City Walls

I used the City Walls as a long cut yesterday, en route from here to there, as I did some errands. They never fail to inspire and impress.

Stubbs'

This great building on the Foss used to be Stubbs Ironmongers [where the men wore those brown coats], a fine business. It is now a far from fine fish restaurant that we avoid; still a great building though.

Flam

It was windy, it was wet, but it was still good to see John and Katy as we went for a walk and a coffee at Flamborough Head.

Book Group

Our book group has undergone a bit of a refresh with three new members [Barry, Fay and Duncan], one retirement [Peter] and two returnees [Sue and Eddy]. The new line up met this week to consider my choice: True Grit by Charles Portis. It is a great book, with at least one great film [the Cohen brothers one, watching John Wayne in the original version has not grabbed me yet] coming out of it.

Photo is of a young Danielle.

Manchester

I was in Manchester this week for a meeting with fellow Alder consultants. Always good to catch up. I have just finished reading Fire and Fury the Wolff book about the Trump White House. It was really good, and in a strange kind of way reassuring; hard to say why but it is a recommended read.

Here is another photo from the recent scan: Danielle's parents at their wedding.

Great Uncles

My Granny was a Reed, the only girl amongst five. Here are the two Great Uncles I remember; Uncle George [know to me as Fish-George on account of his large garden pond. His son Uncle George also, was known as Train-George because of his amazing model railway collections] and Uncle Charles who we all liked [A bachelor with a colourful colonial past, who lived on the Isle of Man and had a beagle called Isla]

1998

1998. Mount Rushmore. Four Greats from History; standing in front of a statue.

Old Photos

I have been working on scanning old family photos. This is 20 years ago, with newborn Rowan and my Mum.

Scotland

It seems an age since we were in Scotland just before Christmas. Here is the selfie-proof.

Visitation 2

And here are the whole family, in the National Railway Museum on a cold and snowy and wet day in York.

Visitation

Niece Sarah, Markus and their three children came to stay at the weekend as they had a wedding to go to in York. Great to see them all. The snow that started to fall gave Rosalind and Felix a reason to watch and sing their snowflake song.

Fowler Calculator

Another family heirloom that has ended up with me is this slide rule type calculator from a Manchester company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fowler_Calculators
Although obviously obsolete in this age it is still a lovely thing.

Photos

John who came to my party in London presented me with some photos from our 1995 gig in the garden in Tottenham. So here are John, me, Simon on Harmonica and Diane on vocals.

Birthday

Rowan was 20 on Monday

Here she is when she was 10

Church Rides Again

Robert and I got our church exploration back on track last week. We made it to Kirk Hammerton church to the west of York. This is a Saxon church dating from 950AD. The tower and original nave and chancel are the old bits, with later unfortunate additions to the left in this picture. It is a real gem.

Next Day

The day after the party we saw Carl and Jill for breakfast in Wardour Street, they had not been able to make it for the party, so it was good to see them.

Then finally we had afternoon tea at a hotel in St James with Danielle's old London book group which is still meeting.

Then Rowan took the train for Marylebone back to Lem, and we got back to York in time to collect the dog.

Rogue's Gallery

So here are Rob & Kath and Mark & Mandy. Met them in Liverpool in 1976 via Charlie who sadly died a couple of years ago.

And this is John [who I played and recorded with in the late 80s early 90s], Cathy who I know via the Audit Commission 16 years ago, and Coral who is Paul's wife [see below]

Joyce, we met though Danielle's MBA studies [husband Kwami was ill], I used to supervise Paul as a Community Service Volunteer back in 1982.

Lord Victor I met in 1989, Sir David about the same time in Islington

Cathy is David's wife, T is Victor's with Isabella their daughter

Danielle with Katie who I met at University in Liverpool in 1976, and Audrey, Debbie's friend

Debbie is an old friend from Tottenham days, David is Katie's husband, with Rowan

Wendy, another friend from Islington days, with her daughter Mia

Danielle and I.

