Freelance

One of the realities of being a hired hand, as a freelancer, is that you do not call the shots. I was asked about doing a piece of work for a London Borough. They liked me, checked me out, asked me for availability. I broke the news that I could not work through the summer [when Rowan is off] and that 3 days a week was the max I could commit to. Never mind they still wanted me and arranged for me to meet them today. Only they found someone who can do 5 days a week - now. So they cancelled their interest in me. So I have a nice day in London en route to some work tomorrow in Wales. It is a reality of working like I do. I have to hope that clients will fit in with my part-time imperatives. This is usually fine once they know me. C'est la vie.
I am staying with friends in Marylebone, so walked through Hyde Park for the first time in a while. It has changed a lot - there is obviously now a policy of leaving large swathes of it as wild meadow. It is a great improvement on the old days of acres of grass mown to within a millimetre of its life.

I then headed up Queensway to Westbourne Grave. This is an area that I will always associate with Mike & Derwood. Unbeknownst to me, Danielle was also living in the area long before she knew me. It hasn't changed much, still seedy, still vibrant. I get a coffee in a Prets [free wifi] and Sly and the Family Stone - Family Affair comes on the sound system - a song definitely associated in my mind with those times past.
The photo is far away from west London, on our bike ride on Tuesday on the cusp of the North York Moors - Danielle scorching up the hill.

Away

Rowan is away on a school trip in the Lakes, so Danielle and I went on a Groupon two night stay near Thirsk in a great gastro-pub the Kings Arms  http://www.thekingsarmssandhutton.co.uk/ . The weather was great, we took the bikes and had a lovely time. The first day we walked down the River Swale which flows calmly at this time of year.

Cattle

The cattle are back on the Moor, apparently including a couple of Belgian Blues [me neither]. It is great to have them around. Each evening they tend to do a circuit round the edge of the Moor, past our garden. When it is hot and if we have the sprinkler on, they low at the water - pleading to come and have a splash. Declined.

Hob Moor Memories

I can't say I will be sad to bow out from chairing the Friends of Hob Moor, but it is definitely worthwhile. Here I am in front of our stand at the fair. I met one old bloke in a wheelchair who talked at length about the Moor when he was a lad - his family kept pigs on the Moor, and he played in the old brick ponds. He was very interesting. Me "So could we record your memories of the Moor for our records?" Him "Oh, no I don't like to talk". I will try another tack next time.

The Moor

The Moor is at its best this time of the year. The buttercups are in full bloom, especially on the old football pitches that have not been mown for a couple of years now, allowing the flowers to come through.
Yesterday was the annual Hob Moor Fair which attracts more people each year.

It's A Mystery

This year there is another production of the York Mystery Plays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Mystery_Plays . Rowan's school had a reading in a church yard off Mickelgate at 6.30am this morning of one of the plays. About 20 of us were there and we all read the play out in a circle. It  was a beautiful morning and a good experience. Afterwards we had bread and honey [continuing the medieval theme] back at the school, before Rowan went off to a rounders match [not a medieval game]

Butterflies

The cold weather has kept the butterflies away until this week, when it is suddenly summer. So far I have seen Orange Tip, Blues, Speckled Wood, Small and Large Whites, Comma [in the photo] and Green Veined White which I have not knowingly seen before. More will come later I hope.

Beverley Church

Not only does Beverley have its Minster, it also has this lovely church. It is just across from the gallery http://creationfinearts.co.uk/about where I will have some photos displayed.

Perfect

Here is another shot from the ride yesterday. As you can see it was a pretty idyllic day.

Hedge Fun

Got a ride in today. Beautiful sunshine, just like May should be. Went through Newburgh Priory http://www.newburghpriory.co.uk/ which has these amazing hedges draped around it.
The birds are busy nesting in the garden; Sparrow, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Blackbirds and Wood Pigeons. This year for the first time we have a pair of Mistle Thrushes nesting in the Birch Trees; a beautiful sight.

York City

York City are promoted to the Football League after winning at Wembley for the second time in a week [they won the FA Trophy last week]. This is good news.
Yesterday evening our neighbour Gwen invited the three of us round for a great meal. Her house looks onto the Moor, here are Danielle and Rowan in the window seat with the lush damp Moor behind.

This and That

With the weather still looking cold and damp Dave and I decided to go a mountain bike ride around York. I have worked out a great route on bridleways, tracks and back roads and we had a great ride. Stopped off at the Balloon Tree for a coffee, got very muddy, didn't mind.
Rowan meantime was running at the girls independent schools meeting at York track. Not the highest of standards but she seemed to enjoy it anyway.
We all watched 56 up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series yesterday. I first saw it when it was 28 up, and never really twigged that it was about my generation until now. Brilliant and painful.

Bad Weather

The weather is making the vegetable garden a bit of a disaster so far this year. There is no warmth for the plants to get a good start which, coupled with plenty of slug and bird activity, leads to a miserable looking plot.
Upstairs is a very different story with the Aubergines, Peppers and Tomatoes all looking very healthy and on track for some good crops.

The photo is of cattle in Deep Dale in the Wolds. I was out there last week.

Larger

I spotted this sign at the Athletics meeting. Drink too much lager and you will indeed get larger.

