Woke at 10. I got myself ready to go to the Low Moor Allotment Association AGM, which was at midday. I left home at about 11.25 and went to see Richard at Country Fresh, got some veggies and a big bag of cabbage leaves and sprouting onions.
Then I went round to the allotments, and as I was still too early for the meeting, I popped in on the People and Planet allotment where Dora greeted me loudly and warmly as 'Compost John', and yes, I was bearing a gift for their heap... all the cabbage leaves, etc.
I told them about the AGM and she and Zak came with me to the meeting which was outside as it was a lovely day.
A good meeting, left me feeling positive and buoyed up. I cycled past my old plot on the way back and it has been rotavated! The new allotmenteers look like they mean business!
I visited Debbie on the way back and chatted for 10 minutes, and got in for 2pm, for lunch and Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4.
Then I got busy in the conservatory... I planted LOADS of seeds... courgette, pumpkin, squash, yams (in the cups rescued from the Ceilidh, punctured at the base with a hot wire) and sweetcorn plus one or two other things. Lots more to do though...
Then it was tea time, I had the last pastie and the cauliflower/pasta bake which Gill threw together, followed by a slice of cake.
Then it was yet another meeting... down at Anna's, the York in Transition 'events' meeting, which was quite well attended and very upbeat.
I got in just after 10pm and wasn't sleepy til 3am.
Showing posts with label composting on the allotment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label composting on the allotment. Show all posts
Both boys off to school today... I came down and sat bleary-eyed on the sofa until the house was empty, and then had breakfast, did my e-paperwork and then when Gill came back she persuaded me to come back to bed. We are very lucky to have this time... the low income and only working part-time does have it's upside.... plenty of time to do what we want to do...
But I couldn't stay in bed all day, much though that has some attraction, as I was expecting a visit from either Rowena or Adrian who have done a clear-out and found a stash of wood, much of it only fit to burn. So I did a load more work out the front, slicing the pear, apple and lilac logs from John Bibby, and splitting them and stacking round the back. It's a huge job... I'm only half-way through and I've already got a really good stack of split logs, perhaps 2m x 2m and nearly as high as me.
Adrian came after lunch, with a load of planks and other structural timber, and a whole lot of very dry and mostly all logged to the right size Leylandii chunks. I split these with the maul... they are easier when wet.
At 3 I went to school to pick up our youngest, and cycled with him on to the Millennium Bridge and up to BikeRescue where the 'Specialised Rockhopper' reconditioned bike was waiting. Our little boy was delighted with this... it was £65, but well worth it as it is a good make, 18 gears and will last for years. I put his old bike on my trailer and zoomed off after him, as he is now twice as fast as he was!
Got home well before what time I told Gill I expected us to be back, and I continued outside for a bit, cutting the front hedge and putting some of it through the shredder. Then tea which was cauliflower and macaroni with the tomato and leek soup on top as a sauce..
I then had an appointment at the allotment with a bunch of University students who have an allotment but don't know about composting, and I had offered to do a talk going through the basics. There were about 8 of them, on a rather weedy allotment but with plenty of lettuce, strawberries, onions, potatoes and a fire area in the centre with pallets around it to sit on. I did a basic run through of what composting was, what kind of materials biodegrade, the conditions needed, some stuff about landfill and my composting ops here. I answered a few questions. Then we went to look at the existing composting areas, showing them evidence of a rat in one pile. They gave me some lettuce as a thank you for the time.
I went up to my half plot and did some clearance, opening up a path up one side using the hedge shears, and worked til 10.15 when it got too dark to continue...
A lovely chatty evening with Gilly, and feeling positive as we looked at photos of Randall and Annie's baby on Facebook. Ahhhh...
But I couldn't stay in bed all day, much though that has some attraction, as I was expecting a visit from either Rowena or Adrian who have done a clear-out and found a stash of wood, much of it only fit to burn. So I did a load more work out the front, slicing the pear, apple and lilac logs from John Bibby, and splitting them and stacking round the back. It's a huge job... I'm only half-way through and I've already got a really good stack of split logs, perhaps 2m x 2m and nearly as high as me.
Adrian came after lunch, with a load of planks and other structural timber, and a whole lot of very dry and mostly all logged to the right size Leylandii chunks. I split these with the maul... they are easier when wet.
At 3 I went to school to pick up our youngest, and cycled with him on to the Millennium Bridge and up to BikeRescue where the 'Specialised Rockhopper' reconditioned bike was waiting. Our little boy was delighted with this... it was £65, but well worth it as it is a good make, 18 gears and will last for years. I put his old bike on my trailer and zoomed off after him, as he is now twice as fast as he was!
Got home well before what time I told Gill I expected us to be back, and I continued outside for a bit, cutting the front hedge and putting some of it through the shredder. Then tea which was cauliflower and macaroni with the tomato and leek soup on top as a sauce..
I then had an appointment at the allotment with a bunch of University students who have an allotment but don't know about composting, and I had offered to do a talk going through the basics. There were about 8 of them, on a rather weedy allotment but with plenty of lettuce, strawberries, onions, potatoes and a fire area in the centre with pallets around it to sit on. I did a basic run through of what composting was, what kind of materials biodegrade, the conditions needed, some stuff about landfill and my composting ops here. I answered a few questions. Then we went to look at the existing composting areas, showing them evidence of a rat in one pile. They gave me some lettuce as a thank you for the time.
I went up to my half plot and did some clearance, opening up a path up one side using the hedge shears, and worked til 10.15 when it got too dark to continue...
A lovely chatty evening with Gilly, and feeling positive as we looked at photos of Randall and Annie's baby on Facebook. Ahhhh...
Woke late and wasn't feeling too brilliant, drippy nose, headache and blocked sinuses. However, this was the first free day to sit and write, so wrote my Easter blog!
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/green-living/2009/04/green-man-on-dirty-coal.html
Melody came round whilst I was doing this and her son played with ours. So writing was a slow affair as there was chatting and coffee drinking... but by 1pm I was finished. I got dressed and had a late lunch. Lit the stove and did a big wash up and at about 5pm went to the allotment and dug out lots of dandelions and cut back brambles, ready for spuds going in. Rebuilt a pallet compost bin and pulled out loads of sticks from the stuff which came out of it, putting these back into the new pile.
Came back at nearly 9 and reheated the food which Gill had left for me... potatoes, peas, squash and a slice of quiche followed by lemon cake. Yummy.
A very quiet evening.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/green-living/2009/04/green-man-on-dirty-coal.html
Melody came round whilst I was doing this and her son played with ours. So writing was a slow affair as there was chatting and coffee drinking... but by 1pm I was finished. I got dressed and had a late lunch. Lit the stove and did a big wash up and at about 5pm went to the allotment and dug out lots of dandelions and cut back brambles, ready for spuds going in. Rebuilt a pallet compost bin and pulled out loads of sticks from the stuff which came out of it, putting these back into the new pile.
Came back at nearly 9 and reheated the food which Gill had left for me... potatoes, peas, squash and a slice of quiche followed by lemon cake. Yummy.
A very quiet evening.
