Human Lifestyle

A busy morning, dealing with the arrangements for our youngest son's schooling. 

In preparation for today's event, Gill made a load of small quiches with goats milk and goats cheese, after I'd been out to buy the milk.  I grated cheese as we'd promised to bring that, and I collected together a bag of dried fruit together. 

The YorkDistrict Home Educators were gathering for a Christmas party at 1pm at Rawcliffe Pavilion in Clifton Moor.  This is really convenient for us, as it is less than 5 minutes walk from a bus stop on Rivelin Way, with the No. 6 bus, which also goes along Tang Hall Lane, which is 5 minutes from us.  The only disadvantage is that this journey with the No. 6 takes 50 minutes, winds it's way through Heworth, Layerthorpe, town, crosses the river, almost gets to the station before doubling back, crossing the river again, going past the hospital, through the Burton Stone Lane/ Burton Green area, and eventually gets to Rivelin Way. 

So I reckoned that if we left the house at about midday that would be about right, but there were major shenanigans and messing around, so I announced that I had got all the mini quiches, cheese and fruit and was ready, and went outside the front door, as I reckoned my presence inside wasn't helping my mental health OR that of any family member.  I stacked logs for half an hour whilst things calmed down and people got ready.  When the bus came, about 5 minutes after we got to the bus stop, I got a family Day Rover for £7.40.

We got to the event just after 1.30 and there were others still arriving.  Our eldest immediately found a group of boys his own age and was all smiles and laughter, it was so good to see.  Our youngest was determined not to enjoy any of the event and therefore didn't.  I enjoyed chatting to one of the other dads and a few mums, and helped by doing a short spot of 3 ball juggling workshop, and lots of clearing up at the end, taking 2 sacks of paper plates and food waste back home on the bus to put in the tumbler.  It was good to meet some other home educators, and although I'm only slowly coming to terms with this change in my life... and not really enjoying it, this event will have helped me move towards acceptance.

When we got back it was dark.  I lit both stoves as the house was cold.  Tea was yesterday's nutloaf and I made a sauce with the rems of the leek and potato soup and some dead pasta and cauliflower. It was delicious!

I kept myself to myself this evening, didn't interact with the children, thought it best not to, and just let them do as they wanted.  I fielded a phone call from Jonathan, a teacher at the Steiner School, about us coming to see the school and discussing our youngest going there.  I also had a crisis message from a friend who's an alcoholic and has an Aspergery boyfriend who had put the phone down on her as she'd admitted to having had a drink, which although he's a drinker himself, he disapproves of.  Complicated, and I'm not sure I was able to help much, but I did ring and listen, in case I was able to help.

A work day... but a different sort of work to my usual stuff.  I'd been booked by the Pickering Civic Society to help with their Eco Day, and talk about low carbon living and carbon footprints and the Credit Union.

So I got up soon after 7am and got myself to the station for just after 8, and waited for the bus which was timetabled to arrive at 8.22.  I met a gent who's a York Rotter and chatted with him in the queue, but when I got on the bus there was a single space on the front seat on the top deck, which was good.  I chatted to a nice woman from Leeds, Adele, who works at Jimmy's in the shop and was very pleasant.

I met Judy from the Civic Society when I was walking through Pickering, she was putting up notices about today's event.  I walked on to the Civic Hall where there were stalls from the Energy Saving Trust, including a driving simulator which gave a score about how energy efficient the driver was, a local school which is beginning to grow foodplants, compost and undertake other sustainability measures.  There was a permaculture stall and John Brown the Recycling Officer.  There were a couple of beekeepers, and Susan had brought some tree seedlings and insect hibernacula... plastic pipes and bottles with hollow plant stems, corrugated cardboard and straw in them, to provide overwinter shelter for insects such as lacewings and ladybirds.  There were also hot drinks and biscuits available.

My role was to chat to visitors and help the day flow.  I was able to talk with dozens of people about carbon footprints, diet, transport, peak oil, composting and quite a few other related subjects.  I also gave out quite a few Jack Edwards Pea Beans, in their pods.  I think Susan and Judy were happy with what I did.  I had a sandwich and a coffee for lunch when it quietened down but was busy from 10am til 2.45, when I said my goodbyes and walked back to the bus stop and soon the bus took me back to Malton, and a change of bus to get back to York.

I was glad to get on my bike and go home, via Country Fresh who loaded me up with compostable resources.

So, a good day, and although I'm not sure, I think there will be a cheque in the post.

The forecast was rain but later in the day, so before it started I went to find a bit of firewood for later, as I anticipated needing the stove. Gill rang George and Rhona and discussed whether to meet up at Plantasia in Swansea today, but George said it was expensive and good for younger children, and the Waterside Museum was better and free. He offered to come and collect us, Gill couldn't persuade him to let us get the bus in. So he dropped Rhona off at a cafe in the Marina area, and came to pick us up.

When we got into Swansea he parked near the new and controversial tower block ... which I quite like and find attractive... and we walked past this and looked at the bay, and then walked quite a long way around the Marina, past the statue of Dylan Thomas and into the Waterfront Museum where Rhona was waiting.

Due to our long walk it was after 12.30 and some of the group were hungry, so we had lunch here, then had a leisurely wander around. It is an excellent museum; I could have spent much longer here but some of the group were ready to move on. But it was now raining, so George took us to the Leisure Centre where there is a good swimming pool, flume, water slide, river ride and much much more. We went to the viewing area and watched... but neither of the boys wanted to be bought swimming trunks and get into the pool so we just watched for a few minutes.

It was still raining hard but we needed to get back. Gill had seen George and Rhona talking about how to get us home, as George's car only had space for four passengers. But we said it would be perfectly easy for us to catch a bus back to Mumbles, and this is what we did. We got a purple FTR bendybus as far as Brynmill Lane and then, our luck was in, the 2B to Limeslade came in just 2 minutes later! We'd got a family day rover for £8 and this got us all the way to the stop really near to our house, with no hill-walking needed. I lit the stove as soon as I came in and dried off a bit, then took the umbrella and walked down into Mumbles for bread, milk, potatoes, baked beans, mushrooms and chocolate.

