PJD Guitar

Before Christmas I found out that there was an electric guitar maker from London, who had relocated to Pocklington, a market town in the Wolds to the east of York. So I rang up and went to have a look at PJD guitars. The founder/owner, Leigh, gave me a lot of time and showed me some lovely guitars. In then end I liked best this one, which was fortuitous as it was the cheapest, no longer made and came in this great matt red finish. So it was a no brainer. It is a lovely, simple thing.

 

Taken at the Flood

I took this a few weeks ago when the ings were flooded. Didn't think much of it at the time. Just found it again today. Think it could be a keeper.

 

Exams

I drove Rowan to a finance exam she was taking in Leeds yesterday. So whilst she was tackling that I walked up through Meanwood to Adel in Leeds. Leeds is a fantastic place to walk, with green corridors stretching right outside the city to the Pennine foothills and beyond.

I came across this Victorian aqueduct in Adel wood which I had never heard of before, a beautiful bit of industrial architecture built in 1834 to carry fresh water to Leeds from Eccup reservoir.

 

Manchester

When I worked in Manchester a few years ago I got a good few walks in. A great city to wander around. This is Castlefields.

Booths

I was glad to find the Booths bridge still intact when we went to Preston Guild in 2012. Amazingly Booths grocers (now supermarket) is still in business and seems to thrive.

 

Newcastle

Into the North East, this is Newcastle. Monumental.

 

Honey Hush

 

I use Adobe Lightroom as my photography software, and I am writing my books in Adobe InDesign. So I get additional Adobe programs like Illustrator. As is obvious from above I shall never be a graphic designer, but this is good enough to put on our jars of honey.

Sleaford Maltings

Now we are in the east of England. This is Sleaford, where I visited with Rowan to photograph the maltings (on the left in this shot). Not a mod to be seen.

Rest and be thankful

 

I have cycled through the village of Askham Richard literally 100s of times and have stopped a good few times on benches around the village pond. Today it was raining a bit, and I saw that the covered village pump had benches inside. So for the first time in 23 years of visiting the village I sat inside this open shelter. The message was most surprising and welcoming. Like so many things from the early 20th century I can't help but think that in six years from when this was built hell would be let loose on the very people who no doubt cycled on the quiet Edwardian roads.

Big Sky

Today the sun appeared and it was not freezing. Got a good walk in with the dog. There are so many people around walking that I had to go off the beaten track so that Layla could run free. Here she is enjoying the space.

London

Got to London on the trawl. Not much I can say about this. Your guess is as good as mine. It was on the embankment between Lambeth and Vauxhall.

The Lakes

Since moving to York 23 years ago I have been to the Lakes less than when I lived in London, even though I am now much closer to them. Probably because there is so much great country in Yorkshire. Still, when I was looking through my photographs of the Lakes it did make me think that I need to get back there. Just the pandemic problem. This shot is on a walk up Hellvellyn in 2003. 

Skosh

Last night we had a Skosh (www.skoshyork.co.uk) meal at home. I cycled to get it in the afternoon then assembled it as per the instructions. It was great, a vegan special with a bottle of white Rioja. Then Danielle and I watched Lunchbox, an Indian film that was well worth searching out. We saw it on the BFI (British Film Institute) player.

Today Danielle was Quakering on Zoom all day, Rowan was revising for some exams she has in a couple of weeks, and I was recording some music. 

It is freezing here, -7 in York, as cold as I have know it here.

From 2004 when we went to Ireland with Royce. Long ago.

Guernsey

My only trip to the Channel Islands has been to Guernsey for Mark and Mandy's wedding in 2009. It was nice enough but in no hurry to return. Blue Victorian post boxes were a highlight.

Spain

An amazing tree. Taken in Denia, Spain when we visited friend Kelly there five years ago.

Fuerteventura

In this trawl I am looing for pictures that I have passed over before. This is on Fuerteventura, everything in the picture is volcanic.

Rome

From a trip to Rome, this is an old Roman wall at Ostia Attica. Seen a bit of life that wall.

Snow

Fresh snow today (soon went of course) this is on the edge of Hob Moor, a seasonal pond that looks a lot better with a dusting of snow. Had a good long walk with Robert and Layla across the strays to the University. Amazing changes in the weather, from winter storm to sunny day and back to the storm.

Siena

After many years of trying, I have finally worked out how to make chapatis with Rowans help. We made a batch to have with dal yesterday and they came out great. Worth the wait.

Grim weather so I have been recording a new song. A long process involving

a] finding all the leads etc

b] remembering what a USB interface is

c] cursing USB interfacing as a concept

d] finally getting on with it.

It will be a few months.

The photo is of Siena from 2014. One of my favourite places on earth.

Hungary

Now on the Hungary from 2017, and a shot from a trip to Budapest.

Nepal

We had our first Migrateful cookery class yesterday courtesy of our Christmas present from Ro & Pete. Together with 12 other people we learnt from a Nepalese refugee how to cook egg curry and a potato salad (all via Zoom). It was a lot of fun and tasted great. Next week we go to Syria. Check it out on the website https://www.migrateful.org/ it is a really good organisation.

Got as far as Holland in 2003 when we were all cycling on a group ride.

Wuppertal

Got to Germany now in my archive trawl. This is a shot from my Wuppertal trip where the marvellous monorail unites the town.

Alps

Found this shot from cycling through the Alps in 2014 with Dave. It will be good to be able to get cycle touring again someday.

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.