A peaceful start to the day, and I got ready to leave at 11am to cycle to the station to meet my friend Laura and her parents, who are staying in York for a couple of nights.
They arrived at 11.35 and we walked into town to El Piano via Barley Hall. I had a hot chocolate and the others had drinks too, and discussed where to meet later. Then we split, Laura and I wandering through town via a pastie shop and the market, Anti Gravity Shop and then on to St Nicks where I had my pastie, and then showed Laura around.
On the way home I found some more Oyster mushrooms, and when we got back I fried those immediately. Laura was pleased to meet Gill and the boys, thought the boys were very engrossed in the computer and didn't communicate much, but although Gill and I see Laura as young, they see her as an adult!
We spent an hour or so at home and then went back into town... I cycled with her on my crossbar (a favourite way of transporting someone!) and we ended up at the Minster, which we wandered round. I followed Laura into the shop and was highly amused to see a wealth of 'Green Man' carvings and teeshirts etc... this is a very pagan or Celtic symbol of a man's head with ivy coming out of his mouth, symbolising rebirth (see Wikipedia for info and images). I like the Green Man symbolism... I suppose the rebirth meme is consistent with Christianity, so no actual conflict really.
Then we walked through the Shambles and to the Castle, Clifford's Tower, and up to the Pizza Hut where we ate. As we still had an hour before she needed to meet her parents, we walked down to the Millennium Bridge, over it and back up to King's Staith, where the Ghost Walk was to leave from, and we met up with Laura's parents... and I left her with them. They had been back to Barley Hall where an archaeologist from the Hungate dig was doing a talk, which they had enjoyed immensely.
I came back home, stopping to talk to my friend David, who has had a good photo session with a fairly well known York science writer. When he said her first name, I knew her surname before he said it... I'm a bit of a fan as she writes for NewScientist, and I like her writing. I've never met her but would like to.
I got home at 8.30 and helped put the boys to bed.
Showing posts with label David B the photographer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David B the photographer. Show all posts
I got up reasonably early and spent quite a bit of time catching up with my blog, writing out my notes and memories from my day in Sandwell last Friday, and then at midday helped Ali a bit with her film... she wanted someone to recite a poem whilst she recorded it, to use as part of the soundtrack. We got it on the 10th take... it was perfect, but for some reason her Dictaphone didn't record more than 4 seconds on that attempt. The 11th was successful!
At 2.40 we set off to pick up her daughter from school, and then went to Sainsbury's for some of her Xmas shopping and we had tea there, in the cafe. We got home just in time to gather all her University work up and she went off to there and I got the 6.21 back to York. I met an interesting Russian molecular biologist heading back to Edinburgh, after she'd had a PhD interview in Nottingham. So we talked about stem cells amongst other things. The journey flew by!
And back home by 7.30... and Will and David arrived at 8 to have a game of 'Co-operative Scrabble' where the individual players' scores are not recorded, just the running sum total. Between us we got 624 which Will said was good. A friendly evening.
At 2.40 we set off to pick up her daughter from school, and then went to Sainsbury's for some of her Xmas shopping and we had tea there, in the cafe. We got home just in time to gather all her University work up and she went off to there and I got the 6.21 back to York. I met an interesting Russian molecular biologist heading back to Edinburgh, after she'd had a PhD interview in Nottingham. So we talked about stem cells amongst other things. The journey flew by!
And back home by 7.30... and Will and David arrived at 8 to have a game of 'Co-operative Scrabble' where the individual players' scores are not recorded, just the running sum total. Between us we got 624 which Will said was good. A friendly evening.
Up at a civilised time in order to get to the Dentist's for just after 11am. My dentist was pleased with me that I've cleaner teeth than some previous times, and the scale and polish took just a few minutes.
I then bought my next year's one-week-per-page 'Trees For Life' Diary which I've been using for at least 10 years... I love the photos, and the size of the space for each day is just big enough for my busy life. Just!
Then to the Building Society to get a couple of cheques out to pay for advertising, my biggest expense as Professor Fiddlesticks.
During the afternoon I did quite a lot of paperwork... well, composing an email to my friends and colleagues at York Rotters. I did get some time outside which was lovely and reminded me of what I find important and fun.
During the evening, David my photographer friend rang me to invite me to go and watch Leonids from somewhere darker than York. I accepted.
David was already going out, whether or not he had friends with him, so I said yes, I'd go to the Hole of Horcum, between Pickering and Whitby, to find really dark skies to watch the predicted meteor shower. But as we got near Pickering, it started to rain and when we were at the parking place at the Hole of Horcum,it rained quite heavily and the clouds were continuous. We chatted in the car in the dark. But at about 10.20pm the clouds parted somewhat and we could see some stars... but thin cloud meant that we didn't see any meteors. So we came back at about 11pm. David was disappointed to not be able to photograph any shooting stars but we had some good conversations, so nice 'male bonding'.
When I got back at close to midnight, Gill had had a nice evening and was busy painting lovely abstract pictures and singing along to some obscure stuff on the telly from before my time. A happy house!
I made a large load of sweet red pepper paprika from several hundred red peppers which have come my way over the past few weeks, and I've dried and stored, and tonight put in the blender, reduced to dust, seived and jarred up... wonderful to add to lots of recipes!
I then bought my next year's one-week-per-page 'Trees For Life' Diary which I've been using for at least 10 years... I love the photos, and the size of the space for each day is just big enough for my busy life. Just!
Then to the Building Society to get a couple of cheques out to pay for advertising, my biggest expense as Professor Fiddlesticks.
During the afternoon I did quite a lot of paperwork... well, composing an email to my friends and colleagues at York Rotters. I did get some time outside which was lovely and reminded me of what I find important and fun.
During the evening, David my photographer friend rang me to invite me to go and watch Leonids from somewhere darker than York. I accepted.
David was already going out, whether or not he had friends with him, so I said yes, I'd go to the Hole of Horcum, between Pickering and Whitby, to find really dark skies to watch the predicted meteor shower. But as we got near Pickering, it started to rain and when we were at the parking place at the Hole of Horcum,it rained quite heavily and the clouds were continuous. We chatted in the car in the dark. But at about 10.20pm the clouds parted somewhat and we could see some stars... but thin cloud meant that we didn't see any meteors. So we came back at about 11pm. David was disappointed to not be able to photograph any shooting stars but we had some good conversations, so nice 'male bonding'.
When I got back at close to midnight, Gill had had a nice evening and was busy painting lovely abstract pictures and singing along to some obscure stuff on the telly from before my time. A happy house!
I made a large load of sweet red pepper paprika from several hundred red peppers which have come my way over the past few weeks, and I've dried and stored, and tonight put in the blender, reduced to dust, seived and jarred up... wonderful to add to lots of recipes!
First thing in the morning (OK, after breakfast and emails, so at 10am) I went to Country Fresh to pick up the second lot of pumpkins for the St Nicks pumpkin festival evening next Wednesday at 5.30pm... fun carving and free food, all made with pumpkins!
I got 11 of them, another 10 for St Nicks and one to take home to form the basis of a pumpkin soup I've offered to make for the evening.
