Woke up to sunshine yesterday! But then the day deteriorated to cloud, occasional sun, and occasional showers. We headed north into the Adirondack Mountains which stretch from a few miles north of Gloversville, where we are staying, up to the Canadian border.  We headed for the Blue Mountain area, a couple of hours away. We have missed the best of the colours, but the trees were still quite vivid, and there was snow dusting the higher peaks:

We explored the area, and discovered the Adirondack Museum, a large establishment of indoor and outdoor exhibits with an audio trail, and extensive views over Blue Mountain and the large Blue Mountain Lake. When we got home Ruthie had cooked us a traditional ham-and-mash dinner.

This morning we fulfilled one of the venues on my wish-list; a visit to see “Junior” at his diner on Main Street.

I love this place – a local diner where loads of people know Les and Ruthie (especially Ruthie), the atmosphere is noisy and congenial, and we get introduced to lots of locals. As the only visiting Brits (this was our fourth visit) Junior remembered us. Large breakfasts are mandatory, and so I had two “eggs-over-easy “, toast, sausage, home-fries, and two pancakes with maple syrup. Chantal’s breakfast was similarly calorific;

Chantal generally has trouble making a choice from a menu, and was completely thrown when asked if she wanted her toast to be “wheat marble rye Italian or raisin?”. In the end we were served a large pile of each variety.

Off to an auction in Gloversville this evening, and then to New York tomorrow. See you all, next week!

We came back from our trip to South Dakota last night. On Thursday we had an early flight to Minneapolis via Washington, and met up with Pierre, Chantal’s brother, and his partner Rena. They had driven down from Canada the previous day. We set off for Wall, in the Badlands, over 600 miles of driving across the prairies – just mile after mile of grassland with occasional grain silos

The initial plan was to stop overnight a couple of hours before Wall, but we decided to press on so that we could have a full day in the Badlands the next day. We loved the dramatic scenery of the Badlands,

and saw long horned sheep, prairie dogs (lots), a distant wolf, a closer coyote, several very close bison, but not, to Chantal’s disappointment, any rattle snakes, despite warning signs.

Late afternoon we headed north through the Black Hills, second in height only to the Rockies, to Lead, near Deadwood, where we had booked a hotel. The following day was a full day. We woke to snow, and headed through the mountains to Mount Rushmore (the one with the president’s faces) and then on to Crazy Horse – the Native American version, still in progress. After many more years it will be the face of Crazy Horse, a Native American chief, pointing to his lands over the head of a horse. At present the face is complete, and the open space beneath the outstretched arm is being blasted.

Out of the two “mountain sculpture” sites I found Crazy Horse to be fascinating, with a much less touristy feel.

From here we went to a  “pow-wow” – not a tourist event, but a dancing competition, organized by and for Native Americans across the region

Rena, herself a Native American, had spotted details of this in a local paper

Day three was more relaxed, exploring the gold mining towns of Lead and Deadwood.

We set off early the following day, back across the prairies to a 4 star hotel booked in Minneapolis, and a nice evening at “The Brits” – a restaurant with a British pub theme, where we ate fish and chips and drank Old Speckled Hen – from a tap rather than  hand-pulled, but you cant have everything. Not bad for an American effort.

Just pottering today – it’s raining.

Leslie and Ruth’s home, our base for the next couple of weeks.

The weather has been somewhat average since we arrived – exceedingly dull and grey with occasional drizzle. Yesterday Chantal and I took a stroll down to Gloversville, taking Kiki the dog with us. I forgot that her legs were just a little shorter than those of our dogs, and she had to be carried part way home. Don’t tell Lesia and Tia – I don’t want them getting ideas.

The plan today was to head into the Adirondack Mountains to see the full spectacle of tree colours. I hoped to walk up to the highest summit (just a 2 mile track – Americans don’t exert themselves if they can help it) , but grey low cloud and drizzle meant that we just headed to Lake George, the nearest town in the Adirondacks, and we had quite a pleasant day.

The weather is at least warm. Tomorrow we have to be up at 3.00am to fly to South Dakota where snow is forecast.

We had a good journey – taxi picked us up at 5.45am, and we arrived in Gloversville at 4.30pm, which was 9.30pm UK time. I had changed my watch, but Chantal hadn’t, and kept announcing UK time all evening,making us feel both feeling more tired than if we had just switched to local time. Of course we had a bit of pre-travel  drama – at 7.00pm on the night before we were at the emergency drop in center at Leicester Royal Infirmary because Chantal had a chest infection, The Doctor was very nice, explaining that flying to the States needn’t be a problem. All we had to do was donate the flight ticket to him. Earlier Andree had said the same thing. Leslie’s face would have been a picture at Arrivals if he’d been greeted by his ex-wife with an Asian doctor. Chantal was prescribed antibiotics, and is feeling a bit better today.