Jessica Ennis

Here's Rowan with Jessica Ennis yesterday at the Yorkshires.
Danielle is back from the States and her reunion, seemed to have had a good time.
I took some photos over to a new gallery in Beverley http://creationfinearts.co.uk/ which will be showing my work as part of its opening show. Very nice bloke running it, I hope it goes well.

Champion of Yorkshire!

Rowan competed in the Girls u15 High Jump at the Yorkshire Championships today, and she won! She was delighted. She won in a jump off, with the two girls who shared the silver. This is her first County victory, and her High Jump coach was there to see it, so a great day. Jessica Ennis was competing in the same meeting and Rowan was delighted to meet her hero and get her autograph.

Concert

Danielle is in the states for a high-school reunion, back on Tuesday. Yesterday evening Rowan was playing in the school summer concert on her French Horn. The concerts are always informal and usually fun. This video of  them performing Pink Panther will give you an idea. Rowan is on the right.

Fathering

One of the things I like about York is that it is big enough to not feel smalltown but small enough to keep running into people you know. So I was not surprised when I was snacking at the Balloon Tree cafe outside of York whilst on a bike ride to the Wolds to hear "Oh Simon, I've got something to ask you". Turned out it was friend Liz who is doing some research interviews into fathers who take the lead in looking after their young children. So we fixed a time for later in the week. It went really well, I probably enjoy talking about myself a bit too much anyway. No notebook, just a smartphone. The questions did make me reflect on why I had done it and also on how much I enjoyed it.

The photo is of a tumulus on top of Garrowby Hill in the Wolds http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/bronze-age-burial-mounds-saved-as-farmer-signs-up-for-stewardship-scheme-%E2%80%93-nope/

No more Loughborough

The last photo from Loughborough [I promise], this is the town hall with modern sculpture in front.
Bank holiday monday we all four went a walk along the River Ouse on a route that Danielle had discovered during one of her longer runs. It was good, and quite rare, for us all to be together on a walk.

Loughborough 2

There are some interesting buildings in Loughborough including this amazing war memorial; it is like something you would expect to see in Kew Gardens rather than a provincial midlands town. It was built by subscription after the first world war and is pretty well preserved.

Another Day Another Town

I took Rowan to Loughborough [National Netball Centre] where she was playing some matches. I treat these trips as an opportunity. Whilst she is playing I walked into the town on lovely Sustrans cycle paths through a pleasant path to the Great Central Railway, which is a preserved bit of an old main line from Sheffield to London. There was plenty going on there, including this engine about to leave with the dining special. I also found out the Loughborough is where the York Minster Bell was cast long ago.

The Hills of Denmark

The Giro [Tour of Italy cycle race] started in Denmark this year [don't ask]. The route went through Lemvig where my friend Karin and family live. I remember cycling there in the 80s and being shocked to find a hill at the end of my journey up to their house. A hill in Denmark? That can't be right, right? So I was glad to see that the hill in question was classified in the King of the Mountains classification for the Giro.

The other memory of cycling in Denmark was the wind. 120k of headwind from Ejsberg to Lemvig, thinking all along "it will be great to cycle back with the tailwind." I stayed three days in Lemvig, during which time the wind changed direction by 180 degrees  to give me another 120k of headwind on the way back. 30 years ago and I have not forgotten it.
The photo is of Rowan in action in a Duathlon she ran/cycled in Bradford yesterday.

North East Wind

I went a ride in the Wolds yesterday. The wintry weather has come courtesy of a north east wind, the complete opposite of the normal south westerly. This means that the whole dynamic of the ride changes - with the hard work first and a tailwind on the way home. Met a brilliant old bloke [72 I reckon] in the cafe at lunchtime. He had cycled out from York too and  was wearing a Dennis The Menace cycle top totally unselfconsciously. He was preparing to do the Lands End to John O'Groats route in a couple of weeks - 80 miles a day. Inspiring.

The photo is of Harper Dale in the Wolds from the walk Rowan and I did in the holidays.

Rowan is in the school tennis team, despite her claims of being really rubbish. They played a local school that consider themselves tennis experts and Rowan won 6-2 in the singles and the doubles too. Great shock all round.

Lecture

There are always plenty of free and interesting public lectures to go to in York. Having two universities that appear to be competing for civic attention helps. The three of us went to see a lecture on science paradoxes by Jim Al Khalili who is on the TV and radio a lot  http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2012/events/paradox-lecture/ . He was very good and the packed hall enjoyed it. It reminded me that science is not for me - Schrödinger can keep his cat.

Just another Monday

After the deluge it was a lovely sunny day yesterday. I wore shorts, butterflies in the garden, it was almost impossible to believe it was just a day after the freezing rain and gale.
Rowan had high jump coaching after school at City Of York Athletics club. The coach seems just right for Rowan and she definitely seems to be improving.
In book group we discussed The Element of of Water by Stevie Davies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Davies which was much better than it sounds [not a lot about snooker though]. One of the group, Christie, is a professor of dance at York St Johns University. Last week she gave her inaugural lecture which the group all went to see [not me, I was in London, but Rowan went as my representative with Danielle], hence the rearrange to a Monday night.
After the intellectual discussion it was good to stay up and watch City beat United.
Today I saw Linnets on the field behind the house and the first Swallow of the year.