Live from the Met

Last night we went to see Mozart's Magic Flute live from the Met in New York, on a satellite link to the local cinema - got that? It was on a huge screen in HDTV, and was fantastic - great image quality, subtitles so that you know what is going on, great production, and bizarrely a real sense of watching something live [which we were]. A great success.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/index.aspx

The photo is from Khavarosk, at the end of the Trans Siberian railway, that land in the distance is China.

E Music

Ben and Kari left today, Rowan bid a sad farewell. They gave me a 6 month subscription to E-Music for Christmas which is great. It means I can have 20 downloads a month. It feels strange having legal downloads but I'll get used to it.

The photo is of Moscow in 1986, pretty much the precise day that Chernobyl was imploding, although I did not know at the time. One of the abiding memories of the USSR for me was how incredibly safe it felt to walk around the streets. I do not think it would feel the same now. Got plenty of McDonalds though.

Party Party

We had our annual Christmas Drinks yesterday. Advertised as drink, nibbles and trampoline, it went really well. It was the usual format, mulled wine, slow start, madness as loads of people all arrive together, children charging around the garden, more mulled wine, finally collapse in time for late comers to arrive. Wouldn't change it for anything.

Panto

The York Panto is a bit of a national institution

http://homepage.mac.com/philipdavis/English%20sites/3721.html

and has a wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berwick_Kaler. I was very happy to miss it again. The photo is on the walls.

Baille Hill

We all walked on the City Walls today, passing Baille Hill [photo] the site of one of William The Conquerors castles when he put York under the cosh

http://homepage.mac.com/philipdavis/English%20sites/3721.html

I went off to play Badminton with Edward whilst everyone else went to the Pantomine.

Family

Rowan really enjoys having her uncle Ben and Kari here. And we enjoy her enjoying it too - gives us a break. Managed to get a bike ride in today, and Danielle did the first run as part of her marathon training. Just need Preston to win now.

Happy Christmas

Against all odds, Ben and Kari arrived early. So we were a happy bunch who went to the Christmas Eve candlelit meeting at Friargate. This morning Rowan and I jogged round to a couple of away-neighbour's houses to check all was OK, then got back for champagne and presents. As you can see Rowan was quite pleased with her racing bike.

In Theory

Ben and Kari are due to arrive today from DC. The various odds stacked against a timely arrival include, snow in Denver [don't ask] fog at Heathrow, failed signals resulting in the closure of the Piccadilly line from Heathrow to Kings X, and a bus replacement service from Grantham to York. If all of that is negotiated without time-loss then we should be able to meet them [and the flying pigs] at 5pm this evening.All very excited especially one RW.
Photo is of another frosty morning near York

Jigsaw

We have a family jigsaw on the go at the moment. It is of a railway painting

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WATERLOO-STATION-jigsaw-puzzle-WAR-AND-PEACE-Gibsons_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ250043646060

of Waterloo Station, and is proving a challenge to us all. Royce can often be seen peering over it, and Rowan, Danielle and I are all chipping in. Whether we finish it this year or not is a moot point. The photo is from my walk yesterday when Rowan was at Running Wild

Weather

Rowan and I had to put off our trip down to Granny's to see her before Christmas and exchange presents. The fog and ice made our proposed trip-times [at night] not a safe option. We are also worried about Ben & Kari flying in from DC on Christmas Eve, and then having to use British Rail - seems like a recipe for a delay if ever I heard one.

It was the last Running Wild of the year today. They made wreaths - picture. It is a really good scheme.

Ex Libris

A really great game of ex-libris last night

http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/gamesin.php?UniqueNo=620

with book group. John bought champagne, and Royce played as well. Rowan played the first 3 rounds and, unbelievelbaly was winning - I couldn't quite believe how good at it she was.

The photo is of Clifton ings, flooded out last week.

Houses in York

Walking around York the architecture strikes you in two ways. Firstly there is the magnificent old stuff [Minster, Walls etc] then the awful 20th century housing. Occaisionaly though there is a surprise, a building that is just interesting and unknown. I spotted this house on Bootham while Rowan was swimming on Sunday morning.

Transport

Royce is very good at adapting to our way of transport. So last night we all walked the mile to friends Julia and Patrick who were having a party. Rowan found a new friend, and we had a good time too. Then today Rowan, Royce and I all cycled to Monks Cross mall, and the dentist, and the Railway Museum. A ten mile ride, not bad for a 71 year old.
As you can see from the photo Rowan is pleased t
o have her grandfather with her.

Popa Arrives

Royce arrived Saturday. Rowan is delighted. We picked him up from the station after we had seen Rowan's school's Christmas Meeting - this is a Quaker-ish assembly on the last Saturday of the term. The photo is another of the extension, as it stands now - I know that when the scaffolding comes down, the actual room will look a bit small. So I am preparing myself for that.

Extension E

Here is the latest photo of the extension. As you can see, the timber work is going a-pace ... at the moment.
Last week we went to drinks at Kevin and Gerard's place up the road. Rowan made some new friends and so did we - really pleasant. We were talking to a boy whose scout leader is our builder - small world.

Decking

Danielle [under some guidance] bought me a USB deck for my birthday. So I get to hear all the old albums stuck in the garage for the last 10 years, and put the best tracks onto my laptop. I think this is a good thing [probabl]. Anyway, so far I have unearthed a few forgotten classics. I know somewhere in the musty vault is the Laura Lee track with the lyric "there's going to be an avalanche, when I tell my cousin Blanche" so the devling will be worth it.
The photo is another flood shot.

Fisher of Time

This is one of the Sustrans sculptures on the York to Selby cycle route. It is on the old east coast main line, which was abandoned in the 1980s. Hard to believe that Mallard would have once been charging up here at over a 100 miles per hour.

