An excellent day... took the kiddies to school and then went to the station to get a train to Sheffield.
Ali met me at Sheffield Station at 10.20 and we went on the tram back to her house where we spent most of the day. Lots of talk about eco/ethical issues... we met at the Green Fair last year and then I entertained at her daughter's birthday last month. A good friendship has ensued.
We went to her daughter's school to pick her up and I had tea there before getting a 6pm train back to York, sso I could attend the CRAG meeting.
I went to the Black Swan and eventually several other CRAGgers arrived and I facilitated the meeting.
Back home at 11pm and was very tired, so didn't do any emailing or anything on the computer... just flopped and chatted to Gilly.
Showing posts with label York CRAG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label York CRAG. Show all posts
I took the children into school, after inflating their tyres and oiling chains.
When I got back we both went to bed... so good to have some child-free time after a relatively tough Easter Holiday. But then I had to get on with my work... a post on the Community Care Blog which should have been in on Sunday or Monday. But there is flexibility, fortunately!
So did that and all too soon it was lunch time and after that I had to go to town to get some cheques out and attend a meeting I'd been invited to. This was the York Environment Forum, a 'replacement' to Local Agenda 21 and part of the wider Local Development Framework process, which in York is labelled 'Without Walls'. It was quite a lively discussion, and I was invited to join the group. It felt like old times, being up in Committee Room 3 in the Guildhall...
That ran from 4 til 6... and I sprinted home, trailer rattling and bouncing all over the place in order to get to the next meeting on time, the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel, at 6.30 in Archbishop Holgate School. I'm the acting Clerk so I have to be there, and I'm being sent all the paperwork so if I don't turn up, it doesn't happen. However, Colin was the only other person to turn up... maybe next time I'll send round an email reminder!
That only took 30 minutes so that enabled me to have a bite to eat before my third meeting, a York CRAG core-group, just four of us with some very intense discussions about how we run the group, membership issues and several other subjects. That ran from 8.15 til pub closing time... if one of the people there hadn't been quite so argumentative we'd have been away at 10pm. Never mind, I do like the argumentative-one's approach, it's not unlike mine except I've mellowed with age and have realised that things run more smoothly if nits are left unpicked sometimes....
So got in after 11 and had a few minutes chat with Gill before going on the computer to hook up with K on Skype as pre-arranged and we had a good chat and the cameras worked this time!
When I got back we both went to bed... so good to have some child-free time after a relatively tough Easter Holiday. But then I had to get on with my work... a post on the Community Care Blog which should have been in on Sunday or Monday. But there is flexibility, fortunately!
So did that and all too soon it was lunch time and after that I had to go to town to get some cheques out and attend a meeting I'd been invited to. This was the York Environment Forum, a 'replacement' to Local Agenda 21 and part of the wider Local Development Framework process, which in York is labelled 'Without Walls'. It was quite a lively discussion, and I was invited to join the group. It felt like old times, being up in Committee Room 3 in the Guildhall...
That ran from 4 til 6... and I sprinted home, trailer rattling and bouncing all over the place in order to get to the next meeting on time, the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel, at 6.30 in Archbishop Holgate School. I'm the acting Clerk so I have to be there, and I'm being sent all the paperwork so if I don't turn up, it doesn't happen. However, Colin was the only other person to turn up... maybe next time I'll send round an email reminder!
That only took 30 minutes so that enabled me to have a bite to eat before my third meeting, a York CRAG core-group, just four of us with some very intense discussions about how we run the group, membership issues and several other subjects. That ran from 8.15 til pub closing time... if one of the people there hadn't been quite so argumentative we'd have been away at 10pm. Never mind, I do like the argumentative-one's approach, it's not unlike mine except I've mellowed with age and have realised that things run more smoothly if nits are left unpicked sometimes....
So got in after 11 and had a few minutes chat with Gill before going on the computer to hook up with K on Skype as pre-arranged and we had a good chat and the cameras worked this time!
Up at a reasonable time, in time to go to the Credit Union AGM which was at CVS at Priory St, starting at 9.30, with time to have a cuppa and a chat from 9.15, which is when I arrived. I was very pleased to see some of my CU friends whom I haven't seen for some while.
This was the second AGM, following the first full year of trading. The CU is doing well, with plenty of members and savings and loans going out. The Union is well managed and the auditors say they are happy. This meeting made me happy.
Then came home and had a brief lunch before going down to town again... this time to the library where the Carbon Reduction Action Group was holding a public meeting on carbon offsetting, whether it is part of the solution or a just a way to carry on as nomal but pay some money to ease your conscience....
