Human Lifestyle: Maria

Showing posts with label Maria. Show all posts

Thursday 18th March 11

An early start... but not a good one. Gill forgot to set the alarm and she woke at 8, and then was in a panic about getting to school as she was setting up the shop. I got up with her and made our youngest's breakfast and lunch, and then made breakfast for our eldest. They were both awake before us and apologised about not waking Gill when there was a no-show at the normal time.

However, despite the short time to get ready, they were waiting for the taxi when it came and apparently weren't more than a couple of minutes late into school.

I went round to Maria's with our eldest for his science lesson, and I got busy in the garden. There was minimal work to do with the compost, and Maria asked me to take out a tree stump. I found a really good 'trenching spade' which I've never had cause to use before, and with this I was able to dig a trench round one side and under the bole, and the roots were fairly rotten so the spade went through these, and by 10am, I'd got the trunk tipping over, but it was too heavy for me to lift out by myself, so I'll wait until Johan is around and we'll heave it out together, I should think.

I came home and gave permission to our son to do exactly as he pleased until Gill came home, as he'd started early at Maria's and worked hard. I did my emails and then went in the lovely spring sunshine and started to prepare the composting area for the re-erection of a pallet compost bin, choosing the pallets to use carefully and wiring them together securely too.

At lunchtime I came in and watched the news and did emails etc, and bought my train ticket to Bristol next Tuesday, as Tracey Smith has invited me to go and help with the Wipe Out Waste Awards.

I did more work in the garden, getting the chicken wire into place and starting to fill the new bin with the contents of the old one which is full.

Had a freegan tarte thing for tea, and then went to the new University Campus for a sort of presentation about the future of energy in the UK. This was quite good but I didn't learn a lot... except that petrol cars are just 25% efficient, and big diesel lorries are about 35% efficient at turning fuel into motion. I sat with Carolyn and Geoff, which was interesting. Came home via a log which was too big for my trailer so I stopped off at Paddy's house and picked up his prunings, as requested.

Friday 4th February 11

Up early, at about 8, in order to go round to Maria's with our eldest, as Maria had asked if I would help with emptying one of her 3 compost bins in return for teaching our boy science. Gill went to school in a taxi again, as getting our youngest on a bike first thing in the morning or on a bus even earlier is neigh on impossible. Gill stayed at school to learn how to run the shop. She came back after her 9 til 10 shift.

I spent 90 minutes digging out the compost heap, sorting out uncomposted sticks to put on the current pile, and uncomposted bits and bobs like twist-ties, nylon pyramidal tea bags and assorted other plastic, and a few stones, and some broken pottery too. I filled 13 sacks, but have another half of the cubic metre of compost to do, perhaps next week.

At 10.30 we walked back, talking about energy, today's subject. I cleaned up and at about 11.10 set off to go to town to meet James Houston in El Piano. He wanted to talk to me about two aspects of
The Galtres Festival... the possibilities re composting, and what Professor Fiddlesticks could add to the event. I heard what has happened about waste and recycling in the past, and then outlined four scenarios for what could happen. The Fiddlesticks chat was a lot simpler and shorter, but it looks like I'm going to be booked to do one or both roles. However, I've got to write an email summarising the compost options.

I cycled home via Alligator and picked up a trailer load of goodies... including a huge butternut squash which had a couple of small patches of rot, so later I washed it, cut those out and made a big pan of butternut squash soup. I was planning on attending a campaigning workshop with Adrian Ramsay, the deputy leader of The Green Party, but there was such a huge pile of washing up after my being away yesterday that I lit the stove, washed up, did the butternut soup, and made a nutloaf instead. I had that all done by 5.30, so I then went to the University to hear Adrian Ramsay give a talk on what the Greens would do instead of the awfully damaging ConDem cuts.

I was pleased to meet Adrian, who was just finishing off his evening meal in the canteen, and I told him about Jillian Creasy's comment about how Mozaz always challenged people, including her, and that this was a valuable role that gritty irritating people had. We then walked over to the lecture theatre and I was pleased to see Kate Lock, so I sat with her, but there were quite a few of my Green Party friends, and People and Planet friends, and the meeting was well attended.

Adrian was a good speaker, and presented a fairly short overview of what the Greens would do if they had the chance, and then there were a wide range of questions. This easily filled the hour allotted.

I came home and had a slice of nutloaf with baked beans and some slices of fried home-grown squash left over from a few days ago.