From St Nicks I went into town to see my friend Anita who is back from Spain for a week. She opened the door looking happy and slightly disheveled. A few minutes later Bruno came down looking equally happy. It's obvious they are delighted to be back together. Making up for lost time.
Anita made me a cappuccino and offered me chocolate bread, and all three of us had the most amazing discussion. Anita is someone I can talk to about anything as she's very broad-minded and experienced. And I'm glad to get to know Bruno a bit better. A very enjoyable hour.
And back home via Freshways who had two sacks of 'resources' for me. A good lunch, finished the tomato soup from a couple of days ago and started making another tomato-based dish as we are over-run with slightly sad tomatoes, perfect for cooking with and too good for composting.
At 2.15 I headed off to see David who is in the early throes of getting a publicity leaflet together. I was happy with what he'd done so far and hopefully he'll do an equally good job on the reverse side.
Home to an hour of compost heap building and at half five came in, washed and headed out again to the Minster this time, to meet Rachel Semlyen and Kate Lock who have been conspiring to do a 350 picture with a photographer friend they have, John from The Star. They had devised an ingenious way to get a really good image, using cardboard templates and LED torches, and the camera on a tripod with a long exposure followed by hand held flash guns from several different angles to get the best lighting. The results are amazing and I'll post it here when I can. The photo will be sent to 350.org and will probably be shown internationally with many others. Tomorrow is a big day with loads of symbolic actions to show our 'leaders' how much we care about the outcome of the Copenhagen talks in December. I'll be attending the York Wave tomorrow morning.
I got home feeling very elated and Gill had made a pasta, cauliflower and broccoli bake with the tomato thing I made earlier. What a team!
I really REALLY enjoyed seeing a programme on one of my favourite bands, Kraftwerk. Brought back loads of brilliant memories. I grew up with this predecessor of hip hop and dance music and somehow got myself an early album of theirs... it's pretty industrial but interesting textured sound. The cover looks like this:
anyone know what it is, as there is no information on the cover, or, if I remember correctly, on the discs inside?
Gill and I had a game of Scrabble and it was very close all the way through, but Gill won.
I got 11 of them, another 10 for St Nicks and one to take home to form the basis of a pumpkin soup I've offered to make for the evening.
From St Nicks I went into town to see my friend Anita who is back from Spain for a week. She opened the door looking happy and slightly disheveled. A few minutes later Bruno came down looking equally happy. It's obvious they are delighted to be back together. Making up for lost time.
Anita made me a cappuccino and offered me chocolate bread, and all three of us had the most amazing discussion. Anita is someone I can talk to about anything as she's very broad-minded and experienced. And I'm glad to get to know Bruno a bit better. A very enjoyable hour.
And back home via Freshways who had two sacks of 'resources' for me. A good lunch, finished the tomato soup from a couple of days ago and started making another tomato-based dish as we are over-run with slightly sad tomatoes, perfect for cooking with and too good for composting.
At 2.15 I headed off to see David who is in the early throes of getting a publicity leaflet together. I was happy with what he'd done so far and hopefully he'll do an equally good job on the reverse side.
Home to an hour of compost heap building and at half five came in, washed and headed out again to the Minster this time, to meet Rachel Semlyen and Kate Lock who have been conspiring to do a 350 picture with a photographer friend they have, John from The Star. They had devised an ingenious way to get a really good image, using cardboard templates and LED torches, and the camera on a tripod with a long exposure followed by hand held flash guns from several different angles to get the best lighting. The results are amazing and I'll post it here when I can. The photo will be sent to 350.org and will probably be shown internationally with many others. Tomorrow is a big day with loads of symbolic actions to show our 'leaders' how much we care about the outcome of the Copenhagen talks in December. I'll be attending the York Wave tomorrow morning.
I got home feeling very elated and Gill had made a pasta, cauliflower and broccoli bake with the tomato thing I made earlier. What a team!
I really REALLY enjoyed seeing a programme on one of my favourite bands, Kraftwerk. Brought back loads of brilliant memories. I grew up with this predecessor of hip hop and dance music and somehow got myself an early album of theirs... it's pretty industrial but interesting textured sound. The cover looks like this:
anyone know what it is, as there is no information on the cover, or, if I remember correctly, on the discs inside?
Gill and I had a game of Scrabble and it was very close all the way through, but Gill won.
Up at a civilised time... 8.30am. I had breakfast and did emails and waited in for a chap from Harris builders who said they were coming round at 10am to collect the contract for our solar hot water system. Gill went out to go to Priory St for something, and I waited... and waited... wanting to go out into the garden and do more hedge. At 10.50 I rang the company and left a message saying I wasn't happy with being told I'd be visited at 10am and was waiting in... and I am too busy to be messed around. I got an apologetic message back saying the chap had been held up in Harrogate (so why didn't he ring me?) and would be here at 1pm.
I went into the garden and dug up more hedge. Just before 1pm I came in for lunch and awaited the builder. He actually came at 1.45. I suppose I'll have to get used to 'builder time'. The York Press had already arrived and I was delighted to see that they had published an article about the Charity Fancy Dress Ball, including David's photo.
I had a bit of time in the garden but towards 3pm I got my bike ready to go and get our youngest, as Gill had had a 'ladies who lunch' meeting in town and was only just getting the bus back home (she rang me to check I was collecting him) I arrived a bit early, despite collecting my first two sacks of autumn leaves on Windmill Lane. I had an extra plastic sack so when I got to school I couldn't help but check the playground bins. The school is STILL not recycling the huge volumes of fruit the children throw away. In just 5 minutes I filled a plastic sack with half-eaten apples, banana skins, raisin packets, paper towels. I weighed it with my spring balance when I got home... 17 and a half kilos. I also retrieved 12 uneaten apples, two uneaten bananas, one unopened orange, one uneaten peach and a bag of grapes, uneaten. These were all thrown away and NOT RECYCLED. I will wash these and eat them myself. I also checked the big bins and these were full of mixed waste including plenty of recyclable material such as metal cans and cardboard and paper. The dedicated paper bin was overflowing but had some non-paper items in it. This means it will probably be rejected and will go to landfill.
Shame on you Lord Deramore's School. I started trying to get you to compost your fruit for schools waste in 2001. And 8 years later, you have removed the bins you grudgingly let me install, have lost several parts of my bins, making them useless, and are now putting about 8Kg/day easily biodegradable fruit waste into landfill. Shameful. I am SO ANGRY.
I am also very angry with the City of York Council for letting this crap situation continue. I let them know I don't know how long ago, and was promised that there would be some changes and that Lord Deramores School would be dragged in to the 21st Century and be taught how to behave in an appropriate manner when you are a school teaching children who will have to cope with catastrophic climate change caused precisely by the kind of ignorance and lack of care that the school is demonstrating. I am FURIOUS. I even spent many hours helping to start and then volunteering with Green Thumbs, primarily to facilitate a composting area or project... and now Green Thumbs isn't happening and the children aren't learning about gardening. I think they should give the money back to the Co-op who would re-allocate it to a worthy project.
What more can I do? I want to embarrass them into action. I want them prosecuted. I need to tell them and the world what I think of their attitude. Schools exist to prepare the next generation to get by in the world. They teach various skills. They should set a good example. This school is showing the children that they just don't care. This is quite plainly wrong.
