Air Today

Mother has been staying with us all week, which has been great. One day we went to the York Air Museum at Elvington http://www.yorkshireairmuseum.co.uk/ which is a surprisingly good place to go. Mother was in the WAAF in the war, so there were quite a few things that she recognised.

The photo is of Rowan and Mother outside the control tower.

Collared

Milo is now full recovered after the snip-of-destiny two weeks ago. He had to wear this collar for a time. Working out that the collar meant he could not walk through gaps he would normally fit through, was beyond him. We are all glad it is no longer collar-time.

Platform Zero

Tour Of The Peak

So the final Sportive of the season for Dave and I. The gruelling Tour of The Peak in the Peak District. We rode with two of Dave's brothers in law, called Dave and Simon [confused? we were]. There was wind, there was rain, there were overly affluent and aggressive Cheshire motorists, there was the Cat & Fiddle pass, there was Winnats pass. But it was fun - really good. I rode it in under 6 hours which was a big achievement for me. We rode the "short" route [100k] and I felt real pity for the long route riders as we passed them on our way home in the van. Tough. And a fitting end to the season.

Blues

Patrick and I went to a gig last night. Walter Trout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Trout is an American blues guitarist. It was a good gig - no messing, no pretension but a good vibe. I lowered the average age by attending. In total contrast the support act Oli Brown, are a teenage blues band that were fantastic - loads of potential and totally confident in their abilities. http://www.oliselectricblues.co.uk/

Sports Day

Someone took this photo of Rowan at Sports Day last term. It might not be the most flattering shot but I think it gets across her love of competition - her team had just won the school house competition.

Emily Saunders 1900 - 1984

Yesterday evening I met up with Victor in his Soho club for a drink. Great to catch up with him. I then took the tube to Euston where I was getting the train north to Chapel En Le Frith for a Sportive ride with Dave and a couple other riders.

As I walked up from the tube into the Euston concourse, it reminded me of the time 25 years ago that I climbed those steps to be met by my Father. Marie and I had come straight from Nice via Victoria Station at the end of The Walk. Father whisked us off to Oxford to see my Granny before she died. It was an emotional return in many ways.

The photo is of my Granny and was my first published work in 1981.

The End of the Walk

25 years ago the Walk had come to an end. We had reached Nice and travelled back to England.

This photo is on a chill autumn morning in Provence. The tent is packed, rucksack on back, hat on, breakfast eaten, and I walk east into the sun.

The Red House

Another photo from the family archive. This is the Red House in Rhosneigr on Anglesey where we went for family holidays when I was very young. I still have some memories of it. This is where John Peel also went on his family holidays, a fact revealed in his autobiography. No connection with Jimi Hendrix though.

Eric's

I have just read a book about Eric's, the club that I used to frequent all the time when I was in Liverpool. I had never realised before, but it's lifetime coincided with my time at Liverpool almost exactly. It was a great place, and my memories of a non-violent diverse place are confirmed by the book. Good times.

The photo is another from the old family slides. I am in front of Mother's mini clubman in the Lakes.

The Heat of the Day

Not sure if I have posted this shot before; it is in Sheffield.

At Book Group this week we are discussing Elizabeth Bowen - The Heat of the Day http://www.literarylondon.org/london-journal/march2005/Magot.html which I found terrible. Hard to read, hard to care about the characters, hard to finish. Knowing how our Book Group goes at least one person will have the totally opposite view and be able to mount a fierce defence; it is what makes it a good group.

Visit

Called in David and Anita's for a coffee the other day. Good to catch up with them as ever. Then today we all went to meeting and had a good time. In the afternoon I harvested the Jerusalem Artichokes and made a soup.

Training

Rowan had a netball match today [they won, and are still unbeaten] and I went a bike ride. It was a 77 mile ride, part of my training for the last Sportive of the year, this is the Tour Of The Peak in the Peak District next weekend, which I hope to ride with Dave and a couple of mates.

Photo

Anyone work out what this is a photo of? The only clue I give is that it was taken in Rotherham.

Just Another Day

Up 6.45 - take dog a walk. Only two days since "the cruellest cut of all", so has to stay on the lead.

8.00 - take Rowan to school, cycle on to station, get train to Donny for work.

16.15 - After busy day at work get train back.

17.20 - Walk dog to vet for check-over

18.00 - Second cousin Adam arrives to stay the night [he is en route from Newcastle to Buckinghamshire]

18.50 - I leave with neighbour Peter to chair the AGM of Friends of Hob Moor. Rowan, Danielle and Adam go to a curry-demonstration night at school [they got the better deal]

21.00 - We all get home.

22.00 - Relax with a Dalwhinnie malt whisky with Danielle and Adam - a pleasure to see him up here in York.

23.00 - Have bath ready for early train to London tomorrow.

Photo is one of the few colour ones to make the grade.

phone change

i
I had to change my phone, and doing the blog from it has not proved easy. But I think I may have cracked it ... If you read this I have. But then again if you don't ...

Primodise

I have one of my photos on at this exhibition. They have taken the image and printed it onto aluminum using a new process called Primodise. It should look good.

Breakfast

Dave & Emma came round for breakfast yesterday. Two reasons: Hugh, Dave's brother, was over from San Diego California and he needed Danielle to run with him. Emma wanted to see Milo again [she had walked him for us last weekend]. So we all had lots of coffee and croissants.

The photo is one from Aberdovey this year, that has made the cut.

When Two Cultures Clash

Last night we went for a meal at Johnny and Bridget's with four other guests. We had a great time.

Danielle has a book that we keep in our loo called [in typical American style] THE GREAT AMERICAN BATHROOM BOOK http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Bathroom-Book-Single-Sitting/dp/1880184044 . As we were leaving last night I noticed a book in their toilet; it was identical, except it was the English edition. So it was called "Passing Time in the Loo". Never has the difference between the two cultures been so well summed up for me.

Photo is of more Guernsey

Guernsey Encore

A view down from the coast path to the bay.

We saw a pair of Peregrines Falcons in flight around the cliffs.

Coast

Sunday morning Danielle and I went a walk along the south coast of Guernsey. It is really beautiful, and good walking. There was even a handily placed hotel to have a coffee in.

Guernsey

I just have the feeling that I am maybe not the first person to take a picture of one of Guernsey's blue post boxes.

Cliche

Getting a shot at a wedding that is not a cliche is just about impossible. This was as close as I got this time, and it is not that close.

Comedy

There are not many jokes in social work - but this comic strip from the trade magazine made me laugh.

Guernsey

I had never been to the Channel Islands before. What a strange place it is - seemed like being on the set of the Prisoner. There is a strange mix of all the French place names and French legal system with being part of Britain [but with its own money]. But whereas the Isle of Man seems to try to be more English than England [with a worryingly Ulsteresque feel to the whole place] Guernsey [based on our exhaustive and wedding-tinted research] seems happy to be a bit not-English in a pleasingly bizarre way [blue post boxes for example]

Getting Wed

Mark who I used to live with in London, and have know for 33 years, got married to Mandy in Guernsey. It was a great weekend, we had a really good time with long time friends.

Rowan stayed at home, with Teba acting as babysitter, and they got on fine, looking after the dog as well as each other.

Dogs

I had forgotten that I like dogs until we got Homer and now Milo. This photo reminds how much I loved having Bracken when I was a kid. This is at Lytham.