Later in the evening, I had a long phone call (one hour forty one minutes, according to our phone!) with Emily who was Mozaz' friend. We'd chatted a bit on facebook but the chat thing wasn't working too well so I said she could ring me if she wanted. What a lovely person, I think I've got another friend there.

Wednesday 2nd February 11

A hardworking day, dealing with the untidy front garden, riddling more of the accumulated sawdust and sawing up most of the logs and wood that I've collected over the past few weeks. The sawn up logs were split and stacked either on a new stack of 'green' or wet logs, or if dry (like the wood from Mandy) next to the front door for almost immediate use, or on a pile which doesn't need much drying and should be ready by the summer or autumn. The green wood will take a year or two to completely dry.

One of the best things to happen in our son's home education for a while was that today he discovered that there was speech recognition software on Gill's laptop, so he installed that and 'trained' it with his voice, by reading out a load of sentences presented to him on the screen. Then he got on with his science homework from Maria, and finished 8 questions. Had he been writing these, he'd have probably got two done. Yay for speech recognition software!

And Yay! for Richard at Country Fresh who always brightens my day! I cycled down there, via a Freecycler who had bits of used candle to give away, (always good to have a bit of candle wax to help light the stoves), and I popped in on St Nicks to give Ivana a sack of riddled sawdust for their compost toilets, and then on to Richard to buy broccoli and onions, and pick up compostables.

The only other significant thing which happened was that we got a hate letter from someone we know which was full of disgusting slurs and accusations. Gill was so angry and wanted to go and remonstrate with the sender but I persuaded her to leave it. I'm used to criticism and I wasn't too bothered... sad, for the sender, but I've far more people in my life who like me, think I'm doing the right thing and have the right approach to life. I've never said I'm perfect or get it right all of the time, but I don't think anyone should have to receive treatment like that. I am currently composing a 'page' about the assorted criticism I've received and this letter will definitely go in that. I wonder why some people read my blog? If reading something makes them angry, why oh why do they read it? Some people are daft. Or maybe I've missed something? Maybe it's like the thrill of watching a horror film... something else I don't understand, or do!

At 9, I watched a good programme with our little science expert, about the science of waves. Really interesting stuff... I learned lots too!

Tuesday 1st February 11

Up early as Gill took our little one to school and I had to be up for Justin to come and do the second day of sorting out the electrics. He did a few more tests with the power off, and then a load with the power live. One of the problems was apparently our outside lights, which are connected either with hifi speaker cable, or something called 'festoon cable' which is used to string temporary lights up, and the lamps just screw directly into the cable. Ideally we'd need this replacing with proper cable, but we can't afford to do this so Justin has disconnected the most dangerous bits, such as the garage 'spur' and given us a certificate for the bits which are safe.

I worked with our eldest on a project about the Romans, and I think I've suggested something he likes the idea of. So I helped him develop that, chivvied him along. Justin got to the loft where there was a socket which had been damaged by an impact, so he was going to drive up to B+Q to buy another, but I suggested that I went instead, and he said that would be a better use of his time. So I bombed up there on my bike and spent £1.48 on a new 'back box' which was the part which was broken.

At 1pm I had lunch and at 2 I rolled up to St Nicks for a meeting with John and Edward, to review the new arrangements with my volunteering as a Rotter. The meeting was short as all is going well. I had a productive chat with Catherine about the compost training I'm presenting on the 12th February, and then I had 3 things to discuss with Ivana. I was cycling away by about 3, and as arranged, popped in on Maria to discuss the science lessons she's giving our home-schooler. She loves doing it, and can take him up to GCSE in Chemistry and probably physics. In return.... and I'm so pleased with this, she's asked me to dig out her compost heap. I'll bag it up and then either I or she will spread it on her front garden. Woo hoo!

I got back to an empty house as Justin had finished and Gill had gone to pick up our youngest and had taken our eldest with her. I was able to go on the net for the first time today, as for the rest of the day, the power had been on and off, so I hadn't bothered.

Once done, I did a bit of sawdust riddling... I now have about 6 sacks of riddled sawdust, a mix of recently produced white/yellow particles and the stuff underneath, on top of the tarp, which has started to decompose and is dark coloured. This is ideal compost-toilet cover,and is good for any compost heap which has a lot of nitrogen-rich materials, such as grass cuttings, fruit, veg or manure. I wonder if I could sell it?