The flight was much as expected, Immigration kindly allowed us into the States, and Les was waiting in Arrivals, After a while (Les lost the car) we were heading up the freeway, watching the tree colours become somewhat more vivid as we headed North

and 4 hours later we were greeting Ruthie in Gloversville, together with their dog Kiki

I don’t normally do small dogs, but Kiki will be a reasonable substitute for a couple of weeks. Ippany (Chantal’s 17 year old niece, who lives with Leslie and Ruthie) arrived a few minutes later with some friends.  We had a nice relaxed evening, but finally gave in at about 9pm and went to bed. I think that today will be a “chilling day”

Saturday 29th October. I have just been sitting catching up on a few jobs on my PC. Chantal has been on her laptop trying to confirm our flights to New York, and couldn’t persuade the web site to accept her details. There was a lot of grumbling, and then she decided to call the airline direct.  I was privy to half of the conversation. …

“I need to confirm our flights to New York on Monday”

“Its …” (Chantal reads out the booking reference)

“Well, that is the number that I have”

“What do you mean it doesn’t exist?”

“I paid with credit card ….”  (Chantal reads out her credit card number)

“What? You have no record of this payment?”

I am suddenly starting to pay attention to the phone call.

“Our flight is number…” (reads out the number)

“But there must be such a flight. We are flying on it”

“Monday morning, 9.00am, Birmingham”

“What? What do you mean you don’t have any flights from Birmingham on Mondays?”

“Of course this is the right airline”

By now I am peering worriedly over Chantal’s shoulder at the paperwork, to check that we haven’t booked 1st SEPTEMBER by mistake. We haven’t.

“Well, yes, we booked through a travel agent. OK I’ll phone them”

I am pleased to say that our Agent, Travelbag, has sorted us out. We are not sure why the airline lady couldn’t find the flight details. Being American, she probably thought that the only Birmingham is in Alabama. Anyway, Chantal called the airline again, and to our relief our flight is confirmed. YEEHAH…WE ARE OFF TO THE STATES!!

Chris, Lucy and the girls came up for to see us last weekend. It was good timing – Saturday was the last day of late summer weather, warm(ish) sunshine and so we were able to have lunch in the garden,

the girls played on the swing, and Chris and Lucy played cricket.

On Saturday we headed for Narborough recreational ground where we all, big kids included, played on the swings and other play equipment.

We returned home and Lucy, Megan, me and dogs, together with Simon and his black Labrador Phil, who had joined us for a dog walk, climbed Croft Hill where we saw a hot air balloon launched from the Leisure Centre across the fields from our house.

After dinner, and the girl’s bedtime, we settled down to wine and Uno. Someone (Chris?) chose “Uno Flash”, an electronically aided version that allows only seconds for a player to play a card. Lucy proved beyond doubt that the consumption of wine impairs both decision making and reaction times, and we all proved beyond doubt, that the quantities of alcohol and noise are directly related. Especially in my case. It was a somewhat raucous evening.

On Sunday we met Keith at Abbey Park – more playtime for kids of all ages.

We visited Pets Corner, walked around the Abbey “walls”

As far as the male Tilleys were concerned, it was a day out for the walking wounded

During a visit to the park last weekend Matthew and I had sat by the river eating an ice cream. This week we all sat in the café, having a hot coffee and large slice of cake. The weather had turned distinctly cool and autumnal.

After a trip on the miniature railway

we collected Andree on the way home, and she joined us for lunch before the Tilleys headed back south in driving rain. More photos in “Recent Photos”

A couple of days ago I was woken from a deep sleep by a sort of banging noise. At least I thought I had woken up, but soon realised that I was still dreaming a rather weird dream. I dreamt that Chantal was standing in darkness at the foot of the bed with a long pole in her hand, repeatedly hitting the bedroom ceiling. I slowly realised that Chantal really was standing at the foot of the bed with a long pole in her hand, repeatedly hitting the bedroom ceiling. I may have been awake after all, but I was still having some trouble interpreting what was going on.

It transpired that Chantal had been woken by scurrying and nibbling in the loft above our bedroom, and was trying to discourage the rats or mice from their nocturnal activity, which was keeping her awake. I was unable to discourage Chantal from her nocturnal activity which was by now keeping me awake. Just as I was drifting off again, there was renewed gnawing, and Chantal leapt out of bed, pulled down the loft ladder, and ascended it to confront whatever beasties were causing the trouble. They had the good sense to stay hidden. However Chantal announced to the sleeping world that she had found poo, although without her glasses was unable to determine whether it was from backside of a mouse or rat.

