Human Lifestyle

Woke at about 9am and Gill had taken our youngest to school, and I spent quite a bit of the morning on the computer and doing housework.  Gill suggested we take he tent down, before it rained.  As we finished doing it, it started raining!  Good timing.  Will came round as I was typing up the LETS minutes, and I told him about David, whom he said he'd like to meet.  I suggested that we could meet up this evening at City Screen.

I had an appointment at 3pm with Pauline, who had asked me some time ago to help her get rid of a pile of stuff from Clements Hall and take it to St Nicks.  Pauline had her great-granddaughter with her who was cute, and I went into kids entertainer mode and was a bit daft, which didn't chime with Pauline's mood.  However, we walked round to Clement's Hall and I carefully packed all the gear into my trailer and panniers, and went to the Environment Forum meeting.

This was in a small room at the Council offices at St Leonard's Place, and we had several presentations about renewable energy in York.  The most interesting one was from Jacqui Warren the Sustainability Officer, about the potential for different sorts of renewables, but the other presentations contributed to the picture. It is clear that York could generate significant amounts of low carbon energy if it had the political will, and it needs to if it's to achieve any of the targets it's agreed to.

After this, which finished at 6pm, I went to David's to take him to City Screen for our regular coffee and chat... and this time to meet up with Will, who has a new found enthusiasm for art, literature and history.... all David's subjects.  They got on well.

At 7.30 I took David home and cooked his tea and by 7.50 I was finished, so went home and Gill made me some tea.

I did quite a bit of admin/paperwork in the evening, two invoices and some other bits and bobs.  I also had a good chat on the phone and downloaded a load of WNBR photos.

A good day, I woke at 9.30 and had a fairly lazy morning, watching YouTube videos of Gil Scott Heron, Rest In Peace, and thinking about an artwork that I'd like Dexter to do, based on a list of words from my first 40 years. Explored word clouds and typography.  Oh, and a little bit in the garden and chopped up a bit of fruit.

But my main appointment was at 1pm at David's, for lunch with him and Lotte. I'd received a message during the morning about the Green Day at York Minster, so I went early to say hello to assorted friends... Mark and Bernie at Bikerescue, Kate on the Rowntree Park stall, Jenny Hartland, and Ben from Freecycle, others from York Rotters and St Nicks.

I couldn't spend long there as I needed to visit the shop on Stonegate to explain about the bill for cleaning the inspection chamber, and then on to David's.  The owners of the Stonegate gun and knife shop wee OK, didn't attack me.  The chap said that he'd find out the ownership of the lane behind his yard, which he thought was a shared ownership. I'll go in next week to find out what he's decided.

Lotte had made a thing she called a tortilla.but I would have called a Spanish Omlette.  It was chunks of potato, asparagus and peas in a load of whisked egg... cooked in a circle like a quiche (although I suppose quiche can be in any shape!) which is what I originally thought it was.  We had this with some slices of ciabatta bread.

For 2pm we headed down Stonegate, saying hello to Purpleman, and went to the Theatre Royal.  We made ourselves known to the staff... as we needed to be taken round the back to get to the Theatre in the Round Stage.  We waited, David bought a programme and I read it.  I knew nothing about The Crucible, but the programme was a basic introduction to the Salem Witch Trials, which I did know a little bit about.

A lovely lady took us to the rear entrance which is wheelchair accessible and our seats were right on the edge of the stage.  I was very impressed with the production; it was very well done.  The story, especially at the end, left me thinking about injustice and the ridiculousness of religion and dogma.  At the end I was quite shocked and emotional.

It finished at 5.30 and I took David home, made him some tea (OK, microwaved a meal!) and we worked out my May hours.  He felt like going out so I took him to City Screen where he met a nice couple from London whilst I was getting him a coffee. We didn't stay long, went back, he gave me my cheque and I cycled home, getting in at 8pm.

I had difficulty loading and playing the little films I'd made with the headcam, although the position on the cables on my handlebars is better.  The sound and images don't match, with the images going slower than the acoustic track.  Also, the files no longer load onto the computer as I'm allegedly missing some sort of codec and it closes down on me.  BUT I can go to 'My Computer', click on Removable Disc E and find them there, and then copy them to a file in My Videos.  So, do-able but not brilliant.

A peaceful evening, with a really rubbish film on TV which I didn't understand.

Up quite early as Gill went to school to do her stint in the shop, and I got up as I didn't want to go back to sleep and miss my 10am appointment in town.  I made up my muesli and got myself awake... rang the Council bod at 9.30 and then cycled down to town.

I tried putting my little camera in a different place... clipped onto the brake cables on my handlebars.  I was glad to have the camera this time as a car driver pulled out on me, forcing me to stop.  I told her she was being recorded and I got her registration.  To her credit, she realised she had pulled out too far and stopped, so that I could have swerved out into the road to get past her... but that would have been dangerous if another road user had been following me.

