Run Too

In this photo, Danielle nears the finish of the Ripon run yesterday. Rowan is jogging along side to offer encouragement, together with cuddly toy.

Running

Ro and Pete came to stay last night, before taking Mother back down to Suffolk. Great to see them, we fitted in a game of Boggle and dragged them over to Ripon to watch Rowan run in her

I.5k

Run. She won first place girl aged 9-11, and got a trophy to show for it - very pleased. Danielle did a very muddy and hilly 10K up to Fountains Abbey which she enjoyed. I was the back up crew.

Afterwards we had lunch at the National Trust restaurant at Fountains [basically a day centre for middle class couples with young children].

Dinner Party

Julia and Patrick invited us round to a meal with some people we knew not: Marcus and Suzie. As is the way with York we soon had numerous mutual contacts, but one went beyond the normal level of coincidence.

Marcus to me "Where are you from?"
Me "Preston"
Marcus, "I'm from Blackburn, do you know anyone from there?"
Me "Two people - Wayne Hemingway and Karl"
Marcus "I was at school with Wayne"

bingo.

Later on
Me "I lived in Leeds after I left school"
Marcus "Where?"
Me "Burley Road"
Marcus "I used to live in 314"
Me "I lived in 316"

etc

The photo is of the extension today.

Home Win

So far Rowan's three football matches [England under 21s, Ipswich and York City] have all been home defeats. York City this season have won away consistently and lost at home abysmally. So when one of the crowd shouted "pretend you're playing away!" we could all agree. Rowan and I enjoyed the game as they

won

2-1 against Droyslden , coming from a goal behind. If they carry on like this then mid-table is not beyond a dream.

Xmas Ride

Today Rowan and I cycled on her new bike [not both of us] to Appleton Roebuck and back on a circular route of 19 miles or so. Half way round we met friend Robert on a solo ride, so he pegged along with us. This gave Rowan all the incentive she needed to crank up the pace: I can honestly say that keeping up with her on the hills is no longer easy.

Happy Christmas

Danielle, Rowan and Mother, just before the official start of the present opening.

Party

It was book-group xmas party last week. We played Boggle, ex-Libris [which Eddy dominated like no other] and a quiz on all the books that I made up [max possible score was 8. max achieved a rather pathetic 3] Good fun, washed down with wine: the fact that I was on the 7.oo train next morning took a bit of the gloss off of the event.

The photo is of Rowan striding out to sea at St Andrews a couple of years ago.

Pinnocchio

We all went to see

Pinocchio

the new opera from Opera North in Leeds. It was really good - the plot was no sillier than any other opera - and definitely not just for children. The music was just right - not too cheesy, not too disjointed, but modern. Rowan liked it too, especially the cricket character who was brilliant.

Hot Desking.

My office in London is great. Hot-desking is a reality there, so I never know where I will sit or who will be around. This week it was Herb, a charming Philadelphian who has lived over here as long as Danielle. There is very little territorial silliness goes on, which is all to the good. The sixth floor view encompasses Twickenham Stadium, Wembley Stadium, the Kew Gardens pagoda, the railway line and station, and low flying planes en-route to Heathrow. Fantastic.
On Thursday I saw a steam special which got all the good folk to the windows [they are a bit deprived in London: it is not like York] and a parakeet flying past.
Photo is the last from Edinburgh

Spain

I think this photo could be one for the next show, it is from the trip to Edinburgh.
I was working in London today, when I got an e-mail from friend and fellow consultant Dinos, who is also working in the borough. Great to meet up and catch up. He informed me of a third consultant doing some work from home, when Dinos enquired of her where home was, she told him Spain - and I thought I was pioneering remote working...

Grape Vine

I have just finished reading a new book by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine The Minotaur. At her best [Blood Doctor, No Night Too Long, The Chimney Sweeps Boy] she is my favorite writer. At her worst [Solomon's Carpet, Grasshopper Boy] it just does not work. In the middle are books like House of Stairs and Minotaur - pretty good but not great.

The photo is of Holyrood Palace

Stax

Have been playing "Mr Pitiful" by Otis Redding a lot: I had forgotten just how great the Stax sound was. It is good explaining the horn section to Rowan, her latest plan is to play "the curly one". I explained that the French Horn isn't very rock and roll, "It could be..." she replied.
The light in Edinburgh was really beautiful, just right for the graveyard.

Sir Charles

The slow trawl through family bits and pieces continues. This is the obituary of my great uncle Sir Charles Palmour from 1948

Piano

Last night's concert at BMS was by a Canadian pianist,

Andrew Brownell

who was really brilliant. We met up with Julia there who was attending her first concert. I worked out that we have been going for 9 seasons: frightening really.

