Who did it?

Someone has lent us a complete boxed set of Sherlock Holmes adventures, the Granada TV series starring Jeremy Brett, the casting is pure gold. We are enjoying a nightly showing in the interests of cultural education.

R is very enthusiastic about this series. He likes best the bit at the beginning, where the foul deeds of the crime are enacted, at which he asks

'Who did it?'

'We don't know, R, it's a mystery - which Mr Sherlock Homes is about to solve - unless you can beat him to it!'

'Oh' says R..

At the end, he says

'I don't understand, who did it?'

All groan. After we have explained, painstakingly, he asks:

'Yes but why did he do it, what's the use?'

At which we ask ourselves, why does he watch it? But he claims it is Very Good and he understands everything, Perfectly.

Blooming Moments

Geometry, colour and abundance...the love of spring flowers...
The birth of a star.

How do flowers know how to speak in geometrical language, and what do they say to the bees and beasties, and how do the bees reply?

A violet, retiring.

Apple blossom

Blooms

Our other car is a Renault...

We are now the proud owners of a twenty year old Ford Fiesta 'Fun',red fading pink. She has all the optional extras such as starting, keeping going once started, and jump starting with ease, yes, it's all fun fun fun with the Fiesta, but what the hell, the old girl GOES - unlike our other car which is a Renault Scenic, at 100 times the price and less than one quarter of the age, IT DOES NOT GO and will not be going for an indeterminate time because the particle filter has to be replaced, but the particle filter cannot be found in all France. This has been going on for two months, so far...

Renault Customer 'Services' tell us that it is quite normal that our filter needs replacing at a cost of ONE THOUSAND EUROS parts and labour, as the car has 130 000 km on the clock. They say it is a normal price to pay, despite the fact that other makes of car allow for the filter to be extracted, cleaned etc, whereas Renault forces you to buy the whole caboodle. However, it is so ABNORMAL that the part is nowhere to be found, and rumour has it that it will have to be specially ordered from JAPAN AND FLOWN OVER, the carbon footprint effectively stamping out any supposed ecological gain from having a filter in the first place.
We have THREE THOUSAND EUROS WORTH OF REPAIRS on our 3 year old car in the last 9 months and NO CAR. Surely this must be a record, even for Renault?
Over to you Renault Customer 'Services' do remember to phone me back won't you?

Dream Boat

Here is where we will live, R&B and I, if ever the dark forces of the French National Education System should overcome us.

If ever we fail to do WHAT it demands (makes no sense) WHEN it demands (bears no relation to the readiness of the child) IN THE EXACT FORMAT required ( impossible) you will find us in this boat (or one similar), moored outside the Rudolf Steiner School of Kings Langley. We will leave our hearth and home and JC and the cats, that R&B may receive an EDUCATION. One that aims to turn out a whole and happy young human being fit for life, an education of head heart and hands delivered with passion, compassion, and kindness, and rendered beautiful, as is our human inheritance. We will not suffer the horrible years of torture where unnatural facts and processes necessary for passing exams are forced into children ill-adapted to receive them with the end goal of being qualified for a horrible job in a cruel, mindless hierarchy. We will not suffer the ACCUSATION, CRITICISM AND FOREWARNING OF DOOM dished out daily by the French National Education System in the unenlightened persuit of its unenlightened goal.

Housework will be minimal, garden maintenance non-existent, when we are hungry we'll go upstream and moor outside Waitrose. I will do Tai Chi on the roof and banter with passers-by. At the weekend we'll visit Grandma and Grandad, or perhaps take a trip up Lunnon Way, or JC will come to stay.

There is one flaw in my plan - money.

However, I do have a cunning idea:

MS MOP

Eco-friendly and all-round friendly Cleaning Service

(Household Philosophy Optional)

A Good Rot

I've just been to a compost training course run by the local council - a condition for receiving a subsidised compost bin and a free mini-bin for the kitchen and a free prod with an arrow point for turning the compost which is very appealing to boys.

Good composts depends on getting the mixture right, the balance between:

• Azote/Nitrogen-producing, Carbon-producing 60%-40% ratio


• Finer and bulkier material

Get the mixture right from the start, and keep it that way, and you get a good rot, odourless, healthy and efficient: the right set of micro-organisms (not anaerobic ones) will raise the temperature to 60 -70 degrees centigrade, killing harmful bacteria, and the causes of plant disease. The bulkier material mixed in lets air and moisture circulate, and prevents the fine stuff from becoming crushed and fermenting with anaerobic bacteria.

• Azote/Nitrogen = kitchen waste, fresh garden clippings, grass clippings...


• Carbon = cardboard (no coloured ink) tissues, dry 'dead' garden waste, small sticks...


• Fine material = mushy clingy kitchen waste, grass cuttings...


• Bulkier material - sticks and twigs up to 1-2 cm diameter (bigger takes too long to rot), large leaves...

Phase 1: The pre-rot - complete after 3 months, when you take the front off your composter (remove newer material on top and put back later) and dig over and stir and put back in place.
Phase 2: The final rot: leave compost for a further 6 months, a new set of micro-organisms moves in for the refining process. The finished product will be dark brown and delicious, nourishment for Mother Earth and her green mantle (might need to seive out or remove bulkier bits and re-compost). Like a the human baby, good compost takes 9 months to incubate. Immature or incorrectly rotted compost can kill plants and create a diseased soil.

Building my compost:

• Good foundations - place the bin on forked over soil, (aerated soil contact is good for rot and encourages worms).


• Lay little sticks (up to 1-2 cm diameter) at the bottom, the finer stuff will fall through the gaps to create well aired and moistened mixture. Too much heavy stuff on top of fine (such as grass clippings, small kitchen waste) will cause the fine stuff to become compacted, encouraging smelly fermentation caused by anaerobic bacteria.


• Fill three quarters full: get up head of steam, and have a layer to work on 3 months later.


• What to put in: kitchen waste 60 percent (azote) and carbon producing 40 percent (cardboard, tissues, dead leaves). To avoid: smelly milk products, rodent attracting meat and fish, but pretty much everything else is ok. Diseased leaves can be put in as high temperature of a good rot kills them, same with weed seeds. Always makes sure good mixture of leaves, little sticks etc if putting in a lot of grass cuttings and kitchen waste - without the bulk, the grass and kitchen waste will rot. Dry off grass cuttings before putting in if possible, mow when grass is dry.


• Health check - is your compost smell free and moist like a sponge, not dripping, not dry? - check regularly.


• Health measures: dig out first layer after 3 months and makes sure well mixed and aired, make sure good balance of fine/bulk, azote/carbon, don't put too much heavy stuff on top and crush the lighter below.If your compost stinks or isn't rotting dig it out to find cause: too wet (dripping rather than damp sponge), lay out to dry, if too dry (bulky stuff not rotting, whole food still within), mix with finer stuff and moisten.


• Worms bugs and micro-organisms: those in a good compost heap are helpful and friendly, eat dead stuff, and are not the type to cause disease in living plants. Red worms (rather than earth worms) are nature's composters.

Compost doesn't need 'activators', it doesn't need antibiotics, herbicides or pesticides, it is a natural gift, our role is to add the right material things in healthy balance to create the right conditions for compost health. I wonder if human health could be viewed in a similar way? I would rather work on healthy diet, and conditions conducive to health and not disease, than to have to suffer and cure my ills.