Human Lifestyle

A mixed day... our youngest went to school in a taxi all by himself for the first time and I got ready to go to John Bibby's to continue chopping up his huge log.  I delivered a rhubarb root, sprouting several leaves, to Keith as a thank you for fixing the chainsaw, and then delivered a receipt of payment to a gent who lives near John.

I soon got busy with the log, cutting it with the saw and then using the maul effectively to break chunks off.  I filled their car and just as I was getting to the end of my stint, the chainsaw broke... the motor was able to go round but the chain didn't.  Bummer.

I had a coffee with Shirley and then also John joined us, and Shirley told me about what they'd experienced in Palestine on their recent visit.

I then cycled home and 20 minutes later, John arrived in his car and I unloaded the chunks into the builders bag ready for splitting.

Had lunch, can't remember what I did after lunch but at about 3pm I took our youngest's bike down to the Steiner School on my trailer and we cycled home together.

I had a difficult phone call with my agent who's got hold of the wrong end of the stick about something and I'm not very happy with the outcome, but will go along with it to 'keep the peace'.

I had a cycle around the neighbourhood to collect signatures for the nominations papers for me and Luke, who's my running mate in the forthcoming elections. Will D then came round and collected them, and at 8.15 I went to visit Jane, as she wanted some help with doing an event page for a dance event she's organising.  So that was pretty straightforward, and we had a good chat.  I got back at about 11pm with two pallets.  Whilst rescuing the pallets from a skip, I witnessed an argument between a male and a female and when he hit her, I ran over towards them shouting 'stop that' and said I'd ring the police.  She begged me not to and urged the male to go with her, but she twice called out thank you to me.  Sad to see that sort of thing going on.

I got up at 8 as by 9 I was due to be at St Nicks to set up for the York Rotters 'How to Compost' course.  I popped down the garden before going to get some samples, to show the attendees some different sorts of composted materials, including mature garden compost and leafmould.

I got to St Nicks at the same time as Pat, who was my buddy today, and we had a fraught few minutes trying to get the padlock open on the front gate.  I eventually did it, but the padlock needs oiling or something to make it easier to use!

We opened up, lit the stove, got the laptop and projector out, got the slideshow ready to show, my first time using Powerpoint, and then found the screen so the projector had something to project onto, and by this time there were people arriving.  We had about 20 people, and the 2 hour session went really well.... I thought so anyway!  Pat joined in from time to time; I wasn't expecting that but it wasn't a problem... it was good to have her there to keep me in line!

We went through the slides first, and I answered questions as and when they cropped up,  and then at 11.30 we went outside to see the compost heaps, wormeries etc.  We finished just after midday, and over lunch I gave out the quiz, and at 12.40 went through the answers.  Sandra Gere who was teaching the 'Growing Food in Small Spaces' course arrived on the dot of 1pm, giving us a few minutes anxiety as we didn't know if she was coming or not.  Her course was from 1pm til 3pm, and I chose not to attend as I have seen her talk already.

I came back home and had a coffee and a rest.... and then came over so tired that I went for a lie down, and got up again after snoozing til 3.30.  Then I did some chainsawing... and oh dear, my electric chainsaw has I think gone wrong.  The nut and bolt which hold the blade on have been problematic and today I could not undo the nut to loosen the blade to tighten the chain, and when I turned the nut with a spanner, the bolt rotated too, so no way to tighten the chain.  And no way to take the blade/chain off, which is a real nuisance, since it is a new chain.  I think I'll probably have to get a new one... I could try Freecycle of course!

So I split chopped logs and stacked some, as it is due to rain lots tomorrow.  Then as it was getting dark I popped round to see Gladys, my 85 year old friend, and then Debbie who lives very close to Gladys.

I came home for some old potato salad and a pastie, and had a quiet evening... with a HUGE pile of washing up being the main feature. 

Glad that my boys have had a fab day... youngest went out with friends to see a film, Gnomeo and Juliette, and eldest had a friend around and had a really good afternoon.