Crossing the Blues
Showing posts with label freecycle giving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freecycle giving. Show all posts

Friday 11th February 11

Well a mixed day, with a really good outcome for one thing and two not so good things.  The day started well as I went round to Maria's with our eldest son and whilst he had his science lesson, I finished digging out her oldest compost bin and bagging the contents, and then started to turn the second oldest bin's contents into this now empty bin.  However, the lesson finished before I could finish this task, so I stopped and walked back with my lad.  The science lesson had veered off science, and via wind turbines and planning permission, had arrived at a discussion about Sharia Law.  This is one of the beauties about home education!

When I got back I got a message from a Freecycler called Tim who wanted the roadkill rabbit.  He came to collect it over lunchtime and I asked him what he was going to do with it... and I was pleased to hear that he keeps birds of prey as a hobby and liked feeding them on roadkill because the animals don't generally have shotgun pellets in them.  He has a Peregrine Falcon and a Gosshawk.  If he feeds them animals which have been shot, the birds run a risk of getting lead pellets in their gizzards.  Then he uses the birds to catch rabbits and pigeons which he likes to eat.

He said he liked my Freecycle message as I asked if there was an 'ethical carnivore' who wanted it and that made him smile. 

At about the same time that he arrived, my gardener friend Mark arrived with his estate car weighed down with some big lumps of cherry logs... a tree which had a trunk diameter of about 50cm, making it a very large tree.  I think it had died as the wood was quite dry, and was quite easy to split.  All but one of the lumps was the right size for splitting and stacking, only one will need chainsawing in two.

So, at about 2.15 I set off for my rendezvous with the People and Planet students who'd booked me to show them round St Nicks.  Nine of them had said on the facebook event I'd created that they were coming, but by 2.50, 20 minutes after the 'official' start time, none of them had turned up.  I felt quite pissed off as I'd organised my day around doing this tour, so I went home and got busy in the garden.

Later, I put my laptop on, and got a weird message about my computer having assorted spyware on it, and hardly any of my programmes worked, including the virus scanning ones.  However, Google was still available so I Googled 'System Tool' and found it is a fake virus scanner which is in itself a virus.  I found a website which was supposed to scan the computer and remove the virus, but after a scan (which didn't find evidence of an infection!) it asked me to part with £70, so I Googled 'free system tool remover' and found that I had to put the computer into 'safe mode' which was a new procedure for me, and then scan with Malwarebytes, which I already had installed.  So I did this and Malwarebytes didn't find anything.  I did a Microsoft scan, which spent well over 2 hours looking through over half a million files, and found nothing.  However, System Tool is still making things difficult and I haven't managed to get rid of it.  It periodically switches off my laptop and is a nuisance.

However, I am still able to use the computer for short periods and I hope that I'll get a solution soon.

At 7 I took our eldest down to Heslington for his computer graphics lesson, and on the way back I picked up the most enormous log I've ever put in my trailer.  I almost pulled a muscle in my back!  Then at 8, cycled down again and we both cycled back together chatting about colloquial English, as he is very literal and I had to explain that a person who describes themself as a carnivore may still be an omnivore, but it is perfectly acceptable to call themselves a carnivore.  After all, we don't label ourselves herbivores, and in conversational English, we call it 'vegetarian'. 

I had a frustrating evening but got water heated up for a bath, and shave, as I want to be tidy for tomorrow, as I'm teaching a York Rotters home composting course.  I got an email from Tim the ethical carnivore saying that the rabbit was in such good condition, he quite fancied eating it himself.  I was really glad to get this unfortunate casulty of our car culture recycled.  Yah boo to the anonymous complainant on yesterday's blog!

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Friday 19th November 10

A really good day, included a fair bit of house management... washing up, as usual, and fruit, and preparing some squash for tea, and taking compost down the garden, and 3 sacks of leaves which mysteriously appeared in the front...

I waited in for a Freecycler Ian to come round and picked up some of the remaining demijohns, buckets and corks, siphons etc.  Then I got a phone call from Barry asking whether I had any plastic buckets... I laughed and said 'you're in luck, I've just taken delivery of a load of them' and he said he'd come and collect.  But then he rang again and said his car had broken down, so he wasn't coming.  He'll come next week.

I zoomed into town to put in a cheque and on the way back called in on Rich and picked up a couple of bags of stuff which I condensed into one. 

Sometime after 5pm, our friends Jennifer and Mark came round with their delightful 4 year old son, and they had tea with us.  I had to get ready for a gig so I wasn't particularly sociable and left with all my gear, and in costume, at 6.45.  The gig was in Bedern Hall, a lovely venue, for Barbara who was celebrating her retirement.  I knew a few of her guests, which felt odd, as I was working... doing a few circus workshops with anyone who would try, being saucy with the yoyo balls and balloon models, joking, chatting... about an hour and a half of fun, and then at 8.45 the meal was served and I departed with my cheque.  Nice!

So back soon after 9pm, and had a bit of Gill's quiche and got ready for going to Bristol tomorrow.