The rest of the night passed peacefully, as indeed have the last two nights since then. I think it’s time that we let the cats loose in the loft to earn their keep.

On Saturday Claire and Si and the girls headed south and Steven and Sherry headed north for a weekend with Keith. We joined them at Keith’s home, together with Andree, on Saturday afternoon, when Bess was able to run around the garden in the warm sunshine.

We got together again Sunday afternoon in Abbey Park, Leicester, when Matt also joined us (after getting up at 5.00am for a morning of mountain biking on Cannock Chase). See “Recent Photos” for photos from the weekend.

Last week Chas went to stay with the Hands for a few days, after Si had returned to work. Chas had offered to come and “help out” if needed, and there was no holding her back once Claire had invited Grannie Chas to come and spend time with her granddaughters.

If it hadn’t been for the complication of a car without an MOT, Chas would have arrived in Rawdon within two hours of the phone call. There were, off course, plenty of photo opportunities – see Recent Photos.

I had to fend for myself for 3 nights and 4 days. This was tough. I had to eat what I wanted when I wanted, do what I wanted when I wanted, and watch what I wanted when I wanted. A scheduled work night was a slight complication, but the dogs came with me and slept in the office between calls.  I will of course be prepared to make a similar sacrifice in the future should the Hands’ needs be greater than mine. Provided that I have enough beer in.

Chas had a somewhat challenging day on Saturday. Being very organised she was up early to get plenty of jobs done, while I was out of the way in Wales, and before Andree and Ian visited later in the day. Being very organised she knew that her car tax was due, and that she needed her MOT certificate. She couldn’t find the certificate. After two hours she still couldn’t find the certificate, and still hadn’t started her list of jobs. Feeling a bit less organised, and a bit more stressed, but still confident, she remembered that MOT certification is now on line, and Chas went on line to find hers.

It was very shortly after this, while trying to organise about 60 potential climbers and abseilers on a Welsh hillside, that I got a plaintive phone call. “My MOT ran out in March! What shall I do?” “Err….take it for an MOT urgently” “Won’t I owe the Government some money or something?” “No, but you are not insured without an MOT, and haven’t been since March.” “But it will be 2 weeks before I can book into the garage” “You’ll be able to book it into that tyre place, you know, they do exhaust as well, err… can’t remember the name…” At this point there was a shout from a team behind me “Kwik Fit. MOT costs £35!” I relayed this to Chas, who found the details on the Kwik Fit/Halfords web site

On arrival at Halfords it was clear that the price was double that advertised. Apparently Chas should have booked on line. It is not good to negotiate with a stressed Chas, and the receptionist promptly gave in and halved the price. Two minutes later a scared looking “technician” appeared. “That was quick!” says Chas. “Err….” Says the technician, preparing to retreat, “we’ve not started” Why not?” “We’ve locked your keys inside your car….”. Halfords promptly allocated three blokes to the job – two to try to break in, and one to fetch Chas a cup of coffee and keep her calm.

It was at this point that I got another call from Chas to ask for our Recovery Policy details, just in case. My details were in my car 100 miles away. Chas’ details were in her car, just a few feet away, but inaccessible. However Halfords managed to enter the car, and test it. It failed. There was obviously some vigorous arguments over who was going to break this news to Chas, and so, in the interests of their own health and safety, they sweetened the news by a further 50% discount on the MOT.

The VW now has an MOT, has valid insurance, and, being very organised, I am sure that Chas will remember the next due date

A somewhat disconcerting sign that we passed on a busy Friday afternoon on the M6 on the way to Wales last weekend;

We never met the vehicle in question – I think it was diverted up a slip road before it had a chance to interrup our journey. I had my camera at the ready though, just in case.

Just back from a weekend with Scraggies in Llangollen, marshalling at the annual Jaguar-Land Rover corporate challenge event.  68 Teams of six roamed the countryside, gaining points by miles covered, and challenges successfully completed. We stopped at an activity centre (more of a basic hotel). Duncan Hill and I were allocated helping at the climbing and abseiling base, and it was an early start on Saturday morning to be breakfasted and up at the rocks with everything set out by 7.45am. It was a dull foggy morning, but we ascended above the cloud as we got close to the rocks.

We managed 20 teams between 8.00am and 10.00am. Our task was to fit each member with a harness and helmet, before sending them to either the abseiling or rock climbing professionals.

The problem was managing queuing teams, all keen to move on, while making sure no-one queue jumped – not easy with two separate activities. We had to be quite firm with some teams, including the board of directors team! We were very busy.