I got to David's with no further problems and went to see if the gate to the yard with the full inspection chamber was open... it had been bolted last night and it still was.  The Council chaps arrived and saw that they needed their van to be in Stonegate not Grape Lane, so I waited there until the van appeared.... I spotted a friend from Heslington and I asked if she knew about Barley Hall.  She didn't so I showed her and she was delighted.

The sewer van came and the shop still wasn't open so the Council chap got a step ladder and hoisted himself over the wall and unlocked the gate which was just bolted.  The inspection chamber was full, and the crust on top indicated it had been like that for months.  This was therefore the cause of the pool of water in the cellar, as water can soak through ordinary bricks.  The chaps used a couple of plungers to unblock the drain and within seconds it all disappeared.  Job done, or indeed, jobbies gone!

I signed a sheet of paper which means the Council will demand £96, but the chaps told me to claim it back from the shop owner as the drain was on his property.

I went to tell David the good news about the unblocked drain, and then went to see the shop owner (the owner will be there tomorrow) and the Theatre Royal, about access for wheelchairs tomorrow, and the Council to ask about a structural engineer to inspect the steel joist which is corroded at the wet end, and might, or might not, need shoring up.  I was given a phone number to try later, as the person wasn't in.

Eventually I came home, via Country Fresh and a nice big trailer full of compost materials.

During the afternoon I tried to work out how to solve the router problem.  The job wasn't made any easier by the paid-for 24 hours of BT Fon repeatedly going off, and the signal disappearing.  Very frustrating.

Neither our son, responsible for the router difficulty, or I could work out what to do.  But Gill, whilst down at the Steiner School, chatted about it to Jim Semlyen, who said either find a male to male connector to link the router to the computer, or take it to the computer shop over the road.  So I started to get the router untangled to take it over the road... and found a male to male lead dangling from the back of it, not attached to anything on the free end.  My son immediately knew what to do and plugged it into the laptop he uses and within a couple of minutes had switched it back to WPA from WEP which he'd switched it to yesterday, wirelessly, so causing the wireless connection between the router and laptops to fail.

So, success.... well, some success, as my email wouldn't work, initially, but when Simon came and sat next to me, it started to work again... his 'computer-literate aura', perhaps.  Gill was very pleased with how we'd both dealt with this, in a calm and practical manner.

I phoned one of the engineers that had worked on some Council projects and he agreed to come and look at the cellar next week.

I dealt with a small backlog of emails and then went outside to put a pile of stuff on the heaps.  Tea was noodles.... very tasty.... and then I went back out to do more work in the garden, ended up doing some weeding, pulling docks out and more ground elder.

A good day, constructive and seemed to get quite a bit done.

Oh, up FAR too early for someone who goes to bed so late!!!  However, Gill couldn't face cycling to school this morning as she'd run out of painkillers and was in great pain.  So she woke me at 8 and asked me if I could cycle in and she'd fetch him back this afternoon when I'm at work.

So I took the opportunity to visit a number of cycle shops with the World Naked Bike Ride flyers.  However, before this I asked the school if they'd like me to shred their decorations from the Fair... a large pile of branches and foliage.  They were happy with this and I said I'd bring my shredder in soon.  I put WNBR flyers on some of the adult bikes parked at the Steiner school.  Then I went to Alligator and left some flyers there, then Cycle Heaven who were also happy to have some, then I cycled across town to Bob Trotters and asked about bike hire for the WNBR weekend, and they took some flyers.  Here I switched on my helmet cam to do another test, and cycled up to Heworth to Cycle Street to give them flyers.  Then I went to buy bread and came home.

I had uneventful rides, so I deleted the videos I made, but I'm not sure my bike helmet is the right place for the camera.  I might try to mount it on the handlebars.  I then had a session of removing videos I've downloaded, to make space on my disc for any future videos....

So, lunch, and tried to get on with some paperwork but mainly failed.

I had my next appointment at 4, down at David's, It was with a chap from Yorkshire Water, who came out to listen for water leaks.  There is a little patch of moisture on one wall of his cellar and it might be a mains water leak.  So I showed him the leak and he had a listen to the wall, and then the RSJ beam with a very simple device, a metal stick with a point at one end and an earpiece on the other.  Water leaks have a telltale sound which is transmitted through pipes and other materials.  He described the tiny amount of water on the wall as a 'seep' rather than a leak!

We went on a wander round to look for 'stopcocks' and water meters. These have taps which the listening device can be placed on, and on one, with a water meter, there was a slow continuous passage of water, indicating a leak.  However, it seemed unlikely that the leak attached to this meter was affecting David's property.  After a good thorough look around, the Yorkshire Water chap concluded that the leak/seep was so small, and the source of it so difficult to find, that nothing further could be done.  He suggested that sorting out the other problem might make a difference.  I went back in to tell David the news and rang Brian at the Council about the full sewer/inspection chamber which I think is causing the other water ingress.  Brian asked if he could send some chaps down immediately?  Well, this sounded good, and within half an hour, they arrived.

I showed them the pool of water in the cellar and they said they'd like to check the inspection chamber... but unfortunately it was past 5.30pm and the shop had closed and locked it's yard door.  I spoke to Brian and he said he'd meet me tomorrow at 10am.

