A very full of paperwork day, and general sorting.
I put 3 cheques in the post, which was good. I did a lot of deleting of inbox stuff as it was full AGAIN!
I had some communication with a BBC researcher who is wanting to do a carbon footprint piece for (I think) Look North to go out during their 'green week', and she's coming tomorrow to do a bit of filming.
I decided to do a bit of tidying up outside, some sacks of rubble to go to the rubble skip at Hazel Court. I went via St Nicks where I needed to discuss with the Rotters management about whether I was allowed to mention composting with the BBC person, and I had a good little discussion there, and decided that I wouldn't be mentioning composting.
I went to Hazel Court Civic Amenity Site to put my rubble in the recycling skip (well, the rubble skip... not sure it's recycled) and got a talking to from a very pleasant chap about the mortal danger I am putting myself in by being on a bike with trailer up at the top of the area where all the, shock, horror, CARS are. I was very polite and told him I had no intention of tipping my rubble out at the pedestrians area, as I paid my Council Tax to use the skips not to employ the staff to clear up after me, and that I was happy to be there 'at my own risk'. He did his job well, and I explained that he could note me down as someone who wasn't afraid of polite civil disobedience in the face of stupid regulations.
I then cycled on to Country Fresh to see Richard and picked up 3 sacks of assorted compost-to-be. And back home via Freshways where I was offered another sack of mixed unsold veg and seven very aromatic Pakistani melons. I had some of these before and didn't like it to eat fresh but think it will be quite good dried. so that's a rack-full to do later this evening...
I made a nutloaf for tea using some spare granary bread, peanut butter, a plateful of yesterday's rice and beans, chopped mixed nuts, a leek, a grated carrot, two eggs, a slosh of red wine, some soy sauce, bouillon and herbs. This was very well mixed, and turned into a greased dish with sesame seeds round the edge. I microwaved it for 10 minutes and turned it out onto a baking tray and put it in the gas-oven for 20 minutes to crisp up. Gill did potatoes and sprouts.
Another delicious meal enjoyed by all the family. I washed up and started on the fruit, and tidying around the stoves because of the camera coming tomorrow. I can't be seen to be untidy! (hoots with laughter!)
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
A very busy and good day... maybe because Gill ensured that I had a lie in, and I came downstairs after 9am, and had some good chats over breakfast.
However, I had assorted things to do so I got on and did them.
I cycled down to Lawrence Street and measured three parking spaces which have a two-hour limit, so I could work out how much turf to get. This don, went on to Morrisons to get a big jar of Marmite, and some goats cheese for Gilly. Then on to St Nicks to discuss a job which has been advertised there, with the recycling team. I am wondering whether to apply for it. It's four days a week, 28 hours, and pays £10K. If I got it, it would be a big change for me as I'm used to pretty minimal paid work, and lots of free time to do things which reduce my cost of living. But the Fiddlesticks work is not that busy and I'm missing the writing work, so I might give the recycling job a whirl.
But I also needed to go to St Nicks to sort out the bags of stuff brought back from the Green Festival, all the paper plates and biodegradable containers, cardboard cups, wooden forks etc. I had to take out some plastic and a few cans and other non-compostable bits... but this left me with four sacks of material to bring home and put in assorted tumblers and daleks.
Home for a late lunch and then after that went up to B+Q to find out about the turf, and I easily bought what I needed. I got 12 rolls for £31. I'll collect them on Monday, the day before the stunt.
Then did a little bit of riddling, and dug out a pallet heap into a builders bag so I could re-load the pallet bin... and took some riddled compost down to Richard at Country Fresh, and brought back a huge load of perhaps 80kg. More composting, finished pruning the little cherry tree, and picked some pears. I prepared the pruned cherry wood into a 'magic staff' for one of my boys who desperately needed one.
Gill used the broccoli I bought to add to a lightly spiced curry that one of the boys had requested and we had that with rice and pitta bread.
I then popped out to see Lynn who's been requesting some dried fruit for weeks, and saw that she has got a garden parasol to lend to the Car Free Day event.
So a busy day. Productive, active, feels good.
However, I had assorted things to do so I got on and did them.
I cycled down to Lawrence Street and measured three parking spaces which have a two-hour limit, so I could work out how much turf to get. This don, went on to Morrisons to get a big jar of Marmite, and some goats cheese for Gilly. Then on to St Nicks to discuss a job which has been advertised there, with the recycling team. I am wondering whether to apply for it. It's four days a week, 28 hours, and pays £10K. If I got it, it would be a big change for me as I'm used to pretty minimal paid work, and lots of free time to do things which reduce my cost of living. But the Fiddlesticks work is not that busy and I'm missing the writing work, so I might give the recycling job a whirl.
But I also needed to go to St Nicks to sort out the bags of stuff brought back from the Green Festival, all the paper plates and biodegradable containers, cardboard cups, wooden forks etc. I had to take out some plastic and a few cans and other non-compostable bits... but this left me with four sacks of material to bring home and put in assorted tumblers and daleks.
Home for a late lunch and then after that went up to B+Q to find out about the turf, and I easily bought what I needed. I got 12 rolls for £31. I'll collect them on Monday, the day before the stunt.
Then did a little bit of riddling, and dug out a pallet heap into a builders bag so I could re-load the pallet bin... and took some riddled compost down to Richard at Country Fresh, and brought back a huge load of perhaps 80kg. More composting, finished pruning the little cherry tree, and picked some pears. I prepared the pruned cherry wood into a 'magic staff' for one of my boys who desperately needed one.
Gill used the broccoli I bought to add to a lightly spiced curry that one of the boys had requested and we had that with rice and pitta bread.
I then popped out to see Lynn who's been requesting some dried fruit for weeks, and saw that she has got a garden parasol to lend to the Car Free Day event.
So a busy day. Productive, active, feels good.
Up early as a house full of children and a day at Knaresborough planned, although I wasn't actually very keen on going.
However, niece Lellie phoned and as the day was wet, Gill decided with her that it might be better to meet up at the National Railway Museum at midday. I went online to check bus times and we had a pretty chilled morning until a few minutes before the bus was due, when it did get a bit hectic and shouty, but then all was quiet and I was alone in the house.
I went to Thomas' and bought lots of Yesterbake bread.
I did a big wash-up, and prepared a nut loaf to add to the soup I made last night. This nutloaf was the standard pattern: breadcrumbs mixed with peanut butter and mixed nuts, then assorted vegetables added... this time I used one raw grated beetroot, one raw grated carrot, one chopped onion, some finely chopped cooked sweet potato, one egg, a slurp of red wine and a dash of soya sauce, some bouillon and herbs. I lined the baking dish with seeds stuck to a wipe of margarine. I microwaved this and when the families came home, turned it out onto a metal tray and bunged it in the oven to crisp up.
I whizzed the carrot soup with the hand-held blender. This I tasted and found it was delicious! I lit the stove despite it being warm and summery as I wanted to cook the soup and I have 11 red peppers sliced up and drying, plus I don't know how many windfall apples (James Grieve) sliced and drying. There are three racks of apple rings balanced on top of each other...
I also had several Fiddlesticks calls... some booking enquiries for the autumn, and a Freecycle visitor to pick up 8 potato sacks. I popped down to see Raj at Freshways and picked up a sack of compostables, and on the way home picked up a lot of recyclable litter, mainly aluminium cans.
The family group came back on the bus and were glad to find a meal ready. Gill made a pasta salad with the remnants of yesterday's pasta, some tomatoes out of the conservatory and the penultimate cucumber from the conservatory.
All the children ate well, despite the youngest (6 years old) not eating anything with tomatoes or courgettes (the carrot soup had tomatoes and courgettes in) and all were rewarded for eating slices of pear afterwards by having chunks of carrot cake that Gill made for our eldest's birthday on Sunday.
Then we discussed what we are doing tomorrow, and everybody settled down to watch The Gods Must Be Crazy. I slipped out at 7pm to go to an informal York in Transition meeting at The Hansom Cab, which was productive. Home before 10pm and another huge load of washing up facing me. I decided to do my emails and blog first though... so the washing up will be done well after midnight.