I got back extremely damp but with all the provisions and peeled potatoes whilst Gill did a mix of onion, green bean, courgette, mushroom and baked beans, and then the boiled spuds were mashed and plonked on top.... a very filling and wholesome nosh.

We watched a DVD of Toy Story, the first one, which I'd not seen before... it was great!

Then we watched a programme about the wildlife of the Himalayas and then another hour of archaeology. Whilst this was doing, I decided to do the washing up without the use of fossil gas, and put two saucepans of water on the woodstove, and when they were hot, poured them over today's plates, bowls and cutlery. I refilled the saucepans and got another batch of 'carbon neutral' hot water to pour over, and this meant I was able to do an 'ethical' wash up.

An early start, as we had to leave the house at 8.30 because we were booked into the 9.05 Shrewsbury to Swansea train. This four hour journey was definitely part of the holiday... we could have chosen a quicker route, but it wouldn't have been as pretty or interesting. It was a lovely journey, lots of beautiful scenery, trees, mountains with clouds on their tops, valleys with livestock and interesting homes, farmsteads and rivers. The boys filled in a Michelin Eye-Spy book and I wrote down as many of the station names that I could. We had lunch at midday, sandwiches made this morning.

Then we were next to the South Wales estuary and then a steelworks. The train changed direction at the next station and we crossed the estuary and were soon in Swansea.

We had a bit of an argument about how to get to Mumbles... I wanted to get a bus but the others wanted to get a taxi. I found out where the bus was due to go from and we walked there, it was only about 7 minutes walk, and a bus came along immediately. There was some good humoured conversation amongst the locals and myself, but the boys weren't feeling like it. I found out that the taxi would have been about £17; the bus was £7. A helpful lady on the bus showed us where to get off and how to get to the 'Home From Home' office... we arrived at 2pm and it was due to open at 2.30 to let people get their keys. Gill and the boys went to find an ice cream, and I chatted to another early arriver, a nice old lady called Sue, from Northamptonshire, who was collecting a key for a house for her two daughters, and some grandchildren.

Gill and the boys came back, bearing 'BoojaBooja' ice cream (vegan) and much happier. I got the keys and directions to the house, which was down to the seafront, turn right and then third on the right, and back up the hill... about 10 minutes walk. We did eventually get to the house, on Bryn Terrace, and at the top of a steep hill. The house is apparently called Cymylau, which means 'clouds', an apt name when you look out of the window.

After an hour recuperating, we left the children playing with their Nintendo DSes and we went to the Co-op at the bottom of the hill, and got a rucksack full of provisions, plus several bags... including two little bottles of Welsh cider and two of Welsh Perry! That should be ample til next Friday.

I helped Gill make tea: pasta and veg, including the tromboncino squash from home. I then went for a walk which was lovely. I found a good place for some sticks for the stove (cold wet day forecast on Tuesday) and took some photos of the evening sun on towering clouds. I got back at 9pm.

Slept much better as there was no cockerel at 3am and again at 5. And my position on the edge of the inflatable mattress was better than being sandwiched between my sons too.

I got up at 8 and started getting stuff together to go home... with a coffee offered from Mary and a visit up the field to give out balloon models as promised last night to about half a dozen children.

Eventually my two were up and breakfasted and we got the tent sorted and into its bag. We got the 11.02 bus back... we were the first on and therefore got the top deck front seats, the best view and a real treat.

We got into York slightly late, at about 12.25, and there was a number 10 bus home at 12.54, so I gave the boys the bus fare and went to get my bike, and then waited til the bus came and they got on and got their tickets, I then cycled home, and of course got home well before them. Gill met them at the bus stop and they reported having had a good time, thank goodness!

I had lunch and a couple of hours dealing with emails and catching up with the blog... and then went out to see Richard at Country Fresh, and when I came back I had a peaceful hour in the garden dealing with the result of this visit.

I picked a courgette and took it round to Debbie but she wasn't in, but I left it for her. I found a load of electrical flex in a skip so I brought that home to recycle the copper.

Gill bought a pizza for tea and had some veggie sausages in the freezer which needed using so we had those plus potato salad with home grown cucumber.

I had a fairly sedentary evening, lit the stove so I could get freshened up for tomorrow as I'm working. I looked up bioluminescent wood and it is colloquially known as foxfire. It is indeed caused by growing mushroom mycelium, although it isn't known what purpose, if any, it serves.

Up early to get ready for work and camping for a couple of days.

If all goes well, and there's no knowing that it will go well, Gill will bring the boys up to Pickering on the bus and we'll meet up after my gig, and I'll spend two nights under canvass with the boys.
It did all go well. I got the 9.52 bus to Pickering which got in soon after 11, and I made my way to the Memorial Hall where I suggested to Natalie, my handler, that I'd meet her prior to the 1pm start. However, on the way there I met the Treasurer of the event who introduced herself, so although Natalie didn't turn up, I think she knew I was around. She'd asked me to text her when I got in, but 3 buttons on Gill's phone weren't working so I couldn't input her number.

But I had lunch and got changed, leaving my clothes etc in the Memorial Hall and I made my way to the Market Street to find her and find where she wanted me to work. I'd been asked to do walkabout but she was happy for me to do my usual static show; I aid I'd do that for the first hour and then reassess what was to be done, whether walkabout was the right thing to do after that.

