Human Lifestyle

Not a bad day, on the whole.  I didn't get up that late but had a slow start to the day, and watched a bit of Politics Show and started doing the hazelnuts which have sat in a bucket long enough, and needed to be processed.

After lunch, I got a phone call from Freshways who had a bag of wilted herbs for me, so I collected them.  When I got back I noticed that the sacks and bags of aluminium cans I'd put at the front ready to take to the metal merchant had gone.  I asked Gill if she'd moved them but she hadn't.  So, they'd been taken, stolen, and someone else had got about £20 worth of aluminium.  The only consolation was that I know that they will be recycled, and won't be going to landfill.

Then I decided to go down to the Get Cycling show in Rowntree Park, and I called in on Country Fresh on the way there.  The Festival of Cycling was excellent.  I first looked in at the fixed stage area, where there were a lot of different unusual bikes available, and a queue of mainly families with children waiting to ride them round and round.  It looked like a lot of fun.

Then I cycled round to the main field, which had stalls round a couple of the edges and a big jump-landing bag on another, with a ramp and stunt riders demonstrating different types of jump.  On the concreted area in front of the toilet block was a toddlers cycling circuit.  Then there was a the cycle powered Scalextrix and in the basketball court, a tricycle recumbent racing circuit. 

There were the usual burger vans, ice cream vans and inflatable slide and bouncy thing.  The whole park was full of children with their parents. It had rained briefly earlier but whilst I was there it was sunny.  I met quite a few people I knew, including someone who gave me feedback about their experience of last weekend's Peace Festival.  They told a story of a particular Council Officer who had attended the event and made themselves a real nuisance, behaving in a completely unacceptable and unprofessional manner.  Amazingly, this person was not even supposed to be there in any official capacity.  However, the good news is that this person, who made life difficult for me whilst doing the Green Festival, may be retiring next year.  Maybe I should organise a festival to celebrate their going? 

As I cycled home, over Millennium Bridge and through the Stray, it rained briefly again, but not enough to make me want to cycle any faster.  I found a dead fallen tree, about 6 or 7 metres long, and it found itself attached to the back of my trailer, and I dragged it home.

I didn't do much more work outside after this, just picking up windfalls and putting a bit of shop waste  resources in a tumbler.  I helped Gill in the kitchen too, cooking some courgette and some slices of tromboncino squash, and mushrooms, to go with her pasta dish.

During the evening I finished the hazelnut job part one... removing the nuts from their frilly leaf-like sheaths.  This resulted in 5 envelopes of hazelnuts, which are now ready for cracking and rendering edible.  What a job!  I fully understand automation, but in the spirit of self sufficiency and low carbon living, I'm doing it by hand.  And anyway, it's only a couple of kilos!  Took me an hour or so.

An increasingly busy day with emails and meetings. I spent a big chunk of the day with the laptop on, fielding queries, bouncing them on to the correct Green Festival person, replying, finding solutions. Things are falling into place nicely. I also did quite a bit of log wrangling... building logpiles, tidying up.

At 5 I went round to Lynn's with four carrier bags of riddled compost, which she paid me 10 Yorkys for. Then I went through to see Richard and bumped into my friend Gary Haq who wants me to go and check his compost heap sometime, and needed to know how to reduce the fruit fly problem he is experiencing. I tried to explain that it isn't a problem, that they are a resource, but actually he wants fewer fruit flies. The solution is to put all the day's peelings, cores etc in a wrap of newspaper, which means the little darlings cannot get to their food source... and when the material has broken down enough to rot through the newsprint, they are not as interested in it.

Then on to Rowntree Park where there was supposed to be a stewards meeting, but only organisers turned up, plus the ever-so-reliable Jem from JSS Audio, and his colleague who's name I didn't catch. But several of the park-keepers were there, including John who will be working on Sunday, and we were able to see the electric sockets and water availability. We had a final walk around the park with decisions as to where to put things.

It started to rain as we walked round... it did that last time too. But the weather forecast for Sunday is better. I then cycled off to Leeman Road, where a Freecycler had offered a load of compostables, threatening to lob them in the bin if nobody wanted them. I didn't want them either, but took them to St Nicks for their composting operations. Took then via a chap on Walmgate who had requested a poster for his window.

Then home, via Freshways and a talkative Raj who enquired about having a stall at YGF09. Gill had made a sort of curry with a pile of assorted veg and the carrot soup I made. This was put on a bed of rice and was DELICIOUS!!!

More email stuff when I settled down, but also got a few Scrabble moves in...

A busy day... two Green Festival meetings and a funeral.

I got up just after 9 and had a quick breakfast and then got a load of potato sacks out of the garage where I put them to dry out, as a Freecycle person has requested 20 for his spuds.

