Yesterday I privately planned to go on my bike to today's conference, despite assorted people saying 'that broken ankle will surely stop you cycling' and 'make sure you do nothing for a week' and similar opinions. Gill suggested that I go on the No.10 bus, but I knew that this choice would involve a walk with crutches from home to the bus stop, only 3 minutes walk away, but a 5 min walk at the other end from the Bar Convent... and I've found walking with the crutches very difficult. If I cycled, I would have a 30 second walk to the garage and a 30 second walk at Priory St. I feel more at home on my bicycle than any other form of transport, so it was a no brainer.
I took my laptop in the pannier as I'd planned to take a few notes at the conference and then put them into this blog when back at home in the evening. My crutches went into my trailer. I found cycling in a plaster cast not too difficult, and I just had really slow acceleration as I usually push off with my right foot and I didn't use this much at all, just letting my left do all the work and letting the right follow it round.
I got to the Priory St Centre really easily and crutched my way in, registration was outside with Ivana, and I was happy to pick up a goodly pile of Carbusters magazines.
So, I got myself settled in the Denham Room for the morning's presentations. Here follow my impressions of the presentations. I may have made mistakes or missed stuff, but it's an overview, the best I could do.
Beyond the Car - Streets as Places with David Murphy and Daniel Mourek from the Czech Environmental Partnership.
People were asked to introduce themselves, and where they are from...which included Australia, Oregon USA, Mexico, Brazil, Vienna Austria, S. Africa, Switzerland, California USA, Croatia, Oxford UK, Lancaster UK, Italy, Sweden, Sydney Australia, Germany, Belgium and others.
There are several regional programmes, including Greenways, which are corridors for non-motorised transport. But, people are the real capital, despite the Czech Environmental Partnership being a grant making organisation.
History... Central and Eastern European Greenways Program, started in 1996.
Aiming to reduce exclusion, Sustainable Cities....What are the preconditions for a Sustainable City? Some degree of democracy, 'Social, Environmental and Social Justice', and some other factors... much of the World is just emerging into this, or is weak, or these are not present.
Over 70% of people in Central and Eastern Europe live in cities. Many of these countries are big exporters of cars, but also massive producer of bikes!
Very high fatality rates on the roads, especially Poland and Czechoslovakia.
So what makes a great street? People first, recreation, safety, farmers markets with connections to the countryside. A community designed around cars and traffic results in cars and traffic. Land use planning and traffic engineering closely interconnected.
Small scale solutions for neighbourhoods, needs a paradigm shift.
Cars, seen as fast, are actually slow in cities. Bikes, seen as slow, are actually quicker in cities...
'Mental Speed Bumps' was mentioned as a resource.
Streets themselves can be destinations, should be connected to the nearby land use. Street life is at 'ground floor level'. Amenities should be for all people... such as benches to sit on. But the responsibility shouldn't be just with the local authority, it needs local input. Streets should be able to have a change of use, such a Paris Beaches, Broadway petanque. Seasonal use.
The street is the only place where you can meet all other groups in society
Other projects:Mobility Plan Manuals; Clustering; Safe Routes to School (based on Sustrans) cylobus; Traffic Calming; competitions to choose diverse methods which work.
Small steps make a difference!
Richard Smith, Living Streets (used to be the Pedestrian's Association) based in Newcastle.
Putting People First! Safe, attractive enjoyable streets where people want to live, shop, enjoy life, play, relax.
Walking is really important... health, social, getting places, available to all.
Living Streets is mentioned in the Department for Transport's Manual For Streets
Important issues: Clean and well maintained, attractive design, well lit and safe, local amenities within walking distance.
Fitter for Walking Projects (Doncaster/Rotherham, many other places) - local residents can nominate themselves to participate.
How to achieve? Engage with communities, suporting tools and actions, community street audit, Fitter for Walking Standard, walking map, 'walk doctors', Step Up (secondary school programme) Station Travel Plans, Joining up with employers and of course Celebrate success!
The next presentation was DIY Streets- creating people friendly streets, affordably, facilitated by Katherine Rooney and Liz Smith from Sustrans
Sustrans has had quite a bit of success, such as a street in Bristol which was redesigned by the residents
Used straw bales to test the new layout.
Clapton Terrace Hackney, used to be a 'rat run', with wheelie bins on pavements, is now a shared surface with communal bins;
Elacombe Rd Torquay, created a chicane which slows the traffic, one way system;
Beechcroft Rd Oxford, currently in process of calming this street with just £7k... however, has needed 18 months negotiating with LA to put planters on the road!
Then it was time for the workshop! Street design toolkits... a 'street in a box'
Workshops in groups... our group found it difficult to agree because at least one person wanted to do away with all parking entirely. I, (and maybe others?) thought this was a bit unrealistic, and we spent the whole 10 minutes 'discussing' how to deal with the differing needs of car owners, disabled people etc, and we didn't come up with a street layout.
The groups then moved onto different tables and thought about and discussed how their own scenario might fit the next table's road layout. I stayed with our unresolved street and it was singled out as being the most realistic by the leaders of the workshop which I was pleased with.
Other groups had decided to do away with parking, or made it underground. Most groups had dealt with speeding traffic as it is relatively easy to deal with using 'gates' at the end, obstructions such as trees, planters, nips and chicanes. As this was a fantasy scenario, some groups did what they'd REALLY like to do in real life, which is to ban all or most motorised traffic. So, play areas were popular, trees, social spaces. There was mention of trying to persuade people to car share, although the person who offered this idea said it was a 'pipedream'.
In real life, the process usually starts with a strong existing community, and planning starts with a 'DIY street in a box' workshop very similar to what we had just done. Sustrans is usually invited in by residents involved in, for instance, Transition Towns. Getting people to the meeting involves offering food and childcare, and sometimes closing the street and having a street party. It's good to have professionals there who know about the placement of the sub-soil services/utilities, and who knew about the results of closing a street on the surrounding roads. The process is not quick, sometimes several years.