I cycled home and had a race with some racing or touring cyclists.  They were just a bit quicker than me.

When I got back, I had a quick peep at the robin's nest in the woodpile, and the eggs have hatched.  How lovely!

I put on my laptop and asked if the WiFi had been switched off.  There was a loud wail from the front room.  Our eldest had been trying to connect his Nintendo DS to the WiFi and been getting an error code.  He looked on the website for Nintendo DS and it suggested switching the WiFi Router settings.  He thought he's try it for a few minutes, to see if the game he wanted to play became accessible.  Unfortunately, this rendered the WiFi unusable... from my laptop too!

I did a bit of compost heap management but at 7.30, Gill rang me on my mobile(!) and said Sue was here, as she'd asked for more dried fruit and I'd said yes to this evening.  So I came in and washed my hands and got a kilo of mixed dried fruit for her.

After tea, my son and I walked round to Ben's, who wasn't there.  We rang Simon, who was busy.  I really needed to go online so I paid £5 to BT Fon to get 24 hours access to the internet.

I had quite a bit to do, but also kept the stove going to try to dry the banana and orange leather (final tray-full)  and did washing up.

A pretty static day doing various things on the computer and in the kitchen, but nothing of note until I went to find a spare 'Can Of Worms' wormery which I bought over a year ago along with a Compostumbler (I think!) and has sat unused all that time.

Mark from BikeRescue had asked me if he could have some info about 'indoor composting' and I suggested a wormery, and said I had a spare one, which he was only too happy to make me an offer for.  So I got some finished worm compost and quite a lot of mature worms and worm eggs, and loaded that up onto my bike trailer.

I had earlier sorted out a makeshift helmet mount for the little camera that Anna got me... I half wedged it behind the styling on my helmet, and tied it in with a pipe cleaner.  So I switched it on before I left the house, and filmed my 14 minute journey down to the Bike Hub.  I switched off there and installed the wormery, and one of the people there helped me take it upstairs.  Mark wasn't there, but had left instructions for payment.

From here I cycled round to David's, as I was due to start work at 5.  The plumber, Graham, was already working, investigating where the moisture in the cellar was coming from.  Pauline, his other PA, was there too and we all had a bit of an explore, visiting the nearby cellar under the York Medical Society and dental practice, and popping into several shops on Stonegate to see if we could work out whether there was a cellar next door to David's cellar.

Graham will sort out the water from David's soil pipe, and I'll get the Council people along to deal with the incoming sewerage from the sewer that Graham showed me, which looked quite full, if not blocked.  I'm pretty sure that the main problem is not a Yorkshire Water problem, however, they are coming on Thursday to listen for leaks.

David was very happy with what his team is doing.  He didn't feel like going out for a coffee, but I suggested he had a walk with his walking frame.  We walked along Stonegate to St Helen's Square, and to St Helen's Church where there was a book sale being sorted out.  As usual, David knew some of the organisers.

We then went back and I prepared his tea.  As he ate his, I had the salad and sandwich which Gill had prepared for me. I left at 7pm.  I went straight down to The Seahorse for the last meeting of the World Naked Bike Ride organisers.  There were a couple of older gents in the Parlour who were good for a bit of banter, then Tony and Hugh came and we had a very productive meeting dealing with the publicity, route... especially the problem junctions and re-grouping areas.  I had two pints of cider.  So much for trying to lose my cider-belly before the ride!

Home towards 11pm, and did another mammoth session on the laptop, messaging assorted folks with mainly YWNBR stuff.

Enjoyed the news of the volcanic ash cloud which I hope will stop flights, and was saddened to learn about mega-tornadoes which have killed people in the USA.  Glad though that some people are asking whether it might possibly be connected to increased atmospheric temperatures.... they are slowly catching on, I think!

And, I downloaded the film from the helmet camera, and although it was noisy because of the high wind, it was a good film. I'll post one to facebook when it's less windy and noisy.

Gill left fairly early to go to the Steiner School Spring Fair with our youngest, who has a stint on the Year 6 Cake Stall and at 1.30, a Maypole Dance Show. Gill took loads of cakes in for the stall, and she'd also volunteered to do some tidying and other things.

Our eldest doesn't like crowds or too much noise so he wasn't going; so I stayed with him at home.  At 9.20 I was woken by a phone call from the daughter of a well known local entertainer, who does close-up magic.who had managed to cut the end of his finger off and couldn't therefore work.  She was hoping that she'd be able to find a replacement entertainer for tomorrow at 1pm.  Well I was very sympathetic but couldn't do the work as I already have a gig tomorrow afternoon.  I gave her my agent's number.  I also rang my friend Stephen who is a puppeteer and suggested he might contact her.

We had a really good morning, lunch and early afternoon.  After lunch we did some shredding together, and after Gill came home and I was cutting the front hedge, one of his friends came round, so he had a good day.  I did a load of weeding.... Ground Elder mainly.  This doesn't need shredding as it's quite soft, but I collected all the hedge trimmings together in a builders sack and put them through the shredder as many of them were woody, and the shears I use to cut the hedge don't chop the stalks small like some powered hedge trimmers do.