However, niece Lellie phoned and as the day was wet, Gill decided with her that it might be better to meet up at the National Railway Museum at midday. I went online to check bus times and we had a pretty chilled morning until a few minutes before the bus was due, when it did get a bit hectic and shouty, but then all was quiet and I was alone in the house.
I went to Thomas' and bought lots of Yesterbake bread.
I did a big wash-up, and prepared a nut loaf to add to the soup I made last night. This nutloaf was the standard pattern: breadcrumbs mixed with peanut butter and mixed nuts, then assorted vegetables added... this time I used one raw grated beetroot, one raw grated carrot, one chopped onion, some finely chopped cooked sweet potato, one egg, a slurp of red wine and a dash of soya sauce, some bouillon and herbs. I lined the baking dish with seeds stuck to a wipe of margarine. I microwaved this and when the families came home, turned it out onto a metal tray and bunged it in the oven to crisp up.
I whizzed the carrot soup with the hand-held blender. This I tasted and found it was delicious! I lit the stove despite it being warm and summery as I wanted to cook the soup and I have 11 red peppers sliced up and drying, plus I don't know how many windfall apples (James Grieve) sliced and drying. There are three racks of apple rings balanced on top of each other...
I also had several Fiddlesticks calls... some booking enquiries for the autumn, and a Freecycle visitor to pick up 8 potato sacks. I popped down to see Raj at Freshways and picked up a sack of compostables, and on the way home picked up a lot of recyclable litter, mainly aluminium cans.
The family group came back on the bus and were glad to find a meal ready. Gill made a pasta salad with the remnants of yesterday's pasta, some tomatoes out of the conservatory and the penultimate cucumber from the conservatory.
All the children ate well, despite the youngest (6 years old) not eating anything with tomatoes or courgettes (the carrot soup had tomatoes and courgettes in) and all were rewarded for eating slices of pear afterwards by having chunks of carrot cake that Gill made for our eldest's birthday on Sunday.
Then we discussed what we are doing tomorrow, and everybody settled down to watch The Gods Must Be Crazy. I slipped out at 7pm to go to an informal York in Transition meeting at The Hansom Cab, which was productive. Home before 10pm and another huge load of washing up facing me. I decided to do my emails and blog first though... so the washing up will be done well after midnight.
Got up late as went to bed at 3am. But once up and boogieing around, had a productive day, despite it raining. I cycled into town straight after lunch, popping in on Hazel Court Civic Amenity Site with a sackful of drinks cartons and an electrical flex, all to put for recycling (and the sack to come back for re-use!). Despite there being a ban on cyclists using the facility, no one took any notice of me whatsoever... rather disappointing actually as I am somewhat looking forward to seeing how the operatives might try to enforce the rule! But no confrontation is good.
From there I popped in to Sainsbury's as we rather like their multi-seed loaf, despite it being an expensive £1.19. But we save in other areas so now and again a pricey fresh loaf isn't too much.
From there went to the Council office to deliver the Planning Panel paperwork, and then to Boots for my asthma medication, two prophylactic puffs a night keeps me asthma-free (hope that reads right!!!) and home via Country Fresh where I picked up three boxes/sacks plus some shopping.
Home in time to get some plastic 35mm film canisters ready for a Freecycler who wants them for his school, as they are good for certain science experiments. I got a huge sack full several years ago from a photography shop, before digital was so popular. I've still got loads left, but was happy to share a carrier-bag full!
I had an email from a Freecycler who posted an offer of a train layout on a board, no rolling stock, but track and perhaps scenery, saying he'd be happy to give it to me. So I said I could pick it up this evening, but he said he was going out so I'll pick it up tomorrow morning. I don't think he believes it will fit on my trailer!
A little bit later, a chap called Mark arrived, whom I'd met through Freecycle, hoping to find an adult-sized tricycle. I'd said that if he couldn't find a free one, I was selling one and he was welcome to come and look at it. He hadn't really expected to get a free one, and checked the one I bought for Gill several years ago. At that time, Gill was less confident on her bike, and needed to cycle with our little boys, so I bought her the trike but she hated it, as it didn't lean like bikes do, and she found the steering most weird, so she just got better at cycling on 2 wheels... and now she's as confident as an average person. I was very glad to sell this, as it has freed up space and will be used by Mark's wife and 15 month old child.
After tea and Gardeners World, I did a bit of sorting out... putting stuff back in the garage and compostables down the garden, and a storm broke, which I love... an electrical storm at dusk, heavy rain and me working in it... lovely, but a tad damp.
Came in and got an email form a Green Party friend with a link to an amazing document published in March this year by people in Chester, a guide/blueprint to Chester 2050... how it will/may look like, and how we'll have to live if we're to be living sustainably. It is a very long read, much of it applicable to anywhere in the UK or the World, some of it pertaining to Chester and the local area. Lots of useful links, and a good document to send to decisionmakers and activists everywhere. Click on http://www.chester.gov.uk/pdf/Vision2050.pdf.
From there I popped in to Sainsbury's as we rather like their multi-seed loaf, despite it being an expensive £1.19. But we save in other areas so now and again a pricey fresh loaf isn't too much.
From there went to the Council office to deliver the Planning Panel paperwork, and then to Boots for my asthma medication, two prophylactic puffs a night keeps me asthma-free (hope that reads right!!!) and home via Country Fresh where I picked up three boxes/sacks plus some shopping.
Home in time to get some plastic 35mm film canisters ready for a Freecycler who wants them for his school, as they are good for certain science experiments. I got a huge sack full several years ago from a photography shop, before digital was so popular. I've still got loads left, but was happy to share a carrier-bag full!
I had an email from a Freecycler who posted an offer of a train layout on a board, no rolling stock, but track and perhaps scenery, saying he'd be happy to give it to me. So I said I could pick it up this evening, but he said he was going out so I'll pick it up tomorrow morning. I don't think he believes it will fit on my trailer!
A little bit later, a chap called Mark arrived, whom I'd met through Freecycle, hoping to find an adult-sized tricycle. I'd said that if he couldn't find a free one, I was selling one and he was welcome to come and look at it. He hadn't really expected to get a free one, and checked the one I bought for Gill several years ago. At that time, Gill was less confident on her bike, and needed to cycle with our little boys, so I bought her the trike but she hated it, as it didn't lean like bikes do, and she found the steering most weird, so she just got better at cycling on 2 wheels... and now she's as confident as an average person. I was very glad to sell this, as it has freed up space and will be used by Mark's wife and 15 month old child.
After tea and Gardeners World, I did a bit of sorting out... putting stuff back in the garage and compostables down the garden, and a storm broke, which I love... an electrical storm at dusk, heavy rain and me working in it... lovely, but a tad damp.
Came in and got an email form a Green Party friend with a link to an amazing document published in March this year by people in Chester, a guide/blueprint to Chester 2050... how it will/may look like, and how we'll have to live if we're to be living sustainably. It is a very long read, much of it applicable to anywhere in the UK or the World, some of it pertaining to Chester and the local area. Lots of useful links, and a good document to send to decisionmakers and activists everywhere. Click on http://www.chester.gov.uk/pdf/Vision2050.pdf.
A very busy day.
Got up quite early and both felt like doing some spring cleaning and sorting out. Gill made a start on the conservatory, which has become somewhat cluttered, and I did some washing up including a load of storage jars which have been building up.
Gill also rang a chap who'd advertised two flat irons in the back of the Press. She's been wanting to have a couple of these to heat up on the stove so she doesn't have to use electricity (despite it being from renewables, and us not using very much, it still costs, so using less would be good!). Gill isn't into ironing everything, but the school uniforms and my work clothes need to look good, and the electric iron is quite heavy on the juice. So a pair of flat irons will be a good addition to our low carbon lifestyle. The old fella wanted a fiver each, as they were antiques, but was happy to hear they'd be used. He lives in Easingwold so Gill might take the bus out there next week to get them, or he might deliver if he's coming down the Hull Road.
