Up early as work today. I got washed, breakfasted, all my stuff together whilst Gill ironed my costume and made some sandwiches. Then I went down the garden with Janie and picked some beans, and found some windfall James Grieve apples for her. I got both our bikes and loaded up mine, minus trailer, in a way I'd not done before.
I put both unicycles on the luggage rack with their stems either side of my saddle and their saddles on my cross bar. My bag of sticks etc then went on top of the unicycle wheels, and was bungied on. In my rucksack I had costume, the fun wheels and pedal go. In a pannier I had my canvas bag with sandwiches, journal and No Impact Man (the book, not Colin himself!).
Janie and I cycled slowly down to the station... using the cycle track and then Monkgate and Goodramgate. We got there at 10.45 and had 10 minutes before her Manchester train went, and my Starbeck train left 10 minutes after that.
I was met at Starbeck by a nice and very chatty bloke called John who took me to Spofforth, where the Gala was just getting going. I'd been asked just a few days ago if I'd come and entertain, as the magician who'd been booked was ill. So I was due to do a half hour show at 1.15 and another at 3.15. Between these times I was very busy doing workshops, unicycling round and doing devilsticks really fast to a Samba Band, and towards the end, making a lot of balloon animals. Lots of people said they were pleased to see me back, which was nice.
Right at the end, the treasurer came to pay me and reimburse my train fare. John the chat gave me a lift back to Knaresborough. I got changed on the station platform! I tried to read on the way back but dozed... gigs always wear me out.
I was quite grumpy when I got back as I was really tired but there was fighting, taunting, screaming, crying etc and I lost my cool and swore, which I later apologised for. It took me quite a while to shake off this mood, but at midnight I found the second episode of Ideal on iPlayer and that cheered me up. Bed at 1.30ish.
Showing posts with label Ideal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ideal. Show all posts
Well, a super day; my first job was to go and find somewhere to do some 'guerrilla composting'. We'd generated a small bag full of compostables and I wanted to dispose of this in as appropriate way as possible. So I took it just a few minutes walk from the back door and found a place in the woods where I could make a little heap and place a few rotten sticks over them as camouflage. This will just add a little bit extra to the leaf litter and fertility of the woodland, and avoids the only other disposal route open to us, landfill.
Then I went down to Mumbles to get cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, soya and goats milk. I came back in good time to get myself some lunch and get that eaten before Gill's Uncle George came to pick us up. But I was in the middle of making my sandwiches when there was a knock at the door and it was Karl. He wanted to find out from me how I earned a living as a self-employed entertainer/educator. I finished making my sandwiches and as I ate them, answered his questions and suggested how he might be able to do his creative 'thing' and make some money. I hope we keep in touch, he seemed like an interesting and nice guy.
Then George came, and Karl left. George is Gill's Father's younger brother. He is very much like what Gill remembers her father Brinley to be like, so this was a lovely meeting. He drove us via Langlands Bay, where we got out and had a quick look at the beach, and then on to Caswell Bay, Bishopton, Kittle and then onto the main road across the Common past the airport and into Killay, where he and Auntie Rhona live. We last saw them at our wedding in 1999, and it was really lovely to see them again.
We were shown a load of photos, including some of when Gill was pregnant with our first child. We had a laugh at this... the boys were amused at her hair colour, which was brown, whereas it's now white, and Gill was amused to see that in the photo she was wearing a blue denim dress and red woolen cardigan. She still has both items of clothing, and has them with her now here on holiday!
Then we went into the garden where George grows leeks, runner beans, more leeks, a few potatoes and courgettes, and more leeks. I offered to do a bit of weeding for him, as his compost bin needed some more materials. I said I'd swap the weeding for half an hour on his computer so I could catch up with my emails. So I pulled out lots of spindly brambles, lots of small rose bay willow herb and some bindweed. I joined in with a game of boules and did some more weeding/Rotol Bin filling.