I had soup for tea, with a pile of pasta shells and broad beans in it. Lovely, and exceedingly simple. At about 6pm I sped off on the bike again to Langwith College to the People and Planet meeting. I wanted to see how the Waste Food Feast meeting went today, but it seemed that maybe it didn't happen today. However, we did some planning for the Go Green week, which I'm going to do some stuff in. Should be good. I was reminded that Phoebe sent me a document about composting at the University which I said I'd comment on, so that was my work for this evening once I'd got home. I did however get distracted by a very good programme about explosives.

Friday 21st January 11

Up early but I'd have liked a lie-in, but as Gill was taking our youngest to school, I got up and ensured that our home-educated child got to Maria's on time for his science lesson with her. Once Gill came back, I went to the bread shop for £4 worth of yesterbake bread (2 big loaves, 4 bags of assorted rolls, 4 iced spirals and 2 bags of flapjack offcuts) and I posted a big parcel of home made dried fruit to Tracey Smith, in swap for her book 'The Book of Rubbish Ideas' which she sent to me to review here! I haven't started reading it yet, but hope to get around to it soon.

I also read our gas and electricity meters, as I'd received a gas bill and the last two readings were estimates. I buy both gas and electricity from Good Energy, which supplies 100% renewable electricity, and the gas bill helps pay ROCs to people with solar panels. The way I pay my bills is to pay a whole year annually in advance, and this means I can easily work out our annual consumption. So, over the past 12 months, this household of 4 people has used 65 cubic metres of gas, which equates to 726kwh, and cost £65, with £40 standing charge... so our annual gas bill is £111.61. We use more electricity than gas, 2009kwh last year, which is 5.5kw per day. The national average is 10 to 28kw/day I was told. This makes our annual electricity bill £342.84. I will pay by bank transfer next week.

I enjoyed lunch, and after this bagged up some very well rotted (and dry and powdery!) compost from a rotating barrel tumbler. It will need riddling but the majority of it is really lovely stuff.

Gill had already gone down to town by bus and then out to the Steiner School, and was awaiting an interview with the class teacher and anther staff member. I cycled down, getting there just in time for the 3.45 interview. It seems that our boy has settled in to this new school well, and has made friends and is already pretty well integrated into his class. We need to fill in a form and work out our gross income to work out our financial contribution, but this should be relatively simple. We were away by 5pm, Gill and Junior got the bus and I cycled quickly home and put the oven on, as Gill rang and said she'd bought oven chips in Iceland. We don't have chips very often... maybe once a month, but now and again it's quick and easy.

At 6.45 I took our eldest down to Heslington for his computer graphics lesson. I picked up 2 loads of wood in the intervening hour and then walked back with him after 8.

I'd been invited to a party this evening but I decided to stay in, and was glad I did as my authority was welcomed when some behaviour happened which merited intervention. So another busy and full day.

Friday 24th December 10

I enjoyed waking up this morning, a long slow drift into conciousness. A peaceful morning too... lovely.

I did a bit of kitchen work, some stuff in the garden, a trip to see Richard to get a few parsnips and spuds, and to give him a non-Xmas present of some dried fruit and a little jar of sweet red pepper paprika, to aid his cooking adventures. In return, he gave me some onion bhajis which he'd been given (from the nearby Indian takeaway, I think) which made my evening meal.

I sorted out a lot of fruit today... made a banana and lime and tamarind leather, was in the middle of this when Maria came round.

Later, Nick popped in to deliver a card, he had a cuppa and some tamarind, and some of the banana and lime leather I made last week. I think he was impressed.

Gill and I had a leisurely evening dealing with the presents, watching rubbish on the box and keeping warm.

Friday 10th December 10

An earlyish start as I was due to take our eldest round to Maria, our biochemist friend who coaches and teaches, and has agreed to do science for an hour a week as part of his home schooling. I had told him that I'd be happy to go round with him, to sit in with him if he wanted, or to stay in Maria's house. In the end, I sat downstairs for the hour, read my NewScientist and dozed. Our lad had a good session, mainly planning the forthcoming weeks.

I went into town to meet my new friend Lisa, whom I've had loads of chats with on facebook, and we have a shared music taste (Talking Heads, dance music, etc) but we'd never met, until today. So we went to El Piano and after that, I parked my bike and we walked down to the Millennium Bridge, and then back into town the other side of the river. I was really pleased to meet her, and I'm happy to have found another friend.