A very productive day, and for me, pretty peaceful too.
After a civilised start time-wise, I went to the allotment, via Country Fresh where Richard had a little gift for me... an empty cigarette packet!
A couple of weeks ago he'd given me another empty packet, which used to contain 'Natural American Spirit' ciggies which Richard described as 'organic' but in fact, there is no organic certification on the packet. The difference between these and 'normal' fags is that these have no additives and are just cured tobacco leaf, with no 'reconstituted' tobacco and processed stems. Richard reports that it costs about a pound more than normal ones, but has very little taste and he prefers this. Today's offering was a '1st Nation' cigarette packet, which Richard described as 'Fairly Traded'. Actually, these don't have the fair trade logo, although the packet does describe them as 'Ethically Sourced'. Neither of these are safe or healthy, both have tar and Carbon Monoxide and they are an expensive habit. However, I think it'll make an entertaining paid blog post for Community Care. Lots of Social Workers smoke and might, just might, like to have a different sort of 'ethical' cigarette!
Anyway, collected my compostables and a lot of cardboard for mulching. I cycled round along Cemetery Road and down to the bottom entrance of the Low Moor Allotments, so I could go to the lottie shop... and hurrah, I got there in good time, and was able to rejoin the Low Moor Allotment Association, which meant that I could use the shop... I then proceeded to get 10 varieties of potato at £1 per kilo and a collection of seeds, making my bill up to £15.
I had very good session on my allotment... dug out two compost heaps and turned them, did a little bit of weeding and a lot of cutting back loads of marauding brambles. Got back just before 2pm, in time to have lunch, listen to Gardeners Question Time and do a bit of emailing, more stuff on Age of Stupid at City Screen in April.
Then had a good session in the garden, collecting assorted minibeasts for my composting classes tomorrow (kids love minibeasts!) and weeding, tidying, and some shredding too. Dug out my Compostumbler, putting most of its contents in a dalek and some excess in a builders 'dumpy' bag.
Gill made a lovely lasagna for tea, and I lit both stoves , to keep the place warm and as I need a bath tonight as I don't want to smell like a compost heap tomorrow. I watched a good programme on the Keck Telescope with both my boys, which was nice. A harmonious time this evening... and I did my blog on the so-called 'ethical' tobacco.
After a civilised start time-wise, I went to the allotment, via Country Fresh where Richard had a little gift for me... an empty cigarette packet!
A couple of weeks ago he'd given me another empty packet, which used to contain 'Natural American Spirit' ciggies which Richard described as 'organic' but in fact, there is no organic certification on the packet. The difference between these and 'normal' fags is that these have no additives and are just cured tobacco leaf, with no 'reconstituted' tobacco and processed stems. Richard reports that it costs about a pound more than normal ones, but has very little taste and he prefers this. Today's offering was a '1st Nation' cigarette packet, which Richard described as 'Fairly Traded'. Actually, these don't have the fair trade logo, although the packet does describe them as 'Ethically Sourced'. Neither of these are safe or healthy, both have tar and Carbon Monoxide and they are an expensive habit. However, I think it'll make an entertaining paid blog post for Community Care. Lots of Social Workers smoke and might, just might, like to have a different sort of 'ethical' cigarette!
Anyway, collected my compostables and a lot of cardboard for mulching. I cycled round along Cemetery Road and down to the bottom entrance of the Low Moor Allotments, so I could go to the lottie shop... and hurrah, I got there in good time, and was able to rejoin the Low Moor Allotment Association, which meant that I could use the shop... I then proceeded to get 10 varieties of potato at £1 per kilo and a collection of seeds, making my bill up to £15.
I had very good session on my allotment... dug out two compost heaps and turned them, did a little bit of weeding and a lot of cutting back loads of marauding brambles. Got back just before 2pm, in time to have lunch, listen to Gardeners Question Time and do a bit of emailing, more stuff on Age of Stupid at City Screen in April.
Then had a good session in the garden, collecting assorted minibeasts for my composting classes tomorrow (kids love minibeasts!) and weeding, tidying, and some shredding too. Dug out my Compostumbler, putting most of its contents in a dalek and some excess in a builders 'dumpy' bag.
Gill made a lovely lasagna for tea, and I lit both stoves , to keep the place warm and as I need a bath tonight as I don't want to smell like a compost heap tomorrow. I watched a good programme on the Keck Telescope with both my boys, which was nice. A harmonious time this evening... and I did my blog on the so-called 'ethical' tobacco.
Not too early a start, but once up got the stove going so I could do the washing up, and watched 'The Big Questions' which was from York. Good to see my friends Claire and David Kennard being interviewed, although I'm not sure why they got front row... they always talk sense though, I have a lot of respect for them.
I recorded Countryfile and half-listened whilst I washed up, and at 11.30 cycled off to the allotment, hoping to get to the lottie shop before 12 which is when it closes on Sundays. However, I got waylaid in Country Fresh by a student journalist called Joel who was doing a piece about the shop and was interested in how the shop reduces it's waste stream. I 'paid my penny' for the bag of resources which in most other shops would be put in the bin as waste, and cycled to the allotment, missing the shop by 3 minutes, damnation!
But I did spend the next hour and a half doing my composting... emptied out a dumpy bag of overwintered and mature compost, and filled it back up with some nearly done compost from one of the pallet bins, removing larger sticks to put in the current heap.
I left at 1.45 and got home just in time to listen to Gardeners Question Time on Radio 4.
A quiet afternoon... did some stacking of Brazilian Pine and used the Compost Mate tool to aerate the current hot garden heap, which is still being added to and is risking getting compacted.
Gill did rice for tea. The boys did their homework. I washed up again.
Later, Gill and I had a game of Scrabble and she won for a third time in a row! I'm obviously losing my touch... too much Facebook Scrabble... perhaps it's sucking all my strength?
I recorded Countryfile and half-listened whilst I washed up, and at 11.30 cycled off to the allotment, hoping to get to the lottie shop before 12 which is when it closes on Sundays. However, I got waylaid in Country Fresh by a student journalist called Joel who was doing a piece about the shop and was interested in how the shop reduces it's waste stream. I 'paid my penny' for the bag of resources which in most other shops would be put in the bin as waste, and cycled to the allotment, missing the shop by 3 minutes, damnation!
But I did spend the next hour and a half doing my composting... emptied out a dumpy bag of overwintered and mature compost, and filled it back up with some nearly done compost from one of the pallet bins, removing larger sticks to put in the current heap.
I left at 1.45 and got home just in time to listen to Gardeners Question Time on Radio 4.
A quiet afternoon... did some stacking of Brazilian Pine and used the Compost Mate tool to aerate the current hot garden heap, which is still being added to and is risking getting compacted.
Gill did rice for tea. The boys did their homework. I washed up again.
Later, Gill and I had a game of Scrabble and she won for a third time in a row! I'm obviously losing my touch... too much Facebook Scrabble... perhaps it's sucking all my strength?
Gill gave me a lie-in and I got up at 9 and had breakfast whilst chatting with Gilly. I rang Ali who is going through some difficult times with her daughter, who is in hospital, very worrying.