Then raced down to town on the bike, trailer rattling and bouncing behind me, with me dressed in my best black long trousers and Jimi Hendrix black teeshirt, in the pouring rain to the York Green Festival meets City of York Council Environmental Health meeting.

This went reasonably well... despite us not having all the answers. Fortunately Jem from JSS Audio was there and he did have some answers... after all he is a professional! I agreed to be the person who will cycle round all the sensitive areas nearby and assess the sound levels. I will have to keep records, so that if we do have complaints, we can demonstrate that we did everything possible to reduce the likelihood of noise nuisance. We have some technical fixes too, but fortunately that's nothing to do with me.

I had to go at 11am as I had decided to go to the funeral of John Morris, a friend of my good friend Jonathan. I met John Morris about 5 times, and found him an interesting, humorous and friendly guy, more unique than the average person and with a fascinating home full of books.

The funeral was at the Crematorium, and I got there with about 5 minutes to spare and Jonathan beckoned me over. There were a few familiar faces, Debbie from over the road, John and Shirley Bibby, some other York folks. The service was really good. I was fascinated to hear more about John, his times spent at Ampleforth School, his love of botany, antiquarian books, and his unusual lifestyle. His wife, daughter and three friends spoke, and the celebrant was good too. I haven't been to many funerals but this was a good one. Sad, but good. A good send off.

Cycled home in thoughtful mood... funerals always make me realise how short life is, and remind me to continue packing as much into it as I can, as I could be dead tomorrow, next month, next year... or might last 10, 30 or even 50 years more! The moral is we rarely know when the end is nigh, so live every day as if it is your last...

I cannot remember what I did in the couple of hours between the funeral and my next meeting.. probably some compost management (I know I changed my clothes!) and I had lunch, but at 4ish I headed off to Rowntree Park to meet John the park keeper, who will be on duty on Sunday 6th. I wanted to brief him about the Festival, and find out about various power and resources issues. The news was good, and I came home via Country Fresh happy, and bought some avocados and eggs, carrots and a head of broccoli.

When I got back, I had a visitor from around the corner, a lady called Gillian which she pronounces with a hard G, not a J. She told me that they were taking down a large fir tree, and they had stacked under it a pile of logs... and did I want them? I have never knowingly said no to logs, so I happily took the wheelbarrow round to pick them up. When I got the second load, I sat and chatted with them, and had a very jolly conversation. And the logs were great too... really dry hardwood.

Spent a long time chopping apples up for drying... and used one of the new logs to get them started. And heat washing up water...

A relatively early start as I had to visit Helgi at 10 to sort out the music line-up for the Green Festival. I spent about 45 minutes with him, helping him do a variety of carefully worded emails so he can decide who to take out of the provisional line up for the main stage so that we can get Holly Tamar on before Seize the Day.

Then I bombed along to Rowntree Park to see if I could get John the Park Keeper's contact details, but he wasn't there. However, I did speak to the John's colleague and talked things over with him, and spoke to the children's inflatables people about the Festival too.

Came home via Country Fresh and picked up two boxes of compostables as well as a cauliflower and some bananas. Met a guy who repairs bikes called Kevin, who has a copy of a film that Gill saw in New Zealand in 1986 and she's never forgotten it. I asked if I could borrow it, in exchange for some dried fruit. It's called The Gods Must Be Crazy. I'm really looking forward to watching it... Gill's told me so much about it!

I had lunch. Then our guests arrived, Gill's niece Sophie and her three children, but not Dankie her husband who has taken all his holiday already and is at work. Her children get on well with ours and we love it when they visit.

During the afternoon, Gill and Sophie went to get some towels and pillowcases, and the children played happily on their own, so I did a load of chainsawing and splitting. Then Sophie took all the children to the park, and was gone for ages.

They came back shortly before I had to go out to the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel, due to be at Tang Hall Community Centre. When I got there at 6.30, the gates were locked shut and a conference was going on as to where to have the meeting. A consensus was reached to go to The Magnet pub on Osbaldwick Lane, so I cycled round followed by two cars. We had a lot to do, perhaps 8 or 10 applications including 3 or 4 which we opposed... and of course we had to explain why we opposed them, on planning grounds. It was a very lively meeting which lasted over an hour.

So back at 8pm and Gill had left enough pasta, cauliflower and sauce for me to have a really good meal. We had a lovely evening... warm as I lit the stove so I could make a carrot soup. The children went to bed without a hitch and quite late on, after Sophie had gone to bed, Gill and I started watching The Gods Must Be Crazy. The basic plot centres round a tribe of Bushmen in the Kalahari, who find a Coke bottle which had been thrown out of a plane and the chaos which ensues. It is full of slapstick and other humour, but there might be a message in there too.

