Tornado

Last photo from the weekend - this is Cliffords Tower.

We saw the Tornado steam engine http://www.a1steam.com/ blast past school this week. It is a mainline engine built from scratch at Darlington. We saw it a few years ago when it looked a long long way from completion. It is a great achievement.

More York

Another shot from the weekend walking about York. This is from the snicket that connects the station and railway museum with our side of town

Travel

I still get a thrill when I hear the hiss of the steel wheels on the curve of the track as the London express comes into the station at York. This after 10 years of using it to get down to work in the capital. I get a table for four to myself, connect the laptop to the free wi-fi, have a swig of my decaf coffee served by charming Polish girls on the station, then get down to work. It is a very civilized start to the day. The cost is  - unbelieveably - no more than when I started those 10 years ago.

The photo is of the lantern on All Saints church in High Ousegate in York, easily noticed due to its striking octagonal 15th century lantern tower. In the medieval period a lantern was hung from the tower to act as a beacon for travellers in the Forest of Galtres to the north. The church, first mentioned in the Domesday Book, is the burial place of 39 Lord Mayors. Look for the 12th century door knocker depicting the Mouth of Hell. 

Minster

We all walked round on the city walls on Sunday - always a good one for visitors. The light on the Minster was at its autumn best.

West Yorks

And here is another shot of the group on the station. 

On Saturday Rowan ran for the first time in the West Yorkshire cross country league - this is reckoned to be a bit tougher than the softies in North Yorkshire, and it was. She still won though. http://fm.torsion.co.uk/revamp/2004/xcountry/v2/index2.html

Guests

We had Alison, Mike, Sylvia and Gabriel as house guest this weekend. They have come down from Glasgow for a visit. Great to see them: we did the usual York things. Yesterday Zan and Edie also came to see us so we had a busy weekend.

Award Time

We went to the York City Athletics Club awards do last night. Rowan won the U11 girl athlete of the year: it was presented by Greg Rutherford [the tall one] who is a Team GB long jumper who was in the Beijing Olympic final http://www.olympics.org.uk/beijing2008/AthleteProfile.aspx?id=6855 .

Bleak

I got head-hunted by an interim recruitment company who get consultants for organisational clients. I met with them in Leeds today and it went well. It should be complementary to how I get work anyway and is good news.

The photo is from the top of the moors above Haworth, not far from Top Withens where Wuthering Heights was set. One of the things I like about the South Pennine moors is that there is no pretension to beauty - it is bleak but I like it.

Obama Time

We got a lot of e-mails of delight following Obama's election triumph. It was definitely one of those special moments. I found this poster at the Stepfather of Soul blog http://stepfatherofsoul.blogspot.com/ and liked it. So here it is.

Over the Moors

Today I got a bike ride in. I took the train to Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley, then rode back over the tops to Keighley and the Aire Valley, back over the tops to Otley and the River Wharfe and back along to York. It was great to be on the grim dour moors again, but the wind was a bit dicey on the descents. I stopped at a pub for lunch, expecting deep frozen lasagne or such-like: what I got was wild mushroom risotto with rocket and parmesan - in Yorkshire. Sign of the times - it was great by the way.

Headline News

There are not a lot of laughs in social care, so when I saw this headline on the Community Care website it made me think that's either a very big room or really cramped conditions. 

• Help the Aged: 4.5m pensioners stay in one room to keep warm

Of course, it's not really a funny issue but it made me smile.

At the weekend Rowan had a sleepover for two of her friends. We shoved them upstairs and hoped for the best. It seemed to work, although they definitely went to sleep after we did. On the Sunday the parents of one of our guests [Paul and Hilary] took pity on us and invited us to a post-sleepover Sunday lunch. Paul had cooked a fantastic curry with cheesecake for pudding. Almost made the sleepover worthwhile.

MP

I took the local MP, Hugh Bayley onto the moor this morning. He wanted to know more about the Friends of Hob Moor so I was happy to oblige.

Then it was off to Tadcaster Grammer School where the latest round of the cross country league took place. This is Rowan with her friend, they came 1st and 3rd.