I did some paperwork, a cheque in the post, and various computery things whilst Gill went to town and got a futon for our front room, so her sister can have somewhere to sleep.
During the afternoon I went to the allotment to turn the compost heaps and do some weeding.
Gill went to school to get the boys, picked up the eldest and waited to pick up Yoga boy an hour later. I got in soon after she did.
At soon after 7 I went to the York in Transition meeting at St Nicks.
I did some paperwork, a cheque in the post, and various computery things whilst Gill went to town and got a futon for our front room, so her sister can have somewhere to sleep.
During the afternoon I went to the allotment to turn the compost heaps and do some weeding.
Gill went to school to get the boys, picked up the eldest and waited to pick up Yoga boy an hour later. I got in soon after she did.
At soon after 7 I went to the York in Transition meeting at St Nicks.
I took the kiddies into school and then spent a few minutes collecting nice crumbly soil from molehills for the remaining containers which need filling for Green Thumbs. I'll bring in some riddled compost and mix them, making a good planting medium.
Came home to do a load of replies to Fiddlesticks bookings. In the afternoon, had an hour at the lottie, mainly weeding the onion bed. Good to meet Jessica there for the first time in months, as usual, she had camera in hand, looking for the smaller things in life to capture electronically. Her pics are available for all to see on Red Bubble.
I collected my eldest son from school at the normal time and then cycled back down to get the little one who'd been to Yoga an hour later.
At 6.30 went to the Hull Road Planning Panel, which I'm 'acting chair' of in the absence of someone else prepared to do the job. We looked at 4 planning applications and signed the forms with our views, which I will deliver tomorrow to the Council.
Then I went to Country Fresh to pick up a huge load, infact only managed 2 sacks and 3 boxes, leaving 2 sacks-worth there for collection tomorrow. Took these to the lottie to put on my 4 working heaps there.
Came home to do a load of replies to Fiddlesticks bookings. In the afternoon, had an hour at the lottie, mainly weeding the onion bed. Good to meet Jessica there for the first time in months, as usual, she had camera in hand, looking for the smaller things in life to capture electronically. Her pics are available for all to see on Red Bubble.
I collected my eldest son from school at the normal time and then cycled back down to get the little one who'd been to Yoga an hour later.
At 6.30 went to the Hull Road Planning Panel, which I'm 'acting chair' of in the absence of someone else prepared to do the job. We looked at 4 planning applications and signed the forms with our views, which I will deliver tomorrow to the Council.
Then I went to Country Fresh to pick up a huge load, infact only managed 2 sacks and 3 boxes, leaving 2 sacks-worth there for collection tomorrow. Took these to the lottie to put on my 4 working heaps there.
Busy day... I took the kids to school and we spent a lot of time phoning Everest to try to get them to come and fix our front door, which will not lock OR be opened from the outside.
Gill stayed in and I cycled into town via Sainsburys and Millers Yard to give in the Planning Panel responses, coming back via Country Fresh to do a pick-up... was only able to pick up half of what there was to be recycled.
Lunch was a little bit of respite from rushing around and doing things. Everest chaps came after lunch, as did my MESOMOCO CIC friend Richard for a chat and tour of the garden.
Gill picked up the boys and I took them to Martial Arts. I then went to Country Fresh again and took part two of the compostables to the lottie, and on the way there met a pleasant young woman called Claire who showed me her allotment. I did the composting jobs and planted a squash and weeded onions and earthed up potatoes. And came home to make a fried egg sandwich with potato salad for tea.
Gill stayed in and I cycled into town via Sainsburys and Millers Yard to give in the Planning Panel responses, coming back via Country Fresh to do a pick-up... was only able to pick up half of what there was to be recycled.
Lunch was a little bit of respite from rushing around and doing things. Everest chaps came after lunch, as did my MESOMOCO CIC friend Richard for a chat and tour of the garden.
Gill picked up the boys and I took them to Martial Arts. I then went to Country Fresh again and took part two of the compostables to the lottie, and on the way there met a pleasant young woman called Claire who showed me her allotment. I did the composting jobs and planted a squash and weeded onions and earthed up potatoes. And came home to make a fried egg sandwich with potato salad for tea.
Woke with not much time to spare, as due at CVS Priory St Centre at 9.30.... to attend a conference, the first meeting of the Local Infrastructure Organisations Facilities and Buildings Managers Network, all of whom are involved in looking after CVS-type buildings or similar. My talk was directly after lunch and I had been invited to talk about the new Energy Performance Certificates which will have to be displayed on all public access buildings over a certain size (1000m2) from this October. This will mean that there is an 'efficiency rating' for visitors/staff to see on a wall visible to all, such as in an entrance lobby. I had found out about accredited assessors who will work out the efficiency, and then talked a bit about the best ways to make a building more energy efficient, and potential funding for this. I was pleased that many of the people had not heard of EPCs and were interested in how to make their buildings perform better.
I left at about 3pm, didn't attend the last talk, and came home via Millers Yard, picked up 2 sacks of compostables and took them to the lottie.
Gill told me that one of our children had experienced some bullying type behaviour today, we don't know exactly what went on but it is a bit worrying. And difficult to know how to deal with it. The joys of parenting, hey!
After tea, shot down to the LETS meeting at the Seahorse Hotel and enjoyed that, much prepararion for next month's AGM which I'm chairing.
I left at about 3pm, didn't attend the last talk, and came home via Millers Yard, picked up 2 sacks of compostables and took them to the lottie.
Gill told me that one of our children had experienced some bullying type behaviour today, we don't know exactly what went on but it is a bit worrying. And difficult to know how to deal with it. The joys of parenting, hey!
After tea, shot down to the LETS meeting at the Seahorse Hotel and enjoyed that, much prepararion for next month's AGM which I'm chairing.
Quite a relaxed day, didn't have to hurry to get up as the first appointment was at midday.
So cycled into town to get to Parliament St for about 11.55 and met up with Tash who's organising the Big Freeze, and quite a few other people arrived too, at least 20 which was good. We had a talk through and a bit of a practice of the 10 second delay after Tash blew her whistle, which is how we all know when to freeze. Then when the cameras were ready, we all wandered over to the fountain and Tash did a really quiet whistle and no-one knew whether it was the real thing or just a practice... so I suggested she blow it really hard so we all knew. I froze pushing my bike... near me was Kenny doing up his shoelace and a couple of other people just walking... well, frozen in mid walk. We counted to 180 (3 minutes) and resumed walking... my counting was pretty accurate because I got up to 175 when the others started. One person had frozen looking at his watch so he was the person who started at moving again at 3 minutes, and we all used him as a cue. The reactions of passers by were interesting but I couldn't see many of them as I was facing in the wrong direction... but I look forward to the film being available on YouTube. I was interviewed afterwards about why I had got involved etc.
I came home via the Mail Box Etc shop where I get photocopies, and got a photocopy of my Equity Card which a client wants to see as proof of my insurance as Professor Fiddlesticks. Then to Country Fresh to pick up 2 sacks and a box, bought a cauliflower and some broccoli too.
