Human Lifestyle

Up early despite being very late to bed last night.  Not a bad day... cycled a big load of compost over to Jenny, two sacks of potting medium, one of rich mature riddled.

I delivered 4 carrier bags of container medium to Country Fresh, to see if there was any call for it there.  I bought some sweetcorn seedlings and a cucumber plant.

I was due to go and work for David at 6pm, so I had a bowl of potato and celery soup plus a hommous sandwich before I left. I arrived on time and Linda, one of his friends/cleaners/PAs was there; it was good to chat with her for a bit.  David had been asked if he'd meet Carolyn at 7.15 at The Last Drop Inn, so I took him there and we chatted with a nice couple who have an allotment on Low Moor, and the conversations continued when Carolyn arrived.

We left at 8.10, got home quickly and I warmed up his 'meal for one' and left, clutching my cheque for the past few weeks whilst Richard has been away.  Richard, David's cousin, is back in the UK now, and will probably spend a couple of days a week with David, so I'll probably just have two or three stints with him each week, until Richard goes away again in June.  I finished at 8.30pm, and cycled home via Country Fresh where I picked up 3 boxes of compostables.

Up late... well, fairly early but then went back to bed, so that really counts as a late start.  But once I'd got up, I went with the family up to Ros' house and picked up her unwanted guinea pig hutch.  It went on the bike trailer with no problems and then Gill and the boys cleaned it up.  Now all we need is two female guinea pigs.  Any offers?

I cycled into town with some more of the postal voters letters, and had another frustrating time trying to get them into the letterboxes inside flats... the outside doors have a keycode or a buzzer, some have 'Trades' which opens the door, but not all, so I only managed to get about another 10 delivered. 

I then headed for the Building Society where I put in my cheque from Saturday, and got out a cheque for my agent, who requested a 'finders fee' for a gig I did last week which he may or may not have had anything to do with.  However, I need to keep him sweet as he gets me some good work, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  He is a nice bloke and I don't want to lose the goodwill.  I cycled down the river after going to the Orange shop for a replacement SIM as my mobile phone keeps on telling me it isn't there, and gave him the cheque.  All very amiable.

Came back for lunch and then got busy with the chainsaw... took it slowly, chopping and splitting and stacking each in short bursts, so not to get worn out doing one activity.  Got very sweaty though, as it was warm.  Carolyn stopped briefly and invited me to go and visit to see her lift, which very occasionally has got stuck, so I said I'd visit her later.

I had rice for tea, some rice Gill cooked up a few days ago and made far too much.  But it was still nice.

Then went to visit Carolyn, and we had coffee and pistachio nuts, and then I saw her amazing lift, which if it goes wrong, someone has to wind it down, and I'm now on the list of people she can call to sort it out.  Then more chats and I made my excuses and came home... as I had to sort out some train tickets for a gig in Bristol, and finding cheap tickets is not easy.

Lit the stove and did some washing up.  Played Scrabble on facebook.

An early start as Peter Tatham came to pick up compost soon after 8am.  He was heading for a 'trailer training' session at 9am, held just down the road in Lawrence Street.  So, I gave him a quick tour of the garden and showed him the Scheppach soil sifter and the rotasieve.

He had come for a load of potting compost, and took 5 large sacks, plus 6 smaller sacks of unriddled compost, a large sack of riddled leafmould and a very heavy sack of loam.  He gave me a sack of spent hops from a brewery, and I swapped this for a loganberry plant, one which rooted last season.  He'll work out how much he is able to give me for this load and then I'll invoice him. 

I had a bit of time inside and then did more work outside, riddling a load of material out of last year's containers, a large volume of peat-based growing media from the thrown-away pansies etc that I rescued from Country Fresh over winter, and several buckets-worth of fresh loam/leafmould/compost mix. This yielded two big sacks of potting medium and I'll use a mixture of this and the 100% new stuff to grow this year's crops in pots.

I had work, with David, at 2.30; we went to the bank, and then Marks and Sparks, where by chance we met Carolyn, and we arranged to go to have a coffee with her.  She suggested the other M+S which has a cafe, so I pushed David there and then he waited at the table whilst I queued, then Carolyn rolled up so I got 3 coffees and we spent the best part of an hour there, chatting.

On the way back to David's flat we met Lynn, which meant that soon after we got in, my two hours was up and I got my bike ready to go home.