I had done lots of research about carbon offsetting, as I was putting the pro-offsetting point of view. This was initially difficult for me as I was skeptical about it, but the reseach had moved my opinion towards thinking that it is part of the way that someone who has reduced their footprint can reduce it further.
This was the second AGM, following the first full year of trading. The CU is doing well, with plenty of members and savings and loans going out. The Union is well managed and the auditors say they are happy. This meeting made me happy.
Then came home and had a brief lunch before going down to town again... this time to the library where the Carbon Reduction Action Group was holding a public meeting on carbon offsetting, whether it is part of the solution or a just a way to carry on as nomal but pay some money to ease your conscience....
I had done lots of research about carbon offsetting, as I was putting the pro-offsetting point of view. This was initially difficult for me as I was skeptical about it, but the reseach had moved my opinion towards thinking that it is part of the way that someone who has reduced their footprint can reduce it further.
A good day... a very peaceful start to the day, oh what a relief! I took them to school and the head teacher collared me and asked me to come to school on Monday as there are OFSTED people coming and she wants them to hear about the Green Thumbs. Also had a good chat with Andy, a very friendly Dad with an even friendlier daughter
When I got back, Gill wanted me to come to town to look at mattresses (as we've worn ours out!), so I cycled in and delivered posters to the library and got a cheque out to pay my National Insurance and then met up with Gilly, who'd found a good selection of mattresses... and we tested about four of them and decided on one with so-called 'memory foam' and pocket springs... not the cheapest but worth having as we value our bed times (sleep!) a lot!!!
It didn't take long, and I then visited the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre to give them the CRAG meeting poster.
Came home for lunch, and had a short time before going to school, where our youngest was picked up and walked home to play with a friend, and we had a meeting with the teachers, who are very caring and lovely and put time aside to help, over and above their paid hours.
I took the little bike home on the trailer and raced the other cyclist, with Gill arriving in 5 mins later. Had a quick tea and got ready to go to Critical Mass, with my eldest son, as a treat (yes, he does enjoy it!!!)
So we set off at about 5.25 and got to the Minster some time before 6 which is when we set off, and we were joined by two people from Scarborough, one of them my friend Jane, who would like to organise a Critical Mass Cycle Celebration in Scarborough and had come over to see how it went here. Had a very good little cycle around, no aggro from car drivers, which was good, and just before the ride finished, my boy wanted to go home so we peeled off and came home. It was such a treat... for me.... to have this ride with him.
A quiet evening, just lounged about, not feeling up to a game of Scrabble, and had an early night... just after midnight!
When I got back, Gill wanted me to come to town to look at mattresses (as we've worn ours out!), so I cycled in and delivered posters to the library and got a cheque out to pay my National Insurance and then met up with Gilly, who'd found a good selection of mattresses... and we tested about four of them and decided on one with so-called 'memory foam' and pocket springs... not the cheapest but worth having as we value our bed times (sleep!) a lot!!!
It didn't take long, and I then visited the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre to give them the CRAG meeting poster.
Came home for lunch, and had a short time before going to school, where our youngest was picked up and walked home to play with a friend, and we had a meeting with the teachers, who are very caring and lovely and put time aside to help, over and above their paid hours.
I took the little bike home on the trailer and raced the other cyclist, with Gill arriving in 5 mins later. Had a quick tea and got ready to go to Critical Mass, with my eldest son, as a treat (yes, he does enjoy it!!!)
So we set off at about 5.25 and got to the Minster some time before 6 which is when we set off, and we were joined by two people from Scarborough, one of them my friend Jane, who would like to organise a Critical Mass Cycle Celebration in Scarborough and had come over to see how it went here. Had a very good little cycle around, no aggro from car drivers, which was good, and just before the ride finished, my boy wanted to go home so we peeled off and came home. It was such a treat... for me.... to have this ride with him.
A quiet evening, just lounged about, not feeling up to a game of Scrabble, and had an early night... just after midnight!
Quite a good start to the day, went back to bed after breakfast but got up again soon and tried to get the children to tell me what they wanted to do... but whatever I suggested they weren't interested in and when I suggested they tell me what they wanted to do, they had no suggestions.
Talked to a journalist from The Observer on the phone about CRAGs, the article will be published tomorrow.
Then went to finish off refilling the compost bin I dug out yesterday and partly refilled. Gill came down the garden at 1pm saying the kids had agreed about what they wanted to do... and they were off to 'Leaping Lizards' shop to see if they sell Geckoes (the boys want a pet) and then onto Sainsburys and the charity shops in Goodramgate.
I came in for lunch, did some computery stuff and then started to prepare some veg for a soup or something for tea.
