Inspired

I am exhibiting with some other York artists in the build up to Christmas. It is in an ancient hall in the middle of the City - it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Five Years

I had my first day working in Stockton this week. A good journey there [car unfortunately, not practical by rail] and good people to work with. Another photo from the Sheffield walks.

My "what I was doing 5, 10, 15 etc years ago" idea proved popular - a few people have sent me theirs, so do yours and send them my way.

More Sheffield

I found this office block near Meadowhall in Sheffield. It would not look out of place in Silicone Valley and does look a bit odd next door to Sheffield Forgemasters.

Wine Society

The photo is another from Sheffield.

We went to another Wine Society tasting event with a few people last week. The focus was on South African wines with many of the growers there to talk about the wine. As ever it was good fun, although a little hazy by the time the 13th or 14th wine was tasted.

Uncanny

In the history of man and his relation to animals, there have been many examples of a total and almost uncanny understanding. Today there was evidence that it is not always like that. Rowan and her friend Lucy spent the day getting a heavily bribed Milo through the obstacle course they set up [I have to admit that the leap through the hoop was pretty impressive].

Milo is now exhausted and bribed-out.

Sleaford 2

Another shot from Sleaford.

Walking across the Moor this morning with the dog, Cortez the Killer on the ipod, my mind turned to looking back. How much can change in five years.

40 years ago -1970- I was in my last year at prep school. Anxious about moving from a small pond to a big one

35 years ago -1975- public school had been and gone and I was living in a shared house in Leeds starting my first job in Leeds - selling newspaper subscriptions door to door with a group of n'er do wells.

30 years ago -1980- being a student had come and gone and I was living in London just having started working in Islington.

25 years ago -1985- the Walk had been and gone. Marie and I were living in Droitwich.

20 years ago -1990- marriage #1 had been and gone. I was now working in policy for the first time.

15 years ago - 1995- Danielle and I had met and bought a house together in Wood Green

10 years ago - 2000- We were married, Rowan had arrived and we had moved to York.

5 years ago -2005- We had moved to Hob Moor, I had started the photography as a serious concern.

So here's to the next 40 years.

Sleaford

One of the good things about living in York is that you can get to so many places by train so easily. Today Rowan and I took the train to Sleaford in Lincolnshire so that I could photograph the Maltings that I saw from the train earlier in the month.

It was a beautiful day and a good trip. The building was hard to get to and get a good shot of but I got a couple.

The town itself is, bizarrely, home to the National centre for Craft and Design http://www.culture24.org.uk/am47271 . There was a really good exhibition of ceramics by Pete Moss, and the cafe was good too.

Trams

Sheffield has a great modern tram system, with plenty of bridges that look like this.

Sheffield again

Rowan had an extra session at Sheffield for her netball – a tri-regional tournament with an England player in attendance. It is not easy for her, she is one of the youngest and finds it socially a challenge, but she is made of strong stuff and is determined.

I took a walk into Sheffield on a perfect clear-sky autumn day. It reminded me of the days when I moved to Leeds after I left school, only then I was walking either to find a job, or to work. 35 years ago.

The River Don now has a footpath all the way along it into the City Centre; the result of just the kind of social investment which will now be con-demed to cuts by the coalition government. The river passes forges and weirs and busy factories. I saw several Kingfishers and Grey Wagtails on my way.

The photo is of two people kayaking on the Don within a couple of miles of the city centre.

Gala

Rowan was swimming in a Gala at Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire. I escaped with Milo to walk by the river. The sun gave me this shot of a tree down by the river.

Milo runs at some horses grazing on the floodplain.

Master shouts at dog in a most insistent manor to come back

Dog ignores Master.

Dog yaps at Horse

Horse wacks Dog on nose with one deft kick

Wimpering dog comes back to Master with tail between his legs [literally]

Dog does not bother horses again on the way back.

YOS 2011

I had a photo shoot this morning, then a York Open Studios 2011 meeting. Next year we are exhibiting over 2 weekends, I shall be with 3 other artists at The Mount school, so it will be a bit different from previous years.