Gill was getting ready to go out, as she was attending a focus group about ethical consumerism out on the Tadcaster Road.  I split a few logs and had a rice-based tea, then watched a nature programme with both boys which was really nice.

Gill came in just before that finished, I made the boys' supper and a very good-natured and peaceful evening was had by all.  I planned bits of my weekend, most of which is going to be very full, and made time to play a few goes of Scrabble.

A really lovely day.... I managed to speak with my friend Edwina at last after several failed attempts, and I agreed to go and see her this morning.  I cycled towards the Millennium Bridge as she lives in Dringhouses, and then realised that this morning I'd be able to visit the Allotment shop, which is open on Sundays from 11 til 12.  To get though the kiss gate with my bike and trailer I had to uncouple them, but it only takes a minute.... Once on the allotment, I met Amanda, who was trying to carry a heavy sack plus something else, and she plonked the sack in my trailer.  But a minute later, whilst walking along, a chap with a wheelbarrow with a flat tyre passed us, and he asked me if I had a pump.  Which I did.  I had to change the fittings round, and even then it didn't fit as the valve on the wheel was pointing in a skewed direction, and the pump wouldn't fit on fully.  Amanda had by this time gone on her way, so I wasn't able to continue the conversation with her.

The shop had just opened, so I renewed my annual membership (£2) and bought 3 lots of seed potatoes for a pound a kilo, and some sweetcorn seeds, squash seeds and some onion sets, and that all came to about £7.  So I stowed them in a pannier and carried on to the Millennium Bridge, over the racecourse, turned the trailer over on a corner with some uneven ground, which damaged my new back mudguard (boo hoo) and when I'd sorted that out enough to continue, I cycled up to Edwina's house, which was easy to find as I'd memorised the map.

She has moved back from Manchester where she's been working (as a Police Officer) as her mother has died, so she's doing up the house.  The garage is going to become a living room, and she's built (or had built) a large wooden building in the garden, to house the garage stuff.  She wants to put in some shrubs, to clear some brambles and bits of concrete, and tidy up, and to possibly put in or help put in a path and some gravel.  Then she asked if I knew anyone who wanted a petrol lawnmower, so I suggested Freecycle, and over a coffee, I helped her register for that.  She had a skip outside her house, with two nice logs in it, so I asked if I could have them.  There was also a bit of copper sheet, some lead, lots of ferrous metal and various other bits, and she was happy for me to take a load to get it recycled.

She also wanted to get a compost bin or two installed, so I cycled round to a friend who is moving and has two recently installed bins that she doesn't want to take with her, and has asked if I can find a buyer.  However, my friend wasn't in, but a message later got a positive result.  I'll buy the bins, uninstall them and transport them round to Edwina's.

I cycled back over the Millennium Bridge, called in to see Richard, and picked up a box and a bag of goodies for the compost, and scuttled back home, for a late lunch.

I managed a bit of time in the garden after lunch, after Gardener's Question Time actually, and loaded up some stuff into the Compostumbler, including a roadkill duck, and found a load of worms to give to Will tomorrow to re-stock his wormery, and riddled some rich mature compost which will end up down at County Fresh.

I came in at 5 as I needed to get myself tidied up so I could get to David's for 6pm, as I was due to do my first bit of care-work for him this evening.  He lives near Stonegate so I went into town via Foss Islands Road and Monk Bar, and turned left at the Minster.  He was looking forward to going to City Screen for a coffee and a chat with Carolyn, whom he hasn't seen for a little while.  She's helping him get a care assessment.  An Austrian bloke and his two cute kids came to sit near us, which was a nice distraction.

After an hour I pushed David back to his house and he explained how he liked his meal making... soup and vegetables.  I did exactly as he had instructed and he said it was lovely.  I also washed up and tidied a bit.  I finished at 8pm, and came home.  Before having my tea, I cycled round to Jamie's to give him the money for the logs he's offered me, and a copy of 'The Curious Incident', both of which I think he was happy with.  Well, cash is always welcomed!  And a free book isn't to be sniffed at either....

I had a 'use it up' tea, the leftover linguine and veg from yesterday and the leftover couscous from the previous day.  It was a reasonable meal.

So, a good day... topped off with a celebratory 700th edition of The Sky at Night which was very entertaining.

I enjoyed today.  We were all getting up sometime after 9 as Will was due at 10 to do some maths with our eldest, but Will arrived at 9.35 and we weren't ready.  Anyway, we hadn't got any graph paper, so Will went to buy some.  We were up when he came back!