Home for lunch, and after I went to the lottie to put the compostable materials on my latest heap. After this went on to my agent's house to deliver the photocopy, and doubled back to Anna's to pick up yet another load of cut vegetation to take to Hazel Court. This time no-one stopped me or accosted me... I was able to dump the compostables in the green waste skip without any hassle, which is how it should be. There was a fellow unloading conifer prunings as well, then he opened his boot and revealed a pile of holly logs, which I asked if I could have... so returned home with these!
Home by 5ish, and did a bit of woodpile building followed by tea followed by cutting the front hedge which has become rather shaggy. Some passer-by had pulled a chunk of it and although I tried to push this back before cutting it, when I did cut it, this area became a hole in the hedge which is annoying. It looks as if I'm an incompetent hedge cutter!
I collected all the cuttings on a sheet and shredded them all and was finished by 9.15.
Spent quite a bit of evening dealing with emails and reading the US Composting Council quarterly newsletter which I found very interesting.
So cycled into town to get to Parliament St for about 11.55 and met up with Tash who's organising the Big Freeze, and quite a few other people arrived too, at least 20 which was good. We had a talk through and a bit of a practice of the 10 second delay after Tash blew her whistle, which is how we all know when to freeze. Then when the cameras were ready, we all wandered over to the fountain and Tash did a really quiet whistle and no-one knew whether it was the real thing or just a practice... so I suggested she blow it really hard so we all knew. I froze pushing my bike... near me was Kenny doing up his shoelace and a couple of other people just walking... well, frozen in mid walk. We counted to 180 (3 minutes) and resumed walking... my counting was pretty accurate because I got up to 175 when the others started. One person had frozen looking at his watch so he was the person who started at moving again at 3 minutes, and we all used him as a cue. The reactions of passers by were interesting but I couldn't see many of them as I was facing in the wrong direction... but I look forward to the film being available on YouTube. I was interviewed afterwards about why I had got involved etc.
I came home via the Mail Box Etc shop where I get photocopies, and got a photocopy of my Equity Card which a client wants to see as proof of my insurance as Professor Fiddlesticks. Then to Country Fresh to pick up 2 sacks and a box, bought a cauliflower and some broccoli too.
Home for lunch, and after I went to the lottie to put the compostable materials on my latest heap. After this went on to my agent's house to deliver the photocopy, and doubled back to Anna's to pick up yet another load of cut vegetation to take to Hazel Court. This time no-one stopped me or accosted me... I was able to dump the compostables in the green waste skip without any hassle, which is how it should be. There was a fellow unloading conifer prunings as well, then he opened his boot and revealed a pile of holly logs, which I asked if I could have... so returned home with these!
Home by 5ish, and did a bit of woodpile building followed by tea followed by cutting the front hedge which has become rather shaggy. Some passer-by had pulled a chunk of it and although I tried to push this back before cutting it, when I did cut it, this area became a hole in the hedge which is annoying. It looks as if I'm an incompetent hedge cutter!
I collected all the cuttings on a sheet and shredded them all and was finished by 9.15.
Spent quite a bit of evening dealing with emails and reading the US Composting Council quarterly newsletter which I found very interesting.
Gill took the boys to school and then went on a school visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park with our eldest.
I had a quiet day inside, although the weather was lovely out, I had to get my paid blog done (didn't do it at the weekend) and had a chat with Ali and Lorna and then just before I came off the computer at lunchtime, with K... so a busy and communicative morning. Also had several Fiddlesticks enquiries After lunch I did housework, washing up, made tomato soup, and finally getting out to the front garden to build a logpile just as the troops came home. I took just one boy (not my own!) to Martial Arts and went to collect stuff from Country Fresh, taking it to the lottie.
Home to have soup and pasta at 6, spent most of the evening dealing with a vast number of apples which were too good to compost and are perfect for drying. Loaded 4 racks with dozens and dozens of slices, plus one with melon slices. A warm evening with the stove, watching Ideal on BBC3 and Newsnight. Gill was exhausted from all the walking, plus the warmth of the stove made her sleep all evening.
I had a quiet day inside, although the weather was lovely out, I had to get my paid blog done (didn't do it at the weekend) and had a chat with Ali and Lorna and then just before I came off the computer at lunchtime, with K... so a busy and communicative morning. Also had several Fiddlesticks enquiries After lunch I did housework, washing up, made tomato soup, and finally getting out to the front garden to build a logpile just as the troops came home. I took just one boy (not my own!) to Martial Arts and went to collect stuff from Country Fresh, taking it to the lottie.
Home to have soup and pasta at 6, spent most of the evening dealing with a vast number of apples which were too good to compost and are perfect for drying. Loaded 4 racks with dozens and dozens of slices, plus one with melon slices. A warm evening with the stove, watching Ideal on BBC3 and Newsnight. Gill was exhausted from all the walking, plus the warmth of the stove made her sleep all evening.
A relaxing day, woke before the children went to school. one wasn't wanting to go but he begrudgingly allowed me to help him get dressed, and Gill took them in. Once in school, he was happy and told his mum that he was glad to be there... fickle or what?
I needed to go to the Civic Amenity site to get rid of several bags of drinks cartons which can be collected for recycling there, and I took the old wheelbarrow which has been rusting in the garden since we moved here in 2001, and put it in the metal skip for recycling... really glad that cyclists are now allowed into the site without any hassle. Then on to Country Fresh but Jamie's promised load wasn't in yet, so came home via the lottie where I prepared the compost heaps for the coming onslaught, ie layered them with cow-parsley stems and docks and nettles. Had a friendly chat with my neighbour Jackie, who's nearly been thrown off her plot due to it being left to get too weedy. My plot is looking untidy but it is being used... onions, leeks, potatoes, asparagus, artechokes, 4 compost heaps....
Home on the dot of 1pm, lunch and chats with Gill who had been to town, and got money back on some trousers she'd got for me and didn't fit.... I'm a bit fatter than she thinks I am!
I then had a VERY satisfying time planting up a lot of seeds... better late than not at all! So loads of curcubits, sweetcorn and beans. Hooray!
I went to school but came home with no-one as my eldest went to a friend's house and my youngest was doing yoga. Home to go to the veg shop to collect a large pile of stuff from the wholesaler... and was only just strong enough to get this to the lottie, and it took quite a time to get it piled up and layered on the three heaps that are currently being used. Home in time for a quick shower before bombing down to the Bishopthorpe Road to 'Lal Quila' where the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel were having an unusual meeting. We were ushered upstairs, but then we got a message that Carolyn had arrived and she couldn't get up the stairs, so we came down and had our beers, poppadoms and onion bhajis plus the one planning application we needed to look at. It was a very enjoyable meeting, so thank you to Abul, one of our members, who suggested the change of venue and was our host for the evening.
I cycled down to the council offices to put the reply to the planning application in their letterbox, and came back via Jamie's van where I picked up another load and took it to the allotment.
Home by 9.30 pm, lit the stove so I could wash up and dry some apples not saleable but washable, peelable, core-able, slice-able and dryable.... and also ditto to a melon.
