bikes and cycle to work, school or the shops.

I came home via Country Fresh again and brought a broken pallet back.  Not a lot of wood in it, but it would have ended up in a skip if I hadn't have brought it back. It will make good kindling.

Another good day, very busy though, despite getting up at 10am!

After my usual bowl of cereal and soya milk, I got going with stacking about 5 wheelbarrows worth of split 'green' logs, taking then down into the back garden and onto pallets where they will spend a year or more drying, ready for the stoves. Whilst I was down the garden, someone rang up wanting to talk about green funerals; she'd seen the Novaterium.com advert in The Book of Green.

But she didn't leave her number and when Gill did a 1471 call, it was withheld. She said she'd ring back in half an hour. So I worked out at the front, chopping sticks up with loppers and putting them into wooden fruit boxes for stacking and drying for kindling. Then it was lunchtime so I came in and had my usual pile of sandwiches. At 1.45 the phone rang and it was the Novaterium enquirer, Lynne from Morecambe, who was wanting to know more about green funerals but doesn't have internet access. She wanted to know if I could provide the information on paper. I spent 40 minutes talking her through the various options, explaining what the problems are with 'traditional' disposal and the new developments which should be available soon. She was enquiring as someone she knows has a terminal illness and she was hoping to help organise a greener funeral. She might send me an SAE and I'll send her some information which will help her sort something out.

Then it was 2.30, when I'd got an appointment with the volunteer co-ordinator for Woodlands MS Respite Care Centre, where I'm hoping to volunteer in the grounds, as they have lots of logs and branches which need clearing; the groundsman usually just has a bonfire, but I'd like to use some of them, by cutting the branches off the logs and taking the useful stuff away, replacing fossil fuel use with renewable waste wood. So I want to help, but with a good dose of self interest and environmental issues there too. I took my documents... birth certificate, wedding certificate, bank stuff, tax stuff and a couple of others, so I could get CRB checked. Although I'm not going to have any close contact with the guests, all volunteers need CRB checks.

On the way back from Woodlands, I popped in on Debbie, to tell her that I had a sack of dry wood for her, for Debbie Fricker's memorial, and would she like to come and choose a branch for the memory tree thing she wants to do? I had several Lilac branches which might be good for this, so she came over and chose one, and I took the sack of sticks and logs back over to her. She was very pleased.

Then I loaded my trailer up with 2 sacks of soya milk cartons and others, and Gill gave me a sack of clothing and material only suitable for shoddy, and I cycled them down to Hazel Court, where the notice forbidding cycles up on the top level has now definitely gone. I reckon the 'civil disobedience' and letters to the paper must have worked. I'm very pleased with this.

I went on to a pet shop to get fish food, then off to my building society to get out a cheque for British Telecommunications plc for advertising, and to pay a water bill at the bank. Then I popped in to see Dylan as I knew he'd have some oranges for me, and David, Debbie's brother was there so I chatted with him as Dylan was busy. I took 4 sacks of orange skins and coffee grounds, 2 boxes of mostly mouldy oranges and two sacks of plastic bottles. Then I came home, calling in on Freshways where they had a sack for me, which I had to put on the handlebars and tri-bar to get home.

Then I did some composting, fully loading up the Compostumbler and adding to the SunMar Compostflow.

I had carrot soup for tea, then set out to go to Edward's house for a York in Transition Directors Meeting. This was mainly taken up with Anna's funding stuff again, which is causing us significant problems, as she has not consulted the Directors and we hadn't got any documentation. Edward is going to have to go and chat to the Council people, and I have to write a letter to the Neighbourhood Unit about another issue connected with a different set of Anna's Ward funding approaches. However, we may be able to work with the YiT funding applications she's put in, but we'd have to see if we can find volunteers in all 18 wards she's applied to, or find a volunteer or paid co-ordinator to run the scheme citywide.

We worked on these from 7.30 til well after 9.30pm. I visited two skips on the way home for some scrap wood. Later, at midnight, I mashed all the stewed cherry plums to remove the stones, which I took out one by one with a fork. Gill made a cake for our youngest son's birthday tomorrow. Finished this at about 2am.

A work day that I was not entirely looking forward to... I was wondering how my ankle would cope and what I'd be able to do. I was happy that my travel arrangements were taken care of by Chris offering to pick me up at 10.15.