Someone mentioned the Future Cities Game.
LUNCH was very nice!
After lunch in the main hall... a welcome from Randall, who introduced the rest of the team: Richard Lane, Ivana Jacobkova, Simon Field, Anzir Boodoo.
Activities later in the conference to include: cycling tour of York on Wednesday, a boat trip on Wednesday evening, two excursions, one for a meal, one with music and bar, National Railway Museum visit, Visualising a Car Free Quarter (in a park)
Then, from the World Carefree Network, Cigdem Cevrim announced next year's conference which is to be in Mexico.
Then Steve Melia, from CarFreeUK told us a little bit about this organisation, which started in 2005. He suggested that there needs to be an organisation to represent people who live without cars! There is an 'Activists Meeting', on Wednesday which will hopefully launch this.
Cycling City York with Graham Titchener, the Programme Manager.
Intro to York... very flat... but this results in flooding.
Pop 193000
105 square miles
160km cycle routes
The aim of the Cycling City York Programme is to encourage more people to cycle, safely.
There is a priority of works:
Soft measures (social change) (lowest cost)
Improvements to infrastructure (higher cost)
New Infrastructure (highest cost)
The main audience is lapsed cyclists, ie 32% of respondents in questionnaire (2008) This questionnaire showed that 57% already cycled, 11% never cycled and 32 % used to cycle but don't now...
Barriers to cycling: weather, health, safety, dark, lack of confidence, lack of awareness of routes, increased speed of journey
Working with Nestle, 15% more people cycling
Accurate statistics for people cycling and walking in UK difficult to get,but, from the 2001 census, 13% cycle to work, 7% cycle to school, and overall 13 to 15% cycle. This is now likely to be a bit higher.
Wanting to achieve 25% increase in cycling levels, 100% increase in children cycling to school, 10% increase in cycling to work.
Current work, Orbital Route (includes the Clifton Green, a junction where two car-lanes have been reduced to one for motor vehicles and one for cycles)
Major infrastructure, minor infrastructure, work place initiatives (can be the most impact) Schools, Participation initiatives (such as bike purchases through work, and loans from North Yorkshire Credit Union) events, marketing and communications. Disabled cycle riding, over 50s rides, Parent/Carer cycle route, guided rides, cycle maintenance, cycle try out sessions, competitions, police liaison such as stopping light jumping, pavement riding, riding with no lights ie antisocial behaviour, disrespect on the roads. (this has been with motorists too)
Looking ahead, LTP3, LDF vision, CCAAP and foot streets review.
Business advisory service.
Graham spoke very quickly and at times must have lost some of the visitors for whom English is a second language, as I didn't catch everything he said. He did pack in a lot of information though, in a fairly short time.
Then there was much discussion about dangerous/antisocial driving and cycling, and how to deal with it.!
Next up was my friend Gary Haq, from the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York.He presented information on a project he's working on, called Tackling Transport in Africa, the TEST Network (Transport and Environmental Science Technology)
SEI is the leader of the partnership of Southern African countries: South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania.
Driving Forces: economic growth, urbanisation.
Pressure: motor vehicles, poor air quality.
State: air quality, crashes, congestion.
Impact: ill health, death and injury, ecosystem.
Response: better infrastructure, public transport, regulation, management, enforcement.
Africa's population and economic growth growing faster than many other places, and often their cities exceed WHO guidelines for air pollution.
Motor traffic is a serious source of air pollution, and growing rapidly. Africa's growth is faster than what many places experienced in the previous century.
So the aim of the network is to share knowledge
Road Safety In the EU, 17 people die per 100,000 due to roads (I think these are the figures), but in Africa, 28 per 100,000
Cause, human error, speed, vehicle maintenance, infrastructure.
Congestion is a problem too for several reasons.
Research into what the levels of the problems are, sharing this knowledge ie best practice case studies, training programmes and seminars, scientific publishing
www.afritest.net coming soon!
The discussion commenced: someone suggested looking up the African Bicycle Network and comments included learning from OUR mistakes so African development doesn't repeat our path (should that be road?)
Then it was Bernie Cullen, the Director and Project Manager from Bikerescue in York, which is a Community Interest Company which began in August 2006
Bernie is qualified as a bike mechanic, and a founder member of Cycleworks, a bike shop Cooperative on Lawrence St. Then she met Andy Scaife who was wanting to rescue bikes and send them to Africa.
She showed us photos of 'Art Bikes' and told us that the project had rescued about 4,500 bikes in 3 years.
Bernie is keen on 'being the change you wish to see in the World' so she is especially keen to work with girls to get them skilled in bike maintenance, but she's also proud to work with lots of volunteers, in fact the project couldn't work without them, stripping bikes down for refurbishment.
They had grant of £2500 to buy tools and a bit of money from Cycling City York, plus specific funding for things like training for girls.
They now collect bikes from all over Yorkshire, but want to set up more local initiatives, such as in East Yorkshire.
Also in the future there will be a 'hub station' (ex electricity sub station in the centre of York) with 100 secure cycle spaces, cafe, showers, lockers, repairs, community repair workshop, bike hire... starting work on the building starts next week! (to open in 5 months, hopefully!)
Bernie would also like to do something on the lines of 'Fix my street' website so a forum or portal at the hubstation for cyclists to communicate with planners.
Also, apprentice training scheme to teach people to become mechanics.
Although the project is called 'recycling', it is in fact repair and reuse, which is better than recycling. They currently sell 20 bikes a week and had a turnover of £100,000 last year.
Then there was discussion, which included talk about the culture of buying new but poor quality and inappropriate bikes (such as off road bikes which children are expected to cycle to school on, with big fat tyres slowing them down, or jump bikes which break when used for jumps.
There was a question about the other bike shops attitude to Bikerescue. They do work with other cycle shops to take their unwanted throw outs... but there is one bike shop (part of a chain) which won't work with them and cuts their old waste frames in half to prevent reuse.
Re-Cycle sends bikes to Africa.
The next presentation was 'The arguments against car use and how to win them!' with Simon Field.