I got a phone call from my sister asking me about composting tea bags. She is digging out her compost pile I made for her last year, and she's riddling it into a large dustbin prior to using it later in the Spring. She'd found lots of uncomposted teabags, empty but obviously teabags. I was able to tell her that many teabags are made from a thin plastic fabric, and the tealeaves rot away leaving the bag which should be taken out of the finished compost and thrown away.
She then told me that she was encouraging her office to compost... she works for the Environment Agency and so she's being given a Waste Carrier's Licence so she can 'officially' take home the biodegradables for home composting.... totally wow! Something for my paid blog perhaps!
Signed an online petition about Carbon taxation: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/carbon-tax/
Talked to a journalist from The Observer on the phone about CRAGs, the article will be published tomorrow.
Then went to finish off refilling the compost bin I dug out yesterday and partly refilled. Gill came down the garden at 1pm saying the kids had agreed about what they wanted to do... and they were off to 'Leaping Lizards' shop to see if they sell Geckoes (the boys want a pet) and then onto Sainsburys and the charity shops in Goodramgate.
I came in for lunch, did some computery stuff and then started to prepare some veg for a soup or something for tea.
I got a phone call from my sister asking me about composting tea bags. She is digging out her compost pile I made for her last year, and she's riddling it into a large dustbin prior to using it later in the Spring. She'd found lots of uncomposted teabags, empty but obviously teabags. I was able to tell her that many teabags are made from a thin plastic fabric, and the tealeaves rot away leaving the bag which should be taken out of the finished compost and thrown away.
She then told me that she was encouraging her office to compost... she works for the Environment Agency and so she's being given a Waste Carrier's Licence so she can 'officially' take home the biodegradables for home composting.... totally wow! Something for my paid blog perhaps!
Signed an online petition about Carbon taxation: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/carbon-tax/
I took the boys into school as there was considerable resistance by one of them, and Gill feared him cycling off in the opposite direction. But they both behaved perfectly and there were no problems.
The day was lovely, did a bit of housework, some stuff in the garden, had a sleep, read some NewScientist and at 3pm Gill went to pick up our youngest and at 4 I cycled down to pick up the other one from Drama Club.
I then spent some time turning a compost heap and tidying up some mess in the back garden.
Just the easygoing sort of day that I like.
At 7.30ish I went out to meet up with folks from York Green Festival who were waiting outside Space 109, which I was supposed to have booked. I was going to book it for yesterday but last week got a message from Baz saying it was booked for tonight, and I thought he'd booked it... but neither of us had! So we had a short meeting outside and he went to the Spread Eagle with several others and I went on to The Black Swan for a CRAG meeting with a journalist who was taking pics for, I think, The Observer.
We had a good discussion, about our public meeting next month and about the various aspects of carbon reduction that we as individuals we are trying to achieve. We agreed to meet just before the public meeting on Carbon Offsetting to finalise what we are going to say and present. I'm going to try to get a speaker from an offsetting company and/or some publicity materials, and possibly the short film 'Cheat Neutral' which is basically anti-offsetting. We had a poster advertising the meeting brought and we need to construct a press release.
The day was lovely, did a bit of housework, some stuff in the garden, had a sleep, read some NewScientist and at 3pm Gill went to pick up our youngest and at 4 I cycled down to pick up the other one from Drama Club.
I then spent some time turning a compost heap and tidying up some mess in the back garden.
Just the easygoing sort of day that I like.
At 7.30ish I went out to meet up with folks from York Green Festival who were waiting outside Space 109, which I was supposed to have booked. I was going to book it for yesterday but last week got a message from Baz saying it was booked for tonight, and I thought he'd booked it... but neither of us had! So we had a short meeting outside and he went to the Spread Eagle with several others and I went on to The Black Swan for a CRAG meeting with a journalist who was taking pics for, I think, The Observer.
We had a good discussion, about our public meeting next month and about the various aspects of carbon reduction that we as individuals we are trying to achieve. We agreed to meet just before the public meeting on Carbon Offsetting to finalise what we are going to say and present. I'm going to try to get a speaker from an offsetting company and/or some publicity materials, and possibly the short film 'Cheat Neutral' which is basically anti-offsetting. We had a poster advertising the meeting brought and we need to construct a press release.
Gill took the boys to school, although one didn't want to go and cycled off in several different directions which caused Gill some distress. She then had a long meeting with a teacher and the head about the difficulties we are experiencing.
