A very late morning... Gill got me up at 8 to see if I could sort out a child's bike brakes (which I did) and I then went back to bed, til 11. Lovely. Partly as I was up til 3am last night... or this morning, if you want.
So, after lunch I did a big load of shredding, the stuff I cut yesterday. Then I attacked the hedge again and yanked out a load more, cutting the roots and bottom of the plant off and removing all the spare soil, and pulling congested roots apart. This realised another 60 plants, which I bunged in a sack and invited another Freecycler to come and get.
I worked up until teatime and had a quick tea and then went to the Hull Road Ward Committee meeting which was just round the corner. This was the meeting where this year's funding applications are presented. John from St Nicks presented his request... something towards a new CCTV system and another requested grant towards some new play equipment. Then people in the ward vote for which ones they like and don't like... and the Council decisdes who gets the money.
This finished at about 8.30 and I popped in back home to check all was well, and then cycled down to Green Drinks for a single pint, just one hour. Had some chats with Ivana and Graham, Dave and Jennie, and a couple of others, but I was tired and came away at 10. Glad I did as when I got home I watched Newsnight which had a piece on the Green Movement with Justin Rowlatt and Caroline Lucas. 'Twas good.
So, a quiet evening followed, ploughing through emails, following up various things I'm obligated to do.
Showing posts with label Hull Road Ward. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hull Road Ward. Show all posts
I cycled down to school with our youngest son as the roads were clear, and came back to get going with the large pile of washing up. Then jarred up some dried fruit and did emails, and before lunch took three wheelbarrows-worth of split logs down to the covered logpile, and did a good job of building a couple of self-supporting walls. It's like a jigsaw... there's definitely ways which the different shapes will fit snugly together.. and plenty which will result in the stack falling over. I love doing it!
Lunch was lovely, apart from seeing the distressing scenes over in Australia with the Bushfires destroying so many lives, livelihoods and homes. We should, however, expect more of this as the climate shifts and we experience more droughts and extreme weather. It's not going to be easy.
After lunch I got a phone call from a TV producer up in Middlesborough looking for a 'Freegan' to interview. Spent at least half an hour talking to him about the various ways in which I live cheaply, get things for free, collect aluminium cans and occasional scrap metal and sell it, use the LETS and Freecycle networks, and give stuff for free too, such as composting advice, and many hours voluntary work with a plethora of local groups, and more. It looks like I'll be going up to Middlesborough next week, but nothing's been agreed yet.
I collected our son from school, on the way delivering 5 litres of Ecover Clothes Washing Liquid to one of our friends who participates in our Food Co-op.
I did a final (hahahahaha) load of chainsawing and wooding in the front... and finished the current pile! Just gives more space to put more there....
Ben came round as our eldest had emailed him asking for help with accessing the games bought a few days ago... they aren't loading and neither son knows why. Ben, however, arrived with a large polystyrene box and asked us if we'd like a 'science treat'? Well, we're all up for some science fun... so he opened the box and revealed a thick layer of 'dry ice' chunks at the bottom. This had arrived with a delivery of chemicals to the place he works, and the dry ice was surplus to requirements. Dry ice is frozen solid carbon dioxide, which keeps the temperature of the inside of the container at about -100 degrees Celsius. He showed us several tricks... including putting some pellets of dry ice in a glass of warm water, which then proceeds to bubble away and gives off lots of cold water vapour which looks like smoke or steam flowing out of the glass and down the sides. This could be modified by adding washing up liquid to the warm water... the large volume of bubbles generated can be popped, releasing the smoke-like water vapour. I found some balloons, held the nozzle open wide and slipped a pellet of dry ice into the balloon, and tied it to seal the initially flaccid balloon. As the ice sublimes (changes from solid direct to gas) the balloon inflates, as solid CO2 takes much less space than the same weight of gaseous CO2.
After all this fun, Ben tried to fix the computer problem... the boys computer might need a new graphics card. Ben left with a job-lot of lychees and two banana and chocolate chip buns which Gill made yesterday.