I found a good spot on a wide bit of pavement at the top of the street, and immediately got a good audience. But I had another 'first' today: I was doing a workshop with several children balancing sticks and a small family group started to walk in front of the kids, so I tried to stop them and asked that they go behind the audience. This in itself is not uncommon, there are some rude unthinking selfish people out there. However, this group pushed past me and to make the rude intrusion as entertaining as possible for the 100 or so people watching, I larked around behind the chap with the pushchair, making faces and holding my arms up over my head to look silly/scary... and the audience laughed, which was my intention.... but the guy suddenly threw his arm back at me and thumped me in the chest. I've never been punched before in my show. It wasn't a hard punch, but visible and shocking to the audience, so I went alongside the man and said "What you've just done is assault and if you don't get out of Pickering now, I'll call the police. People like you are not welcome in Pickering." He continued walking on... and I told the audience, mostly children, that they'd just seen an example of a rude and horrible person and I hoped that none of them would ever be as nasty as that. Over the next 20 minutes or so, several adults expressed their concern for me, and shock at what he did.

In the last half hour I did a long queue of balloon animals. I had an audience member called Shaun who had been watching the whole show and I chatted with him afterwards; he was a lovely guy. I find it odd that with some people, I just 'click' and I know I've got a friend. I hope we meet again, I think we will.

I finished soon after 3 and the Treasurer lady gave me my fee in an envelope. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. I went to get changed and then walked back to the bus, and at 4.15 it came and Gill and the boys were on it.

Lovely to see them, some excitement about our little holiday. We were soon in Thornton Le Dale, and 4 minutes later at the Prospect Farm Campsite.

Paul showed us where to camp, right next to the trampoline, and together we set up the tent. We then walked Gilly back to the bus stop, had a brief explore of the village and put her on the bus back to York.

We met some other campers in a hired 'Commer' van, Mary and Mark, plus their two grandchildren and a cousin, all 16 and under, lovely people. I did a bit of balloon fun with them and the youngest had a go at making his own. Lots of fun, playing around, including with a frisbee.

We had a good evening... cold pasta and salad bits for tea, and when it was dark we went to explore the forest above the campsite... and whilst we were in there I suggested that the wind up torch should be switched off, and amazingly, there were glowing things all around us. These turned out to be ends of rotten logs, some kind of fungal mycelium giving off low level light. I'd read about this as a child (possibly in 'Swallowdale' by Arthur Ransome, can anyone confirm this?) but never seen it myself. Therefore I was really pleased to see it! I think the boys were pretty amazed too.

Had an uncomfortable night as I slept between the boys, one snuggled up and head on my shoulder, the other preferred to have his head in my armpit and my arm around him. I didn't sleep well and was awoken by the cock crowing at 2 or 3am, and again constantly at 5am. I got up and had a wee at 7 and then fell asleep for 2 hours til 9, when the warmth in the tent woke me. We'd all had a fairly disturbed night, the boys commenting on my snoring!

Slept well and then in the morning had to decide what to do about my ankle. I rang NHS Direct and they assessed my situation and suggested that it was just a sprain and did not advise me to go to Accident and Emergency. But, a facebook friend Graeme advised me that it wouldn't do any harm to get a second opinion... as he'd been diagnosed with a sprain but later, following an X-ray, it was re-diagnosed as a break. Gill also was keen for me to get an expert opinion.

So, I had an early lunch and then got bus times, and walked slowly round to the No.6 bus on Tang Hall Lane, which goes into town and then back out, past the Hospital on Wigginton Road. I got in there before 1pm and was 'triaged' by 1.15. Then there was a two hour wait and I was prodded and told that I need to see a more highly qualified practitioner, and a nurse called Simon called me back in 10 minutes later. He asked questions whilst prodding and said I needed an X-ray.

I hobbled down to the X-ray department and had two taken; a new system with the image recorded electronically and sent wirelessly to the computer system, where the image can be brought up on any screen. Ten minutes later I saw one of these images, and it was plainly obvious that I had broken a bone. Simon told me that it was the ankle-end of the fibula, a fracture called an avulsion fracture, which is when the ligaments and tendons pull off a bit of bone. This would explain the audible noise I heard.

So, he offered me a cast, although it wasn't strictly necessary, the ankle heals more quickly with a plaster cast, so he took me to the plaster casting room and put one on me. This was interesting and we chatted about stoves (he has one too!) and funerals. He reckoned that the way to deal with the problem of using up space in graveyards was to replace horizontal burials with a vertical auger hole grave. The pot he put on is a temporary cast; just a week, to be replaced in 8 days time with a weight-bearing one, in a colour of my choice! In the meantime, I had to use crutches.... a first for me, and remarkably difficult, especially in the sweltering heat.

I managed to get to the bus stop without falling over but not without plenty of grunting and puffing.

When the bus came 15 minutes later, I asked the driver if I might change from the number 6 to the number 10 at Rougier Street, and he gave me a ticket to enable me to do this. I got off at Rougier St and went up to the No.10 stand... the next one was 50 minutes away, so I went back to the No.6, which would get me fairly near to home sooner, but with a longer walk than the No.10. It was a tough walk, but I saw one of my neighbours, a gentleman who has had his leg amputated, who was washing his car, and I stopped and chatted to him and sat on his wall for a few minutes.

So, home to put my leg up and to try to reduce the swelling. A sedentary evening.

Up at a reasonably early time, so I could have a beard trim and a bath before breakfast. The water was still hot on the stove from last night so it was a good bath and hair wash as today I am working in Pickering.

Breakfast, cereal as usual, and rang the bus company to ask about unicycles on their bus... no problem, as the rules say 'no bicycles' and I have unicycles, not two-wheelers.

I loaded my bike trailer with all my kit and cycled to Gillygate to Craft Basics, where I replenished my peacock feather stock... they do get very battered in my shows, with kids using them to balance on their hand. I got to the station in good time to lock up and unload and get to the bus stop, where I met a friend who was waiting for his fiancee... he was very happy, more so than usual, so we had a laugh, and then the bus arrived. Fortunately the bus driver didn't have a problem with the unicycles and I had a pretty relaxing ride to Pickering.

