Human Lifestyle

A late start, but woken by someone screaming as if there was a murder happening.  In fact, it was just a lego piece going missing.  Ah, the joys of parenthood!

The main thing I did today was to go to Sainsbury's with a shopping list from Gill and her Nectar Card which had accumulated about £30 worth of 'points'.  So I did a £24 shop which therefore cost me nothing... pasta, baked beans, tinned tomatoes, bread, cereals, goats milk... I got myself a treat too, a bottle of Irish Cream stuff which is like Baileys but cheaper.

On the way home I picked up a load of stuff from Freshways and then spent a bit of time loading a compost heap with some of the accumulated and mostly frozen fruit and vegetables.

Oh, I made tea too... a nutloaf made with waste bread and tomatoes, plus some broccoli and new potatoes.

Enjoyed a science programme with my eldest son.

Got an early night as tired and headachey.

I woke feeling much more cheery.  Both boys got to school and this meant we could get on with stuff around the house.

Gill was busy preparing the wall in our youngest's bedroom to take a self adhesive magnetic strip, and then put the other bit of the magnetic strip onto the sheet of perspex which I carefully cycled home last week.  By the early evening, it was up... secondary double glazing, and hopefully will mean that his room will be warmer.  We ought to put up Sempatap too, but it's quite expensive.  The secondary glazing cost about £70.

I did quite a bit of logpile stacking, at the front door again, on the left looking out.  We've had both stoves going quite a bit and we're getting through the logs quickly.  I had several phone calls including my agent asking me if I'd be interested in doing several gigs as Father Christmas.  I have mixed feelings, as I don't really enjoy doing this... but if it earns me an income, I feel that I need to do it.  Let's see if the various local authorities and city centre managers say yes to my quote.

I visited Country Fresh to get a big bag of root vegetables and two sacks of compostables plus two boxes full.  Also a sack from Freshways.    Then I went straight back down to town to pick up a freecycled bag of carrier bags which I'll use to sell compost in next spring, and then on to Millers Yard to pick up 3 sacks of autumn leaves.  I came back via Sainsburys to get nice bread, cheese, soya yoghurt, soya ice cream and a treat, four cans of Kopparberg perry.

I had a fairly quiet evening, editing the Novaterium website to reflect some feedback I'd had from Promessa UK.  I also dealt with the three remaining pineapples and all the slices of pineapple look lovely drying on the racks.  It is one of my favourite dried fruits.

Woken at 6am by banging, shouting and screaming.  I groggily tried to help with the situation .

I was woken again at 9 by a phone call from a nurse or public health professional called Jenny, who is presenting something about bacteria and the importance of washing hands to a reception class tomorrow, and is looking for some balloon models to represent the different sorts of bacteria.  She said she'd like to come and see me on the way into town, so I got up and washed and dressed and breakfasted... she arrived 45 minutes later and brought with her a sheet of paper with some cartoon images of different bacteria.  I agreed I'd have a go and she said she'd be back at 4pm.

Just before she left, there was a delivery from Cozmic Balloons, £85 worth of mixed colours Qualatex 260s, some clear 260s and a bag of Bee Bodies.  What a co-incidence!

I went to buy bread and medicines for the house full of ill people.

I decided to do the sculptures after lunch, and think about what to do in the meantime..

However, after lunch Gill asked me to get some bits and bobs of shopping and I thought I'd put in a cheque in and get a cheque out, and I went into town via Sainsbury's.  However, when I got to the building society I discovered I'd left my pass book at home.  Duh me.  I decided to call in on Alligator to pick up their unwanted resources, and they had just had a delivery of wonderful looking purple cauliflowers, so I brought one of those home...   Via Country Fresh, who had 3 boxes for me.  Lots of composting to do!

I got in sometime after 3 and immediately got busy with the balloons.  I made some Bee Bodies into an apple shape but hid the stalk in the middle, to make a series of roughly globular Bacillus.  I inflated 3 caterpillar balloons with sad or angry faces, and tied their knots all together and then twisted all 3 together so it looked like a load of rod-shaped cells, the top 3 with the faces on.  I tried to do a virus with some heart balloons all tied together and a pair of legs, but it wasn't that successful.  I also did another couple, I've forgotten the name of the bacterium but I used three 260s twisted together into lots of small bubbles and twisted these all together into a load of cells all together.  Jenny arrived at 4 and was happy with all of them apart from the virus-type things, and suggested that I use a caterpillar balloon and give it four legs, and this was really good!  She paid me £10 for doing these... a fun challenge!