I had a meeting with the tax office. They looked over my forms and helped me complete them, and worked our my tax burden, which wasn't too much, so I went to the building society and got a cheque out and took it in to the office. Met several of my friends in the tax office and the building society. Then to 'Staples' to see if they had the correct wireless router to exchange for the wrong one I bought a couple of days ago. They did, but it was expensive, so I went to Dixons in town where it was a tiny bit cheaper, so got it there and then back to Staples to get my money back for the wrong one.
Then onto St Nicks, where I was told that the City of York Council official had contacted our York Rotters manager Catherine to say how good and professional I'd been last night, and thank you! What a lovely thing to hear!
Home for a coffee and relax before getting on woth various jobs... including washing up a load of saucepans. Fortunately the stove had remained lit overnight and there was hot water available.
During the afternoon I tried to have a sleep as I was exhausted, but the high wind noises kept me from total unconciousness.... and when Gill went to pick up our youngest I got up and got ready for picking up the eldest from Drama.
An early tea... soup and nutloaf, and then I got ready to go and do my second Cubs 'Entertainment Badge' activity.... the circus skills of juggling, balancing, devilstick, diabolo and unicycle. It was a good session, finishing with a short performance.
On the way home my front dynamo light blew again, so came home along cycle paths and back roads with no front light, but I had to hurry as I had a CRAG meeting at 9.15.
This was a good meeting at Ivana's house with just James, Ivana and me.... hammering out how York CRAG is structured, how we do things, our roles, and about the next couple of meetings. This lasted til nearly midnight!
I had a meeting with the tax office. They looked over my forms and helped me complete them, and worked our my tax burden, which wasn't too much, so I went to the building society and got a cheque out and took it in to the office. Met several of my friends in the tax office and the building society. Then to 'Staples' to see if they had the correct wireless router to exchange for the wrong one I bought a couple of days ago. They did, but it was expensive, so I went to Dixons in town where it was a tiny bit cheaper, so got it there and then back to Staples to get my money back for the wrong one.
Then onto St Nicks, where I was told that the City of York Council official had contacted our York Rotters manager Catherine to say how good and professional I'd been last night, and thank you! What a lovely thing to hear!
Home for a coffee and relax before getting on woth various jobs... including washing up a load of saucepans. Fortunately the stove had remained lit overnight and there was hot water available.
During the afternoon I tried to have a sleep as I was exhausted, but the high wind noises kept me from total unconciousness.... and when Gill went to pick up our youngest I got up and got ready for picking up the eldest from Drama.
An early tea... soup and nutloaf, and then I got ready to go and do my second Cubs 'Entertainment Badge' activity.... the circus skills of juggling, balancing, devilstick, diabolo and unicycle. It was a good session, finishing with a short performance.
On the way home my front dynamo light blew again, so came home along cycle paths and back roads with no front light, but I had to hurry as I had a CRAG meeting at 9.15.
This was a good meeting at Ivana's house with just James, Ivana and me.... hammering out how York CRAG is structured, how we do things, our roles, and about the next couple of meetings. This lasted til nearly midnight!
I woke earlier than usual and flopped downstairs, and Gill asked me to take the boys to school as she'd been up since 6am and made them pancakes and done some sewing and made their lunch..... so how could I refuse?
Gill went to the 'Strenghtening Families, Strengthening Communities' parenting course whilst I went to the dentist for a check up. My new 'between the teeth' brush is doing a good job and I had less gunge than usual needing to be ultrasounded away. However my lovely dentist discovered something called 'a pocket' which is apparently a bit of bone loss caused by my less than strong gums and the less than efficient brushing they've recieved. However, I've still got no fillings from caries, just two from a congenital abnormality called 'dens indente' which means I was born with two hollow teeth.... So I've got to go for an X-ray to check how much bone has gone. Oh dear.
I cycled over to the family centre to do the 12-2 bit of the parenting course, which was quite good today.
Went to visit Richard after, at Martin's Veg Emporium, and the wholesaler had left me a huge pile to pick up and recycle... only just managed to get it home. Then, as soon as had unloaded, went down to school to pick up my boys, raced back and very soon took them up to Archbishop Holgate's school for a 45 min session of Martial Arts/Self Defence which one of their friends had invited them to. They both loved it! There were only 6 kids there, but it looked fun and they want to go back next week.
I had an unusual tea... an out of date 'instant meal in a pot' left over from Out Of This World, a potato-based thing called 'tru-free', which was dried powder which needed a cupful of added boiling water to make it rehydrate. The rest of the family thought it looked horrible, but it was actually delicious! I wouldn't go out and buy it, but it was worth eating to stop it being composted or landfilled!
