Eh?

The taxi driver who took us into Madrid from the airport spoke no English. So I started talking to him about football - the international language.
"So when do Real Madrid play"
"Tomorrow night, against Olympiakos"
"So Barcelona are playing tonight?" I asked
"er, I don't understand"
Rivalry runs deep.
The photo is Madrid airport.

City Airport

We flew back from Madrid to London City Airport. This is the first time I had used it. It is great in 3 ways.
1 It is very small so that you do not have to walk halfway to Staines to get to the Terminal Zone.
2 It is linked to the Docklands Light Railway which makes for a dramatic nighttime ride past Canary Wharf et al.
3 It is not Gatwick or Heathrow.
The photo is of the marvellous Ritiro park.

Madrid 3

One of the things about Spain, is that trying to eat out before 9pm is virtually impossible. Luckily our hotel pointed us to a Paella restaurant that opened at 8: where we joined some fellow hungry north Europeans. The food was fantastic - a real treat, washed down with a bottle of Rioja.

Madrid 2

Neighbours Gwen and David recommended that we visit Atochar station in Madrid, as it has been re-vamped with tropical plants in place of trains. We need little encouragement to visit a station: it was a very impressive place, that is still a mainline station as well.

Madrid 1

Danielle had a conference in Madrid at the ONCE foundation. As it was half term we decided to go as well. It is a good city to walk around [unlike Rome] and we had a great time. Whilst Danielle was working I persuaded Rowan to look round the Prado art gallery with me. It is a really impressive gallery with plenty of space to see some very famous paintings, Rowan was very patient. On return Danielle said to Rowan, "I'm glad you enjoyed it". "Yes, I toed the line" she replied.

Play Areas

Children's play areas nearly all follow the same hegemonic type - lots of wood, Scandanavian feel, pretty good but a bit predictable.
So we were glad to find this one in metal with plenty of moving and spinning parts - a healthy disregard for health and safety.

Liam

There is a new addition to the family. Danielle's brother Ben and Kari have had Liam a baby boy. His very own

blog

is up and running.

Honey extra

Because it has been so mild, we unexpectedly got another crop of honey off of the bees yesterday. We are getting better at the extraction process, each of us having a clearly defined role. To call it a production line would be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is better than how we started off - "what's this thing for?". The honey looks lovely.

New Show

Simon Palmour - Photographs

Black and White Images

Private View

Extension Gallery

60 Hob Moor Drive

York

YO24 4JZ

01904 784 616

Friday 16^th November 2007 7pm – 9pm [with wine]

Saturday 17^th November 2007 10am – 6pm

Sunday 18^th November 2007 10am – 6pm

simon@palmour.eu

www.photoboxgallery.com/palmour

Balloons Over Walmgate

Danielle ran 8 miles today. Rowan and I read a Sherlock Holmes story, cleared up leaves and generally relaxed. Then this afternoon I went on a near perfect Saturday afternoon activity. On the mountain bike on bridle-ways around York, seeing a flock of

Fieldfare
on the Tillmire, a boggy nature reserve south of the city. Listening to the football in the autumn sunshine. The photo is of a balloon over Walmgate Stray near the University.

btw The near-perfect aspect came when Sheffield United equalised against North End with 10 minutes to go.

Bossall

It is very easy to take English country churches for granted - they are, after all, everywhere. But this one at Bossall near York caught my eye yesterday. Crisp weather, a bench to have some hot coffee on, and Rooks cawking in the wood nearby - perfect.

Power

Another beautiful day, so I took the chance to get a ride in. I went up the Wolds at Leavening from where I could see the three great power stations of South Yorkshire clouding steam in the distance.

Dance

Two good days in Huddersfield [no really] and beautiful weather. Rowan found a modern dance class for herself in town, so we all went there this evening, and she loved it. Some of my photos are being exhibited at the Theatre Royal in York as part of an Open Studios exhibition, it starts the end of this month.
I sold another copy of Fairfield this week - it is proving popular with walkers, if you look carefully there are some tiny figures on the ridge.

Balloon Tree

Saturday we all cycled out to the Balloon Tree farmshop and cafe. It is on the Sustrans cycle route to Stamford Bridge [Harold not Morinho] and well worth the visit.

