Human Lifestyle

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.

Well a funny old day.... Up early, something to do with taking a child to school but he didn't go in the end.  I removed myself from the situation, and got busy in the front garden, sawing and splitting the Ash logs left by Mark.  I also did a little bit of work in the back garden, but not much.

I had quite a bit of time indoors too, sorting out the Student Loan stuff and a whole load of gigs in York libraries over the summer, which I'm looking forward to.

I'd agreed to go and see Helen at 4.30 in El Piano, as she'd been at her regular Tuesday workshop, and we had some great chats, as usual.  Helen also had something for me... my only birthday present this year, a book by David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame, about his cycling adventures, called Bicycle Diaries, which looks like a really good read. Thank you Helen.

We parted at about 6 and I cycled straight up to Tang Hall Library for the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel, which was interesting as the Council have agreed something called an Article 4 Direction, which means, if it's agreed, that if a home owner wants to change the use of the house from an ordinary residence to a 'House In Multiple Occupation' or HMO, they'll have to apply for planning permission.  An HMO is a house or flat with 3 or more tenants who share a kitchen, bathroom or toilet.  The best definition I've found of an HMO is here. This will mean that the numbers of houses being converted into student homes might be slowed down, as it might be possible, if Article 4 is agreed, to refuse planning permission for the change.  I will be writing to the Council to support this Direction, as so many local residents have told me that they are worried by the number of student houses constantly being converted.

I got back home at about 7.30 and did a bit more work outside, before coming in for some soup (out of a tin) and a sandwich.  

Woke slowly and spent much of the morning on the computer  but got into the garden before lunch and did a bit of work outside.

One thing I forgot to report yesterday was that the duck, which has been sitting on her nest in our fernery for 3 weeks, hatched her ducklings, and today, she took them all to our neighbour's pond, where it was just possible to work out that she'd got 11 ducklings.  Gill went round to next door and filmed them... she's very excited by all this.

I got a message from my friend Jackie that she was coming to York to participate in a 5 Rhythms Dance session, and could I meet her beforehand.  I said yes, and got on with chainsawing and splitting, just half an hour or so, whilst listening out for my mobile phone.

Eventually it bleeped and I replied that I'd meet her at 5pm n Parliament Street.  We decided to go to El Piano (not a surprise!) and sat outside in their courtyard behind the shop.  There was a table set out for preparing food (chopping boards, knives, onions, carrots) and soon, one of the El Piano staff came out and with her, two people I recognised from the Bejazzled night a few weeks back.  They were Ross and Leah, and they were having one of El Piano's 'learn how to cook' sessions.  They were having a go at bhajis and tinas, both deep-fried vegetable fritters held together with a floury batter.  Bhajis are onions with slightly spiced gram flour, and tinas are "a Bolivian delight, quite simply carrots & spring onions, a sprinkle of salt and sugar, rolled with rice flour and lightly fried" (see the El Piano menu pdf).  I was amazed that this 'how to cook' session cost only £2.50 per person, included a large glass of wine, and you could eat all the food you made!  This must be the best bargain in the whole of York, and I strongly suggest you, dear reader, try this activity as soon as possible, before the lovelies at El Piano realise the price is far too low and they make it a tenner per person!  It would make a fun activity for groups of people wanting to do something unusual which involved a glass of wine and a bit of food.  And you go away having learned how to make these classic dishes, taught by experts.

So, Jackie and I were offered quite a few bhajis and a few tinas by Leah and Ross, who were very friendly and lovely.  They left at 7 to go to something at the Grand Opera House, and I paid for our hot chocolate and pot of tea... and I took away a sack of the little wooden plates that the restaurant uses, and normally throws away.  They compost well... slowly, as they're thin wood, but it's an excellent material for bulking up my tumbler.  I walked with my bike and trailer up to Priory Street, left her there and cycled home.  I put the El Piano donation into the Compostumbler and did some weeding, and at 9pm, came in and had a small plateful of old noodles that hadn't been eaten by the kids.

Later I lit the stove and did the washing up (wishing we had wooden recyclable plates!) and had my usual evening of Scrabble, facebook, LinkedIn discussions and other communication.

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 got up early as Gill was taking our youngest to school in a taxi, and I got up to do some work with our eldest on elements, and then I had a confirmation from a facebook contact in Lahore, in Pakistan, that he wanted to have a Skype conversation this morning with me about how to present his forthcoming Master Composter course.  We'd discussed it previously and suggested that this morning might be convenient.

