Race for Life

Rowan and Danielle both ran in the Race for Life women only sponsored run on Sunday along with several hundred women of York.

Rowan came second overall in the 5k race.

This is an article from the local paper on The Mount's entry into the event.

War Requiem

I went to see Britten's War Requiem http://www.its.caltech.edu/~tan/Britten/britwar.html in York Minster last week. It is based on the war poems of Wilfred Owen [which I did for O level]. It was a fantastic setting and a great performance, definitely worth seeing.

LBT

Rowan is now a member of the junior section of the Leeds Bradford Triathlon club. It is really well run, and she likes it. Saturday morning it was cycling on the track at Bradford. You'll see Rowan is the only one on a sit up and beg bike, but she was doing well in this sprint.

Teeth

Last photo from the canal.

Rowan had two teeth out last week, in preparation for the fitting of a brace next week. She was remarkably cool about the whole thing; in contrast to me, who looked away and was prepared for a good hour or so of distress. After 10 minutes the whole thing was over, and Robert presented Rowan with two teeth in a jar.

Sarah Dean

Went with friend Patrick to the folk night at the Black Swan last week. It was all a bit traditional and straight for me. Until Sarah Dean got up to do 2 songs, http://www.myspace.com/sarahdeanpluckybutterfly . She was really great. Hearing the songs with just harp for accompaniment gave an idea of how good they could be if fully produced [strings, guitars, the works].

The photo is another from the Pocklington canal

Speechs

It was Speech Day at The Mount last week. Danielle did an introductory speech as the Chair of the Governors, and Rowan received the Citizenship prize for her class. So I just sat being proud. The photo shows Rowan receiving her award from an ex-pupil who now runs Science City York, and who gave a very inspirational speech. The head teacher, Julie, is sat next to Danielle.

Cycle Rally

We went down to the annual CTC cycle rally on the Knavesmire, stocked up with inner tubes and various bits of cycling equipment. I saw this original Dursley Pederson bike on one of the stands.

Doves

Cute shots of Collared Doves are not what I consider my forte. But this one was hard to resist. The birds are on the climbing frame in the garden in front of the Birch trees.

Will

Rowan's school put on a Shakespeare evening in the grounds yesterday. The weather was perfect and it all went well. Rowan was a strolling drummer.

Saturday Night

Saturday night we went out for a meal with Sue & Eddy. Had a good time at the Hotel du Vin. We had all cycled there so there was no messing around. Sunday Rowan ran for York in the Young Athletes League. Another photo from the canal.

World Cup 2

Save Now
Went down to watch the world cup with Rob and Mark at Rob's in Muswell Hill. Good fun [bad match not withstanding] and good to catch up with friends.

The photo is another from the Pocklington Canal walk

Unbridled

There are some great bridleways around York. You can connect them up to provide a really good bike ride. This path through the corn is to the south of the City.

Pocklington Canal

Took the dog a walk down the Pocklington Canal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocklington_Canal . It was a beautiful day and the fields and meadows were perfect. That is a glider in the sky.

Book Group

Our book group met last week to discuss My Driver by Maggie Gee. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_10?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=my+driver+maggie+gee&x=0&y=0&sprefix=my+driver+

It looked like the worst book ever, from the blurb on the back. But, amazingly, I really liked it and might read another one by the author. David and Gwen both gave up after 100 pages, so as usual it was mixed reviews from our group.

Wolds

Went a ride with Dave and Ted on Sunday. 100k [my preferred distance now, the days of enjoying a 100 mile ride are gone], good hills in the Wolds, cafe for lunch. Perfect.

Edward started out with us, but a loose crank sent him home.

The photo is of a lake I have found near Rowan's running track that Milo loves to swim in. [poor ducks]

Visitor

This Budgie came to the garden last week. By the time I had got back from picking Rowan up the bird had gone. Which is a good job because I had no idea what I was going to do with it.

Saturday night we went to a wine tasting at John and Heather's. It was great fun; quite hard to multi-task, drinking, talking, eating, making notes on the wines ...