I did a bit of emailing, including one to an Observer reporter who'd made enquiries about CRAGs and wanted some info about how they worked etc... did this just before going out to the Black Swan to a CRAG meeting. James was there first and me second, and two others came soon and a new member after that... then halfway through the meeting, another two members arrived. We had a very full meeting, with discussions about the next public meeting, where, when, what format..., and publicity, and future meetings, and subjects we could cover such as biofuels, food, waste and recycling... We discussed some other groups who have similar aims like Greenspeak, York Green Festival 08, and the No Miles High Club. Very much enjoyed our conversations and conflicting views and takes on things, we have a very busy meeting with a lot going on. We do not all agree, there is rarely harmony, but we all are passionate about cutting carbon and leading green(er) lives. I left at 11pm and came home via St Nicks and found two lonely logs which will look happy on my stove next winter...!
Good chats on Googletalk with K whilst finishing blog....
Gill went to the 'Strenghtening Families, Strengthening Communities' parenting course whilst I went to the dentist for a check up. My new 'between the teeth' brush is doing a good job and I had less gunge than usual needing to be ultrasounded away. However my lovely dentist discovered something called 'a pocket' which is apparently a bit of bone loss caused by my less than strong gums and the less than efficient brushing they've recieved. However, I've still got no fillings from caries, just two from a congenital abnormality called 'dens indente' which means I was born with two hollow teeth.... So I've got to go for an X-ray to check how much bone has gone. Oh dear.
I cycled over to the family centre to do the 12-2 bit of the parenting course, which was quite good today.
Went to visit Richard after, at Martin's Veg Emporium, and the wholesaler had left me a huge pile to pick up and recycle... only just managed to get it home. Then, as soon as had unloaded, went down to school to pick up my boys, raced back and very soon took them up to Archbishop Holgate's school for a 45 min session of Martial Arts/Self Defence which one of their friends had invited them to. They both loved it! There were only 6 kids there, but it looked fun and they want to go back next week.
I had an unusual tea... an out of date 'instant meal in a pot' left over from Out Of This World, a potato-based thing called 'tru-free', which was dried powder which needed a cupful of added boiling water to make it rehydrate. The rest of the family thought it looked horrible, but it was actually delicious! I wouldn't go out and buy it, but it was worth eating to stop it being composted or landfilled!
I did a bit of emailing, including one to an Observer reporter who'd made enquiries about CRAGs and wanted some info about how they worked etc... did this just before going out to the Black Swan to a CRAG meeting. James was there first and me second, and two others came soon and a new member after that... then halfway through the meeting, another two members arrived. We had a very full meeting, with discussions about the next public meeting, where, when, what format..., and publicity, and future meetings, and subjects we could cover such as biofuels, food, waste and recycling... We discussed some other groups who have similar aims like Greenspeak, York Green Festival 08, and the No Miles High Club. Very much enjoyed our conversations and conflicting views and takes on things, we have a very busy meeting with a lot going on. We do not all agree, there is rarely harmony, but we all are passionate about cutting carbon and leading green(er) lives. I left at 11pm and came home via St Nicks and found two lonely logs which will look happy on my stove next winter...!
Good chats on Googletalk with K whilst finishing blog....
Saturday started with a bit of a lie-in, well, I got up, had a bowl of muesli and then went back to bed for an hour. Lovely! The boys were watching a brand new version of 'Swap Shop' with Basil Brush, who is possibly marginally better than Noel Edmonds was when I was a lad, but there again, possibly not as Noel didn't need a hand up his bum to make him do things (I'm assuming here!) Anyway, good to see a bit of practical re-use being promoted on the telly, made into entertainment (and a recycled show too!)
I spent an hour down the garden as the sun tried to poke through the clouds, and did yet more hedge, which is now getting a little bit tedious! There's so much of it, days worth of processing. I can begin to understand the mentality of people who have bonfires... it would only take an hour to reduce the massive pile of hedge into a pile of ash and loads of unwanted CO2 into the air... but what I'm doing will enable me to release some of the CO2 in a careful way, giving me much wanted heat (and replacing fossil fuel use) and some of the material will be incorporated into the soil as humus, trapping the carbon there for an unknown length of time. The twiggy bits which will be composted will also be the perfect composting companion material for the highly putrescible fruit and veg that I bring back in such copius quantities, so it will be worth the work to process the hedge not torch it. But quite a task and a half....
My eldest came down the garden at 11am to say that he was going round to a friend's house to do some homework (dissolving lumps of non-vegetarian jelly in water of different temperatures and timing them) and Gill and our youngest going into town to buy some shoes for his growing feet. I cycled into town to do some paper pushing (paid the phone bill, got a cheque out for a motorised compost riddler that I've had my eye on for a year, and now it's come down in price, I can afford it as a sort of post Xmas present to myself... also a business expense as it will speed up my composting ops, as it can sift 3 cubic metres an hour, apparently!)