For most of the the time we were able to show team memebers how to put on the harness, and then just check each one was tight enough before issuing a helmet. In some cases we had to intervene a bit more personally to pull the harness into the right place and tighten the leg and waist straps. I always asked permission from the ladies…. With just two of us, plus a volunteer from Jaguar who was booking teams in and out, it was all a bit hectic.

Because we were near to the start/finish, we were quiet during the middle part of the day, and I was persuaded to abseil, something I haven’t done for years. Despite some apprehension as I went over the edge, I quite enjoyed it! We had time for a quiet lunch, enjoying the view, before we were busy again at the end of the day.

On Saturday night we joined the teams at their camp site for a dinner and presentation. The Last Night of the Proms was on the radio in the minibus on the way home, and we were happily clapping along to the Sailors Hornpipe – a Proms tradition that most of you will not be aware of.  The fun continued in the Centre bar, with the Proms on TV – Singing Rule Britannia in a Welsh bar, while drinking scotch. Perfect.

We stopped to walk along Llangollen aqueduct on the way home this morning.

A nice finish to a really enjoyable weekend. See Recent Photos for more images

Matthew Graduated from the University of Lincoln today. Of course being an architectural student, Matt is collecting degrees. The first was an Honours Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Architecture. This was Bachelor of Architecture. For those confused by the academic road, Matt did 3 academic years for the BA, 1 year in practice with architects in Newarke, 2 academic years for the B.Arch, and is now in his final practice years, with a practical log book,  thesis, exams, and Viva to complete.

Lynn and I went to Lincoln for the ceremony. After the obligatory pub lunch, we went to Lincoln Castle where Matthew was robed up.

We headed for the Cathedral where the ceremony took place. Lynn and I got seats not too far back, although since the first several rows were for the “Graduands” we were still quite far from the front. Matt’s Graduation was in the first part of the proceedings, but we had to sit through a lot of presentations before we were allowed out!

All the Graduates, preceded by the academic elite of the University, paraded out of the Cathedral, being applauded by all the parents and friends.

We went to find Matt, which shouldn’t have  been a problem – we were looking for a young man with a mortar board and blue hood.

A quick phone call revealed what we should have known – he had headed directly to the complimentary drinks tent in the Castle grounds, where we joined him. On the last occasion we spent some time here, chatting with Matt and his friends. This was a fairly brief gathering – as far as Matt was concerned the main celebration was to begin this evening, and parents weren’t invited! However he did walk back to his house with us, and made us a cup of tea before seeing us safely in our way.

It was lovely relaxed day. See “Our Recent photos” for a few more images.

Next door’s nice new front drive.

Why might this be of interest? Because I have been panicking that we might be moving onto his drive.

A few weeks ago, neighbour Kevin pointed out that our blue retaining wall against his drive was bulging slightly. I decided that it probably hadn’t moved for years, but would keep an eye on it. While travelling to Norfolk a couple of weeks ago, Richard commented that Bill, our mutual friend who built our patio and was now laying next doors drive, had discovered that the wall had no foundations. It is built on soil. I went very quiet. It dawned on me that the same wall ran the length of our house. On top of this wall was the garage wall. The garage is now our living room.

I had some sleepless nights wondering if, one day, our nice living room might collapse onto the neighbours drive. This would spoil his newly laid block work, and on the whole could be very embarrassing.

A few days later I left work early to catch Bill, still working next door. He confirmed that the whole length of the wall, and therefore the garage wall, is just sitting on soil, suspended about two feet above Kevin’s drive.  The garage wall was built on top of the older wall that was already (and still is) leaning precariously towards the adjacent drive.

However he reassured me that, from what we know of the house history, the blue brick wall was probably built in the late 50’s and is still standing. The garage wall was built in 1965, and is still vertical. And our extension has a new inner wall, supporting the roof, hopefully with proper foundations (although this was the builder that put the wrong kind of tiles in the roof). Nevertheless I have asked our neighbours that, should one evening they discover us watching our TV on their drive, maybe they could bring us a cup of tea.

The field behind us has been harvested – I love seeing the cycle of the seasons around us, even if it does signal the end of summer (or at least the beginning of the end). I found it quite funny looking down the garden to see Chas, taking washing off of the line, being dwarfed by a massive combine harvester on the other side of the fence.

Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to get Chas and the combine in the same photo. Last night was a harvest moon – the exceptionally bright seasonal full moon. I came home from work at 2.30am and the whole countryside was bathed in bright moonshine. I tried to take a photo of the moon with my compact camera without success. My SLR camera was in the study – fetching it would have disturbed the dogs, which would have disturbed Chas, and there is enough trouble in the world….