The photo is of Rowan and Danielle on the towpath yesterday.

The Word

While I was Pecha Kuchaing Rowan was at a lazer-zapper party, and Danielle was at the Meeting House seeing The Word [a worthy play, not the naff youth TV programme] http://www.londonquakers.org.uk/events/the-word-by-kaj-munk-quaker-theatre-company I think Rowan and I had the better deal.

Rowan slept over at friend Ameila's house. We picked her up today and took the dog a walk along the canal at Pocklington where Rowan took this picture.

Pecha Kucha

I did a Pecha Kucha http://www.pecha-kucha.org/ at Barlane Studios here in York. Edward came with me for moral support. It went really well and I netwebbed with some interesting people - an animator, a performance artist and an engineer; all that and free wine too.

This photo of the knavesmire went down particularly well.

Manchester

I was in Manchester for a work conference. The office was in the regenerated quarter. From the window we could see the industrial past [the Liverpool - Manchester railway], the near past [the Hacienda was on the corner] and the present [the centre where Ed Milliband was elected Labour leader]. So it was a reminder of what a great city Manchester is. This is a hotel I think.

The Conference was good too.

Number 10

When I was 11 or so I went on a school trip to London. It was fantastic, we seemed to do everything including visits to all the mainline Stations [perfect] and Soho [eye-opening]. The days of being able to wander up to Number 10 Downing Street and talk to the coppers have long gone...

Return of the Kingfisher

As I crossed the bridge over the beck onto the Moor this morning I was thinking it was hard to believe I had ever seen a Kingfisher there. It is over 5 years since I saw one. So it was inevitable that this afternoon I should see one again. It was fishing the beck just next to our garden; always a great sight.

This weekend Rowan had a Netball match [they won] with school. I have spent the whole weekend sorting out the garden - cutting trees, making firewood, composting leaves etc. It feels good.

At Quaker meeting today I was on greeting duty, so it was a good way of saying hullo to a lot of people I have not seen for a long while.

The track that accompanied me in to Meeting was Do I Love You by Frank Wilson, a northern soul classic. So I spent time discussing that with a fellow fan at Meeting.

Sleaford Maltings

On the train through Sleaford, I was amazed to see a line of 8 huge derelict buildings - the Maltings http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/industrial/bass_maltings.htm It is a truly bizarre sight, this massive hulk in the middle of the fens. I will have to go back to photograph them before they either get renovated or demolished. I found another blogger who had the same experience http://www.jessicacharlesworth.co.uk/page24.htm [scroll down a bit] which is strange.

The photo is from the cycle show.

As You Like It

I went with Rowan on a school trip to see As You Like It at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/29671/as-you-like-it . I did not know the play but enjoyed it a lot, the woman who played Rosalind, Vanessa Kirby, was really exceptional.

This tree at Euston would be a good set for the play; I saw it last week when I was in London for the cycle show.

Tour report

This is a report by the games teacher on the Netball tour that Rowan's school team went on. I think it gives a good idea of how it all went.

The Sustrans route through Sheffield is the usual mix of reclaimed industrial wasteland, parks, woodland etc. It makes for a good ride; the only disconcerting aspect was that some of the industry is a] still there, b] heavy rather than light c] in action with steam and crashes emerging from huge sheds.

Trees have grown

32 years ago I had a job in the Christmas holidays planting trees in Sheffield. The site was a recently shut pit, a frozen mud strewn ex-industrial wasteland that was being converted into a country park – how we laughed.

Today I returned to that place for the first time. Whilst Rowan was doing her netball I took the mountain bike for a spin on the Sustrans route that links Sheffield to the Rother Valley country park. I found a lovely place, with lakes and lots of people cycling, sailing, water ski-ing, plodding around. And my trees have grown to form the backbone to the whole place. It is quite rare to be able to see the outcome of your labours, so it felt quite moving. I managed to stop myself from going up to people and saying “you see that forest? I planted that I did” though.