Then called in on my friend Robin who I know from CRAG, and he proudly showed me his amazing retrofitted renewable energy systems. He has a brilliant smoke free woodburning stove with a boiler... I didn't know it was possible but it is, I've seen it in action and looked at the website too. It is a Dunsley Yorkshire Boiler Woodstove, built in Holmfirth in Yorkshire, and at up to 17Kw, it powers the central heating and hot water, and Robin runs it entirely on chopped-up pallets which are discarded in large numbers all over the place. It makes the house quite warm, infact too hot sometimes for his wife! For when the stove isn't providing heating, he has installed a 30 tube solar hot water panel on an outhouse in his garden, and some fancy electronics which feed the stove water and/or the solar-heated water to the hot water tank. I was very impressed! I'll be writing about the Dunsley Yorkshire in my paid blog which I resume tomorrow.
He also showed me his home made compost tumbler, constructed from a wheelie bin, used in conjunction with two small 'daleks'. He shared his future plans to install a downstairs toilet which uses either rainwater or greywater to flush, anothe excellent way of reducing one's eco-footprint. I went away inspired and very happy that I have met the second greenest man in York, probably! We'll have to have a competition to see who has the smallest Carbon footprint... he has a motor vehicle (although is a keen cyclist too) and I think enjoys meat, but we didn't discuss this.. I also enjoyed meeting his wife and kids, and hope we can get together when the weather is a bit better to let them have a go on the trampoline and show his wife the garden.
I came back for a late lunch via Martin's compostables emporium. Then I spent more time down the garden and finally took out the last bit of hedge, hoorah! However there is now an even bigger mountain of hedging to cut up, bag up, shred etc, which will take me weeks, I'm sure. Gill came down and spent a while cutting up sticks into kindling size.
I came in as it got dark and after de-grubbying my hands, threw together a nutloaf using yesterdays bulgar wheat and a reject pepper. It was lovely, and we had the two-day-old tomato soup on top of it as a sauce and reject parsnips cooked on the stove and reject sprouts ditto. a good nosh.
My son came back from his friend's after 8pm, and had had a really good time, homework done and lots of 10 year old play/interaction.
I watched Big Brother on E4 before doing my emails and blog. A good day.
I spent an hour down the garden as the sun tried to poke through the clouds, and did yet more hedge, which is now getting a little bit tedious! There's so much of it, days worth of processing. I can begin to understand the mentality of people who have bonfires... it would only take an hour to reduce the massive pile of hedge into a pile of ash and loads of unwanted CO2 into the air... but what I'm doing will enable me to release some of the CO2 in a careful way, giving me much wanted heat (and replacing fossil fuel use) and some of the material will be incorporated into the soil as humus, trapping the carbon there for an unknown length of time. The twiggy bits which will be composted will also be the perfect composting companion material for the highly putrescible fruit and veg that I bring back in such copius quantities, so it will be worth the work to process the hedge not torch it. But quite a task and a half....
My eldest came down the garden at 11am to say that he was going round to a friend's house to do some homework (dissolving lumps of non-vegetarian jelly in water of different temperatures and timing them) and Gill and our youngest going into town to buy some shoes for his growing feet. I cycled into town to do some paper pushing (paid the phone bill, got a cheque out for a motorised compost riddler that I've had my eye on for a year, and now it's come down in price, I can afford it as a sort of post Xmas present to myself... also a business expense as it will speed up my composting ops, as it can sift 3 cubic metres an hour, apparently!)
Then called in on my friend Robin who I know from CRAG, and he proudly showed me his amazing retrofitted renewable energy systems. He has a brilliant smoke free woodburning stove with a boiler... I didn't know it was possible but it is, I've seen it in action and looked at the website too. It is a Dunsley Yorkshire Boiler Woodstove, built in Holmfirth in Yorkshire, and at up to 17Kw, it powers the central heating and hot water, and Robin runs it entirely on chopped-up pallets which are discarded in large numbers all over the place. It makes the house quite warm, infact too hot sometimes for his wife! For when the stove isn't providing heating, he has installed a 30 tube solar hot water panel on an outhouse in his garden, and some fancy electronics which feed the stove water and/or the solar-heated water to the hot water tank. I was very impressed! I'll be writing about the Dunsley Yorkshire in my paid blog which I resume tomorrow.