We spent the Bank Holiday weekend, with my sister Ros in Baildon, a few miles from Ilkley. I was working Friday night, but we arrived in time for lunch, a catch-up and a dog walk. Ros has a black lab cross, Archie, and a network of footpaths from her front door.

We went to a pub/restaurant for dinner, where my faith in a nice rare rump steak was restored after a rather average one in Norfolk last week. Chas is on a diet. She is often on a diet, despite the fact that I’m rather partial to her figure. Perhaps that is because she is often on a diet. The waitress lost a few pounds scurrying from the table to the chef and back – could Chas’s meal be served with new potatoes instead of chips? What was the salad dressing and how much oil? I suggested serving an empty plate – guaranteed fat and calorie free. In the end Chas had a lean chicken dish, with side salad, and “optional dressing” i.e. served in a separate bowl. This did demonstrate how much oil is poured over a healthy option salad.

After the Sunday morning dog walk, Chas and I spent a contented hour with the Hands family, just 10 minutes from Ros, to meet baby Florence. We returned to Baildon for the annual Harley Davidson Meet – about 300 noisy bikes gathered in the village centre, before setting off in convoy for a charity ride. I love this, the noise, atmosphere and (brace yourselves) the rock music. Hundreds of people were there to see them off.

After a leisurely afternoon, chatting, gardening and dog walking, we headed back south. More photos in “Recent Photos”

We wanted to spend Monday just pottering together, a rare opportunity. We planned to see the annual Croft Duck Race, but Chas was feeling a bit under the weather. I walked down with Richard and Chris and Hilly, Lou and young Emily (and dogs). After we had  “bought” our numbered plastic ducks to be launched into the stream to race beneath the bridge, and Emily had her face painted as a butterfly, we retired to the convenientlyclose Heathcote Arms, from where we could see the bridge, to wait for the start. Somehow we missed the first race. And the second race. And indeed most of the afternoon, before we all meandered back up the hill to join Chas for a well needed cup of tea.

Welcome to Florence Rosa Hands, born 1.46pm on Friday 24th August at home, weighing 6lb 11oz .

All four of the Hands family are well, and after visiting the Hands on Sunday we can confirm that this is definitely the case! Florence is cute. Bess is lovely, and Claire and Si are doing really well.

Congratulations to all! (Note that the weight is not 7lb 10oz as texted by Claire to some – a slight midwife mistake!)

Monday 20th August. Bit of a disturbed night. We were woken by the repeated “bark” (more of a deep screech) of a fox outside the open window, as it passed by trotting along the lane. We leapt to the window in time to see the silhouette heading towards Croft Hill. We got back into bed, and I was just dozing off when the security light came on, and I got to the window in time to see the fox wandering across the front garden before heading next door. It was a large sleek and handsome dog-fox. Its only the second time that I’ve seen a fox around Croft.

When I am on the “night shift” I usually see at least half a dozen urban foxes. Fox cubs have played next to the car as I am making notes after a visit, and I have seen a fox scavenging on grass next to a petrol station being ignored, and ignoring, dog being walked a just a few feet away. A couple of weeks ago I stopped at traffic lights on the way home, and fox crossed behind the car, stopping in the adjacent lane next to the car to have a scratch. I could see a car approaching from behind, and so opened and closed the car door. The fox kept scratching. I had to sound the horn to persuade him to carry on crossing the dual carriageway, no doubt disturbing local residents!

Chas was bit grumpy this morning. “First I’m woken to see a fox barking, and then I’m woken again to see a fox not barking. Hmph.”

Sunday 19th August. Just back from a weekend with Scraggies on the Norfolk Broads. Our campsite was just a farm track, with half a dozen tents along one side, before the track widened at an abrupt dead end beneath trees, where we were able to our pitch tents as a group. At the top of the track there were a couple of static caravans, and perfectly adequate facilities next to the owner’s house.  It was quiet, and perfect for our needs.

We had pre-booked an electric powered 12 seat day-boat for Saturday, to explore the local Broads.

We planned a route that surprisingly (!) delivered us to a pub at lunchtime, where we spent a contented couple of hours watching boats trying to reverse park, as required. The bloke who collected the “parking fee” also had the job of parking the boats of those who had entertained us by making repeated failed attempts to reverse up to the bank. There was even a “police boat”, operated by the Broads Authority, but complete with blue light, keeping an eye on things. On the way back it was almost unbearably hot – 33C apparently. Some snoozed, some flew a kite behind the boat, and some just enjoyed the sun.