Common pro-car myths number one: car use is good for the economy with fuel tax, building roads boosts productivity, more traffic means more wealth
Responses:
Reappraise road schemes to include external costs
Traffic is an effect of economic growth not a cause
Time is conserved not saved.
Roads do not reduce traffic, see the Newbury and their Bypass... traffic levels now higher in the town AND on the bypass!
Pedestrianisation is successful... more footfall in pedestrianised streets and more spending in shops (20 case studies in Britain and Germany)
Myth two: there is no alternative to the car... too far to walk/cycle, public transport poor.
Responses: 25% of car trips under 2 miles 60% under 5 miles, yet a car or van is used for 21% of trips under 1 mile!
German data: people often overestimate public transport costs by 21% and journey time by 45%
Myth three: it's what we want/the people want
Responses: people actually want access to jobs, goods, recreation, so the private car is a derived demand.
Lobbying for high quality alternatives
Where choice, people respond positively such as pedestrianisation
Greenwashing: for instance, 'green/low carbon/zero emissions cars'
We must consider net emissions, not just tailpipe emissions;
is there enough renewable generation capacity for the national /global fleet;
biofuels;
land take, visual intrusion, tyre noise, human error/accidents ALL THE SAME (in fact quiet cars might increase accidents so there's even been talk of giving them noise generators!)
Target group: public
demonstrating public interest in car restraint
carfree UK's carfree associations
How? develop vision
promotion through media, newspapers etc
study tours (ie Friebourg)
innovative urban transport planning such as certain towns in the Netherlands
cartoons and films, humour
Challenges:
reaching people who matter... politicians and economists and planners
making the subject 'sexy'... how to do this?
Next was Mari Jussi from Estonia (SEI Tallinn and FoE Estonia)
No country, nation or city is lost to car culture, it is a matter of choice.
Tallinn's modal split is 26% car, 41% public transport, 30% Walking, 3% bike. 50% households own a car. Cycling is increasing.
See Freiburg for a good example, car use has reduced. Stockholm has also shown decreased car use, and public transport and cycling has increased.
Predict and provide for cycle use... for instance, 200 cycle spaces provided at the Song Fest 09, but 600 turned up... a surprise!
Find bad examples of transport issues from your city, ie pedestrians not provided for.
There is scepticism about the causes of climate change so these may not be used by planners.
Joel Crawford designed a carfree city based on walking and cycling and public transport... Kulli
Then it was Milan Boric from the Yugo Cycling Campaign in Belgrade:
Cannot recommend public transport in his country, as dirty and polluting!
Many people afraid of cycling in traffic.
Pedestrian crossings only allow 10 seconds to cross, not enough
Matt Wilson Bicycology UK
Our political and economic situation (capitalism) is not amenable to our arguments.
Questions/discussions: Use the peak oil argument (although some people still think there is a technological 'fix' to this!)
'Choice' hard to take that away? How do we argue against that?We need to offer the eco-option as a real reason, and keep it appealing and exciting, not a doom and gloom.
Certain ethnic communities in Leicester are pro cycling and walking, for health/obesity reasons. But in Lancaster, the same modes are popular for eco reasons. In Leeds, the reasons are different again.
Reframe the question 'How do we best use our collective power to push for change?' What argument convinces people best?
25% of households in UK live without cars. Who is offering them choice? Who is giving them a voice? Who is the 'Jeremy Clarkson' of the non car-using percentage of the population? Need to develop a grouping for this.
Another issue is that walking and cycling doesn't bring in any income for governments, so there is not a lot of immediate financial reasons to reduce parking, car use etc.
Disasters and horrors like the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Canadian Tar Sands do tend to play into our court, but we need to encourage people to make the link between their use of oil and these events.
'Public transport' is not really that... it is now privately owned. So the aim is to make profit for the shareholders NOT to provide a service
Why is public transport not free? It can be financed in other ways than from fares (apparently)...and privatised bus services are still subsidised by the LAs and some of the costs to the company/local authority are in fact all the ticketing stuff.
The argument that there is a 'right' to use a car is similar to the American 'right' to bear arms, which here in the UK, we deem too dangerous to allow.
The current system, based on increasing economic growth year on year is one of the reasons we are in the current mess. However, with spending cuts due, some of our arguments may be better received as they require no capital expenditure.
The UK was facing fines for air pollution in many cities, but recently the EU has backed off and is only getting shirty about the Heathrow area pollution.
The UK's road building programme collapsed following a significant uprising from people opposed to the continued building of new roads... so one way to change the situation might be direct action.
It was now 5.30pm and people fairly quickly dispersed, and I was tired too so I put my crutches in the trailer and cycled home. But I popped in to Country Fresh and they offered me a sack of biodegradable resources, and as I cannot now deal with these at home so easily, I went to St Nicks to add to their composting system. And I got home after 6pm. I spent a short while dealing with emails and relaxing with Scrabble on facebook, and then worked through my notes from the conference and put my blog together. I hope it is interesting and useful to delegates who didn't see the presentations I did, to refresh memories for those who saw the same ones as me, to provide easy links to websites, and to open up the conference content to anyone who's interested.
Bed shortly before 2am.
Showing posts with label composting at St Nicks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label composting at St Nicks. Show all posts
Bit of a lie-in til after 9, but then got busy with various outdoors activities... more gardening.
This time I attacked a hedge, a section of hedge that I'm not very fond of, it's hawthorn and incredibly prickly, huge long thorns which make it really difficult to manage. But I eventually fed all the cut bits through the shredder which means it will compost down really well, and hopefully the thorns won't be around when I come to riddle the finished compost!
Sometime in the afternoon I cycled down to see Anna Semlyen who has picked up the key for CVS, but cannot get to the venue until 6.30, so I offered to get there for 6pm to allow the band to set up and do a sound check. I also picked up the posters for the Ecocell talk which I've helped organise (and my eldest son did the poster for, added to by Anna) and the latest York in Transition Newsletter.