As I'm currently using Safe Mode on my laptop due to it not working in normal mode, it doesn't have sound, so I got my son to set Skype up on Gill's laptop, and I was able to have a conversation with Kurt and Nimra from Waste Busters and Sustainable Pakistan. Although I couldn't hear Nimra, just see her instant messages appearing, but I could chat with Kurt initially.  The Skype connection was not brilliant, and I'm not sure I got the group call thing worked out properly.... but we spent over an hour, and I hope that I'll have helped them with their Master Composter scheme. 

Then it was nearly time to go to the Feed the 1000 event at Vanbrugh College at the University of York.  I'd been an initial link in this event, as Bryony Pete from Love Food Hate Waste had contacted the University with the idea and been rebuffed.  She'd then approached the recycling team at the Council, and they suggested that I might be able to help.  I introduced Bryony to the wonderful People and Planet group, and that opened doors.  None of the People and Planet crew had heard much until at the beginning of the week, there was information about the event today.  So, there was waste food, rejected by supermarkets and manufacturers, and a team of cooks making it into meals, and a 'TV Chef' doing cooking demonstrations about how to use up leftovers, and the Love Food Hate Waste stall with information.  I arrived and found Bryony, who was chopping onions, and congratulated her on the fantastic event.  I later found out they'd fed 2000 students; I wonder what the final figure will be?

But I didn't get any food as I'm not a student.  I didn't mind.  I really like sandwiches for lunch, so I cycled home again and had my usual peanut butter and marmite, plus a hommous and thrown-away red pepper.

Just in time to go to St Nicks for a York Rotters management meeting, which was as usual really good.  However, I first helped put together a new wormery which needed two people to do it.  I contributed most to the ongoing discussion about producing a video or videos, and by the end of the meeting, I had a couple of jobs I had to do. These included emailing several seed companies to get quotes for promotional seed packets, and sending Catherine info about carbon footprints and composting.  I was pleased to see Jo (the second-most enthusiastic composter in York!) come into the centre and the conversation which ensued resulted in my promising to take in some leafmould tomorrow, for some kind of display or workshop.

I came back home and spoke to Pauline on the phone; she'd requested some emergency logs to tide her over til her next delivery next week, and she was available from 5pm til 6pm.  I volunteered to go and see her just before 6, and then go round to Clement's Hall with her and twiddle my thumbs for a bit before the People and Planet meal at El Piano at 7.30.  She was very glad of he 2 sacks of logs and a small bag of coal.  We walked round to the 'recycled building' as she calls Clements Hall, and she worked in the office whilst we chatted and I read Resource magazine.

At about 7pm I cycled down to town and went to El Piano, and waited for the lovely P+P people... we had a £10 meal, which was a lot of tapas selections.  Good conversations, laughs, food.  Very enjoyable.

And back home.... couldn't resist a visit to a supermarket skip and got some goodies which will be consumed over the next couple of weeks.

Another full and interesting day.  I emailed about 10 seed companies last thing and look forward to their replies.

A very full day, enjoyable too.  I got up  early as I needed to get 10 sacks of compost ready for today's delivery, and be back in the house in time for Sue visiting; she had booked to come and look through our Suma catalogue and sort out an order.  She arrived at 10 with her cousin Robert, who's come to stay with her from Devon, where he spends a lot of time sailing.  It was good to meet him; he was curious about the fruit drying and our lifestyle, and we chatted whilst Sue sorted out her order, which always takes her ages  (almost two hours) despite being only 3 items!  But it was a friendly visit and I'm fond of Sue as she's more unique than most, is quite 'off the wall' and unusual.... and anyway, I've known her for the best part of 20 years and I'm fond of her.

She got finished just in time as I got a message from Sam from Sheffield.  She'd contacted me yesterday saying she was coming over to York with Emily and assorted offspring, to visit the National Railway Museum... and would I like to meet up with them.  They were in Wakefield at midday and would be at York Station by half past.  I loaded up my trailer with 5 sacks and dropped them off at St Lawrence's School, and sped off down to the station, where the 5 of them appeared about 5 minutes later.  I persuaded them to walk into York to have a quick look around before they went to the NRM.  They met Purple Man and saw Barley Hall, and we ended up at El Piano for a few drinks; I had my usual vegan hot chocolate.  It was lovely to see Sam and Emily again, this time in happier circumstances.... last time was at Mozaz' funeral, or rather the wake.