Saturday

Danielle took Rowan on the train to Sheffield for her first day at the Regional Academy – all a bit anxious about it I think. I take the train to London to go to the Cycle show at Earls Court. I have been on and off for the past 20 years at various London venues, and before that, long ago, at Harrogate. Truth be told this year's show is a little tawdry. Plenty of good stands with interesting stuff on them [cycle rack solutions, the London bike scheme, cycle holidays, Condor cycles where my bespoke tourer came from etc] but not quite as good as previous years.

I walked up to Kings Cross from Earls Court listening to The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Terence Ratigan and very good it was too.

The train journey back was fantastic. I noticed that is was scheduled for 3hr 20 instead of 2hrs so assumed a route change because of engineering work. That was the case. So from Peterborough we went off piste across the fens via Spalding and Sleaford to Lincoln and Gainsborough, re-gaining the main route at Doncaster. I had the OS 50:000 map up on-line on the wi-fi, so could follow the route in comfort – perfect. I just got the feeling that not everyone on the train felt so good about the delay.

Chapeau!

I took Danielle to York Art Gallery today to see an exhibition about hats http://www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/Page/ViewSpecialExhibition.aspx?CollectionId=47 . This was really good. It was the "A" of our alphabet dating. Given that it has taken 10 months to get A together, Z should be happening sometime mid-century.

The photo is of Bala Lake taken this year in Wales. I have just hung it as a panoramic print in a long, narrow frame. It looks good that way.

Tories!

After her trip to Manchester and the Labour conference, Danielle spent part of this week in Birmingham at the Tory conference; sounds a bit dodgy to me.

I got a ride in today, a beautiful autumn sunny day. I had lunch at Fountains Abbey; the National Trust cafe is one of the few places where I can still be guaranteed to lower the average age by entering.

Uganda

Last week Rowan's school were visited by a choir from a number of schools in Uganda, the Pearl of Africa choirhttp://www.pearlofafrica.org.uk/. During the day they ran workshops on singing, dancing and drumming, then in the evening there was a performance that parents were invited to. It was primarily the choir themselves with some numbers featuring the pupils [including Rowan]. It was a really uplifting evening with a packed out and very enthusiastic audience.

More Netball

After last weekend at the North Yorkshire netball Rowan got invited to the trials for the regional academy for Yorkshire and Humber at Sheffield. 80 girls, nearly all older than Rowan, all got to play 3 or 4 games under the scrutiny of the scoring coaches. At the end of the long day 20 got selected for the regional academy. Rowan's smile when she got selected lasted all the way home. I was chatting to Gareth Southgate whose daughter, even younger than Rowan, also got selected.

All this happened on a day of horrendous weather. When the rain stopped I got this photo at the ice rink in Sheffield.

Honours

Last week at the York University sports hall, while we waited for the netball to start, Rowan and I spotted this Honours Board. I imagined a little old man carefully painting each entry onto these wooden boards. Looking closely you can see, apart from the inappropriate font, that the whole thing is done on a PC, with the columns slipping half way down because of a long entry in the first column ... oh well.

Will

Last time I saw Romeo & Juliet in the theatre I was willing them to get on with it by the final scene; it dragged I felt. So I was happy for Rowan and Danielle to leave me at home when they went to see a performance at the Theatre Royal in York. They both liked it a lot, and I am going to see As You Like It with Rowan later on this month to balance out the culture-input.

The photo is of Milo on his new bed.

Bike Scheme

So here is a photo of the brilliant London bike scheme. I think all cyclists are holding their breath and hoping that it will work; it looks to be going pretty well so far.

I have secured another piece of work. This time in the North East which is a first for me. To get to the office I had to walk from Thornaby Station to Stockton. On the first map I looked at, from 1982, there was a mass of buildings and roads to walk through. On a later map, 1992, it was completely bare of anything; industrial decline had wiped out the whole are and its infrastructure. On a current map, there is once more a mass of buildings and roads, all new development of offices etc. Time moves on.

Netball News

This is a statue outside the British Library at St Pancras. It is a great building to amble around and the statue sets it off nicely.