I visited Alligator to pick up their compostables, then Country Fresh where I got embroiled in a conversation with Florencia and a Chinese University lecturer, which was very jolly.
Then onto St Nicks to dispose of one of the sacks of resources from Country Fresh into the display composter, and to give Ecocell posters to John and Transition newsletters to Ivana... and then on to Freshways where I picked up another two sacks.
A bit later, I cycled round to Lynn's to deliver some seed compost.
So a busy day, nice and social, quite a bit of cycling and recycling... my favourite kind of day.
This time I attacked a hedge, a section of hedge that I'm not very fond of, it's hawthorn and incredibly prickly, huge long thorns which make it really difficult to manage. But I eventually fed all the cut bits through the shredder which means it will compost down really well, and hopefully the thorns won't be around when I come to riddle the finished compost!
Sometime in the afternoon I cycled down to see Anna Semlyen who has picked up the key for CVS, but cannot get to the venue until 6.30, so I offered to get there for 6pm to allow the band to set up and do a sound check. I also picked up the posters for the Ecocell talk which I've helped organise (and my eldest son did the poster for, added to by Anna) and the latest York in Transition Newsletter.
I visited Alligator to pick up their compostables, then Country Fresh where I got embroiled in a conversation with Florencia and a Chinese University lecturer, which was very jolly.
Then onto St Nicks to dispose of one of the sacks of resources from Country Fresh into the display composter, and to give Ecocell posters to John and Transition newsletters to Ivana... and then on to Freshways where I picked up another two sacks.
A bit later, I cycled round to Lynn's to deliver some seed compost.
So a busy day, nice and social, quite a bit of cycling and recycling... my favourite kind of day.
A meeting in town this morning and then put a cheque in, and then at 11ish over to Kate Lock's house with the apple tree I took out a couple of days ago. I was really glad that Kate wanted it, and it seems that Kate is really glad to have it.
I had a coffee and chat, then dug a hole for the tree, planted it, helped Kate riddle a load of compost in the Rotasieve I lent her yonks ago, had another coffee, and cycled back with the Rotaseive, via Country Fresh and then St Nicks, where I found out that I would be welcome to sort out their display compost bin a bit later in the day.
So, cycled home, lunched and at about 3pm, cycled back to St Nicks with the Country Fresh stuff and a sack of sawdust. I dug out the Komp compost bin out and cleaned the perspex panel, and refilled the bin with new material.... layers of fruit/veg and sawdust. I also 'seeded' the stuff with a few worms....
But, best of all, I took some photos with Gill's camera, see below!
I had a coffee and chat, then dug a hole for the tree, planted it, helped Kate riddle a load of compost in the Rotasieve I lent her yonks ago, had another coffee, and cycled back with the Rotaseive, via Country Fresh and then St Nicks, where I found out that I would be welcome to sort out their display compost bin a bit later in the day.
So, cycled home, lunched and at about 3pm, cycled back to St Nicks with the Country Fresh stuff and a sack of sawdust. I dug out the Komp compost bin out and cleaned the perspex panel, and refilled the bin with new material.... layers of fruit/veg and sawdust. I also 'seeded' the stuff with a few worms....
But, best of all, I took some photos with Gill's camera, see below!
This is the Komp as it looks in anybody's garden, apart from perhaps the brick base, but that's a rat-deterrent.
This is the way these bins are secured shut, with a plastic rod keeping the interlocking panels together.
The door open, revealing the perspex sheet and the internal 'workings' of a compost bin, with finished material at the base and fresher stuff on the top.
Here's the back panel removed and I'm digging out the contents.
The bin, emptied and washed down.
The bin being refilled with shop 'resources'.
Close-up of the layers of material newly put in.
A good start to the morning as Gill came up and told me that Caroline Lucas was going to be on the Andrew Marr Show, so I came down and woke up with Caroline.
I spent a bit of time writing about how we reduce our water use, spurred on by the Yorkshire Water 'Edna and Mary' campaign,and when I've finished this page, I'll send them the link.
But I couldn't stay in for too long, and there was lots still to do in the garden so I got out and got busy. I chopped yet more blackberries back, pruned a hedge (it was too long and lanky to use shears, needed the secateurs) and shredded all this, did more compost heap turning and started filling the smaller Compostumbler. I dug up some deeply buried yams, cleaned mortar off some bricks for our neighbour to use in the wall he's building, and then at about 2.30, Barry Potter came and delivered the cider press back to me, which he's had since the autumn. We wandered down the garden and I showed him the corroded large Compostumbler, and he thinks that he might be able to fashion a solution for it. He/we need a stainless steel angled bar, which might be able to be retrofitted to strengthen the rather flimsy thin steel Compostumbler side wall.
Then I did more stuff in the garden, including some riddling and I dug out the red apple tree which I got out of the Radio Times for £6 quite a long time ago. Although it is on a dwarfing rootstock, it is crowding the 'family' pear tree and the white apple it came with, and it fell over with the weight of apples and the wet ground a year or so back, so I needed to remove it. I'll try to find a good home for it.
Later in the afternoon I went to Country Fresh to do some shopping and came back with two sacks of resources, so I popped in to St Nicks on the way back.
After tea I had a good bounce on the trampoline with our youngest, and came in at 9pm when it was dark.
A really busy and productive day.
I spent a bit of time writing about how we reduce our water use, spurred on by the Yorkshire Water 'Edna and Mary' campaign,and when I've finished this page, I'll send them the link.
But I couldn't stay in for too long, and there was lots still to do in the garden so I got out and got busy. I chopped yet more blackberries back, pruned a hedge (it was too long and lanky to use shears, needed the secateurs) and shredded all this, did more compost heap turning and started filling the smaller Compostumbler. I dug up some deeply buried yams, cleaned mortar off some bricks for our neighbour to use in the wall he's building, and then at about 2.30, Barry Potter came and delivered the cider press back to me, which he's had since the autumn. We wandered down the garden and I showed him the corroded large Compostumbler, and he thinks that he might be able to fashion a solution for it. He/we need a stainless steel angled bar, which might be able to be retrofitted to strengthen the rather flimsy thin steel Compostumbler side wall.