We had a second visit to a pub, close to camp, for dinner. The landlady was wonderful, a real character with a broad Norfolk accent, who provided us with a game of “Shut The Box” (Google it) for us to entertain ourselves with while the food was cooked. When one of our number managed to “shut the box” there was a lot of cheering. We also joined in a round of Happy Birthday when a cake was delivered to an adjacent table, which was appreciated. Apparently four diners at the far end of the bar, who we heard ordering 3 tomato juices and a shandy, complained to the landlady about the noise….

Back home on Sunday, but not before finding a beach for feet-cooling purposes.

I came home from work yesterday to find half a dozen Police searching hedgerows near Huncote, and another half dozen at the top of our Lane. Apparently a chap had gone missing in the morning between home in Croft and work at the Quarry. We ate dinner to the accompaniment of an overhead police helicopter.

I took the dogs up Croft Hill, on the way to the pub (Tuesday is “dog walking” – friends meet here and we walk down to the pub,  just to exercise the dogs, naturally) and had to put them back on the lead so that they didn’t decide to say hello to a Police Dog that was searching the area. All a bit strange really – I thought that when an adult goes missing the Police don’t worry for at least a couple of days, not hours. Maybe the full story will come to light in due course.

Lucy and the girls came for tea today, on their way home after a day with Keith at Twin Lakes theme park near Melton (or “Twindley Lakes” as Megan called it). As always it was great to see them – in a couple of hours we managed to fit in dinner, a DVD, a game of UNO, showing Granny Chas fossils, and a story!

We have been thoroughly enjoying the Olympics, although typically Chas is enthusiastic over more events than me. We have both been hooked by the track cycling. I have found it real edge of the seat stuff – rare for me when it comes to sport. The dogs have been taken by surprise a few times when I have unexpectedly leapt up to shout at the TV.

We are gradually getting our head around the different velodrome events, but whoever came up with the competitions must get a gold medal for the most weird rules and tactics. If these were applied to the sports field, runners in the 1000m would saunter slowly but nervously along the course, practically hand in hand, until, after about 800m, one of the competitors would get bored and promptly leg it to the finish, hotly pursued by the others. Then there is the prospect of 5000m runners walking behind a motorcycle, eventually trotting as the motorcycle speed increases, until, just as becomes obvious that the motorcycle is certain to win, it turns sharply left, leaving those runners who have sensibly not followed it off of the track to battle out the rest of the race between them. Not to mention the fiercely competitive front runners who very politely take it in turns to leading. Bizarre.

Lunch with Simon and Kate again today – this time I was treated to Wagamama’s, a sort of cross between Chinese and Indian cuisine. The food was good – in my case gingery noodles with chicken and prawns. To my relief it was served with a fork, and so I had no need for the complimentary chopsticks. Having been involved in the planning and licensing stages of all of these restaurants in the Highcross Centre, it’s nice to be enjoying a meal in them.

I was pottering around the garden earlier this evening, when I heard hymns from Croft Hill. I knew the source – at least once a week a small group of nuns and a priest climb the Hill for a “mini praise service”.  They are all black, and dressed in white.

I have met them a few times, and am on “hello” terms, but they are clearly not dog-people, which makes a more detailed conversation difficult.

About 2 hours later, as I was returning from a dog walk, this group, or so I thought, was descending the Hill. As I passed them by their cars, it was clearly a different and larger group, most dressed the same, but with two blokes in normal dress. One of these was having a loud and animated “discussion” with the priest in whatever their first language is.

All most intriguing. Is there tribal warfare on Croft Hill?

Went to a platelets donor session today – like blood donation, but you get some of it back. The nurses have various strategies for increasing blood flow to reduce “bleeding time”, such as constantly wiggling fingers, or squeezing a rubber ball. This morning they added an extra effective strategy to get the heart pumping the blood faster. They showed ladies beach volleyball on the TV….

The TV was muted, with some interesting sub titles. Apparently during the Olympics people are sat at home watching their CVS. And the volleyball is on Horse Guards Parade, where only 6 weeks ago you could have watched Trooping The Corner.

29th July – Last night I went with Scraggies to a Royal Jubilee Concert . My existing wardrobe was insufficient for the red, white and blue dress code – I needed a cheap and cheerful red shirt and blue jeans. Jeans? No problem. Cheap and cheerful red shirt? I couldn’t even find an expensive and serious one – not in Sainsbury, Asda  or Next. Not fashionable apparently. I was getting particularly grumpy, when Chas spotted a perfect red white and blue stripy number in Next, and so I was sorted.