I went to the Forest and Vale Hotel, where Maria (who works for Lunchbox) had put together one of the best themed parties I'd ever seen. There was a large marquee with seaside- stuff there, including a beach, a donkey (life-sized model) to sit on, a horse-racing game, hook-a-duck and throw the hoop stalls, and me with my circus stuff, plus lots of other circussy stuff like mini stilts, two other unicycles, spacehoppers and more! In adjacent rooms there were 3 Nintendo Wiis, a crystal ball woman and a ball pool/soft play area. I didn't see beyond this, but there might have been another marquee too, for a bar perhaps?

I had some sandwiches and talked the event over with Maria and at about 2pm the guests (about 100 of them) were due to come out of the hotel and walk down a long ramp, within a long thin marquee, down to the beach area. I was waiting for them on the unicycle and led them down, and at 2.30, did the first half of my show (warm-up acts from the audience, juggling, devilsticks and balancing) which went OK. At 3pm, ice creams arrived and a tattoo artist offered transfer-type tattoos. One little girl kept on coming to show me her latest one, all up her arms.

Then at 3.30 I did part two, diabolo, yoyoballs and unicycle. This then continued into a freeplay workshop, mainly unicycle toys but juggling and devilsticks too, through til 5.30. Chris, the dad of the 2 year old boy this party was in honour of, was kind enough to get me a nice pot of coffee during this workshop time, and at 5.30, handed me my fee in an envelope. Lucky me, loads of fun and then getting paid!

I got changed clothes and went for the bus, which arrived at 5.55, with a change and 40 minute wait at Malton for the next bus to York. I got into York at 8pm, and was home by 8.30, knackered but happy. That has to be one of the best party events I've been to for quite a while.

If anyone wanted a really good 'do' organising, I would certainly recommend Maria Farrugia, who has a wealth of experience, see her CV here. She did this gig as Maria, a friend of the family, not as part of her Lunchbox work, and she's not actively looking for more work, but I'd still recommend her!

So, a bowl of tomato soup and a sandwich for tea. Lovely!

Gill woke me at 9.30 and asked me if I'd switched off the boiler last night as it wasn't working this morning. I told her that I'd put the thermostat down to 20 degrees last thing, but the central heating was still working when I came to bed. The pilot light had gone out and I couldn't work out how to relight it; there were no instructions or obvious places where to put a match or to press an ignition knob...

Anyway, we had to leave today so we stripped the beds, packed our bags, emptied the fridge, repacked our bags, worried about the time and whether the bus was going to get through today, worried about whether the pipes would freeze if the heating remained off, but got out of the house for 11.20, as Gill had looked at the bus timetable and told me that the buses were at 22 minutes past the hour. But the bus timetable at the bus stop said 52 minutes past the hour... so we waited. And waited... and the bus came on time! We got to Scarborough at the right time, 12.30, and were on the 12.47 train home and enjoyed sandwiches for lunch.

Back in York there wasn't more than 15 minutes to wait for the number 10 bus back to very close to our front door. The house was freezing! I lit both stoves and Gill went back into town to try to find some bits and bobs for the boys' Christmas presents.

I left the boys in the house, happy to be back on the computer, and went to Country Fresh to get some veg for Christmas meals and pick up the compostables before the three-day-weekend-closure. I decided to pop in to the Novotel, where I've worked for the past 5 or so Christmases, to check that all was OK for tomorrow. My agent had booked me for this in early spring, and as it was a repeat booking, I had expected it to go very smoothly. BUT... I'm so glad I went to say hello. The new manager told me that I wasn't booked and they had got another entertainer. But I knew that I had a contract with my agent. So I said that I would ring him and get back to the hotel... the manager said would I like to ring from the hotel. My agent wasn't at home, so I rang his mobile. He had just arrived at his son's house and was settling down to a glass of sherry. I explained the situation to him and he asked to speak to the manager. Ten minutes later, the manager appeared again and passed me a mobile phone and said that my agent wanted to speak to me. He asked if I could remember how much I was due to get paid for the gig tomorrow... and of course I remembered as it's one of the best paying gigs of the year. I passed the phone back to the manager, and a few minutes later, the phone came back to me and my agent asked me if I would be prepared to do a reduced gig tomorrow for reduced money? I felt that if I tried to hold out for my full employ, that might cause difficulties and might jeopardise future work at this hotel. So I agreed a short Fiddlesticks slot with no Father Christmas appearance for a very average fee, less than half of what I had agreed to for doing the full entertainment. The other entertainer would do some magic and do the Father Christmas stuff.

So, not very happy, despite not having to do Father Christmas which I don't enjoy doing. In retrospect, I wonder if I should have said that I wanted to do the work I was contracted to do and demanded my full fee? Not an easy decision to make.

I cycled back via Freshways who were glad to see me and were generous with their unsold limp herbs and over-ripe bananas.

The boys hadn't noticed I'd been away for an hour (!) and when Gill rang from town, she asked if I'd go to the Co-op to get some basics like cereal, milk, pasta and the like. I had put my bike away so I walked down, got a good pile of stuff and on the way back, the bus drew up and Gill got off, gave me a lovely kiss and we walked back together. We are just a great team!

We had a shop pizza for tea, with broccoli, and continued to keep the stoves going to try to warm the place up. A relatively calm evening.

Happy Solstice everyone!

An early start to prepare for a day when who knows what might happen?

I don't expect to write a blog for a few days. But I might surprise you!

Surprise!!!


Gill went into town on the bus first thing as she needed to get assorted presents, put a cheque in for me, post letters and I don't know what else... She got a Family Day Rover ticket as this would work out cheaper for us all when we went into town later.

I kept the stove going as it was bitterly cold outside and there are still lots of slices of pears drying, and I did absolutely loads of washing up so there's none hanging around whilst we're away.