Soon after this telephone conversation, we discovered our phone handset wasn't working... it was completely dead. Gill tried to 'ring home' with her mobile but only the base rang, not the handset. So, with the phone being important for my work, it was essential that we get it sorted. So, within the hour I cycled down to town to take it to where we bought it to see if they knew what was wrong with it, or maybe buy another handset. I felt a bit daft when the chap in the shop told me t was just the batteries which had expired. I thought they were rechargeable, but apparently they don't keep recharging for ever. I bought new batteries... and a second pair for when this happens again!
I also visited the Friends Meeting house where the old AVP computer has been waiting for me to pick it up and bring it home to erase the hard disc data, before taking the whole lot to the recycling depot at James Street. The monitor is huge! It only just went in my trailer but with bungees, it came home safe and sound. I set it all up and tried to run the DBAN 'boot and nuke' floppy disc that Ben had supplied, but I didn't quite understand the commands so I phoned Ben and asked him if he could pop round and press buttons in the right order.
Gill was doing wonderful things with the conservatory and I helped too, being ruthless about throwing stuff away, for once! Ros came round with her son, and she stayed and had a coffee and chatted about some of the stories from when she was a customs officer. Our boys played happily all together.
Ben came round and found that the software would work if the computer was tweaked slightly first, and so he reset a password by doing something to the innards and then set the disc to AUTONUKE and completely wipe the hard disc. He also showed me how to take out the disc afterwards and extract two very strong rare-earth magnets, which make excellent fridge magnets. After 40 minutes nuking, the monitor declared it was now 'done', so I switched the whole thing off and extracted the hard disc (actually 3 of them in a stack) and the two magnets. The rest of the hardware will be going to Hazel Court tomorrow for recycling.
I then found time to sort through seeds and plant some courgettes, squash, pumpkin and basil. This felt extremely satisfying. All three boys ate together and then played til 9pm when I took our visitor back up the road to Ros. I spent some of the evening peeling some giant pumpkin seeds I found from last year, and sorting out old seed packets from newer ones which I will hopefully plant up soon.
A very productive day. And destructive too, with the mangling of the old computer and throwing away of loads of unrecyclable and unusable stuff. Satisfying!
Got up quite early and both felt like doing some spring cleaning and sorting out. Gill made a start on the conservatory, which has become somewhat cluttered, and I did some washing up including a load of storage jars which have been building up.
Gill also rang a chap who'd advertised two flat irons in the back of the Press. She's been wanting to have a couple of these to heat up on the stove so she doesn't have to use electricity (despite it being from renewables, and us not using very much, it still costs, so using less would be good!). Gill isn't into ironing everything, but the school uniforms and my work clothes need to look good, and the electric iron is quite heavy on the juice. So a pair of flat irons will be a good addition to our low carbon lifestyle. The old fella wanted a fiver each, as they were antiques, but was happy to hear they'd be used. He lives in Easingwold so Gill might take the bus out there next week to get them, or he might deliver if he's coming down the Hull Road.
Soon after this telephone conversation, we discovered our phone handset wasn't working... it was completely dead. Gill tried to 'ring home' with her mobile but only the base rang, not the handset. So, with the phone being important for my work, it was essential that we get it sorted. So, within the hour I cycled down to town to take it to where we bought it to see if they knew what was wrong with it, or maybe buy another handset. I felt a bit daft when the chap in the shop told me t was just the batteries which had expired. I thought they were rechargeable, but apparently they don't keep recharging for ever. I bought new batteries... and a second pair for when this happens again!
I also visited the Friends Meeting house where the old AVP computer has been waiting for me to pick it up and bring it home to erase the hard disc data, before taking the whole lot to the recycling depot at James Street. The monitor is huge! It only just went in my trailer but with bungees, it came home safe and sound. I set it all up and tried to run the DBAN 'boot and nuke' floppy disc that Ben had supplied, but I didn't quite understand the commands so I phoned Ben and asked him if he could pop round and press buttons in the right order.
Gill was doing wonderful things with the conservatory and I helped too, being ruthless about throwing stuff away, for once! Ros came round with her son, and she stayed and had a coffee and chatted about some of the stories from when she was a customs officer. Our boys played happily all together.
Ben came round and found that the software would work if the computer was tweaked slightly first, and so he reset a password by doing something to the innards and then set the disc to AUTONUKE and completely wipe the hard disc. He also showed me how to take out the disc afterwards and extract two very strong rare-earth magnets, which make excellent fridge magnets. After 40 minutes nuking, the monitor declared it was now 'done', so I switched the whole thing off and extracted the hard disc (actually 3 of them in a stack) and the two magnets. The rest of the hardware will be going to Hazel Court tomorrow for recycling.
I then found time to sort through seeds and plant some courgettes, squash, pumpkin and basil. This felt extremely satisfying. All three boys ate together and then played til 9pm when I took our visitor back up the road to Ros. I spent some of the evening peeling some giant pumpkin seeds I found from last year, and sorting out old seed packets from newer ones which I will hopefully plant up soon.
A very productive day. And destructive too, with the mangling of the old computer and throwing away of loads of unrecyclable and unusable stuff. Satisfying!
Up ridiculously early in order to get out of the house at 8am, to get into Wigginton Primary School to start teaching on the dot of 9. It took me just 35 minutes to get there, and I was going quite slowly as I had a delicate load of minibeasts in my trailer, mainly in glass jars.
I had been invited by Ian, a trainee teacher, as the school were doing a 'green plants project' and he wanted to add to that with a topic on composting. So, he'd initially booked me to do three 45 minute sessions, and the school were so pleased about this that they invited me to do a further two... and offered me a significantly better fee.
My lesson plan was to start with asking the students if they had a pet. Most of the class in each instance put up their hand. I asked what the pet needed to have a happy healthy life, and I had laminated A4 flash cards for Food, Water, Bed and Exercise. The children mostly came up with Food first, and I brought in the idea of a mixed diet, and Water next. We eventually got round to working out the other two, and I made a bit of a thing about the exercise being to do with getting Oxygen into their system (see where this is heading?).
Then I suggested that some of them probably had a pet in their back garden which had similar needs, and asked those with a compost heap or pile to put up their hands. There were fewer people with compost heaps than pets. So then we went back to the 'Food' and I asked what compost heaps were fed with. Once we'd got half a dozen suggestions, I brought back the balanced diet concept, and got out the 'Compost Browns' and 'Compost Greens' cards, and I explained, using the suggestions just offered, about Carbon-rich and Nitrogen-rich, drys and wets, structural and putrescible items which compost heaps need to have to work well.
I revisited the 'Water' card, and explained about the water content of fruit and vegetables... and the most environmentally friendly way to add moisture to compost heaps, which is, of course, to wee on them. Much muffled laughter and some horrified expressions, but in each class there were a couple of people who knew someone who urinated on their compost heap (often a grandad!).
The 'Bed' card referred to the bin or container, and the Exercise (after I made them laugh with my impression of putting a compost heap on a lead and taking it for a walk) was about turning it to get maximum oxygen into it.
Then I asked them what living things could be found in compost heaps, and I passed round pots and tubs with two sorts of worms, centipedes, woodlice, slugs, snails, millipedes and springtails, and discussed spiders, beetles, flies/maggots, rodents, hedgehogs, amphibians, grass snakes, slow worms and dismissed rabbits, moles and, weirdly, jellyfish! I also showed them a lovely mouldy grapefruit which allowed me to enthuse about fungi... and also mention bacteria.
Finally, I did a recycling game where I had a pile of assorted rubbish and I asked what should be done with this, which allowed me to get the biodegradable nature of rubber bands into the frame, as well as drinks carton recycling, taking paper off food cans, landfill and pollution from landfills. All this in just 45 minutes... three times before lunch and twice after... quite full-on and very tiring.
I left at 3 after writing out an invoice, and dropped off the teaching resources at St Nicks, as Catherine is doing a York Rotters school visit tomorrow. Got home at 3.40, shortly before Gill and our youngest did. Very satisfying, but was knackered. And full-time teachers do this kind of thing five days a week, plus having to plan and mark, etc.