Rowan was doing netball trials for North Yorkshire on Sunday. Out of 70 or so fairly ferocious looking women [and their daughters] she got chosen as one of 10 so we are very proud of her. Next weekend there are trials for the regional team which will be something else again.

Comebacks

You may have noticed that neither Preston North End nor my Badminton games have featured on the blog recently. We have been following similar paths; North End bottom of the league, I lost twice in a row to Edward. This has now all changed. Preston beat Coventry on Saturday then beat Leeds 4-6 last night, and I beat Edward as well. Early season jitters are over. If it all goes quiet again you know what has happened.

Photo is another from Ecup

Conference

The photo is from the ride at Harewood, it really was perfect autumn morning sunlight.

Danielle has been at the Labour party conference for her work today, she said Ed Miliband's speech was impressive; not a bad day to be there I guess.

Guests

Paul and Coral came up to York with Amy and Hannah. We cooked a meal for them on Saturday [I did the starter, Danielle the main and Rowan the pudding]. Great to catch up, it was the first time we had met Hannah who you see here fast asleep after all the excitement.

Leeds Garden City2

While Rowan was at her triathlon training in Leeds yesterday I took the mountain bike and went for a ride up to Harewood and Ecup [say the latter with a strong west riding accent for best effect]. It was a beautiful crisp autumn morning, with the bridleways seeming like the Black Forest and Ecup reservoir looking like a Scottish Loch. Chuck in some Grey Wagtails and Red Kites and it was a perfect Saturday morning.

Balloons

The Knavesmire, where York Racecourse is, is just across the road from us. I was walking the dog there last week when the regular hot air balloon company was in action. You can see two on the ground, one nearly ready for take off, and two already in the air. I find it almost impossible to be blase about hot air balloons: we are always excited by them. At home we usually know they are there by the sound of their burners before we see them struggling to gain height over the moor.

New Hair

Here is the new haircut. Better photos to follow.

Rowan really enjoyed the netball weekend, and her team won the whole tournament, winning with an extra time goal 6-5.

Shoes

Together with the bike came my first pair of spd shoes with cleats for the clipless pedals. Amazingly this pair have also lasted 20 years. 20 years of rides in all weathers, several tours when they have been my only shoes. Seeing as how Rowan's trainers seem to last just 20 weeks this pair have been miraculous. They are now being retired to the Hall of Fame.

The Condor is 20

Twenty years ago I returned from cycling in Turkey with Paul determined to get a touring bike that fitted me. The result was this tourer made to measure by Condor Cycles in London. It has stood me in good stead, bits have been changed but the frame remains the same. The bike has taken me far and wide and I still use it today. Not bad going, I may give it a respray someday soon.

Netball

Rowan is off on a netball tour, so we have had a weekend to ourselves. Dave and Emma popped in on Friday night, Milo delighted to see his foster family.

Saturday we saw Tamara Drew at the Cityscreen - loved it. http://www.tamaradrewe-movie.com/ then chatted to John and Katie on their allotment before not going to the CAMRA Beer Festival [it looked too much]. Watched Julie & Julia on DVD - rubbish.

The photo is from the Northumberland coast part of our ride.

Knock

Friend Helen had a play on at the Theatre Royal last week "Knock" http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/cgi/events/events.cgi?t=template&a=662 So we went to watch it and another new play. They were both really good - funny and challenging too.

The photo is of a Spitfire? being assembled outside the Minster. There is a strange military feel to the Minster with a lot of links to local regiments. Very strange.

The Pope

Saw Mark in London, one year on from the wedding and just moved house. Always good to see him. Also saw Wendy who I haven't seen for a few years and John who I last saw when he was having a suspected heart attack in my office in Highbury; the ambulance got there on time. We met up in the National Gallery and I had a chance to look around some of the galleries. The older I get the more I appreciate old paintings. Which reminds me of a tweet I saw yesterday.

"Most of us get more right wing as we get older. The trouble is the Pope was in the Hitler Youth"

Photo is from Edinburgh; hotel corridor, strange apparition.