I cycled home with my load of leaves to make into leafmould, sack of compostable fruit stuff and the bag of nice fruit which I'll have over the next few days with my muesli.
I then spent another two hours getting hedge out, cutting off the tops and shredding the thinner twigs for composting, cutting up the larger sticks for drying and recycling into heat, and putting the roots (35 today) into a plastic sack so another Freecycler can have them and plant a new hedge. I came in at 6pm and had a nice plate of Bulgar wheat with roast veg, watercress, carrot-sticks, baked beans and a cheese straw. Not bad!
At half 6 I headed off to the Millennium Bridge, as Councillor Andy D'Agorne had invited me to see the new lighting possibilities there. When the bridge was built, it did have some good lighting but then vandals discovered they could easily destroy the lights, and also, repairs and replacements meant the bridge had to be closed. So, the Council have teamed up with Philips Lighting, and this evening were looking at a variety of lighting solutions. To cut running costs and reduce the frequency of replacing them, the bridge will have LED (light emitting diode) technology. This will allow very dynamic colour changes, for special occasions, or white light for normal use. When Philips re-did the lighting on a bridge in, I think, Newcastle, the cost of lighting the structure dropped from several tens of thousands of pounds a year to just £4k, if I remember the quote correctly. There were some interesting conversations about renewable electricity and some of the lighting choices. The reduction in overall energy use is the greenest thing about the project.
I had to leave at 7.20 as I was due at a York in Transition meeting at The Stables.
This was a good meeting, with a visitor from Spofforth and a small bunch of the committed Transitioneers. It was a relaxed but productive meeting, one which leaves me with a few jobs to do... including working on the supporters leaflet. I had a chat with Di afterwards, and agreed to visit her in a couple of weeks to plan a first meeting of the Huntington and New Earswick Transition Initiative. I decided not to go to the pub afterwards as I was tired.
Home soon after 10pm. Despite tiredness, stayed up til 2am writing and watching the last episode of Electric Dreams on BBC4.
I went into the garden and dug up more hedge. Just before 1pm I came in for lunch and awaited the builder. He actually came at 1.45. I suppose I'll have to get used to 'builder time'. The York Press had already arrived and I was delighted to see that they had published an article about the Charity Fancy Dress Ball, including David's photo.
I had a bit of time in the garden but towards 3pm I got my bike ready to go and get our youngest, as Gill had had a 'ladies who lunch' meeting in town and was only just getting the bus back home (she rang me to check I was collecting him) I arrived a bit early, despite collecting my first two sacks of autumn leaves on Windmill Lane. I had an extra plastic sack so when I got to school I couldn't help but check the playground bins. The school is STILL not recycling the huge volumes of fruit the children throw away. In just 5 minutes I filled a plastic sack with half-eaten apples, banana skins, raisin packets, paper towels. I weighed it with my spring balance when I got home... 17 and a half kilos. I also retrieved 12 uneaten apples, two uneaten bananas, one unopened orange, one uneaten peach and a bag of grapes, uneaten. These were all thrown away and NOT RECYCLED. I will wash these and eat them myself. I also checked the big bins and these were full of mixed waste including plenty of recyclable material such as metal cans and cardboard and paper. The dedicated paper bin was overflowing but had some non-paper items in it. This means it will probably be rejected and will go to landfill.
Shame on you Lord Deramore's School. I started trying to get you to compost your fruit for schools waste in 2001. And 8 years later, you have removed the bins you grudgingly let me install, have lost several parts of my bins, making them useless, and are now putting about 8Kg/day easily biodegradable fruit waste into landfill. Shameful. I am SO ANGRY.
I am also very angry with the City of York Council for letting this crap situation continue. I let them know I don't know how long ago, and was promised that there would be some changes and that Lord Deramores School would be dragged in to the 21st Century and be taught how to behave in an appropriate manner when you are a school teaching children who will have to cope with catastrophic climate change caused precisely by the kind of ignorance and lack of care that the school is demonstrating. I am FURIOUS. I even spent many hours helping to start and then volunteering with Green Thumbs, primarily to facilitate a composting area or project... and now Green Thumbs isn't happening and the children aren't learning about gardening. I think they should give the money back to the Co-op who would re-allocate it to a worthy project.
What more can I do? I want to embarrass them into action. I want them prosecuted. I need to tell them and the world what I think of their attitude. Schools exist to prepare the next generation to get by in the world. They teach various skills. They should set a good example. This school is showing the children that they just don't care. This is quite plainly wrong.
I cycled home with my load of leaves to make into leafmould, sack of compostable fruit stuff and the bag of nice fruit which I'll have over the next few days with my muesli.
I then spent another two hours getting hedge out, cutting off the tops and shredding the thinner twigs for composting, cutting up the larger sticks for drying and recycling into heat, and putting the roots (35 today) into a plastic sack so another Freecycler can have them and plant a new hedge. I came in at 6pm and had a nice plate of Bulgar wheat with roast veg, watercress, carrot-sticks, baked beans and a cheese straw. Not bad!
At half 6 I headed off to the Millennium Bridge, as Councillor Andy D'Agorne had invited me to see the new lighting possibilities there. When the bridge was built, it did have some good lighting but then vandals discovered they could easily destroy the lights, and also, repairs and replacements meant the bridge had to be closed. So, the Council have teamed up with Philips Lighting, and this evening were looking at a variety of lighting solutions. To cut running costs and reduce the frequency of replacing them, the bridge will have LED (light emitting diode) technology. This will allow very dynamic colour changes, for special occasions, or white light for normal use. When Philips re-did the lighting on a bridge in, I think, Newcastle, the cost of lighting the structure dropped from several tens of thousands of pounds a year to just £4k, if I remember the quote correctly. There were some interesting conversations about renewable electricity and some of the lighting choices. The reduction in overall energy use is the greenest thing about the project.
I had to leave at 7.20 as I was due at a York in Transition meeting at The Stables.
This was a good meeting, with a visitor from Spofforth and a small bunch of the committed Transitioneers. It was a relaxed but productive meeting, one which leaves me with a few jobs to do... including working on the supporters leaflet. I had a chat with Di afterwards, and agreed to visit her in a couple of weeks to plan a first meeting of the Huntington and New Earswick Transition Initiative. I decided not to go to the pub afterwards as I was tired.
Home soon after 10pm. Despite tiredness, stayed up til 2am writing and watching the last episode of Electric Dreams on BBC4.
Up reasonably early as had to be ready for David to come round at 9.30am as he's doing the last of the photos for my new publicity leaflet. I really wanted to get a shot of the devilstick balanced on my nose, taken from above, looking down along it's length. So I got changed, got the big ladder out and took it down the garden to the orchard where there is a bit of open space. The light was perfect to begin with... diffuse and misty but 10 minutes later the sun burned through and the lighting got more difficult... a brighter sky meant I couldn't look up as easily without squinting. But, after a bit of manoeuvring and trial and error, we got some good shots.