We parted company after this, they went to look at the Minster I think, and I put some cash and a cheque into the Co-op Bank, and came home.  I got in at 2.15pm, just enough time to have a sandwich and then load the trailer with the second 5 sacks of compost, plus a sack of sawdust for their compost bins as a free extra.  Laura Potts met me at the gate and took me down to where the school have their raised beds and compost bins, and I met Grace, a teacher there.  They were delighted with the compost, and paid me what I'd suggested, in cash, and asked for an emailed receipt.  Then they showed me the school field, some of which is about to be converted into an orchard, and today they were digging the holes.  I'm so delighted that this is a primary school which is actually addressing the issues, is DOING something.  When I was involved with Green Thumbs at Lord Deramores, we discussed planting a row of trees along the line of School Lane, but there wasn't enough enthusiasm to make it happen.  There still isn't an orchard planted at Lord Deramores, and I must have a look sometime at their compost bins, to see what's happening there.

I came home with an unwanted Christmas tree, and stopped off at the house which is having a conversion and took some more spare waste wood offcuts.

Gill and the boys were heading off to Heslington for Melody's birthday party.  I dealt with two Fiddlesticks enquiries, one a garden centre having a green fun day, so I explained about my other 'John the Composter' hat, and I'm hoping she'll get back to me with a booking.

At about 5pm I got myself ready for the Stockholm Environment Institute Annual Seminar, 'Equality and Ecological Responsibility in an Age of Austerity'.  This was at the Science Learning Centre at the University of York.  I met lots of friends there; I feel very lucky that we have this resource on our doorstep and so many brilliant and expert people in our midst.  The seminar was chaired by Liz Barclay, a very recognisable voice from Radio 4, and had presentations form Professor Kate Pickett, an epidemiologist and co-author of 'The Spirit Level', and Jonathan Porritt, who is perhaps best known for his involvement with FoE and chairing the Sustainable Development Commission, as well as The Forum For The Future.

Professor Pickett's presentation revolved around these slides, which basically show that in societies where there is a big gap between the rich and poor, lots of things are worse.... child wellbeing, reduced levels of trust, working hours are longer, less foreign aid is given, people recycle less.... all sorts of interesting correlations.  So a more equal society is better for everybody, because over a certain income, people don't get any happier.  Unequal societies have higher carbon emissions too, even higher levels of biodiversity loss!  This is a fascinating area of study, and Jonathan Porritt followed up with his take on the importance of dealing with both environmental sustainability AND social justice, or 'fairness' as it might be less confrontationally put.  His talk covered issues such as fuel poverty and doctors prescribing therapeutic interventions, such as retrofitting houses with improvements, or prescribing environmental 'voluntary work', like the BTCV Green Gym, as these often have much better outcomes than prescribing drugs, and are far more cost effective in solving social problems.

The discussion at the end was interesting... I asked about whether they saw Transition Towns as a viable way forward, and later on there was an exchange about how higher taxation had been demonised by the right, but actually it was a good thing as it was a way of sharing, or investing in everybody.  Places with high taxation are not less happy or less prosperous.

I had a chat with Jonathan Porritt afterwards and told him about my interest in green funerals.  He hadn't heard of Promession so I gave him a Novaterium business card and invited him to check it out.  I also chatted with several SEI people and explored whether there might be a way I could do some work with the Institute.

I got home at about 9pm, exhausted but determined to do my blog.  I love sharing what I get up to. 

I was amused/uplifted to get a link to this video which shows protesters invading the York Council chamber to protest at the cuts, and associated media reports including The Press and the BBC. One of the protesters explained why she'd done it, on her facebook page:

I've tried letter writing, I've sat in on lots of smaller cold boring meetings leading up to this, I emailed every councillor (most didn't even reply), I've got more signatures on my petition than the council got responses to their budget consultation, I've been the official service user rep on the future planning of Mental Health services in York, and it's got nowhere - just councillors patronising & ignoring me, and *laughing* and talking about party politics whilst discussing cuts that are going to cost lives. This might be the noisy visible bit, but it's the result of a lot of quiet, polite, patient hard work being thrown back in my face.

So those protesters get my respect and thanks for making a stand.