So I got ready and packed in good time and was picked up by Chris, who leads meditations, and his wife Collina, who is a very keen gardener, in a hire car.

The journey was quick and easy, with a quick stop in Pocklington for Chris to get some cash out, and on to the Madhyamaka Buddhist Centre, at Kilnwick Percy Hall. I got my gear out of the car quite near the main lawn and found a good place which would accommodate my four-wheel and two-wheel unicycles, and got myself settled to do some workshops and balloons. I was kept busy all day, but was able to sit for much of it. I was offered a vegeburger and salad for lunch, and Collina got me a coffee. It was a very successful day, and the people in charge paid me my agreed fee, despite my not being able to unicycle round. I was very grateful and pleased. The trip home was just as easy and quick, and I was back home at about 5.30.

I had sandwiches for tea, and then at 7.15 cycled off to Anna's to participate in a York in Transition Events Team meeting with Ivana and Andy D'Agorne. I took a few notes and offered to write them up. I'll do that tomorrow, I hope!

Up early again, and set off on the bike at 8.40 in order to get to Priory Street for 9am when the conference was due to resume.

The day started with a way of working called an Open Space, which I think originated within the Transition movement.

Anna Semlyen was the convener of this morning's Open Space, and she started us off with a poem she wrote.

She sent it to me:

Cutting Car Use

I want to cut car use
But what’s the use?
People love mobility and personal facility
As expressed by their motor
They don’t even need a coat or comfortable shoes
If they’ve a car they can abuse

Problems abound with getting around
Like personal safety
And nearly everyone seems hasty
Yet a slower pace brings a human face
And life’s not a race
In any case not driving is living
It’s giving time and space to every place

Painless ways around this maze
Include travelling less
That’s what’s best

Re-education, reorientation of mindsets
Is what lets us improve accessibility
But not remove personal mobility

More buses and trams
Won’t get rid of the jams on their own
Why not work at home?
Use lift share, delivery, increased flexibility?
An attitude change
Be prepared to rearrange
Schedules to timetables
If we’re to be able to stabilise emissions
And raise human conditions
In a world full of problems
Like dwindling petroleum

There are solutions to cars and pollution
If drivers would just think
Traffic really would shrink
Cars and their misuse
Are hearts and minds issues

Anna Semlyen http://www.cuttingyourcaruse.co.uk/

Open Space working was explained, including 'the law of two feet' which is that if your feet are in the ring of chairs, you can contribute, but if you want to move somewhere else, to a different discussion, you can take yourself there.

Firstly, individuals thought of a topic they'd be happy to have discussed, and wrote it on a post-it note, and then these were put on a table all together. We were told we had got 3 votes, and could place them where we wanted, on any of the suggested topics, put on with a 'five bar gate' method, to make counting easier. There were 6 top scorers but only 5 discussion groups so we had a vote to remove one topic, a simple majority by show of hands. Then people went to the circle of chairs which was discussing the subject they were interested in.
I attended one which was looking at developing a 'carfree association', a voice or representation for people who choose to live without a car. We heard from Dr Beat von Scarpatetti who has been central in the Club der Autofreien in der Schweiz (Swiss Carfree Club or 'CAS') and how that organisation came about.
They started in 2004 and approached two existing organisations, one called the Swiss Green Traffic Association (VCS) (click here for Google's translate this page service) and the more anarchic and militant Umverkehr which translates as 'reduce the traffic by 50%'. (click here to use google translate) This latter group gave CAS some money for setting up a website and for postage, etc. They now have 1300 members.

We debated whether a UK version could do something similar.

