Not a Great Weekend

Danielle is in the states for her grandmother's funeral. Rowan has been off of school for two days and still has flu/cough/etc and I now have it too. Both John and Edward came and did a bit of impromptu babysitting for me on Friday. I have been laid really low for the whole weekend. Rowan is being good and watching a lot of ski-ing [thank heavens for eurosport]. 

Tyne

I used my last free train ticket last week to travel to Newcastle, walk around and get some photos. I was surprised to find these heavy cranes still in use. On the train up I saw friend Kim who was on her way to a work meeting in Newcastle too. The train was delayed by what the guard described as "a technical problem with a passenger" the mind boggled, he later corrected it to "a technical problem with a pantograph"

Wheel Me Out

One of the new ubiquities of tube travel in London, is the wheeled suitcase. People emerge from trains, assemble their wheels behind them, then trundle off together resembling Duracell bunnies pulling their batteries behind them as though they are an essential part of forward motion. 

Which is fine.

Except people pulling the things do not realise that they do not pull them directly behind themselves, but off to one side. This makes the total package two people wide, only the puller does not realise this. Clattered ankles [usually belonging to non case pulling folk] result.

Great Grandma RIP

Danielle's Great Grandma died yesterday. She was in her 90s, in a nursing home, but it was still a shock. We had the feeling she would go on forever.

The photo is from happier times - four generations of women. BJ [Danielle's mother who died 6 years ago] Rowan [7 months old in the photo - now a little taller] Great Grandma Lavinia Grayson, Royce [Danielle's dad and token man in this shot] and Danielle.

Routine

Here is my Saturday mornings these days.

6am the alarm goes, get up, kettle on, splash water, wake Rowan, cup of Barleycup, out the house by 6.25. 

6.45 Rowan starts swimming at the pool, I go for a 4 mile run around the River Foss.

8.15 Back at home for pancakes that Danielle has cooked whilst we are out.

9am Start the day.

Photo is of Rowan having recieved her prize at the Biathlon on Sunday

More Biathlon

This photo is after the first 100 metres. It was a great stadium. It is where Hunslet Rugby League team play. with a tall grandstand that I was able to climb up [when no one was looking] to get this shot.

Biathlon

Today was the regional heat of the National Schools Biathlon held at Leeds. Rowan was part of the school team seen here being coached by their excellent games teacher. Rowan won the run [1k in 3minutes 28 seconds] and the overall. Her classmate Kiri won the swimming, so everyone was happy.

This means that Rowan and the team of three from school qualify for the national finals again at Bath in the new year. 

Tornado

Last photo from the weekend - this is Cliffords Tower.

We saw the Tornado steam engine http://www.a1steam.com/ blast past school this week. It is a mainline engine built from scratch at Darlington. We saw it a few years ago when it looked a long long way from completion. It is a great achievement.

More York

Another shot from the weekend walking about York. This is from the snicket that connects the station and railway museum with our side of town

Travel

I still get a thrill when I hear the hiss of the steel wheels on the curve of the track as the London express comes into the station at York. This after 10 years of using it to get down to work in the capital. I get a table for four to myself, connect the laptop to the free wi-fi, have a swig of my decaf coffee served by charming Polish girls on the station, then get down to work. It is a very civilized start to the day. The cost is  - unbelieveably - no more than when I started those 10 years ago.

The photo is of the lantern on All Saints church in High Ousegate in York, easily noticed due to its striking octagonal 15th century lantern tower. In the medieval period a lantern was hung from the tower to act as a beacon for travellers in the Forest of Galtres to the north. The church, first mentioned in the Domesday Book, is the burial place of 39 Lord Mayors. Look for the 12th century door knocker depicting the Mouth of Hell. 

Minster

We all walked round on the city walls on Sunday - always a good one for visitors. The light on the Minster was at its autumn best.

West Yorks

And here is another shot of the group on the station. 

On Saturday Rowan ran for the first time in the West Yorkshire cross country league - this is reckoned to be a bit tougher than the softies in North Yorkshire, and it was. She still won though. http://fm.torsion.co.uk/revamp/2004/xcountry/v2/index2.html

Guests

We had Alison, Mike, Sylvia and Gabriel as house guest this weekend. They have come down from Glasgow for a visit. Great to see them: we did the usual York things. Yesterday Zan and Edie also came to see us so we had a busy weekend.

Award Time

We went to the York City Athletics Club awards do last night. Rowan won the U11 girl athlete of the year: it was presented by Greg Rutherford [the tall one] who is a Team GB long jumper who was in the Beijing Olympic final http://www.olympics.org.uk/beijing2008/AthleteProfile.aspx?id=6855 .

