Monday

Sunday
5pm - Back from Oxfordshire, check the weather for a bike ride on Monday. According to the BBC site it will rain every hour of the day. Tell Dave we should cancel. He says he is going anyway. I say I'll let him know in the morning.

Monday
4.30am - Get up and take Rowan to the bus for her trip to Iceland [the country not the supermarket].
5.30am - Check the weather again. Dry! The forecast could not have changed more dramatically.
7.15am - Cycle round to Dave and Sam to set off in the van to meet with Dave [a different one] in Kettlewell in the Dales.
9.15am - A great 100k ride over the climbs of the Tour de France first stage. Not a single drop of rain.
6.30pm - Back home - exhausted.

The photo is from a walk at the weekend on Windmill Hill - one for the album cover I think.

Family Reunion

Big family get together in Oxfordshire. Mother and Alison, and assorted Palmours, Lincolns, Howsons and Harper. Feels really great to be all together, 17 in all ranging from 1 to 89. Not bad.

Guitar Bob

Friend Bob was up from Wales with a group of friends, so I met him and his partner Linda in a York hotel yesterday evening. Great to catch up. Bob and I used to play music back in the day in Hereford, indeed I have replaced him, one bald bearded American who doesn't mind playing rhythm guitar to my lead, with another here in York.

The photo is of a strange factory [brick works?] on the Humber. It has a very steam-punk, other time feel. I scurried past, not being entirely sure that it was not a human recycling plant.

Escalator

I have just been listening to Escalator Over The Hill by Carla Bley.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2011/jan/17/carla-bley-escalator-over-hill
I bought this in 1974 in Virgin Records in Birmingham when I was checking out potential Universities. It is a marvellous strange triple album that has stood the test of time well.
Danielle and I saw Carla Bley and her band perform at the Barbican in 1995, we took the tandem, got a puncture and ended up taking the tube home.
Before that I saw Carla, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor and band at Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1975 with a friend from Wigan. It was a great gig, and has, amazingly, just surfaced as a live album.

The photo is of the entrance to the Merchants Adventurers Hall in York

Fossgate

Another shot from the York shoot. This is Fossgate which is hopefully going to be turned into a footstreet soon under proposals put forward by the Council.

Hedge Fun

I saw this lovely hedge made down by the Humber. It is a skill worth having, being able to make one of those.

Humber

Rowan is away in Flanders on a school trip to the First World War Battlefields. We had a dinner party last night which went well, some new people some old friends. Today Danielle was rowing and I went a ride with Dave, Sam & Dave. Then Rob came round with his new carbon bike, we watched Ben Swift come third in the Milan - Sam Remo on Eurosport. Next I went to the station to meet friend Karen who is staying with us whilst in York for a work event. Busy time.

The photo is from the Humber estuary which I explored a bit last week. I always like an image that raises questions; Why is there a gate without a fence?

George School

Rowan has done really well and got a scholarship to go to George School in Pennsylvania from September for two years, where she will do her International Baccalaureate [instead of A levels]. She is very pleased, I am somewhat daunted, Danielle is delighted as it is the Quaker school that she attended. More to come on this ...

The photo is another from York last Sunday; this is Cliffords Tower.

Milo & The Rat

When Milo smells a rat he becomes totally animated and focused. Trouble is, if he catches one and kills it he then knows not what to do next. Usually he'll amble along to me and sheepishly carry on walking. So when I saw him catch one today I thought I should provide photographic proof of the hunter and the prey. Typically Milo was not interested in it at all; hence the photo.

Two and a bit weeks to go ...

Rotator Cuff News

The beginning of November last year I fell from my bike on an ice patch [one of the few all winter as it turned out]
A couple of weeks later and my shoulder was hurting so I went to the Doctor. He diagnosed a damaged Rotator Cuff and it has taken over 4 months of physio and exercises to get back to the stage of feeling good enough to play badminton again. But today was the day, and I am really pleased that it went well. We played just a couple of games and decided to stop whilst it was still OK, and I was restricted in a few types of shot, but overall it was very positive and a good step forward. Edward of course took full advantage and won.

Sunday was a beautiful day in York so I took the chance to use the light and get some shots. Here is the church across the road from our meeting house.

Sponsored Shear

Chris the Warden at our Quaker meeting house in York has had his beard "since the 60s". He agreed to have a sponsored shave-off in aid of the renovations to the meeting house. The results were spectacular.