Then Joerg Schweizer presented a fascinating topic of Personal Rapid Transit, the future public transport for car free cities?
The problem... a big proportion of the population will not cycle. So what can technology do to help solve this? We need something which can compete with the car but is sustainable
Something Comfortable and easy to use, available at any time, a good image, universally accessible, short door to door travel time.
A particular problem is 'trip chaining' with transfers increasing journey time. Walking has no wait time, the bike a short time to get it out of the garage, car ditto, but the bus you might have to wait for quite a while.
Bikes fast and cheap for less than 5km but issues of luggage and weather.
We need a mode with the characteristics of no interference with existing modes and relatively cheap.
So, examples include:ULTra, rubber tyres on concrete (at Heathrow), 2getthere in Masdar City
and vectus. All these are light, small, 3 to 6 passengers, all electric. The stations are off the main route. A vending machine enables you to communicate your destination, then communicate to the vehicle using a smart card in a swipe slot. Then you press 'start' and away you go!
So, similar to the car in as much as it is private, on demand.
It is better: faster than a car in urban areas, smooth, jerk-free, quiet (or favourite music!), moving office, punctual, no congestion, safer, no parking space to find, can take bike on board, can make a roof over a bike lane in cities, accessible to all who cannot or should not drive! Also, it's NEW!
It could be described as worse than the private car: not door-to-door, no ownership, no personalisation, no complete control (but driver can exit at the next station with one press of a button).
Guideways are small as vehicles are lightweight ie static load 400kg/m, minimum curve radius less than 10m, with a cross section 1m2, so easy to route through the city... smaller than a bus lane, can be above ground level, can run into buildings such as a shopping centre or underground. The carrying capacity for ULTra is currently 600 veh/hr but could double (Vectus), and if you decrease the headway (time distance between two passing vehicles), could be 4000 up to 9000 an hour ie cabintaxi or an Automated Highway System, which might employ 'moving block' conditions.

Power needed 3 to 10 kW (3kW is a kettle, a Toyota Prius has a 33kW electric motor and a 52kW petrol engine)

Investment costs 6 to 14 million euro per double track per km, including 20 vehicles and 2 stations, with 1 to 5 euro charged per vehicle journey, but obviously these costs are very variable.
This system can also transport freight during night, palletised.
Masdar is planning a 60kn PRT network with 106 stations and freight with 2getthere
600 vehicles/h, 40kmh following a virtual track (magnets set in the roadway), using batteries which are recharged off peak or during the night
However, the city is surrounded by park and ride sites, and the daytime pop doubles.
There are problems, partly the whole city project is very expensive and it may be shelved

Citywide PRT in eu cities
Problems and solutions: Remove other modes such as cars and buses, just nice environment for pedestrians and cyclists. Stations have a visual impact. Higher capacities needed if entire motorised traffic shifts to PRT.
Blending into existing cities... above ground level, below with 2.3 m cut and cover trench needed

PRT attracts car lovers!
Complementary to walking and cycling.
Currently not suitable for entire city networks but could be introduced bit by bit.
Small companies cannot afford to introduce it large scale.
PRT network at Heathrow to be opened to all and then extended to a business and hotel area.


Vicki Hill, Sustrans "We Love Our Bikes Getting Children out of Cars and Onto Bikes - For Life!"
The Bike It project - getting children cycling.
We have to get rid if cars.
The quickest way is to get children to cycle, they grow up as cyclists and bring up their children as cyclists.
Sustrans is very political, meeting with ministers and headteachers.
What do they do?
Active Travel (bike hire for students, etc)
National Cycle Network 386 million journeys 120000 miles, volunteers keeping it tidy and clean
Cycling must be enjoyable, so sculptures and art on the network etc
Although global environment is important, Sustrans concentrates on local especially near schools

One of the ways that can be used to show how much pollution is caused by car journeys, and therefore prevented by cycling, is by using balloons. Vicki gives a class of 30 an ordinary balloon each, and asks them to inflate them but just hold them up in the air and not tie them up. She then says that a one and a half mile car journey emits about 60 or 70 balloons worth of carbon dioxide, ie twice what the class is holding up in the air. She then asks them to let them go (fun, 30 balloons shooting all over the place!) This is a very visual way of showing this, and children are often very upset by all this pollution.

Obesity is a massive problem, cycling one way to increase activity levels.
Sustrans also does DIY Streets, Safe Routes to Schools, Safe Routes to Stations just being developed, Personal Travel Plans and helps with School Travel Plans.
1% or 2% children cycle to school... easy to improve and can bring it up in certain schools to 60 or 70%.
Bike It was born out of Safe Routes To School, began in 2004 with 4 officers, now 60 officers, supported by the cycle industry (1penny per bike sold), Lottery, PCTs, LAs and others
700 schools a year approx, but got to keep going with the school year after year. They work with approximately 140000 kids/year.