As I was going out with David at 6.30, and it was likely to be a late evening, I had tea before I went out, pasta salad with a leafy coleslaw and two dolmades.

David had booked me to take him to St Michael-le-Belfrey to hear the Yorkshire Bach Choir, so i got changed into some tidy clothes (not shorts!) and cycled down.  We set out at about 7 and there was a space for wheelchair users.  I chatted to a lovely old lady from Sheffield called Celia who had a great sense of humour, not bad for 81 years old.  The choir was good... 44 singing, one on an organ/keyboard, and one playing a theorbo, which I'd not seen before, or at least, never heard the name of it.  I really enjoyed the choir.... I liked it that between songs they moved around and changed places, even for one piece three of them went and stood quite a way away from the rest, which made quite a good effect.  The only problem was that I understood none of it.... it was, I think, all in Latin.

David enjoyed himself immensely and was very pleased to have been able to attend.  We got back to his place just before 10 and I got him some food and sat with him and ha a drink before going... I got home at 11pm. 

Oops, overslept, and woke at 9.33, realising I had agreed to meet Tony at 9.45 outside Alligators.  I washed, dressed, got a cereal bar and a banana and jumped on my bike.... and got to Alligators only a few minutes late.

We'd got an appointment at the Police Station to talk through the World Naked Bike Ride risk assessment.  The Police in North Yorkshire have a policy not to do any traffic management, so our 'how to reduce risk' section, which included references to 'police escort' didn't go down too well, but we included it as it was the obvious way to make the ride safer.  However, in the end, the officer who saw us gave us two possible ways to deal with the junctions and the problem of the peloton getting split.

So I regarded the meeting as a reasonable success, and Tony and I had a brief chat afterwards before I cycled into town to deal with David's water ingress problem.  I arranged to meet up with someone who uses the space under David's flat, to see where the water had got in recently, just to confirm which wall had the problem.  I then went to see David who had Richard with him, and Richard's friend John.  Gill messaged me; she'd brought the bike lock key into town so I could pick up our youngest at 3.30.  She popped in to see David, as she hadn't seen where he lives, or met him.  I was pleased they've now met.

I then took David to St Martin's Church, on Coney Street, next to City Screen, to hear the lunchtime organ concert, today being performed by Robert Sharpe, who's the Director of Music at York Minster.  The organ was a simple one, no foot pedals, and the pieces played included some Camidge, J.S. Bach, John Stanley and Mozart.  I enjoyed Samuel Wesley's 'Hornpipe' most, I think, but found all the pieces very simple (ie a keyboard played with one pair of hands), a bit boring and a bit comical.  The sound of the organ reminded me of steam-powered fairground organs.  But there was nothing I disliked, and I'd be happy to take him again; indeed, I am booked to do so! David enjoyed it very much, I was glad to learn.

I took him to Browns with Richard and John, and they met with Carolyn.  I went back to David's flat and met the person who has access to the space under it, so i could see the offending wall.  This will help me describe the situation to the Environmental Health when I speak to them.  I went back to Browns and John bought be a sandwich and coffee.

I had a quick look around the cellar with Richard and we found another source of moisture from the soil pipe from the upstairs toilet.  That can be fixed fairly easily, I think.

I then got off to go to the Steiner School to pick up our son and 3 outers of soya milk.  And a log on the way home.  Our son pedalled so hard on one section on the way home that he broke his chain.  We phoned Cycleworks to find if they could do it.... no, had to wait til Thursday.  We phoned Cycle Heaven and yes, they could do it in half an hour.  I loaded up his bike onto my trailer and took it to Cycle Heaven; Ash sorted it in 5 minutes and didn't charge me much.  I love Cycle Heaven, it's the best bike shop in York.

I got home and did a bit of chainsawing... some nice offcuts rescued from a skip recently.  Then I came in and flopped.  What a day!

Rose at the respectable time of 9am and got busy with I'm not sure what until about 11 when I went round to the bread shop to buy Yesterbake.

I did some bits and bobs in the garden, including chopping up the last of the ash branches delivered by Mark the gardener, and the usual housework.  At 4pm I headed off for a meeting at El Piano with a friend of a friend called Vicky, who worked for a local magazine last year, and is preparing to launch a new magazine and website in August.  She wanted to see if I was willing to contribute to their 'green' and ethical living section, either as a columnist/blogger or as some sort of consultant... I'm not sure.  I think the conversation we had was a 'getting to know you' session, a 'scoping' meeting.

At 6 I went to see David, who wasn't feeling like going out, but was happy that I'd bought 6 small screws to rehang two wardrobe sliding doors, which I did, successfully, with the help of some matchsticks to make the existing holes tighter.  I also dealt with the picture lighting stuff and think that just one picture light needs either repairing or replacing.

Another thing which has been worrying David is the levels of moisture in the cellar.  So I went to investigate and found two areas which need 'seeing to'.  I'll be dealing with these over the next few days, and getting Environmental Health involved.

