Human Lifestyle

I got up quite early as I needed to talk to the woman who had booked me to work at her child's school in Cliffe, near Selby, for the leavers' party. She rang me back on her mobile as her landline wasn't making outgoing calls, as the whole village had had a power cut at 1.30am, and the school was closed, so she'd had to cancel. It's a kind of mixed blessing as I was wondering about whether I should actually do this gig as I might have had H1N1 'Flu earlier this week, and if I did have it, I could be still infectious... AND it's raining heavily and I was intending to cycle down there... it's an hour and a quarter away.

So, I was able to peruse my emails and I was interested to find that a new website has been developed, called Real Time Carbon, which shows you how much carbon is being emitted from the mix of generation being used, updated every 5 minutes. Here is how it works:

RealtimeCarbon.org screencast from Jamie Andrews on Vimeo.

The other news is that the Government has introduced 'Feed In Tarrifs' which guarantee an income from solar photovoltaic panels and other renewable generation. This means that an average sized system on a domestic roof, costing about £12,500, will give an income of almost £1000 a year for 20 years plus halve an average home's electricity bill. Here's the Green Building Press article on it.

I think we need to seriously consider this (not that we have £12K to spare!) as our electricity bill is significantly lower than average, so we'd make/save more money than most! I wonder if I could get a loan from the Credit Union?

At about 4pm, despite the rain, I cycled down to town to put in two cheques, pay a bill, give in an invoice and to give in a form to the council. Whilst I was in the Nationwide, I asked if I could borrow £12K to put photovoltaic cells on my roof. I was seen to by a teenager (seemed like it!) who started to go through an eligibility questionnaire. I failed at the first hurdle. I don't earn £750 a month... their minimum requirement. Whilst in the Co-op Bank, I asked the same question, and I was told, after a few details were put into their computer, that I could borrow £11K over 84 months (7 years) and pay back £175 a month, an APR of 8.42%, interest amounting to £3,700. Early repayment penalty of about £44. I felt this was quite a good deal. I got a 0.5% APR discount as I'm a Co-op member!

Came back with a vast amount of stuff from Country Fresh including maybe 40 bananas and a large pile of Asian pears... all will be dried! So lit the stove, dried myself off and did some fruit prep later in the evening.

Boys seem pretty well back to normal. They've had the day off school and may have had Flu.

Excellent day... cycled to Cliffe near Selby to perform at their Primary School Summer Fair. I left after a bath (boo, had to use gas to heat the water, but at least Gill used the water too!) at about 10.45, and headed for the Naburn part of the Route 65 York-Selby Cycle Track, and headed south to Riccall and Barlby, where I joined the A19 for a short distance before turning East along the A63. Googlemaps had put the school on the York Road North of the A63, just south of the railway line, but in fact it is the other side of the main road on Main St... but I found it easily enough.

I took just an hour and a quarter to get there, which left me plenty of time to have my sandwiches and get changed. It was a hot but breezy day and the event was good... lots going on, and I had a pretty constant stream of participants, both children and adults. 4pm came soon enough, I was paid and I got away by 4.15.

I cycled North, through Cliffe Common, Skipwith Common, Escrick and onto the not-very-nice A19 racetrack back into Fulford and York. My journey time, again, an hour and a quarter.

I got in at 5.30... and I'd arranged to meet Dean and Danielle on the allotment at 6, as I have not been able to make time to keep it tidy, half of it has gone to them. I don't begrudge this at all... my life is so busy with work, family, volunteering etc, that I cannot keep up with a whole allotment. I hope to do better with a half plot. So I unloaded and got my fork and secateurs and shot off to the lottie, just in time to meet D+D and their two friends and their little boy. I showed them the few permanent plantings in their half of the lottie, gave them the compost bin I constructed and the contents of a compost heap. They went, and I planted another row of potatoes, which have been patiently chitting and waiting for an appropriate environment in which to grow.

I couldn't spend long there as Gill was off out to the Minster to see (and hear) Melody's 18 year old daughter Natalie sing in the Chapter House, an octagonal bit of the Minster which has amazing acoustics. The choir was so good, Gill said, that it made the hairs stand up on her neck, and they used the unique shape of the building to their advantage, giving a kind of surround-sound effect.

I put the boys to bed, lots of hugs and perfect behaviour, until Mum came back when they both came downstairs again! A bit later, had a phone call with Ali concerning an ethical dilemma. I think that talking it through helped her come to a conclusion.

So a good day... productive, healthy, earned money, made people happy, helped a friend and emitted not-a-lot of carbon.