Then we cycled down to the Novotel which has some good red walls which David really liked when he did the photos last Christmas, so we asked permission and moved pictures off walls and moved a light and tables to get to the right bit of wall. We spent over an hour there, and had a break with a coffee each after which we got some excellent shots.
I had a brief early lunch and got down to St Nicks for Apple Day, where I'd been booked to do Apple Juggling... and to help with announcing (I've a big voice which I can project) and operating the apple press. It was an excellent do, well attended and lots going on. Nettlefoot Kate did her storytelling, popular as ever, the 'Apple Olympics' had apple and spoon races, Andreas did a winning apple peel of about 180cm, and there were lots of some delicious cakes, crumbles and sauces... all made of apple. And juice... the St Nicks staff and volunteers had done a load in the morning and continued crushing and pressing apples all through the afternoon too.
Gill showed up with the boys plus their friend who is spending a lot of time with us, and there were lots of other lovely people there. It wound down around 4pm but I helped sort out various things and didn't leave til 5. I arrived home exhausted.
But after a brief sit down I did do a 45 minute session of compost loading before settling down to some lightweight telly and a delicious pasta-based tea.
A quiet evening... I did consider going to the Green Party music night, a band called Fusion with my drummer friend Keith Jackman, at the Winning Post on Bishopthorpe Road, but I was feeling like a quiet night in just playing Scrabble on Facebook, dealing with fruit on the racks, chatting with Gill etc etc. It was a good evening which couldn't have been better really.
Then we cycled down to the Novotel which has some good red walls which David really liked when he did the photos last Christmas, so we asked permission and moved pictures off walls and moved a light and tables to get to the right bit of wall. We spent over an hour there, and had a break with a coffee each after which we got some excellent shots.
I had a brief early lunch and got down to St Nicks for Apple Day, where I'd been booked to do Apple Juggling... and to help with announcing (I've a big voice which I can project) and operating the apple press. It was an excellent do, well attended and lots going on. Nettlefoot Kate did her storytelling, popular as ever, the 'Apple Olympics' had apple and spoon races, Andreas did a winning apple peel of about 180cm, and there were lots of some delicious cakes, crumbles and sauces... all made of apple. And juice... the St Nicks staff and volunteers had done a load in the morning and continued crushing and pressing apples all through the afternoon too.
Gill showed up with the boys plus their friend who is spending a lot of time with us, and there were lots of other lovely people there. It wound down around 4pm but I helped sort out various things and didn't leave til 5. I arrived home exhausted.
But after a brief sit down I did do a 45 minute session of compost loading before settling down to some lightweight telly and a delicious pasta-based tea.
A quiet evening... I did consider going to the Green Party music night, a band called Fusion with my drummer friend Keith Jackman, at the Winning Post on Bishopthorpe Road, but I was feeling like a quiet night in just playing Scrabble on Facebook, dealing with fruit on the racks, chatting with Gill etc etc. It was a good evening which couldn't have been better really.
Quite an early start... good to have friends here and more chats over breakfast.
But at 9.30 I headed off down Heslington Road to see my friend David, who's gathered together the best of the photos he's taken of Professor Fiddlesticks since Christmas, and put them in a file of about 40 or 50 images. These are ones we both liked from each shoot, one at the Novotel on Christmas Day, one in the Museum Gardens, one at a kids party and one a week or two back at Linton on Ouse, where he also acted as my driver between two gigs.
We went through them and got it to about 12 good images, including cropping some with Photoshop software to make them frame up nicely. We agreed to do one more shoot, next week, to get a couple of specific shots. Once we have our 'top ten', David will create his idea of a publicity leaflet.
Came back via Country Fresh and picked up a sack full of compostables and two boxes worth.
Then zoom back, made my sandwiches and cycled at top speed (when the wind was behind me!) up to Hartrigg Oaks, which took just 20 minutes, to attend an AVP core group meeting. Members came from as far as Newark and Bradford, as the group is one of the AVP regions, which we call NEEM, North East and East Midlands (don't ask why we have a regular from Bradford!) and it was a very productive meeting, with several new attendees, which is always nice. My official role is Health and Safety, but I contribute quite a bit, since I've been involved in the organisation since at least 1994.
This drew to a close at 4.15 and I again bombed home, but I stopped in two places for different reasons and got in at 5.
Then I needed to prepare to go to Beverley for the Food Festival tomorrow.
I got the 8.15 bus from just outside the house, with just my big unicycle, my sports bag of sticks, balls and diabolos, my rucsac with costume, wash bag and balloons, 'handbag' with reading material, hairbrush and some edibles, and my laptop, which I wanted to have some offline time with, to delete stuff from my nearly always full inbox, which I have a problem doing with the distractions that happen when online.
I got to Beverley bus station in an hour, and to the Cross Keys within 10 minutes, and got my room keys without hassle. Once I'd dumped my kit in my room I went back down to get a pint, and back to my room to delete emails from various folders. I think I got rid of about 100. A nice quiet evening.
But at 9.30 I headed off down Heslington Road to see my friend David, who's gathered together the best of the photos he's taken of Professor Fiddlesticks since Christmas, and put them in a file of about 40 or 50 images. These are ones we both liked from each shoot, one at the Novotel on Christmas Day, one in the Museum Gardens, one at a kids party and one a week or two back at Linton on Ouse, where he also acted as my driver between two gigs.
We went through them and got it to about 12 good images, including cropping some with Photoshop software to make them frame up nicely. We agreed to do one more shoot, next week, to get a couple of specific shots. Once we have our 'top ten', David will create his idea of a publicity leaflet.
Came back via Country Fresh and picked up a sack full of compostables and two boxes worth.
Then zoom back, made my sandwiches and cycled at top speed (when the wind was behind me!) up to Hartrigg Oaks, which took just 20 minutes, to attend an AVP core group meeting. Members came from as far as Newark and Bradford, as the group is one of the AVP regions, which we call NEEM, North East and East Midlands (don't ask why we have a regular from Bradford!) and it was a very productive meeting, with several new attendees, which is always nice. My official role is Health and Safety, but I contribute quite a bit, since I've been involved in the organisation since at least 1994.
This drew to a close at 4.15 and I again bombed home, but I stopped in two places for different reasons and got in at 5.
Then I needed to prepare to go to Beverley for the Food Festival tomorrow.
I got the 8.15 bus from just outside the house, with just my big unicycle, my sports bag of sticks, balls and diabolos, my rucsac with costume, wash bag and balloons, 'handbag' with reading material, hairbrush and some edibles, and my laptop, which I wanted to have some offline time with, to delete stuff from my nearly always full inbox, which I have a problem doing with the distractions that happen when online.
I got to Beverley bus station in an hour, and to the Cross Keys within 10 minutes, and got my room keys without hassle. Once I'd dumped my kit in my room I went back down to get a pint, and back to my room to delete emails from various folders. I think I got rid of about 100. A nice quiet evening.
A very quiet day in many ways.... nothing much happened in the morning, apart from me washing up and Gill cleaning the fridge, and in the afternoon, again, not a lot to report. However, at 3.15 we had visitors... the solar panel people, Harris Construction, with a rep from Solarwall who will supply the panel.