The photo is of the much-maligned Scottish Parliament building. It is really impressive and adds to the city's architecture.

Brother

Danielle's brother Ben sent us this link about what he is up to in his job http://www1.georgetown.edu/college/research/mind/ :looks impressive to me.

The photo is from the top of Arthur's seat - click on it to enlarge. It is a beautiful place, Edinburgh, and great that you can walk on quite wild country so easily from the station.

Lordee

I met friend [and Lord] Victor at the House of Lords. It is a bit of a scream - every other face looks a] old and b] vaguely familiar. It is definitely a good place to go when you are 50 - you feel very young indeed. We had a good chat and a few beers in the Peers bar, then walked via secret passage directly to the tube station [just like the Famous Five]

GNER RIP

Monday I used up my last GNER free first class ticket, taking a trip up to Edinburgh. GNER have managed to both generate surprisingly high levels of customer satisfaction [great staff] and loose the east coast main line franchise. The government franchising process is undoubtedly a stupid and costly one. National Express will now run the service - all trains will be re-painted, all uniforms changed, all staff gone through a period of angst and uncertainty - for what? Crazy.
The photo is the first from Edinburgh - I nipped up Arthur's seat and got this shot at the top.

Lucky escape

9.05. I get out of the car in nice time to get to the training venue in Oldham by 9.15.

9.06 My flies break on my trousers as I get out of the car. Prospect of standing up in front of 12 students all day with my flies open....

9.07 Remember there is a Debenhams round the corner.

9.12 They don't have my size

9.13 Oh yes they do.

9.21 Arrive at venue one minute before first trainee

9.22 Change trousers in toilet

9.23 Emerge to take session.

In terms of risk, the likelihood of the fly going is very low. The impact is high.

The photo is of Rowan stoically letting Joyce cane-row her hair in
a way she would never allow us to.

The Cake

The cake was made by friend Patience; who claimed that HAWD was self explanatory.

Unfortunatley when it came to cutting it and speech time I was literally speechless [which is an unusual state of affairs for me]. This caused me to be receipient of much grief from old friends.

Friend Joyce and baby Kwami came up to stay for the party, as did my old friends Debbie and Audrey. So we had a good Sunday morning breakfast together before going into York for lunch at the Art Gallery.

The Party

Danielle organised a fantastic party for me to remember. Friends from way back [30 years plus in the case of Rob and Cath] to friends met in the past 4 years, a good mixture. There was a Mad Science entertainer for the children, friend Adrian's Jazz band played two sets, and the food came from the deli on Clifton in York. Lots of great presents as well. Felt well blessed.

FiverZero

Yesterday was my 50th birthday. Very pleased about it really, looking forward to 60 and concessionary fares. I spent the afternoon at the Tregelles Xmas Fayre with a stand selling prints and drumming up portrait business. It went very well, and was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Local Paper

Someone told me that Rowan's Biathlon triumph was in the local paper, and so it is - in the

York Press. The national final is in Bath, and we will all be going down there in February.
The floods have not arrived yet this autumn. The photo is from last year.

Knut

I read a lot of

Knut Hamsun

books when I was in my 20s. There was something about his stories of wanderers that I liked a lot. Gwen chose Mysteries by Hamsun for the book group this month. As it turned out it was a blokes book group [me, john, edward and david] and we had a good talk about it over a bottle of Amarone.
The photo is of the Merchants Adventurers hall in York

Friends

Saw friends Paul and Hilary for some wine last night at Smithys at Kings Cross, after a good days work in west London. Great to see them both. Hilary looked in good form: amazing what not being in the cabinet any more can do for you.
The photo is another from St Pancras

New Office

Danielle is moving to a new office today. So, after three years of sharing an office, we go our seperate ways. It has been fine, the reality being that one or other of us is nearly always out, but I'll miss having her around. Three years of accumulated paperwork meant that we were running out of space in the office, so it makes sense.
The photo is of St Olave's church in Marygate, one of my favorites.

Wine

There is a statue of John Betjeman at St Pancras, attracting a lot of attention.
Thursday we went with John & Heather and a couple
of other friends to a Wine Society tasting in

St Williams College. It was good fun, and we tried to be appropriately civilized.

St Pancras

I popped into the new St Pancras station last week. It has been fantastically restored to its glory, with Eurostar trains using it for services to Paris, Brussels, and [rumoured] Frankfurt before too long. I did not have time to try out the champagne bar - for another time.

Oldham

Last year Rochdale, this year Oldham. You can't say that my work does not take me to romantic locations. I was helping friend Bev out with a management training course this week in said fair town. It went well, and was a real pleasure. Both Rochdale and Oldham nestle in the lee of the Pennines, so you get great views up to the moors - well you do when it's not raining and fogged out.