Then I did more stuff in the garden, including some riddling and I dug out the red apple tree which I got out of the Radio Times for £6 quite a long time ago. Although it is on a dwarfing rootstock, it is crowding the 'family' pear tree and the white apple it came with, and it fell over with the weight of apples and the wet ground a year or so back, so I needed to remove it. I'll try to find a good home for it.
Later in the afternoon I went to Country Fresh to do some shopping and came back with two sacks of resources, so I popped in to St Nicks on the way back.
After tea I had a good bounce on the trampoline with our youngest, and came in at 9pm when it was dark.
A really busy and productive day.
Up early and got into St Nicks to talk to John about the talk on Thursday that I'm doing, entitled 'Extreme Composting'. I'd already emailed him with my plans, and he was happy with them, and I'm really looking forward to it.
I'd taken in a couple of sacks of greengrocer's 'resources' and my garden spade, and I completed the shovelling out of the old sawdusty compost from the main bay, and filled the second bay... and then started refilling the now empty bay with layers of sawdust/wood shavings from the pet shop and the veg from the veg shop. I did this for just over an hour, and left it tidy.
I got back in time to say bye to Gill who was heading into town, and I did more work outside as I was fed up with inside stuff. I finished riddling the enormous pile of sawdust... and have about 10 sacks of sawdust, 10 sacks of good-n-woody compost cover, and about 10 sacks of bark, twigs, sticks and other combustibles which I've stored in paper sacks to dry off and be ready for kindling next winter. I am very pleased that I've finished this job... and I celebrated by getting my chainsaw going again and chopping up some more logs. I also did some stacking.
I had a small tea and then cycled round to Tang Hall Community Centre to attend the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel. We had just one application, a small house in a newish mixed estate, wanting to double the size of the house. This generated a lot of discussion, and we eventually decided that we opposed the application, as it was 'over development' and would set a precedent which would mean that the estate would look completely different if more houses did what this one's owner wanted to do. I wonder if the planners will think the same as us?
I came back via the logpile and came back with three large willow logs.
I had two good phone conversations in the evening, one with the organiser of the Seed Swap, with a few questions and suggestions, and then from a trainee journalist researching freeganism, and wanting to come and see some of the things I get up to. I suggested he come on Saturday, and attend the Seed Swap, the Permaculture introductory talk, and then come with me to Country Fresh to see the collection. I'm well pleased... for him, as he'll meet quite a few people who like growing their own food, recycling and reusing, plus he'll see my input to the community.
So a happy day, very positive. I am happiest when I'm active and busy, and outside.
I'd taken in a couple of sacks of greengrocer's 'resources' and my garden spade, and I completed the shovelling out of the old sawdusty compost from the main bay, and filled the second bay... and then started refilling the now empty bay with layers of sawdust/wood shavings from the pet shop and the veg from the veg shop. I did this for just over an hour, and left it tidy.
I got back in time to say bye to Gill who was heading into town, and I did more work outside as I was fed up with inside stuff. I finished riddling the enormous pile of sawdust... and have about 10 sacks of sawdust, 10 sacks of good-n-woody compost cover, and about 10 sacks of bark, twigs, sticks and other combustibles which I've stored in paper sacks to dry off and be ready for kindling next winter. I am very pleased that I've finished this job... and I celebrated by getting my chainsaw going again and chopping up some more logs. I also did some stacking.
I had a small tea and then cycled round to Tang Hall Community Centre to attend the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel. We had just one application, a small house in a newish mixed estate, wanting to double the size of the house. This generated a lot of discussion, and we eventually decided that we opposed the application, as it was 'over development' and would set a precedent which would mean that the estate would look completely different if more houses did what this one's owner wanted to do. I wonder if the planners will think the same as us?
I came back via the logpile and came back with three large willow logs.
I had two good phone conversations in the evening, one with the organiser of the Seed Swap, with a few questions and suggestions, and then from a trainee journalist researching freeganism, and wanting to come and see some of the things I get up to. I suggested he come on Saturday, and attend the Seed Swap, the Permaculture introductory talk, and then come with me to Country Fresh to see the collection. I'm well pleased... for him, as he'll meet quite a few people who like growing their own food, recycling and reusing, plus he'll see my input to the community.
So a happy day, very positive. I am happiest when I'm active and busy, and outside.
Woke late, and got up to watch Country Tracks which was good.
I eventually got dressed. A bit later I cycled down to St Nicks via Country Fresh, picking up a couple of sacks of bits and bobs, plus the fruit and veg we need over the next few days. And so to St Nicks to get busy again with the compost bays. I worked really hard and have now turned about half of the material. I picked up a couple of logs on the way home, and said hello to my friends at Freshways. They were dealing with some drunk youths. One of them fell over my trailer. He was initially abusive, but soon apologised to me for being abusive... walking towards me, I thought he was going to hit me... but he shook my hand and then wobbled off.
Later, after dark, Gill asked me to return the DVD which she'd got out yesterday, so I cycled down there and came back with another load of logs from the dump the tree surgeon uses.
Another quiet evening, although I tried to re-write an email I once sent about a complicated subject to make it part of a web page. All will be revealed soon enough!
I eventually got dressed. A bit later I cycled down to St Nicks via Country Fresh, picking up a couple of sacks of bits and bobs, plus the fruit and veg we need over the next few days. And so to St Nicks to get busy again with the compost bays. I worked really hard and have now turned about half of the material. I picked up a couple of logs on the way home, and said hello to my friends at Freshways. They were dealing with some drunk youths. One of them fell over my trailer. He was initially abusive, but soon apologised to me for being abusive... walking towards me, I thought he was going to hit me... but he shook my hand and then wobbled off.
Later, after dark, Gill asked me to return the DVD which she'd got out yesterday, so I cycled down there and came back with another load of logs from the dump the tree surgeon uses.