Wheldrake

Took the dog a walk in Wheldrake wood last week. It is an amazingly verdant place, feels like the jungle with the rhododendrons in flower

World Cup

The first world cup I remember was 1966. Rosemary and I cycled up and down Hill Road in Preston instead of watching the game. Four years later it is the treat of being allowed to watch the game from Mexico in bed, in colour, in the morning [all three things were new to me, as was England loosing to Germany]

At school in 1974 we all watched as England failed to qualify due to a great Polish goalkeeper. I remember not being too bothered.

1978 I was revising for University exams in the sunshine at Forest Side in Windermere. Watching the games with my father was a good way to contrast the revision.

1982 Mark, Marie and I watched Germany batter their way past the beautiful multi-racial French team of Giresse, Tigane and Tresor. The horror of Schumacher's assault of Battiston still lives on. After the game we went across the road to commiserate with the French barmaid in the pub.

1986 I was moving into my first house in Tottenham. The black and white telly was on in the bare corner of the stark bedroom. England were terrible.

1990 I was playing badminton when England were playing Germany in the semi-finals. On the way back home I called in at Rob's to see how it had gone; just in time for the fateful penalties.

1994 I had a houseful watching the final, Brazil Italy.

1998 Danielle Rowan and I had just moved to York. Exhausted we got into bed to watch England Argentina, and fell asleep. We awoke to endless replays of Beckham's petulant kick and Sol's disallowed goal.

2002 We again moved house [notice a pattern here] this time Beckham scored his penalty against Argentina just as I was unpacking in the kitchen

2006 Mark Rob and I watched the first day in Rob's club in Shaftesbury Avenue with a basketful of cold beer in front of us.

2010. Starts today...

Sportive

The photo is another shot of the Minster, taken last week.

Rowan and I rode a sportive on Sunday in the North York Moors. After the horrors of Richmond it all went well. Rowan enjoyed it, it was short [35miles] and fun. On top of that Rowan's time was 15th best out of 42 participants [adults] so we were happy. We got back in the car and it started raining.

Swan's way

My Radio 4 appearance [all 44 seconds of it] is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/YDl5K5yiRGCYVijJFF0XXg Just scroll down to the images, click on image 2 and I will appear. Last week the Daily Mail rang as they are doing an article about objects that people have uploaded, so it has legs ...

Last week Rowan and I took Milo a walk by the River Derwent at Bubwith. He was not that sure about the Swans; when they started to hiss he was very glad to respond to my whistle and behave well for once.

Meal

Saturday night we all went to David and Anita's for a meal with 15 or so. It was a great night and, as you can see, they have the dining room table to do the job in style

Leeds Garden City

Saturday morning. I realised that the place I take Rowan for her triathlon training in Leeds is right next to where friend Joanna and Ashley live. So this week I called in for a very civilized coffee in the sunshine in the garden. Great to see them and catch up.

The photo is from the walk I take through Leeds - beautiful place.

Spiral

The herb spiral continues to work well. It is into its sixth year of use. Quite hard to photograph, but here it is.

More Ouse

Another shot from the Ouse. This one will hang on the wall for a while, to see if I like it enough. We have all been busy in the garden. Danielle on the herb spiral, Rowan clearing the brambles from "her" apple tree, and me in the vegetable garden. It is so great to have a run of good weather.

Ouse

We are having a quiet half term. We took the dog walking down by the Ouse again yesterday. This scene is pretty idyllic and pretty typical.

Radio 4

I was in the garden with Rowan today when neighbour Robert approached me with a look of shock on his face. "I was driving along listening to Radio 4 when I heard you!" Seems the BBC have put out the bit I recorded about the First Motorway paperweight - I haven't heard it yet. Robert seems to have recovered.

Meanwhile friend Julia was on the Moral Maze as a witness also on Radio 4. Any one else on today?

The photo is of a bit of tree I was cutting down today. It was about to become logs for the fire when I noticed the curious way it had been twisted round by bindweed. So I spared it, stripped the bark, cut it to length and intend it to become a new family heirloom - the family stick.

Rope

Rowan spotted this lurking over the Ouse, and suggested a photo.

Today we went to Pizza Express as Rowan's treat for revising for her exams so hard. They are all finished now, so half term is nice and relaxed.