 

Choir plus

We went to see John's choir perform, and met up with Nilgun a friend from London and a couple of her friends who have a son at York University. Went for a great meal afterwards - always good to meet new people.

Death

I suppose as you get older you have to get used to people who are older than you popping off. Earlier this year the great Stuart Hall died; he was the sociologist that most inspired me when I was a student. I saw him speak once at Liverpool and his books were crucial to my dissertation.
And now Tony Benn has died, I saw him speak at York Minster just a few years ago and he was still inspiring.

The photo is of a misty Knavesmire yesterday morning.

Menace

There is a definite sense of menace on the lonely Wolds sometimes; this headless scarecrow added to that feeling.

Tunnels

Walking the canal into Birmingham parallels the railway line, leading to this juxtaposition of rail and water tunnels.

Birmingham

I have been in Birmingham for a couple of days meeting up with fellow Alder Advisers. We meet at Woodbrooke, the Quaker study centre of which Danielle is a trustee. It is a really lovely place to stay, with an aura of peace that is evident the moment you arrive. The sessions were good. Woodbrooke is in Bournville, an area of Birmingham developed by the Cadbury Quakers in a positive way rich in social conscience and subsequent community facilities. It gives the impression of being from a parallel universe where things work and are still open, rather than the sad decay of much of urban Britain.
I walked back into New Street Station by way of the University and Canal - a great urban walk.

The canal side in the city centre is now totally redeveloped with shops and bars. I spotted this combination of new building / moon / seagull in the area.

Le Tour

I went a short ride on some of the route for Stage 2 of this year's Tour de France, http://letour.yorkshire.com/stage-2 from Hebden Bridge to Huddersfield. Although only a short bit of the route it was pretty brutal and will make for a great stage in July - can't wait. This shot is from the top of the Pennines above Mytholmroyd, after riding up the longest continuous hill in England - Cragg Vale. A typically bleak and grim place - I love it.

MUN

Rowan is in Bath for a Model United Nations debate  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_United_Nations - she got the short straw and has to be the Israeli delegate; sounds like she is having fun. So Danielle and I went off for a Wolds walk. Saw these snowdrops brightening up the wintered wood.
We finally managed to finish watching the first series of The Bridge [Danish / Swedish thriller] just a year since we borrowed the DVD from my sister.

Kacey

We all really like the Kacey Musgraves album Same Trailer Different Park, and not just because of the great title. Great songs, great lyrics, good stuff.

Observation 2

And here are two of the Buzzards.

Observation

I was walking the dog down Moor Lane, I have been there many times before. I looked across the road and saw a pond and a strange structure that I had never noticed. I asked a man about it. "It's an old brick pond". Amazing that I had never noticed it before, and an interesting find. I walked on, looked up to the sky and saw three Buzzards showing off above me. I have never seen Buzzards above York before.
The moral appears to be "keep looking".

Moor Lane Brick Pond

Curating

Friend Kath came up to see daughter Lily who had curated a photography exhibition at the University here in York. Great to see her, we dragged her to a cyclist's cafe that has opened in Micklegate, only to find out that she has in fact taken up cycling.

The photo is of a Tumulus in the Wolds. Many of these ancient burial mounds got ploughed up during the enclosures, but some remained. The trig point on this one will soon also become a rare and ancient sight.

Deep Dale

This is Deep Dale, another dale that is now access land. It is particularly beautiful and, of course, totally empty.

Well Dale

This is Well Dale, near Warter in the Wolds, prior to the Right to Roam legislation you could never have walked here. It is pretty clear that the landowner would still have it that way, but fortunately that is not the case. I have never ever seen another human there, so they need not have worried about that "influx of townies dropping litter everywhere".

Rowan and I have just started watching the Alistair Cook history of America - she is showing an interest in the US side of her heritage.

O&U

Sometimes the athletics does not go well. Today at the Nationals in Sheffield was one such day. Rowan handled her disappointment well [courtesy of a comfort meal at Carluccio's in Meadowhall] and is looking positively forward to the outdoor season.

The photo is of Kings Manor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_Manor which is another historic building here in York.

Cycling

When I first got into following professional cycling in the early 80s, the season started with the Het Volk Belgian semi-classic at the start of March. It is always a grim Flemish grind over wet and cold cobbles which produces a worthy robust winner. There has never been an English winner until today when Ian Stannard produced a great sprint in the rain in a classic dour urban environment to win. Magnificent.

Mean time Dave and I went a ride on a lovely sunny morning over the hills at Thorner.