After which I decided to chop up the pallets I'd rescued yesterday, and I brought some bits of old pallet up the garden and a plastic bucket which has 'kicked the bucket' and needed to be binned.

In the evening I jarred up a load of dried apple rings and chopped up 15 large juicy pears and balanced them on the racks for drying.  I watched a good HG Wells adaptation 'The First Men in The Moon' which I enjoyed, as when I was a teen I loved HG Wells books, but then watched a second film which portrayed his life 'HG Wells: War With The World' which I really enjoyed, as I felt some kinship with him.  Gill and I both watched this and she looked him up in her Cambridge Guide to Literature; it was a very stimulating programme.  Later still, one of my friends contacted me, needed to talk, as someone she knows and cares about was seemingly preparing to kill themselves, and my friend needed to talk about it, and I'm not sure if I was able to help or give any advice, but I'm glad I was available for this person.  What a sad situation. 

I wasn't feeling brilliant today, and towards the end of it I had a running nose and was sneezing all the time, so I didn't do an awful lot.

But earlier in the day, I did check that tomorrow's Woodlands gig was going ahead. I hope to be well enough... I usually recover very quickly from this kind of ailment.

I visited Debbie and she was in a great mood, having had some good luck.

I came back and had lunch, and eventually decided that whatever state I was in, I really must get down to town to put my cheque in. So I cycled down to Country Fresh, picked up one sack there, then onto Alligator where they had quite a bit for me, and then, with a trailer full of compostables, into town where I put in my cheque from Sunday and got out a cheque to pay a bill. I decided to again try my bank card in the Link ATM and whilst about to do this, was approached by a drunk and possibly Irish man who launched into a tirade of verbal abuse. It seemed he knew who I was, or a bit about me, but I didn't know him. He accused me of all sorts of horrible things, and I was really taken aback. I'm not someone who can ignore this kind of thing; I generally get stuck in, and so I did, telling him it was entirely wrong of him to give me this verbal abuse. I didn't understand a lot of what he said, but I did gather that he had lost a son, and had stood in a general election as an independent and came 6th. He had some choice words for Hugh Bayley, our MP, and was really unpleasant.

This left me quite shocked and shaken, but I kept it together and went to Sainsburys for a nice loaf and some vegan ice cream so Gill can have a treat.

I did some work in the garden but I wasn't feeling that enthusiastic so I sat in front of the stove and stripped yet more copper wire, resulting in a big pile of plastic insulating spaghetti and a bag of tightly coiled copper wire of assorted gauges or widths.

And in the evening I picked some blackberries and tried to find enthusiasm for preparing them.

First thing I popped round to my alcoholic friend who is undergoing a detox today, in an attempt to kick the habit. Gill and I gave a card wishing good luck.

Then a meeting in town then a trip to Sainsbury's to get nice bread, and I met my good friend Jonathan in there and we chatted for at least half an hour. I again visited my friend, and will do so several times over the next few days. Lots of support needed.

Home for lunch. And then a good afternoon preparing compost for sale... three sacks to go down the road to Julie the Freecycler, and a request for two to go to the Chemistry Department to enrich some existing potting media, so a few veggies can be grown in the courtyard. I'm really enjoying my composting... I'm also making a container mix for this year's tomatoes and cucumbers: I have 5 sackfuls already but I need quite a bit more.

I came in just after 6 for tea... bought pizza, sweetcorn and peas, new potatoes.

Then at 7 I left to attend a York In Transition Directors meeting at Barry's house which was a nice ride over the Millennium Bridge and Racecourse. The key thing at this meeting was meeting Mike, who may become our Treasurer. Mike is fairly new to York, but is an experienced Director and Charity Trustee, so we may have a lot to learn from him.

It was a good meeting... I took my laptop and took minutes during it, so when I got back I could just send them out to the participants. I called in on Anna on the way back as I had a donations tub... but it wasn't hers and probably lives at St Nicks, on Ivana's desk. She was pleased to hear of our meeting.

I picked up two pallets on the way home, ripe for conversion into firewood. As I did my emails and blog, I enjoyed a history of the railways on 'Quest'.