Another quiet evening, although I tried to re-write an email I once sent about a complicated subject to make it part of a web page. All will be revealed soon enough!
Up at a reasonable time so that I could get to St Nicks for soon after 10am, as I'd promised to dig out the compost bay which is over-full, and it needed turning into the next bay.
I took my fork and spade down in the trailer and fully expected to have a couple of hours work by myself... peace and quiet, with the birds singing around me and an occasional dog walker passing by.
There was a lot of work to do; the composting area is a concrete base with 4 walls of breeze blocks, about 6 metres long, a metre high and about a metre between each wall. Each bay therefore is about 6 cubic metres of space. A pet shop regularly drops off sacks of sawdust and pet bedding, and this makes up the majority of the material, but I have on occasion added stuff and other people probably do too. But no-one is completely in charge or responsible.
So, I started getting the second bay ready for the contents of the first, and did about half an hour, with a short chat to Sue the Priest, out walking her dog, and anticipating the service in Doncaster this afternoon. Then I was joined by a 20 year old student, who offered to help and I let her have the fork, which is easier to use, and she worked at one end of the pile and I started towards the other, but in the middle whilst standing in the empty bay and adding to the pile that she was also adding to. We talked about all sorts of things, her history degree, her half Chinese ancestry and peoples' attitudes to race, lots of other subjects. We worked together for well over an hour. I think we shifted about a quarter or a fifth of the compost. Lots more needs doing!
I went into the Environment Centre at about 12.30 and the Eco-Active volunteers were all having lunch, and John invited me to have lunch too. I did, and chatted to a nice Chilean guy and a female student from Minnesota.
Home to a peaceful house... our youngest had gone to a birthday party and wasn't due back til 7pm. I busied myself in the front, trying to tidy up after the unwanted planks and packing wood had been almost tossed everywhere after yesterday's sorting of good from bad. I chainsawed up quite a bit more and built a good stack on the right of the door.
When I came in for a coffee I chopped up two huge onions, rejects because of surface blemishes, and slow-fried them on the stove, hoping that they would come in useful for tonight's meal.
Later, Gill decided to treat our eldest to a DVD from Blockbusters and a bag of chips from the Chinese takeaway just beyond it. So they ate together and I made myself a meal based on the onions. I had couscous (free as the bag had split), sweet red pepper paprika (made from thrown-away peppers) cooked in marmite water (to clean out the nearly empty jar) and a couple of, shock horror, bought mushrooms. Oh, and there was a 'crust' of Edam cheese left in the fridge because Gill cuts this cheese parallel to the rind, leaving a half centimetre of wasted cheese..... but not if I can help it, so I chopped that into small cubes and mixed them in just before I plonked it on my plate. Delicious! And 90% free materials... only the olive oil, mushrooms and cheese was paid-for. Even the heat to cook it was free. I really like meals like this!
A nothingy evening followed... bit of telly, kept the stove going as it's another cold night, played on the laptop for ages.
I took my fork and spade down in the trailer and fully expected to have a couple of hours work by myself... peace and quiet, with the birds singing around me and an occasional dog walker passing by.
There was a lot of work to do; the composting area is a concrete base with 4 walls of breeze blocks, about 6 metres long, a metre high and about a metre between each wall. Each bay therefore is about 6 cubic metres of space. A pet shop regularly drops off sacks of sawdust and pet bedding, and this makes up the majority of the material, but I have on occasion added stuff and other people probably do too. But no-one is completely in charge or responsible.
So, I started getting the second bay ready for the contents of the first, and did about half an hour, with a short chat to Sue the Priest, out walking her dog, and anticipating the service in Doncaster this afternoon. Then I was joined by a 20 year old student, who offered to help and I let her have the fork, which is easier to use, and she worked at one end of the pile and I started towards the other, but in the middle whilst standing in the empty bay and adding to the pile that she was also adding to. We talked about all sorts of things, her history degree, her half Chinese ancestry and peoples' attitudes to race, lots of other subjects. We worked together for well over an hour. I think we shifted about a quarter or a fifth of the compost. Lots more needs doing!
I went into the Environment Centre at about 12.30 and the Eco-Active volunteers were all having lunch, and John invited me to have lunch too. I did, and chatted to a nice Chilean guy and a female student from Minnesota.
Home to a peaceful house... our youngest had gone to a birthday party and wasn't due back til 7pm. I busied myself in the front, trying to tidy up after the unwanted planks and packing wood had been almost tossed everywhere after yesterday's sorting of good from bad. I chainsawed up quite a bit more and built a good stack on the right of the door.
When I came in for a coffee I chopped up two huge onions, rejects because of surface blemishes, and slow-fried them on the stove, hoping that they would come in useful for tonight's meal.
Later, Gill decided to treat our eldest to a DVD from Blockbusters and a bag of chips from the Chinese takeaway just beyond it. So they ate together and I made myself a meal based on the onions. I had couscous (free as the bag had split), sweet red pepper paprika (made from thrown-away peppers) cooked in marmite water (to clean out the nearly empty jar) and a couple of, shock horror, bought mushrooms. Oh, and there was a 'crust' of Edam cheese left in the fridge because Gill cuts this cheese parallel to the rind, leaving a half centimetre of wasted cheese..... but not if I can help it, so I chopped that into small cubes and mixed them in just before I plonked it on my plate. Delicious! And 90% free materials... only the olive oil, mushrooms and cheese was paid-for. Even the heat to cook it was free. I really like meals like this!
A nothingy evening followed... bit of telly, kept the stove going as it's another cold night, played on the laptop for ages.
Gill woke me up at 8.30 as requested, and I was breakfasted and dressed by 9 which was good as Carolyn was on time, to come and 'triage' the wood that I've got to decide which is good for building bee hives and which is fit just for burning. The wood which came yesterday from Hull also had some pieces which seemed OK for beehive construction... very opportune that they came yesterday and the wood was needed today!
So Carolyn cycled away with some, and I'll take a trailer full down to St Nicks at lunchtime, after my next visitor.
