Town

On Saturday Rowan, Will, Sarah, Markus and I all went to see Ipswich Town play Brighton at Portman Road. The ground has been totally updated since I last went ten years or so ago. It looks like a real stadium now, and there was a big crowd of over 20,000 there. It was my third game of the season and it was another home defeat, three out of three. Brighton won 2-1 and looked really good. Ipswich had a great big bloke as centre forward who lumbered around and did nothing save swear at the linesman - reminded me of Arsenal in the early 80's. Good day out though.
The photo is another one from the beach - they just need to record the album now.

Minsmere

We all went down to sister Ro and Pete's in Suffolk for easter. Had a really good time. Cousin William was there [15 and Rowan's hero] as well as cousin Sarah and boyfriend Markus, then cousin Tom and Katherine with Ned their son came today. So a lot of family sloshing around, it was great.
Friday we went to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/index.asp where we saw Avocets http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/a/avocet/index.asp and had a good walk on the beach [photo]

Yorkshire Wheel

The Yorkshire wheel has finally gone up [on sacred ground - at the National Railway Museum]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/4901970.stm

we haven't been on it yet, but we wheel. Truth be told it looks less like the London Eye than a very big fairground wheel, but it is welcome nevertheless. It has been dubbed [allegedly] the Yorkshire Aye...
The photo is of Rowan and cousin Sarah at Minsmere

Kings Camp what shall we do?

Rowan was at Kings Camp all this week. This was her fourth time, and she gets on really well there. They run a pretty American style camp with lots of positivity and yelling - I like it. Both Danielle and I were able to go to the Final Event, when the kids show what they have learned over the week. Rowan has got into football a lot this time.... and yelling for her team. There was also an elaborate mime, which was pretty indecipherable but looked impressive.

Mary Poppins

Whilst I was cycling Danielle and Rowan went down to London to stay with Carl and Jill and Cecilia. There were two highlights of the trip. Firstly Mary Poppins at the theatre http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/shows/display?contentId=78993 which they both loved. And secondly using a cycle rickshaw from the theatre to Carl and Jill's [they live off Baker Street.]

Pennine CycleWay 3

On the third day we rode in beautiful still sunshine across from Skipton to Settle. Dave, our host from Skipton, came with us on his mountain bike. It was a really good route, climbing up on an unfenced road with great views of the Dales. At Settle the two Dave's got the train back to Skipton whilst Ted and I cycled onto Clapham [not that one] where we caught the train back to York via Leeds.
It is a fantastic route and it continues over the Dales to Appleby and then across the borders to Berwick upon Tweed. I am looking forward to doing that next bit.
The photo is of Widdup reservoir which is between Hebden Bridge and Colne.

Pennine CycleWay 2

Day two took us from Holmfirth over the grim millstone grit south pennines. I love it. The route involved a dark narrow tunnel under the M62, and some fantastic riding above Hebden Bridge [where we had a great organic lunch in the Camden Lock of the north]. The sun came out as we crested the col and looked down on East Lancashire. There was then a perfectly located tea rooms for us, and we arrived just ten minutes before closing time - things were going well. I had never been to Colne before - it is the end of Lancashire, the last mill town up the valley, and feeling pretty much like it is at the end of the world. We made it to Skipton and stayed at Dave's brother and sister in law (Dave and Karen). They were incredibly welcoming, gave us a great meal and company.
The photo is from day one, when the hail and sleet played strange tricks.

Pennine CycleWay 1

Just back from a three day cycle ride with Ted and Dave. We used the Pennine Cycle Way

http://www.cycle-routes.org/penninecycleway/
which is a Sustrans route that goes up the Pennine Chain. We started off at Ashbourne in Derbyshire and followed old rail lines to Buxton. This was through the lush and hilly Peak District

http://www.highpeak.co.uk/hp/h_tistbd.htm

we then enjoyed wind, sleet and some great hills to take us to Holmfirth in Yorkshire. To get to it we cycled over Holme Moss [highest road over the Pennines] and reached our B&B at Holmfirth at 7.30 pm. I think it is fair to say that I enjoyed it more than Dave and Ted. Holmfirth is where "The last of the summer wine" is filmed - this is a British sit-com that I have never seen. When I asked Dave what it was about he said "Oh just three old blokes..." it took us a while to realise it was quite an appropriate stop for us.

Tree Climb

I cycled with Rowan and her friend Douglas to the tree-climbing tree on the Planets cycle route. They had a good climb, then we went to SlideShops for lunch [slimey fish and chips]
Still cold here, looking forward to spring.
Each year I mark First Shorts day, the day when I wear shorts for the first time. It has always been in March - until this year. Must be global cooling.