Camera Club

I was invited to talk at the York Camera Club last night. It was a strange experience, I have never been to a photographic club in my life and will probably never go again. The talk went well and there were some good people there. The thing with York is that inevitably people there knew people I knew so it was good networking. The theme of my talk was "never mind the equipment" which went down very well with people not too bothered about f stops and apertures, and hopefully didn't offend anyone else. 

Responses ranged from "reminds me of Cartier-Bresson" [ultimate compliment] to "why don't you just use colour" [no comment]

Friend Sue has set up a garden/home goods website http://www.thomasandlucia.com/ so I am spreading the word.

Kings Cross What Shall We Do

I must have walked up these stairs from the tube at Kings X a thousand times - on Sunday there was something about the light that caught my eye. Camera came out, and I'm glad I got the shot.

Hallelujah!

Danielle cast her vote for Obama long ago, like many we were involved in an anxious wait over the last few months - "will he do it?"

I had fallen asleep when Danielle whispered to me "he's got Pensylvania"; trouble was in my dreams this became "he's got Florida" so I awoke thinking it was in the bag. There followed an anxious wait for the news this morning - we needn't have worried. It was with relief that we heard the great news. Suddenly America doesn't seem so bad after all.

The photo is from the new Battlebridge Arts centre at Kings Cross, a great series of galleries, cafes etc. A friend, Kelly, used to have a flat here: shame she sold it as it must now be one of the best places to live in London.

A Londres

At the weekend Teba came round to look after Rowan whilst Danielle and I went down to London. We had a great time, meeting up with Joyce and Kwami and going for a good meal at an Italian Fish restaurant in Soho Zilli Fish http://www.toptable.co.uk/venues/restaurants/?id=1152&refid=ggl05&gclid=CLeT_6ip3JYCFQaB1QodMDLf2Q

Open Studios 2009

Saturday I was at the Open Studios meeting for the 2009 show. This will be my third year of exhibiting and I am looking forward to it already. The dates are

Friday March 27th 2009

Saturday March 28th 2009

Sunday March 29th 2009

So get those dates in your diaries and plan a trip [it's not that far from the US, and the dollar is getting stronger]

The photo is my top-seller from the previous shows

Netball

Ro and Pete came up to take Mother back home on Friday. Great to see them: Ro sporting a broken wrist from their trek in the Peak District. Rowan was off at a netball day at Leeds Carnegie University. She went with two friends and they loved it - the coach was an England coach so they were definitely going to the next level. 

Ebor Lecture

I took Mother to an Ebor Lecture at the Minster by Tim Gorringe http://www.yorkminster.org/learning/lectures-courses/the-ebor-lectures/ I think it is fair to say that the topic "The Book of Revelation and Climate Change" would not ordinarily have attracted my attention but it was actually very good. He was a very good speaker and covered a lot of interesting ground.

The photo is another of Beverley Minster

Haunted Hob Moor

Rowan and I joined over 30 other people on a "Haunted Hob Moor" walk last night. It was done by a professional story teller [this scary looking bloke] and aimed at kids: just for fun but it went down well with the target audience.

Beverley

Mother has come to stay with us for the half term week. This means lots of treats. We all went for brunch at Bettys www.bettys.co.uk after Rowan had been swimming on Saturday morning.

Sunday we went to a swimming gala in Beverley where Rowan got a second place and a "speeding ticket" which delighted her.

Definition of hell #1: Driving to a swimming gala on a quad-bike with a sat-nav listening to Quote Unquote.

Photo is the beautiful Beverley Minster

Windmill

Monday was the Friends of Hob Moor, Annual General Meeting. I was in the chair. It was actually quite enjoyable, we had a talk from the Holgate Windmill society http://www.holgatewindmill.org/  That's it for another year.

Sometimes you see a shot and think "That'll be great" only it isn't. This is one of those. Luckily it also works the other way round sometimes.

Wighill

This is Wighill [the h is silent] Church which is on the cycle route to the tea rooms in Bolton Percy. Danielle and I rode the route last week as part of our week off together. The tea room shuts down for the winter now, and the exhausted patrone looked well ready for the rest.