Then it was tea time; we'd brought a few bits with us, a plum and apple crumble, some pasta salad and a kind of nutloaf made with the excess Bulgar wheat from yesterday's stuffed courgettes. Rhona had provided potato salad, lettuce and coleslaw. After this George showed me his computer and I signed into Tiscali webmail, where there were some messages I was really glad to get and to reply to, and I went on facebook too and got up to date with a few messages there. I finished just as George and Rhona's daughter in law Diane arrived, and soon after, their son and her husband Jonathan. Gill hasn't seen these cousins for decades, so this was really nice too.
As it was getting dark Jonathan took us back to Mumbles. Although it hadn't rained much today, it was fairly cool this evening so Gill said yes to me lighting the stove, which is a Nestor Martin approx 4kw jobbie, with a top-loading facility. The glass in the door was quite well sooted up so I used the old method of cleaning it... screw up a sheet of newspaper, spit on it and dip the wet area in the ashes in the grate. This has the right amount of abrasion to easily remove the soot, and the window came up clean very nicely. The stove worked reasonably well and was fun to have a go with. I'm glad I collected some fuel.
I was really pleased to see the first episode of the latest series of my favourite comedy 'Ideal' which is completely surreal and very funny. Gill loves it too.
Then I went down to Mumbles to get cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, soya and goats milk. I came back in good time to get myself some lunch and get that eaten before Gill's Uncle George came to pick us up. But I was in the middle of making my sandwiches when there was a knock at the door and it was Karl. He wanted to find out from me how I earned a living as a self-employed entertainer/educator. I finished making my sandwiches and as I ate them, answered his questions and suggested how he might be able to do his creative 'thing' and make some money. I hope we keep in touch, he seemed like an interesting and nice guy.
Then George came, and Karl left. George is Gill's Father's younger brother. He is very much like what Gill remembers her father Brinley to be like, so this was a lovely meeting. He drove us via Langlands Bay, where we got out and had a quick look at the beach, and then on to Caswell Bay, Bishopton, Kittle and then onto the main road across the Common past the airport and into Killay, where he and Auntie Rhona live. We last saw them at our wedding in 1999, and it was really lovely to see them again.
We were shown a load of photos, including some of when Gill was pregnant with our first child. We had a laugh at this... the boys were amused at her hair colour, which was brown, whereas it's now white, and Gill was amused to see that in the photo she was wearing a blue denim dress and red woolen cardigan. She still has both items of clothing, and has them with her now here on holiday!
Then we went into the garden where George grows leeks, runner beans, more leeks, a few potatoes and courgettes, and more leeks. I offered to do a bit of weeding for him, as his compost bin needed some more materials. I said I'd swap the weeding for half an hour on his computer so I could catch up with my emails. So I pulled out lots of spindly brambles, lots of small rose bay willow herb and some bindweed. I joined in with a game of boules and did some more weeding/Rotol Bin filling.
Then it was tea time; we'd brought a few bits with us, a plum and apple crumble, some pasta salad and a kind of nutloaf made with the excess Bulgar wheat from yesterday's stuffed courgettes. Rhona had provided potato salad, lettuce and coleslaw. After this George showed me his computer and I signed into Tiscali webmail, where there were some messages I was really glad to get and to reply to, and I went on facebook too and got up to date with a few messages there. I finished just as George and Rhona's daughter in law Diane arrived, and soon after, their son and her husband Jonathan. Gill hasn't seen these cousins for decades, so this was really nice too.
As it was getting dark Jonathan took us back to Mumbles. Although it hadn't rained much today, it was fairly cool this evening so Gill said yes to me lighting the stove, which is a Nestor Martin approx 4kw jobbie, with a top-loading facility. The glass in the door was quite well sooted up so I used the old method of cleaning it... screw up a sheet of newspaper, spit on it and dip the wet area in the ashes in the grate. This has the right amount of abrasion to easily remove the soot, and the window came up clean very nicely. The stove worked reasonably well and was fun to have a go with. I'm glad I collected some fuel.
