I had a lot of tidying to do and spent the whole day sorting through a very large mountain of paperwork and creating a number of paperwork molehills..... some went for recycling, some got replied to by letter, some by email, some went to the compost heap, some for the stove, and others put in a 'to do' list and I started to do them too! Awesome! (but deadly boring...)
Linda, one of Gill's sisters, arrived at about 3pm, whilst Gill was at school picking up our youngest. It was lovely to see Linda and we had a good chat before Gill got home, followed by our eldest and eventually our youngest. They are both looking forward to the end of term.
I had a bit of time in the garden as I needed to do something active. I came in after 6pm to have tea, and at 7.15 I headed into town on my bike to attend a York in Transition meeting at the Hansom Cab. I ended up sort of chairing AND taking notes (how did I allow that to happen?) but it did allow me to get it sorted relatively quickly. The main thing that happened at this meeting was that I asked at the bar for a pear cider. They had no pear cider, but the barman offered me a cherry cider, which I said I'd try. It was DISGUSTING and I tried valiantly to drink it.... but then gave up and took it back to the bar and asked them if they thought it was 'off'. The barman said he'd talk to the landlord.... and 10 minutes later she came over and told me that the barman had sold me a bottle of cherry beer not cherry cider, which is why I found it undrinkable. I was offered a draught cider instead, which was quite nice.
The other good thing which happened was we discussed possible formats for the Carfree York meeting. I have a much better idea of how this might work.
Home just in time to say goodnight to Linda and see my friend Justin Rowlatt on Newsnight talking about there now being 500 million people on facebook.
Showing posts with label paper recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paper recycling. Show all posts
A very busy day in the loft. Moved all my bottles. Decanted another 3 demijohns into bottles, including an amazing blackberry and elderberry 1994 (!), a grape and apple 1999 and an unknown red from an unknown date which also tasted great. So who's inviting me to a Christmas party this year?
I sorted out a big pile of paperwork into keep, recyclable, compostable and 'used on one side only so reusable'...
I collected a cheque owed to me from St Nicks for Apple Day and saw Helen, and agreed to meet with her at 6pm and have a bit of a social. She came back here and had my home-made soup and a roll which was made by our son at school. Good chats.
In the evening I worked out my ActOnCO2 carbon footprint, updated to give our exact electricity usage (1674kwh/year, renewable tariff) and gas use (132 cubic metres/year) which gave a household footprint of 1.04 tonnes/year, or an individual footprint of 0.27 tonnes/year. Obviously this isn't the total as it doesn't take into account my public transport use, food and goods purchases, and the things that national and local Government does on my behalf.
I also took advantage of a fallen and logged tree to stock up on my woodpile...
I sorted out a big pile of paperwork into keep, recyclable, compostable and 'used on one side only so reusable'...
I collected a cheque owed to me from St Nicks for Apple Day and saw Helen, and agreed to meet with her at 6pm and have a bit of a social. She came back here and had my home-made soup and a roll which was made by our son at school. Good chats.
In the evening I worked out my ActOnCO2 carbon footprint, updated to give our exact electricity usage (1674kwh/year, renewable tariff) and gas use (132 cubic metres/year) which gave a household footprint of 1.04 tonnes/year, or an individual footprint of 0.27 tonnes/year. Obviously this isn't the total as it doesn't take into account my public transport use, food and goods purchases, and the things that national and local Government does on my behalf.
I also took advantage of a fallen and logged tree to stock up on my woodpile...
A really productive day. However it started with some difficulty, one child not wanting to go to school, but eventually cajoled him along and we got to school just before the doors closed so he wasn't technically late.
I had a chat with he head teacher in the playground and then put my boy's bike away... and near the bike shed there was a discarded banana skin, which I decided to put straight in the compost bin which is close to the bike shed. In the compost bin some lazy or stupid person had put a plastic bag with some dog poo, so I took that over to the main big bins... where I discovered a discarded resource which was in the wrong bin. The school have a waste paper bin, but it doesn't get used much, often has other materials in it and lots of paper goes in the 'to landfill' bins. In one of the landfill bins were eight dustbin liner sacks of glossy pamphlets, catalogues, advertising materials from 2008.. all totally recyclable paper.