27 years

It is 27 years since I last saw friend Katy from University. Last night I stayed with Katy, husband David and one of their sons [the other is at Oxford]. It was great, really good to catch up. We went to a good vegetarian restaurant in Kingston, and I even managed to see the record shop where Danielle and first husband Steve used to live and work long ago.

Busy

I went a bike ride with David on Saturday, good to turn the legs over. Then on Sunday Bev and family came round for lunch after Meeting. At the same time I had a photo shoot for a family, so it all got a bit complicated, but fun.
The photo is another shot from Brussels.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Meal with John and Heather went well. Danielle had done a great nut roast and lovely root vegetables. As usual John provided good wine, so the game of Boggle that Rowan suggested went down well.
As Preston crashed to another home defeat on Saturday, I thought it was time for the photo of the Tom Finney statue again.

Netball

Tregelles have a great sport teacher, who the children really respond to. Watching Rowan's year playing Netball yesterday was great. They were well organised, knew what they were meant to do, and played for each other, and they won 11-2. In fact it was the total opposite of watching England play football. Steve Mclaren is from York, so maybe Miss Harvey should take over as the new England manager.

Mirfield

I had a meeting last week for some new work. We met in Mirfield which is not as grim as it sounds. There was a marvellous West Riding landscape of cobbles and canals. This shot is of the canal basin in the town. The meeting went well too.

Adobe

I went to Sheffield today, to an Adobe presentation on Lightroom, which is the photo software I use. Felt strange being in a room full of pro photographers, but very useful event.
Horrible cold and wet day, so here is a Comma butterfly from the garden to remind me of summer.

Dogs and Kids

I had two more clients for portraits last week. One mother asked me to photograph her daughter and her dog [you know the old adage, "never work with kids or animals"] and it went surprisingly well. Down in London today, another busy week awaits. The photo is another that sold at the weekend. It is really my first photograph, taken on a 110 camera, it appeared in a magazine long ago. Although it looks like the 1950s it was taken on Harrow Road London in 1980.

Wash Out

The third day of the show was disappointing, the weather was terrible, cold [3 degrees] non stop rain - yuk: this put people off coming, and although there was a steady trickle of people it could have been better. No matter, it is very pleasant to be forced to stay at home for a day and not go out and do things - did me good.
Rowan was off out to a roller-blade party amidst all this.
This was another photo that sold over the weekend. From the Walk, it is of the Road to Rore in Bosnia in 1984. You can make out a couple of cyclists resting by the side of the road in the middle distance

Exhibition 2

A steady stream of people came through the Exhibition today, with plenty of sales. Rowan and Danielle both helped out too. I sold a copy of this photo of Rocamador in France: it is one of those shots that some people really like.

Exhibition 1

The first session of my 3 day photography exhibition went ahead yesterday evening. A good turn out, including a couple of people from Open Studios earlier this year: the photos look great in the gallery. Right on cue I appear to be loosing my voice. This is one of the photos I sold - Trees - Interlaken in Switzerland taken in 1981

North End

It is very rare to find something intelligent written in the national press about North End, so here is a

link

to a good article about being a Preston fan and reaching 50 without ever seeing them in the top flight.
I have just been hanging the photos for this weekends exhibition, this is one I have got blown up xlarge

Quaker Quest

Danielle has been part of something called

Quaker Quest

which is the nearest Quakers ever get to saying "why don't you think of becoming a Quaker?" It went very well in York, with over 20 people following it through a number of seminars etc.
The photo is of the Quaker Meeting House at Friargate in York.

Booty

Here are the medals and the proud biathlete. I have been selected for York Open Studios 2008 - the dates are April 4th 5th 6th 2008. I went to the meeting of artists last week and friend David has also been selected.

Biathlon

Rowan was competing in a north east regional biathlon [swimming 2 lengths and running 1K] at Beverley yesterday. It was organised through school, with competitors from all over Yorkshire and beyond. She came third overall, winning her running heat. Her team also won the team competition. So a good day!

Jazz Architecture

Went to the Shed in Hovingham with Patrick and Julia to seeGwyneth Herbert . Danielle was too flue-y. It was a really good gig, I had never heard of her before but her band were great, and her performance got the whole place going.