A school with a good School Travel Plan gets given money from the LA, which can be used to build a bike shelter so, before Bike It, one school had 20 bikes, but after the intervention, now 120 pupils, 25 staff, 3 new bike sheds... you now stand out if you don't cycle... peer pressure.
The Virtual Bike Race concept allows competition with school against school! Very popular.
Some schools have banned kids from cycling in... this is illegal, and sometimes just saying that they could cycle in results in a massive 'modal change'.
Art is really important, such as murals, bike tread marks.
99% of head teachers recommend Bike It.
Kids who cycle to school have higher esteem, and weirdly, are have better results in Science!Attendance levels increase when the Bike It officer is in
'Wall of Fame'... names and pics of kids cycling in, taken down if not cycling in.
Decorating the shelter results in less vandalism.
Stickers and 'snap bands' (bike clips) very popular.
'Beauty and the Bike' is a Sustrans Project, (nothing to do with the film!) started in York with Lush... pink slap bands, pink reflective hi viz, with 'Babe On Board' on the back, vastly increases cycling amongst girls.
No one disagrees with the Bike It concept, press and politicians love it.

Cycling opens up loads of extras... children get a better idea of where they live, distances, etc etc

An excellent case study is Dringhouses Primary School in York, when in 2003 Catherine Heinemeyer did a school travel plan, mainly working just with the children and taking their views. A popular opinion was to have no cars in the streets surrounding the school. So, the headteacher, the wonderful Mrs Julia Elliott, tackled the parents face to face, and arranged with local pub car park a 'park and stride' idea. There was hostility and rebellion, but perseverance worked, and now if a parent parks their car at the school gates, the other parents deal with the problem!
Mrs Elliott organised a walking/cycling card, filled in daily, which rewarded with prizes
Vicki arrived in May 04 and was one of the first six Sustrans officers. She worked with Mrs Elliott and they did a huge number of promotions, projects and activities.
Children who cycled in got a raffle ticket, two if bring a parent! The prize was to win a bike.
Fancy Dress Mum and Bike competition, Most Rubbish Bike competition, Bike it Breakfast, Police Security Tagging, Cycling Paramedics, Poetry competition with the winning haiku going up on a plaque next to the bike sheds.
Cycling related activities fit in with the curriculum.
After school bike maintenance classes, the kids love doing it and the older ones enjoy showing the younger ones what to do. It has even been known for a child to deliberately puncture their tyre just to show how easy it was to repair!
Cycle with Santa... one teacher in the school has a white beard, and towards Christmas, there is a school cycle to the nearby shopping centre which is on the Sustrans network.
Staff are invited to take part in a Choc Challenge, as teachers are models for the kids behaviour, staff can win a bike if they cycle in regularly. Teachers can be shown how to use panniers as previously they said that they needed a car to bring all the books in and out of the school, which of course is not true.
Their School Travel Plan is still being updated, and last year they had a 'Biking Viking' cycle trip and this year, 'Roaming Romans'.
The results are that now 88% not coming by car, 22% cycling.

Bike It is working with 12 schools in York.
Initially, they meet the Head. This will give them a good idea of the general attitude to cycling.
The first contact with the children is an assembly with a dramatic visualisation of how recently we have released all this oil and pollution. A toilet roll is fully unrolled and held around the perimeter of the hall, to represent Earth's time in existence. Vicki pulls a hair from her head and puts this right at end of the long line of paper, this hair represents when oil was taken out of the Earth and burned, increasing the CO2 levels dramatically.
A Bike It Crew is chosen, 4 enthusiastic volunteers. They run lots of the activities.
In the winter, they have a Light and Bright assembly, with everybody wearing hi viz and reflective gear and the lights are turned off and a torch shone around to show the reflective bits.
The City of York Council offers Bikeability levels 1 to 3.
Dr Bike comes into the school, and stunt bikes in playground as reward, bike rides and much much more!

I asked about anything which hadn't worked, and it was just one thing:
Cycle Trains... similar to a walking bus... usually dwindles away after first enthusiasm, as mostly relies on volunteer parent.
Someone else asked about whether the children cycle on the road or pavement, and the answer is absolutely clear, Bike It trainers do not like children cycling on pavements.

I asked about longitudinal studies, does this positive bike behaviour continue into adulthood?
Vicki said there were another couple of years before the first Bike It children to reach 18, and then Sustrans would like to see if the cycling behaviour continues.