I got his food to him and one or two other things, and left early at 7.40. I came home via Freshways which had some good fruity stuff for me, and I took that down the garden before having tea, which was a bit of nutloaf (the last bit), a bread roll and a bowl of DELICIOUS tomato soup made last night by me!

And a fairly normal evening ensued, various phone calls and emails and facebook conversations.  Enjoyed a TV programme on the problems with some unscrupulous recycling companies and electronic waste.

One of the highlights today was finding that a robin has built a nest in the current logpile, in a little gap overlooking the front garden right next to our front door.  There are 5 or 6 little eggs in the nest.  So I'm now going to take any fuel we need from the other side whilst these eggs hatch and the robins fledge and leave.  I love it when robins nest in funny places.... memories of one nesting in the garage a few years back.

When I came to publish my blog, something had gone wrong with the internet connection and I went to bed before publishing, which I did as soon as possible on Tuesday.

A mostly slow and relaxed day.  I got up at about 9 and had breakfast and went on the computer.  I had no appointments until 6pm.

Sometime before 11am, Mike R rang and asked if he could drop by and pick up his air rifle I asked for on Freecycle last Autumn. In the end, I never got to use it against the squirrels which were destroying my nut crop, as it wasn't really safe to use in the back garden, as stray pellets could end up going into a neighbour's property.  I got my live trap soon after, which is much more controllable.  So he collected it, and brought some unwanted and unused metal plant supports for us.

I planted more seeds... some tromboncino squash, and purple climbing beans, and watered the existing seedlings.  Over lunch I researched several things for David on the internet... battery-operated LED picture lights, and whether his TV is digital or not.

Gill and I cooked tea together.  We made a nutloaf with old bread, peanut butter, thrown away spring onions and red pepper plus a bought onion and mushroom.  I also picked some nettle tops from the garden and chopped those up and put them in.  Moistened with egg and red wine, seasoned with herbs and bouillon, and turned into a greased dish and lined with sesame seeds.  This made a fab meal, the children loved it.

I went to work at 5.30, and took David to The Last Drop Inn where we met Carolyn and Geoff, and we had a good chat and laugh, but the pub was quite noisy for David who has hearing aids.  I took him back home and we sorted out some lighting issues.  I changed a fuse, tested light bulbs.  David has a large collection of incandescent bulbs, but he uses CFLs too, and now, a picture light with LEDs.  I made his tea and got away at 8.20.

Home to a nutloaf and cold pasta salad, and a quiet evening with some washing up, preparing apple for drying, watching some TV with Gill.  

Up fairly early and started with assorted admin/paperwork/phoning type activities.

But before lunch, Gillian from around the corner came round and asked if I still wanted the pile of bricks that she and Tony, her husband who died a few weeks back, had accumulated and stored.  Well yes, I did, as I want to make a raised bed at the bottom part of the garden, but don't want the soil to touch the fence it'll be up against.  So I need a low wall up against the fence, not touching it, to allow an air gap, but close enough to allow crops to grow up the fence whilst their roots are in the nice soil I'll fill the bed with.

So I collected nearly 300 bricks in I don't know how many wheelbarrow trips.  I also spent some time with Gillian, whom I'm very fond of... she needed to talk about Tony and share her feelings of loss.  They'd been married for 47 years.

So I came in for a late lunch at about 2pm and did some more computery stuff, and then some wood management out the front.  However, it started to rain, and then thunder, and then hail, so I came in.  I needed to go to my GP too, at 5.30, so I went as soon as the weather would allow and got there on the dot of 5.30.  My leg still hurts after breaking my ankle last year and my scalp eczema doesn't get cleared up by the cream I've been prescribed, so I'm getting an eczema removal liquid, and was given a form for an X-ray to see if my ankle has healed properly.

I went from here to Sainsburys to get Marmite, and then on to David's to do my two hours of care work.  He asked to be taken to Waitrose, which he hadn't been to, so I pushed him all the way there and around it several times, and he found a few things he wanted. We came back a different way, via the Peaseholm Green Edible York raised beds... and I spotted some bindweed, which will need to be removed or it will take over.

I did a bit of DIY back at David's, putting up a battery-powered LED picture light, using Gill's rechargeable drill. It wasn't the easiest of jobs.

I prepared his evening meal and got away soon after 8.

Mark Windmill, my gardener friend, had kindly delivered a load of Ash logs from a project he'd been working on.  I tidied some of them up before having my tea.  A quiet evening and not too late to bed....

Got up reasonably early, despite going to bed at 4am or about that.  And a good day, sorting out the pile of wood at the front of the house mainly, but I also visited Country Fresh and collected a god big job-lot of compostables, plus some groceries.

At 5.30 I headed down to town for my care work with David, and he'd been invited to meet Geoff at The Habit, so I took him there and we chatted and drank coffee, and chatted with a chap from the Green Chemistry department at the University.   We didn't stay long and went past the Minster back to Stonegate, where we chatted with Trevor Rooney and another chap whom I met with a bunch of political activists on our drive, who also greeted David warmly.  However, neither of us could remember his name...