Harvest Time

Last week Rowan was in a performance at school - Harvest Rock and Roll which was a lot better than it sounds. Although it promises awful "swinging vicar" fare it was actually good fun, even when parents were instructed to dance as well. Danielle won a best parent dancer award. I did not.

The photo is another from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park; this is the building itself not a sculpture.

YSP

Saturday Ted, Dave and I did the Knaresborough bike ride. Ted told me about a good Noguchi exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park http://www.ysp.co.uk/view.aspx?id=3 . So Sunday Danielle, Rowan and I went to take a look. It is a great place to run around, good for hide and seek, and the art is not bad either.

Joanna

Friday evening we went to the first BMS concert of the season - Martin Roscoe http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A607 on the piano. It was really good; we had both been a bit unenthused before we set off but were won over. He played a piece by Nielsen [Danish composer, not awful 70s singer songwriter] which was great.

The photo is of a sundial aside the Thames

Book Group

Our Book Group met this week to discuss Room At The Top by John Braine. Most of us thought this was a 60s book, but it was actually written in the year of my birth 1957, and set in the 40s. It seemed incredibly modern in many ways and it gave us one of our best discussions. John bought a great Argentinian Malbec wine as well.

Fact of the day. My mother and my sister both became grandmothers within 7 years of each other

The photo is of rowers on the Thames.

Last weeks bike ride took me up White Horse Hill which is 25% or 1 in 4 in old money, or "a bit of a bugger" in real terms. I made it up there on the racing bike. My pride was deflated when I realised that I'd left my keys on the table at home. Luckily Danielle had seen them, appraised the situation, and alerted a neighbour. This meant I could get back into the house and a bath: without that and I could still be siezed up now  I think.

Apples

We are both off this week, but staying at home. It is great. We went a walk from Helmsley to Riveaulx Abbey http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.17256 yesterday, it felt good to get out in the beautiful autumn countryside. 

After the walk we took 30 kilos of our apples to Ampleforth Abbey where Father Reiner has an apple press. What happens is, you get a reduced price bottle of the collectively produced apple juice per amount of apples you bring in. We left with 11 bottles of lovely juice.

Bike Show

Saturday I went down to London on a free 1st class ticket to the London Bike Show at Earls Court. It was interesting and a good positive event http://www.cycleshow.co.uk/ . 

I was looking on the Mosquito Bike stand expressing disbelief that a woollen top could cost £80 when I glanced at the person telling me it was well worth it: surely I recognised her. "Did you work at Mosquito in Dalston when it was a grubby collective?" I asked, and she did. The shop had come along way in that time. She said that someone else had asked her the same question the day before, the difference being that he remembered her from when he was a boy.

The photo is of a nice retro Colnago Italian racing bike.

Dig it

Friends of Hob Moor commissioned an archaeological dig to see if we could find the remains of an old water mill that used to be on the moor. They came, they dug, they found a load of debris and Victorian back-fill, and an old conduit for a stream but not any of the hoped-for mill. It was a shame but has still been worthwhile.

At the same time the moor lost a lovely 30metre Beech tree that had to be felled on account of fungal infection. See the before and after photos at http://www.friendsofhobmoor.org.uk/news 

One local came up as it was being felled and asked if they could keep a bit that had his name carved in it half way up the tree 50 years ago: hopefully he found it.

Salty Cow

After the Parakeet and the Heron the next sight by the river was of this cow on someones balcony. It was  a statue and it did say Salt on the side [for some reason] but it was still quite a surprise.

Heron there

Further on up the Thames I came across this Heron. Herons used to be shy and elusive; not anymore not in London anyway. This one seemed very happy to pose dramatically for me. And no it is not a plastic one that I stuck in the mud - honest.

Thames Walking

After work in Twickenham yesterday I walked along the Thames to Hammersmith via Barnes. It was a lovely walk and full of strange London sights. First off was this wild Parakeet on a tree by Kew. There are plenty of these birds in south west London http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3869815.stm but this is the first time I have seen one up close. Weird.