Great to see everyone, sorry that Andy and Ren and Kwami could not make it due to illness.

Another Party

Danielle and I went down to London for the final part of my 60th Birthday celebrations.  Rowan joined us from Warwick, and we all stayed at an AirB&B in Soho. In the evening there were 25 of us for a great evening at the India Club in the Strand, which is far far less grand than it might sound, but suited us to a tee.
More about guests and photos on later posts, but here is one of the three of us together.

Cine Camera

Putting away the jigsaw I came across my father's beautiful clockwork Kodak 8mm cine camera. A wondrous thing.

Tree Tree RIP

 Our deciduous redwood tree was undermining the flags and the drains and heading for the house. It had to go. A sad day indeed. The gentleman up the tree in the bottom photo is having a cup of tea halfway through the job.
Some jobs I get people to do  I think "I could have done that myself..." this was not one of those jobs.

Teaching

I started another term of taking the photography after-school group at the Mount. A bunch of really enthusiastic and talented year 7 girls. The first theme was water; taking shots with their phones this was the winning shot as voted by the group.

Jigsaw

We managed to finish the jigsaw on the last day before Rowan returned to Lem. So here it is, a map of York.

Birthday

Sunday evening Danielle and I went to the Ivy in York for a birthday meal. It has just opened and we had a good time. This is the view of the newly restored Mansion House from the restaurant.

Film News

We went to see All The Money In The World at the new Everyman Cinema which is a mile away from us. They have done a really good job of converting it from its old Odeon heritage into a modern cinema with bars and cafes etc. Good movie too.
Prior to that I was forced to go and watch The Greatest Showman with Danielle and Rowan at our existing independent cinema The City Screen. I must admit I quite enjoyed it.
This is a photo from the walk in the Wolds yesterday - good to get out there again after a break. Milo in front of winter Ash trees emerging from the slack below.

Celebration

For Danielle's birthday and Rowan's last day of the vacation, we all went out to walk in the Wolds then had lunch at the Star Inn, a really good gastro-pub in North Dalton. It was a beautiful icy-crisp day.

Seamer 2

There is a secret bit on the Trans-Pennine-Express trains beyond the first class. Here tend to gather those in the know with special needs. On my train back from Seamer yesterday this included me and another guy with bikes, a bloke in a hoody with a lovely greyhound and a guy in a wheelchair. All of us felt more comfortable in this section - a pleasant journey was had by all.

Every year we watch Christmas University Challenge [when it is old alumnae who have achieved fame / fortune / success from Universities rather than current students]. I always thought eventually someone we knew would be on it, and this year it happened. Paul is on the Keeble College team who are into the final. There was also someone who I do not know but I did force into taking a picture of Derwood and me a couple of years ago ... "What, so I'm a photographer now am I?" he sniffed as I failed to recognise him. So there was Tony James, ex bandmate in Gen X with Derwood representing Brunel. [They lost].

Seamer 1

We only got the fag end of Storm Eleanor up here. So I used the dry day to get a first bike ride for a while. Rode through the Wolds to Seamer near Scarborough and got the train back. Seamer station is not the most welcoming but it does its job.
At the start of each year I listen to all the tracks I have on my phone. So far this year I have learnt that
a] Alternative TV - How Much Longer is a classic single,
b] Jazz Rock does not really exist; when jazz and rock meet then rock wins. Cue, indulgent solos and a lot of bluster - I like it a lot.

Leeds 3

Here is the magnificent roof of the Leeds Corn Exchange. No corn anymore, but drum kits, guitars, tattoos, botox, vinyl, beer etc

Leeds 2

We also walked past the offices/warehouse where I used to work in Leeds in 1975; recently shut and now falling to pieces.

Leeds 1

I went to Leeds with Rowan on the train. She got her iPhone fixed, and we had a good wander around. I had never been in the renovated Corn Exchange before; a really impressive building. This is a vinyl record fair, singles going for 50p so still plenty of bargains going.