When we got back to David's, he wanted to have another go with his wheeled walking frame, and we did a 'round the block' walk.  Then I put his evening meal together and did a bit of sorting stuff out, and got away for 8pm.

Later, I got a message from Hann, who wanted to have a break from the goings-on in the shared house, so I agreed to meet between our houses and we both came back here, and had an hour's animated conversation whilst I prepared red pepper for drying.  We walked back together after midnight and I then cycled home, head full of new concepts and ideas.  Good stuff!

A really busy and well organised day, hardly a minute to spare.

I got up at 7, breakfasted, and put all my circus and balloon stuff in the trailer and panniers, and set off at 8.10, first to place my votes (voting for myself and Luke Capps, the other Green candidate, and YES in the AV Referendum) and then on to Huntington, Strensall, Sherriff Hutton and to the bottom of Terrington Bank, a really steep hill.  This 14.5 mile cycle took one hour ten minutes.  The last half mile, up the bank and into Terrington, took 15 minutes.

I'd been booked by the tiny C of E primary school in Terrington, with their sister school Foston.  The idea was that I'd perform in the village hall.  However, as the election was taking up the village hall, Terrington asked the nearby private Prep school if they could use their new sports hall.  The prep school said yes... but could they add a class of children too.  So, I had 70 children, aged 3 to about 7.

I was taken down to the venue and got the hall right for the gig, with drapes pulled across the walls to reduce echo, and one area curtained off to create a performance space.  I got changed, blew up balloons for the afternoon gig, and waited for my audience.

The show went really well... although it overran, as one group were late, so I couldn't do the unicycle workshop at the end.  But it was a good show.  The children and teachers loved it.  I went back to the small school for lunch, but soon back to the venue to continue blowing up 70+ balloons.

The second show also went well, despite the children being young and lots of them.  I was finished by 2.10, and quickly got changed and loaded up to return, stopping briefly to give in an invoice to the school to trigger payment.

The trip back was slower, despite having more downhill, as it was into the wind.  It took me an hour and a half, getting in at 4.10.

I had a few minutes sit-down and then at 4.45, I set out for St Lawrence's Church to be a Green Party 'teller', collecting poll numbers so that voters who had promised to vote Green could be contacted before the polls closed if they had forgotten to vote. I chatted with the Labour Party teller Lesley, who was very pleasant. In the two hours we were there we had over 100 voters come in... the post working-day rush.

So, I was relieved at 7pm by Alison, and I cycled home.  Gill had prepared a plate of pasta.  At 7.45 I cycled off to David's as he had booked me to take him to vote at 8pm.

I walked him over to Marygate where he placed his votes, and back to his house.  I left him at 9.30 and walked along Stonegate to the Yorkshire Terrier where a group of Green Party folks were due to gather.  Stewart was already there, and soon another 10 or so joined us.  I had TWO bottles of Pear Cider, which is a lot for me... I usually stick to just one.  But a good finish to the day.

I look forward to the count tomorrow.

Another good day... I went to the local Thomas The Baker and got a fiver's worth of 'Yesterbake', bread left over from a day or two ago and available at ridiculously low prices.  I got two small loaves, four bags of rolls, four 'naughty spirals' and some cheese straws.  Should keep us going for a few days.  I foresee a nutloaf coming on....

Gill went into town with our eldest, to the library to research oxbow lakes.... are there any in Yorkshire I wonder?  Or have all the mature rivers been so managed, there aren't any?

I went to the Building Society to put in two cheques and get out some cash to pay the Steiner School for this term.  Then I cycled down to the school and collected our youngest.  However, I was pleased to meet someone I've wanted to meet for a bit now, a writer called Kate Ravillious, who has done some cracking pieces for NewScientist.  She has a young daughter who'll be starting at the Steiner School soon... and an 11 week old son, which is why she's not writing at the moment.

Good cycle back with our lad, he's getting a lot better at cycling.  I had a short time at home... did a little bit of wood-management, but at 5.30 set out for town again to go to David's for my care work.  I was pleased to meet his cousin's daughter who helps with his accounts, and Richard, another cousin, is back from France, and it was good to see him too.  David wanted to see where his solicitor's offices were, so we explored Piccadilly, found the office block, and returned and headed to City Screen for a coffee.  We met one of David's friends Chris, who's a Professor at the University, in the Department of Education.

We didn't spend long there, but went back to David's place, where I cooked his tea and sorted him out, and was able to get away for 8pm.  I sped home and watched a really good programme on Channel 5, 'The King's Speech Revealed', followed by The Secret Millionaire on Channel 4, followed by Catfish on More 4, which i found really interesting, being in the 'online, facebook, GoogleMaps' generation!  A really interesting story. Gill watched these with me too, whilst I did more red peppers for drying.

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.

I got up at 9 and spent an hour making up my muesli, mainly cracking hazelnuts and extracting the now slightly shrivelled kernels.  However, they're still good for my muesli.  Gill was watching the run-up to the wedding on the telly but I didn't want to watch it so I went outside and split a few logs, did a bit of stacking, some compost riddling, digging out, and weeding too.  I had a lovely morning in the sunshine.