Quaker Gig

There was a "what are Quakers all about?" event at school on Monday. Danielle did a speech, I made a joke, and Rowan performed in a "news interview style" sketch on what it is like to be a Quaker - see photo.

GNR

Danielle completed the Great North Run half marathon on Sunday.

It was a beautiful day again, and Rowan and I explored the sea shore and the National Trust cafe at the lighthouse before meeting up at the finish. Danielle knocked 20 minutes off last years time, so that is good, and probably explains why she is sitting down.

Art

Friday evening we all went out for an Indian meal [it is great that Rowan can now enjoy a curry - it means we can too] then went on to the private view for a friends art show http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/content/articles/2007/01/24/rosalind_walker_artist_feature.shtmlRos is a friend of Rowan's mum. Danielle chose a painting for her christmas present, so that is that sorted. 

Rowan won her under 11 girls' cross country race on the racecourse on Saturday, although a boy did beat her - he better watch out next time I think. The photo is of all the medal winners - it was a cold old morning.

Jazz

Went into town for a drink with Adrian at a bar where there is jazz. He has broken his wrist and so has been eased out of the band; the new guy is not as good. Quite often the band will have people sitting in who are studying at the music school at the University. This evening there was a young guy on the trumpet who was really good; they jammed on some Miles Davis stuff and it sounded great.

Signage

This sign is at my work place in Doncaster. It must be working, the pigeons must be reading it, because so far I have not found a single pigeon head first in a toilet bowl...

Tories!

The photo is another from the Biathlon, as you can see it was a very pleasant course. 

Danielle is away addressing a fringe meeting at the Tory party conference trying to get them to adopt good policies on poverty etc, which is all a bit odd. My friend Victor is also there - what is the world coming to.

Lost Weekend

Ted and I went a quick bike ride on Saturday morning, persuading the cafe at Bolton Percy to open early, have mercy upon us, and serve us some tea. Then Rowan had to swim in a relay race event to celebrate 100 years of the local pool: as you sit in the grubby old building celebrate is not really the word that comes to mind. Patrick and Julia came round for dinner, great to catch up with them after the summer. Danielle had been busy at school all day introducing the new head to parents and staff.

Then today Rowan ran / swam in a biathlon at Escrick which she won. Oh, and we watched Nicole Cooke win the World Championships on TV, screaming for her all the way in a fantastic race - brilliant.

Sly Stone

This photo is growing on me. It is of the Barbican in London, a concrete extravaganza.

There is no denying it, I have the male categorisation gene: lists of things abound in my life. So here I am categorising my 3000 bits of music into handy “genres” and “sub genres”. A pretty private obsession but strangely satisfying. So out of all my music there is just one artist that I cannot classify at all. It is not soul, it is not funk, it is not really pop, it is not rock. I struggled and in the end he had a category to himself – the one and only. Quite an honour. Step forward Sly and the Family Stone.

Profile

Here is the map of the ride I did yesterday. The total distance comes in at a disapointing 30 odd miles, but the profile looks like a real Tour de France stage.

Bike Ride

Cycling, like most things, can be a voyage of personal discovery. Today I went a ride up into the North York Moors. It was a beautiful day, but on the way out I was into a ferocious northerly head-wing. Every stroke seemed a strain. Thoughts turned to age, fitness, "was I right to buy that racing bike" etc. At the top of the ride, in Barnsdale, I suddenly got the full benefit of the howling tail-wind. Suddenly thoughts turned away from despair and excuses towards exhilaration as I hurtled off the moors at high speed, "I feel good now, maybe I could do the White Rose Classic again after all". It was a good day to be out there.

Autumn

Autumn has coincided with the best weather of the summer. This has led to the strange mix of autumn jobs in the garden [me emptying the nests from the nest boxes, Rowan and Rhianna selling our apples to people down the street, extracting the honey from the frames [a poor crop this year]] all in lovely warm sunshine.

The photo is of the River Ouse in York

Netball Victory

The Tregelles year 6 Netball Team [which had up to now been tarred with the "too soft Quaker School" brush] are made of tougher stuff. After drawing with a frankly obsessive school earlier this week, yesterday they beat another school 8-5. It was a great game to watch.