Up early as one child was cold so Gill woke me and asked me to light the stove. I cuddled my son before lighting the stove, and 10 minutes later he was happily eating his breakfast in front of it...

I seemed to spend most of the day on the computer, although I also washed up, dealt with several phone calls, switched our gas bill to Good Energy and became a Good Energy Pioneer which means I might earn some money promoting the company! I made up my next couple of week's muesli, which is excellent with lychee and apple fruit leather. No-one else seems to like it but I do...

I made a nutloaf for tea... the top half was the basic mix plus spinach, the bottom half was with sweetcorn. I then went out to a site meeting at Rowntree Park for York Green Festival; Rand, Rob, Bob, Rich, Baz and Tom turned up, and we decided where the various sections of the event would go. Rand and I went back to Baz's house and Rand agreed to be the Event Coordinator... hooray!!!

Got back towards 9pm and had nutloaf, potatoes and peas for tea.

Quite an early start, to go into town to help Ali get off back home, so got to the station at about 11 and she got the 11.28, and I came back home.

Tried to use my computer to do a variety of things and and some seemed to have stopped working, which is annoying... but not the blog which I'm happy about.

Had lunch and started to get ready for work. My gig today was a 6yr old's birthday party in the cafe at Rowntree Park... just my circus skills show, no balloons today. As usual, the show went well despite a couple of mistakes... the ceiling is almost too low for me to balance a devilstick on my nose so I had to stoop slightly to do the trick and it is hugely more difficult like that.... but as the trick is a crucial part of the show, I have to do it.... and managed third time around.

After that, went to the Winning Post to get my deposit money back from the Transition event a couple of weekends ago, and came home via Country Fresh to pick up a fairly small dose of compostables.... luckily as I couldn't carry much more!

I had a few minutes relaxation inside before getting changed and went down to the leafmold enclosure to finish digging it out and putting last year's leaves in plastic sacks, so the chicken wire enclosure is ready for this year's harvest. I had already got about 5 sacks of autumn leaves ready for it, so they went straight in, half filling it up. They will bed down to a much smaller volume, and I'll probably be able to put in between 6 to 10 times as many before the enclosure is full.

Did a bit of stacking logs before being called in to have tea and try to help the boys with their homework. I did bathwater fot our youngest and a relatively peaceful evening ensued.

Maria sent me this link
http://3rings.designerpages.com/2008/02/26/dutchtub/
wow!
Want one!!!

The day started with a bit of difficulty with one of my friends, but with quite a bit of conversation I think it has sorted itself out. I feel lucky having such an interesting and busy social life, but just occasionally some friction occurs, I guess this is inevitable. My personality is quite unusual and sometimes people don't cope with me that well. I just hope my strengths and qualities outweigh my more quirky and difficult sides. Fortunately I do get plenty of positive feedback and this gives me strength and restores my occasionally battered self-worth.

So my eldest child was getting ready to go to his secondary school for the first day, a very big day for him. One of his friends arrived and at 10.30 they walked to school together. I got ready to go to work, a gig in the cafe at Rowntree Park for a 6yr old girl and 20 or so of her friends. I went in costume and got there just before 11am as all the party goers were arriving. The show, just the circus, went well despite several very interuptive boys who were not used to being audience members... but I think they learned something about appropriate behaviour AND had a lot of fun and excitement too! Certainly the adults there enjoyed it, and I did too.

Finished the show sometime after 12 and had a sandwich and piece of flapjack before going into town and putting in a cheque from POP Club, and coming back via Country Fresh. Country Fresh had a large excess of pineapples... they don't even look grotty, so I brought them home and will as usual dry them in slices, to add to my muesli. So a reasonable afternoon... our boyo came home having 'quite enjoyed' his first day at school although he didn't walk home with his buddy as they didn't meet up after the last lesson.

To celebrate his first day at secondary school, Gill did 'special pasta' with home-grown tomatoes which went down a treat. I then went out to the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel which I'm acting Clerk of, and therefore receive all the letters and sign them once we've come to a decision, and make sure they get into the council before the due date. Only two others turned up, and we had a buzzy chat and a laugh. We did also discuss the few planning applications that have come in over the past 3 weeks! Finished at 7.30 and came home to do another hour in the garden before it got too dark to continue.

A very peaceful start to the day.

The day continued peacefully.

I half-watched Countryfile whilst doing a huge pile of washing up, the only complaints were that I'd made the living room too hot by lighting the stove to get washing up water.... but not a problem. I'd rather light the stove and burn a kilo of waste wood to get some hot water than put on the gas for a few minutes.... and it helps dry the bananas which are sitting on the wok-stand on top of the two-gallon pan.