I enjoyed the morning and delivered a trailer load of compost in four sacks to Jenny in Clifton, and came back via Sainsbury's, Country Fresh and Freshways.

When I got back, I had a letter from the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce welcoming me to the Fellowship. I am officially 'John Cossham FRSA' now. Wow!

After lunch I went and picked up three pallets from around the corner and then mended the hammer so I could break them up before sawing them up.

As I was doing this, James (Jo's son) and his friend Mary came round to return the rotaseives which I lent to him and his Scouts for their compost riddling. We had a wander down the garden and they were interested in what I'm doing, but then we chatted about Professor Fiddlesticks and Circus Skills Badges, and I think he'll get back to me with a couple of dates for me to go and do my show and workshop.

At about half past 4 I cycled down to Country Fresh again as Rich had something special for me... a huge job lot of oranges and satsumas. They are pre-packed and each pack has a couple of mouldy ones, the others are fine, but it is too much hassle for them to go through the packs and separate the good from the bad, so they are giving me the lot (ahem, selling for a penny!) and I'll compost the yukky ones and hopefully find a use for the good ones!

I had a Sainsbury's pastie and some Country Fresh broccoli for tea, and then I cycled off down to Priory St for York Green Party's showing of Crude, which I've helped Owen organise.

This film documents the legal case between the Secoya and Cofan people of Ecuador, 30,000 of them, and Texaco/Chevron the oil multinational who extracted oil for 26 years before leaving the country in 1992, handing the oilfields over to PetroEcuador. Texaco stands accused of leaving about 1000 pits of oily waste in the rainforest, which drain into the rivers that the indigenous people drink from and wash in. 15 out of every 20 babies have unpleasant skin conditions and lots of children and teenagers have cancer. Texaco says it cleaned up the pits, but some were just filled in with soil, and cores taken show the oil still under the ground, and some are still open ponds of black sticky sludge.

The cast includes Pablo Fajardo, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, Sting (from the band 'The Police') and his wife Trudie Styler, who together founded the Rainforest Foundation. It's a fascinating story, with Texaco not wanting to admit any wrongdoing but being judged by one investigator to owe $27 billion in damages.

The story is not yet finished, and may not be for some time. For news of the various problems in the Amazon region, go to Amazon Watch, and if you want to show the film to a small group, go to Chevron Toxico, who have all the resources for you to put on an event just like the one I went to tonight. I do recommend it, it's a gripping film, I learned a lot, and the money raised (£62 at our event, with room hire paid for by York Green Party, and CVS giving us discount room hire rates) goes to helping the campaign.

I decided not to socialise at the pub, but to get home to Gill and the boys, and came home via a pile of waste pallets, and picked up another two for processing into stove fodder.

Did the washing up when I got home, and settled down with the laptop and Joolz Holland on the TV.

A day with several meetings. But I started the day by making up my muesli... organic muesli base, bought walnut pieces, bought sesame seeds, home grown pumpkin seeds, home made apple rings, chopped up, also chopped dried pears and chopped dried bananas. Yummy.

At 10.30, the man from BT came round and we discussed my Fiddlesticks advert in the BT Phone Book, and their fairly new service, a website and 'optimisation' with Google. Just after he left, I got a phone call from Thomson, who have provided the fewest leads over the past year. They will be ringing back as I didn't have time to talk to them. I'll be discontinuing my ad with them, I think.

Then I had a meeting in town, and then I went to the bank to transfer funds to Jim for building the website. We are just a few days from launching it now... well, maybe a week or two...

Then over to Sainsburys for mayonnaise, bread, cheese, and some of Gill's favourite vegan ice cream.

I picked up some wood on the way back, and two sacks from Freshways, and when I'd put the groceries away, I did some log manipulation... some stacking, chainsawing, splitting and more stacking.

Then it started raining so I put things away and came in... lots of assorted paperwork and emails to sort out.

A reasonable day, enjoyed the cycling the most.

A good day... up in time to cycle into town to go and see my dental hygienist who is very nice. I went via Morrison's where they have cash machines, as I need to pay for every other visit to the dentist.

So, a good scale and polish, and a chat... as always! Then back to Goodramgate to the newly refurbished Oxfam where I bought a big can of coffee, which has increased in price to £17. Then on to Sainsburys to get one of their delicious loaves and some mayonnaise. Home via Country Fresh where Shirley let me have two sack's worth, and to home, where I did a bit of splitting and stacking.