Gill did one of the best evening meals I've had for quite a while. We had a leek and potato soup which was delicious, and she used up some macaroni/cauliflower cheese and some tomato/onion pizza topping by putting the pasta in the base of an oven-proof dish, then a layer of sliced mushrooms, then a layer of tomato stuff, then a layer of wholemeal breadcrumbs and grated carrot, topped with small halved tomatoes and grated goats' cheese... and baked this. Absolutely Fantastic!
I then went to the Hull Road Ward Committee, chaired by the elected Councillors. A good presentation from the NHS Trust, and discussion about the Ward Committee budget and where it should be spent. I did a short presentation about the Planning Panel work, and there was an 'election' where those who wanted to be on the Panel were given the nod by the citizens present. We got three new members and lost two. I remain the Clerk, a role I am now happy with.
Home soon after 9pm, watched Horizon on dreams. I spent a couple of hours shelling the remaining lychees, then liquidizing the flesh, added 10 bananas, re-liquidized, pushed through a sieve and carefully placed the fragrant liquid in a baking tray balanced on the stove. Within a couple of days, this will be well on the way to being wonderful fruit leather.
Lunch was lovely, apart from seeing the distressing scenes over in Australia with the Bushfires destroying so many lives, livelihoods and homes. We should, however, expect more of this as the climate shifts and we experience more droughts and extreme weather. It's not going to be easy.
After lunch I got a phone call from a TV producer up in Middlesborough looking for a 'Freegan' to interview. Spent at least half an hour talking to him about the various ways in which I live cheaply, get things for free, collect aluminium cans and occasional scrap metal and sell it, use the LETS and Freecycle networks, and give stuff for free too, such as composting advice, and many hours voluntary work with a plethora of local groups, and more. It looks like I'll be going up to Middlesborough next week, but nothing's been agreed yet.
I collected our son from school, on the way delivering 5 litres of Ecover Clothes Washing Liquid to one of our friends who participates in our Food Co-op.
I did a final (hahahahaha) load of chainsawing and wooding in the front... and finished the current pile! Just gives more space to put more there....
Ben came round as our eldest had emailed him asking for help with accessing the games bought a few days ago... they aren't loading and neither son knows why. Ben, however, arrived with a large polystyrene box and asked us if we'd like a 'science treat'? Well, we're all up for some science fun... so he opened the box and revealed a thick layer of 'dry ice' chunks at the bottom. This had arrived with a delivery of chemicals to the place he works, and the dry ice was surplus to requirements. Dry ice is frozen solid carbon dioxide, which keeps the temperature of the inside of the container at about -100 degrees Celsius. He showed us several tricks... including putting some pellets of dry ice in a glass of warm water, which then proceeds to bubble away and gives off lots of cold water vapour which looks like smoke or steam flowing out of the glass and down the sides. This could be modified by adding washing up liquid to the warm water... the large volume of bubbles generated can be popped, releasing the smoke-like water vapour. I found some balloons, held the nozzle open wide and slipped a pellet of dry ice into the balloon, and tied it to seal the initially flaccid balloon. As the ice sublimes (changes from solid direct to gas) the balloon inflates, as solid CO2 takes much less space than the same weight of gaseous CO2.
After all this fun, Ben tried to fix the computer problem... the boys computer might need a new graphics card. Ben left with a job-lot of lychees and two banana and chocolate chip buns which Gill made yesterday.
Gill did one of the best evening meals I've had for quite a while. We had a leek and potato soup which was delicious, and she used up some macaroni/cauliflower cheese and some tomato/onion pizza topping by putting the pasta in the base of an oven-proof dish, then a layer of sliced mushrooms, then a layer of tomato stuff, then a layer of wholemeal breadcrumbs and grated carrot, topped with small halved tomatoes and grated goats' cheese... and baked this. Absolutely Fantastic!
I then went to the Hull Road Ward Committee, chaired by the elected Councillors. A good presentation from the NHS Trust, and discussion about the Ward Committee budget and where it should be spent. I did a short presentation about the Planning Panel work, and there was an 'election' where those who wanted to be on the Panel were given the nod by the citizens present. We got three new members and lost two. I remain the Clerk, a role I am now happy with.