I was having a drink with Mark in the Commonwealth club last night when I saw Jabez, a friend from 10 years ago in Islington. Then he was an ardent [and painful] trade unionist. Now, he was schmoozing with Lib Dems trying to get the British Chinese vote. We all change.

Man Flu

I have flu at the moment but decided to go down to London for to work today. That is what you have to do when you are self-employed. Taking a day off is not really an option. Anyway, I got into the office and was croaking and moping around. "Oh you've got man flu have you?" said Mary and Sheenagh together. "What's man flu?" I replied. "A cold"
ha ha
The photo is of the flooded Ouse in York, the flood season is going well. Met with the usual nonchalance by Yorkies "oh aye, it's up"

Hansard

Here is the view from the roof, looking down on the bees, the gazebo, and the moor

Danielle was named on a government advisory group in the Chancellors pre-budget speech this week - first time a Palmour has been mentioned in Parliament for a while I think. Very pleased for
her.
"Ms Natascha Engel: LAB - NORTH EAST DERBYSHIRETo ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that benefit claimants and people in low incomes have ready access to regulated banking and loans services. (104885)
MR ED BALLS
The Government’s goal is to halve the number of people without access to a bank account. We have established a £120m financial inclusion fund for initiatives to promote access to banking, affordable credit and money advice; and an independent Financial Inclusion Taskforce to monitor progress. The Taskforce has recently reported to me that good progress is being made with the banking goal. I am pleased to be able to announce today two new members of the Taskforce – Bridget McIntyre, UK Chief Executive of Royal and SunAlliance, and Danielle Walker Palmour, Director of the Friends Provident Foundation.

Jazz

This photo shows how the extension is coming along inside the steel frame.
Today I went on a bike ride with Ted and Dave, missing the promised terrible weather. I then met Danielle and Rowan at Kennedy's bar in York where friend Adrian plays with his jazz quartet. Danielle had arranged for a number of friends to turn up for a surprise birthday gathering for me. So it was great to catch up with people, enjoy the jazz and have a relaxing time.

Extending More

This is the latest extension picture. The scaffolding has gone up, the wall frames are in the back half and the floor for the stairs is being dug up. Things are moving on. Emotionally the whole thing veers from elation to frustration - frequently.
We all climbed up to the top today - we could see the Minster and the Yorkshire Aye [the big wheel].

A new place in town

There is an official petition to the government to try and get bikes allowed back on trains

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Cycles-on-Trains/

and change the crazy situation that exists at the moment where it is almost impossible to do. Please sign it.

The photo is of Rowan at her performance last night.
We went for a meal at the Akbar Indian restaurant the other night. It is an import from Bradford [where Asian restaurants are a very big thing] and it was fantastic food. A real plus for York

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/restaurantreviews/display.var.991706.0.akbars_george_hudson_street_york.php

Birthday

Today is the day. Cake and champagne for breakfast, a morning in Leeds with Danielle visiting the Henry Moore Gallery [not great] http://www.henry-moore.ac.uk/matrix_engine/content.php?page_id=33 , a meal at Vanilla Black vegetarian restaurant then back to watch Rowan in the school performance. It was a Twelfth Night Feast and we all had to dress up in a Tudor style [for me this meant my Pakistani mountain man hat, cycling trousers with socks on the outside, a frilly shirt and a cravat. Danielle looked much better] We were then served lots of food, and watched some great performances by the children from the school. All tired now.
The photo is from the ride to Tadcaster.

There has been a photo up-load problem on Blogger for a few days [as a result of an ironically called "upgrade"] but it seems to be fixed for the moment, so here is a new photo of Rowan

Dinner

After rushing Rowan back from her choir performance, we left her with babysitter Claire then whooshed off to dinner with Danielle’s old boss at Joseph Rowntree [Lord Best] and his successor Julia who is a friend of Danielle’s. Me, Patrick and Lindy made up the six. They had kindly delayed dinner till 9.00, so that we could combine choir and a night out. It was a fantastic meal and great company. It got even better. I had assumed I would be driving back, so drank nothing. We then negotiated for Patrick and Julia to give us a lift back to York, with me leaving the car and cycling the next day to pick it up. As this meant a relaxed evening and an excuse for a 12 mile ride on Sunday morning, it was pretty much a perfect arrangement.

Ice House

One of the things about York, is that it is so rich in history, archeology and all the rest of it, that some places just slip under the radar and you do not notice them. So on Saturday whilst I was walking the city walls

http://www.york.gov.uk/walls/index.html

I looked over and saw this ice house. It is 18th century, and would have been used to store ice. Pretty amazing, and totally overlooked [especially from the walls]

Minster

Rowan sang in the school choir at the Minster last night. It was for a Marie Curie cancer charity event. It was very good, and Rowan enjoyed it more than she thought she would. The photo is of the extension floor going down. We all went up on the roof to have a look at it yesterday. Emotions range from excitement to anxiety...

Poetry

The book group did poetry last week. We all chose a favorite poem, read it out then we discussed it. It was really good fun. Poets ranged from the heavy [Slyvia Plath, Wilfred Owen] to the punk [John Cooper Clarke] via Walt Whitman, Brain Patton and others. I never really got poetry, so it was good for me to think about it a bit more

London

I had a typical London work day yesterday. Starting work at 6.30 in the morning on the train, working through to a quick lunch break - which I have at a turkish greasy spoon caff that is round the corner, they have got to know me by now - then work till about 4.30. Then I took the tube to Victoria and walked through London back up to Kings Cross for the 6.30 train and two more hours of work before home.
I love walking round London, nothing better. When I first moved there in 1980 I used to read HV Mortons books about London

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Vollam_Morton

which were very old but really caught the magic of the place. The photo is of the pondless fountain in Russell Square