I needed to go to the Civic Amenity site to get rid of several bags of drinks cartons which can be collected for recycling there, and I took the old wheelbarrow which has been rusting in the garden since we moved here in 2001, and put it in the metal skip for recycling... really glad that cyclists are now allowed into the site without any hassle. Then on to Country Fresh but Jamie's promised load wasn't in yet, so came home via the lottie where I prepared the compost heaps for the coming onslaught, ie layered them with cow-parsley stems and docks and nettles. Had a friendly chat with my neighbour Jackie, who's nearly been thrown off her plot due to it being left to get too weedy. My plot is looking untidy but it is being used... onions, leeks, potatoes, asparagus, artechokes, 4 compost heaps....
Home on the dot of 1pm, lunch and chats with Gill who had been to town, and got money back on some trousers she'd got for me and didn't fit.... I'm a bit fatter than she thinks I am!
I then had a VERY satisfying time planting up a lot of seeds... better late than not at all! So loads of curcubits, sweetcorn and beans. Hooray!
I went to school but came home with no-one as my eldest went to a friend's house and my youngest was doing yoga. Home to go to the veg shop to collect a large pile of stuff from the wholesaler... and was only just strong enough to get this to the lottie, and it took quite a time to get it piled up and layered on the three heaps that are currently being used. Home in time for a quick shower before bombing down to the Bishopthorpe Road to 'Lal Quila' where the Hull Road Ward Planning Panel were having an unusual meeting. We were ushered upstairs, but then we got a message that Carolyn had arrived and she couldn't get up the stairs, so we came down and had our beers, poppadoms and onion bhajis plus the one planning application we needed to look at. It was a very enjoyable meeting, so thank you to Abul, one of our members, who suggested the change of venue and was our host for the evening.
I cycled down to the council offices to put the reply to the planning application in their letterbox, and came back via Jamie's van where I picked up another load and took it to the allotment.
Home by 9.30 pm, lit the stove so I could wash up and dry some apples not saleable but washable, peelable, core-able, slice-able and dryable.... and also ditto to a melon.
A more relaxed day than yesterday's rather busy one...
I took the children into school and just before I was intending to leave the playground, the Headteacher came over to me and asked me if I'd time to have a meeting with her... she asked me to go to the office where she'd meet me in a few minutes. Whenever she asks me into her office I have strong memories of when I was a schoolboy, when my disruptive and naughty behaviour meant that I was often standing outside the Head's office, and I've had more talking to's in Senior Teachers' offices than I care to remember. I even got the cane once for some misdemeanour.
However, this time I wasn't being a telling off, it was a meeting with Julia to discuss the Green Thumbs Gardening Project and the slight change of direction we are going to have to accommodate this summer, due to the possible demolition and rebuilding of two mobile classrooms, which are near the plot we have started to prepare. The new classroom may be built on the plot. So we have to do our gardening in other parts of the school premises, in existing borders and possibly in containers. We discussed the numbers of children to be involved in the club, when it will take place, the meeting last night about child protection policy and other issues.
So got back home at nearly 10am, Gill worried that I'd got into some scrape or involved in an accident. But the rest of the morning went well... mainly housework, and then I had an early lunch and went to the veg shop to pick up a couple of sacks of material... and some very good news. Ever since I started helping the shop recycle their organic wastes, sorry, not waste, resources, only one of the employees has been absolutely behind me with the separation of the biodegradable materials. The boss is also happy with the arrangement, but the other employee just wasn't bothered with the recycling, and until yesterday, just put all the rubbish in one sack and binned it. I would sometimes tip out her bag and separate out the compostables, and leave the plastic etc in the bin. But, amazingly, my mate Richard, who is very appreciative of my recycling operations, had a little word with her and she has now switched to putting the fruit and veg materials in one sack and the landfillables in another bin... absolutely fantastic! I am so pleased! If only other shops did something similar!
There is one (I will leave it anonymous though!) which has a rota of composters who collect the daily resources and take them for their gardens or allotments. But there's another greengrocers in York which throws away loads of unsold fruit and veg, I used to collect but the grotty owner thought I was getting something for nothing, or scrounging, and forbade his staff to give me anything. They were quite upset, as they liked me doing the recycling, and think that their boss is a dinosaur. I do too! He's a grumpy and small-minded.
Anyway, I took the two sacks of green potatoes, cauliflower stalks, leek tops, mouldy oranges and rotten onions and went to the allotment and did about 30 minutes of compost heap management. It started to rain but I had to stay as I had some hoeing to do before putting in my onion sets. However, the rain meant that I couldn't plant the onions so I just did the weeding and building up the compost heaps with more brambles, dandelions, nettles etc. I really want to keep on top of it this year, after last year's not-so-good results!
At 3 went to school and picked up the children... infact just one of them as the other had been invited to a friends, so when I got home I did a bit of wooding and then at 6 went to collect him via a large area of chopped logs, where maybe 20 trees have been taken out, for thinning I think, and just left logged, scattered all over the place. There must be several tonnes of fuel just waiting to be rescued... so I came home with a trailer full, and one on my rack too. Oh, I did stop at our friends' house, had a beer and a chat, collected my son and came home.
Gill had made her favourite meal, stir fry veg with noodles, which was lovely. Then watched Gardeners World on telly, which was really good as it gave me inspiration to do better on my lottie and they visited the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales, and it was lovely to see that again. I'm a life member! What they do is so important, and it was good to see the composting and wormeries there.
Had a brief Googletalk conversation with K, about CRAGs and carbon footprints and how to reduce them, for a leaflet she's going to produce to advertise her CRAG. She has asked for some help drafting it... so I asked her to email me a list of questions which I will answer, so she can put together a brief intro on her leaflet.
Had a game of Scrabble with Gill, we both got a 7-letter word down (mine was the weird 'nooning') and Gill won by one point! Very satisfying!
I took the children into school and just before I was intending to leave the playground, the Headteacher came over to me and asked me if I'd time to have a meeting with her... she asked me to go to the office where she'd meet me in a few minutes. Whenever she asks me into her office I have strong memories of when I was a schoolboy, when my disruptive and naughty behaviour meant that I was often standing outside the Head's office, and I've had more talking to's in Senior Teachers' offices than I care to remember. I even got the cane once for some misdemeanour.
However, this time I wasn't being a telling off, it was a meeting with Julia to discuss the Green Thumbs Gardening Project and the slight change of direction we are going to have to accommodate this summer, due to the possible demolition and rebuilding of two mobile classrooms, which are near the plot we have started to prepare. The new classroom may be built on the plot. So we have to do our gardening in other parts of the school premises, in existing borders and possibly in containers. We discussed the numbers of children to be involved in the club, when it will take place, the meeting last night about child protection policy and other issues.