Home soon after 9pm, watched Horizon on dreams. I spent a couple of hours shelling the remaining lychees, then liquidizing the flesh, added 10 bananas, re-liquidized, pushed through a sieve and carefully placed the fragrant liquid in a baking tray balanced on the stove. Within a couple of days, this will be well on the way to being wonderful fruit leather.
A good morning, took the boys to school and a big sack of riddled compost plus a big sack of leafmold, and my rotasieve, to mix with the loam from molehills to finish filling the containers bought by Julia for Green Thumbs. This took 45 minutes and I have now justabout filled them all, there's just one big pot which is only 3/4 full, so one more sack of 'ready mixed' to go in there, I'll prepare that at home and take it in, perhaps for this afternoon's Green Thumbs.
The afternoon went all too quickly and Gill went to school first to pick up the boys, I followed on to do the Green Thumbs Gang. We planted out some radishes and a few other bits in the planters I finished filling this morning, but then it started to rain so we went into the classroom and I read most of the group the 'Magic School Bus' book on decomposition which CRAG Anna sent me as a present... the children seemed to enjoy it.
In the evening I went to the Hull Road Ward Committee, where I was presenting the fourth item on the agenda, on the progress of the Planning Panel.
Later, at home, I started to prepare the immature walnuts for pickling. I washed them and then used a needle mounted on a handle, which is from my days collecting insects as a teenager, to make a series of little holes in each one to allow the brine solution to draw out moisture. This took an hour, and resulted in some of my fingers going brown.... walnuts contain a very strong dye... I did know about this but do not enjoy using rubber gloves.
The afternoon went all too quickly and Gill went to school first to pick up the boys, I followed on to do the Green Thumbs Gang. We planted out some radishes and a few other bits in the planters I finished filling this morning, but then it started to rain so we went into the classroom and I read most of the group the 'Magic School Bus' book on decomposition which CRAG Anna sent me as a present... the children seemed to enjoy it.
In the evening I went to the Hull Road Ward Committee, where I was presenting the fourth item on the agenda, on the progress of the Planning Panel.
Later, at home, I started to prepare the immature walnuts for pickling. I washed them and then used a needle mounted on a handle, which is from my days collecting insects as a teenager, to make a series of little holes in each one to allow the brine solution to draw out moisture. This took an hour, and resulted in some of my fingers going brown.... walnuts contain a very strong dye... I did know about this but do not enjoy using rubber gloves.
A quiet morning, with a bit of a lie-in and a short bath as I have to go to Hull tonight as I've a gig for Diabetes UK tomorrow morning, and the trains (or bus for that matter) won't get me there in time for the 10am start required. So I'm going to stay in the hotel where the event is happening, and I'll be finished by 12ish.
Did bomb into town after lunch to pick up my 'Friday' collection from Out Of This World and do some money management stuff, but came back soon and Gill asked me to make sure I had put all my compostables into their containers, so I spent an hour or so chopping and loading.
Decided to get the latest train so had tea and helped with the boys, then cycled to the station with all my Fiddlesticks gear and got the Hull train after 8pm. Enjoyed having the time to write my diary and do some more planning of my book, and when I got to Hull got a £7 taxi ride to 'The Vllage Hotel' where the group from Diabetes UK was having their weekend away.
Met my hosts and dumped stuff in my room and spent the next couple of hours chatting and answering questions on low-impact living, composting, etc. Bed after midnight.
Did bomb into town after lunch to pick up my 'Friday' collection from Out Of This World and do some money management stuff, but came back soon and Gill asked me to make sure I had put all my compostables into their containers, so I spent an hour or so chopping and loading.
Decided to get the latest train so had tea and helped with the boys, then cycled to the station with all my Fiddlesticks gear and got the Hull train after 8pm. Enjoyed having the time to write my diary and do some more planning of my book, and when I got to Hull got a £7 taxi ride to 'The Vllage Hotel' where the group from Diabetes UK was having their weekend away.
Met my hosts and dumped stuff in my room and spent the next couple of hours chatting and answering questions on low-impact living, composting, etc. Bed after midnight.