On the dot of 10am, Lizzie arrived. I met her through a email discussion list we're both on, and she asked if anyone who fitted her criteria would be willing to help her with her dissertation. This is an undergraduate linguistics degree, and Lizzie is wanting to study how people tell stories about their life, or 'narratives'. She's less interested in the content, the story, but more into analyzing the language used. So I messaged her and she sent me the consent forms, and today she was visiting a friend in York, so this morning she walked up from Walmgate and arrived, as intended, at 10.
The study took about 2 hours, and she recorded nearly all of it... only switching off when I went to make a coffee or load the stove. Her questions were fairly general, things like 'Can you tell me about one thing that stands out as a memory from your childhood?' and 'tell me about four important people from your life', and a string of similar questions. I enjoyed telling her about these bits of my life, I am naturally a 'sharer' and I'm not shy or at all private. So it was good for both of us. I'm looking forward to learning what she does with the transcript, and what interesting linguistic stuff she pulls from it.
Lizzie then left to walk into town, and I loaded up my bike trailer with all the planks which Carolyn had sorted out as 'good for building a beehive with', and cycled down to St Nicks, where Carolyn and I popped them in the lock-up. She's making a first one as a test, and then on 20th Feb, there's a public beehive making meeting/workshop. This fits nicely with a series of workshops about bee keeping I've seen advertised, the first one is this Tuesday, and I think Peter's going on it.
Home for lunch... and after lunch felt very tired but I kept going and did various bits and bobs around the house.
I popped into to Country Fresh on the way into town, and picked up one sack of mainly cabbage leaves. Then onto my building society where I took out cash and then went to top up our 'Suma' bank account with a cheque from a friend on our food co-op, my cash, and I did an electronic transfer too... so that there is enough money in that account to pay for next week's Suma order. I also paid out water bill. Then I came home, but decided to deliver the cabbage leaves to the St Nicks compost area, where I occasionally put excess materials. They have ample sawdust, dumped there by a pet shop, so I always cover up the fruit and veg with the sawdust. It is quite convenient.
On the way, I met my friend Sue, who is a priest, and we often have some interesting conversations. We talked for about 20 minutes, covering a range of subjects.
Then I went to put the compostables on the sawdusty heap and and as I was doing that, David from St Nicks told me I should have asked first... I thought I just had to inform the staff I d added to the heap, not ask permission. So I had a chat with John, and agreed that I would turn this compost over the weekend. A kind of penance? Well, a voluntary act of trying to make things better...
And back home. A very quiet evening. A fair bit of chatting with friends on facebook and email.
Lots of angst about the changes that facebook have made to celebrate their sixth birthday, but I'm sure we'll get used to it.
So Carolyn cycled away with some, and I'll take a trailer full down to St Nicks at lunchtime, after my next visitor.
On the dot of 10am, Lizzie arrived. I met her through a email discussion list we're both on, and she asked if anyone who fitted her criteria would be willing to help her with her dissertation. This is an undergraduate linguistics degree, and Lizzie is wanting to study how people tell stories about their life, or 'narratives'. She's less interested in the content, the story, but more into analyzing the language used. So I messaged her and she sent me the consent forms, and today she was visiting a friend in York, so this morning she walked up from Walmgate and arrived, as intended, at 10.
The study took about 2 hours, and she recorded nearly all of it... only switching off when I went to make a coffee or load the stove. Her questions were fairly general, things like 'Can you tell me about one thing that stands out as a memory from your childhood?' and 'tell me about four important people from your life', and a string of similar questions. I enjoyed telling her about these bits of my life, I am naturally a 'sharer' and I'm not shy or at all private. So it was good for both of us. I'm looking forward to learning what she does with the transcript, and what interesting linguistic stuff she pulls from it.
Lizzie then left to walk into town, and I loaded up my bike trailer with all the planks which Carolyn had sorted out as 'good for building a beehive with', and cycled down to St Nicks, where Carolyn and I popped them in the lock-up. She's making a first one as a test, and then on 20th Feb, there's a public beehive making meeting/workshop. This fits nicely with a series of workshops about bee keeping I've seen advertised, the first one is this Tuesday, and I think Peter's going on it.
Home for lunch... and after lunch felt very tired but I kept going and did various bits and bobs around the house.
I popped into to Country Fresh on the way into town, and picked up one sack of mainly cabbage leaves. Then onto my building society where I took out cash and then went to top up our 'Suma' bank account with a cheque from a friend on our food co-op, my cash, and I did an electronic transfer too... so that there is enough money in that account to pay for next week's Suma order. I also paid out water bill. Then I came home, but decided to deliver the cabbage leaves to the St Nicks compost area, where I occasionally put excess materials. They have ample sawdust, dumped there by a pet shop, so I always cover up the fruit and veg with the sawdust. It is quite convenient.
On the way, I met my friend Sue, who is a priest, and we often have some interesting conversations. We talked for about 20 minutes, covering a range of subjects.
Then I went to put the compostables on the sawdusty heap and and as I was doing that, David from St Nicks told me I should have asked first... I thought I just had to inform the staff I d added to the heap, not ask permission. So I had a chat with John, and agreed that I would turn this compost over the weekend. A kind of penance? Well, a voluntary act of trying to make things better...
And back home. A very quiet evening. A fair bit of chatting with friends on facebook and email.
Lots of angst about the changes that facebook have made to celebrate their sixth birthday, but I'm sure we'll get used to it.
A good day. I got up at 9 or about that and our eldest had gone to school but youngest had not slept well so he was off for part of the morning and Mum was doing things with him, homework think.
I had a York Rotters meeting at 10 at St Nicks, with our worker, John the Saint, Pat the Saint and Rachel the Recycle. We have surpassed our targets for last year and have set new ones for this financial year. The WRAP compost bin offers finish in September as DEFRA have cut the funding to WRAP, so get your cheap compost bins in now! We're going to be working with a secondary school this year, for the first time, and I find that exciting, could be more challenging than with primary schools. We have a busy week ahead as it's compost awareness week next week.