I came in at 1pm and watched some post-ceremony telly... Gill still entranced.  I saw the highlights on the news (which is all anyone needed to see really!) and then had a short time out in the garden before 3, when I got cleaned up and ready to cycle to City Screen to meet David and one of his other PAs Pauline, who had collected him to go and see The King's Speech... and David had got me a ticket too.  This was partly because Pauline had to go at 5, and therefore I had to take David home afterwards.

I really enjoyed the film, one of the best I've seen for a while.  David enjoyed it too, and lasted til the end, when we went for a coffee, and then a short circular walk along Coney Street, Ouse Bridge, North Street, Wellington Row, Lendal Bridge and back to David's house off Stonegate.

His tea didn't need any preparation, so I left at 7.30, half an hour earlier than planned... but I was happy with this and came home swiftly and Gill gave me some pasta and flatbread.

I had a good lie-in. I finished the risk assessment for the York World Naked Bike Ride and sent it to my two colleagues. Then more work out in the garden, including building the start of a new woodstack on the right of the front door, and unloading more boxes of biodegradables into the new Anderson air-raid shelter compost bin.  For the curious, this is made of two sheets of corrugated iron, as seen in this image, the ones with the curved tops.  Put on their side, like two letter j's, they form a good compost bin.  I line it with cardboard, and chuck in layers of shredded hedge and layers of unwanted fruit and vegetables.

I had my care-work at 6, and David and I had a good time.  We set out to go to the Library to return an audio-book, and then to the Theatre Royal to reserve tickets for The Crucible.  He couldn't buy them as we hadn't yet had confirmation from Lotte that she could go on the date chosen, a Matinee.  Then we went for a coffee at City Screen, and I got a reply text from Lotte, saying yes.  So once we'd finished the coffees, we went back to the Theatre and David bought his and Lotte's tickets.  I got a free one as I was going as David's PA.  Then I took him back to his house... I got his meal ready and sorted out his recycling... lots of newspapers and some old shirts which probably need to go for shoddy.

I came home soon after 8 and had an out-of-date tin of soup for tea, plus a cheese sandwich.

In the evening I did a big wash up and prepared a load more apples thrown out by the shops, and excellent for drying on my racks above the woodstove.

Another good day.  Got up at a civilised time when the phone rang and it was Bridget from the Rowntree Society, replying to my enquiry about David donating some memories to their memory project.  She's going to invite him to an event on 17th May.

The rest of the day unfolded slowly... I did some more work out in the garden, including, at last, planting a third of the potatoes.

At about 4 I cycled down to town via Dower Court, where I was eventually able to get in and put 36 leaflets into letterboxes.

I got a cheque to pay my National Insurance and paid in a cheque which repays me for my train ticket down to UK Aware.

Then at 5 I met Helen at El Piano, which was lovely, and then we both went to see David, and we all went to City Screen, and met Dave and Chris.  Helen got the 7pm train home and David and I wandered back through York to his house, and I got him his food and went at 8pm.

Back at home, Gill had created a curious meal... a very 'short crust' pastry base which had failed to contain a quiche... so it was a cross between a quiche and an omlette.  I enjoyed it though.  Then I had an hour's phone call with a woman I met through a facebook friend who's going to open a small eco-friendly campsite in France, and she wanted to pick my brains about compost toilets and how to heat shower water.

Later, I did a bit more work on the York World Naked Bike Ride, and various other writing jobs.

I had a bit of a lazy morning but after lunch got busy in the garden and I put more material in the current New Zealand bin, and in the Compostumbler, and I did a bit of riddling and weeding in the soon-to-be potato area

At about 4pm I came in and rang Pauline, who had asked me if I would help with setting a York stone flag into her garden... and she was lacking a spade to break the compacted soil.  So I took a spade round and sorted her stepping stone, setting it onto a bed of sand.  She had some scrap metal she wanted me to take to Hazel Court... it just fitted into the bike trailer, with a plastic kitchen bin which she'd been using as a compost bin... except she's now got a proper one which I think will be much better.

I had a glass of juice and a chat, and at 5.40 pedalled off towards town to go and see David, for my 6-8 work slot.  He was pleased to see me and we had some discussion about what to do... and we plumped on a walk up towards Clifton, along the river.  However, next Friday there's a showing of The King's Speech at City Screen, and David has already got tickets, so he invited me... and we popped into City Screen and I got a ticket.  Then we headed up Lendal, and down to Dame Judy Dench's Walk next to the old Water Tower, and slowly up river looking at the assorted boats, and eventually right up to Water End.  Here, David had a choice... turn around and return, cross the bridge and go to Leeman Road and back to York, or back via Clifton Green and Bootham.  We headed back to City Screen and had a coffee... and just as we were thinking of getting back to his flat, at about 7.30, his friend Lotte came and said hello, and we went over to say hi to her and her friend Jonathan, and we chatted for half an hour.

So we got back to David's place and I microwaved the meal which had been plated-up by one of his other carers, and got away just after 8.30, and was back home (via a box left for me outside Country Fresh) at 9pm.