Got up early to try to write a letter but didn't get very far. As soon as Gill came back from the 'school run' (on her bike of course!) I cycled over to Acomb where the count was taking place. The count was in a large sports hall, with all the workers in the centre and the candidates and agents and observers around the outside, watching what was going on. It's quite an exciting process in some ways, and very boring in others, but I enjoy being there and participating in it.
The ballot papers were first sorted into block votes and split votes, these where there were two or three councillors to be voted in. Where someone had voted for both or all 3 of one party's candidates, they were placed in piles for counting. Where a voter had voted for 2 or 3 different parties, these were gone thruogh one by one and the names of the candidate voted for read out and a second election worker marked them off on a special sheet.
When all these figures were added up and ready to be announced, the candidates and agents were asked to come into a corner together and look at the disputed and spoiled ballots, and they were either agreed as good or spoiled or not filled in.
One of the first to be called was Bishopthorpe, where John Galvin (Conservative) had been voted out of last election, and soon after that, I had collared him and asked him if he would be the chair of York Credit Union Study Group. In this role I had got to know him quite well, and had grown to respect and like him, not his party politics, John as a person. So i was happy that this time he was elected back ono the council, the first of 8 Tory councillors, all new after a Tory-free term. Labour did quite well, and the Lib-Dems didn't, as they have generally been viewed as having cocked up badly this term. Fortunately the Fishergate Greens both got elected, Andy D'Agorne for a second term and Dave Taylor for his first, replacing Mark Hill.
We did quite well in some other wards, including increasing our share in my ward, Hull Road, where Andrew Collingwood and I got about 15%. Two Labour councillors got in here.
I went to see the media students during the count and after my result was announced, i think they enjoyed the process and were glad to have got involved, or at least observed it.
I cycled home via my usual compostables collection route and got hiome in time to go and get the boys. Felt quite deflated and down, as not getting in always leaves me feeling like this, even if I don't expect to get in. Also, as the phone still wasn't working, so I was unable to ring from home or do my emails. Gill spent much of the day trying to get it fixed, by going to the public call box round the corner and having to deal with automated messages...
In the evening I went round to a friend's house and used their phone to download emails and let people know what had happened, re electoral stuff and lack of phone stuff.
The ballot papers were first sorted into block votes and split votes, these where there were two or three councillors to be voted in. Where someone had voted for both or all 3 of one party's candidates, they were placed in piles for counting. Where a voter had voted for 2 or 3 different parties, these were gone thruogh one by one and the names of the candidate voted for read out and a second election worker marked them off on a special sheet.
When all these figures were added up and ready to be announced, the candidates and agents were asked to come into a corner together and look at the disputed and spoiled ballots, and they were either agreed as good or spoiled or not filled in.
One of the first to be called was Bishopthorpe, where John Galvin (Conservative) had been voted out of last election, and soon after that, I had collared him and asked him if he would be the chair of York Credit Union Study Group. In this role I had got to know him quite well, and had grown to respect and like him, not his party politics, John as a person. So i was happy that this time he was elected back ono the council, the first of 8 Tory councillors, all new after a Tory-free term. Labour did quite well, and the Lib-Dems didn't, as they have generally been viewed as having cocked up badly this term. Fortunately the Fishergate Greens both got elected, Andy D'Agorne for a second term and Dave Taylor for his first, replacing Mark Hill.
We did quite well in some other wards, including increasing our share in my ward, Hull Road, where Andrew Collingwood and I got about 15%. Two Labour councillors got in here.
I went to see the media students during the count and after my result was announced, i think they enjoyed the process and were glad to have got involved, or at least observed it.
I cycled home via my usual compostables collection route and got hiome in time to go and get the boys. Felt quite deflated and down, as not getting in always leaves me feeling like this, even if I don't expect to get in. Also, as the phone still wasn't working, so I was unable to ring from home or do my emails. Gill spent much of the day trying to get it fixed, by going to the public call box round the corner and having to deal with automated messages...
In the evening I went round to a friend's house and used their phone to download emails and let people know what had happened, re electoral stuff and lack of phone stuff.
