Human Lifestyle

A morning full of phone calls, paperwork and pretty boring stuff... and the afternoon I did a lot of work in the conservatory and on the lawn just out the back, preparing growing medium for pots. I filled one huge ceramic planter with a branch for support, 4 Chinese Yams, 2 beans and a cucumber. I did a large plastic pot with a tomato, bean and yam. Another pot with 3 beans only, and another pot with a tomato and I think a bean and a yam.

I have space for another 15 large pots... but preparing enough growing medium for all those will be quite a job. I'll be going to Brunswick Organic Nursery soon to get a few more different tomato plants, hopefully a bit more interesting than the Shirley and Tumbler that I've just put in.

Gill made chips to go with the pastie and salads, which was nice as we don't have chips very often. Then I went to a Car Free Day meeting, with people from York and Ryedale Friends of the Earth, and we had good conversations at the Seahorse Hotel. Our slogan for the Car Free Day on 22nd September is 'Walk It, Bike It, Bus It'. We have some interesting plans but I cannot divulge them as some bigwigs have to make some decisions before we can move forward.

I got in at about 10pm, and at about 11 I lit the stove to get enough hot water for the washing up.

Another basically good day. A busy morning inside, I made some carrot soup. Then Gill went to town and I responded to a phone call from Keith the Freecycler, who invited me to come and collect a load of wood.

So I soon cycled round to Burnholme and Keith had a really good load of wood... all cut to the same length and just enough to completely fill my trailer and panniers. Perfect. I called in on the Co-op on the way home, and got in before our eldest son came back... and he helped me do some stacking for a few minutes, which was nice, unexpected.

After tea... the carrot, onion, potato, red pepper and celery soup with bread and hommous, I went to the upstairs room of the Golden Fleece to the planning meeting for the September 22nd Car Free Day. This was well attended, 11 of us, and Graham Relton proved a good chair, keeping us more or less focused. We started off with some info about the Car Free Cities Conference and then talked around the run up to the Car Free Day and the day itself. A very inspiring meeting.

I offered to try to find a more accessible venue, as it is possible someone with mobility issues might turn up, and having the meeting in an inaccessible room would be embarrassing and quite frankly, wrong. So I cycled to the Black Swan (they have level access but no accessible toilet) and then the Seahorse (level access, not sure about the loo situation) and both can host us on 20th May. I emailed Graham and asked him to choose between the two.

Up before 8.30 in case the builders came whilst Gill was taking our youngest to school... and they walked down as he's achy and bruised from falling over at the ice rink last night.

The plumber, Lee, working with Harris Builders arrived at 8.30 and started checking through the various boxes and packages which have arrived from Solartwin. He found that the large box which contained the cylinder part of the system had been bashed and had a damaged corner. However, this is, I hope, cosmetic damage and is the result of inadequate packaging and mishandling. Although I'm not a fan of excess packaging, it has a purpose... protection... and in this case, some extra polystyrene or thick card on each corner would have protected the contents better. I wonder if we'll get any money back for this?

Fortunately the huge panel was in perfect condition, and all the other bits and bobs seemed to have arrived. Lee's brother Andy arrived and they worked harmoniously til after 5, but they just did the internal work. Tomorrow morning the panel will be hoisted up to the roof and fixed in. I don't think they fancied it in the rain.

I spent the whole day at the house, making sure the chaps were well dosed with tea and anything else they needed. I chopped up another load of apples for drying and did a wash up and made another batch of tomato soup on the woodstove, this time with a slice of pumpkin whizzed up into it. I also started building the logpile on the right hand side of the front door, looking out. With both stoves going now, we are getting through the logs really quickly.

So, pasties and soup for tea... the soup was delicious.

At 7pm I got myself ready to go down to the Seahorse to attend the last LETS core group meeting of the year, and the social and trading afterwards. The meeting was very well attended, probably because of the social. The funniest thing was that Rakesh brought loads of goodies to trade and this generated quite a bit of excitement and more trading than the core group meetings have seen over the whole year... I think anyhow! We did have a short meeting and I took minutes and will write them up. I was pleased to chat with Jini, whom I've not got to know before now. So, an enjoyable meeting and I brought back some interesting edibles.

I got home soon after 10.30 and watched Newsnight which had reports from Copenhagen, and wrote up the YiT emails from last night.

Up early as builders coming to remove the unused chimney and put on new boards at the edge of the roof.

But it was raining hard and when they came they realised that my logpiles had to be moved. The workers rang the boss and he rang me back to say they'd be around on Thursday. And yes, I do have to move the logpiles. They offered to do it, but building a new logpile is an art, so I'm doing it. I've never seen somebody else build a better logpile than me, apart from Alastair Heseltine, who is an artist and sculptor whom I think is inspirational. Do have a flick through his website, click on the photos on the left of the screen to move around...

I moved one of the two logpiles at the side of the house to the side of the passage between our garden and our next door neighbour. I'll move the other one tomorrow, and tidy up. I didn't move the second one today as there was a thunderstorm with hail and driving rain.

I spent some of today peeling and slicing and drying a huge load of Persimmon, sometimes known as Sharon Fruit. They naturally have a couple of dark marks on them, and can get very soft and squishy but are still delicious and edible. However, one of the greengrocers has chucked out about 20 to 30 boxes, each with six fruits in. Each fruit makes 4 slices so that's a huge amount of dried persimmon, but it is really worth it as it's lovely, a great texture and flavour!