So this chap took a couple of photos of the boiler, roofspace and from outside, the roofline. He said it would be very straightforward to install the hot water panels. We even have a choice between panels made in Germany or in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The UK ones aren't quite as efficient, but they're cheaper. So, we'll get a detailed breakdown of the choices and prices, and hopefully we'll get our system fitted quite quickly. There's only one problem... our loft is rather, err, 'congested' (read: untidy, chaotic, full of stuff) and it will be quite a job to get it sorted out, I estimate several days work.
Anyway, I'm glad we're moving on with this project.
Soon after 4.30 I headed down to Heslington Road, popped in on Country Fresh to pick up compostables, and then locked my bike up outside David's, so I could look at the most recent photos he took of Professor Fiddlesticks, and I could pick out the best ones. Dave will now put together an album of all the best ones taken over the past months, and from that I'll choose the best and most appropriate ones for my new advertising flyer. We agreed a price, in Yorkys and Sterling. Once a proof has been made, I will then get some printed.
This evening, Avaaz posted this video about Monday's myriad of ways in which people all over the Planet participated in the 'Wake Up Call'. What a brilliant stunt.. well done Avaaz and all the people who did these creative things.
We had Bulgar wheat and home grown green beans for tea and I chopped up loads more apples for drying. Enjoyed Question Time on BBC1.
So this chap took a couple of photos of the boiler, roofspace and from outside, the roofline. He said it would be very straightforward to install the hot water panels. We even have a choice between panels made in Germany or in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The UK ones aren't quite as efficient, but they're cheaper. So, we'll get a detailed breakdown of the choices and prices, and hopefully we'll get our system fitted quite quickly. There's only one problem... our loft is rather, err, 'congested' (read: untidy, chaotic, full of stuff) and it will be quite a job to get it sorted out, I estimate several days work.
Anyway, I'm glad we're moving on with this project.
Soon after 4.30 I headed down to Heslington Road, popped in on Country Fresh to pick up compostables, and then locked my bike up outside David's, so I could look at the most recent photos he took of Professor Fiddlesticks, and I could pick out the best ones. Dave will now put together an album of all the best ones taken over the past months, and from that I'll choose the best and most appropriate ones for my new advertising flyer. We agreed a price, in Yorkys and Sterling. Once a proof has been made, I will then get some printed.
This evening, Avaaz posted this video about Monday's myriad of ways in which people all over the Planet participated in the 'Wake Up Call'. What a brilliant stunt.. well done Avaaz and all the people who did these creative things.
We had Bulgar wheat and home grown green beans for tea and I chopped up loads more apples for drying. Enjoyed Question Time on BBC1.
Woken early as school creates a lot of tension in this house... sometimes so much Gill talks about home education. But both boys did get over the morning difficulties and got to school on time.
I had another free day... and made best use of the morning spending time with Gill as this just isn't possible when the boys are around. Between 11 and 12 we both went round to see Maria, and have a coffee and chat. She gave me a bowl full of plums off her very well-laden Victoria Plum tree, and a load of 'Discovery' apples, windfalls. I will dry some of these. Gill wants to make a crumble with the plums.
Home for lunch, after which I got several phone calls, one from the organiser of the Charity Fancy Dress Ball I worked at on Saturday, about David's photos, as she wants a couple to send out with the press release. David is happy to sell them to people who want a happy memory of a fun evening.
Later, I was loading some more fruit and veg material into the CompoSphere and began to roll it, as instructed, and it fell apart. The fixings provided are just not good enough, I'll replace them all with stainless steel bolts. This evening I emailed the manufacturers to give them feedback.
I came in at 6.30 and rushed down a plate of pasta, and then cycled off to the Fulford Social Hall with my laptop, an essential part of the presentation that Peter and I were giving to the Fulford Women's Institute. We used part of the brilliant film A Farm for the Future with Rebecca Hosking who first hit the headlines with her 'Plastic Bag Free Modbury' and now is well known for exploring peak oil, climate change and Permaculture through this BBC documentary.
The talk/film/discussion went well. Good to get the Transition message across to a bunch of people who were NOT 'the usual suspects' (OK, Candy was there, but everyone else was not a regular green-group attendee!) However, afterwards I did chat to one woman, who turned out to be Jane, a Green Party member, but I've only ever met her in a Green Party setting once. Several people were interested in getting speakers into their school or community group, which is good.
Cycled home and did a bit of fruit preparation and the usual writing which you have just read. Oh, and some lively discussions on facebook!
I had another free day... and made best use of the morning spending time with Gill as this just isn't possible when the boys are around. Between 11 and 12 we both went round to see Maria, and have a coffee and chat. She gave me a bowl full of plums off her very well-laden Victoria Plum tree, and a load of 'Discovery' apples, windfalls. I will dry some of these. Gill wants to make a crumble with the plums.
Home for lunch, after which I got several phone calls, one from the organiser of the Charity Fancy Dress Ball I worked at on Saturday, about David's photos, as she wants a couple to send out with the press release. David is happy to sell them to people who want a happy memory of a fun evening.
Later, I was loading some more fruit and veg material into the CompoSphere and began to roll it, as instructed, and it fell apart. The fixings provided are just not good enough, I'll replace them all with stainless steel bolts. This evening I emailed the manufacturers to give them feedback.
I came in at 6.30 and rushed down a plate of pasta, and then cycled off to the Fulford Social Hall with my laptop, an essential part of the presentation that Peter and I were giving to the Fulford Women's Institute. We used part of the brilliant film A Farm for the Future with Rebecca Hosking who first hit the headlines with her 'Plastic Bag Free Modbury' and now is well known for exploring peak oil, climate change and Permaculture through this BBC documentary.
The talk/film/discussion went well. Good to get the Transition message across to a bunch of people who were NOT 'the usual suspects' (OK, Candy was there, but everyone else was not a regular green-group attendee!) However, afterwards I did chat to one woman, who turned out to be Jane, a Green Party member, but I've only ever met her in a Green Party setting once. Several people were interested in getting speakers into their school or community group, which is good.
Cycled home and did a bit of fruit preparation and the usual writing which you have just read. Oh, and some lively discussions on facebook!
An early start as had been booked to go to Bish Street Kids playscheme in Bishopthorpe, so by 9.30 was loaded up with the full circus workshop kit, and cycled off down Heslington Road, Cemetery Road, across the Millennium Bridge and out to Bishopthorpe.
David the photographer, who had planned to come and record today's event, had phoned in unwell so I just got on with what I am good at; a one hour show and workshop, followed by a freeplay workshop, then lunch, more freeplay workshop, finishing with the balloon modelling workshop. The 20 or so children had a good time, so did I, and was finished by about 3pm.
Called in on David on the way home to wish him well, and came home to find a reasonably calm house. I had a bit of peace and quiet and then did some more sorting out in the garden. Got some more of Ali's compost ready, and a bit later, had a chat to her as she wants to come and collect some, to mix with the topsoil she's been given on Freecycle for her wheelchair-user friendly raised bed garden.
Ate tea all together and had some good giggles and chats, a peaceful evening mostly.
Enjoyed Newsnight as the return of Ethical Man was on, saving America from it's huge carbon footprint... well, kind of!
