Run Too

In this photo, Danielle nears the finish of the Ripon run yesterday. Rowan is jogging along side to offer encouragement, together with cuddly toy.

Running

Ro and Pete came to stay last night, before taking Mother back down to Suffolk. Great to see them, we fitted in a game of Boggle and dragged them over to Ripon to watch Rowan run in her

I.5k

Run. She won first place girl aged 9-11, and got a trophy to show for it - very pleased. Danielle did a very muddy and hilly 10K up to Fountains Abbey which she enjoyed. I was the back up crew.

Afterwards we had lunch at the National Trust restaurant at Fountains [basically a day centre for middle class couples with young children].

Dinner Party

Julia and Patrick invited us round to a meal with some people we knew not: Marcus and Suzie. As is the way with York we soon had numerous mutual contacts, but one went beyond the normal level of coincidence.

Marcus to me "Where are you from?"
Me "Preston"
Marcus, "I'm from Blackburn, do you know anyone from there?"
Me "Two people - Wayne Hemingway and Karl"
Marcus "I was at school with Wayne"

bingo.

Later on
Me "I lived in Leeds after I left school"
Marcus "Where?"
Me "Burley Road"
Marcus "I used to live in 314"
Me "I lived in 316"

etc

The photo is of the extension today.

Home Win

So far Rowan's three football matches [England under 21s, Ipswich and York City] have all been home defeats. York City this season have won away consistently and lost at home abysmally. So when one of the crowd shouted "pretend you're playing away!" we could all agree. Rowan and I enjoyed the game as they

won

2-1 against Droyslden , coming from a goal behind. If they carry on like this then mid-table is not beyond a dream.

Xmas Ride

Today Rowan and I cycled on her new bike [not both of us] to Appleton Roebuck and back on a circular route of 19 miles or so. Half way round we met friend Robert on a solo ride, so he pegged along with us. This gave Rowan all the incentive she needed to crank up the pace: I can honestly say that keeping up with her on the hills is no longer easy.

Happy Christmas

Danielle, Rowan and Mother, just before the official start of the present opening.

Party

It was book-group xmas party last week. We played Boggle, ex-Libris [which Eddy dominated like no other] and a quiz on all the books that I made up [max possible score was 8. max achieved a rather pathetic 3] Good fun, washed down with wine: the fact that I was on the 7.oo train next morning took a bit of the gloss off of the event.

The photo is of Rowan striding out to sea at St Andrews a couple of years ago.

Pinnocchio

We all went to see

Pinocchio

the new opera from Opera North in Leeds. It was really good - the plot was no sillier than any other opera - and definitely not just for children. The music was just right - not too cheesy, not too disjointed, but modern. Rowan liked it too, especially the cricket character who was brilliant.

Hot Desking.

My office in London is great. Hot-desking is a reality there, so I never know where I will sit or who will be around. This week it was Herb, a charming Philadelphian who has lived over here as long as Danielle. There is very little territorial silliness goes on, which is all to the good. The sixth floor view encompasses Twickenham Stadium, Wembley Stadium, the Kew Gardens pagoda, the railway line and station, and low flying planes en-route to Heathrow. Fantastic.
On Thursday I saw a steam special which got all the good folk to the windows [they are a bit deprived in London: it is not like York] and a parakeet flying past.
Photo is the last from Edinburgh

Spain

I think this photo could be one for the next show, it is from the trip to Edinburgh.
I was working in London today, when I got an e-mail from friend and fellow consultant Dinos, who is also working in the borough. Great to meet up and catch up. He informed me of a third consultant doing some work from home, when Dinos enquired of her where home was, she told him Spain - and I thought I was pioneering remote working...

Grape Vine

I have just finished reading a new book by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine The Minotaur. At her best [Blood Doctor, No Night Too Long, The Chimney Sweeps Boy] she is my favorite writer. At her worst [Solomon's Carpet, Grasshopper Boy] it just does not work. In the middle are books like House of Stairs and Minotaur - pretty good but not great.

The photo is of Holyrood Palace

Stax

Have been playing "Mr Pitiful" by Otis Redding a lot: I had forgotten just how great the Stax sound was. It is good explaining the horn section to Rowan, her latest plan is to play "the curly one". I explained that the French Horn isn't very rock and roll, "It could be..." she replied.
The light in Edinburgh was really beautiful, just right for the graveyard.

Sir Charles

The slow trawl through family bits and pieces continues. This is the obituary of my great uncle Sir Charles Palmour from 1948

Piano

Last night's concert at BMS was by a Canadian pianist,

Andrew Brownell

who was really brilliant. We met up with Julia there who was attending her first concert. I worked out that we have been going for 9 seasons: frightening really.