Family Tree

One of our distant and dead relatives, Peter Palmour [nee Dawkins, and not a real Palmour at all, but that's another story] did an amazing amount of pre-internet work on the Palmour family tree. Despite [or perhaps because of] Peter being not well thought of by my father, I made contact with him and was shown around the Palmour sights in Pembrokeshire in West Wales, from whence we came. These included two churches where Palmour's were vicars, and a lot of gravestones, including Peter's which he had prepared in advance [I guess he was a bit odd..].
I have recently been contacted by an Georgian Palmour, and this prompted me to dig out the old family trees and try and make sense of it. So far I have transposed it onto software and started digging around for other Palmours. So far I have found a char-lady who strangely never appears on the official Palmour list, where there are lots of sea captains, vicars and honoured gentlemen. It should be an interesting journey. As things stand the name will die with the current generation of 3 female Palmours [Rowan is one, with two other Essex girls]
A family tree is attached, if you click on it you should be able to read it.

MultiTasking

Real multi-tasking today. Looking after Rowan and Danielle [both sick, Rowan on the mend] processing all the photos from yesterday's shoot, going to a work meeting in Wakefield. Trying to set up another shoot in Caldervale. Feeding Rowan. Phew.

Mother told me about a photo-sharing website [now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write] which I have signed up to [free],

http://www.fotolog.com/palmour/

The photo is of the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York. A medieval guild hall that gets used for weddings etc [we have been to a couple], it is next to the River Foss

Photo Work

I took photos at another playgroup yesterday. Once again I enjoyed it a lot. Despite the potential pitfalls I only had one real terror who refused to make any face that was not goofy. I am learning each time I do these mass shoots, gradually getting more able to deal with the pressures of numbers and time.
Rowan and Danielle are both now ill, so I have a house full of coughs and snoozes.
The photo is of grass and tree stumps we saw at Bootham School at the weekend.

Still Ill

Rowan is still ill, so she is staying in all day. I went to meeting, and Danielle has gone to the Jazz with Jed a friend over from America and in York for the day.
The ground is still wet, we are all waiting here to get started on working the vegetable patch. The nest box that Rowan and I made has been attracting a lot of attention from a pair of great tits http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/greattit/index.asp
The photo is of the Minster peeping over Petergate which is a medevil street on the course of the old Roman road through the city.

Art

Rowan has a virus, but is determined [and I mean determined] not to let it stop her doing anything. Nevertheless we have had a quieter day today than planned. We all went into town and met Heather [photo] and went to some of the artists who are exhibiting as part of Open Studios weekend http://www.yorkopenstudios.co.uk/
Some really good work.

Poetry in Motion

Last night we went to see Rowan and school-mates do a poetry show. It was really good. The school has definitely moved on from the a-rhytmic twitching of a few years ago.

I found this drawing of Rowan's in her room. She had quietly done it on her own. Nice to know that she is supporting the right team.

Bird News

I am finding pilates pretty good for my back. It seems the best sort of exercise for me - so far.
Quite a lot of bird activity in the garden. A siskin was back on the nuts today [first time for a while]

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/s/siskin/index.asp

and a pair of carrion crows are busy building a nest in a tall and very wind-affected birch tree.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/c/carrioncrow/index.asp

Another flood photo.

47 Days and 47 Nights

Further on the 4o days and 40 nights of lent [see previous posts]. I was thinking that lent seemed awful long [no chocolate, no cookies etc] and so I counted out the days - 47. So there you go.
As we cycled over the Ouse today we noticed it was in flood. Everyone is York gets a bit blase about it all, floods are just part of the scene, but they still make for pretty spectacular scenes

Twist Her

Beverley, a friend from meeting, and I went to a seminar that inducted us onto a bank of consultants to work with local organisations. It was a good event, although I am doubtful that much work will come from it, but it gave us some good contacts.
We discovered at the weekend that our living room carpet is ideal for Twister. This went down well with Jessie and Rowan, not sure how pleased Danielle was...

House Guests

Friends David, Cathy and daughter Jessie came up for the weekend. Had a really good time. Rowan and Jessie laid elaborate plans for mother's day which all went off to plan. Visited the National Railway Museum then had lunch at Cafe Uno [this is on Rowan's approved list at the momenr] which wasn't too bad.
Watched Ray

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009HJCJ4/qid=1143391715/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/026-9855388-9059609

the movie about Ray Charles which I had seen on a plane last year. It is really good and doesn't gloss over the bad bits.