David the photographer, who had planned to come and record today's event, had phoned in unwell so I just got on with what I am good at; a one hour show and workshop, followed by a freeplay workshop, then lunch, more freeplay workshop, finishing with the balloon modelling workshop. The 20 or so children had a good time, so did I, and was finished by about 3pm.
Called in on David on the way home to wish him well, and came home to find a reasonably calm house. I had a bit of peace and quiet and then did some more sorting out in the garden. Got some more of Ali's compost ready, and a bit later, had a chat to her as she wants to come and collect some, to mix with the topsoil she's been given on Freecycle for her wheelchair-user friendly raised bed garden.
Ate tea all together and had some good giggles and chats, a peaceful evening mostly.
Enjoyed Newsnight as the return of Ethical Man was on, saving America from it's huge carbon footprint... well, kind of!
Up quite early so could do my review of Age of Stupid for my Column in Community Care. It wasn't easy to write, as my first draft was over 500 words... I have to try to keep it under 350!
But I got it done by lunchtime but had a fairly quiet afternoon too. But this was most welcome as I was tired. I did go and get my bike trailer from the menders, cost me £23 but I got a receipt this time which I'll save for my accounts. I popped in to Country Fresh and got some plums which my boys like, and cucumber, tomatoes and eggs, plus two boxes of compostables.
I pulled apart a compost heap after this, one made of pallets. I put the contents in the bay next to it, this being it's first 'turning'. I also dug up the contents of a nearby dalek which has rotted down really well and put this on the big riddle, to start making my potting compost. I had topped the dalek's contents with some turf, so there was a good mix of soil and compost already.
At 5.30 came in and cleaned up, using the composty hand-washing water to water and feed the houseplants. I first wash my hands in cold clean water, with the plug in the sink, and scrubbing the compost off with a scrubbing brush. Then I scoop up the water and dribble it into various houseplants. Then I finish off with a bit of soap. I don't give the plants this, despite it being biodegradable.
I cycled down to David's to pick up the LETS bank paperwork, and had a good chat about some of the issues which Age of Stupid had thrown up, and a conversation on Facebook about flying.
But he was going out so I didn't spend long, and cycled up to Bootham to see Liz, who used to be our Treasurer and I needed her signature to take her off the account, and we had a short but good chat.
Came back via the cycle track, and brought home a large and long tree trunk, not on the trailer (far too long and heavy for that!) but held to the frame of my bike with several tightly stretched bungees. The heavy end of the trunk stuck out over my front wheel, the narrower end out over the trailer, the whole thing being a bit longer than my bike and trailer combined. Felt a bit odd to cycle, initially, but I got used to it quickly.
So, home, I reheated the long-lasting mushroom soup and used it as a sauce for the pasta left over from yesterday. So, a use it all up meal. There were homework shenanigans this evening, and I did my best to keep out of it. Any involvement from me generally exacerbates the difficulties being experienced, which is a pity as I'd love to help.
I did a huge pile of washing up and prepared 3 pineapples for drying on the stove.
But I got it done by lunchtime but had a fairly quiet afternoon too. But this was most welcome as I was tired. I did go and get my bike trailer from the menders, cost me £23 but I got a receipt this time which I'll save for my accounts. I popped in to Country Fresh and got some plums which my boys like, and cucumber, tomatoes and eggs, plus two boxes of compostables.
I pulled apart a compost heap after this, one made of pallets. I put the contents in the bay next to it, this being it's first 'turning'. I also dug up the contents of a nearby dalek which has rotted down really well and put this on the big riddle, to start making my potting compost. I had topped the dalek's contents with some turf, so there was a good mix of soil and compost already.
At 5.30 came in and cleaned up, using the composty hand-washing water to water and feed the houseplants. I first wash my hands in cold clean water, with the plug in the sink, and scrubbing the compost off with a scrubbing brush. Then I scoop up the water and dribble it into various houseplants. Then I finish off with a bit of soap. I don't give the plants this, despite it being biodegradable.
I cycled down to David's to pick up the LETS bank paperwork, and had a good chat about some of the issues which Age of Stupid had thrown up, and a conversation on Facebook about flying.
But he was going out so I didn't spend long, and cycled up to Bootham to see Liz, who used to be our Treasurer and I needed her signature to take her off the account, and we had a short but good chat.
Came back via the cycle track, and brought home a large and long tree trunk, not on the trailer (far too long and heavy for that!) but held to the frame of my bike with several tightly stretched bungees. The heavy end of the trunk stuck out over my front wheel, the narrower end out over the trailer, the whole thing being a bit longer than my bike and trailer combined. Felt a bit odd to cycle, initially, but I got used to it quickly.
So, home, I reheated the long-lasting mushroom soup and used it as a sauce for the pasta left over from yesterday. So, a use it all up meal. There were homework shenanigans this evening, and I did my best to keep out of it. Any involvement from me generally exacerbates the difficulties being experienced, which is a pity as I'd love to help.
I did a huge pile of washing up and prepared 3 pineapples for drying on the stove.
A good day... chilled morning watching The Big Questions and Countryfile, whilst playing Scrabble on Facebook and keeping the stove going. The bananas I loaded up yesterday are looking a lot smaller and soon I'll be able to move them to another cake rack to finally dry off. The banana glut has been caused by the heavy snow last week. Don't see the connection? Read on!
Every day, primary school children get a piece of fruit under the 'Fruit for Schools' scheme... it could be an orange or apple, banana or even a stick of carrot. This is a regular consumption pattern, so when the snow came, and a percentage of schools were shut for a few days, this meant that several hundred thousand pieces of fruit were left uneaten... and came back onto the market. So a box of bananas, which ordinarily might cost £15, became available for about £5. So, many fruit shops bought these and sold the bananas more cheaply than they usually do. But they go off quickly and some people don't like over-ripe bananas (I do though!) so that's why there are over 100 bananas still sitting in our hallway, waiting to have the chance to be rapidly air-dried, jarred up and bartered on the LETS, or given to friends as gifts, or even chopped up and put in my daily muesli.... or composted, which is what will happen to most of them.
So, Sunday afternoon was equally relaxed... did some wooding, visited Country Fresh on my bike which is just about on it's last legs (if that's not a misnomer) as the jumping drive cog is worse today... making it almost unrideable uphill with a load, but still OK on the flat or downhill...
Later, after tea, I made the same journey again, down to David's to see the photos he took down at the Residents' Festival and then last week down at the Museum Gardens. Some nice Fiddlesticks images, we think we almost have enough for David to start doing my new publicity leaflet.
During the evening I got both 5 gallon cans of bathwater hot so as I can have a bath tonight, as I'm doing some filming tomorrow up in Middlesborough, and although it's about frugal living (someone's trying to live on a pound per day, I think, and I've been asked to help and give some tips and advice), I do want to look clean and tidy... not as if I've been head down in a skip!
Had a bath and hair wash. Lovely!