I was really pleased to see the first episode of the latest series of my favourite comedy 'Ideal' which is completely surreal and very funny. Gill loves it too.
Quite a busy day.. Both boys feeling poorly so they stayed at home. I had to go to a meeting in town and after that popped into Pauline's, and got back at midday, via Freshways. I sorted out their compostables before lunch, and rescued some leeks and tomatoes, spent half an hour preparing them and made a large pan of what turned out to be soup. I also did some logging, chopped a load of the ones John Bibby gave to me, and split them, stacked a few round the back. I did a lot of washing up... loads of jars for refilling and recycling, also soya milk cartons.
During the middle of the afternoon I cycled down to Foss Islands Road to 'Staples' as my eldest needs a new school bag with no logo. I did find one the right size, right number of pockets, only a small maker's logo, for £35. I bought it.
Probably the most exciting thing to happen today was getting a message via vskips from a York person who was responding to my offer of compost, and wanting to have two tonnes for a new raised bed. I can probably oblige, as this amounts to between 2 and 3 cubic metres of compost, and I'm sure I have this, dotted around. It'll release a lot of space... I hope it happens! Quite a big job, though, bagging up maybe 100 sacks of compost and taking it up to the front. Will take all day. Keep me fit.
Or maybe the most exciting thing was a thunderstorm whilst I was working in the garage?
Loved my tea... leek and tomato soup plus Polish bread, this also just past it's sell by date but made excellent hommous sandwiches to go with the soup.
Worked outside til 10.30pm. Then came in and switched on to Ideal, the last episode. I'll miss it... it is so surreal and funny. I'm not a massive fan of Johnny Vegas but I've grown to like him as Moz, the hero of Ideal. I really hope they make another series.
During the middle of the afternoon I cycled down to Foss Islands Road to 'Staples' as my eldest needs a new school bag with no logo. I did find one the right size, right number of pockets, only a small maker's logo, for £35. I bought it.
Probably the most exciting thing to happen today was getting a message via vskips from a York person who was responding to my offer of compost, and wanting to have two tonnes for a new raised bed. I can probably oblige, as this amounts to between 2 and 3 cubic metres of compost, and I'm sure I have this, dotted around. It'll release a lot of space... I hope it happens! Quite a big job, though, bagging up maybe 100 sacks of compost and taking it up to the front. Will take all day. Keep me fit.
Or maybe the most exciting thing was a thunderstorm whilst I was working in the garage?
Loved my tea... leek and tomato soup plus Polish bread, this also just past it's sell by date but made excellent hommous sandwiches to go with the soup.
Worked outside til 10.30pm. Then came in and switched on to Ideal, the last episode. I'll miss it... it is so surreal and funny. I'm not a massive fan of Johnny Vegas but I've grown to like him as Moz, the hero of Ideal. I really hope they make another series.
Came down stairs before 8 and the house felt quite cold... we've had a few warm days and then last night was chilly and this morning was cold, so I lit the stove and prepared to do the washing up. Gill got a phone call from the hospital to say her knee physiotherapist was not in today so her appointment was cancelled.
Managed to get boy 1 out of the house on time but boy 2 was late, and Gill rang up school to say she would be in as soon as possible with him. I have deliberately ceased to get worried or upset by this type of morning. I am generally very very punctual, nearly always arriving early (apart from things which drop off my radar, like this week's Planning Panel cock-up) and I am slowly learning not to project my likes and dislikes, my agenda, onto my children and wife. I just have to let them get on with it.
I did a variety of housework jobs and waited for the post to come, as it promised to contain Charles's Proxy Postal vote which had not yet turned up. And it did, so I filled it in and took it to the polling station, gave it in and placed my vote. I collected a trailer-load of wood from a skip on the way back... with permission of course!
Had a good chat on the phone with Dave Hampton, the 'original' Carbon Coach, about how he does his specialised form of life coaching, and I enjoyed talking to him for the first time. Weird, as I feel I know him quite well, despite having never met him!