Maps

Danielle had told me about the Map Exhibition at the British Library http://londonist.com/2010/04/review_magnificent_maps_british_lib.php so I had a look at it today when I was in London. Fantastic. Really interesting and with some great maps to look at, a great example of how to put a museum show on that keeps you engaged all the way through.

The photo is on the cycle track to Edinburgh.

Apex

Our two intrepid cyclists relax in the Edinburgh Apex hotel on Grassmarket. It is a great location and a bit of a treat after the various strange places we had stayed at. Edinburgh looked fantastic in the evening sun as we wandered around. I am always amazed and what an incredible geography the city has, full of twisting stairways, cobbles and views - fantastic.

Glass

The photo is of me in Wales dressed for dinner.

A friend in York has worked for the same organisation for 40 years as a glazier. He was due to retire next year when he reached 65. On return from his holiday this summer he received a letter from his employer. He has been made redundant with 2 months notice. An incredibly cruel and stupid action.

And who might his employer be? A multinational behemoth? A local company ignoring worker loyalty? No, the Church of England, he worked at York Minster.

Pennyfarthing

Sunday Dave and I went a 100k ride up into the Wolds to my favourite cafe at Fridaythorpe. Up there in the middle of nowhere you find cyclists from the east, Hull, the south, Donny and the west, us York folk. On top of that were about 50 motorcyclists from all over. The food is classic greasy-spoon with tea in big mugs. Perfect.

Meantime Rowan and Danielle went to the York cycle-fair event at Rowntree Park where they had a go on these mini Pennyfarthings, as well as a side by side tandem which was sadly not recorded for photographic posterity.

Bettys

Everytime we go to Betty's Rowan will read out the cookery courses and try and persuade us to go on them. So far Danielle has gone to a couple and come back with an impressive array of dishes.

Last week it was my turn. I attended the one day vegetarian course. It was brilliant, a really well appointed kitchen, great tutors, interesting co-learners and some great food to bring home that, unbelievably, I cooked. This included Tomato Tart Tartin, an Aubergine Tangine, a Cannelloni and Courgette Fritters and a Salsa.

The photo is of the beautiful River Tweed from the old railway bridge at Innerleithen.

Day 4 Innerleithen to Edinburgh

A perfect cycling day. Favorable wind, mountain ride, good lunch stop and finishing off in a sun-kissed Edinburgh.

This shot is just before we began the climb up over the hills.

Day 3 Berwick to Innerleithen

We saw Danielle off on the train back to York, then Rowan and I rode the 62 miles to Innerleithen in the Scottish borders. It was a great ride up the Tweed valley. The River Tweed has to be one of the most beautiful in Britain; a real river. We crossed it five times over the course of the ride before arriving at a good hotel in the town of Innerleithen which has been revived in recent years by the Mountain Bike centre up the road at Glentress. Evidence? the Tattoo parlor that now graces the high street.

The photo is of Rowan crossing the Tweed on a suspension bridge.

Day 2 Warkworth to Berwick upon Tweed

The Northumberland coast really is beautiful, and so deserted as to make Aberdovey seem crowded. We stayed in Berwick which, considering it has such a great location and architecture, is a pretty dismal place.

Day 1 Newcastle to Warkworth

Here is the peloton at the start on the waterfront in Newcastle. This was the last time we needed to wear raincoats, the weather was amazingly good. The route headed out on old railway lines towards Tynemouth where it turned and headed north along the Northumberland coast through Blythe [as in Spartans] to the castle at Warkworth http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/warkworth-castle-and-hermitage/ where we stayed in a small hotel.

Coast and Castles

Friends Sue & Eddy invited all of us to join them and 3 other families on a cycle ride on the Sustrans Coast and Castles route from Newcastle to Edinburgh http://www.coast-and-castles.co.uk/Index.html. Danielle joined us for the first 2 days, with Rowan and I doing all 4. It was a great ride with great weather. This is day one - Rowan powering away...

Year 8

It is Rowan's first day back at school today - year 8. Here she is, with a corresponding photo from her first year at school in 2002.