Naturally Chas browsed as we shopped, and found some short shorts. Time spent trying them on was totally disproportionate to the size of the item under consideration. Why is the chair outside fitting rooms always located in the ladies lingerie? And more disconcertingly, why, as I sat,  did a toddler look me in the eye, reach out, and say “Dada!”?

I needed white shoes, but my white trainers were greenish,thanks to lawn mowing . I found some whitener, and applied the sponge applicator, which promptly disintegrated, pouring white liquid over my trainers and onto our new patio. I could have been in serious trouble here, and I briefly considered blaming a bird with a tummy bug. Fortunately a (very) rapid scrub with a damp cloth removed all evidence.

The pre-concert picnic and Pimms, under a fluttering Union Jack, was excellent. Chris Hayes  kindly  included me in the picnic she prepared for Richard and her sister. I hate putting picnics together – I have no imagination, whereas Chris excels.

The concert included not just classical pieces, but also popular songs from different periods of the Queens 60 year reign (well, they were popular at the time…), with plenty of singing and flag waving, from Dam Busters March to Rule Britania, and Land of Hope and Glory. I think we should be playing one of these stirring pieces, not the National Anthem, when we win all those Olympc Golds!

Friday 27^th July – The Hands family paid a surprise visit today – they stopped for a brief break, and to borrow a travel cot, on their way to London. It was definitely a surprise – they phoned as they were leaving home! Good job we both had the day off otherwise Bess would have been sleeping on floorboards in London. Or maybe Daddy would have been.

It was great to see them –Claire looked blooming with just 4 weeks to go!

They had brought lunch, we made ourselves cobs, and we ate on the patio enjoying the sunshine. Bess was able to test drive a “new” car – courtesy of Bridget and Megan, who kindly donated their car to be kept at our house for Bess to play with.  Thanks girls!

Matt was also visiting – stopping over on Friday night, before seeing friends for a BBQ/mountain biking. He has settled into his new architect job, although finds the daily 3 hour commute makes for a long day. His University project work has been recognised as outstanding by the professional Architects Journal, and an image and article about his work was published in the Journal on Thursday. One of the Directors where he is working read the article, and took the trouble to find Matthew and congratulate him on his achievement. I hope to see the article, although I’m not sure whether the “AJ” is readily available at WH Smiths! We are both very proud of Matthews achievements.

Good News! – Both Matthew and Steven have new jobs. Matt will be working for a firm of architects in Nottingham, starting tomorrow, and Steven has a contract with HSBC, and started today. We are very pleased for both of them.

Just back from a weekend in Chandlers Ford with Chris, Lucy and the girls. Had a bit of a slow journey down because of traffic. It was the first trip with Chas’s new SatNav. We know the route, but she wanted to try the options – it was a bit disconcerting to be suddenly given instructions in Russian. We arrived in time for lunch with the family, and with Dave and Bernadette, Lucy’s parents, and then it was off to Megan’s 4^th birthday party. Lucy had a hired the local Age Concern hall (maybe so Dave and I would feel at home…). Lucy also hired a real live fairy to entertain Megan’s 14 guests!

It was great success. I noted that these 4 year olds were dancing to the same music that my two did at the school disco 20 years ago (Ag Ga Do Do Do push pineapple shake a tree….).

We returned to Chris and Lucy’s for a pleasant evening of playing on the trampoline, and with bubbles

While Chris cooked dinner

After a bedtime story with the girls, it was gtood to catch up with Chris, Lucy Dave and Bernadette over a glass of wine

We had a leisurely Sunday morning playing with the girls on the trampoline and playhouse, as well as more leisurely pursuits

before taking the girls, and their bikes, to the park where Megan flew her new kite.

Lucy prepared us a lovely lunch, and we had a bit of time for more play before we headed home. We had a lovely time. More photos will appear in “Recent Photos” in a few days.

2.06pm – Hells Teeth! We’ve just had a particularly house-rattling blast from the quarry. Even made the dogs leap into the air. (Oops – that the sort of trivial comment is more suited to Facebook. Sorry.)

At work last night I got a complaint about chanting from a neighbouring house. Sure enough there was loud rhythmic chanting coming through the wall, but nowhere near as loud as music from an outdoor wedding celebration a couple of doors away. The caller had no concerns about the wedding but wanted something done about the chanting. She was Sikh, the wedding was Hindu, and the chanting was a Muslim prayer meeting. Traditionally Sikhs and Muslims are not the closest of buddies because of the politics of the partition of India in 1947, and we occasionally encounter this in older generations. Of course the complaint may have had a historic context of the type we come across much more frequently across all communities and ages. “It all started in 1985, when he broke my fence/blocked my drive/bought his Council house, and we haven’t spoken since..”