I also got some packing done and Gill got back at 11, she packed and I made sandwiches for everybody, and we went to wait for the just-after-1pm bus... which was late as it was trapped in a huge traffic jam of mostly single occupancy cars heading into town.

But the bus came and we crawled into town and got to the station at 1.45, just after the hourly train had gone. So we waited for the 2.38, had our lunch and were soon on our way to Scarborough... a very pretty train journey. We were due to get in to Scar at 3.30 and the x93 to leave Northbound at 3.40, but that bus was late too, and we got very cold but eventually it came, and we were in Fylingthorpe by about 4.35, and easily found the house, called 'Burnside', that we've rented off our neighbour for a couple of days.

The heating was on, as our neighbours spent last night here, and the place is cosy and spacious, uncluttered and lovely. It'll be good to see it in the morning, in the daylight.

We had a simple pasta tea and I lit the 'Burnside' stove, which is a large Town and Country, I think. It had been cleaned out which makes it more difficult to light as woodstoves work best with a bed of ash under the logs. But I did get it to go, and we had a fun evening. We enjoyed the first Royal Institution Lecture, which was on how plants dealt with their animal 'opponents'. Later, when the children were in bed, I watched some of the Michael Jackson TV coverage.
I found that Robin Hood's Bay has an internet 'mesh' http://rhbmesh.net/ but I'll have to wait til tomorrow to see if I can connect...

Woke with Viking FM on the clock radio playing a weird version of some Fat Boy Slim. Nice!

I went down after a lovely shower to have breakfast... and was surprised to find the breakfast place shut and obviously not in use. I went for a walk to find Helen, my handler, and chatted about my times, and lack of breakfast.

I went back to the Cross Keys and asked one of the staff about the breakfast situation, and was told that when I booked, I'd have been told there wasn't breakfast this week as staff were away. But I didn't book... so I never heard.

I wandered round and found a hotel, the Beverley Arms, which was happy to give me a bowl of cereal and a coffee for £3 which was very reasonable. Got me started for the day... I do need a good breakfast.

Then I went back to my room and got changed and all my stuff packed up, and got myself sorted out in my usual performance venue at about 9.55, and was immediately doing a show with a good audience. This was constant for two hours, when I took a quick break, starting again 15 minutes later, til 2.15 when I was due to go to the main marquee and change my teeshirt to a York Rotters one, scoffed lunch, and did a 15 minute talk on composting food waste. This went well... I think I had about 50 people there and there were a couple of questions afterwards, one about flies, the other about ants.

I got changed again and did another hour and a half of Fiddlesticks activities before packing up at 4.15, gathering some spare Brussels sprouts and getting to the bus station in time. Nice chats to some women on the bus who were holidaying from the North East, and were fascinated by various aspects of my unusual lifestyle. They got off at Pocklington and I read my Garden Organic mag again until getting off at 5.30pm, happy to be so close to home. The bus stop is just 2 minutes walk from our house.

Gill had done some roast potatoes to go with cauliflower, baked beans and cold quiche. After this, there was just enough daylight left for me to do one barrow-load of compostables, loading up my new Compostumbler.

A busy evening catching up with Freecycle and various other computery things, and enjoyed The Sky at Night on BBC1 as usual.

A very busy day today with two gigs... and quite complicated travel arrangements.

I got the 9am bus from very near where we live out to Market Weighton, where a Brownie leader was waiting to take me from the bus stop to her car, to go to Goodmanham where the Girl Guiding people own a place called Paxwold, where Brownies go and have resedential events. Last time I visited, I cycled out, but today I didn't have time as I had a second gig at 6pm.

I was part of the Girl Guides 100 year celebrations... a residential activity event with all sorts going on. Today was the first day, and I had 5x 45 minute sessions with about 25 girls in each workshop. I did a very quick whip-through the skills and that left 35 minutes for them to have 'free-play' with a 5 or 6 minute swap-round so participants could get to try different things.

I had lunch provided, which was nice of them, and I think the workshops worked well, despite being very short. I was busy til 3.30 when I quickly packed up, and in costume, got a lift back to Market Weighton to await David coming to pick me up. He came at 3.55, a bit later than planned, a bit flustered as today was the first time his car hadn't started, ever! He'd called a couple of friends and Ben I think had come along to give him a jump start.

Anyway, he got to me with plenty of time. I directed him accross country to Stamford Bridge, Stockton on Forest, Haxby, Shipton and Newton on Ouse, and we were at Linton on Ouse by 5pm. The gig was at the Air Force base there, but they were expecting me and David and had tickets with our names on at the gate.

The event was the Charity Fancy Dress Ball. I had a good time unicycling round as the guests arrived and then did a lot of workshopping inside. David ended up being the main photographer and negotiated a deal with the organisers.

Our last full day on holiday and our last day before our eldest child's birthday which will allow us to go shopping for a few presents. We also had 12 'silver coins' left; tokens we bought at the funfair... we'd bought £10 worth, 22 tokens, and only used 10 of them so today we wanted to use up the remainder.

So we got the bus into Bridlington and got off just after the station so we could have a lunch-treat... eating out at Bridlington's only Veggie Restaurant, 'Bean There'. It is a really lovely place and it's good to go somewhere and not have to wonder if there are dead animals hidden in the food.

I had a garlic mushroom tart with salads, Gill had chilli-beany loaf and salads, the boys had lasagne which also came with a salad. Then the boys had a slice of cake each and Gill and I had a hot drink. This all came to £25, which seemed reasonable.

Then we walked into town, Gill and the boys visited shops and I had just 30 minutes in Icy Tea.