I got ready for work at about 4pm, as was booked to go and entertain at the 20th anniversary of the University of York Nursery. I was able to take my bike and trailer through to the back where there is a covered outdoor area with a soft surface, and I did about half an hour of walkabout and making faces to the kids inside the building, their laughing faces pressed up against the window, and me either sticking my tongue out or crossing my eyes, or thumbing my nose... all silly but good fun interaction. Then I did my show... a big audience of at least 40 children and same numbers of adults, a very quick show but a good un! Finally, I made a lot of balloon animals, just giving them out to whomsoever wanted them, til about 6 when there was a firework display at the front of the building. I had a baked potato with beans and cheese, packed up and cycled towards home. Lovely!

I popped in to Simon and Melody as both their children went to that nursery, and I had mentioned this during the booking discussions and as I left today, one of the staff said to give their regards to the family. So I did so.

Home for a bit of fruit, cake and ice cream, and out again to the Seahorse for the first 'Climate Argument Club', an offshoot of York in Transition. Some of us are engaged in debates, discussions or even arguments with people about things connected with climate change, so we met to discuss how to handle them, and whether to do some kind of training to help us deal with the sorts of arguments and opinions we face. We felt that if people understood the science, then we wouldn't need to do too much else, but we also recognised that people are affected by emotions, traditions, religion, 'gut' feelings, where their heart leads them and of course, misinformation and propaganda. We didn't come up with any firm conclusions, but I'm sending a couple of files and links to Bryony, Dan and Sue, as these would help or come in useful.

I had promised Gill that I'd be in by 10pm... I just managed it!

But I then had a lot of email and facebook stuff to do, plus the obligatory blog post, and there's space on the drying racks as stuff shrinks.

Seemed to spend the best part of the day inside. During the morning I rang Outdoorkit, which had the best deal on the tent I wanted, and bought a Vango Sigma 300+ which has a door front and back, which allows the air to flow through... just like my old tent, a design I like.

I also did various other paperwork but I don't like doing paperwork so it wasn't a very inspiring day. But I also made some beetroot soup... fried a free onion and a stalk of purchased celery, rubbed off the loose skin from the free beetroot I cooked on the woodstove last night and chopped them up, put the chunks with the onion and celery plus about two pints of water, and simmered it for a short while. Then added home-made sweet red pepper paprika, bouillon and some balsamic vinegar, and whizzed it up til it was really smooth.

I reheated a bowlful in the microwave and had it for an early tea, Gill had hers cold and said it was very good.

I attended the YorkLETS AGM down at the Seahorse Hotel, Ben chaired and it was quite a slow one, interrupted by the chips and sandwiches arriving. Not very many people attended but hopefully we'll be able to change that this next year. I remain publicity person and also promised to contribute to the newsletter, as well as a couple of other tasks.

Home soon after 10pm, and had a phone call from a friend who's been feeling very low recently, and he thanked me for my support which was lovely to hear. I wish him well on his new turn of life, and hope he can look back on these days and say 'I got through it and I'm glad'.

Not a good start to the day, the usual Monday morning playing up followed by huge angry outbursts which we found really difficult to deal with. He wouldn't go to school so we phoned around trying to get some help. Parenting is so difficult, at the moment I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone.

We are trying to be good parents and set boundaries and give a mix of advice, praise, instruction, love, understanding etc but children are individuals in their own right, they cannot be controlled or moulded like plasticine into what you want them to be. We try to be good role models and are attending a class in order to try to become better parents. However, many people find parenting difficult, not because they are bad parents, but because their child hasn't yet learnt how to fit in and behave appropriately. Children also get messages about their 'rights' and have learned that it is OK to answer back and express themselves. As physical punishment is no longer an option, they feel free to disobey as there are no punishments we know of which seem to make any difference, and anyway, we don't enjoy punishing our children, or want to do this.

I was brought up with a 'rod of iron', a very strict regime, which included being smacked, spanked, caned and given lines to write when I started to hit back. I certainly knew what I could and couldn't do, and should and shouldn't do, and maybe this is why I have a strong moral code that I live by, a sense of right and wrong. I am having to go against my own upbringing by trying to be more relaxed and less authoritarian, I don't want to treat my children like I was treated. However, this is far from easy, and my children might have inherited some of my 'free spirit' (that's a polite way of saying I was difficult to live with when I was younger!) which, of course is not their fault or mine. I hope they have inherited some of Gill's placid, easygoing attitude as well. She is a good influence on all of us.

Gill took the boys into school before lunch, better late than never.

I had a very low day, feeling inadequate and like giving up. I had a bath and did more fruit, sort of on autopilot. After lunch I went into the garden and attacked brambles and hedge and got the chainsaw out to deal with an enormous log from Heslington.

In the evening I went to the LETS meeting at The Seahorse Hotel, still feeling low, but I was cheered up by Ann, and then David came, and Rakesh and Frances. Whilst we were in the middle of the meeting, a member of the public came in, as it's not a private room, and although he looked like he wanted to leave, we told him he could stay...

At the end of the meeting we got talking, he came to York a few years ago with a partner but now he's single, and I think I have a friend with Kevin. He was interested in my dried fruit experiments and may visit. We talked til after 11, after all the LETS people had gone home...

Quite a good day, as woke to a quiet house.... the boys had a peaceful morning before school and so I wasn't woken by shouting. Gill took them to school and I went back to bed, she joined me when she got back. So good to have a lazy morning!

Spent some time building a new logpile and draining a watwerbutt which has developed a leak... I think the tap on the base has been bumped and the seal damaged. Then my new composter arrived..... a 400 litre CompostFlow, made by SunMar who also make compost toilets. I started soring out a place to put it, which meant emptying a 'dalek' into another larger 'sit n wait' container.

I got the kiddies, coming home with another load of leaves.

I had a YorkLETS meeting in the evening at the Seahorse on the Fishergate Gyratory, it was a quick and businesslike meeting, finishing at about 8.30, and the 5 of us who turned up all went back to our homes. A quiet evening. Did a load of paperwork, invoices, forms, cheques to send.