I hoicked them out and packed them carefully in my trailer, panniers and on my rack... an extremely heavy load. My guess is that it was about 100Kg... I know how much a 20Kg sack feels like, and three of them, and this was considerably more than my usual heavy load of compostables (often 60+ Kilos). Anyway, struggled home with this and decided to take it direct to the Hazel Court Depot on James St... and took a pile of tetrapak/drinks cartons too, in re-usable bags.
I was expecting the staff there to try to stop me using the facilities as I'm not a motorist, but luckily I was ignored, so no confrontation between a 'jobsworth' and a militant cyclist recycler. Phew. I decided to count the number of publications the school had thoughtlessly thrown away... 240, with 31 still in their plastic wrappings (which I took off, of course!). I also removed some reply envelopes as the gum on envelopes messes up the paper recycling machinery... they are better composted.
Cycled back feeling buoyant, via St Nicks, to see if Catherine the head Rotter had any teaching material that I could use on Monday for Wigginton School. She had some wordsearch things and various other materials which will be very useful, and make it more interesting and accessible for the youngsters.
Got home to find Gill wrestling with the concertina clothes dryer which was refusing to stay stood up. We tried to fix it but the plastic thing which held it up wasn't particularly well designed and wasn't working. So a repair solution was needed. I found a short bungee (found on the road a few weeks ago) and tried to make that keep the rack up, but the stretchiness meant that the rack just flopped down. So I got a nice clean 6cm x 6cm length of wood and measured that up, cutting it to the right length. Then cut a couple of narrow notches in it which fitted over two of the bottom horizontals, preventing them from moving outwards and therefore keeping the rack stood up and extended. Hooray! Gill then sanded the length of wood down so there were no splinters. We like repairs!
Maria then rang... I'd offered to show her St Nicks some time ago, and now she's not teaching she has more time so she asked me to take her there and give her the tour. I agreed to go round to her at 1pm and we'd walk down together. Good discussion about aluminium cans and scrap metal, living roofs and more. A fairly quick toddle round the Environment Centre and then round the nature reserve... and back towards home, I left her at Scummerfields and was home for just after 2.
Riddled lots more sawdust.
Got my little boy at 3.15.
Came home and went on the computer to see if there was any message from Franny at The Age of Stupid about coming up to York, but nothing. Edward rang and we decided to have the special showing plus Question and Answer on 26th April, whether or not Franny can come.
Tea was good... a mix of the remains of carrot soup, tomato-based stew and some other bits, Gill made dumplings and then cooked the lot on the roaring woodstove... totally yummy! Our eldest was having tea with a friend and didn't come back til 7ish... came home bearing some flapjack he'd made at school. We were all very enthusiastic about this, despite it not holding together, and this put him in a good mood.
I went out to the York in Transition meeting which I was due to chair. I had not prepared a printed agenda but got one together at the start of the meeting. We had a quite vibrant session, including a stroke of genius from Peter, suggesting that we might get Franny to do the introduction and/or Q and A via videolink. We had two new attendees, one of whom was doing some research about the Transition movement, the other a student studying for a Ph.D in a really obscure subject which I've forgotten... but want to know more about...
We managed to finish on the dot of 9.30 and slowly made our way to the Slip Inn for a pint and a chat, and helped the researcher with pages and pages of notes....
I got back at 11pm and filled the log baskets, had a bowl of home-made muesli and settled down to dealing with emails and half-watching a programme on the recent snow and how it affected the nation, on C4+1.
I had a chat with he head teacher in the playground and then put my boy's bike away... and near the bike shed there was a discarded banana skin, which I decided to put straight in the compost bin which is close to the bike shed. In the compost bin some lazy or stupid person had put a plastic bag with some dog poo, so I took that over to the main big bins... where I discovered a discarded resource which was in the wrong bin. The school have a waste paper bin, but it doesn't get used much, often has other materials in it and lots of paper goes in the 'to landfill' bins. In one of the landfill bins were eight dustbin liner sacks of glossy pamphlets, catalogues, advertising materials from 2008.. all totally recyclable paper.