I emailed my LETS friends to say I wouldn't be coming to the meeting tonight, and I had a quiet evening. Enjoyed the last programme of 'It's Not Easy Being Green'.
I had been invited by Ian, a trainee teacher, as the school were doing a 'green plants project' and he wanted to add to that with a topic on composting. So, he'd initially booked me to do three 45 minute sessions, and the school were so pleased about this that they invited me to do a further two... and offered me a significantly better fee.
My lesson plan was to start with asking the students if they had a pet. Most of the class in each instance put up their hand. I asked what the pet needed to have a happy healthy life, and I had laminated A4 flash cards for Food, Water, Bed and Exercise. The children mostly came up with Food first, and I brought in the idea of a mixed diet, and Water next. We eventually got round to working out the other two, and I made a bit of a thing about the exercise being to do with getting Oxygen into their system (see where this is heading?).
Then I suggested that some of them probably had a pet in their back garden which had similar needs, and asked those with a compost heap or pile to put up their hands. There were fewer people with compost heaps than pets. So then we went back to the 'Food' and I asked what compost heaps were fed with. Once we'd got half a dozen suggestions, I brought back the balanced diet concept, and got out the 'Compost Browns' and 'Compost Greens' cards, and I explained, using the suggestions just offered, about Carbon-rich and Nitrogen-rich, drys and wets, structural and putrescible items which compost heaps need to have to work well.
I revisited the 'Water' card, and explained about the water content of fruit and vegetables... and the most environmentally friendly way to add moisture to compost heaps, which is, of course, to wee on them. Much muffled laughter and some horrified expressions, but in each class there were a couple of people who knew someone who urinated on their compost heap (often a grandad!).
The 'Bed' card referred to the bin or container, and the Exercise (after I made them laugh with my impression of putting a compost heap on a lead and taking it for a walk) was about turning it to get maximum oxygen into it.
Then I asked them what living things could be found in compost heaps, and I passed round pots and tubs with two sorts of worms, centipedes, woodlice, slugs, snails, millipedes and springtails, and discussed spiders, beetles, flies/maggots, rodents, hedgehogs, amphibians, grass snakes, slow worms and dismissed rabbits, moles and, weirdly, jellyfish! I also showed them a lovely mouldy grapefruit which allowed me to enthuse about fungi... and also mention bacteria.
Finally, I did a recycling game where I had a pile of assorted rubbish and I asked what should be done with this, which allowed me to get the biodegradable nature of rubber bands into the frame, as well as drinks carton recycling, taking paper off food cans, landfill and pollution from landfills. All this in just 45 minutes... three times before lunch and twice after... quite full-on and very tiring.
I left at 3 after writing out an invoice, and dropped off the teaching resources at St Nicks, as Catherine is doing a York Rotters school visit tomorrow. Got home at 3.40, shortly before Gill and our youngest did. Very satisfying, but was knackered. And full-time teachers do this kind of thing five days a week, plus having to plan and mark, etc.
I emailed my LETS friends to say I wouldn't be coming to the meeting tonight, and I had a quiet evening. Enjoyed the last programme of 'It's Not Easy Being Green'.
I took our youngest into school, and then had a quiet day mostly inside doing paperwork and e-paperwork. Wrote to The Maudsley with some forms filled in, and sent that off with a 'signed for' extra cost. Got bread. Did a Facebook 'Event Page' for York Green Festival. Chainsawed and split a few logs, and built the beginning of a logpile outside the front door of dry and ready-to-use fuel. Tidied a pile of paperwork to find out what time tomorrow I can give blood. Found a cheque I received about 2 months ago, and phoned the sender to apologise for not cashing it quickly, and to tell them I'd do it tomorrow... Read my electricity and gas meters for
The Carbon Account and inputted my new data, my graph is pleasingly slim (trying to ignore my adopted massive aircraft spike last month) and I found my old buddy Dave Mansell is also recording his carbon footprint on the site. He's one of the top recycling managers in the country and I really admire him. If I was more organised, I'd like to be doing what he's doing!
Gill did most of the childcare stuff but I spent time with them when they came in from school as Gill had gone to the shops, so I took an interest in their 'Spore' game and cuddled before and after tea.
Later, got a message from Dave 'top recycler' Mansell telling me what he's been up to since leaving York... I'm really pleased to hear he's ok. Currently working for the Somerset Waste Partnership where it looks like he's in top management. Good stuff!
Kept both stoves going, they both make a reassuring clicking sound as they expand and contract over each burn cycle, so they are 'clicking away' which I like.
The Carbon Account and inputted my new data, my graph is pleasingly slim (trying to ignore my adopted massive aircraft spike last month) and I found my old buddy Dave Mansell is also recording his carbon footprint on the site. He's one of the top recycling managers in the country and I really admire him. If I was more organised, I'd like to be doing what he's doing!
Gill did most of the childcare stuff but I spent time with them when they came in from school as Gill had gone to the shops, so I took an interest in their 'Spore' game and cuddled before and after tea.
Later, got a message from Dave 'top recycler' Mansell telling me what he's been up to since leaving York... I'm really pleased to hear he's ok. Currently working for the Somerset Waste Partnership where it looks like he's in top management. Good stuff!
Kept both stoves going, they both make a reassuring clicking sound as they expand and contract over each burn cycle, so they are 'clicking away' which I like.
A very relaxing start to the day but at 10.45 had to get dressed to get on my bike to go into town, to my GPs for a 'flu jab, which I get as I have asthma and I could have a serious illness if I got influenza. So as I'm entitled to a vaccination, I get one every year.
I then went on to Sainsburys for some of their excellent bread and the Building Society to put in a tiny cheque, part of a payment from a gig last weekend, sent to me as a deposit (I never ask for a deposit, but occasionally someone sends one).
Then via Country Fresh to home and lunch. The children were complaining of being bored (!) so Gill and I decided to walk them down to the Castle Museum. We walked down Heslington Road which was a pleasent route, not too busy traffic-wise. However, Gill tripped over a line in the pavement (or something!) and ended up on the ground, but several people stopped to help her up before I got back to her, and within a few minutes she seemed to be ok. So we got to the Museum at 2.45 and spent an hour and a half there. As local residents with a York Card and proof of residence, we get in free. This museum is really good, York's best museum in our combined opinion. It's a museum of everyday life, with period rooms, washing machines and vacuum cleaners, shops and a brilliant cobbled street with a new lighting regime... a 'night-time experience' with thunderstorm, owls, dawn chorus and wake-up calls from 'residents'... a good addition to the experience! We chatted to the toyshop chap and had plenty of sitting down time whilst the kids enjoyed exploring and playing.
I walked back, collecting cans and bottles, whilst the others got the bus. They got back just before me, but I'd found about 30 aluminium cans, three steel cans and two glass bottles, all litter and now set for being recycled. I also found a handful of sweet chestnuts! Foraging rocks!
So a peaceful evening as the children were worn out, a good ploy! Lit both stoves to warm the house up, and blanched another load of grapes. Also cooked up a pumpkin soup (2 onions, chopped and fried in EV olive oil in a large saucepan on the woodstove, 2 sticks of celery, ditto, one half of a big pumpkin de-seeded, skin removed, chopped into chunks and dropped into the pan once the onion/celery was cooked. Added some water which I washed out the last marmite jar with, a cup of red wine and a squirt of balsamic vinegar, topped up with boiling water and simmered for a couple of hours. Tomorrow will whizz it and add herbs.)
Then had a game of Scrabble with Gill which I was lucky to win by one point!
I then went on to Sainsburys for some of their excellent bread and the Building Society to put in a tiny cheque, part of a payment from a gig last weekend, sent to me as a deposit (I never ask for a deposit, but occasionally someone sends one).