Funny old afternoon. I got tea ready as Gill was late returning from town, but had to rush out at 6 as I'd promised to go and sit at a polling station with my Green Party rosette on. There was another Green supporter there when I arrived, Jane, who is relatively new to York, and it was good to meet her and chat for a bit. She'd been there since 4pm and was cold, so left at 6.45ish, and I stayed on for another hour or so. I was surprised how many people grinned at me, or put their thumb up, or just told me they'd voted Green. But we'll have to wait for the count over the weekend to know the results.
Came home via Freshways and collected the usual sack of beginning to rot 'foreign veg' for my heap.
A nice tea... pasta, broccoli, pastie, fruit salad. Felt full and satisfied. Enjoyed 'Ideal' on telly... what a totally surreal programme, hilarious!
Managed to get boy 1 out of the house on time but boy 2 was late, and Gill rang up school to say she would be in as soon as possible with him. I have deliberately ceased to get worried or upset by this type of morning. I am generally very very punctual, nearly always arriving early (apart from things which drop off my radar, like this week's Planning Panel cock-up) and I am slowly learning not to project my likes and dislikes, my agenda, onto my children and wife. I just have to let them get on with it.
I did a variety of housework jobs and waited for the post to come, as it promised to contain Charles's Proxy Postal vote which had not yet turned up. And it did, so I filled it in and took it to the polling station, gave it in and placed my vote. I collected a trailer-load of wood from a skip on the way back... with permission of course!
Had a good chat on the phone with Dave Hampton, the 'original' Carbon Coach, about how he does his specialised form of life coaching, and I enjoyed talking to him for the first time. Weird, as I feel I know him quite well, despite having never met him!
Funny old afternoon. I got tea ready as Gill was late returning from town, but had to rush out at 6 as I'd promised to go and sit at a polling station with my Green Party rosette on. There was another Green supporter there when I arrived, Jane, who is relatively new to York, and it was good to meet her and chat for a bit. She'd been there since 4pm and was cold, so left at 6.45ish, and I stayed on for another hour or so. I was surprised how many people grinned at me, or put their thumb up, or just told me they'd voted Green. But we'll have to wait for the count over the weekend to know the results.
Came home via Freshways and collected the usual sack of beginning to rot 'foreign veg' for my heap.
A nice tea... pasta, broccoli, pastie, fruit salad. Felt full and satisfied. Enjoyed 'Ideal' on telly... what a totally surreal programme, hilarious!
Both went down to school with the boys and had a meeting with the head. This was regarding an incident at school yesterday. The teachers and head were very sympathetic and understanding and have come up with some possible solutions.
The rest of the day was quite quiet, and I picked the boys up at hometime.
After school went to Huddersfield to meet up with a group of people all members of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (of which I'm a member too) to do a talk on 'my version of green', or selected topics re climate change, ethical lifestyles etc etc.
I started by telling them why I did an Environmental Health degree and about finding out about Agenda 21 in the last term, and putting on a talk about LA21 in the last week I was at Leeds Met, and then helping to get York LA21 going and us successfully lobbying City of York Council to employ an LA21 officer. I then told them why I didn't become an EHO... discovering circus skills and going self employed, and my involvement with LETS which led to me getting York Credit Union going.
I then very enthusiastically explained about my involvement with composting and my starting York Rotters, and how my compost toilet led to me working with BBC Newsnight's 'Ethical Man' and how this led to my getting a column and blog in a magazine. Then I said about last year's start-up of CRAG, the Green Festival, and this spring's Oxfam low-carbon-footprint competition with subsequent visit to Hilary Benn and other MPs.
Of course I was able to put lots of extra facts and lifestyle info into this framework, and in the Q and A session afterwards I talked about compost toilets (again!), Energy Performance Certificates, greening your building and a bit more about successful composting and Master Compost groups. The whole thing took nearly an hour. I enjoyed it very much.