We then did a quick workshop... plan an event to encourage children to cycle.
Group A went for a bling my bike, slow cycling competition, who gets to school quickest with different modes, Dr Bike, bike generator, DIY Streets for kids event.
We, group B decided to tack our event onto an existing event, and chose Anna's 'Eco Family Day': Sat 9th Oct, at St Lawrences Family Centre, Nappochino, toy freecycle, composting, bike generator Scalextrix, and much much more!


Steve Melia Carfree UK
CarFree UK has to date mainly been a small group of specialists working at policy level, dialogue with T4L, DoT etc.
BUT
noticed that there is no organisation which represents the 25% of people who are carfree,
but it has been done in Switzerland.

The aim of such a group would be to be consulted to give the other side of the argument to all the pro car stuff, and to provide information about living carfree.
Facebook group already up.
Could be a social group like Green Drinks, maybe link it to Transition, other local groups.
For people who live without cars
Promote carfree living
Expose barriers, ie conferences held in inaccessible places, health authorities building new hospitals with only car access etc.
Promoting motor traffic removal from cities.
There are risks, such as a local group being 'ruled' by a dominant person, or a renegade with views which don't chime with the views of the group.
Discussion about structure... or no structure
Discussion about who might do the local group work.

This was the end of the conference day for me and I was again exhausted so I packed up and cycled home.

I spent a half hour outside after tea, dealing with some compostables, and then came in and did all these notes. Bed after 2am.

The evening was punctuated by a knock on the door... a delivery man with a fairly large box and on the ground in front of him, a window-box sized planter with quite a few herb plants in. The box contained a clock/thermometer suitable for outside, and there was a get well card from Rory, my Canadian 'Novaterium' partner. He'd found Wilberfoss Nurseries and ordered these gifts for me. I was left speechless. Thank you Rory, you succeeded where most others have failed!

I got up after the boys had left for school and again, had some time with Gill before I headed off to town to meet with my YWNBR colleagues Tony and Hugh, down at the Theatre Royal. We needed to touch base about last chance publicity, stewarding, all sorts of bits and bobs.

I called in on Barnitts on the way home to buy some bamboo canes which will enable people who buy flags to put them on their bike.

Then I called in on Country Fresh to pick up 3 boxes of compostables plus a range of veggies and fruit to keep the family going... I got in at 2pm and had a late lunch. I listened to Anna Semlyen on Radio York being interviewed about the ride and the 20's Plenty campaign.

Once the children were back home I did some more work in the garden... preparing the pond area for the forthcoming pond, by removing ground elder and brambles. Also did a bit of composting.

Later I went out log collecting and raised the suspicions of a car driver who stopped to watch me.

Had quite a busy morning, up just after 9 and dealt with a slight hangover by having a large coffee and 2 paracetamol, and a shower.

I needed to be in tip top condition for work... Professor Fiddlesticks had been booked by Anna, the organiser of today's 'Multi Sports Day' near the Fulford end of the Millennium Bridge, which was due to run from 2 til 4pm. So I had an early lunch and got going with my bike trailer full of the usual gear at just after 1pm. I also took a couple of bags of dried apple rings for the LETS stall, and the York World Naked Bike Ride leaflets.

Stuff was already happening when I got there, and I secured a place on the path with my bike propped up against a lamp-post and immediately there were youngsters wanting to have goes on the unicycles. So I was busy for over 2 hours, unicycling and helping people with the 4 wheel unicycle, 2 wheel unicycle and occasionally the one wheeler. Oh, and rewarding people with balloons and doing some unicycle and devilsticking demos.

But it wasn't a perfect day... we had gusts of wind, strong enough to lift up some of the gazebos, rain showers and even a hailstorm, but several nice patches of sunshine. There were at least 100 people there, possibly up to double that, and it seemed that everybody had a good time. I was pleased to see quite a few of my friends, including Tony my WNBR friend who had collected the Yorkshire WNBR leaflet, half of them for Sheffield, half for York, and he'd also got some flags. These will be available on the York Ride, at a slightly discounted rate.

I packed up soon after 4pm as I'd had a phone call just before I'd set out from Randall, who wanted me to help fill in a Risk Assessment for the forthcoming CarFree Network Street Party, and he was due to come round at 5pm. I got in at 4.50, and then got a phone call from Rand saying he'd been moving paving slabs around with his bike trailer and would prefer not to have to cycle from Acomb to Hull Road... so could we do the meeting by Skype?