Science week

Rowan and I went to a lecture on science for children - the science of everyday objects. It was brilliantly done and all the children loved it. It involved hot air ballons made from bin liners and powered by toasters and so on.
Earlier we had made mother's day chocolate for Danielle [very messy and a test of true devotion bearing in mind my giving up chocolate for lent]
Planted out the onion sets today. Saw an A4 pacific pulling a train - a great sight to have at the bottom of your garden http://www.gresley.org.uk/mainpage.htm

Owl

We had Heather around for dinner last night. She is an American child-care expert brought over here by North Yorkshire social services, and grappling with strange customs, people and expectations. We all got on really well - Rowan rather sad she was not staying over.
There was a tawny owl around last night, we checked what it was by listening to the bird-call CD.
Here's Mark at the jazz

Mounting Block

One of the other historic things we pass on our way to school on the bike is the Mounting Block by the cycle track - there is a plaque stating "This stone mounting block was formerly used as the first milestone from York measured from the Ouse Bridge."
The frogs are getting active in the pond again, lots of guilty sploshing around when disturbed, and the first dollop of frog spawn. Spring soon.

1831 Day

The Mount School where Rowan goes is 175 years old this year. So today all staff and children have to dress up in1831 style. Any excuse basically. Rowan was suitably excited about this, wearing Danielles shirt and skirt for the day. The school is a Quaker school, which is why Rowan goes there. Danielle is on the board of govenors, trying to ensure that the quaker bit doesn't get lost.

More Jazz

Mark and I walked round the city walls

http://www.york.gov.uk/walls/index.html

whilst Danielle took Rowan swimming. Then we all went to see Adrian at his sunday lunch jazz gig which was great again. In the afternoon Danielle was discussing "I know why the caged bird sings" by Maya Angelou at her other bookgroup.

Darlo

Friend Mark came up to stay, so that he could go and watch Carlisle at Darlington. I met him up there and we made our way to the Darlington Stadium http://www.darlington-fc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Stadium/0,,10339,00.html
which is a bizzare grey elephant that stands magnificent amongst fields on the edge of town - capacity 25,000, average home gate 5,000. Met up with a couple of Mark's mates, one of whom I hadn't seen for 20 odd years. And Carlisle won - five nil http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_3/4796120.stm
back home for a curry I made, then watched Brighton Rock http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/458657/
what a great movie it is, fantastic lighting and sound.

Premium Bonds

Went to the last BMS concert of the season yesterday evening. It was a piano trio [that's cello and violin and piano - not 3 pianos] http://www.concert-diary.com/home/concert_details.asp?id=60618&ref=13&back=true the program included a piece by SImon Parkin [never heard of him] which was really good. There were comedy moments provided by the couple behind us who kept talking in the quiet bits - you have to laugh, no point getting uppity.
Today I got a £50 prize from my premium bonds - forgot I had them [about 4 in number]. Cheers

Hidden

Since Rowan was born we have managed to see about one movie a year. Today was this years film. We saw Cache http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2006/01/17/hidden_2006_review.shtml at the City Screen in York. It is a brilliant french film, really good.
Got home to find a roost of 300 or so starlings in our trees - a bit too like The Birds - but they soon moved on.

Orion

The photo I took of that author before Christmas has made it onto the Orion books website - scroll down until you come to Dianne Setterfield http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/news.aspx that's her next to the text.

I am reading the Adam the Gardener book that was my father's - waiting for the weather to be dry enough to get into garden action. It is a great book http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/archive/index.php?t-118.html and is kept by the loo for thoughtful reading.

Do The Math

Had a good 2 inches of snow this morning, which incredibley disapeared by 2 this afternoon. The weather is all over the place. This evening at Tregelles [Rowan's school] I attended a session designed to let parents know how our children are taught maths these days. It was very interesting and challenging [we had to do some tests] and made a lot of sense.
Here is Ted in that typical Californian weather.

News of Ted

Well he got the command he needed, but he didn't win, but Derwood is convinced he will trophy one day. [One of my favorite quotes is "there ain't a word yet that can't be verbed"]

Rowan went to see Mrs Jessop and the Maths Lesson of Doom today at the Opera House in York

http://www.quantumtheatre.co.uk/ourshows15.html

which she loved. Her friend Francis came to play after school, whilst we got ready for book group when we will be discussing Saturday by Ian MCewan

Fuzzy

Dave and I got a bike ride in this morning before the snow came - mainly it is not sticking but is just cold and horrible. So this afternoon we are having a stay in time. Quilt making, watching Scrapheap Challenge, that sort of thing.
The ghost story walk was a great success - Rowan retold it to us on the way back pretty much word for word. http://www.ghosthunt.co.uk/
After 8 years Rowan has finally got a favorite teddy - seeing as he came from Swindon I was hoping he would be called Swindon, but alas it is Fuzzy.