I was given a cheque to cover my travelling expenses plus a bit extra, and taken back to the railway station. I got into the house at about 9.30, just in time to see the latest chunk of 'Ideal' on BBC3 which was very funny. After this I prepared a load of cherry tomatoes and red onions (both thrown out by the wholesaler... the onions are sprouting - for me this shows they are alive but it means that some people won't buy them because they're not quite as firm as dormant onions... the tomatoes were in 9 punnets, each punnet having one or two mouldy tomatoes but 7 or 8 good ones!) and made soup on the woodstove, whilst half watching something on the telly with Gill and doing emails and chatting on the computer with two of my friends all at once. I like this kind of productive evening, I find it very difficult to concentrate on just one thing at once, and much prefer to be bobbing around, doing this and that, shifting my concentration from one thing to another. However it can be difficult for some of the people I know who have a different way of 'working best' and are able (or prefer) to concentrate on one thing at a time. But hey, this makes for a diverse world and this is how I like it!
The rest of the day was quite quiet, and I picked the boys up at hometime.
After school went to Huddersfield to meet up with a group of people all members of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (of which I'm a member too) to do a talk on 'my version of green', or selected topics re climate change, ethical lifestyles etc etc.
I started by telling them why I did an Environmental Health degree and about finding out about Agenda 21 in the last term, and putting on a talk about LA21 in the last week I was at Leeds Met, and then helping to get York LA21 going and us successfully lobbying City of York Council to employ an LA21 officer. I then told them why I didn't become an EHO... discovering circus skills and going self employed, and my involvement with LETS which led to me getting York Credit Union going.
I then very enthusiastically explained about my involvement with composting and my starting York Rotters, and how my compost toilet led to me working with BBC Newsnight's 'Ethical Man' and how this led to my getting a column and blog in a magazine. Then I said about last year's start-up of CRAG, the Green Festival, and this spring's Oxfam low-carbon-footprint competition with subsequent visit to Hilary Benn and other MPs.
Of course I was able to put lots of extra facts and lifestyle info into this framework, and in the Q and A session afterwards I talked about compost toilets (again!), Energy Performance Certificates, greening your building and a bit more about successful composting and Master Compost groups. The whole thing took nearly an hour. I enjoyed it very much.
I was given a cheque to cover my travelling expenses plus a bit extra, and taken back to the railway station. I got into the house at about 9.30, just in time to see the latest chunk of 'Ideal' on BBC3 which was very funny. After this I prepared a load of cherry tomatoes and red onions (both thrown out by the wholesaler... the onions are sprouting - for me this shows they are alive but it means that some people won't buy them because they're not quite as firm as dormant onions... the tomatoes were in 9 punnets, each punnet having one or two mouldy tomatoes but 7 or 8 good ones!) and made soup on the woodstove, whilst half watching something on the telly with Gill and doing emails and chatting on the computer with two of my friends all at once. I like this kind of productive evening, I find it very difficult to concentrate on just one thing at once, and much prefer to be bobbing around, doing this and that, shifting my concentration from one thing to another. However it can be difficult for some of the people I know who have a different way of 'working best' and are able (or prefer) to concentrate on one thing at a time. But hey, this makes for a diverse world and this is how I like it!
A day working... after breakfast I did my paid blog, on my favourite subject, composting. Tomorrow the Community Care magazine is publishing my latest column which is on gardening, and to go with that I have a brief why and how with home composting. It just took an hour to put together. After this I had a very brief shower and got my stuff together to go to Pocklington to the POP Club, an out of school club.