So, to use up the tokens, the boys had another go on the Jungle River log flume, and I had a go in one of the dodgems... there were just two other drivers, both teenage lads, who took great pleasure ramming me as often as possible... but I did my fair share of bumping too. Finally, our youngest, who is quite a daredevil, was very keen on going on the 'MiamiFever' ride, which is a row of seats attached to a pair of large rotors, which lift the seats and move them up and around and down, quite quickly. Our little lad hooted with laughter, giggling away, it was well worth it just to hear him having such fun.

Then we headed for the bus station where there was a bus about to go.

Our first full day's holiday.

In the morning went to the Model Village just 2 minutes from our cottage, and whilst the family were having a second go around, I perused a bus timetable and found that there are special Sunday and Bank Holiday only services which go to the lighthouse and Bempton RSPB reserve. So I worked out a good set of connections, and we had lunch.

We all got the 2.50 bus to Flamborough and changed to get the next bus to Bempton Cliffs, where we would get an hour before the last bus back and a reasonable connection in Flamborough for the Sewerby bus.

The bus dropped us off in the carpark and as we walked towards the RSPB Bempton visitor centre, Gill took a tumble and landed on her knees, nose and forehead. She was quite shaken. We all helped her to the visitor centre where she sat and recovered. She didn't feel up to going down to the cliff tops to see the seabirds, but we three did so we headed off to the cliff tops. At the viewing area we came to, there was an RSPB volunteer with a telescope on a tripod. He lowered it so the children could see the cliffs close up... and the beautiful Gannets, a pair of which were 'beak fencing'; a courtship behaviour. We walked along to another viewing area with even more wonderful views of the magnificent cliffs (some photos on this webpage) but no man with telescope...

We soon scuttled back to the visitor centre where Gill had rallied and had bought pencils, pad of paper, postcards, and was drawing. We spent some time in the centre, I chatted to a rather nice RSPBer called Nadia...

We went for the bus. It's route was to Flamborough, then to the lighthouse and back to Flamborough. I asked if we could stay on the bus so we could have a quick view of the Flamborough Head Lighthouses (there are two), and the driver was happy with that. So when we got off in Flamborough, to get the bus to Sewerby, I saw that the route was to South Landing, back to Flamborough, and then to Sewerby... so when it came in, I asked the driver if we could get on and have a quick view of South Landing before going to our destination. He was OK about that!
So we had a really good bus tour of the Flamborough peninsular.

When we got in, Gill immediately walked down to the Co-op shop which is about 10 minutes into Bridlington, and I made tea. I made rice and veg with chick peas in a tomato and basil sauce which was very well recieved.

We all went for a game of Frisbee and then after the children went to bed, Gill and I had a game of Scrabble which she won.

Took the train to Bridlington.

Wedding today..... I like weddings! I met Rachel through a science festival that I worked at, with my Professor Fiddlesticks Fun Physics show, within the last 8 or 9 years, I cannot remember when it was exactly. She has a zest for life which I liked, and we became friends... and last year she met Tony, who lost his wife to cancer a few years ago, and seemed like really good husband material.

So, Rachel booked me to go and entertain today, at Repton near Derby. I got the 11.27 train down to Derby and then a short trip to Willington, just another 7 minutes on the train, then to a bus stop where I waited 15 minutes for the 1.30 bus. This took me the mile to Repton, where I easily found the Pears Hall where the reception was to take place.

I chatted to the Caretaker, who took me up to the Pears Hall where I chatted to the DJs, who showed me where the 'meet and greet' session would be, in a courtyard/cloister behind the hall.

I had a couple of hours to kill, because of the timings of the public transport, so I found a nice pub called The Boot which had a mug of coffee for me, and I read my NewScientist for 45 minutes.

I got changed back at Pears Hall and waited for the wedding party to arrive, and did some unicycling and devilsticking whilst the guests assembled for the group photo.

Then the pre-meal bit of the reception, and luckily there were some 'game' teenage girls who were happy to have a go with the devilsticks, juggling and yoyoballs... and some children who wanted (and got!) balloon models.

I ate with everybody else, a nice buffet and then, during the speeches, I kept the children amused with more balloons and assorted circus tricks.

I really enjoyed my role, and was very happy for Rachel that she had found a good man, and of course I was delighted for Tony as Rachel is gorgeous.

I got a lift back to Derby, and got the 9.11 train back to York, which got in at 11pm, a very easy journey. I collected about 7 glass beer bottles from my carriage and popped them into a plastic carrier bag and slipped them into my trailer so I could put them in the recycling when I got home.

A lovely work day, all done by public transport or lift-share, and I felt I contributed well to the event. And I got paid... how lucky am I?

Awoken by a phone call to my hotel room at 8, got up and went to the pub next door for breakfast, where I had a hearty bowl of muesli followed by fruit and croissants, also made myself a marmite sandwich for lunch which fitted neatly into the bran flakes box.

Last night's taxi man had offered to come and collect me so I had asked the hotel to ring him and collect me at 9.30, as the Disability Awareness Day venue, Walton Hall Gardens, was 2 or 3 miles away, just a tad too far to walk whilst carrying all my clobber.

Another £8 spent, but hey, I get receipts so I just file them as expenses... He dropped me at the bottom of the lane as it was completely traffic jammed up, but it is only 5 minutes walk to the entrance and another 5 minutes walk to the arts marquee where I usually have my spot. But this time I'd been given a spot of my own, between a stall giving information about stroke and one providing help and support to disabled parents. I spent some time here but did a lot of unicycling round with devilsticks spinning and a bag of modelling balloons in my pocket ready to dish out as soon as the circumstances suggested that was appropriate. Towards the end of the day I did some circus workshops and had an especially fulfilling time with a 22 year old girl with ADHD who showed considerable promise with the devilsticks, and was not backward in coming forward. I like people like that.

I worked solidly til just after 4 when I decided I'd had enough so packed up and went to catch the bus down to the centre of Warrington to get the train. I rang Gill who had got in from Hebden Bridge and Ali to tell her what time I was due into Sheffield. The train was a bit late but it wasn't a problem as the train person had told me the wrong time that it arrived into Sheffield, which with the delay turned out to be correct....