So we had a 1 hour 45 minute Skype call, filling in the documentation and raising several important questions. At the end of it Gill gave me a bowl of home-made celery soup which was delicious, and then home-made 'stuffed crust' pizza with salads, also delicious. Gill is an awesome cook, and knows it, and loves it. She's always saying how much she likes being a mother and looking after us. We are all damn lucky.

I visited Ben as he had offered a CFL bulb on freecycle which would fit our ceiling light socket in the front room (downlighters) and he also might have a solution to my shaver conundrum. He'd found a large heavy transformer, a box with knobs on which changes mains power to whatever voltage you set the dial at, and analyses whether things are shorting, etc. In return, I'm taking a box of waste metal to the recycling site for him.

Later I did the washing up and sorted through the bananas and set about 30 of them to dry, and left my shaver charging on Ben's machine.

Woke at 10. I got myself ready to go to the Low Moor Allotment Association AGM, which was at midday. I left home at about 11.25 and went to see Richard at Country Fresh, got some veggies and a big bag of cabbage leaves and sprouting onions.

Then I went round to the allotments, and as I was still too early for the meeting, I popped in on the People and Planet allotment where Dora greeted me loudly and warmly as 'Compost John', and yes, I was bearing a gift for their heap... all the cabbage leaves, etc.

I told them about the AGM and she and Zak came with me to the meeting which was outside as it was a lovely day.

A good meeting, left me feeling positive and buoyed up. I cycled past my old plot on the way back and it has been rotavated! The new allotmenteers look like they mean business!

I visited Debbie on the way back and chatted for 10 minutes, and got in for 2pm, for lunch and Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4.

Then I got busy in the conservatory... I planted LOADS of seeds... courgette, pumpkin, squash, yams (in the cups rescued from the Ceilidh, punctured at the base with a hot wire) and sweetcorn plus one or two other things. Lots more to do though...

Then it was tea time, I had the last pastie and the cauliflower/pasta bake which Gill threw together, followed by a slice of cake.

Then it was yet another meeting... down at Anna's, the York in Transition 'events' meeting, which was quite well attended and very upbeat.

I got in just after 10pm and wasn't sleepy til 3am.

Not too early a start, as I was up til 4am last night/this morning watching the Winter Olympics half-pipe snowboarding which I find very exciting and enjoyable. Gill snoozed earlier in the night but when the half pipe was on, she was glued to it too. So getting up at 10am wasn't too bad!

A busy day doing assorted email and facebook things... but also did some chainsawing, went up the road to pick up the last of the packing crate wood and deliver a note to Nadia about the Bee Day event this Saturday.

I was pleased that our eldest and his friend went on the bus together to Clifton Moor Vue, and picked up tickets that we'd bought over the 'net and went to see a film.

The most productive e-things I did were to update the York in Transition facebook page and create an event page for the Dance and Film night on 17th April, and to proof read a newsletter and make some helpful suggestions. I also negotiated a Fiddlesticks booking for a date in May out near Wheldrake. Glad I'm still getting some paid bookings!

I cycled down to Anna's after 9pm and picked up some tickets for the 17th April event and on the way back got another three logs. The front garden cannot remain log-free for long!

I got up quite early and took our youngest to school and then continued sorting out the waste packing crate wood, which has 'arrived' just at he right time, as we've used a lot of the very dry logs and the majority of what we have left are more recently cut. So this very dry stuff will help eke out the logs which are ready to burn now.

Gill went out, to meet her sister in town, and I kept busy outside but had the phone outside too, and received several phone calls. One was a photovoltaic panel installer, who is coming to give us a quote on Monday. This stems from my friend Anna Semlyen, who has had four quotes for pv panels, and posted the two cheapest quotes on facebook yesterday. I hadn't realised that firstly, the price has come down about 50% since I last found out how much it would cost, and secondly, the government grant of £2400 finishes at the end of March, and thirdly, 'feed-in tariffs' start in April. Anna had worked out the costings and pay-back times... and suddenly, photovoltaics look just within our reach, financially.

I got trapped in an email vortex after lunch... and another photovoltaic company responding to my enquiry this morning... they are coming tomorrow. I had two questionnaires to fill in about green festivals, one for a 'United Nations Music and Environment Initiative' and the other from a guy who's doing a dissertation.