Then via Country Fresh to home and lunch. The children were complaining of being bored (!) so Gill and I decided to walk them down to the Castle Museum. We walked down Heslington Road which was a pleasent route, not too busy traffic-wise. However, Gill tripped over a line in the pavement (or something!) and ended up on the ground, but several people stopped to help her up before I got back to her, and within a few minutes she seemed to be ok. So we got to the Museum at 2.45 and spent an hour and a half there. As local residents with a York Card and proof of residence, we get in free. This museum is really good, York's best museum in our combined opinion. It's a museum of everyday life, with period rooms, washing machines and vacuum cleaners, shops and a brilliant cobbled street with a new lighting regime... a 'night-time experience' with thunderstorm, owls, dawn chorus and wake-up calls from 'residents'... a good addition to the experience! We chatted to the toyshop chap and had plenty of sitting down time whilst the kids enjoyed exploring and playing.
I walked back, collecting cans and bottles, whilst the others got the bus. They got back just before me, but I'd found about 30 aluminium cans, three steel cans and two glass bottles, all litter and now set for being recycled. I also found a handful of sweet chestnuts! Foraging rocks!
So a peaceful evening as the children were worn out, a good ploy! Lit both stoves to warm the house up, and blanched another load of grapes. Also cooked up a pumpkin soup (2 onions, chopped and fried in EV olive oil in a large saucepan on the woodstove, 2 sticks of celery, ditto, one half of a big pumpkin de-seeded, skin removed, chopped into chunks and dropped into the pan once the onion/celery was cooked. Added some water which I washed out the last marmite jar with, a cup of red wine and a squirt of balsamic vinegar, topped up with boiling water and simmered for a couple of hours. Tomorrow will whizz it and add herbs.)
Then had a game of Scrabble with Gill which I was lucky to win by one point!
I took my youngest into school, not without incident though. He's been wearing a cycle helmet since he was put on a bike, at less than a year old and the whole family wear them as a normal thing to do. So why was it this morning that our little darling started to have an issue with the straps? They are not tight but he pulled them too loose, so that the helmet might come off his cranium if he were to fall off his bike or be knocked off. I tightened them, not overly so, just so they stopped the helmet slipping, and a huge paddy ensued! Oh the joys of parenthood! I just love it!
Gill is still unwell with toothache and yesterday fell down the stairs so she spent some of the morning in bed.
However, during the afternoon she got up and made some pastry for a pie for tea, I did a small amount of leafmould removal from last year's pile, digging it up and crumbling the lumps into garden refuse sacks where it will reside for another year before riddling and adding to potting media. All I have to do to know it's worth it is to eat a tomato from the vines in the conservatory... so tasty and delicious, and the only financial cost is the seeds, and they come cheap due to my having an allotment and the lottie holders can make an order for seeds, onion sets and potatoes.
I picked up our little one who had forgotten his weird ten minutes of hating the straps on his cycle helmet and came home via the logpile. I did some chainsawing whilst the kids played 'Spore' on the computer, making creatures and engaging in online battles with other Spore users... However they fell out for some reason, probably as they are sharing an account and disagreed over whether or not to spend or save some 'Sporebucks'. Gill and I threatened to prevent them using the computer over the weekend if the fighting didn't stop... and predictably they started to get on!
Gill made a veg pie for tea with home grown potatoes and tinned sweetcorn. We all watched Mastermind and Gardener's World, and then I went to get a bag of electrical flex which I'd pulled out of a skip a few days ago, as I wanted to strip the insulation off to retrieve the copper wire for recycling. I do this with a craft-knife blade which can be carefully run down the length of the wire, which enables the metal to be pulled out. Both boys were intrigued by the growing pile of copper wire and asked if they could play with it and make sculptures... so the rest of the evening til nearly 10pm was spent with copper wire sculpture making. Gill made a dragonfly and the boys made glasses, funny animals, an umbrella and several others. It was lovely! Even after the sculptures were made there was still lots of wire left for recycling, and I hope the boys will keep one creation each as a memento.
A busy evening followed.
Gill is still unwell with toothache and yesterday fell down the stairs so she spent some of the morning in bed.
However, during the afternoon she got up and made some pastry for a pie for tea, I did a small amount of leafmould removal from last year's pile, digging it up and crumbling the lumps into garden refuse sacks where it will reside for another year before riddling and adding to potting media. All I have to do to know it's worth it is to eat a tomato from the vines in the conservatory... so tasty and delicious, and the only financial cost is the seeds, and they come cheap due to my having an allotment and the lottie holders can make an order for seeds, onion sets and potatoes.
I picked up our little one who had forgotten his weird ten minutes of hating the straps on his cycle helmet and came home via the logpile. I did some chainsawing whilst the kids played 'Spore' on the computer, making creatures and engaging in online battles with other Spore users... However they fell out for some reason, probably as they are sharing an account and disagreed over whether or not to spend or save some 'Sporebucks'. Gill and I threatened to prevent them using the computer over the weekend if the fighting didn't stop... and predictably they started to get on!
Gill made a veg pie for tea with home grown potatoes and tinned sweetcorn. We all watched Mastermind and Gardener's World, and then I went to get a bag of electrical flex which I'd pulled out of a skip a few days ago, as I wanted to strip the insulation off to retrieve the copper wire for recycling. I do this with a craft-knife blade which can be carefully run down the length of the wire, which enables the metal to be pulled out. Both boys were intrigued by the growing pile of copper wire and asked if they could play with it and make sculptures... so the rest of the evening til nearly 10pm was spent with copper wire sculpture making. Gill made a dragonfly and the boys made glasses, funny animals, an umbrella and several others. It was lovely! Even after the sculptures were made there was still lots of wire left for recycling, and I hope the boys will keep one creation each as a memento.
A busy evening followed.
A reasonable morning... cycled into town via Hazel Court Recycling Centre with a load of drinks cartons, which are not collected on the doorstep, but can be put in a 'bring bank', the nearest of which is the one at the Council's skip site. I also took a few bits of scrap iron and our old phone which had stopped working, for the WEEE skip (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment) for recycling. I was not shouted at by the staff who seem to have realised that cyclists can use this facility as safely as motorists who then get out of their vehicles and wander around putting stuff in different skips.
From there on to see Dylan at the Healthy Living Centre, Millers Yard, where we had a conversation about where the York Green Festival was going, and what might be said at the forthcoming meeting. To the Council to give in some paperwork, and to the Building Society to put in a cheque. On to Boots but they didn't have what I wanted (little brushes to get between my teeth) and to Cycle Heaven to buy Gill a D lock as hers has gone wrong...
Home for lunch... and had that before a pre-arranged visit from a journalist, Sam, who used to work for the Press and knew me from those days, who's now working independently and is doing a piece for The Ecologist. So we had an hour and a half chatting, talking about carbon footprints and motivations and some quite detailed stuff. I do enjoy this, explaining about carbon calculators and 'easy to measure carbon and much more difficult to measure carbon' and the fact that it's not actually measuring, just approximating, guessing, but also the value of doing the exercise. At 3, I went to pick up our only child who now needs picking up from primary school... the older one arrived home soon after we did.
I then went down to town again to meet Ali who's in York for a meeting. We went to El Piano and had a lovely meal together, lots of chat about a huge range of subjects and we sorted the World out! A lovely evening.
From there on to see Dylan at the Healthy Living Centre, Millers Yard, where we had a conversation about where the York Green Festival was going, and what might be said at the forthcoming meeting. To the Council to give in some paperwork, and to the Building Society to put in a cheque. On to Boots but they didn't have what I wanted (little brushes to get between my teeth) and to Cycle Heaven to buy Gill a D lock as hers has gone wrong...
Home for lunch... and had that before a pre-arranged visit from a journalist, Sam, who used to work for the Press and knew me from those days, who's now working independently and is doing a piece for The Ecologist. So we had an hour and a half chatting, talking about carbon footprints and motivations and some quite detailed stuff. I do enjoy this, explaining about carbon calculators and 'easy to measure carbon and much more difficult to measure carbon' and the fact that it's not actually measuring, just approximating, guessing, but also the value of doing the exercise. At 3, I went to pick up our only child who now needs picking up from primary school... the older one arrived home soon after we did.
I then went down to town again to meet Ali who's in York for a meeting. We went to El Piano and had a lovely meal together, lots of chat about a huge range of subjects and we sorted the World out! A lovely evening.