I cycled home for a late lunch via Country Fresh, and then realised I'd forgotten to do one of the jobs I'd meant to do in town; paying in a cheque and some cash o our Suma account, as we're doing an order next week. So I cycled back into town, did the Co-op bank stuff, then went to Alligator to pick up their compostables, and by the time I got home it was dark.

My next thing was to walk down to Heslington with our eldest, as Simon had offered to do a regular class about computer graphics, whilst his son is out at Scouts. I came back via a logpile a student had alerted me to, and then I did another trip to it, before going to get our son at 8. He had really enjoyed the computer graphics workshop. He has a real aptitude for the subject, apparently. We walked up to the logpile and collected a third trailer load, and walked home, chatting. Nice.

Later, I collected a fourth load, then had a wood-fired bath and found my train times and destination for tomorrow. Early start, so a bit earlier to bed than usual.

Saturday 20th June 09

A work day, so up early to get myself ready for the York Cycle Show on the Racecourse.

I got there on the dot of 10.30 with my trailer overloaded with the box of jugglestuff, four Pedal-Go things ('four-wheel unicycles') two Fun Wheels ('two wheel unicycles') and four real (one wheel) unicycles. And my sandwiches.

The weather looked ominous but held off for an hour or so, and my position, near the entrance to the central compound was a good one as had loads of punters wanting to have a go on the various unicycley things.

My old friend Dawn found me, how lovely to see her again; she'd come over on the train with her folding bike from Sheffield. I met loads of other people too, far too many to name individually, but a few who stood out were Rachel, now 18, and a Fiddlesticks fan for years, now not a child and a bonny young woman with a huge smile; R, a very keen child unicyclist whom I met last year and we bonded, and amazingly, Gill and the boys appeared, I hadn't expected to see them.

The weather decided to make my job much harder by raining hard and rendering the firm grass into a soft muddy area, less convivial for unicycling. But I continued where I was, as the Racecourse had sealed off the covered walkway where I have worked on previous years.

I didn't stop for lunch but had bites of sandwich between helping people with their unicycling technique. I worked til just after 4 and then packed up, went to see the HQ tent, and cycled home. I had to spend the best part of an hour cleaning my assorted unicycle equipment as it was covered in mud.

I then went round to Maria's as she was having a birthday party, and Gill, boyos and Dawn were already there. I had a veg kebab and nutloaf, and a good chat with a newly married couple Mark and Sarah, I think. We spent some time discussing Optimists v Pessimists! A relaxing evening.

Got home at about 8pm and planted sweetcorn, nearly too potbound but hopefully will now grow huge and give us some lovely cobs...

Thursday 26th February 09

A really productive day. However it started with some difficulty, one child not wanting to go to school, but eventually cajoled him along and we got to school just before the doors closed so he wasn't technically late.

I had a chat with he head teacher in the playground and then put my boy's bike away... and near the bike shed there was a discarded banana skin, which I decided to put straight in the compost bin which is close to the bike shed. In the compost bin some lazy or stupid person had put a plastic bag with some dog poo, so I took that over to the main big bins... where I discovered a discarded resource which was in the wrong bin. The school have a waste paper bin, but it doesn't get used much, often has other materials in it and lots of paper goes in the 'to landfill' bins. In one of the landfill bins were eight dustbin liner sacks of glossy pamphlets, catalogues, advertising materials from 2008.. all totally recyclable paper.

I hoicked them out and packed them carefully in my trailer, panniers and on my rack... an extremely heavy load. My guess is that it was about 100Kg... I know how much a 20Kg sack feels like, and three of them, and this was considerably more than my usual heavy load of compostables (often 60+ Kilos). Anyway, struggled home with this and decided to take it direct to the Hazel Court Depot on James St... and took a pile of tetrapak/drinks cartons too, in re-usable bags.

I was expecting the staff there to try to stop me using the facilities as I'm not a motorist, but luckily I was ignored, so no confrontation between a 'jobsworth' and a militant cyclist recycler. Phew. I decided to count the number of publications the school had thoughtlessly thrown away... 240, with 31 still in their plastic wrappings (which I took off, of course!). I also removed some reply envelopes as the gum on envelopes messes up the paper recycling machinery... they are better composted.

Cycled back feeling buoyant, via St Nicks, to see if Catherine the head Rotter had any teaching material that I could use on Monday for Wigginton School. She had some wordsearch things and various other materials which will be very useful, and make it more interesting and accessible for the youngsters.