Ali was there to meet me and we went for La Tasca for something to eat, as Ali had got another of the half-price coupons she is good at finding on the internet. A delicious meal, and only £15 each. Bought some wine and pear ciders on the way to her place and had a good chat with Ali and one of her favourite PAs for nearly an hour when we got back.

I was woken by Anna's sweet little girly, at about 8.30, a much more civilised time! Had a quick breakfast and tried to get all my stuff together and set off for the bus with Edward. I'm so glad I've stayed with Edward... we've had some excellent conversations. I'm also really happy to have introduced Anna to Edward, I love being a networker!

Arrived at the Battersea Arts Centre just in time to witness the 'Energising Group Activity' which some of the conference-goers were participating in, and then it was off to the workshops.

I participated in 'Making The Most Of The Media' facilitated by Catriona Ross, who has a lot of experience in dealing with publicity issues, newspapers, representing organisations, and I think is involved in some aspect/s of the Transition Network, although I'm not sure what.

However, the workshop was interesting, starting with a who's who, why were they there and what was their experience of working with the media?

The first 'link' Catriona gave us was to Rob Weston's Groundswell website.. I didn't see the relevance of it until I got onto the computer and found it. Very interesting! Well worth a good long read, probably more interesting than this blog!

Then we talked through what 'News' is, and why do we bother having relationships with the media, and we found out the newspapers and other media that the workshop delegates read, which was over 50% The Guardian. We looked briefly at where 'News' comes from and discussed using agencies and other resources such as the Guardian Media Directory and the Writers and Artists Yearbook.

We looked at some of the reports about traditional media going through its own transition, due to the rise of electronic media and the economic downturn and decreasing advertising revenue. However, we learned that this could also be an opportunity for us!

We undertook a rather hurried exercise which our little group didn't fully understand, but this may have been the speed at which the instructions were delivered. All in all, a really interesting session.

Following a short coffee break was the third 'Open Space' conversation tables time. I chose to go to a table with 'Working with Local Authorities' as it's title, but no-one turned up to host it, so I did, and did some of the 'scribe' work, taking notes on flipchart-sized sheets of paper. About 8 people contributed to this. Then I found another table with the subject of 'Garden Sharing' which was nice to go and listen to; I contributed my experience of having other people with no composting facilities using mine to dispose of their compostables... An excellent chat about EcoSchools and food growing and composting in schools. I decided not to say about the school I'm involved with taking advice from someone saying composting isn't allowed in schools.... after all, this conference is about positive solutions not steps backwards.

This was followed by the closing ceremony, done in a huge circle, with roving microphones allowing some individuals to pass comment, sing, offer thanks and more. I enjoyed this, and whilst the group photo was being taken, gave some pea beans to Alexis the Councillor, and several other people.

Finally, it was lunch, which I spent chatting to Mary Fee from LETSlink UK, very nice to see her and see how she felt about the YorkLETS delay over getting the software. She didn't have a problem with it at all, and respected our desire to do it properly!

I said my goodbyes and walked (with Mary) to Clapham Junction where there was a train very soon to East Croydon. I walked the route I'd memorised from Street View through Croydon and was at Beth's house in about 20 minutes, perhaps less. How wonderful to see her, after all this time, 28 years! What a lot of catching up to do! So many stories to tell and hear.

She showed me her garden and shared her dream of growing some foodplants, and cooked tea (spinach soup followed by risotto with roast butternut, red pepper and tomato) and I gave her the presents of pea beans and home made paprika, plus the remaining dried fruit.

At some time during the evening I realised I had lost my keys so I emailed Anna and she rang and said yes, I had left them at hers, duh! I said I could come and get them tomorrow, and she said she would meet me at Peckham Rye at 9.30am.

We talked til 1am, after which I tried to do my blog sensibly but not too sure how it's come out as I've several glasses of wine in me... what a day, what a weekend, what a life..................

Woke quite early as Lisa's family were getting ready for a normal day.

Usual breakfast, then tried to get onto the 'net to do emails, but Lisa didn't have the password for her WiFi connection so I gave up and got ready for quite a long walk. Lisa had told me which trains I could get but I decided to walk, as I like walking in London, and Lisa had printed off a map for me to follow.

So at about 9.30 I set off, crossed the railway line on a footbridge/cycle track and walked past Honor Oak, Camberwell New Cemetery. Cheltenham Road and across Peckham Rye Common. East Dulwich Road and up Dog Kennel Hill, Champion Hill, Denmark Hill and over Ruskin Park. It was very sunny and warm, I was hot with the rucsack, laptop and carrier bag. I decided that as Coldharbour Lane was pointing in the right direction to get me to Clapham Common, that I'd get a bus... and as I'd walked for 90 minutes, I was happy with the £2 bus fare to a stop within 4 minutes walk of the Battersea Arts Centre, a huge and imposing building where the Transition Conference was being held, is actually, as there is a WiFi hotspot (not that hot actually, as connection is erratic and speeds slow. But, it does work! You may be reading this on the day of the conference...)

I had pre booked and pre paid, so there was a badge waiting for me and I had an offer of my bags being put into storage, instead of lugging them around. I put my rucksack in, but kept my hand luggage and laptop with me.

The main conference hall is a lovely place, huge and beautifully lit with ever-changing LED colour spotlights. Apparently the lighting, all low energy, has been installed specially for this event. There was food available and Edward arrived and sat with me and a bunch of people from Cambridge, which is where he is originally from.