Well a very early start as I had to be at Rowntree Park by about 8am... but arrived so early that only one gate was open but soon others started to trickle in and I helped put together a marquee.
I was in charge of the stalls area and my role was to direct the various stallholders to their pitches and show them where to park their cars. The BBC bus came and eventually got parked up in the right place. Lots of other activity. I was working with a steward called Qing (pronounced 'Ting') and we walked round the stalls as she was doing photographs and wanted to know about each stall. I wasn't aware of the time, just that there was loads happening... and then there was a call on the walkie talkie for me to go to the BBC bus, so I went up there and they wanted to interview me about green lifestyles and the festival and my bike...
They had a clock and I noticed it had just turned 11... the festival had officially started! The interview didn't take long and I was able to get back to the stalls area. Various family and friends arrived, including Gill and the boys and Ali and Ruthie.
The park started to fill up and at one moment the sun came out... but it was still overcast and potentially wet. The Environmental Health Food Hygiene person came and then radioed through to say she was happy with everything. Before long it was approaching 1pm when I was due to present a balloon modelling workshop so I went to the kids area and blew up a whole unicycle's worth of balloons (I put them into the spokes to hold them) and the marquee filled up... loads of children, and as I was doing the workshop, more and more came.... So I did an hour's worth of balloons, an almost endless queue of expectant children all wanting a balloon of their choice. I was glad when there were no more and I could get back to my Festival organiser duties and by this time it had started raining. But the Festival went on and there was lots to do... a very busy few hours.
At about 3.40 I went to the main stage as my favourite band were due to be on, but everything was running late and The Falling Spikes weren't due to be on for at least half an hour. I knew that the music would overrun so I went to find Baz to discuss this with him and he suggested that the music could continue til 5.30, which I wasn't too happy with as this would probably breach our consent. But I didn't argue for a 5pm finish as the audience were still enjoying the music and were resolutely ignoring the rain.
I started doing some litter duties, sorting out different waste streams into different bags, and taking the paper plates/food for composting and the aluminium cans for recycling. The Falling Spikes just did two, possibly three numbers and finished at 5.30 and the park soon became a lot emptier... but I stayed there til 7, doing assorted tidying duties, litter-picking the main lawn and helping John and Len the park-keepers sort out the last of the mess.
I came home very slowly as my trailer was overloaded but got home shortly before 8 and Gill had some home-grown potato chips ready for me, to which I added a couple of yummy things from Azra's curry stall.
Boys overtired and grouchy but they did eventually get to bed and I watched a brilliant programme on Sculpture on C4+1...
Later collected emails and wrote up this blog.
I was in charge of the stalls area and my role was to direct the various stallholders to their pitches and show them where to park their cars. The BBC bus came and eventually got parked up in the right place. Lots of other activity. I was working with a steward called Qing (pronounced 'Ting') and we walked round the stalls as she was doing photographs and wanted to know about each stall. I wasn't aware of the time, just that there was loads happening... and then there was a call on the walkie talkie for me to go to the BBC bus, so I went up there and they wanted to interview me about green lifestyles and the festival and my bike...
They had a clock and I noticed it had just turned 11... the festival had officially started! The interview didn't take long and I was able to get back to the stalls area. Various family and friends arrived, including Gill and the boys and Ali and Ruthie.
The park started to fill up and at one moment the sun came out... but it was still overcast and potentially wet. The Environmental Health Food Hygiene person came and then radioed through to say she was happy with everything. Before long it was approaching 1pm when I was due to present a balloon modelling workshop so I went to the kids area and blew up a whole unicycle's worth of balloons (I put them into the spokes to hold them) and the marquee filled up... loads of children, and as I was doing the workshop, more and more came.... So I did an hour's worth of balloons, an almost endless queue of expectant children all wanting a balloon of their choice. I was glad when there were no more and I could get back to my Festival organiser duties and by this time it had started raining. But the Festival went on and there was lots to do... a very busy few hours.
At about 3.40 I went to the main stage as my favourite band were due to be on, but everything was running late and The Falling Spikes weren't due to be on for at least half an hour. I knew that the music would overrun so I went to find Baz to discuss this with him and he suggested that the music could continue til 5.30, which I wasn't too happy with as this would probably breach our consent. But I didn't argue for a 5pm finish as the audience were still enjoying the music and were resolutely ignoring the rain.
I started doing some litter duties, sorting out different waste streams into different bags, and taking the paper plates/food for composting and the aluminium cans for recycling. The Falling Spikes just did two, possibly three numbers and finished at 5.30 and the park soon became a lot emptier... but I stayed there til 7, doing assorted tidying duties, litter-picking the main lawn and helping John and Len the park-keepers sort out the last of the mess.
I came home very slowly as my trailer was overloaded but got home shortly before 8 and Gill had some home-grown potato chips ready for me, to which I added a couple of yummy things from Azra's curry stall.
Boys overtired and grouchy but they did eventually get to bed and I watched a brilliant programme on Sculpture on C4+1...
Later collected emails and wrote up this blog.
There was the predicted difficulty this morning with our eldest as he hadn't done all of his independent learning project which has to be in this morning. One of the reasons was that last week Gill's sister Linda offered to help, by writing down what he dictated and then he could copy out what he had said.. basically an amanuensis for him. So last week he took this into school and he told us that he'd told them what he'd done and they'd told him off, so he'd thrown it in the bin. So this morning I took them into school and went and explained to his teacher about him not finishing this work, and they told me a different story. He'd not been told off... he'd started to copy out what Linda had written down, and been very slow, wasting time and getting distracted. The teacher had suggested that he might want to just take the basic facts from what had been written down, in order to speed up. He'd got angry and screwed up the sheets written by Linda, and then all weekend, refused to do the required work.
We are dreading the new school's heavy homework load. He will get into major trouble if he refuses to do it and might get expelled if he continues to behave like this. We are at a complete loss at what to do. It is not possible to force a child who doesn't want to work to do the work. If we push, or encourage, or cajole BLOG CENSORED There are no easy solutions but sharing this problem with blog readers makes me feel better even though it publicly reveals information about his private torment, and ours as parents....
Anyway, I told him that I'd spoken to his teacher and all he had to do today was to do a one-minute talk about his chosen subject (Marco Polo and Genghis Kahn) and I got a kiss from them both.
Came home with a headache and went to bed. Got up at 10.30 and tried to sort out my computer glitch... justabout successfully, although I still get an error message with sending emails, even though they are being sent! Weird...
Anyway, got on with the day, did lots of housework as Gill was working hard to finish the accounts.
I picked up the boys, they'd had a good day. School have hired a skip and I asked this time if I could recycle stuff from it, and got a 'yes', which was good. So I took a load of cardboard and some metal, and a bag-full of plastic bottles. There will be more tomorrow...
Quite a quiet evening... Ben came round to see the last remaining glitch on the computer and he instructed me how to take it off... and I gave him a Yorky check for Y45 to spend on LETS members' goods and services. I expect I'll see some of it for dried fruit! We also had a visit from our 'pet' electrician, Justin, who checked out our electrical problem and diagnosed what the solution would probably be, and offered us the name of a reputable and qualified Sparky who might be able to do the job.
Gill spent most of the evening making cakes but fell asleep after midnight and almost burnt a couple of them. Just been informed that two of them have been burnt, partly my fault as I thought she'd finished and let her snooze, rather than waking her up earlier. Never mind... she'll cut the edges off and they'll get used! I feel a trifle coming on, with loads of raspberries and loganberries....
We are dreading the new school's heavy homework load. He will get into major trouble if he refuses to do it and might get expelled if he continues to behave like this. We are at a complete loss at what to do. It is not possible to force a child who doesn't want to work to do the work. If we push, or encourage, or cajole BLOG CENSORED There are no easy solutions but sharing this problem with blog readers makes me feel better even though it publicly reveals information about his private torment, and ours as parents....
Anyway, I told him that I'd spoken to his teacher and all he had to do today was to do a one-minute talk about his chosen subject (Marco Polo and Genghis Kahn) and I got a kiss from them both.