Gill rang at 2.45, she was just about to get the bus back from town, so I cycled down to school to pick up our little one. We walked back together, chatting. The class had all signed a petition asking for a longer PE lesson, at the expense of French. Active Democracy at school... great! I wonder what the result will be?

I did some more wooding and got the backlog of logs finished... everything in the front garden (woodyard) is now cut, and there's a large pile of logs to split.

Gill made a quiche for tea, with sliced and stir-fried sprouts with tomato, and a really good potato and sweet potato with cashew nuts and sesame seeds thing. What a wonderful and creative cook!

Later on, I had to do some writing for the forthcoming Earth Centre visit.

A very late start to the day but got busy immediately with housework and fruit drying.

Did do a little bit outside but the weather wasn't very conducive to outdoor stuff.

I popped down to Heslington Road to give David my DVD of Age of Stupid which he's showing to friends tomorrow but he wasn't in. I picked up a load of compostables plus edible vegetables from Richard at Country Fresh and came home again, spending half an hour in the cold and wet to get them into one of my tumblers.

I had a quiet few hours before going to Anna's Carbon Pledge 10:10 Party, which was really good. I contributed a large amount of dried fruit which was well received. I enjoyed the live music, provided by Ben, Rich and Camilla, especially a Bonzo Dog Doodah Band number which I didn't know but recognised from the style, with kazoo! Anna ran a quiz which was quite good. Lots of good conversations especially round the little bonfire-in-a-washingmachine-drum.

I got home well after midnight feeling refreshed and happy. Parties do this for me.

Quite an early start as had a full day's work ahead of me. Packed my usual Fiddlesticks gear and costume and cycled along to Monk's Cross Shopping Centre, arriving before 10.30 and finding the information place where I met my handlers and was shown where I was to work. I was on a walkway between a coffee shop and a sweet stall, facing an enormous car park. Not my kind of place really, and this was my first visit here. However, I was twiddling my Devilstick by 11am and saying 'hello' and 'morning' to the first trickle of shoppers, and soon I had a lot of interest, mainly youngsters trying out the four-wheeled unicycle and quite a few wanting to learn to juggle... I was extremely busy til just after 1pm, and then managed to pack up and have a lunch break and warm up for half an hour, as it was bitterly cold and I was in my shorts and tee shirt, as I'd thought it was inside, like a shopping centre with undercover walkways and shops off these... but it is a load of shops and partially covered pavements, open to the elements.

So continued to be busy and buzzy and happy to work with allcomers, giving out balloon models to anyone who participated in the circus workshops. Loads of teenagers, some University students too... lots of fun, and I finished at 3.30 as contracted to do. Got changed back into warmer clothes and came home, to a lovely warm house.

However, this evening was the York in Transition Solar Buyers Club first meeting, at Anna's house. I loaded up three potato sacks of seasoned logs for Pauline and got to Anna's for just before 6pm, followed by about 30 more. The 'bring and share' food table wasn't big enough, and Anna's front room was packed for Robin's talk about how his solar water heating system works.

Then there was a short talk from a chap, possibly an Andy, who works for a local firm of solar water installers, but he wasn't the boss and some of the questions were deflected to 'when the boss was back' and we didn't get to talk much about a bulk buying deal. However, the system which Anna has put in, which is from J Lister Electrical Ltd who install Solar UK LaZer2 evacuated tubes was viewable... an amazing looking cylinder in her bathroom which stores the heat gleaned from the tubes on her roof.

There was a leaflet from another supplier, YorkshireEnergySolutions but as they didn't send a speaker to the meeting I have no idea how good they are... but I've no reason to think they may not be competent, and they offer all sorts of different renewable energy solutions!

After this meeting I walked back to Pauline's with her and helped her put the logs in her shed, and had a coffee and chat, but didn't stay long as Pauline was tired and isn't often up late.

Home via Country Fresh to a warm house. Entered a SUMA order via their website.

Quite a good day, Gill took the boys to school and I got up at a reasonable time and did a load of stuff on the computer, with a lot of chat with my friend in America who's been working all night, and was still working at 4am.

I then went to the allotment to dig up the rest of the onions and deliver some wool carpet which has been donated to me for use as a weed suppressant. I dug onions, removed weeds, chopped back brambles intent on a takeover and built another good layer on the compost heap. This included a layer of halved oranges and coffee grounds from Millers Yard, which I visited yesterday. Cam home with about 30 onions.