The maths session went really well and I'm delighted for both parties. 

At 11.30 I headed into town to meet a gentleman called David, whom our mutual friend Carolyn thinks I might get on with, and might be in a position to help.  I found his City Centre house, where he's lived for 40 years, and met his cousin Richard, who's been helping to look after him since he's not been so well.  We chatted about all sorts for a couple of hours.  I might be going to do some PA/carer work for him.

I went to the building society and paid in two cheques, and came home for lunch at nearly 3pm.

The rest of the afternoon went quickly and I had a really simple tea, pasta, red kidney beans and half an avocado.  I'd arranged to meet John at 8 in The Golden Ball, and we had some good wide-ranging chats including a brief resume of the Climate For Change workshop which I missed because of work.

I cycled back home via the wasteland with felled trees near Fulford Road, and came back with 5 lovely lumps.  Had a nice chat with one of my facebook friends Juliet before going to bed, and it was good to link up.  I do love facebook for networking with people with shared interests.

The thing I nearly forgot to report was that I got a booking for the festival of Purim, from a Synagogue in Leeds.  They booked me years ago, twice, and it was quite an eye opener for me as I didn't know much about Jewish culture.  The Rabbi was pleased that I remembered Purim, and I'll be going back there on March 20th.

Another good day.... not quite as busy as yesterday though, thankfully.

My first appointment was at midday at the People and Planet allotment on Low Moor, as part of their Green Week. Phoebe wanted me to do a composting talk and demonstration, so I was only too happy to oblige. As she wanted me to do a workshop, I took one of the most recent sacks of 'resources' (about 30kg) and a box (less than 10kg) and bunged those in my trailer, with a knife, secateurs and the Compost Mate.  I got there soon after midday and waited for 15 minutes for the students to come down.  There were four that I knew (and may have heard my talk before) and four Chinese students who I'd not met and who knew nothing about the subject.   I started off with photosynthesis and carbon being fixed from the air, then respiration with that carbon being released by bacteria, fungi and animals.  I covered all the basics, about natural decomposition, landfills versus incineration versus recycling, the benefits of composting food and plant waste, and a bit about the carbon rich vs nitrogen rich ingredients.  I felt this 20 minute talk went well, and was keen to get busy with the 3 heaps, two were mostly finished material, the other was a large unruly pile of brambles and earthy sods and root balls, mostly left from the previous occupant.

We (me and two Chinese girls) moved all the nearly finished stuff into one bay, leaving one bay free to take the stuff from the top of the unruly pile, which we chopped with secateurs, and layered with fruit and veg material.  The bottom of the mature pile will be able to be put through a riddle, and I'll sort that job out with Phoebe soon.  I'm not sure how long I spent there, but I wanted to go and check out a strip of unused land just off Fulford Road where some trees have been taken down and they are just dumped there.  I've been watching this since before Christmas, so I investigated it and found a pile of dumped large Sycamore logs, a trailer load of which I liberated and very slowly cycled home, as I had at least 100kg, including a huge lump on my pannier rack.

When I got in, I made lunch (it was after 2.30) and I got a phone call from my friend Carolyn, who has a friend who would like a bit of help on a fairly regular basis.  She didn't know if I was looking for this kind of work, but she wanted to find out.... and if I was interested, she'd organise a meeting between the gentleman, who's a wheelchair user in York, and me, to see if we got on.  So a bit later, she rang back and I'll be going to meet him on Monday.  This work could come in extremely handy, specifically the money earned!

Then I got a phone call from Christine, a parent at the Steiner School who does some of the gardening there.  I'd rang her this morning as we'd tentatively arranged to meet this afternoon... but this morning there was no reply.  But she was ready to go down, so I said, OK, let's meet at 4pm.

I cycled down via the Sycamore logpile and picked up a second large load, and 10 minutes later, Chris arrived and she gave me a guided tour of the school grounds.  There are two main jobs... keeping bushes trimmed and tidy, and sorting out the compost bins.  There are two large wooden New Zealand bins, overflowing with twiggy bits, and two or three plastic dalek bins with mainly fruit in.  I plan to mix this stuff up and make a good compost.  I look forward to doing a fairly regular stint and to making a difference.

I cycled home and did a bit of stacking and splitting, and came in after 6... Gill had made some tomato soup and fried some boiled potatoes, a simple but filling meal.  Later I made up my muesli and popped out at midnight to collect 3 pallets from a builder who said I could take them.