Human Lifestyle

Another full day.... starting off with a bit of a difficult assignment.  Ian and Lyndsay had hired bikes on Saturday but wanted to bring them back to the shop on Sunday.... but were dismayed to find that the shop wasn't open on Sunday.  So, that meant either staying over on Sunday night (which they were welcome to do, but couldn't because of Ian's having to be at work) or let me return the bikes and get the deposit back to Lyndsay.  Ian suggested I send it to him by PayPal.

However, as the shop wasn't open on Sunday, and they went home last night, I needed to get the bikes to Monkgate/Lord Mayor's Walk for 9.30.  I put one on my trailer, shielding the frame from scratches with a wad of newspaper, and tying it on with several bungees.  The second bike was relatively easy to push whilst I rode mine, one-handed all the way, of course, and in the same gear all the time!

I got there on the dot of 9.30 and once both bikes were in the shop, I passed on Ian's message about the poorly positioned chain and the fact that there was no oil on the chain. The shop staff were surprised and grumpy about this, after all, the bike should not have gone out in such a condition and therefore someone slipped up.  And although I had the paperwork, they were not happy with giving me the deposit.  However, I was fine about that, as I know Ian preferred the BACS way of transferring money, and the shop would be able to do that more easily than I could do PayPal.  So I got a receipt and left.

My next port of call was the Green Party office to give back the megaphone and radios that Graham had lent us, and from here I went for a coffee with Serena from the Bike Ride, and it was very nice to get to know her a bit better. 

I got home at around midday, did a bit of computery stuff and had lunch and did a good block of compost heap work, at least two hour's worth.

The next notable thing was the LETS meeting at the Seahorse, at 7.30.  Kay arrived just after me and Melody a bit later still.  We had an efficient meeting... when Melody's around, it is always efficient!  I took notes and will write them up soon.  I was just thinking of going when will arrived, so I stayed and we had a really good chat.  Was a very nice conversation; I'm very fond of him.

I didn't get home til nearly 11pm... lit the stove, did some washing up, did emails and facebook and blog.... the usual stuff til the wee early hours...

Oh, up FAR too early for someone who goes to bed so late!!!  However, Gill couldn't face cycling to school this morning as she'd run out of painkillers and was in great pain.  So she woke me at 8 and asked me if I could cycle in and she'd fetch him back this afternoon when I'm at work.

So I took the opportunity to visit a number of cycle shops with the World Naked Bike Ride flyers.  However, before this I asked the school if they'd like me to shred their decorations from the Fair... a large pile of branches and foliage.  They were happy with this and I said I'd bring my shredder in soon.  I put WNBR flyers on some of the adult bikes parked at the Steiner school.  Then I went to Alligator and left some flyers there, then Cycle Heaven who were also happy to have some, then I cycled across town to Bob Trotters and asked about bike hire for the WNBR weekend, and they took some flyers.  Here I switched on my helmet cam to do another test, and cycled up to Heworth to Cycle Street to give them flyers.  Then I went to buy bread and came home.

I had uneventful rides, so I deleted the videos I made, but I'm not sure my bike helmet is the right place for the camera.  I might try to mount it on the handlebars.  I then had a session of removing videos I've downloaded, to make space on my disc for any future videos....

So, lunch, and tried to get on with some paperwork but mainly failed.

I had my next appointment at 4, down at David's, It was with a chap from Yorkshire Water, who came out to listen for water leaks.  There is a little patch of moisture on one wall of his cellar and it might be a mains water leak.  So I showed him the leak and he had a listen to the wall, and then the RSJ beam with a very simple device, a metal stick with a point at one end and an earpiece on the other.  Water leaks have a telltale sound which is transmitted through pipes and other materials.  He described the tiny amount of water on the wall as a 'seep' rather than a leak!

We went on a wander round to look for 'stopcocks' and water meters. These have taps which the listening device can be placed on, and on one, with a water meter, there was a slow continuous passage of water, indicating a leak.  However, it seemed unlikely that the leak attached to this meter was affecting David's property.  After a good thorough look around, the Yorkshire Water chap concluded that the leak/seep was so small, and the source of it so difficult to find, that nothing further could be done.  He suggested that sorting out the other problem might make a difference.  I went back in to tell David the news and rang Brian at the Council about the full sewer/inspection chamber which I think is causing the other water ingress.  Brian asked if he could send some chaps down immediately?  Well, this sounded good, and within half an hour, they arrived.

I showed them the pool of water in the cellar and they said they'd like to check the inspection chamber... but unfortunately it was past 5.30pm and the shop had closed and locked it's yard door.  I spoke to Brian and he said he'd meet me tomorrow at 10am.

I cycled home and had a race with some racing or touring cyclists.  They were just a bit quicker than me.

When I got back, I had a quick peep at the robin's nest in the woodpile, and the eggs have hatched.  How lovely!

I put on my laptop and asked if the WiFi had been switched off.  There was a loud wail from the front room.  Our eldest had been trying to connect his Nintendo DS to the WiFi and been getting an error code.  He looked on the website for Nintendo DS and it suggested switching the WiFi Router settings.  He thought he's try it for a few minutes, to see if the game he wanted to play became accessible.  Unfortunately, this rendered the WiFi unusable... from my laptop too!

I did a bit of compost heap management but at 7.30, Gill rang me on my mobile(!) and said Sue was here, as she'd asked for more dried fruit and I'd said yes to this evening.  So I came in and washed my hands and got a kilo of mixed dried fruit for her.

After tea, my son and I walked round to Ben's, who wasn't there.  We rang Simon, who was busy.  I really needed to go online so I paid £5 to BT Fon to get 24 hours access to the internet.

I had quite a bit to do, but also kept the stove going to try to dry the banana and orange leather (final tray-full)  and did washing up.