At the start of the gig the owner, Simon Thackeray, read out a poem in memory of a local jazz fan who had died this week. It was

Ron Sims

who was the architect of our house. I spoke to Ron when we were considering buying the house, and he told me about its history and rationale. Anyway I was telling Simon this, and he pointed out some friends of Ron's on the front row, so I had a good chat with them about him and his work. Felt good.
The photo is of Beverley Minster in the East Riding of Yorkshire



V

Staying Over

I was working two days in a row in London this week, so I stayed with friends Joyce and Kwami in Wimbledon and their four [yes, four] children under 6. It was great to see them after a long while, and meet the children. The thought of Rowan x4 is pretty unimaginable.
The photo is of a real platform sign from the old Eastern Region. Readers of HP will recognise the significance

NRM

We went to the NRM on Saturday - just like old times. Rowan just about fitted on the miniature railway, she goes on her own now, so I can take this photo. It is run by volunteers who seem to enjoy the chance to play trains.

Punk

My sociology degree dissertation written in 1977 was "Punk Rock and Social Change". One of these days I will scan it and read it again. I am reading John Savage's book on punk,

England's Dreaming

which is a very scholarly overview of Punk Rock history. A bit London-centric for my taste, but definitely a good read.
The cover has some [rather naff] graffiti drawn on it in biro. When I was looking at a copy in Borders I was about to buy it when I noticed the drawing on it. Was it part of the cover, or had someone drawn on it? Did it matter? Did I want to give money to Borders for something tampered with [albeit in a punk way]? In the end I got it on-line.

Blue Tongue

Our cows on Hob Moor normally leave at Halloween. Not this year. Because of the Blue Tongue outbreak they cannot move out of the area: so they are wandering around looking a bit bemused.
Meanwhile I saw some geese flying overhead. Friend David, who knows all about birds, reckons they were either Pinkfoot geese, or , more likely, Greylag. Either way it is another bird on the list.

Family Heirlooms 2

Here is another one. A paperknife from Brown & Deighton Ltd of Preston - Oil Manufacturers. It is a lovely thing, and certainly better than a calender from the garage.

Friends

Friends Jake and Suzanne have recently moved to Richmond with their 3 year old daughter Edie. Jake and Edie came to stay in the week. Great to see them, and to be able to give them the run of the extension.
The photo is another from last week, the London Eye and Big Ben - walking by the river in London now is a fantastic experience.

Taken for Granted

I was in London two days last week. I walk along the embankment from Vauxhall to Westminster. It is a great walk, but all too easy to take things for granted. This view of the Houses of Parliament is fantastic, but I usually barely notice it.
The new piece of work is going well now.

Family Heirlooms

With Mother moving to Ro's a few of the family heir looms have passed to me. This is one of my favorites, a glass paper weight "celebrating" the opening of Britain's first motorway - the Preston Bypass. This was a s source of some civic pride at the time I believe [I was one]. Shame it just became a blocked up part of the M6.

Trick or treat

I drew the short straw and had to go on the watching brief for Rowan and friend Rhianna as they went trick and treating last night. Here is the photographic evidence.

Eh?

The taxi driver who took us into Madrid from the airport spoke no English. So I started talking to him about football - the international language.
"So when do Real Madrid play"
"Tomorrow night, against Olympiakos"
"So Barcelona are playing tonight?" I asked
"er, I don't understand"
Rivalry runs deep.
The photo is Madrid airport.

City Airport

We flew back from Madrid to London City Airport. This is the first time I had used it. It is great in 3 ways.
1 It is very small so that you do not have to walk halfway to Staines to get to the Terminal Zone.
2 It is linked to the Docklands Light Railway which makes for a dramatic nighttime ride past Canary Wharf et al.
3 It is not Gatwick or Heathrow.
The photo is of the marvellous Ritiro park.

Madrid 3

One of the things about Spain, is that trying to eat out before 9pm is virtually impossible. Luckily our hotel pointed us to a Paella restaurant that opened at 8: where we joined some fellow hungry north Europeans. The food was fantastic - a real treat, washed down with a bottle of Rioja.

Madrid 2

Neighbours Gwen and David recommended that we visit Atochar station in Madrid, as it has been re-vamped with tropical plants in place of trains. We need little encouragement to visit a station: it was a very impressive place, that is still a mainline station as well.

Madrid 1

Danielle had a conference in Madrid at the ONCE foundation. As it was half term we decided to go as well. It is a good city to walk around [unlike Rome] and we had a great time. Whilst Danielle was working I persuaded Rowan to look round the Prado art gallery with me. It is a really impressive gallery with plenty of space to see some very famous paintings, Rowan was very patient. On return Danielle said to Rowan, "I'm glad you enjoyed it". "Yes, I toed the line" she replied.

Play Areas

Children's play areas nearly all follow the same hegemonic type - lots of wood, Scandanavian feel, pretty good but a bit predictable.
So we were glad to find this one in metal with plenty of moving and spinning parts - a healthy disregard for health and safety.