The photo is of the much-maligned Scottish Parliament building. It is really impressive and adds to the city's architecture.

Brother

Danielle's brother Ben sent us this link about what he is up to in his job http://www1.georgetown.edu/college/research/mind/ :looks impressive to me.

The photo is from the top of Arthur's seat - click on it to enlarge. It is a beautiful place, Edinburgh, and great that you can walk on quite wild country so easily from the station.

Lordee

I met friend [and Lord] Victor at the House of Lords. It is a bit of a scream - every other face looks a] old and b] vaguely familiar. It is definitely a good place to go when you are 50 - you feel very young indeed. We had a good chat and a few beers in the Peers bar, then walked via secret passage directly to the tube station [just like the Famous Five]

GNER RIP

Monday I used up my last GNER free first class ticket, taking a trip up to Edinburgh. GNER have managed to both generate surprisingly high levels of customer satisfaction [great staff] and loose the east coast main line franchise. The government franchising process is undoubtedly a stupid and costly one. National Express will now run the service - all trains will be re-painted, all uniforms changed, all staff gone through a period of angst and uncertainty - for what? Crazy.
The photo is the first from Edinburgh - I nipped up Arthur's seat and got this shot at the top.

Lucky escape

9.05. I get out of the car in nice time to get to the training venue in Oldham by 9.15.

9.06 My flies break on my trousers as I get out of the car. Prospect of standing up in front of 12 students all day with my flies open....

9.07 Remember there is a Debenhams round the corner.

9.12 They don't have my size

9.13 Oh yes they do.

9.21 Arrive at venue one minute before first trainee

9.22 Change trousers in toilet

9.23 Emerge to take session.

In terms of risk, the likelihood of the fly going is very low. The impact is high.

The photo is of Rowan stoically letting Joyce cane-row her hair in
a way she would never allow us to.

The Cake

The cake was made by friend Patience; who claimed that HAWD was self explanatory.

Unfortunatley when it came to cutting it and speech time I was literally speechless [which is an unusual state of affairs for me]. This caused me to be receipient of much grief from old friends.

Friend Joyce and baby Kwami came up to stay for the party, as did my old friends Debbie and Audrey. So we had a good Sunday morning breakfast together before going into York for lunch at the Art Gallery.

The Party

Danielle organised a fantastic party for me to remember. Friends from way back [30 years plus in the case of Rob and Cath] to friends met in the past 4 years, a good mixture. There was a Mad Science entertainer for the children, friend Adrian's Jazz band played two sets, and the food came from the deli on Clifton in York. Lots of great presents as well. Felt well blessed.

FiverZero

Yesterday was my 50th birthday. Very pleased about it really, looking forward to 60 and concessionary fares. I spent the afternoon at the Tregelles Xmas Fayre with a stand selling prints and drumming up portrait business. It went very well, and was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Local Paper

Someone told me that Rowan's Biathlon triumph was in the local paper, and so it is - in the

York Press. The national final is in Bath, and we will all be going down there in February.
The floods have not arrived yet this autumn. The photo is from last year.

Knut

I read a lot of

Knut Hamsun

books when I was in my 20s. There was something about his stories of wanderers that I liked a lot. Gwen chose Mysteries by Hamsun for the book group this month. As it turned out it was a blokes book group [me, john, edward and david] and we had a good talk about it over a bottle of Amarone.
The photo is of the Merchants Adventurers hall in York

Friends

Saw friends Paul and Hilary for some wine last night at Smithys at Kings Cross, after a good days work in west London. Great to see them both. Hilary looked in good form: amazing what not being in the cabinet any more can do for you.
The photo is another from St Pancras

New Office

Danielle is moving to a new office today. So, after three years of sharing an office, we go our seperate ways. It has been fine, the reality being that one or other of us is nearly always out, but I'll miss having her around. Three years of accumulated paperwork meant that we were running out of space in the office, so it makes sense.
The photo is of St Olave's church in Marygate, one of my favorites.

Wine

There is a statue of John Betjeman at St Pancras, attracting a lot of attention.
Thursday we went with John & Heather and a couple
of other friends to a Wine Society tasting in

St Williams College. It was good fun, and we tried to be appropriately civilized.

St Pancras

I popped into the new St Pancras station last week. It has been fantastically restored to its glory, with Eurostar trains using it for services to Paris, Brussels, and [rumoured] Frankfurt before too long. I did not have time to try out the champagne bar - for another time.