After this meeting I spent a few minutes putting some compostables on the St Nicks composting area and covering it with sawdust from the many sacks of pet bedding which are regularly left there. I spotted some sacks of chopped pine logs mixed with twigs and lots of loose needles, so I sorted out one of them, harvesting the logs and chunks, and taking them home, leaving the pine needles and twigs for the compost pile. There's another 3 sacks of this material to sort through... another day!
Home just before midday, when I was expecting a visitor for a rather sad ceremony. My friend Andy has had to have his cat put down. It was originally rescued by Andy's friend Tony from the Cat's Protection League, as an already mature cat. However, it had developed a tumour on it's jaw and was gradually finding eating and drinking increasingly difficult. So Andy had seen me walking back through town yesterday and asked if he could use some of the ample space we have here to bury his cat. He did this with his last one, where the raspberries now are. So, Andy arrived with his euthanased cat wrapped in a sheet and in a City of York recycling bag, and I'd found an area with enough space for him to dig the hole and place his loved companion in. This area too will soon be a raised bed.. with his cat almost a metre underground. Tony arrived too, to see the hole being dug and to support his friend. It was reasonably solemn, not tearful, just matter of fact and a bit sad.
They had some lunch with me and left at 2pm. I popped down to Country Fresh and back via Freshways, and then had an early tea before the Mayday Critical Mass Cycle Celebration. I got to the Minster for 5.45 and over 30 people turned up. We headed down to Walmgate where we picked up Rich with the sound system and we then had a good tootle around, heading towards Clifton and then back into York via the Leeman Road area... where an impatient car driver tried to overtake and because of oncoming traffic pulled into the group of cyclists and got dangerously close to some of us. I banged on the side of the car as it was going along at about 10 miles an hour, and the driver swerved left deliberately pushing me into the kerb and off my bike. I yelled as I came off and Rich indicated to the driver to stop, pulling across the front of his vehicle. The driver continued to drive on, despite having knocked someone off, and rammed Rich so that he slid up the bonnet of the car. Fortunately this was enough contact to cause the driver to stop, where he was surrounded by cyclists. Someone rang the police and a few minutes later, a very sympathetic copper came and interviewed all three people involved. It turned out the car driver was going to the Rock Church, with several children in his car. I think he was showing off.
The policeman says he will be summonsed to court, but as there were no independent witnesses, he will get away with his stupidity. I ended up with a graze on my leg, which I could claim compensation for, but I probably won't. Rich said his leg hurt, and his bike was damaged, mine wasn't.
After this half hour break, we were free to cycle off and we headed on back to the Minster where we all parted company, and I cycled home. An eventful ride!
A peaceful evening followed. I invited Gill to have a game of Scrabble and she won... grrrrrrrrrr!
I had a York Rotters meeting at 10 at St Nicks, with our worker, John the Saint, Pat the Saint and Rachel the Recycle. We have surpassed our targets for last year and have set new ones for this financial year. The WRAP compost bin offers finish in September as DEFRA have cut the funding to WRAP, so get your cheap compost bins in now! We're going to be working with a secondary school this year, for the first time, and I find that exciting, could be more challenging than with primary schools. We have a busy week ahead as it's compost awareness week next week.
After this meeting I spent a few minutes putting some compostables on the St Nicks composting area and covering it with sawdust from the many sacks of pet bedding which are regularly left there. I spotted some sacks of chopped pine logs mixed with twigs and lots of loose needles, so I sorted out one of them, harvesting the logs and chunks, and taking them home, leaving the pine needles and twigs for the compost pile. There's another 3 sacks of this material to sort through... another day!
Home just before midday, when I was expecting a visitor for a rather sad ceremony. My friend Andy has had to have his cat put down. It was originally rescued by Andy's friend Tony from the Cat's Protection League, as an already mature cat. However, it had developed a tumour on it's jaw and was gradually finding eating and drinking increasingly difficult. So Andy had seen me walking back through town yesterday and asked if he could use some of the ample space we have here to bury his cat. He did this with his last one, where the raspberries now are. So, Andy arrived with his euthanased cat wrapped in a sheet and in a City of York recycling bag, and I'd found an area with enough space for him to dig the hole and place his loved companion in. This area too will soon be a raised bed.. with his cat almost a metre underground. Tony arrived too, to see the hole being dug and to support his friend. It was reasonably solemn, not tearful, just matter of fact and a bit sad.
They had some lunch with me and left at 2pm. I popped down to Country Fresh and back via Freshways, and then had an early tea before the Mayday Critical Mass Cycle Celebration. I got to the Minster for 5.45 and over 30 people turned up. We headed down to Walmgate where we picked up Rich with the sound system and we then had a good tootle around, heading towards Clifton and then back into York via the Leeman Road area... where an impatient car driver tried to overtake and because of oncoming traffic pulled into the group of cyclists and got dangerously close to some of us. I banged on the side of the car as it was going along at about 10 miles an hour, and the driver swerved left deliberately pushing me into the kerb and off my bike. I yelled as I came off and Rich indicated to the driver to stop, pulling across the front of his vehicle. The driver continued to drive on, despite having knocked someone off, and rammed Rich so that he slid up the bonnet of the car. Fortunately this was enough contact to cause the driver to stop, where he was surrounded by cyclists. Someone rang the police and a few minutes later, a very sympathetic copper came and interviewed all three people involved. It turned out the car driver was going to the Rock Church, with several children in his car. I think he was showing off.
The policeman says he will be summonsed to court, but as there were no independent witnesses, he will get away with his stupidity. I ended up with a graze on my leg, which I could claim compensation for, but I probably won't. Rich said his leg hurt, and his bike was damaged, mine wasn't.
After this half hour break, we were free to cycle off and we headed on back to the Minster where we all parted company, and I cycled home. An eventful ride!
A peaceful evening followed. I invited Gill to have a game of Scrabble and she won... grrrrrrrrrr!