Ghostly Dal

Danielle was all day at the school committee. Rowan went to her Running Wild session in Acomb Wood, which she really enjoyed http://www.yorkshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/runningWildYork.htm unlike the publicity on the web, this session was just Rowan and the teacher - which Rowan loved. They were busy planting wild flower seeds. I have just cooked dal for tea using these ingredients DAL
1 cup lentils
1 onion
garlic
green chilli
fresh root ginger
1/2 tumeric
2 ground cumin
2 ground coriander
2 salt
1 lemon juice

it works well.

Rowan is now at a party which includes a ghost walk around York - she can't wait.

Last snow photo from this week

Tree update

My sister Rosemary informs me that the Redwood tree that featured last week is a Dawn Redwood http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/DawnRed.htm . Meanwhile here is a picture of the Birch trees that stand at the front of the garden - there are three of them which were planted after the house was built [40 years ago this year].
Great excitement for Rowan and I yesterday, as we saw a body being carried off of the moor past the garden by four yellow jacketed ambulance people. Dead or not, we do not know. I am trying to convince Rowan that we want it to be the latter "but it's so exciting..." Nothing in the paper yet.

BoomTown Frog

Here is an article

http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/news/YORK_NEWS_LOCAL10.html

about booming York. Saw the first frog of the year last night. It looked a bit bemused, and thought about coming into the warm kitche, but settled for the freezing pond.
The photo is on the planets cycle track, I took a spin down it before all the snow last week.

Tyburn

On our cycle route to school we pass Tyburn: one of the things about living in York is that history is never far away. The photo is of Tyburn where a board informs you:

"TYBURN
York Gallows stood on this site commonly called Tyburn after those in London.
The Gallows were said to have been built in 1379 to replace an existing gibbet standing on the Knavesmire.A number of Roman Catholic priests were executed here in the 16th and 17th centuries and the highwayman Richard Palmer [no known relation] aka Dick Turpin was hanged in 1739. The public executions attracted large crowds. The last hanging took place in 1801 and the gallows were dismantled in 1812. Executions moved to a new site at York Castle and continued to attract large crowds until the last public hanging in 1868.

Tree News

Our redwood is strangely deciduous. The first year when all its needles fell in the autumn we thought it was something we had done to it; but come the spring and it revived. This is what it looks like now.

Jazz

After Quaker meeting on Sunday we went to see friend Adrian playing a new jazz gig at a wine bar in town. It is every other Sunday lunchtime. The music was great and it was pretty packed [mostly friends of the band of course]. Some friends with triplets were there, so there were plenty of children around as well.

Going Local

We had a good local evening. First we dropped Rowan off at Heather and Johns for the night: her beaming smile on going round to their house was a joy to behold. Then we went round to David and Emma's for a meal: three other people invited, we had a great evening. Finally got to bed at 1 - very late for us. It felt good to be able to enjoy ourselves without going far, the snow and ice was such that a trip into town was not an attractive proposition.

Snow Time

We had a fall of lovely soft snow yesterday, only a couple of inches but covering everything. We are about to walk into town, sloshing through the snow in wellies. The thing with snow in the UK is that it never hangs around too long, so we can enjoy it and then it will be gone tomorrow ........... famous last words.

Ted

Spoke to friend Derwood in California last night. Great to catch up as ever. He is entering his dog Ted into his first dog competition on Mar 11th at Palm Springs. He asks
"if you put him on the blog and everyone could pray for a 'Sit' rather than a 'Down' on the day, that would be great. As always it's up to the judges what they call. If it's a down we're screwed! He just won't do it."

Quilt 2

Here is the Family Quilt, incorporating amongst other things bits of old Rowan t shirts, pyjamas, and my old pants. Next stage is to sew the back on to it.
It has been a beautiful crisp day today. The ice has stayed frozen all day, but the sun has felt almost hot. I cycled to badminton in my shorts [must be why I lost]. The crocus and daisies are now out as well as the snowdrops and daffodils. Spring is on the way.