I hoicked them out and packed them carefully in my trailer, panniers and on my rack... an extremely heavy load. My guess is that it was about 100Kg... I know how much a 20Kg sack feels like, and three of them, and this was considerably more than my usual heavy load of compostables (often 60+ Kilos). Anyway, struggled home with this and decided to take it direct to the Hazel Court Depot on James St... and took a pile of tetrapak/drinks cartons too, in re-usable bags.
I was expecting the staff there to try to stop me using the facilities as I'm not a motorist, but luckily I was ignored, so no confrontation between a 'jobsworth' and a militant cyclist recycler. Phew. I decided to count the number of publications the school had thoughtlessly thrown away... 240, with 31 still in their plastic wrappings (which I took off, of course!). I also removed some reply envelopes as the gum on envelopes messes up the paper recycling machinery... they are better composted.
Cycled back feeling buoyant, via St Nicks, to see if Catherine the head Rotter had any teaching material that I could use on Monday for Wigginton School. She had some wordsearch things and various other materials which will be very useful, and make it more interesting and accessible for the youngsters.
Got home to find Gill wrestling with the concertina clothes dryer which was refusing to stay stood up. We tried to fix it but the plastic thing which held it up wasn't particularly well designed and wasn't working. So a repair solution was needed. I found a short bungee (found on the road a few weeks ago) and tried to make that keep the rack up, but the stretchiness meant that the rack just flopped down. So I got a nice clean 6cm x 6cm length of wood and measured that up, cutting it to the right length. Then cut a couple of narrow notches in it which fitted over two of the bottom horizontals, preventing them from moving outwards and therefore keeping the rack stood up and extended. Hooray! Gill then sanded the length of wood down so there were no splinters. We like repairs!
Maria then rang... I'd offered to show her St Nicks some time ago, and now she's not teaching she has more time so she asked me to take her there and give her the tour. I agreed to go round to her at 1pm and we'd walk down together. Good discussion about aluminium cans and scrap metal, living roofs and more. A fairly quick toddle round the Environment Centre and then round the nature reserve... and back towards home, I left her at Scummerfields and was home for just after 2.
Riddled lots more sawdust.
Got my little boy at 3.15.
Came home and went on the computer to see if there was any message from Franny at The Age of Stupid about coming up to York, but nothing. Edward rang and we decided to have the special showing plus Question and Answer on 26th April, whether or not Franny can come.
Tea was good... a mix of the remains of carrot soup, tomato-based stew and some other bits, Gill made dumplings and then cooked the lot on the roaring woodstove... totally yummy! Our eldest was having tea with a friend and didn't come back til 7ish... came home bearing some flapjack he'd made at school. We were all very enthusiastic about this, despite it not holding together, and this put him in a good mood.
I went out to the York in Transition meeting which I was due to chair. I had not prepared a printed agenda but got one together at the start of the meeting. We had a quite vibrant session, including a stroke of genius from Peter, suggesting that we might get Franny to do the introduction and/or Q and A via videolink. We had two new attendees, one of whom was doing some research about the Transition movement, the other a student studying for a Ph.D in a really obscure subject which I've forgotten... but want to know more about...
We managed to finish on the dot of 9.30 and slowly made our way to the Slip Inn for a pint and a chat, and helped the researcher with pages and pages of notes....
I got back at 11pm and filled the log baskets, had a bowl of home-made muesli and settled down to dealing with emails and half-watching a programme on the recent snow and how it affected the nation, on C4+1.
Took the boys to school, it's sports day today, and as the field is so wet, it's all happening inside.
When I got home I started to work on my column for Community Care, my fifth, this one on Ethical Holidaying. Then Giles from the Co-op rang and invited himself round to deliver the Co-op banners and some fair-trade chocolate, recycled tyres pencilcases and Co-op labelled water bottles.
He arrived within the hour, we chatted about the York Green Festival and I gave him the tour of the garden, he couldn't stay long.
Got back to doing my column, needed to do some research on carbon offsetting and various other things, like 'The Man In Seat 61' (http://www.seat61.com/) who can get you info about train travel through Europe and beyond. A short break for lunch and carried on, then went to get the kids, but our youngest went to play with a friend, so came back with just our 9 year old.