Every day, primary school children get a piece of fruit under the 'Fruit for Schools' scheme... it could be an orange or apple, banana or even a stick of carrot. This is a regular consumption pattern, so when the snow came, and a percentage of schools were shut for a few days, this meant that several hundred thousand pieces of fruit were left uneaten... and came back onto the market. So a box of bananas, which ordinarily might cost £15, became available for about £5. So, many fruit shops bought these and sold the bananas more cheaply than they usually do. But they go off quickly and some people don't like over-ripe bananas (I do though!) so that's why there are over 100 bananas still sitting in our hallway, waiting to have the chance to be rapidly air-dried, jarred up and bartered on the LETS, or given to friends as gifts, or even chopped up and put in my daily muesli.... or composted, which is what will happen to most of them.
So, Sunday afternoon was equally relaxed... did some wooding, visited Country Fresh on my bike which is just about on it's last legs (if that's not a misnomer) as the jumping drive cog is worse today... making it almost unrideable uphill with a load, but still OK on the flat or downhill...
Later, after tea, I made the same journey again, down to David's to see the photos he took down at the Residents' Festival and then last week down at the Museum Gardens. Some nice Fiddlesticks images, we think we almost have enough for David to start doing my new publicity leaflet.
During the evening I got both 5 gallon cans of bathwater hot so as I can have a bath tonight, as I'm doing some filming tomorrow up in Middlesborough, and although it's about frugal living (someone's trying to live on a pound per day, I think, and I've been asked to help and give some tips and advice), I do want to look clean and tidy... not as if I've been head down in a skip!
Had a bath and hair wash. Lovely!
A good day on the whole. At 10, as agreed yesterday or the day before, David rang and we confirmed the meeting in Museum Gardens to do a final(?) photoshoot for my new flyer.
So at 12.50 I set off, in costume, and with some of my circus gear, and got to the Museum Gardens just after 1pm. We did a variety of shots... including some of me standing on top of a box and doing the diabolo around my foot, some of me with devilstick on my nose, taken from above (using the stairs at The Hospitium) and some unicycling action shots and juggling portrait ones. It was very cold so i was glad to keep moving. We spent about an hour doing these... during which a little boy whom I'd met last week ran up requesting more Fiddlesticks activities... so I let him play with some equipment whilst we got on with the photography.
I did a lot of logpile building during the afternoon, and a little bit of chainsawing and compost heap construction.
So a pleasant day. Gill also had a good day, taking the boys into town where they spent pocket money on a computer game each.
Soup for tea... hooray, we've finished it!
So at 12.50 I set off, in costume, and with some of my circus gear, and got to the Museum Gardens just after 1pm. We did a variety of shots... including some of me standing on top of a box and doing the diabolo around my foot, some of me with devilstick on my nose, taken from above (using the stairs at The Hospitium) and some unicycling action shots and juggling portrait ones. It was very cold so i was glad to keep moving. We spent about an hour doing these... during which a little boy whom I'd met last week ran up requesting more Fiddlesticks activities... so I let him play with some equipment whilst we got on with the photography.
I did a lot of logpile building during the afternoon, and a little bit of chainsawing and compost heap construction.
So a pleasant day. Gill also had a good day, taking the boys into town where they spent pocket money on a computer game each.
Soup for tea... hooray, we've finished it!
A smooth morning... apparently the child who had to finish his homework got up at 5am to do it and was ready to go to school early! I left soon after with the other, and got to school on time as usual. On the way home I found some clumps of Flammulina, winter mushroom or velvet shank, so brought those back to add to the evening meal.
Gill and I had a tidying morning and sorted out the SUMA order. I quickly cycled down to the bank to pay in a cheque from one of the SUMA food co-op members and transfer some money into our SUMA account so we can pay for the order when it's delivered. After lunch I went to see David the photographer to look at the pics he's sorted out from the gig a few weeks ago. Some lovely shots of the audience enjoying themselves, but not that many good ones of me, mainly because of a non-uniform background confusing the images.
I picked up some stuff from Country Fresh and brought it home, going straight off to school to do the composting there and pick up our little one. He'd had a good day and was whistling loudly on the way home.
We got home at almost the same time as our eldest, who came back with a new friend who's not been here before. So a pretty happy bunch of children, very nice! Whilst the older two were on the computer, I played on the Wii at my son's request... he's much better than me so I let the team down somewhat and he then asked me to get off the team as he'd do better by himself!
But, it was a very nice Friday evening... we all ate together although the boys had baked potatoes and omelette and Gill and I had stir-fried veg (including the enokitake mushrooms I picked earlier and some reject sprouts which I had to peel/prepare quite carefully to get to the edible bits) with noodles... and I had some of the pickled walnuts from last summer. Very vinegary.
In the evening, checked out the trailers for a forthcoming film The Age Of Stupid, which looks really interesting. It's based on a surviving human (Pete Postlethwaite) in 2055 looking back and wondering why we didn't DO SOMETHING about the impending climate crisis which was obvious to anyone who understood basic science and could foresee the consequences of continued consumption of carbon fuel. The film comes out in March and promises to have more of an impact than An Inconvenient Truth. I look forward to it.
I also did a load more fruit drying, washing up and general household stuff whilst Gill snoozed... she's a 'lark' and I'm an 'owl' but we still find time to be awake together and enjoy each other's company...
Gill and I had a tidying morning and sorted out the SUMA order. I quickly cycled down to the bank to pay in a cheque from one of the SUMA food co-op members and transfer some money into our SUMA account so we can pay for the order when it's delivered. After lunch I went to see David the photographer to look at the pics he's sorted out from the gig a few weeks ago. Some lovely shots of the audience enjoying themselves, but not that many good ones of me, mainly because of a non-uniform background confusing the images.
I picked up some stuff from Country Fresh and brought it home, going straight off to school to do the composting there and pick up our little one. He'd had a good day and was whistling loudly on the way home.
We got home at almost the same time as our eldest, who came back with a new friend who's not been here before. So a pretty happy bunch of children, very nice! Whilst the older two were on the computer, I played on the Wii at my son's request... he's much better than me so I let the team down somewhat and he then asked me to get off the team as he'd do better by himself!
But, it was a very nice Friday evening... we all ate together although the boys had baked potatoes and omelette and Gill and I had stir-fried veg (including the enokitake mushrooms I picked earlier and some reject sprouts which I had to peel/prepare quite carefully to get to the edible bits) with noodles... and I had some of the pickled walnuts from last summer. Very vinegary.
In the evening, checked out the trailers for a forthcoming film The Age Of Stupid, which looks really interesting. It's based on a surviving human (Pete Postlethwaite) in 2055 looking back and wondering why we didn't DO SOMETHING about the impending climate crisis which was obvious to anyone who understood basic science and could foresee the consequences of continued consumption of carbon fuel. The film comes out in March and promises to have more of an impact than An Inconvenient Truth. I look forward to it.
I also did a load more fruit drying, washing up and general household stuff whilst Gill snoozed... she's a 'lark' and I'm an 'owl' but we still find time to be awake together and enjoy each other's company...
Not such an early morning today... but had to get up as we'd promised to have a game of Ug-I-Oh cards this morning to appease one of the boys yesterday who was going on about it. I had a bath first thing and whilst drying off we formed two 'teams' but it is a complicated and long game which neither I or our youngest understands so it disintegrated as there was only one keen player.