Lent

Two years ago I gave up chocolate for Lent, which was fine until we visited Turin just before Easter. Turin goes chocolate egg crazy at Eastertime - it is their big thing - every shop has a huge display of lovely dark chocolate. It wasn't easy... but I managed it. This year I am giving up biscuits and chocolate ... we'll see.

I do ask people why is Lent the length it is, and have never really got a good reply. Is it something to do with 40 days and 40 nights? Anyway it seems a good idea to give something up, so the challenge starts here.

We had pancakes yesterday, Rowan feeling a little poorly couldn't finish hers [that is a first]

Five Great Gigs

In no particular order.

1 Staple Singers at the Venue in Victoria - 1982? Fantastic singing from Mavis Staples with Pop plugging away on the guitar
2 Ultravox at the Marquee in 1976. Very unfashionable but a fantastic live show. With John Foxx singing.
3 Early music concert in Coustoges in the Pyrenees 1995. Danielle and I walked down from the high mountians, hot and tired. We got washed up at a strange "hotel", ate a fantastic meal [large and tasty] then found out that there was an early music concert in the tiny church at the top of the village. Fantastic and magical, we never did work out why or who.
4 Haydn - Seven Last Words. 1996. Bantry Bay in western Ireland. We had cycled to Bantry from Dublin. The concert was of Haydn's string quartet intermingled with some Irish poet reading his poems. Couldn't really hear the poems, but it did not matter, it was a fantastic gig, in an old stately home that was being used for the Bantry festival.
5 Tom Robinson Band. 1979. Rock Against Racism rally in Brixton [or Hackney]. The huge march had finished, the sun shone, and the band played brilliantly. The guitarist was on fire and the whole gig was flushed with optimism.

Quilt

Danielle and Rowan are in the middle of making a family quilt. This is a bit of a family tradition, Rowan's great grandma has made them over the years, and we have two that she made for Rowan. The one we are making has a double purpose. 1] carry on the tradition 2] allow us to chuck out clothes that are too small for Rowan without screams of despair - we cut them up and put them into the quilt - everyone happy.

Photo is the top of Fairfield last week

Bees

On our way back from Granny's to York, we stopped off at Vegetable Kingdom [again]

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/vegetable_kingdom/index.php

and had a great time again. The way all their beds were neat and tidy, did guilt me into working the soil over in the garden today, after we had all gone to the gym. The photo is another from Bekonscot.
There was a lot of bee activity today, the first time they have been out and about for a long time. One managed to drown itself in my tea [still tasted OK]. The friendly pair of Mallard who come every spring are also encamped by our small pond: so spring is here [shame about the arctic wind promised for next week]

The weather has to be pretty bad to keep us inside. Today it was pretty bad. We went into Oxford on the rib-smacking rollercoaster [aka the local bus service] and had lunch with Sarah at a pancake place http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/food/rest/Chez%20Gaston.htm near her college. It is a great place to eat, really good spinnach pancakes. It was good to see Sarah again, but after that we were straight back to the warmth of mother's house.

Bekonscott

Drove down to mother's last night. Today Rowan and I went to Bekonscot model village in Beaconsfield www.bekonscot.com/ . It was a great trip; reasons being
1 Rowan could use her Blue Peter badge to get free entry
2 There was no-one else there
3 The village is a fantastic thing
4 It had lots of model trains hurtling around
5 It had a good cafe
6 It had a good shop
7 We travelled there by train

all in all a great day.

Half Term

Half term started today. Rowan and I cycled to SlideShops; it was windy but dry so we had a good ride. En route we saw two oystercatchers

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/o/oystercatcher/index.asp

on the Knavesmire: it is very boggy but I still think they must have been a bit lost.

This was the view from the top of Great Rigg on Saturday.

Glenthorne

The three of us spent the weekend at Glenthorne Quaker Centre in Grasmere

http://www.glenthorne.org/

with a group from York. It was a good trip. Saturday we climbed Fairfield

http://www.lakedistrictwalks.com/fairho.html

with Peter and Robert [the sons of Allison and David]. It was fantastic weather with snow and sunshine. The photo is of the three mountaineers on top of Great Rigg.

Veg News

The potatoes are chitting in the shed [when they get around to it] and I have planted seeds in trays in the potting shed - beetroot, leeks, spinach, parsnip and carrot. It always seems to take them ages to germinate and get going, but it does mean that the season is about to begin.

60

Here are the snowdrops, nestling beneath our house number sign - which started life as a Railway speed limit sign. We have also spotted some crocuses on the way to school, and the daffodils are coming out nicely.