He also showed me his home made compost tumbler, constructed from a wheelie bin, used in conjunction with two small 'daleks'. He shared his future plans to install a downstairs toilet which uses either rainwater or greywater to flush, anothe excellent way of reducing one's eco-footprint. I went away inspired and very happy that I have met the second greenest man in York, probably! We'll have to have a competition to see who has the smallest Carbon footprint... he has a motor vehicle (although is a keen cyclist too) and I think enjoys meat, but we didn't discuss this.. I also enjoyed meeting his wife and kids, and hope we can get together when the weather is a bit better to let them have a go on the trampoline and show his wife the garden.
I came back for a late lunch via Martin's compostables emporium. Then I spent more time down the garden and finally took out the last bit of hedge, hoorah! However there is now an even bigger mountain of hedging to cut up, bag up, shred etc, which will take me weeks, I'm sure. Gill came down and spent a while cutting up sticks into kindling size.
I came in as it got dark and after de-grubbying my hands, threw together a nutloaf using yesterdays bulgar wheat and a reject pepper. It was lovely, and we had the two-day-old tomato soup on top of it as a sauce and reject parsnips cooked on the stove and reject sprouts ditto. a good nosh.
My son came back from his friend's after 8pm, and had had a really good time, homework done and lots of 10 year old play/interaction.
I watched Big Brother on E4 before doing my emails and blog. A good day.
Another working day, today a train journey to Hull, then picked up by car and driven to Swanland to do a day's Fiddlesticking at Swanland Kids Club.
In the evening I went to the Black Swan on Peaseholme Green for the monthly CRAG meeting. The meeting was a bit sparsely attended, but we got a lot done, planning the September meeting and the other public meetings in November and January. Very good-natured banter and chat, had a couple of pints of cider and a very pleasent night.
In the evening I went to the Black Swan on Peaseholme Green for the monthly CRAG meeting. The meeting was a bit sparsely attended, but we got a lot done, planning the September meeting and the other public meetings in November and January. Very good-natured banter and chat, had a couple of pints of cider and a very pleasent night.
Today is my last chance to modify the documentation for York Green Festival to allow it to go ahead. However in the morning I had a phone chat with Green Party Councillor Andy D'Agorne, who has offered his support for the event and has offered to email the Council official who is being less than helpful, and then a Freecycling couple came to pick up some potato sacks to store their spuds in. Good to get 20 of these re-used!
Then a friend Robin whom I met through CRAG rand and offered me a load of old floorboards for the stove.... so I helped him unload his trailer and showed him around the garden, THEN got on with my work.
After lunch went to town to attend the open day at Millers Yard Healthy Living Centre off Gillygate, as Dylan had asked me to go down for 3pm to do a talk on home composting, as I compost his orange halves and coffee grounds, voluntarily. However the wet weather had reduced the numbers of people present and no-one wanted to have a home composting talk. However as I was standing around with a coffee waiting to see if there were any latecomers to the talk, my ex partner of 10 years turned up, as she is moving back to York and for a while we have both known that we needed to have a chat to put our split behind us, so I could apologise for behaviour I now know was unacceptable, and give her the chance to tell me how she felt about it, all these years later. I hadn't expected to see her here, but we had the neccessary conversation, and she was very mature about it and not bitter, which moved me to tears. I explained as much as I could about my situation/condition and how I saw things now, and was able to make my sorrow and regret known. Felt like quite a relief, a weight off my mind.
After 4pm went to Fishergate to pick up some Freecycled audio-cassette tapes dumped unused in a skip by students, and rescued by a Freecycler.
Then to Heslington to pick up my eldest son who's been to Rowntree Park with a friend and needed bringing home for tea. We all had tea together, it is supposed to be good for families to do this but I find it stressful as my boys are difficult to be with, kicking me under the table, being messy and getting upset when I ask them to eat with their face over the plate to stop stuff falling on the floor, etc. I much prefer them to eat first and then we eat later, in peace.
Spent lots of time on the computer, on dialup, trying to deal with various projects including YGF.
Frustrating that when sending large files, the dialup has short timeouts which mean the process starts all over again, so frustrating.
Then a friend Robin whom I met through CRAG rand and offered me a load of old floorboards for the stove.... so I helped him unload his trailer and showed him around the garden, THEN got on with my work.
After lunch went to town to attend the open day at Millers Yard Healthy Living Centre off Gillygate, as Dylan had asked me to go down for 3pm to do a talk on home composting, as I compost his orange halves and coffee grounds, voluntarily. However the wet weather had reduced the numbers of people present and no-one wanted to have a home composting talk. However as I was standing around with a coffee waiting to see if there were any latecomers to the talk, my ex partner of 10 years turned up, as she is moving back to York and for a while we have both known that we needed to have a chat to put our split behind us, so I could apologise for behaviour I now know was unacceptable, and give her the chance to tell me how she felt about it, all these years later. I hadn't expected to see her here, but we had the neccessary conversation, and she was very mature about it and not bitter, which moved me to tears. I explained as much as I could about my situation/condition and how I saw things now, and was able to make my sorrow and regret known. Felt like quite a relief, a weight off my mind.