I had an early lunch and set off with my eldest son to Rowntree Park to attend the York Rotters Worm Charming contest, with Gill and our youngest following on afterwards. I helped set up the grid of 16 squares 2m x 2m on the grass, and entrants started registering, including our two boys. I did some announcing with my loud voice and soon the event was underway.

Gill and I joined in with our boys attempts to get worms out of the soil and we got four by the end of the 15 minutes allotted time. However, a minute later, I spotted another one and I didn't stop to think and popped it into the pot. When the adjudicator counted the worms, our team was in equal first place with 5 worms. So there was a 'charm-off' with the two top teams going back to their plots and the first team to charm a worm was the winner. Gill and I encouraged ours to do lots of jumping up and down, and suddenly, there was the winning worm...

So they walked away with their prize, a 'Junior Wormery' by Original Organics, and I cycled it home. However, I had a niggly thought that I had cheated by putting in a charmed worm after the time had passed... and I shared my feelings with my eldest who has a keen sense of fair play and honesty, and I admitted to my wrongdoing. We decided that the best thing to do would be to tell Catherine the Rotters project manager, and to give the wormery prize back so it could go to the real winners. I offered to give one of my wormeries to the boys as a consolation, as I have three different types. This made me feel better. I blame my lack of impulse control and lack of 'thinking of consequenses', both of which I am aware of when I stop and think.

In the evening I came accross a good blog http://gco2e.blogspot.com/ which is worth reading if interested in carbon footprints etc.

Another busy day, Gill trying to get our accounts done, so we offloaded the kids round to a friend and G got on with work, I had a shower and got ready for work, the second day with the gifted and talented kids at Manor School. Got there in good time and laid out the equipment for the workshop. This went well, very talented, good fast learners.

Home via the building society to get a cheque out and put one in, picked up compostables from Martins and got home before 3pm, and both of us felt really tired.

So I got on with more YGF stuff, oh it's nearly over....

Tea was lovely, fermented soya bean thingy (forgotten it's name) and onion, pepper and HOME GROWN TOMATOES yummy!

And then out again, a site meeting at Rowntree Park with stewards and organisers, which went well, and then a swift cycle to St Nicks for their AGM.

Had problems with blog not being connected, slowed things down quite a bit.

Another busy day, but woke when our 9 yr old knocked on the door to tell us it was 7.30 and he'd like breakfast. Yesterday he slid in quietly and we again asked him again to knock if he wanted to come in, in case we were doing anything which might embarrass him.... he had a huge paddy about this as he thought he'd been told off. This morning he told us he hadn't wanted to wake us up, just to see if we were awake... he can of course get his own breakfast these days, but the whole thing is a minefield.

I was able to do a bit in the garden first thing, before getting ready for work, at Manor School again, this time for a summer school Gifted, Able and Talented primary kids going up to secondary (I think). Gill went to pick up her new glasses and Maria came to babysit as I was leaving at 11.45 to start at 12.30.

The gig went really well, they were talented, several of them were already jugglers and diabolo players, and were good listeners and learners, it was a really good hour. We had 10 mins of instruction and information, then 45 mins of play, experimentation, trying stuff out, and 5 mins of showing what they'd learned at the end.

Then down to York again to visit Cycle Heaven to get my damaged wheel replaced, it didn't take long and cost just £20, and I was able to reload my kit onto the trailer and go to Rowntree Park to meet up with the Environmental Health people who were concerned about noise pollution. They were very supportive, unlike their colleague the Festivals Officer, and came up with common-sense solutions, and appeared to want the event to go ahead.

Then bombed home and Maria was still there, Gill doing accounts and Maria reading a book, they'd had lunch together and were just settled happily and the boys were playing without any grown-up input.

I did some housework and then had to go back into town to meet the Council Officer who's in charge of licencing the Rowntree Park, and discussed all sorts of issues with him and he too was very supportive and helpful.. quite a revelation after the feeling of a lack of help/support from the person who's supposed to assist festival organisers. I left feeling good, and picked up a huge load of compostables from Martin's Country Fresh, two sacks and 3 boxes, including a sack of bananas which hadn't sold even at knock down prices, perhaps 50 or 100 of them, I haven't yet got to the bottom of the sack! I've got loads drying on the stove though.

Tea was some out of date tofu with onions and yesterday's soup on top, with walnut bread from Masham. Delicious!

An evening of emailing and blogging and googletalk with K in US, we're enjoying our chats a lot at the moment. Also had to do some YGF stuff...