Crossing the Blues
Showing posts with label Coal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coal. Show all posts
A good day, busy busy busy....

I wondered if I was going to go to Edwina's but I got a message first thing saying she'd be at home tomorrow, not today, so that meant I had a free day... more or less! 

Gill took our youngest into school by bike, and I waited in for the Suma order to be delivered.  I lit the stove so our eldest could have a bath and hair cut.  I washed up and stacked some wood, visited Jamie and collected another 4 sacks of smoke-free 'Homefire' coal which he wanted me to have.  I initially refused, when he asked about the logpile, saying that I didn't burn coal, so he said he'd take it down to the boat moorings and see if he could sell it there.  But when I saw him yesterday, he asked me if I had a fundamental objection to using coal, and I ummed and erred... he said that he really didn't want to drive it down to the moorings to see if he could flog it, and he'd much rather I had it, 10 sacks for £10.  Well at that price, and with that story, I couldn't refuse.  I do have one sack already, which was rescued from a skip several years ago, and I just haven't got round to using it.  Anyway, this long-lasting coal will supplement the wood, and I'll use it when it's very cold, and to keep the stove going overnight (which I can do with wood anyway!).

I helped do the lugging around of the Suma delivery.  Later, Marian came to pick up her single item, and look at my usable wood collection in the garage; she picked 2 pieces which she'll be able to use.

After lunch I went down to the Steiner School with pliers, wire, screws, Maurice's rawplugs and masonry drills, and some paperwork for the school, and using his battery-driven drill, I made 2 holes in the wall behind where the new compost bin is, to attach it to the wall, so that if/when a Steinery child climbs on the pallets, they don't come away from the wall and fall on the kid.  I hope!  I sorted a bit of roughage into the base prior to dealing with the assorted dalek bins which need wire netting putting underneath... so yes, their contents will be put in layers in the new bin, with the very woody material overflowing from the school's New Zealand bins.

At 3.30 I cycled home with our youngest. We passed a ripe skip and I asked the builder about the piles of wood in it; he was happy for me to have that, so I went back and filled up my trailer twice with lots of planks and dismantled pallets.

I had an early tea, rice-based, and got ready for work.  I had a booking for St Chad's Scouts group from 7.15 til 9pm.  I did a quick show and then there was 50 minutes for free-play workshops.  This all went well.  I'll be doing another session either in a week or 3 weeks, depending on what Tracey Smith comes back to me with about a possible gig next week.

So a good day.... apart from the disturbing news of mass homelessness, thousands killed and now the radiation leaks in Japan.  Very sad, shocking.

Both boys off to school today.

I decided to read a daily email I've subscribed to, about the trial of the protesters accused of damaging Kingsnorth Power Station. Their defence that it was (is) necessary to cause some damage in order to prevent greater damage, likened to breaking a window to rescue a person from a burning building. If you would like to get a daily blog entry about this interesting trial, click here. On October 7th, there is another trial of climate change protesters, those who stopped and occupied a coal train near Selby, the 'Drax 29'. That trial is in York Crown Court and it's important that it receives lots of publicity, as climate change is the most important threat ever to face humanity. I believe that these individuals are bound to be looked back upon as brave heroes with insight, not criminals, and their claim that causing a little bit of disruption or damage is necessary to draw attention to the importance of this issue. For an interesting take on the global crisis of too many people emitting too much pollution and possible 'geoengineering solutions, see this article by James Lovelock, the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis, written in The Guardian.

I did a lot of 'house admin' today, including taking our meter readings to put on The Carbon Account, to record the household's carbon footprint. I really do recommend this way of keeping a check on your transport and energy-related carbon footprint. Join up and become my Carbon Account friend!!!

I had brought back a load of plastic tubs of grapes, each with a few mouldy ones and mostly good ones, so I sorted through and washed and blanched the good ones, balancing a tray of them on the woodstove to make nice little sweet (and free!) raisins...

Gill went to pick up our youngest from school and I got ready to go down to the station to get the 4.12 to Hull to attend the 'Co-operative membership Co-operation in Your Community meeting, which starts at 6ish in the Feren's Art Gallery. The idea was to let individuals and organisations know about the Community Fund, and as two organisations I'm involved in have received money from the Co-op, I was a speaker. I arrived a bit early and sat in the gallery reading my NewScientist, trying to catch up as I'm 5 weeks behind!

The food arrived and I ate heartily and hopefully healthily... and at 6.30 we were invited into the lecture theatre to hear presentations from Darren the local Co-op person, Stefan who told us all about the funding streams and how they work, and then three community groups who've benefitted from their money... Yvonne from Harrogate Car-Free Day on 24th September, David from Ryedale Special Families and Michelle and Becky from Goole's Hinge Centre. Finally, I did my bit!

Got the 8.56 train back to Doncaster, cursed when the possible connecting train up to York pulled out of the station as we pulled in, sat in the waiting room for over an hour (finished a NewScientist) and got the 11pm train back to York. Fortunately I'd made a friend on the train, a 20 year-old chap working as a night-time secyrity guard in York, so we chatted. Home by midnight...