Came home with a headache and went to bed. Got up at 10.30 and tried to sort out my computer glitch... justabout successfully, although I still get an error message with sending emails, even though they are being sent! Weird...
Anyway, got on with the day, did lots of housework as Gill was working hard to finish the accounts.
I picked up the boys, they'd had a good day. School have hired a skip and I asked this time if I could recycle stuff from it, and got a 'yes', which was good. So I took a load of cardboard and some metal, and a bag-full of plastic bottles. There will be more tomorrow...
Quite a quiet evening... Ben came round to see the last remaining glitch on the computer and he instructed me how to take it off... and I gave him a Yorky check for Y45 to spend on LETS members' goods and services. I expect I'll see some of it for dried fruit! We also had a visit from our 'pet' electrician, Justin, who checked out our electrical problem and diagnosed what the solution would probably be, and offered us the name of a reputable and qualified Sparky who might be able to do the job.
Gill spent most of the evening making cakes but fell asleep after midnight and almost burnt a couple of them. Just been informed that two of them have been burnt, partly my fault as I thought she'd finished and let her snooze, rather than waking her up earlier. Never mind... she'll cut the edges off and they'll get used! I feel a trifle coming on, with loads of raspberries and loganberries....
A tough start to the day as neither child wanted to go to school, but as Gill had a meeting first thing (she's on a disability working group, working on a School Disability Equality Scheme) she wanted to take them in. However I got up incase they refused and she had to go in by herself or with just one of them. But with a softly softly and gentle approach, we managed to get them both on their bikes and going with Gill towards school, only 5 minutes later than we usually like to set off.
So I got on with some paperwork... sent a cheque to Positive News (http://www.positivenews.org.uk/cgi-bin/Positive_News/welcome.cgi ) for my next two-year subscription, to Kitchen Garden for a one-year sub, a cheque to Cozmic Balloons for the £70 worth of modelling balloons they sent me, and a £100 cheque to Artur of Art Roofing for mending the garage roof.
I lit the stove as last night I made some leek soup using thrown-away leek tops, a carrot with some carrot root fly damage (easy to cut this out, but leaves the carrot looking less than carrot-shaped, but fine for soup!) and a free onion (again, some slight damage on 10% means that it is unsaleable, but the rest is fine!) and some bought celery. So that was chopped up all together, fried gently and then water added to simmer for a while, before either having like that, a stew, or whizzing up and making into a smooth soup.
A day of housework mostly. I did go to the skip site (Hazel Court) on James Street with a load of drinks cartons which are now able to be put in a collection skip, although they are not collected in our doorstep recycling box. I also put about 50 batteries I've collected over the past few years in the battery recycling container. I was delighted that there is now no attempt to prevent bicycles going into the civic amenity site and offloading trailer-loads of recyclables or skippable items. Common sense prevails!
The boys LOVED the soup, hurrah!
During the evening, I chopped up a huge load of waste plums (lovely mild-tasting yellow ones, thrown as some of them have a dark area near the stone and it looks like it's going bad, but it tastes fine!) and whizzed them up and patiently pushed as much of it through a fine sieve to make a puree. This was poured into two non-stick trays, made even non-stickier by a wipe of olive oil, and put on the big pans of water on the stove to dry off. It'll make an excellent fruit leather!
So I got on with some paperwork... sent a cheque to Positive News (http://www.positivenews.org.uk/cgi-bin/Positive_News/welcome.cgi ) for my next two-year subscription, to Kitchen Garden for a one-year sub, a cheque to Cozmic Balloons for the £70 worth of modelling balloons they sent me, and a £100 cheque to Artur of Art Roofing for mending the garage roof.
I lit the stove as last night I made some leek soup using thrown-away leek tops, a carrot with some carrot root fly damage (easy to cut this out, but leaves the carrot looking less than carrot-shaped, but fine for soup!) and a free onion (again, some slight damage on 10% means that it is unsaleable, but the rest is fine!) and some bought celery. So that was chopped up all together, fried gently and then water added to simmer for a while, before either having like that, a stew, or whizzing up and making into a smooth soup.
A day of housework mostly. I did go to the skip site (Hazel Court) on James Street with a load of drinks cartons which are now able to be put in a collection skip, although they are not collected in our doorstep recycling box. I also put about 50 batteries I've collected over the past few years in the battery recycling container. I was delighted that there is now no attempt to prevent bicycles going into the civic amenity site and offloading trailer-loads of recyclables or skippable items. Common sense prevails!
The boys LOVED the soup, hurrah!
During the evening, I chopped up a huge load of waste plums (lovely mild-tasting yellow ones, thrown as some of them have a dark area near the stone and it looks like it's going bad, but it tastes fine!) and whizzed them up and patiently pushed as much of it through a fine sieve to make a puree. This was poured into two non-stick trays, made even non-stickier by a wipe of olive oil, and put on the big pans of water on the stove to dry off. It'll make an excellent fruit leather!
Quite a busy day in the house.
Gill had a very easy morning, the boys were on best behaviour, and ate a big breakfast. Gill puts this down to them enjoying Martial Arts Class yesterday. Also, our eldest woke Gill up in the night and said he was hungry, so she got him something to eat. On several previous occasions he has woken up hungry and just lain there, awake and hungry, not wanting to wake us up, but then been fractious in the morning. Gill has told him to wake one of us up to get him something if it happens again, and she was really pleased that he did this last night/this morning, as it seemed to have a beneficial effect, with him going to sleep again afterwards.
I did lots of housework in the morning, tidying and sorting and even some cleaning! Don't know what came over me!
At 12 we had a visitor we weren't expecting (it wasn't in my diary) and then we got a phone call saying that a visitor we were expecting had been in a car crash (only a little one, no one hurt) but he couldn't get to us.
Did a bit of cooking (well, slicing fruit and putting on the racks to dry) and sorting out (well, taking stuff to the compost heaps!). At 2pm I went to the Hazel Court Skip Site on James St and put loads of cartons in the recycling bank and clothes in the clothes recycling and some foam in the skips for landfill.
Gill got our youngest at 3 and I got the other at 4, after his Drama Club. Whilst I was waiting for him to come out, I did my usual composting collections from the school playground bins, taking about 6 or 7 kilogrammes of banana skins and half eaten apples and pears out of the waste stream and to the compost bins I administer. I feel this daily event is a good little achievement, adding up to a big reduction in waste when you look at the compost bins filling up, about one per term. I lookied in the big wheelie bins for some cardboard (the school does not recycle cardboard) to use in the compost bin to balance the fruit, and found a very large pile of books and catalogues... so I loaded up my trailer with a box full and a bin-liner full of these and took them home for putting in the paper recycling, I'd say about 20 or 30 kg. Another small bite of green-ness, but it does make me angry that the school says it recycles paper, but then throws away stuff like that, which could have easily been put with the paper recycling. A good cycle home from Drama Club, with him telling me about a forthcoming Drama Festival where they are going to do a Court Scene, apparently.
Then he did an email to his friend who's moved to Leamington Spa, and Gill made a good nosh for all of us, and then I got ready for work, with the Southlands Cubs. I took three unicycles down and three 4-wheel unicycles and two 2-wheel unicycles (Fun Wheels and Pedal Go), plus a load of devilsticks, diabolos, feathers and juggling balls, for their 'Entertainment Badge'.
The session went very well. I got an email from the organiser saying how much he'd valued it and thanking me for doing it at a very reduced price for the two sessions. He also offered to pay for the diabolo which one of the lads (or lasses, as cubs can be female too) broke by putting their foot on it, which was kind of him. Fortunately it was only a small diabolo so it should only cost perhaps £15, I'll find out from the Anti-Gravity shop tomorrow or over the weekend.
A late night doing more dried stuff.... sliced up a further 5 pineapples and about 10 red and orange peppers, these strips, once completely dry, will be put in the blender and reduced to dust, which is fab 'sweet paprika' for cooking.... really adds to soups, stews, nutloaves etc. And the peppers were destined to go to landfill, which is even better than having to buy them!