Late lunch, then a quick cycle down to St Nicks where I had a good chat with Jo and a bit of a telling off from John, one of the other York Rotters managers. Apparently I have overstepped the remit of York Rotters by talking on telly about stuff which is not strictly home composting WHILST wearing one of my York Rotters tee-shirts! I might have brought the group into disrepute by mentioning the composting of human bodies with the tee shirt on. Apparently some of the councillors might not like it, and we need to ask for more funding, so I've got to be careful and appropriate, and appropriate can be difficult for me.

At 3, went to school and picked up the boys. I stayed in the house as they were meant to be doing homework, so I made a nutloaf for us all, and we tried to get them to do some work, quite a battle. Lots of shouting, it really winds me up, I have to work hard not to shout back and I feel like giving them a punishment for such atrocious behaviour. But I kept my calm, just.

I certainly do not want to spend any time with them tonight. I feel awful even thinking this.

However we all ate together very soon after this posting and the meal was enjoyed, foodwise, and we had an interesting discussion about etiquette, how to hold the knife and fork (if got both) and the fork (if on it's own) and we all agreed that they are not based on logic, but probably history and that they have something to do with different cultures and people in groups all behaving in the same way, creating a sort of solidarity, connectivity between individuals. Quite a deep conversation to have over nutloaf, sweetcorn and peas with boiled potato!

After tea it was time to do homework, which wasn't done beforehand. One had a small number of spellings to copy, the other had quite a lot of maths. Neither of them wanted to do the work and the noise and aggro was too much for me. I tried to intervene and it just exacerbated the situation, with both of them yelling at me. I consider such behaviour punishable and gave them several warnings. Gill got upset, but I didn't want to just leave it, they had their homework to do, I feel it is my responsibility to ensure they do it. Gill disagreed, as if they don't do it, it is the boys themselves. She sent the boys up to their rooms to do their work at their own desks, and we agreed that this is what we'll do in the future, not have them do homework downstairs.

I went outside and continued stacking some split logs and then got ready to go out to the CRAG meeting. Got to Priory St, where the meeting was due to take place, and found the room locked. My friend Mary turned up, and I told her that the door was locked, and she explained that room bookers had to get the key before 4pm. I had no idea about this, and of course, could do nothing about it now. The problem might have been me not reading the small-print, or perhaps CVS not giving me the info, I don't know. We made a decision to go to a pub... decided to use the Brigantes Bar, on Micklegate, as they have an upstairs room we've used before.

A notice was put on the door to let latecomers know, and we all trouped along to the Brigantes. The meeting was well attended, 21 people including our 2 speakers, Anna and Jonathan, both transport experts. We put the chairs in a circle and when all settled Alex did a little introduction and then Anna spoke about cutting car use, her speciality. She gave us some very interesting facts, including the link between car use and ill health, the pollution that car users are exposed to within the car, which is three times that people cycling on the side of the road are exposed to, and the costs of car use. The average UK family spends 18% of their income on their car use, more than on housing or on food! She also spoke on the injuries and deaths caused... there are 26,000 people hospitalised or killed by cars in the UK every year. She compared the UK experience with that in the Netherlands and Switzerland, where, for instance, when there is a collision between a cyclist and a motor vehicle, the motorist has to prove they were driving carefully, whereas here the cyclist has to prove that they weren't cycling dangerously. Also, when a motorist kills someone, they very rarely get prosecuted for it, despite it often being their fault. This developed into a discussion, which had to be forestalled as we had a second speaker, Jonathan. He is an expert in public transport, and informed us about several rail issues, some stuff about freight which we didn't know, and comparisons between planes, trains, buses and cars. Then there was more discussion, comments, questions, all in all a very interesting meeting.

I popped in to Out Of This World to pick up any recycling and came home, lit the stove and did some emailing, blogging and googletalking. I was delighted to recieve a comment from this blog, following my woes about having to censor my blog to be more ethical towards my children. The comment was from Peter, who writes a brilliant blog called Earthquake Cove, which has been voted as one of the top 100 green blogs. (http://earthquakecove.blogspot.com/) I had a trundle through this blog, and feel I could learn a lot about how to make a blog more interesting and user friendly. I'll ask Peter for some tips!