Got home to find Gill wrestling with the concertina clothes dryer which was refusing to stay stood up. We tried to fix it but the plastic thing which held it up wasn't particularly well designed and wasn't working. So a repair solution was needed. I found a short bungee (found on the road a few weeks ago) and tried to make that keep the rack up, but the stretchiness meant that the rack just flopped down. So I got a nice clean 6cm x 6cm length of wood and measured that up, cutting it to the right length. Then cut a couple of narrow notches in it which fitted over two of the bottom horizontals, preventing them from moving outwards and therefore keeping the rack stood up and extended. Hooray! Gill then sanded the length of wood down so there were no splinters. We like repairs!

Maria then rang... I'd offered to show her St Nicks some time ago, and now she's not teaching she has more time so she asked me to take her there and give her the tour. I agreed to go round to her at 1pm and we'd walk down together. Good discussion about aluminium cans and scrap metal, living roofs and more. A fairly quick toddle round the Environment Centre and then round the nature reserve... and back towards home, I left her at Scummerfields and was home for just after 2.

Riddled lots more sawdust.

Got my little boy at 3.15.

Came home and went on the computer to see if there was any message from Franny at The Age of Stupid about coming up to York, but nothing. Edward rang and we decided to have the special showing plus Question and Answer on 26th April, whether or not Franny can come.

Tea was good... a mix of the remains of carrot soup, tomato-based stew and some other bits, Gill made dumplings and then cooked the lot on the roaring woodstove... totally yummy! Our eldest was having tea with a friend and didn't come back til 7ish... came home bearing some flapjack he'd made at school. We were all very enthusiastic about this, despite it not holding together, and this put him in a good mood.

I went out to the York in Transition meeting which I was due to chair. I had not prepared a printed agenda but got one together at the start of the meeting. We had a quite vibrant session, including a stroke of genius from Peter, suggesting that we might get Franny to do the introduction and/or Q and A via videolink. We had two new attendees, one of whom was doing some research about the Transition movement, the other a student studying for a Ph.D in a really obscure subject which I've forgotten... but want to know more about...

We managed to finish on the dot of 9.30 and slowly made our way to the Slip Inn for a pint and a chat, and helped the researcher with pages and pages of notes....

I got back at 11pm and filled the log baskets, had a bowl of home-made muesli and settled down to dealing with emails and half-watching a programme on the recent snow and how it affected the nation, on C4+1.

Friday 23rd January 09

I took our youngest into school. Came back and Gill was feeling very poorly and was wondering what to do. I told her to ring the hospital and/or her GP and she was offered an appointment for 3.40, but really she was so ill that I thought she needed something sooner, as she thought she was going to die. Our neighbour Marion has just retired from nursing, but is still qualified, so Gill went to ask her opinion. Dave, Marion's husband, offered to drive Gill to the surgery (shows how ill she was, as it's less than 10 mins walk but she couldn't face it. The doctor gave her a prescription for some strong antibiotics as she has an infection in her abdomen.

Somewhere in amongst this lot, we had a visit from our friend Maria who has just handed in her resignation to the school where she's recently started working. She found that the combination of so much prep and marking, having loads of different classes shared amongst relatively few teachers, and various other pressures was too much. Very sad, as she is in fact an excellent teacher... but it wasn't the teaching which she found to much, it was all the surrounding stuff. But she knows we are sympathetic and always have a cuppa and listening ear for her. I'm sure she'll find something else.

I also did a compostables collection by request from Freshways and came away with some interesting tubers which I might have a go at growing. Today I also harvested some Oca from the molasses drum at the side of the house... it's a frost-sensitive plant and the recent cold spell has rendered the tops into a collapsed state, but the soil was completely full of lovely shiny pink tubers, which can be eaten raw or stir-fried, and have a tangy lemony flavour and are crunchy. Latin name is Oxalis tuberosa, for pictures of Oca, see http://www.potager.dk/index.php?id=18&la=en and there's an excellent article with photos here: http://www.greenharvest.com.au/Plants/oca_info.html I will eat some and replant the smallest ones in pots so that I can grow them on in the conservatory for a few months before planting them out or letting other people have them.

At 2.30 I went down to school and helped prepare for the Blue Peter Mission Nutrition Bring and Buy. I got a load of tables out of the hall and put them up in the playground... Julia suggested a circular shape which did work well. One of the mums brought a load of fairy cakes and Julia had already collected some stuff to sell from a previous Mission Nutrition sale (afterwards, the stuff which hadn't sold) and parents brought stuff in today. By 3.15 we were ready to sell and it was a very busy few minutes. We hadn't put prices on anything... we just asked for offers and reminded people that it was for Mission Nutrition, and many parents and children were very generous. Lots of people got some fantastic bargains though. Later during the evening, I got an email saying we'd taken about £120. I was delighted!