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Thursday 18th November 10

A very peaceful day, although I had the headache again.  The day slid by with not a huge lot happening apart from a meeting in town in the afternoon, and on the way back I went to Alligator and picked up a trailer load of compostable resources... and then came back via Country Fresh where there were 3 boxes of the same for me, which I balanced on top of the trailer and bungeed on to my pannier rack.

I was pleased to see that Shirley had sorted out some Persimmons, or Sharon Fruit, or as I remember them from a Chinese girlfriend Wai Fong Cheng, back in Leicester in the 1980s, the Chinese Love Apple.  These are mainly yellowy orange, but have naturally occurring dark patches in the flesh.  The ones with the most dark patches on had been thrown out... 14 good solid fruits, plus two which were a bit soft.  So I had 16 persimmons to wash, remove the calyx, peel and slice into 4 slices, and put on the drying racks above the stove.  When they are dry they have a curious date-like texture.  They're delicious dried.

At 4pm, one of my LETS contacts sisters arrived, with a pre-arranged delivery of a big load of brewing equipment.  Her father, who's made wine all his life, has now got too old for continuing to do his hobby, and the demijohns and plastic buckets were taking up too much space.  So Vivienne contacted me and asked me if I'd be able to get rid of this for her.  I said yes, of course, and so today she brought round 20 demijohns, 10 buckets and barrels, 2 boxes of assorted equipment and 2 plastic crates which could fit 20 bottles each.  But fortunately I had seen a 'wanted' message yesterday on Freecycle for brewing stuff... so at 5pm, Rob came round and was really happy to pick up 3 demijohns, 3 plastic buckets and a selection of filters, muslin sheets, corks and a corking machine.  Later, I called on a neighbour, Charles, and he was delighted to have 7 demijohns and some straining bags for his fruit press.  I love Freecycling!

I put an 'offered' message on Freecycle and got 21 responses asking to be given the rest of the equipment.  I contacted the most local and said yes, come tomorrow early afternoon, and sent a copied/pasted message to all the others saying sorry, and I'd hang on to their details in case of non-collection.

I made tea for the family; I cooked some Bulgar wheat, grated a carrot into it, popped some home-made raisins in, and this was a basic salad which was enjoyed by all.  Gill and I had the last of the celery soup, and I had a waste avocado chopped up in with my Bulgar wheat.

At 6 I set out for the University of York People and Planet showing of McLibel.  I've got a copy of the film on DVD but I haven't had time to watch it.  The McLibel trial was big news in the early 90s, and the story is quite amazing.  I remember the leaflet from the late 1980s, when I was getting into green issues and activism, and still have a tee-shirt from that era with MuckDonalds on it.  This is a story that should inspire anybody wanting to make a better world or campaigning for a more just society.  It shows that ordinary people... like Helen Steel and Dave Morris, can change society, get laws changed, and damage multinationals such as McDonalds, which has suffered and lost business since the trial.  I do recommend watching this film, it can be ordered here.

I got back soon after 8 and did the washing up, kept the stoves going, dealt with fruit, and caught up with the email avalanche following the Freecycle offer of brewing equipment, and wrote my blog whilst watching Panorama about whether to tax fatty and sugary foods.

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Monday 11th October 10

A mixed day, as had a fair few meetings and things to do.  My first appointment was at St Lawrence's to help Barry move the apple press, which had been left in the staff room since Saturday, out to his car, and I then cycled down to St Nicks and he drove... I got there first... and then we got a third person, a young lad volunteering at the Centre, to help us carry it in.  It is a big heavy piece of equipment, but three people can carry it easily. It will next be used for Apple Day on Saturday.

I cycled back home and then only had a short while to wait until a midday appointment to deal with and wrap up an incident I was involved with a few weeks ago, and then at 3, I met a friend in town who is experiencing quite severe mental stress and she'd asked me to meet her to bounce some ideas off, so we had 90 minutes together in a cafe, and I hope I was a good friend and was a good listener and helped.  But I had another appointment at 5, so zoomed home at 4.35 via Country Fresh and Freshways, and got in just as the Peter the Freecycler was ringing to say he was on the way.  He'd advertised that he wanted an electric bike, whether working or not.  Several years ago, I'd bought a 'Yamaha Easy' electric motor-assisted bike, second-hand, for £100. It needed a new battery, which cost another £100.  I used it a bit, but my trailer didn't fit on it as far as I can remember, and I lent it to a friend and it never worked properly after that.  So since then, it has sat in the studio just taking up space.

So, I hope that Peter is able to rectify any problems and get it back into use; I think it's for his wife, and I've asked to be told if it is brought back into working order.  I'd be really happy if it is used, and helps someone with increased mobility, rather than gathering dust and taking up space.

So after this I spent a few minutes building a logpile with some recently chopped dryish wood, and came in and lit the stove and flopped. 

I had the tea that Gill cooked yesterday but didn't eat, and then had a series of interesting conversations and phone calls.  I eventually got some time to chop up some fruit for drying, as I've emptied the racks and they are crying out to be refilled.

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