Lunch was good.. and an active afternoon, preparing some waste nectarines and peaches for stewing, some pears and kiwi fruit for drying, and a butternut to add to tonight's tea.

Later, did more website prep, getting ready to send stuff off to Jamie at Semlyen.net, whilst watching the Winter Olympics. I watched Panorama and was very moved by the stories of abuse directed at disabled people... this needs to be made a criminal offence the same as racist abuse. Currently, it is just 'breach of the peace' or something like that, and not much of what goes on is reported, and there have been very few prosecutions. I'll be writing to my MP about this.

Later still, more exciting snowboarding etc. Part of me wishes I'd given something like this a go when I was younger... but as a child I apparently had 'no stickability' and couldn't focus on anything. Classic ADHD, combined with my fidgeting, talkative nature, ability to annoy people and the rest. Glad I'm normal now... hahahaha!

A really difficult start to the day, but I eventually took our youngest down to school and was pleased to have a chat with the head, who invited me to meet with her next Monday. No doubt she will tell me that the school is doing everything it can to become greener.

Anyway, picked up a few bottles and cans from verges on the way back. For me, 'green' is all day, every day. I felt pretty low today due to the shenanigans this morning, but did quite a bit of stuff around the house before cycling into town to pay the gas bill, our first gas bill with Good Energy. I pay Good Energy for our electricity and now gas annually in advance, a deal I've negotiated with them and may not be available for new customers. Although gas is not renewable or green, our annual bill with them is likely to be about £100, slightly more than with British Gas, but the extra money that Good Energy get is given back to customers who have renewable generation (including solar hot water) through their 'Hot ROCs' scheme. This is what we have to sign up for next. We have the forms already... next week I'll fill them in. I'm looking forward to seeing how much we get back! These case studies make it look promising!

I came home via Sainsburys as nowhere else does big jars of Marmite and I got one of their big loaves too, at a slightly reduced price as the label and barcode had been torn off. I popped into Freshways and picked up one bag of compostables from them, and on my way into town I'd visited Country Fresh and had two medium sacks from them.

Home to a peaceful house... our youngest had got a special mention in school assembly for his pivotal role in yesterday's class assembly. That would have made him feel good. He really deserves it.

I did a bit of ringing round to see if I could help a voluntary group I've got involved with, they need to get some insurance quotes for a site visit they want to do. So I found potential insurers on the web, and then rang to explain the situation. It took about 8 phone calls before I got to the right place. But the person in charge of the voluntary group was pleased and I hope this facilitates the site visit.

I helped a bit with tea... mushroom sauce in funny wrap things (reduced in Sainsburys!) with butternut rounds and halved pickling onions (both thrown away!) gently sauteed on the woodstove, and baked beans and a bit of salad.

A quiet evening. Played Scrabble and chatted to two friends on facebook. And washed up.

Oh, and today I did quite a bit of composting help too... a woman I know who works in a school wants me to come in and give some composting advice, and someone I know well who works in the Environment Agency also emailed me for some composting advice. How cool is that? Helping the EA with their tea-bag problem!!!

Both boys off to school, late, but they went.

Gill went into town to pay in a cheque to the Credit Union. I did some stuff inside and then moved logs from the huge stack of beech at the back round to the front, to build up the pile on the right of the door.

Gill came back from town and had forgotten to get various things... including a book our eldest wants, and is waiting for us in Waterstones. So at about 2.30 I cycled in and visited Alligator for peanut butter and marmalade, Waterstones, my building society and then Sainsburys.

Gill did a spaghetti-based meal... I stir-fried some sliced sprouts to go with it, and soon after 7pm set out on my bike again to go to Millers Yard to have the 'York Festivals' meeting with Dylan. Baz turned up, and Sarah from Kyi-Po. Later, Helgi arrived to give me his Duke of Edinburgh Silver booklet to fill in.

Dylan and I had already had a conversation about York Green Festival and York Peace Festival this year. York Peace Festival goes back over 20 years to when York had a Peace Centre, and it was connected to that. I loved the Peace Festival, and when it stopped happening about 5 years ago (not sure when the last one was actually) I missed it and then in 2006/7 I decided to 'do' a Festival, which became York Green Festival in 2007. We had our third last year. But this year, several of the organisers are involved in organising the World Carfree Cities International Conference in York this summer, so we're taking a break and York Peace Festival can take place. This is provisionally booked for 5th September. Dylan also has plans for some events and activities in the week leading up to this, but this is for Dylan to announce when it is more concrete, and the other partners are agreed.