I had an early lunch as I was working today, and was picking up David the photographer at just after 1 so he could continue to get some pics for my new flyer. So we cycled along the river to the Millennium Bridge and onto Bishopthorpe Road and then to the venue, St Chad's Church Hall.
An excited 4 year old was awaiting... soon to be 5, and 34 of his classmates arrived within half an hour, after I'd got changed and introduced David to the parents (who'd agreed his attendance beforehand). At the beginning of the show I introduced David to the audience, and then got on with the entertainment. As per usual, the show went really well... lots of laughter and participation... did both shows, circus and balloons, and everybody enjoyed it. I think David was impressed... this was the first time he'd seen my full routine. I hope he got some good photos.
We came back together at 4.30 and then I popped in to Freshways to see if they had any compostables, so came back with an extra load alongside the bag of circus gear and unicycles.
Gill was then able to get on with finishing tea, virtually impossible with demanding children needing her attention. Tea was lovely... macaroni cheese with cauliflower, and I had an extra 'use it all up' tomato and bean thing. The boys were perfectly behaved.
I had been asked by a friend to go and help break up an old wardrobe as my friend was moving house, so I popped out just before 7 and got back at 9pm. Gill had had a very tough time and was glad to see me. I sat with the little darlings and watched Swarm with them which was excellent and quite amazing. As soon as that finished they went to bed and we relaxed a bit... I peeled more bananas for drying and did my emails whilst half watching the telly.
I had an early lunch as I was working today, and was picking up David the photographer at just after 1 so he could continue to get some pics for my new flyer. So we cycled along the river to the Millennium Bridge and onto Bishopthorpe Road and then to the venue, St Chad's Church Hall.
An excited 4 year old was awaiting... soon to be 5, and 34 of his classmates arrived within half an hour, after I'd got changed and introduced David to the parents (who'd agreed his attendance beforehand). At the beginning of the show I introduced David to the audience, and then got on with the entertainment. As per usual, the show went really well... lots of laughter and participation... did both shows, circus and balloons, and everybody enjoyed it. I think David was impressed... this was the first time he'd seen my full routine. I hope he got some good photos.
We came back together at 4.30 and then I popped in to Freshways to see if they had any compostables, so came back with an extra load alongside the bag of circus gear and unicycles.
Gill was then able to get on with finishing tea, virtually impossible with demanding children needing her attention. Tea was lovely... macaroni cheese with cauliflower, and I had an extra 'use it all up' tomato and bean thing. The boys were perfectly behaved.
I had been asked by a friend to go and help break up an old wardrobe as my friend was moving house, so I popped out just before 7 and got back at 9pm. Gill had had a very tough time and was glad to see me. I sat with the little darlings and watched Swarm with them which was excellent and quite amazing. As soon as that finished they went to bed and we relaxed a bit... I peeled more bananas for drying and did my emails whilst half watching the telly.
Another good day, although was awoken early by a child wailing as he hadn't got a handkerchief and had got something to put into one... the joys of parenting!
But the rest of the day was good.... I did a bit of wooding, a bit of composting, lunch, family chats... my eldest went to a party and we had a peaceful afternoon.
I visited David my photographer friend later on in the afternoon to see the pics he took on Christmas day, and to discuss how to deal with the inadequately filled-in 'Model Release Forms'. The photos had some really good ones in, certainly one or two suitable for my new flyer.
Made several phone calls in the evening, one to our friends Mark and Jennifer in Hebden Bridge, as their son has a birthday and our eldest is friends with him, and to our good friend Dawn in Sheffield and her nearly grown up son, and finally to my Dad who also has a birthday today, so the boys could sing to him. I expect this was a bit of a surprise!
A very quiet evening.... spent another hour or so peeling plastic off copper wire. It is a very tedious job, and I bet I'll only get a few quid for the stuff I've reclaimed!
But the rest of the day was good.... I did a bit of wooding, a bit of composting, lunch, family chats... my eldest went to a party and we had a peaceful afternoon.
I visited David my photographer friend later on in the afternoon to see the pics he took on Christmas day, and to discuss how to deal with the inadequately filled-in 'Model Release Forms'. The photos had some really good ones in, certainly one or two suitable for my new flyer.
Made several phone calls in the evening, one to our friends Mark and Jennifer in Hebden Bridge, as their son has a birthday and our eldest is friends with him, and to our good friend Dawn in Sheffield and her nearly grown up son, and finally to my Dad who also has a birthday today, so the boys could sing to him. I expect this was a bit of a surprise!
A very quiet evening.... spent another hour or so peeling plastic off copper wire. It is a very tedious job, and I bet I'll only get a few quid for the stuff I've reclaimed!
Woke late.. well, after 9, with a certain child screaming at the top of his voice and rushed downstairs as I thought he'd been injured. He hadn't... he'd forgotten his password for a card-making website (or something like that) and was having a full-blown paddy. Really over the top... but obviously it mattered to him.
Anyway, it got me up. I emailed David who's a photographer and I've asked to take some pics for some new publicity material for me, and he wants to come to the hotel I'm working in tomorrow and get some pics of Professor Fiddlesticks. I always visit the venue beforehand to check how things are and remind them of my needs, health and safety-wise etc, so I invited David to come with me and see the venue. So went down just before lunch and met Stewart the manager, and found the whole place had been rebuilt and I have a new position to do my work in.
Home for a late lunch and a fairly lazy day... just some housework and a bit of work outside. Took the boys up the road to deliver a card to one of their friends, they walked back and I went on to Country Fresh with a little gift for Richard for his year-long generosity and friendship... he just loves the dried fruit and as he's the supplier of much of it, it's good that some goes back to him! Home via Freshways where there was a sad lack of compostables but they were very friendly and nice.
A relaxed evening, watched Willy Wonka the 1971 version with the children which was lovely! Gill had made some soup, leek and potato, which we had with bread rolls. Delicious.
Simon popped in later on in the evening to deliver his presents and collect what we've got for them. Had a glass of Pauline's Port and a good natter.
Then onto present wrapping, and a bath to tidy up for tomorrow's work.
Anyway, it got me up. I emailed David who's a photographer and I've asked to take some pics for some new publicity material for me, and he wants to come to the hotel I'm working in tomorrow and get some pics of Professor Fiddlesticks. I always visit the venue beforehand to check how things are and remind them of my needs, health and safety-wise etc, so I invited David to come with me and see the venue. So went down just before lunch and met Stewart the manager, and found the whole place had been rebuilt and I have a new position to do my work in.
Home for a late lunch and a fairly lazy day... just some housework and a bit of work outside. Took the boys up the road to deliver a card to one of their friends, they walked back and I went on to Country Fresh with a little gift for Richard for his year-long generosity and friendship... he just loves the dried fruit and as he's the supplier of much of it, it's good that some goes back to him! Home via Freshways where there was a sad lack of compostables but they were very friendly and nice.
A relaxed evening, watched Willy Wonka the 1971 version with the children which was lovely! Gill had made some soup, leek and potato, which we had with bread rolls. Delicious.
Simon popped in later on in the evening to deliver his presents and collect what we've got for them. Had a glass of Pauline's Port and a good natter.
Then onto present wrapping, and a bath to tidy up for tomorrow's work.