Bleak

I got head-hunted by an interim recruitment company who get consultants for organisational clients. I met with them in Leeds today and it went well. It should be complementary to how I get work anyway and is good news.

The photo is from the top of the moors above Haworth, not far from Top Withens where Wuthering Heights was set. One of the things I like about the South Pennine moors is that there is no pretension to beauty - it is bleak but I like it.

Obama Time

We got a lot of e-mails of delight following Obama's election triumph. It was definitely one of those special moments. I found this poster at the Stepfather of Soul blog http://stepfatherofsoul.blogspot.com/ and liked it. So here it is.

Over the Moors

Today I got a bike ride in. I took the train to Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley, then rode back over the tops to Keighley and the Aire Valley, back over the tops to Otley and the River Wharfe and back along to York. It was great to be on the grim dour moors again, but the wind was a bit dicey on the descents. I stopped at a pub for lunch, expecting deep frozen lasagne or such-like: what I got was wild mushroom risotto with rocket and parmesan - in Yorkshire. Sign of the times - it was great by the way.

Headline News

There are not a lot of laughs in social care, so when I saw this headline on the Community Care website it made me think that's either a very big room or really cramped conditions. 

• Help the Aged: 4.5m pensioners stay in one room to keep warm

Of course, it's not really a funny issue but it made me smile.

At the weekend Rowan had a sleepover for two of her friends. We shoved them upstairs and hoped for the best. It seemed to work, although they definitely went to sleep after we did. On the Sunday the parents of one of our guests [Paul and Hilary] took pity on us and invited us to a post-sleepover Sunday lunch. Paul had cooked a fantastic curry with cheesecake for pudding. Almost made the sleepover worthwhile.

MP

I took the local MP, Hugh Bayley onto the moor this morning. He wanted to know more about the Friends of Hob Moor so I was happy to oblige.

Then it was off to Tadcaster Grammer School where the latest round of the cross country league took place. This is Rowan with her friend, they came 1st and 3rd.

Camera Club

I was invited to talk at the York Camera Club last night. It was a strange experience, I have never been to a photographic club in my life and will probably never go again. The talk went well and there were some good people there. The thing with York is that inevitably people there knew people I knew so it was good networking. The theme of my talk was "never mind the equipment" which went down very well with people not too bothered about f stops and apertures, and hopefully didn't offend anyone else. 

Responses ranged from "reminds me of Cartier-Bresson" [ultimate compliment] to "why don't you just use colour" [no comment]

Friend Sue has set up a garden/home goods website http://www.thomasandlucia.com/ so I am spreading the word.

Kings Cross What Shall We Do

I must have walked up these stairs from the tube at Kings X a thousand times - on Sunday there was something about the light that caught my eye. Camera came out, and I'm glad I got the shot.

Hallelujah!

Danielle cast her vote for Obama long ago, like many we were involved in an anxious wait over the last few months - "will he do it?"

I had fallen asleep when Danielle whispered to me "he's got Pensylvania"; trouble was in my dreams this became "he's got Florida" so I awoke thinking it was in the bag. There followed an anxious wait for the news this morning - we needn't have worried. It was with relief that we heard the great news. Suddenly America doesn't seem so bad after all.

The photo is from the new Battlebridge Arts centre at Kings Cross, a great series of galleries, cafes etc. A friend, Kelly, used to have a flat here: shame she sold it as it must now be one of the best places to live in London.

A Londres

At the weekend Teba came round to look after Rowan whilst Danielle and I went down to London. We had a great time, meeting up with Joyce and Kwami and going for a good meal at an Italian Fish restaurant in Soho Zilli Fish http://www.toptable.co.uk/venues/restaurants/?id=1152&refid=ggl05&gclid=CLeT_6ip3JYCFQaB1QodMDLf2Q

Open Studios 2009

Saturday I was at the Open Studios meeting for the 2009 show. This will be my third year of exhibiting and I am looking forward to it already. The dates are

Friday March 27th 2009

Saturday March 28th 2009

Sunday March 29th 2009

So get those dates in your diaries and plan a trip [it's not that far from the US, and the dollar is getting stronger]

The photo is my top-seller from the previous shows

Netball

Ro and Pete came up to take Mother back home on Friday. Great to see them: Ro sporting a broken wrist from their trek in the Peak District. Rowan was off at a netball day at Leeds Carnegie University. She went with two friends and they loved it - the coach was an England coach so they were definitely going to the next level.