So we all discussed about these events and some other York Festivals, such as the Carnival, which is on June 5th, and a York in Transition (dance?) event on 17th April which I'm partly responsible for. The meeting wasn't very long... and I got away so I could go to St Nicks where my York in Transition friends were having a meeting. I found some logs on the way there, but the weight in the trailer made cycling in the snow much more difficult so I had to push my bike some of the way along the cycle track. I got to St Nicks just as they were on AOB, so I was able to fill in some of the stuff I'd just learned.

So, got home just before 10pm, banked up the stoves, kissed both my boys goodnight, and settled down to a quiet evening.

I got up reasonably early and spent quite a bit of time catching up with my blog, writing out my notes and memories from my day in Sandwell last Friday, and then at midday helped Ali a bit with her film... she wanted someone to recite a poem whilst she recorded it, to use as part of the soundtrack. We got it on the 10th take... it was perfect, but for some reason her Dictaphone didn't record more than 4 seconds on that attempt. The 11th was successful!

At 2.40 we set off to pick up her daughter from school, and then went to Sainsbury's for some of her Xmas shopping and we had tea there, in the cafe. We got home just in time to gather all her University work up and she went off to there and I got the 6.21 back to York. I met an interesting Russian molecular biologist heading back to Edinburgh, after she'd had a PhD interview in Nottingham. So we talked about stem cells amongst other things. The journey flew by!

And back home by 7.30... and Will and David arrived at 8 to have a game of 'Co-operative Scrabble' where the individual players' scores are not recorded, just the running sum total. Between us we got 624 which Will said was good. A friendly evening.

An early start as various things to do in town, did most of them (paid cheque in, paid water bill, visited Anti Gravity, picked up mouldy oranges from Millers Yard) but as I didn't take a shopping list, I forgot to go to the Post Office to pick up a parcel. Duh.

So when I got home, and confessed my error, Gill suggested I cycle down again (after lunch!) and get the parcel (it was for the children) and get coffee from Oxfam and Gill-friendly ice cream from Sainsbury's. So I did this.

Fortunately I got back in enough time to do some compost management, filling the old Compostumbler.

We had a good tea... the leek and potato soup I made yesterday, plus assorted bits of quiche and cold pasta leftovers.

I then popped round to Lynn with some LETS stuff, and on to the Green Festival meeting in Stonegate, which was very productive.

Woke wondering about why I hadn't been contacted by the insurers re the York Green Festival. So after breakfast I rang... and found that the email I sent on the 21st hadn't been received. So I resent it and then had a chat to the recipient, who wanted several other bits of info plus a signature, electronic or otherwise. I knew nothing about electronic signatures, and I didn't have the other info either, so I sent out a 'help me' email to the other YGF-ites, and got a reply from Tom who offered to help me do an electronic signature.

Gill went down to the station to collect our eldest and his buddy, they'd travelled up on the train together from Leamington Spa, and immediately they came in the noise levels in the house rose about 100-fold. I soon went out to go to see Tom, who scanned my signature and put it into various formats so I have a chance to add it to documents, like the insurance document I need to send to the insurers. I'll have to have a play around later.

After seeing Tom I called in on Anita who told me that next month she is emigrating to Spain for a couple of years, to live in the house she's refurbished. I will miss her as although I don't see her very often, I am fond of her. She says she'll be back in a couple of years.

I came home via Sainsburys as Gill wanted flour, ice cream and a baguette to make garlic bread with.

I popped in to Freshways on the way back and picked up 3 small sacks of compostables, and then spent an hour or so down the garden sorting them out.

Pasta and home grown veg for tea, and garlic bread, and I then shot out to St Nicks for the AGM and a talk on the National Bee Unit which was really interesting.

Ben Jones is a researcher there and he talked us through the work of the Unit which is based at Sand Hutton. Their role is to ensure the health of the honeybee in England and Wales... there are probably no 'wild' or feral honeybees left, all are managed or farmed, either by commercial beekeepers or by hobbyists. Most people think of bees as responsible for honey, but this is just worth between £10million and £30million a year, but their value as pollinators is somewhere between £120million and £200million.