After 4pm went to Fishergate to pick up some Freecycled audio-cassette tapes dumped unused in a skip by students, and rescued by a Freecycler.
Then to Heslington to pick up my eldest son who's been to Rowntree Park with a friend and needed bringing home for tea. We all had tea together, it is supposed to be good for families to do this but I find it stressful as my boys are difficult to be with, kicking me under the table, being messy and getting upset when I ask them to eat with their face over the plate to stop stuff falling on the floor, etc. I much prefer them to eat first and then we eat later, in peace.
Spent lots of time on the computer, on dialup, trying to deal with various projects including YGF.
Frustrating that when sending large files, the dialup has short timeouts which mean the process starts all over again, so frustrating.
Another fairly early morning as noisy downstairs so I got up and took the boys to school, although they were pretty horrible before setting out, and both apologised to me when they got to school. My youngest had spent so long not putting on his socks that I put them on him for him, in anger and he wasn't happy, nor was I. But we got to school on time, which is better than some people who are still coming to school when I'm coming back home.
Spent most of the day on the computer trying to sort out the bloody risk assessment which is not easy as I think I should be detailed and include everything which could affect the punters at the festival, and the boss at the council says I should only include those things connected with the Festival and what we bring onto site. I find her difficult to deal with, she's sarcastic and I don't like this approach. But she's the boss and could cancel the Green Festival so I cannot upset her!
Got the kids at 3 and then did some more sorting, this time talking to the PA person about Portable Appliance Testing and how we can ensure that all the musicians get their instruments certificated as electrically safe. Then sometime after 4 went to Scarcroft Green for 'Green on the Green', to see my CRAGger friends, Rotters, St Nicks-ites and other greenies.
At 5pm, when the event finished, Jo, who was working on the York Rotters stall, and she came to the Rowntrees Park with me with the maps she's printed off for me. Walked round in the rain checking out the venues for the live music, stalls, solar cinema and DJ area. Talked to the Park staff about power points and access to water.
Then cycled home and got in shortly after 6pm, and Gill had created a good tea of bulgar wheat, veg and chestnuts.
Went back on the email after this, and bombed into town, picked up the Space 109 keys and went to get on with the meeting. The meeting went well, several stallholders attended and we had a good meeting. This will be reported in my other blogspot blog, the York Green Festival blog, http://ygf2007.blogspot.com/ when I write it up.
Then went to the Blue Bell pub with Martin and Graham, and had some really interesting chats about relationships and the various different styles of relationship which now exist and are named and described. Fascinating, thought provoking.
Came back tipsy and had a good email and Googletalk session with K, didn't get much else done though!
Spent most of the day on the computer trying to sort out the bloody risk assessment which is not easy as I think I should be detailed and include everything which could affect the punters at the festival, and the boss at the council says I should only include those things connected with the Festival and what we bring onto site. I find her difficult to deal with, she's sarcastic and I don't like this approach. But she's the boss and could cancel the Green Festival so I cannot upset her!
Got the kids at 3 and then did some more sorting, this time talking to the PA person about Portable Appliance Testing and how we can ensure that all the musicians get their instruments certificated as electrically safe. Then sometime after 4 went to Scarcroft Green for 'Green on the Green', to see my CRAGger friends, Rotters, St Nicks-ites and other greenies.
At 5pm, when the event finished, Jo, who was working on the York Rotters stall, and she came to the Rowntrees Park with me with the maps she's printed off for me. Walked round in the rain checking out the venues for the live music, stalls, solar cinema and DJ area. Talked to the Park staff about power points and access to water.
Then cycled home and got in shortly after 6pm, and Gill had created a good tea of bulgar wheat, veg and chestnuts.
Went back on the email after this, and bombed into town, picked up the Space 109 keys and went to get on with the meeting. The meeting went well, several stallholders attended and we had a good meeting. This will be reported in my other blogspot blog, the York Green Festival blog, http://ygf2007.blogspot.com/ when I write it up.
Then went to the Blue Bell pub with Martin and Graham, and had some really interesting chats about relationships and the various different styles of relationship which now exist and are named and described. Fascinating, thought provoking.
Came back tipsy and had a good email and Googletalk session with K, didn't get much else done though!