I helped pack up and took some clothes which will be OK in the forthcoming York in Transition Clothes Swap, on 14th February. Then I cycled home with our little one who was pleased with his little computer game (50p) a laughing furry ball, a paper clip holder and a wooden snake for a pound, he also bought two buns, ate one and brought one back for his older brother.

Gill was back in the house when I got back but went to bed. I prepared the boys' tea on the woodstove: sliced and fried butternut squash, pasta parcels and shells with a leek, cabbage, tomato and cashew nut stew/sauce. Gill had a little bit afterwards... we all enjoyed this nosh.

At 8 our friend Will came round, as agreed during the week. He had wanted to play a game of 'co-operative Scrabble' but we also had a funding application form to fill in for the new LETS software, so we did that instead. Will left at 10.30 and I did a bit of wire stripping and Gill came down after midnight needing painkillers.

Tuesday 30th December 08

Another late morning which was good... I like these late mornings!

Once again a fairly productive day but relaxed enough. Gill took our youngest to the aquarium shop which is part of Wyvale Garden Centre near Poppleton... Gill and I both call it Challises as we both worked at Challis of York, although at different times. But it changed hands although is still a garden centre. With a fishy-pet shop. They came back with two tiny fish... apparently 'leopard fish' although they look nothing like leopards! Also some pondweed and a wooden aquarium decoration.

I was on Facebook and one of our friends round the corner came on so I messaged her and asked if her son was doing anything, as our eldest was at a loose end... so at 3pm, both Maria and her son came round which was good, as then both boys had their loose ends tied up, and Maria could tell me all the ins and outs of her new job teaching. It sounds tough.

I prepared some more grapes, blanched them and put them to dry. Did some pears and mangoes too. Did some baked potatoes for the boys, and warmed the red soup which is what I had for tea.

I had a meeting at 7.30 with Jess from York in Transition, about accessibility and inclusion. Both of us feel this is absolutely vital to a Transition Initiative. Jess had a couple of her friends there, Tom and Emily, an artist and a writer, both also keen on inclusivity and equal opportunities. We had some interesting if rather rambling discussions, but Jess took notes and I think we will have got something concrete out of the meeting. They all enjoyed the dried fruit I took, and I hope to meet the new couple again... I like creative types.

Came home via a logpile and brought a massive tree stump home... it only just fitted on my trailer; I had to take the box out of the frame and just put the log in/on the frame and the plastic box on my rack. A good haul although I reckon it'll be a sod to cut up!

A late late evening, Gill and I had a real game of Scrabble and Gill won. I was very pleased for her... and of course, with real games on a board, we have no 'stats' recorded, so losing a game doesn't ruin my stats. On Facebook though, things are different... I really like to keep my stats looking good. (So far I've won 82% of 73 games) But it still doesn't matter too much if I lose a game sometimes. A few days ago, one of my Scrabble partners and I reached a stalemate but she had one more point than me so I conceded the game. Never had to do that before!

A good evening, watched a film with Gill.

Tuesday 28th October 08

Woke up dreaming and had a leisurely morning reading NewScientist about willpower! Very interesting...

At 11ish our friend Maria came round to tell us about her first term as a teacher... much more work than as a biologist at the University! Her son and ours played very happily on the computer, and he stayed for lunch when Maria went back home to do some marking. Whilst Maria was here I made pumpkin soup, this time with a tin of tomatoes in, with the other half of the pumpkin.

I did some work in the garden after lunch, clearing up leaves and other jobettes including emptying the compostumbler and putting the contents in a dalek. At about 4 Gill came out and said that Cycle Heaven had rang and asked me when I was bringing my bike in to have the disc brakes tightened... which I was going to do today but forgot!

So I went in to deliver my bike, plus Gill's which needs a service. I left them both there and came back on a Cycle Heaven replacement bike... I'll collect both the repaired/revamped bikes tomorrow at 2pm.

Gill made a risotto for tea which I added a few pickled walnuts to... tasty!

Later, Gill and I had a game of Scrabble on the board (which I won) but at the same time (whilst Gill was trying to come up with her words) I was playing Scrabble on Facebook and winning there too.

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