He told us about the assorted diseases, legislation, how the inspectors identify the problems, the different sorts of beekeepers, and lots more. There were lots of questions asked too, so many that we over-ran and therefore missed the little film that was planned about the tree planting on St Nicks, but there will be another chance to see that.

The AGM was very straightforward. I collected some logs on the way back from a chap round the corner who had invited me to pick them up whenever I wanted, and I got in just before 10pm.

Got up late as went to bed at 3am. But once up and boogieing around, had a productive day, despite it raining. I cycled into town straight after lunch, popping in on Hazel Court Civic Amenity Site with a sackful of drinks cartons and an electrical flex, all to put for recycling (and the sack to come back for re-use!). Despite there being a ban on cyclists using the facility, no one took any notice of me whatsoever... rather disappointing actually as I am somewhat looking forward to seeing how the operatives might try to enforce the rule! But no confrontation is good.

From there I popped in to Sainsbury's as we rather like their multi-seed loaf, despite it being an expensive £1.19. But we save in other areas so now and again a pricey fresh loaf isn't too much.

From there went to the Council office to deliver the Planning Panel paperwork, and then to Boots for my asthma medication, two prophylactic puffs a night keeps me asthma-free (hope that reads right!!!) and home via Country Fresh where I picked up three boxes/sacks plus some shopping.

Home in time to get some plastic 35mm film canisters ready for a Freecycler who wants them for his school, as they are good for certain science experiments. I got a huge sack full several years ago from a photography shop, before digital was so popular. I've still got loads left, but was happy to share a carrier-bag full!

I had an email from a Freecycler who posted an offer of a train layout on a board, no rolling stock, but track and perhaps scenery, saying he'd be happy to give it to me. So I said I could pick it up this evening, but he said he was going out so I'll pick it up tomorrow morning. I don't think he believes it will fit on my trailer!

A little bit later, a chap called Mark arrived, whom I'd met through Freecycle, hoping to find an adult-sized tricycle. I'd said that if he couldn't find a free one, I was selling one and he was welcome to come and look at it. He hadn't really expected to get a free one, and checked the one I bought for Gill several years ago. At that time, Gill was less confident on her bike, and needed to cycle with our little boys, so I bought her the trike but she hated it, as it didn't lean like bikes do, and she found the steering most weird, so she just got better at cycling on 2 wheels... and now she's as confident as an average person. I was very glad to sell this, as it has freed up space and will be used by Mark's wife and 15 month old child.

After tea and Gardeners World, I did a bit of sorting out... putting stuff back in the garage and compostables down the garden, and a storm broke, which I love... an electrical storm at dusk, heavy rain and me working in it... lovely, but a tad damp.

Came in and got an email form a Green Party friend with a link to an amazing document published in March this year by people in Chester, a guide/blueprint to Chester 2050... how it will/may look like, and how we'll have to live if we're to be living sustainably. It is a very long read, much of it applicable to anywhere in the UK or the World, some of it pertaining to Chester and the local area. Lots of useful links, and a good document to send to decisionmakers and activists everywhere. Click on http://www.chester.gov.uk/pdf/Vision2050.pdf.

Excellent day... spent lots of it outside working. Kids played, all was happy.

Our youngest went to the Yorkshire Museum quite early, with Ros and her son, to wave the 'Roman Coin' at the Portable Antiquities people. The consensus was that it was a reproduction... what a pity!

Simon came round with his son, and our eldest played with him whilst Gill and I chatted with Simon over a cuppa. I then cycled over to Goodramgate to visit Oxfam which sells big tubs of Cafedirect instant FairTrade coffee, 500g for £14.99, a somewhat better price than the Scummerfield 100g jar I got yesterday (as we'd run out!) for something like £3.40 I think. Anyway, I like to buy stuff from Oxfam. I then went on to Sainsburys and spent the same again on assorted things and came back along the cycle path and brought back sticks.

Then did a load of composting jobs... dug out a static tumbler (one which has ceased to rotate as the frame broke but I still use the drum for putting tumbled compost in, to mature) and then emptied the Compostumbler 600l machine, forking the stuff into a dalek. The children helped me with some riddling, using the Rotaseive. Did loads of this, after they'd done a couple of loads. They played on the trampoline and made mud bricks and built a wall.

A lovely but hard working day.