Busy

Back in London one day a week, Doncaster two days a week, life is busy. Then another offer of work comes in - all getting a bit busy. I shall probably have to say "non" which is never a good thing for a self-employed person to do...

The photo is from the beach at Aldebrough. It is quite hard to stop beach shots from getting clichéd but I quite like this one

Igloo

Here is another shot from the Life centre in Newcastle. It's an igloo by the way. This all seems a long way off now that we are in full swing of Rowan's school and sports maelstrom. Netball today [an 8 - 8 draw with local rivals St Olavs, Rowan scored 4] swimming tommorow etc etc.

The Running Men

You never know where a photo will turn up. This was the shadows of the trophies awaiting the award ceremony yesterday at the Athletics Meet.

Booty Harvest

Rowan collected two awards at the York Swimming annual meeting, then got second in the athletics league [this is based on 3 events]. There is no doubt about it, the giving of trophies spurs on young children like nothing else. 

Bike Ride

Went on a great bike ride today. The rain kept off and I tackled some good hills as well as tackling a good bowl of soup at Castle Howard

Sputnik Sweetheart

In our book group we discussed Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami . I quite liked it, others loved it, others did not like it at all: in other words the perfect recipe for a really good discussion. As it is a Japanese book this was an excuse for a warming bottle of Saki, and John brought his usual good bottle of red wine. Good evening.

This is the Martello Tower at Aldeburgh.

Africa

I am reading a fantastic book at the moment, The State Of Africa
 by Martin Meredith. I saw a man reading it on the tube, asked him if it was good, and took it from there. [I know speaking to people on the tube can get you into trouble, but I felt it was a risk worth taking] It is a very straight history of Africa from the 50s onwards, but really well told. I am learning a lot.

The photo is another from the Newcastle trip. Someone did point out to me that water does feature a lot in my photographs - I think it is the contrast between the solid [the steel bridge in this case] and the fluid.

Newcastle 2

We found this archway clad in steel and glass in Newcastle. I assume it is a piece of modern art, but it might just be an archway clad in steel and glass. Either way we liked it.

More Life

Not quite sure what the point of these dinosaur gloves at Life was: but every child seemed to like putting them on and looking like a monster.

A Sunday

Danielle did a twelve mile run [training for the Great North Run half marathon] whilst Rowan and I had a lie-in [well, until 8] Then we all went to Quaker meeting, had a treat-lunch at Cafe Uno then made our way to the athletics track for an Open Meeting. There were more competitors than usual and Rowan got a bit anxious about it all, but still managed to win the 600metres. There were medals this time which pleased her.

Year 6

Here is how Rowan looked as she started Year 6. Her friend next door has started in secondary school, so it's all change.

First Day

First Day Back for Rowan who is now in her last year of primary school - year 6. First day back in London for me too. Went well, met up with Mark Cath and Rob after work for a drink at the Commonwealth: always good to see them all.

Have installed Google Chrome for my browser - it is great [really quick to download and much quicker than Firefox in operation.] 

That was the first and possibly / hopefully the last tech-talk on this blog.

What's Life

Last day trip of the holidays - free train tickets to Newcastle where we visited the Life centre http://www.life.org.uk/ This is the usual lottery funded interactive thing, but it is really good. Rowan really liked it, and it was well worth the trip. The big thing that we found out was that cinamon has no taste: here is how you prove it.
1 put some cinamon powder in a bowl
2 dip a piece of apple in it, hold your nose and eat the apple and cinamon. [you will taste no cinamon, just feel the texture with your tongue]
3 un-hold your nose. The cinamon "flavor" will come rushing in.

12 years

It is our twelfth wedding anniversary today. Last night we went for a meal at the Hotel du Vin in York http://www.hotelduvin.com/hotellanding.aspx?HotelId=20 a real treat and a very nice meal [including blue wensleydale fondue] . Have since found out that it is our Silk Wedding anniversary - which sounds like a bit of a missed opportunity.

The photo is of the two of us and mother at Aldebrough