At 1pm, there were greetings and intros, which included the excellent news that Ed Miliband MP (Sec. of State for Department of Energy and Climate Change) was here in the capacity of a 'keynote listener', which raised a laugh! After this, there was an interesting 'mapping' exercise... all the tables and chairs were moved to the side, and standing up, we had to organise ourselves into 'elders' down at one end of the hall, and 'youth' at the other. I found myself in the middle, along with other not-old, not young 40-somethings. The roving Mic was used to introduce a couple of oldies, sorry, respect those elders, and some of the younger contingent. Other mapping involved looking at the size of the population of your Transition Initiative, the highest being Hong Kong with 6 million plus, and the smallest being a settlement in North Yorkshire with 400. We did geographical mapping too, which finished with a group of us from the North East and Lincolnshire, Sheffield and Gronningen in the Netherlands all getting together and doing an exercise with a sheet of paper, post-it notes and 'what went well, what is challenging and what are you looking forward to' colour coded.

When I had a look around other regions versions of this workshop, some had been much more creative with paper wind-turbines and annotated spirals and wonderful stuff. Ours was tame by comparison!

After tea and cake it was the first 'Open Space' event, and I had volunteered to do one on, guess what, home composting! I had two lovely conversations. Both very worthwhile.

I had also volunteered to help facilitate the Energy Descent Action Plan thing after tea, so I posted a quick blog, ate some lasagne (again, and not a patch on the one last night!) and just got finished before the EDAP prep meeting.

EDAP is a Transition methodology for 'doing a Transition Initiative' and it has 12 steps, which are:
Set up a steering group ans design its demise from the outset;
Awareness Raising;
Lay the foundations;
Organise a Great Unleashing (aka a launch, or if in Kirkbymoorside, a 'Springboarding';
Develop physical manifestations of the project;
Build bridges with Local Government;
Organise a Great Reskilling;
Honour the Elders;
Let it go where it wants to go;
Create an Energy Descent Plan.

These do not have to follow this order, and some may take place at the same time.

So, this evening's EDAP work was for an imaginary place 'Anytown' and was with 400 or so people and took just two hours!

Some of the things that were contained in this session:
Information from theoildrum.com such as graphs and other information;
This little film 'Peak Oil, How will you ride the slide?'



The following subject areas were used as what I know as a brainstorming as part of the 'unleashing 'stage:
Food, Transport, Health, Arts/Play/Learning, Work and Livelihood, Heart and Soul, Water, Waste as Resources (this is the one I helped facilitate), Buildings, Landuse, Local Democracy and Energy. This was really good as everyone got involved and the ideas, aimed at what we envisioned 2029 to be like, or wanted it to be like, were written on big sheets which were to form the pages of a huge book.

The physical manifestations section was presented using a film called Haringey Connections, about some of the recent activities in Tottenham, with the Wards Corner Coalition and the Living Under One Sun allotment group. Well worth a watch.

The local authority stuff was very well described by a local Camden Councillor, Alexis Rowell, who moved from being a BBC correspondent and then a businessman to having a 'green epiphany' and running for election, and becoming the Camden Eco-Councillor. He has done amazing things in Camden, and has been wholly or partly responsible for the council having a policy of installing decentralised energy in all new projects (such as 20% of the predicted energy use to be generated on site), installation of free cavity wall insulation and roof insulation for all properties, whether poor or wealthy, mandatory green roofs and grey water recycling in all new builds, free fruit trees if a sensible place is suggested in which to put them, and a real push for local food growing wherever possible. Have a shufty through the Camden Council website to see if it mentions any of these!

For the reskilling, a ball of string was used to demonstrate that there were loads of skills in the room which could be shared, that people were able to offer and teach these skills, and that there were ample takers or people who were interested in learning them. The string went from person to person, making a huge web of skills offered and wanted...

In 'Honour the Elders', a local gentleman, John Prince, born in 1928, was interviewed and told some of his life story. He was born in St Kitts / Nevis, and grew up in Antigua with his grandmother who grew all her own vegetables plus cash crops. He worked as a teacher, but since retiring has worked on his poetry.
I chatted to him afterwards and he gave me the text of the poem he read out. This was written just a couple of weeks ago.

Reminiscing on the Lea, by John Prince

I sat on the bank of the River Lea,
Pondering the global, human tragedy.
Here, once had been a paradise of earth,
Where flora and fauna balanced the beauty,
In perfect co-existence of a fragile complex ecology.
I sat on the bank of the River Lea,
Thinking of the past, remembering
When across the face of London City
We fished in rivers, which flowed freely,
Enhancing life: developing human communities.
But no more to be seen,
Progress covered the waters clean
And turned them into sewers.
No more the River Fleet;
No more the River Tyburn,
No more the River Westbourne
They are covered and forgotten;
The measure of our progress:
Exchanging rivers for sewers,
Disrupting earth's natural ecology
To inherit a toxic polluted wasteland.

Millenniums created the evolution
Of species and habitats;
But we, in centuries, created the degeneration
Of earth's harmonious ecology;
And we continue its destruction.

We need humility, a new philosophy,
To guide our co-existence on Mother-earth.
The alternative is global catastrophe;
Like the cosmos-created ice ages,
Which nearly eliminated our ancestors.

I sat on the bank of the River Lea
Thinking of the past, remembering
When across the face of London City
We fished in rivers, which flowed freely,
Enhancing life, developing human communities..


(I have reproduced this exactly as it was written on the sheets John gave me)


The big cake which had been made (I'm not sure of it's significance!) was cut up and given out and Edward and I got ready to go. A number 345 bus took us all the way to Peckham and we were soon knocking at Peckham Anna's door, whom I first met through the Carbon Rationing Action Group website and subsequently, when we were both winners of the Oxfam Carbon Footprint Competition, and we (along with Kat from Scotland) spent a day talking to MPs including Hilary Benn at DEFRA. Anna's housmate was away, which meant there was plenty of space for us both, most welcoming and comfortable. It was great to see Anna again, I love her enthusiasm for low carbon stuff.

Spent another hour and a half doing my blog!