TV

Drove over to Manchester today, Danielle was taking part in the recording of a TV programme. It airs tomorrow (Sunday) at 10.30am on BBC1. It'll be on the iPlayer after that. Called The Big Questions, Danielle was on the panel. It was recorded as-live, and I watched, Danielle was really good.

Here is the link  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rymr

Today's archive shot comes from Brussels. Spot the Humans

Azores

It is three years since we went to the Azores, a really special place. This shot is taken from a volcanic caldera looking across the Atlantic.

 

Austria

Back to the Archives. In 2005 we cycled in a group in Austria with Royce (Danielle's father) aged 70, and Rowan aged 7. A great trip. Plenty of dramatic mountains and lakes.

Rowan at 23

Rowan on her 23rd Birthday 10 days ago.

Frozen Flood

York was flooded again last week, with the Knavesmire becoming a vast lake. Then the lake froze, which is what you can see in this picture. Danielle and Layla in the middle ground, the lake and the racecourse buildings in the background.

Burns Night

Then Saturday we went to a virtual Burns Night, again on Zoom. Eddie and Sue hosted and provided the food, that we collected during the day. Danielle and I recited a Burns poem, as did all the guests. Great fun, but not as good as the real thing. Meantime here is the Whisky Danielle gave me for my birthday and which we drank at our tasting. It is organic and really really nice (and quaffable unfortunately).

Whisky Zooming

Friday we had our whisky tasting evening with a couple of friends from down the road. It was a Zoom affair and was a real pleasure. You might wonder who the third person is on our end of the Zoom call: Layla considers it only right that she should be involved too.

Lincoln

Next in the archive is England East, this is Lincoln Cathedral atop its hill in the city. Definitely a city of two halves, quaint up top, a bit grim down below. I was last there to watch Lincoln City beat Carlisle in the cup with Mark.

 

YOS 2021

York Open Studios was cancelled last year, and we have now pushed it back from April 2021 to July 2021. This is a good move as April is far too likely to be Covid-compromised. Also it gives us all more time to prepare (which is always welcome). Here are the new dates

York Open Studios 2021
Friday 9th July (preview evening) 6-9pm

Saturday 10th, Sunday 11th, Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th July 10am - 5pm

I am going to be exhibiting at home this year, with Jo Bagshaw the jewellery maker.

Todays shot from the archives was taken at Goldburn Railway Museum in Australia in 2018. 

Sydney

This was taken from the Sydney Opera House looking across the bay to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Those dots at the top are a group of tourist people walking across the bridge tethered to each other. I have grown to like this shot a lot - especially since I have made it square format (it would be a good album cover I think).

Himalayas again

One last shot from Asia before I trawl on to Australia. This is from 1992 when I cycled across the Himalayas with Paul. It was a great ride through the most beautiful of places.

Hong Kong

Coming out of the tube in Hong Kong we were met by this incredible motorway that snakes in between the blocks of flat (which were presumably there before the road)

Singapore

Rowan is 23 today. We had a cook-at-home paella and tapas from a restaurant in York, for lunch. Very pleasant. 

Here is a photo from Singapore. I spotted this mother and son having a real laugh at something; it contrasted with the structured modernity all around them.

Himalayas

I am going through my photo-library, picking out shots that I had forgotten about. Yesterday was Africa, today Asia. This is a shot of a group of Indian bikers on tour over the Himalayas to Ladak - they were obviously having a great trip. Paul and I were cycling the same route.

Cap Verde

Snowing today, had a good walk on the moor, but no it is time to remind myself of cycling in the hot desert on Cap Verde in 2019. That is a wrecked ship in the sea. Seems a long way away, and a long time ago.

Layla

A year ago Layla arrived, followed a month later by the pandemic. No doubt which had the biggest effect on life as we know it.

BlackRock

Got a walk in around York today, really muddy but a beautiful day. This is the winding path through Acomb Wood.

Birthday Meal

For Danielle's birthday meal I ordered a meal-box from Roots (great restaurant in York). It was really good, all easy to assemble/heat up etc. One of the good things from the pandemic has been that for a whole year we have eaten together each evening - never eaten so well, cooked so often.

So it took 34 years since I  left home but eventually we got a dog when Rowan overcame her fear of dogs. Milo was beloved and is still missed.

Sheba

Bracken died in 1975, when I was about to leave school. As is the way I convinced my parents to get another dog, then left home for Leeds, Oxford, London never to return. Sheba was a black Labrador who came from West Cumbria. Here she is with my Granny and I.

Bracken

We were delighted to get another dog, one we could play with. This was Bracken, a yellow labrador bitch who was the family dog loved by all. She also gave Tina a new lease of life.

Tina the dog

Doing a bit of photo-library maintenance work. This is my mother, before I was born I think - about 1955. She is holding Tina the Australian Terrier who was, in my memory, a snappy non-cuddly dog that had no particular love of children coming into her domain. The car is a Ford Popular or something like that, looks like a vintage car rally now.

Geese

One last photo from the trip last week. I was just getting ready to leave Rother Valley Park when a low flying skein of geese passed overhead. It is always a great sight, and for once I had my camera ready for a snap.

Castle

The next stop was to get a shot of 11th Century Conisbrough Castle, just down the river from Doncaster. It stands above a pretty uninteresting small town, so the task was to get a shot that focuses on the castle itself, which involved taking it from on top of a disused viaduct a mile away. Sir Walter Scott passed the castle once upon a time, liked the look of it, and made it the setting for Ivanhoe. 

Rother Valley

This is the Rother Valley Park that used to be an open-cast mine. I planted trees here 42 years ago when it was just starting to be converted to public use. Pretty good to see the result of my work (1 month, freezing cold, terrible pay).

Roche Abbey

I managed to get some shots for the book that I have been waiting to take. It was a cold day with snow around and plenty of sun, so it was a worthwhile trip to South Yorkshire. This is Roche Abbey south of Rotherham; though relatively unknown it is a beautiful location in a secluded wooded valley.

Xmas 2019

We had our semi-traditional drop in 2019. It is always fun, and that year we had Ben and the kids with us again. Not this year though.

Wolds 3

 

And here is one last shot from the Wolds walk. There was ice underfoot which added to the excitement.