Gill had a very easy morning, the boys were on best behaviour, and ate a big breakfast. Gill puts this down to them enjoying Martial Arts Class yesterday. Also, our eldest woke Gill up in the night and said he was hungry, so she got him something to eat. On several previous occasions he has woken up hungry and just lain there, awake and hungry, not wanting to wake us up, but then been fractious in the morning. Gill has told him to wake one of us up to get him something if it happens again, and she was really pleased that he did this last night/this morning, as it seemed to have a beneficial effect, with him going to sleep again afterwards.
I did lots of housework in the morning, tidying and sorting and even some cleaning! Don't know what came over me!
At 12 we had a visitor we weren't expecting (it wasn't in my diary) and then we got a phone call saying that a visitor we were expecting had been in a car crash (only a little one, no one hurt) but he couldn't get to us.
Did a bit of cooking (well, slicing fruit and putting on the racks to dry) and sorting out (well, taking stuff to the compost heaps!). At 2pm I went to the Hazel Court Skip Site on James St and put loads of cartons in the recycling bank and clothes in the clothes recycling and some foam in the skips for landfill.
Gill got our youngest at 3 and I got the other at 4, after his Drama Club. Whilst I was waiting for him to come out, I did my usual composting collections from the school playground bins, taking about 6 or 7 kilogrammes of banana skins and half eaten apples and pears out of the waste stream and to the compost bins I administer. I feel this daily event is a good little achievement, adding up to a big reduction in waste when you look at the compost bins filling up, about one per term. I lookied in the big wheelie bins for some cardboard (the school does not recycle cardboard) to use in the compost bin to balance the fruit, and found a very large pile of books and catalogues... so I loaded up my trailer with a box full and a bin-liner full of these and took them home for putting in the paper recycling, I'd say about 20 or 30 kg. Another small bite of green-ness, but it does make me angry that the school says it recycles paper, but then throws away stuff like that, which could have easily been put with the paper recycling. A good cycle home from Drama Club, with him telling me about a forthcoming Drama Festival where they are going to do a Court Scene, apparently.
Then he did an email to his friend who's moved to Leamington Spa, and Gill made a good nosh for all of us, and then I got ready for work, with the Southlands Cubs. I took three unicycles down and three 4-wheel unicycles and two 2-wheel unicycles (Fun Wheels and Pedal Go), plus a load of devilsticks, diabolos, feathers and juggling balls, for their 'Entertainment Badge'.
The session went very well. I got an email from the organiser saying how much he'd valued it and thanking me for doing it at a very reduced price for the two sessions. He also offered to pay for the diabolo which one of the lads (or lasses, as cubs can be female too) broke by putting their foot on it, which was kind of him. Fortunately it was only a small diabolo so it should only cost perhaps £15, I'll find out from the Anti-Gravity shop tomorrow or over the weekend.
A late night doing more dried stuff.... sliced up a further 5 pineapples and about 10 red and orange peppers, these strips, once completely dry, will be put in the blender and reduced to dust, which is fab 'sweet paprika' for cooking.... really adds to soups, stews, nutloaves etc. And the peppers were destined to go to landfill, which is even better than having to buy them!
A very good day as I spent the morning in the house doing some paperwork and housework, Gill went out for an appointment and the boys played inside the house. I also did a bit of compost heap management for half an hour.
Gill came back and we lunched, I then used Gill's bus ticket (an all day adult rover thingy) to get to town and participate in a Green Party/York Residents Against Incineration demonstration protesting about the Lib Dem Councillors voting to spend loads of money on a waste treatment plant but they don't yet know what it is going to be. I do not think that an incinerator is a good idea as it wastes materials which should be recycled. They are very expensive and can give out polluting dioxins, as well as loads of CO2 which is 'fossil' CO2 from plastics, made from oil. I would like more investment in recycling, and also think that anaerobic digestion of food waste and manures is a good idea, as it captures some of the energy which is normally lost in composting, but cleanly in the form of methane which can be efficiently used as a fuel for heating or generating energy, or even put in a fuel cell to make electricity and heat.
We had our photo taken on the steps of the Mansion House and then I walked along to Cycle Heaven to purchase my new bike. I got a set of panniers too. I had asked for 'tri-bars' to be put on the handlebars, but the shop said that the ones they would get would be another £80, so I asked them to transfer my old ones over. So the whole set up is new, apart from the tri-bars which allow me to drop down if there's a headwind or if I'm going fast. I'm glad the frame was made locally, it's steel and quite heavy, but very strong! I enjoyed cycling back with it, and got my trailer fixed up to it as soon as I got back.
Soon it was time for me to cycle along for a doctor's appointment, for a flu jab (I'm asthmatic and have taken daily medication since childhood, when it was much less prevalent) and to wave a weird patch of flaky skin on my knee at him. When I got back home, I went to the Co-op shop for some essentials and then to the allotment.
I love my bike!
Gill came back and we lunched, I then used Gill's bus ticket (an all day adult rover thingy) to get to town and participate in a Green Party/York Residents Against Incineration demonstration protesting about the Lib Dem Councillors voting to spend loads of money on a waste treatment plant but they don't yet know what it is going to be. I do not think that an incinerator is a good idea as it wastes materials which should be recycled. They are very expensive and can give out polluting dioxins, as well as loads of CO2 which is 'fossil' CO2 from plastics, made from oil. I would like more investment in recycling, and also think that anaerobic digestion of food waste and manures is a good idea, as it captures some of the energy which is normally lost in composting, but cleanly in the form of methane which can be efficiently used as a fuel for heating or generating energy, or even put in a fuel cell to make electricity and heat.
We had our photo taken on the steps of the Mansion House and then I walked along to Cycle Heaven to purchase my new bike. I got a set of panniers too. I had asked for 'tri-bars' to be put on the handlebars, but the shop said that the ones they would get would be another £80, so I asked them to transfer my old ones over. So the whole set up is new, apart from the tri-bars which allow me to drop down if there's a headwind or if I'm going fast. I'm glad the frame was made locally, it's steel and quite heavy, but very strong! I enjoyed cycling back with it, and got my trailer fixed up to it as soon as I got back.
Soon it was time for me to cycle along for a doctor's appointment, for a flu jab (I'm asthmatic and have taken daily medication since childhood, when it was much less prevalent) and to wave a weird patch of flaky skin on my knee at him. When I got back home, I went to the Co-op shop for some essentials and then to the allotment.
I love my bike!
Oh such an early start... I got to the station to catch the 6.58 train to Manchester, but it went the long way round to Leeds because of engineering work, and when we left Leeds we got stuck for 20 mins with some late finishing working so our train was late getting in to Manchester and I missed my connection so had to wait an hour for the next one, so arrived in Warrington at 10.40 not 9.40, so started the event at 11, not at 10 which is when the Disability Awareness Day starts.
However got going and did lots of unicycling aroung and being loud and silly, making people laugh and interacting humourously, devilsticking and greeting people.
Then did some inside stuff, in the Arts Marquee, and did assorted workshops, had sandwiches for lunch and then worked solid all afternoon. It is a brilliant event, so many interesting people and happy kids.
Sabrina's band 'The Heroes' played their last gig and I enjoyed that, and went soon after. The free bus was waiting for me and as I got on several people cheered!
There was just a 20 min wait at the station before the train came, no changes, so got to York at about 7.30. I popped into Out Of This World to see if there were any recyclables, and there were lots of out of date things, and plates, and serving cutlery, and lots of other things, so came home very well loaded.
However got going and did lots of unicycling aroung and being loud and silly, making people laugh and interacting humourously, devilsticking and greeting people.
Then did some inside stuff, in the Arts Marquee, and did assorted workshops, had sandwiches for lunch and then worked solid all afternoon. It is a brilliant event, so many interesting people and happy kids.
Sabrina's band 'The Heroes' played their last gig and I enjoyed that, and went soon after. The free bus was waiting for me and as I got on several people cheered!
There was just a 20 min wait at the station before the train came, no changes, so got to York at about 7.30. I popped into Out Of This World to see if there were any recyclables, and there were lots of out of date things, and plates, and serving cutlery, and lots of other things, so came home very well loaded.