However before that, did my composting of fruit and bits from the playground bins, and visited the big bins area, which had over 20 bin bags of paper just put into the ordinary bins. I went to the office to complain, and noticed that the new Japanese Garden, being installed by a chap I know is a bit of a cowboy, whom I refer to as 'IRA Bob', as he is open about supporting the IRA, had got a pile of old tarry sleepers there, ready to go in as a border. Tar-dipped sleepers are not now reccommended for use in gardens or schools, as the tar finds it's way onto clothes and skin, and it is known to be (or contain) carcinogenic components, and they smell horrible. So I told the office about them too. I hope they aren't put in, I hope if sleepers are needed, that untreated ones are used.
So as soon as I got home I bombed into town, to get a repeat prescription and marmite, and go to Out Of This World for my compostables pickup.
Home with veggie sausages and burgers, cooked them on the woodstove whilst I cycled back to Heslington to pick up our 7 year old, who'd had a good time playing.
Tea was vegan throwouts, tomato stuff I cooked yesterday and some very old/tired maize, not sweetcorn as wasn't sweet, was starchy but filling, and ok with the tom stuff on top of it. Gill put hers in the compost it was so disgusting. Best to grow own, or buy fresh, not reclain from compost collections!
After tea I spent a while loading up a 'sit and wait' compost heap, and doing some shredding of hedge clippings. Then came in and did a word count on the Community Care article, and it was 39 over. So did some good precis work and editing, got it to 344, six under my limit. Sent it in, a day early! Then did emails, watched telly and chatted on Googletalk with K over in America. Bathwater will wait til tomorrow morning. I have a gig tomorrow, have to be shaved and non-smelly. Bed after 1am, as usual.
When I got home I started to work on my column for Community Care, my fifth, this one on Ethical Holidaying. Then Giles from the Co-op rang and invited himself round to deliver the Co-op banners and some fair-trade chocolate, recycled tyres pencilcases and Co-op labelled water bottles.
He arrived within the hour, we chatted about the York Green Festival and I gave him the tour of the garden, he couldn't stay long.
Got back to doing my column, needed to do some research on carbon offsetting and various other things, like 'The Man In Seat 61' (http://www.seat61.com/) who can get you info about train travel through Europe and beyond. A short break for lunch and carried on, then went to get the kids, but our youngest went to play with a friend, so came back with just our 9 year old.
However before that, did my composting of fruit and bits from the playground bins, and visited the big bins area, which had over 20 bin bags of paper just put into the ordinary bins. I went to the office to complain, and noticed that the new Japanese Garden, being installed by a chap I know is a bit of a cowboy, whom I refer to as 'IRA Bob', as he is open about supporting the IRA, had got a pile of old tarry sleepers there, ready to go in as a border. Tar-dipped sleepers are not now reccommended for use in gardens or schools, as the tar finds it's way onto clothes and skin, and it is known to be (or contain) carcinogenic components, and they smell horrible. So I told the office about them too. I hope they aren't put in, I hope if sleepers are needed, that untreated ones are used.
So as soon as I got home I bombed into town, to get a repeat prescription and marmite, and go to Out Of This World for my compostables pickup.
Home with veggie sausages and burgers, cooked them on the woodstove whilst I cycled back to Heslington to pick up our 7 year old, who'd had a good time playing.
Tea was vegan throwouts, tomato stuff I cooked yesterday and some very old/tired maize, not sweetcorn as wasn't sweet, was starchy but filling, and ok with the tom stuff on top of it. Gill put hers in the compost it was so disgusting. Best to grow own, or buy fresh, not reclain from compost collections!
After tea I spent a while loading up a 'sit and wait' compost heap, and doing some shredding of hedge clippings. Then came in and did a word count on the Community Care article, and it was 39 over. So did some good precis work and editing, got it to 344, six under my limit. Sent it in, a day early! Then did emails, watched telly and chatted on Googletalk with K over in America. Bathwater will wait til tomorrow morning. I have a gig tomorrow, have to be shaved and non-smelly. Bed after 1am, as usual.