I had to walk to Thief Lane to get the bus, which was a service which went through Heslington, not up Hull Road. I had already contacted the bus company about taking my unicycle on the bus... there's apparently a rule which says 'no bicycles on the bus' and on at least one occasion I've been refused onto the bus because the driver has seen the unicycle and thought it was a bicycle. So this time I rang the bus company and asked about bringing the unicycle... and fortunately, I was allowed. So when the bus came to the stop opposite the Retreat, I was suprised to be handed a large black plastic bin bag and told to put the unicycle in that, and take the saddle off! Fortunately the bag was big enough to go around the 36 inch wheel and I didn't take the saddle off (it is really difficult to take off and on anyway) and the driver didn't make a fuss. I remained extremely polite, and when we got to Pocklington, I thanked him for his help.. he didn't want the bag back.
My host was waiting for me to take me to the school where the POP Club was, and all the kiddies were very excited about my visit. I got changed and did my one-hour show, then two half-hour workshops, then the balloon show, finishing on the dot of 5pm. The bus back was at 5.45ish and the driver didn't comment at all about my unusually shaped luggage.
Home nice and quickly, Gill had made tea... stew and dumplings, and I had a quiet evening including a good chat with K and enjoyable 'Ideal', just as surreal as ever.
I had to walk to Thief Lane to get the bus, which was a service which went through Heslington, not up Hull Road. I had already contacted the bus company about taking my unicycle on the bus... there's apparently a rule which says 'no bicycles on the bus' and on at least one occasion I've been refused onto the bus because the driver has seen the unicycle and thought it was a bicycle. So this time I rang the bus company and asked about bringing the unicycle... and fortunately, I was allowed. So when the bus came to the stop opposite the Retreat, I was suprised to be handed a large black plastic bin bag and told to put the unicycle in that, and take the saddle off! Fortunately the bag was big enough to go around the 36 inch wheel and I didn't take the saddle off (it is really difficult to take off and on anyway) and the driver didn't make a fuss. I remained extremely polite, and when we got to Pocklington, I thanked him for his help.. he didn't want the bag back.
My host was waiting for me to take me to the school where the POP Club was, and all the kiddies were very excited about my visit. I got changed and did my one-hour show, then two half-hour workshops, then the balloon show, finishing on the dot of 5pm. The bus back was at 5.45ish and the driver didn't comment at all about my unusually shaped luggage.
Home nice and quickly, Gill had made tea... stew and dumplings, and I had a quiet evening including a good chat with K and enjoyable 'Ideal', just as surreal as ever.
Gill took the boys to school and then went on a school visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park with our eldest.
I had a quiet day inside, although the weather was lovely out, I had to get my paid blog done (didn't do it at the weekend) and had a chat with Ali and Lorna and then just before I came off the computer at lunchtime, with K... so a busy and communicative morning. Also had several Fiddlesticks enquiries After lunch I did housework, washing up, made tomato soup, and finally getting out to the front garden to build a logpile just as the troops came home. I took just one boy (not my own!) to Martial Arts and went to collect stuff from Country Fresh, taking it to the lottie.
Home to have soup and pasta at 6, spent most of the evening dealing with a vast number of apples which were too good to compost and are perfect for drying. Loaded 4 racks with dozens and dozens of slices, plus one with melon slices. A warm evening with the stove, watching Ideal on BBC3 and Newsnight. Gill was exhausted from all the walking, plus the warmth of the stove made her sleep all evening.
I had a quiet day inside, although the weather was lovely out, I had to get my paid blog done (didn't do it at the weekend) and had a chat with Ali and Lorna and then just before I came off the computer at lunchtime, with K... so a busy and communicative morning. Also had several Fiddlesticks enquiries After lunch I did housework, washing up, made tomato soup, and finally getting out to the front garden to build a logpile just as the troops came home. I took just one boy (not my own!) to Martial Arts and went to collect stuff from Country Fresh, taking it to the lottie.
Home to have soup and pasta at 6, spent most of the evening dealing with a vast number of apples which were too good to compost and are perfect for drying. Loaded 4 racks with dozens and dozens of slices, plus one with melon slices. A warm evening with the stove, watching Ideal on BBC3 and Newsnight. Gill was exhausted from all the walking, plus the warmth of the stove made her sleep all evening.