So got back home at nearly 10am, Gill worried that I'd got into some scrape or involved in an accident. But the rest of the morning went well... mainly housework, and then I had an early lunch and went to the veg shop to pick up a couple of sacks of material... and some very good news. Ever since I started helping the shop recycle their organic wastes, sorry, not waste, resources, only one of the employees has been absolutely behind me with the separation of the biodegradable materials. The boss is also happy with the arrangement, but the other employee just wasn't bothered with the recycling, and until yesterday, just put all the rubbish in one sack and binned it. I would sometimes tip out her bag and separate out the compostables, and leave the plastic etc in the bin. But, amazingly, my mate Richard, who is very appreciative of my recycling operations, had a little word with her and she has now switched to putting the fruit and veg materials in one sack and the landfillables in another bin... absolutely fantastic! I am so pleased! If only other shops did something similar!
There is one (I will leave it anonymous though!) which has a rota of composters who collect the daily resources and take them for their gardens or allotments. But there's another greengrocers in York which throws away loads of unsold fruit and veg, I used to collect but the grotty owner thought I was getting something for nothing, or scrounging, and forbade his staff to give me anything. They were quite upset, as they liked me doing the recycling, and think that their boss is a dinosaur. I do too! He's a grumpy and small-minded.
Anyway, I took the two sacks of green potatoes, cauliflower stalks, leek tops, mouldy oranges and rotten onions and went to the allotment and did about 30 minutes of compost heap management. It started to rain but I had to stay as I had some hoeing to do before putting in my onion sets. However, the rain meant that I couldn't plant the onions so I just did the weeding and building up the compost heaps with more brambles, dandelions, nettles etc. I really want to keep on top of it this year, after last year's not-so-good results!
At 3 went to school and picked up the children... infact just one of them as the other had been invited to a friends, so when I got home I did a bit of wooding and then at 6 went to collect him via a large area of chopped logs, where maybe 20 trees have been taken out, for thinning I think, and just left logged, scattered all over the place. There must be several tonnes of fuel just waiting to be rescued... so I came home with a trailer full, and one on my rack too. Oh, I did stop at our friends' house, had a beer and a chat, collected my son and came home.
Gill had made her favourite meal, stir fry veg with noodles, which was lovely. Then watched Gardeners World on telly, which was really good as it gave me inspiration to do better on my lottie and they visited the Centre for Alternative Technology in mid-Wales, and it was lovely to see that again. I'm a life member! What they do is so important, and it was good to see the composting and wormeries there.
Had a brief Googletalk conversation with K, about CRAGs and carbon footprints and how to reduce them, for a leaflet she's going to produce to advertise her CRAG. She has asked for some help drafting it... so I asked her to email me a list of questions which I will answer, so she can put together a brief intro on her leaflet.
Had a game of Scrabble with Gill, we both got a 7-letter word down (mine was the weird 'nooning') and Gill won by one point! Very satisfying!
Quite a good lie-in, and Gill gave the boys porridge for breakfast which they seemed to enjoy as they were very quiet afterwards...
Got up at 10 ish and rang a CRAG friend David who has been collecting biodegradables since mid December for me, and we agreed to meet at the lottie and I put a layer of very manky stuff on top of the woody bramble stems... then did some compost moving, chatted to another alltotmenteer and cut back another load of brambles which are invading.
Got back home at about 1pm, family gone into town to spend book vouchers.
A hard-working afternoon too, but in the evening we watched a funny film called 'Shallow Hal' which we enjoyed, and played Scrabble.
Got up at 10 ish and rang a CRAG friend David who has been collecting biodegradables since mid December for me, and we agreed to meet at the lottie and I put a layer of very manky stuff on top of the woody bramble stems... then did some compost moving, chatted to another alltotmenteer and cut back another load of brambles which are invading.
Got back home at about 1pm, family gone into town to spend book vouchers.
A hard-working afternoon too, but in the evening we watched a funny film called 'Shallow Hal' which we enjoyed, and played Scrabble.
Boys up very early and extremely noisy! But it was happy noise, mostly. Some of the excitement was probably due to a covering of snow, and they all went out to play in it.
The visitors' Mum came at about 10am and after a cuppa and chat, she took them away.
My boys got a phone call from another of their friends who wanted to play out in the snow, he came round and then all 3 went to his house round the corner, until after 1pm when they came back for lunch.
I spent the morning preparing fruit, mainly 4 pineapples but also some pears and kiwis, for drying on the stove. My foot seems to be a lot better, it was weird how it was so painful for such a short time!
I went to the veg shop and got the second half of the wheelie bin full and took it to the lottie, and made a layer of chopped brambles, shored up the sides with cardboard boxes and made a good deep layer. Left the lottie at nearly 5pm, almost dark, but for the snow making it kind of twilight.
The visitors' Mum came at about 10am and after a cuppa and chat, she took them away.
My boys got a phone call from another of their friends who wanted to play out in the snow, he came round and then all 3 went to his house round the corner, until after 1pm when they came back for lunch.
I spent the morning preparing fruit, mainly 4 pineapples but also some pears and kiwis, for drying on the stove. My foot seems to be a lot better, it was weird how it was so painful for such a short time!
I went to the veg shop and got the second half of the wheelie bin full and took it to the lottie, and made a layer of chopped brambles, shored up the sides with cardboard boxes and made a good deep layer. Left the lottie at nearly 5pm, almost dark, but for the snow making it kind of twilight.
A quiet day... didn't do that much except spend a couple of hours shredding hedge down the garden, and preparing huge 'lumps' of hedge for shredding by chopping the twiggy bits away from the sticks, and the sticks from the stumps, so the sticks can be cut down to size for the stove and the twiggy bits fed into the shredder...
Earlier I did spend a short time at the lottie, putting 3 20kg sacks of compostable veg and fruit on top of the last layer of brambles and weeds. I had a chat with an old fella who saw 10 bunches of unsaleable spring onions and said 'you can plant those and they'll sprout and be perfectly edible' so I planted 3 bunches in 3 rows just to see what happens!
Helped Gill get the house ready for a few visitors tonight, by clearing up some of my mess.
Earlier I did spend a short time at the lottie, putting 3 20kg sacks of compostable veg and fruit on top of the last layer of brambles and weeds. I had a chat with an old fella who saw 10 bunches of unsaleable spring onions and said 'you can plant those and they'll sprout and be perfectly edible' so I planted 3 bunches in 3 rows just to see what happens!
Helped Gill get the house ready for a few visitors tonight, by clearing up some of my mess.
Nice peaceful day as had a cycle into town in the morning to go to put cheques in and pay a bill, for an advert in Primary Times which is with an article by me about green/ethical parties. I went into Barnitts to get a new garden fork, as I have broken the handle of the one I got when we moved here in 2001... my fault as I've often left it outside and the wooden handle has been 'got at'. The new one also has a wooden handle, FSC timber apparently, and I hope it will last longer than the previous one (which I may be able to repair anyway). Then visited Anita who is still in a lot of pain from her car accident; she enjoyed a back massage, but the relief would have been only temporary, but we had a good chat too.
Back via Morrissons to see if they had Guinness Marmite, which is available in a branch in West Yorkshire but not here, apparently. Then home via Martins Country Fresh for a sack of compostables and Rashda's for a couple of sacks of twiggy bits which I have decided to put on one of my lottie heaps, without being shredded.