Beetroot Massacre

David, Anita and Mimi came round Saturday evening. Rowan also had friend Clara round for a sleep-over, so it was a busy evening. Whilst multi-tasking I left the beetroot soup to de-frost on the stove. Bad mistake. It spluttered spectacularly over the kitchen [inevitably mopped two hours earlier by Danielle].
Tasted good though.

Sayings

Rowan's homework last week included some stuff on Sayings and Proverbs which we both found very interesting. The link takes you to a website with lots on. One of my favorites is a Chinese one "no one sweeps a common hall" which is all too true.The photo is of the latest venerable Quaker I have photographed for the cover of Quakevine magazine in York.

Work

I started working on a new piece of work in Twickenham last week: it went OK for a first day. Then I started a new programme on coaching and mentoring for social work managers: this I really enjoyed, it went really well. Finally I did a portrait for a client's four daughters - this went well too, so it's been a good work week.
Photo is of the victorious netball team.

Netball

I have never watched a game of netball in my life - until now that Rowan is in school team. They won 7-2 which was pretty good; all the sweeter as one of the opposition mothers was screaming threats of encouragement to her little darlings for the whole game - to no avail.

Vegetable News

The beetroot provided a good crop this year - Borsch has been made and consumed. The artichokes remain to be harvested. I have planted some broad beans to over-winter, as well as some garlic and onion sets. No leeks this year which will leave a gap for us. The biggest success has been some perennial rocket that friend Charlie gave us as weedy plantlets last year: it gives a prolific and tasty crop all summer - far superior to annual rocket which is always disappointing to me.

Christians

I have been watching a dvd of The Christians by Bamber Gascgoine. This is a tv series from the 70s which I remember really enjoying then. It is presented from an agnostic viewpoint, so it can present the history of Christians in all its glory and horror. There is something about his style that means the series has not dated at all.
The photo is the crest on the side of the lighthouse

Friend Patrick and I took our daughters to the football yesterday. Watching York throw away a one-goal lead and loose 4-1 to a team from a place I have never heard of [Histon, and I thought I knew just about every town in Britain] was perhaps not the greatest introduction to supporting your local team, but they enjoyed it a lot and it didn't rain. Whilst York were loosing, Preston managed to loose to Ipswich [supported by cousin Will and far too many of my friends, and my neighbour]. So not a great football day.
This time last year York had Clayton Donaldson as their star striker. Unbelievably he now plays for Hibs in Scotland [who are top of the Scottish League] and scored a hat-trick last week - How does that work?
Photo is of the lighthouse last week

Any Questions

Danielle and I went to Any Questions being recorded at New Earswick, guests of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation who were hosting the event. It was good fun, catching up with a lot of people, although our questions were not asked. I did not realise that they have to answer the questions totally unseen.
Photo is another Great North Run one.

Go On Guess

Danielle and I went a cycle ride in the Wolds this week. It was great to get out together. We stopped at Thixendale which is a really beautiful place to be. Sitting on the steps of the deceased Youth Hostel we were befriended by an old boy from the village. The only time he had left the village was to do his national service. We had a good chat about football [Tom Finney of course] and such like. I asked him how old he was, "Go on guess". He looked about as old as my mother so I said 1925. He was astounded and could not believe someone thought he was older than he really was; all good natured "you wait till I tell the wife kidder".
The photo is another from the South Shields riviera.

AGM

The photo is of the lenses in the lighthouse at South Shields: beautifully engineered.
Monday was the AGM of

Friends of Hob Moor which I chair. It went really well, with a talk from friend John about St Nicholas Fields which he runs.

Coast

Whilst waiting for Danielle to run the Great North Run, Rowan and I sat and read in this beautiful cove between Sunderland and Newcastle. It is not the sort of landscape you associate with the north east but there it is. We saw Eider Ducks, Oyster Catchers and Redshanks.

DInner Party

The day before the race we went out for dinner at Patrick and Julia's and some guests. We had a great meal and good company - then we had to get ready for the early start to Newcastle the next day.
The Red Arrows were performing at the race. I have seen them many times as a child and never thought much of it: this time I was amazed at their skill in flying in such a co-ordinated way. Phenomenal but kind of pointless as well.

Run 2

I am not sure who looks most proud in this photo. Danielle was remarkably fresh and relaxed after the run. Rowan was very pleased to see her - and the various goody bags she picked up. The Great North Run was a very good event, weather perfect, atmosphere good, traffic bearable.