Yesterday I had a fitting for another hearing aid, for my other ear. The good news is that I can have one, and that my hearing is not deterioating at all. The bad news; there is no bad news.

London

Sunday I stayed at Victor and Tracey's in London, saw Isabella [5 months old and very cute] for the first time. Went out for an Indian in Wantsead with Victor and had a good old chat. Monday was spent following up various potential work contacts in London - a good enjoyable day.
Rowan carries on with her piano, and seems to enjoy it. Here she is in action...

Running Wild

Saturday we cycled over to Acomb Wood nature reserve where Running Wild was taking place

http://www.yorkshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/runningWildYork.htm

Rowan spent a couple of hours being taught about animal tracks and making a mold of a print. Very good.

Here is the photo of the triple blue peter badge-fest

Barter

I took some photo's of a friends of Rowan's parents who run an Italian Restraunt in York. Rather than take payment we agreed on a price of a meal on the house. So Saturday we went up to Luigi's for an early evening meal. It was great, and tasted all the better for being free. Rowan was keen to give to Clara her Blue Peter Badge which had been sent c/o Rowan. Rowan meanwhile has now got her Silver Blue Peter Badge

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/content/articles/2005/11/24/badges_types_feature.shtml

which provoked further bouts of joy.

Safe

These are the organic seville oranges prior to being marmaladed by Danielle over the weekend. It tastes great

My nephew William was travelling on one of the coaches travelling to Austria that were invovled in the coach crash yesterday

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4705648.stm

the boy who died came from his school. He is safe and well and should be back home by now. Everyone is relieved.

Smike

Another photo from Buckden.
Yesterday we went to see Smike, at Rowan's school. This was a musical with pupils from Tregelles and the Mount. Rowan was not in it, but very keen to see it again. It is a musical version of Nicholas Nickelby http://www.josef-weinberger.co.uk/weinberger/rep/smike.html and was really good.

Work

The photo is of Danielle and Rowan descending from Buckden Pike.
I had a work session on Monday that went very well, and will hopefully lead to another work-stream.
Have just finished our bookgroup book, Saturday by Ian Mcewan http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-1457118,00.html It was very good, I really enjoyed reading it.

Marmalade and Daffodils

Another photo from the walk in the Dales.
Danielle made this year's batch of organic marmalade yesterday. It tastes great, although it is always scary to see how much sugar goes into the stuff. We also had the first daffodil of the year, so spring is on its way. The name marmalade comes from the protuguese word for quince, from which it was orginally made.

Buckden Pike

We had a family day on saturday. Rowan suggested that we "go up a mountain" so we set off for Buckden Pike in the Dales. It was cloudy and cold, 4 degees [but dry] when we set off. Soon we were rewarded with a beautiful still day with dappled sunlight and a great walk. There was ice towards the summit and plenty of potholes to look into.

Music please

I got the Arctic Monkeys cd today. I'd downloaded a few tracks before and liked them. The album is fantastic http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4660394.stm the singer is a poet [though he probably doesn't know it] really uplifting.
Then in the evening we went to our monthly BMS concert at the university. The pianist Marc Hamelin http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/artist_page.asp?name=hamelin played Beethoven and Schubert. He was brilliant, but it did seem as though he was playing for himself rather than bothering with communicating with his audience; which is what makes bands like the Arctic Monkeys so good.

Snowdrops

We noticed the first snowdrops of the year this week. It is a great boost, to see the start of spring even in the coldest bit of winter. The daffodils are also up, we shall have to wait a while for the flowers to open though.

The photo is of Cliffords Tower in York,

Travellers Tales 1

I was hitch-hiking in Europe, age 19, with girlfriend. We were waiting for a lift on the edge of Munich, trying to catch a truck that would take us south towards Greece. A man approached us "Come and have a coffee with me, then I will drive you south" He seemed OK so we accepted. His flat was musty and stuffy. As we talked, and never got the coffee, it became clear that he was not in the best of mental health. He talked of how he was a boxer [illustrated with punches to the sofa] and how he loved knives [illustrated by producing a big knife and running his finger along the blade "Here, you try it..."]. We tried the "We must be going" line, with little effect. Next thing he was telling us "My girlfriend was killed in a car crash" with attendant tears, "I have some of her skirts, will you try them on?" This last was directed to my girlfriend not me. So bizarrely she had to try on a skirt whilst the knife holding man watched. Somehow we got out after that and I remember walking quickly to a Kiosk, and making contact with normality again. Didn't put us off hitching though.

The photo is in Scotland, I think I was 9 or 10.