Home to an empty house as Gill had taken the boys into town on the bus to spend their book vouchers in WHSmith, so I had a quick lunch and got going in the garden... more hedge removal with my wrecking bar. The hedge comes out quite easily and is going to result in a vast amount of material for composting and the stove.
The rest of the family came back and I went to the allotment to do some more rescue work... and found a row of potatoes which I had forgotten about, and brought these home as a suprise for Gill.
Tea was new potatoes (not home grown this time) and quiche with rice salad. Lovely!
Back via Morrissons to see if they had Guinness Marmite, which is available in a branch in West Yorkshire but not here, apparently. Then home via Martins Country Fresh for a sack of compostables and Rashda's for a couple of sacks of twiggy bits which I have decided to put on one of my lottie heaps, without being shredded.
Home to an empty house as Gill had taken the boys into town on the bus to spend their book vouchers in WHSmith, so I had a quick lunch and got going in the garden... more hedge removal with my wrecking bar. The hedge comes out quite easily and is going to result in a vast amount of material for composting and the stove.
The rest of the family came back and I went to the allotment to do some more rescue work... and found a row of potatoes which I had forgotten about, and brought these home as a suprise for Gill.
Tea was new potatoes (not home grown this time) and quiche with rice salad. Lovely!
I took the boys into school as Gill is collecting them this afternoon, as I plan to be at the allotment then. Gill went into town once I'd got back, and I got out my logsplitter and split some of the huge rounds which came from the Woodlands treefelling. These slices of tree trunk, up to 60cm diameter, were extremely tough, this wood does not want to split lengthways as easily as some. A couple of the rounds just wouldn't split, even with the hydraulic machine. I tried to do one and it eventually split on the last attempt, and the huge circle of wood, perhaps 30+kg, toppled off the splitter and fell on my hip, which hurt a lot just for a few minutes. However managed to split quite a lot up.
At 11ish I came in for a rest and a cuppa, and downloaded emails. Whenever I put the computer on, I get a pop-up message from Googlemail inviting me to download the new version of Googletalk. I have done this on several occasions, and the message still keeps on popping up. I emailed Google about this and got a reply today, telling me what to do. So I spent some time playing with the computer, trying to sort stuff out, and ended up doing a complete scan which revealed some website tracking programs, which I deleted. I hope the jiggering around with assorted buttons might have sorted the problem. Time will tell.
I had lunch whilst the computer was doing it's thing, and Gill came back from her trip into town, and then the SUMA lorry came with our order... and the stuff for the three other people on our Food Co-op. I unloaded and Gill did the paperwork. Jolly banter with the lorry driver.
Then I went to the lottie... I've had a letter from the allotment management saying mine is untidy and needs to be tidied up or it will be taken away from me.... so I spent several hours cutting back brambles into tiny chunks 1cm to 10 cm long, for composting. Got three dustbins full of these small lengths of blackberry plant, and half a dustbin of dug-up dandylions or other rosetted long-rooted weed. A more putrescible layer between the woody layers of bramble stalk. Continued here til dark, then came back home where the boys were in a good mood and wanted to have a rough and tumble. Good fun, no tears.
Tea was delicious... carrot soup and Gill's fantastic quiche. Played with the boys, we did a 'picture consequences' and then a 'story consequences' which was excellent.
At 11ish I came in for a rest and a cuppa, and downloaded emails. Whenever I put the computer on, I get a pop-up message from Googlemail inviting me to download the new version of Googletalk. I have done this on several occasions, and the message still keeps on popping up. I emailed Google about this and got a reply today, telling me what to do. So I spent some time playing with the computer, trying to sort stuff out, and ended up doing a complete scan which revealed some website tracking programs, which I deleted. I hope the jiggering around with assorted buttons might have sorted the problem. Time will tell.
I had lunch whilst the computer was doing it's thing, and Gill came back from her trip into town, and then the SUMA lorry came with our order... and the stuff for the three other people on our Food Co-op. I unloaded and Gill did the paperwork. Jolly banter with the lorry driver.
Then I went to the lottie... I've had a letter from the allotment management saying mine is untidy and needs to be tidied up or it will be taken away from me.... so I spent several hours cutting back brambles into tiny chunks 1cm to 10 cm long, for composting. Got three dustbins full of these small lengths of blackberry plant, and half a dustbin of dug-up dandylions or other rosetted long-rooted weed. A more putrescible layer between the woody layers of bramble stalk. Continued here til dark, then came back home where the boys were in a good mood and wanted to have a rough and tumble. Good fun, no tears.
Tea was delicious... carrot soup and Gill's fantastic quiche. Played with the boys, we did a 'picture consequences' and then a 'story consequences' which was excellent.
A good day as at least two, possibly three things happened, interesting things! Firstly, at 10, as booked, a chap from the Cooperative Insurance came, Mark his name was. We were rung up last week and told he'd like to tell us about some new products.... this was the first time we'd ever been visited by someone from the Co-op, and Gill was convinced that he was coming to snoop round the house and check our smoke alarms were working, etc, and was embarrassed by the untidiness. However he was lovely. He had come to tell us about the new insurance policy and we also discussed savings and ISAs... I don't think about money much so it was interesting to have some stuff explained. He was lovely and Gill's fears were unfounded. My new bike is now insured.
I had aranged to have lunch on the allotment with Jo... whilst we chatted I dug out a working compost heap and transferred it to another New Zealand box (pallets!) and then restarted the original one with chopped up brambles. We had a good chat, she had an interesting weekend in Whitby and had a lot to tell me. Whilst there Jessica came with her wonderful digital camera and of course asked where mine was! She wants me to get some images downloaded onto my computer and onto RedBubble or perhaps even my blog... that would be good! Then Phil popped by... he's preparing for a court case as he's refusing to pay his council tax as he blames the council for the problems he's experiencing with vandals attacking his home, and he's had to board up his windows and the council have told him to unboard them. Interesting!
So got back from the lottie at 2.45 and Gill was preparing to go to school, so I did some emailing and got a comment from Annabel on yesterdays blog post, about how I am qualified to write about environmental and ethical issues. I spent quite a long time replying and explaining, but when I sent the reply, it came back as not able to be delivered to Annabel, so I hope she either sends a contact email and I'll send her the original reply, or I could explain on this blog... not sure what to do.
I went to get our eldest at 4.15 after his drama club, and one of his friends came back too which was good as it means good behaviour. Before teatime, I got a phone call from someone with an Eastern European accent, possibly Russian, allegedly called Vishka. He said he wanted to join my circus! I explained that I wasn't actually a full circus, but did circus tricks at events as an entertainer... but if he wanted to meet me or learn some skills, or find out how I organised myself as an entertainer, he could meet me. I agreed to meet him at 10.30 tomorrow at City Screen.... he said he'd be wearing a trilby! I was suspicious whether he was spoofing me, so I explained that sometimes pranksters did ring me up and try to have me on, and he assured me he was genuine. We'll see!