I was ready for tea... Gill had made pastry; a pie with carrots and onion and sweet potato, with potato and cauliflower alongside.  It was really delicious!

Bed soon after 2am....

Not sure why I got up early but I was first downstairs and after breakfast, got busy in the garden.  I did an ENORMOUS pile of riddled compost with my Scheppach thingy.  I loaded my trailer with another 8 carrier bags of freshly riddled compost for my friend in Bishophill.  After a thick layer of sticks and peach stones, from the back end of the riddle, I put another layer of limp mooli and fenugreek, chopped green potatoes and wrinkled chillies on the current compost heap.

I came in for lunch at about 12.30.  Whilst eating lunch I started doing the risk assessment for this year's York World Naked Bike Ride, the aim of which is to show the police that it would be better if they offered us an escort like happens in Manchester and Sheffield.   Then got my knees cleaned up (I do a bit of kneeling whilst doing the compost riddling) and set off with the compost, my silly hat, a bag of small jam jars and a new bag of modelling balloons.... because today was the launch of Yorkshire Truly, headed up by Claire from Grace Preserves. I had offered to go and support this launch by doing some giveaway balloons.  Claire's business partner Karen was there, and they'd booked a face painter and a guitarist busker chap called Rod, I think.  So it was quite an occasion, and the visitors/customers seemed to enjoy the ambiance.

I had quite a busy time, sitting with the facepainter, and enjoying the music.  I stayed longer than planned as a friend who'd suggested a coffee at 3.30 didn't turn up.... but it was OK as I was having a good time.  So at about 4.30 I packed up and was given some unsold scones as a thank-you, and I cycled up to Bishophill to deliver the compost.  I was due to work for David at 6 but I was ready by 5.15, so I let myself in and met his carer and friend Pauline.  David was unsure what to do so I suggested that we could go to Rowntree Park, which he hadn't visited for several years.  On the way there, my old pal Julian overtook us on his bike and we chatted, which seemed to make the journey go even more quickly. 

In the park we watched a young woman doing poi, and then went to see the skate ramps area, the ex-bandstand area and then I took him over Millennium Bridge and back up the East side of the river.  We had an ice cream and watched the boats, and then popped into City Screen for a quick coffee, and back to his flat where I heated up his meal, and left at 7.45.

So a very satisfying day, I was really glad David enjoyed his Rowntree Park trip, and he asked if we could do it again sometime.  Suits me.... I am happy pushing the wheelchair and enjoy David's company.

When I got in I had a use-it-up meal and spent some time doing assorted fruit for drying.

I got up fairly early and after breakfast, went to Kexby Avenue and the roads off it to deliver the last of the postal voter letters.  Well actually not the last of them, as I couldn't deliver quite a lot of them... either couldn't find the road or block of flats, or couldn't get into the block to put the letter in the voter's letterbox.  This is one Green Party job I will not be doing again.

I came back and helped Gill sort out the conservatory, which is going to have the guinea pig cage in it.  I prepared a load of kitchen paper rolls by cutting them in half and filling them with seed compost, and planted a lot of climbing pea beans.  Gill found several succulents which had succumbed to the cold weather... but had got a few living bits left on them, so I potted those up, with the hope that they'll regenerate.  I also took a pot-bound succulent and split it up, getting over 40 individual plants from it, all of which I potted up. 

I found a load of batteries, ferrous scrap rescued from the fires, some old electrical equipment and soya milk cartons, so I loaded up the bike trailer with these plus the old microwave oven, and took them for recycling at Hazel Court.  I came straight back, and continued with helping Gill.  We got a metal rack shelf thingy down from the loft and installed it in the conservatory, which makes more storage space there.

I got an emergency booking for tomorrow morning: SNAPPY had been let down and rang me up to do a balloon modelling session tomorrow morning, which fits in nicely with another playscheme in the afternoon.

I then got some compost ready for delivery, and at about 5.30, cycled to Priory Street to deliver... and then on to David for a two-hour visit.  On the way there I met Paul and Gill, who are Trouvère, and they know David, so when David and I left his home, I found them and they chatted to David for a few minutes.

And then on to City Screen where Carolyn was waiting for us; I got drinks with David's membership card enabling a discount, and I got myself a bowl of what was said to be leek, tomato and olive soup, but it was more of a stew, delicious, with a warm bread roll. Trish Scott was at City Screen and it was good to see her again... but all too soon it was time for us to go. 

I heated up David's tea when I got back, and cleaned some pigeon poo from his yard, and he let me go just before 8pm.

I cycled to The Seahorse Hotel for the World Naked Bike Ride meeting with Tony and Hugh, a good and productive meeting.

Home at about 10.30.  A bit of a late night; did a lot of reading, including this really good article about people who preach green but don't live it, and I found an event I'm going to participate in, on the 12th May, called Mass Observation, a one-day diary.  Should be easy for me! I also enjoyed watching a short film about a woman, Pat, living frugally off the land, a film made by a facebook friend of mine, Josie Gallo.