Gill woke me up at 9.45... she'd got the children off to school and was just about to get back into bed... and I told her I'd got to be at Monk's Cross by 10.30! I had told her last night, but she was snoozing then!

So, I shovelled down a bowl of brain flakes and muesli and Gill made a sandwich for me, and I set off at 10.05, washed, hair brushed, fed, presentable. I got to Sainsbury's at Monk's Cross just as Luna had finished setting out the Love Food Hate Waste info table. We had rice/pasta bag-clips, to stop foodstuffs spilling out whilst being stored and to stop wee beasties getting in (weevils, psocids etc) and fridge thermometers so fridges aren't running too cold (waste of energy) or too warm (won't keep food wholesome as long), recipes to help people use up spare food, a portion control activity so folks don't cook too much pasta or rice, and, of course, info on composting, wormeries and bokashi. We had a competition called 'spin the carrot' and when this ended up pointing at a section (reduce, reuse, recycle) and a particular foodstuff (bread, fruit/veg/ pasta/rice) punters had to answer how they would, for instance, reduce bread waste, if they were able to come up with an answer, they were entered into a competition to win a compost bin or wormery.



I spent til 4pm here, I did have a short lunch break but this is work I really enjoy doing, despite it being voluntary. We spoke to 90 people, did 21 'spin the carrot' competitions, and gave away loads of leaflets, bag clips, fridge thermometers and more. The national research shows the average person throws away a third of the food they buy, but it was interesting to hear that nearly everybody we spoke to said they wasted hardly anything. I think many people have a warped perception of their own lives!

Good chats with Luna, between customers. She's nearly finished this job, and has got a new one with the Co-op with their paper recycling education scheme.

I came home via the cycle track and brought two large branches/tree trunks home, one in the trailer and one strapped to the bike frame.

I chainsawed these up when I got home. Our youngest had a friend round and at 5.30 he needed walking home so I did this, and at his house he showed me a Roman coin he found in his garden recently... I was well impressed, it has a very visible head and legible writing on the other side. Either it's a recently dropped fake OR it's one of the best Roman coins I've ever seen. I suggested to him that he take it to the Yorkshire Museum for an assessment.

Gill made a nice rice and veg tea, with bought felafels and olives.

Not too bad an evening. Did a fair amount of Facebooking.... various stuff including handing over my Facebook page NOT STUPID to the NOT STUPID people! I got there first... they all had a day off yesterday... I started the page on Sunday night as a response to the launch of the NOT STUPID campaign after the premiere of Age of Stupid. There is a list of cinemas where it is opening on 20th March on this page.

Gill woke me at about 8 to help her make a costume for our youngest's 'book day' at school. Several days ago, Gill asked him if he'd like to dress up for the day (school encourages them to dress like their favourite literary character on book day) and he declined. She offered to make a costume which would make him look like Twig from The Edge Chronicles, but he wasn't bothered. This morning, at 7.45, he said he WOULD like to go as Twig. So Gill got to it and found a fleece-like woolly jacket which needed the arms cutting off and cutting down the front and the blue stuff at the bottom taking off, and she came up to ask me to do it as it would take too much time, when she was getting them ready to leave the house... I asked her to hold the garment, stretch it, whilst I wielded the scissors. 2 minutes later, the costume was ready! The only difference between Twig and our son now is that Twig's hair is in small tufts, and to get our boy's hair into tufts would definitely take too long!

I went back to sleep for an hour, much needed after some very late nights and busy times...

However, when I did get up after 9 I had a good session of washing up and did my Carbon Account readings. At midday I went out to visit Pauline who had requested a wood-chopping session in exchange for a lunch and coffee. We had a lovely chat and I processed a pile of scrap wood for her. She's trialling a compressed sawdust briquette product and has also tried a paper briquette product, which is made locally by people with learning difficulties.

After Pauline, I popped into the bank and then Oxfam for £15 worth of coffee and Kyi Po for a chat with Matthew and I bought some delicious lemon-grass flavoured mayonnaise but resisted all of the large selection of organic booze they have in now... lovely though it may be!

Then onto Sainsburys for bread and Ribena and marge and some other bits and bobs.

I came home via the cycle track where I picked up 3 chunky logs, and when I got in at 5ish, I did a bit of chopping and stacking before having tea with Gill. The boys had already had tea and were happily playing with a friend, who is staying the night.

A peaceful evening with nothing notable.