Gill made tea, pasta parcels and veg with garlic bread, and soon after I went to the CRAG meeting. This was really good, I learned quite a lot. Denise was from the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre in York, which is one of 46 nationally set up by the Energy Saving Trust in 1992 as a response to the Rio 'Earth Summit' which urged us all to act to combat climate change. She started with an observation about when she was young, 40 years ago, she had just 4 electrical items in the house, an iron, the telly, lightbulbs and a 'town gas' cooker (presumably electrical ignition?) Nowadays, we have several TV's, all sorts of gadgets like breadmakers, mobile phones, gameboys, ipods.... a huge list of electrical items. We got lots of facts:
UK homes responsible for 29% of our CO2 emissions,
20% of energy in the house is wasted,
UK committed to reducing domestic C emissions by 12.5% by 2010 from 1990 levels, and we are on target for this. We have made a voluntary comittment to go for a 20% reduction but we're not approaching this, mainly because of the rise of gadget use which increases electricity consumption.
She explained how the Energy EfficiencyAdvice Centres worked and why it was important, the benefits of saving energy, (not just reducing climate change but releasing money currently wasted, increasing health, effecting behaviour change, etc) and their campaign to 'Save your 20%'.
She had examples of low energy lightbulbs and a catalogue from 'Megaman' bulbs, and how much money could be saved by fitting just one low energy lightbulb (£9).
There was a diagram of where energy is lost in an uninsulated house (roof, 26%; walls, 33%; single glazed windows, 18%; floors, 15%; draughts, 11%) and lots of info on insulation.
There was one section which really interested me.... on how to insulate solid walls, as our 1930's house doesn't have cavity walls, it has solid walls, and there are 4 ways of insulating them to reduce that 33% loss of heat. There are 3 ways of internally insulating ('dry lining', using thermal board and something called perhaps 'sempatap'... I'll look it up!) and the more efficient way of externally insulating, which is what I'd like to do with out big wall on the coldest side of the house, away from the woodstoves. She even had the name of a company who fit external insulation (Wall Transform)!
Then we got onto renewable energy. tbc
I had aranged to have lunch on the allotment with Jo... whilst we chatted I dug out a working compost heap and transferred it to another New Zealand box (pallets!) and then restarted the original one with chopped up brambles. We had a good chat, she had an interesting weekend in Whitby and had a lot to tell me. Whilst there Jessica came with her wonderful digital camera and of course asked where mine was! She wants me to get some images downloaded onto my computer and onto RedBubble or perhaps even my blog... that would be good! Then Phil popped by... he's preparing for a court case as he's refusing to pay his council tax as he blames the council for the problems he's experiencing with vandals attacking his home, and he's had to board up his windows and the council have told him to unboard them. Interesting!
So got back from the lottie at 2.45 and Gill was preparing to go to school, so I did some emailing and got a comment from Annabel on yesterdays blog post, about how I am qualified to write about environmental and ethical issues. I spent quite a long time replying and explaining, but when I sent the reply, it came back as not able to be delivered to Annabel, so I hope she either sends a contact email and I'll send her the original reply, or I could explain on this blog... not sure what to do.
I went to get our eldest at 4.15 after his drama club, and one of his friends came back too which was good as it means good behaviour. Before teatime, I got a phone call from someone with an Eastern European accent, possibly Russian, allegedly called Vishka. He said he wanted to join my circus! I explained that I wasn't actually a full circus, but did circus tricks at events as an entertainer... but if he wanted to meet me or learn some skills, or find out how I organised myself as an entertainer, he could meet me. I agreed to meet him at 10.30 tomorrow at City Screen.... he said he'd be wearing a trilby! I was suspicious whether he was spoofing me, so I explained that sometimes pranksters did ring me up and try to have me on, and he assured me he was genuine. We'll see!
Gill made tea, pasta parcels and veg with garlic bread, and soon after I went to the CRAG meeting. This was really good, I learned quite a lot. Denise was from the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre in York, which is one of 46 nationally set up by the Energy Saving Trust in 1992 as a response to the Rio 'Earth Summit' which urged us all to act to combat climate change. She started with an observation about when she was young, 40 years ago, she had just 4 electrical items in the house, an iron, the telly, lightbulbs and a 'town gas' cooker (presumably electrical ignition?) Nowadays, we have several TV's, all sorts of gadgets like breadmakers, mobile phones, gameboys, ipods.... a huge list of electrical items. We got lots of facts:
UK homes responsible for 29% of our CO2 emissions,
20% of energy in the house is wasted,
UK committed to reducing domestic C emissions by 12.5% by 2010 from 1990 levels, and we are on target for this. We have made a voluntary comittment to go for a 20% reduction but we're not approaching this, mainly because of the rise of gadget use which increases electricity consumption.
She explained how the Energy EfficiencyAdvice Centres worked and why it was important, the benefits of saving energy, (not just reducing climate change but releasing money currently wasted, increasing health, effecting behaviour change, etc) and their campaign to 'Save your 20%'.
She had examples of low energy lightbulbs and a catalogue from 'Megaman' bulbs, and how much money could be saved by fitting just one low energy lightbulb (£9).
There was a diagram of where energy is lost in an uninsulated house (roof, 26%; walls, 33%; single glazed windows, 18%; floors, 15%; draughts, 11%) and lots of info on insulation.
There was one section which really interested me.... on how to insulate solid walls, as our 1930's house doesn't have cavity walls, it has solid walls, and there are 4 ways of insulating them to reduce that 33% loss of heat. There are 3 ways of internally insulating ('dry lining', using thermal board and something called perhaps 'sempatap'... I'll look it up!) and the more efficient way of externally insulating, which is what I'd like to do with out big wall on the coldest side of the house, away from the woodstoves. She even had the name of a company who fit external insulation (Wall Transform)!
Then we got onto renewable energy. tbc
Quite a good day, had a fairly chilled morning, various jobs around the house and then to town to transfer some money from savings to bank, so there's some money in there. I called in on Out Of This World but they had nothing since yesterday so came back via Martin's and then the lottie, where my compost pile got another good layer of veg and fruit. Jo came to chat, as she's off to Whitby over the weekend and wanted to talk before tomorrow's York Rotters event.
I dug out a finished heap and put it into several plastic sacks and a dustbin, ready for next spring. Then dug out a half-finished heap and put it into the newly vacated 'New Zealand Bin', and covered it with a sack for the winter. I will allow some rain to get to it, but not too much or the goodness will wash out.
Got back for a late lunch and tried to get on with preparing some nosh for the kids tea. Made broccoli soup on the woodstove. Gill had been making pizza dough. Gill went to see our little one's assembly, I collected our older one at 4.15 after Drama Club.
Gill and I had a game of Scrabble during the evening and she slaughtered me... I picked rubbish letters!
I dug out a finished heap and put it into several plastic sacks and a dustbin, ready for next spring. Then dug out a half-finished heap and put it into the newly vacated 'New Zealand Bin', and covered it with a sack for the winter. I will allow some rain to get to it, but not too much or the goodness will wash out.
Got back for a late lunch and tried to get on with preparing some nosh for the kids tea. Made broccoli soup on the woodstove. Gill had been making pizza dough. Gill went to see our little one's assembly, I collected our older one at 4.15 after Drama Club.
Gill and I had a game of Scrabble during the evening and she slaughtered me... I picked rubbish letters!
