Visited Omar and Peter in their smart new house in Peckham. Omar cooked a Thai lunch at very short notice (we only arranged last night that we would pop down).
We wandered out to the Herne Tavern for an afternoon drink: I liked the Golden Pippin guest Ale from the Copper Dragon Brewery. The pub has a nice family atmosphere—in fact there were loads of children running around the garden in the sun.
We were very pleased to discover that there was a No 63 bus that runs along Peckham Rye and direct to King’s Cross Station. So it was an easy journey home, which was particularly appreciated after the beery afternoon.
Technorati Tags: London, Pub, Peckham
Instead of heading 
over tot he Riverbank Club at 11, we waited until after lunch, which meant that the full day in the sun wasn’t so overwhelming. There were intermittent clouds, which cooled things down a little, and the river was a bit warmer, so the swimming was more enjoyable. Lots and lots of punts today, particularly about 5 o’clock when people were heading up to Grantchester—one punt had a charcoal BBQ standing proudly at the front, towering above the people lying in the punt.
Technorati Tags: Cambridge, Riverbank
Spent a lovely afternoon at Newnham Riverbank Club, only about the third since April, which is a shame. The weather was great and I got a bit too much sun. However the water still hasn’t heated up: it was about 15°C. Managed a couple of long swims, which were great (once I was in!). After all the rain the river was running strong and I was able to swim on the spot against the current, which as good fun. We managed out first BBQ of the year in the evening. Hoping for more of this tomorrow!
Technorati Tags: Cambridge, Riverbank, Swimming
Chris, Emma, Natasha, Eve and Finn arrived on Saturday afternoon to spend a few days in Cambridge. Michael and I bought a big shoulder of lamb to casserole, “Two Fat Ladies” style and this had to be split in half to get it into our largest pot. Seven for Sunday lunch worked out well and we had a great feast of lamb.
We all wandered down to Midummer Common for a walk along the river, Chris showing Emma some of his old rowing haunts. Finn had a play in a puddle and Natasha had two uncles to pull her along in her rolling boots. We made it back in time for a cup of tea and big bubbles in the garden before the rain set in about 5.30. The children stayed entertained with CBeebies on the TV and the web and Natasha stayed behind when Eve and Finn went back to Warkworth House for the night and did some Blue Peter things on the internet.
The house was very quiet at 9pm when Chris and Natasha left!
MIchael cooked bangers and mash for dinner which was a big hit with the children: Natasha ate as much as I did! Lots of fruit consumed for pudding: Eve polished off the greengages. A little bit of dancing before the children headed back to the hotel was potentially a bad idea, because it got them a bit excited before I was spending a night baby-sitting them. I think the touring round Cambridge must have tired them out becasue they were all asleep really quickly. Natasha was helpful in settling down the Even and Finn and gave me pointers! Chris, Emma and Michael headed out to the Elm Tree and Free Press.
Technorati Tags: Cambridge
The worm bin 
that I set up in April has been a success so far, despite the less-than perfect design. I started off with too few worms (about 20) from a fishing tackle shop in Arbury and ended up ordering £10 worth of extra Dendrobena worms from eBay. They arrived in a plastic tub at my work and seemed happy enough under my desk until they they made it into my bin. Even then I still had too few worms, but they breed quite fast and I don’t see the need to go from nothing to 100% vermicomposting production overnight.
So, five months on I have lots of worms and cocoons (see small orange ball in the bottom right of the photo to the right!), quite a bit of compost and I’m not quite sure what to do next. There are two ways to run the bin: stop feeding the kitchen waste to the worms and let the compost become wonderful and ready to use with no fuss, but also let most of the worms die, or to separate the compost into piles manually and remove the big bits of newspaper and food, and then put all the non-composted material and worms back into the bin and start over. I don’t like the thought of the non-sustainable system for recycling, and I’m too lazy to separate it all manually. So, I have thought of a third way—to put a round washing up bowl into the bin, with holes drilled in the bottom and make my own stacking tray system that will allow two layers to develop.
The bin is a medium-sized cheap plastic bin (too high and not wide enough but it’s bought now).
This is 1/3rd filled with newspaper as bedding and bits of food buried in it. There is a perforated plastic washing up bowl in the bottom with a screen over the top of it to support the compost and let it drain into a large ‘airy’ space underneath. There are holes in the bin around the outside to let air in too. I fitted a water butt tap myself into the bin. The bin produces lovely “worm tea” after it rains as the top isn’t 100% waterproof. I’m getting good use out of this tea for my garden plants. I haven’t tried indoor plants yet.
And the end result is lots of happy worms (I hope) and good looking compost, with bits of uncomposted paper in it and lots of worms to separate. The worms love melon rind, which disappears within days except for the outermost skin which is left as a paper-thin layer. It’s all fascinating!
Technorati Tags: Worms, Compost, Vermiculture, Recycling
Michael stayed in today while the plaster came of the chimney breast, to sort out the damp: this is what’s underneath. Two chimneys? Apparently lots of soot came out too.
The guy who took the plaster off used a screen to keep the dust out of the rest of the house and it seems to have been very good indeed. There’s hardly any dust at all. The next stage is to get the chimney swept (tomorrow), that might be a bit messier!
“Bricked-up chimney” by GrahamMcCannCAM