The cultivation of good neighbour relations is definitely a worthwhile investment.

16th July – Simon and Kate treated me to lunch today – at Yo Sushi. I have tried sushi – I can’t say that I found the flavour particularly exciting, but Kate assured me that raw fish was not compulsory.

Now, my idea of going out to lunch involves sitting and relaxing while being served. It did not bode well for a relaxing lunch hour when you are greeted at the door by “Let me tell you what you have to do.” Err….how about I sit down, and you bring me some food? Seems to work elsewhere. What also works elsewhere is the idea that factories move food around using conveyer belts, and restaurants move food around using waitresses. We appear to have been booked into the production area, since we were shown to a table adjacent to a conveyor belt, with bowls of food passing by, presumably between the production area and the loading bay. However we were encouraged to help ourselves from the belt whenever we spied something that we fancied, or to just ask if we wanted something hot.

Actually it was more of a relaxed experience than I expected – the company was good, the conversation was good, the food was surprisingly nice, even if it was served in a modern version of a Tupperware container, and when the production supervisor came to count the empty bowls, Simon paid. As Simon would say, Coolio. And it must be genuinely authentic, because there was a Japanese family at the next table.

Yes, I would go again.

Well, here it is. My very own web site. Well, our very own web site, I suppose, since much of my news is Chas’s news too. It started last summer with throw-away remark to my friend Richard Hayes, no doubt over a pint at the Heathcote Arms during a “dog walk”, that I fancied having a web site to share our news with the family, and maybe use it for the occasional grumble or comment on life. No doubt I was grumbling about Facebook at the time. Incidentally, I know I opened a Facebook “account”, but I have forgotten both my password and “alternative e-mail address”, and so am locked out of my own Facebook page.  I am not over concerned about this. I found that the interesting stuff on Facebook was like precious gem stones. Good if I could find them, but I had sift out a lot of waste to discover them.

Now, where was I? Oh yes – Richard browsed the company that hosts his company web site, found that this “Oakstump” address was available, and I purchased it for the princely sum of £3. I did nothing with this for ages, and then Simon suggested that he builds me a web site as a birthday present. And so, after a couple of months of deciding the best lay-out etc, here it is, with some “posts” (as I am told they are called) for the last few days, just to fill the front page. It will not be an entry a day – just if we do something interesting, or more likely for me to grumble.

Welcome to www.oakstump.co.uk. We hope that you will visit it from time to time to see what we have been up to. I hope to use it for sharing family photos as well – photos from Matt and Steven’s birthday bash are in “Our Recent Photos”. We’ll just see how it progresses. And I’ll try to get back onto Facebook so I know what you lot have been up to as well.

15th July – Last night’s wedding was much as expected. The fizzy beer was Tetley Smooth. How can Yorkshire, who, along with Burton-upon-Trent can actually produce some adequate mass brewed beer, allow the export of this stuff?

I gave the dogs a pre-wedding walk, and decided that as I had plenty of time I would extend it slightly to include an ascent of Croft Hill. Chas was a tad impatient when I got back. I pointed out that it didn’t really matter if one was a bit late to a wedding “evening do”. Turned out we had been invited to the ceremony, which commenced in precisely 35 minutes time. Apparently, I had been told this repeatedly. Bugger. It seems my “van” holds the road well along winding country lanes, and Chas’s new satnav confirmed we gained 3 minutes on a 20 minute journey. Of course we had to find the overflow car park, and walk a bit of a way, but we sat at the back with 3 minutes to spare. “Told you we had plenty of time” I said. Chas said nowt, but if looks could kill….

14th July – We’re going to a wedding this evening. Sue is getting married – she helps to train the dogs. And her fiancé obviously. I mean he is getting married too, not that she trains him, although knowing Sue I have no doubt that she does. It’s probably just the evening do – I’m not sure. I love weddings. I really love weddings. I love making small talk with people that I haven’t met. I love the discotheque music and the loud boisterous chap playing his records while shouting through a microphone, instructing everyone to get on the dance floor with immediate effect. No doubt I will adopt my usual position – in a corner at an empty table suffering a pint of John Smiths, or whatever other dubious fizzy beer is served, while ignoring the boisterous shouty chap.

Actually I suppose we had a loud boisterous chap who bullied everione onto the dance floor, and in our case he kept shouting instructions while you were dancing. But that was different. The band we had played music, not noise of a popular nature.

I worked last night, and so I am a tad grumpy already. Although obviously you will not have realised this.

12th July – A couple of weeks ago I noticed an entry in my diary that I needed to book today off. There was no reason noted, and so I asked Chas why I had to take today off. She didn’t know, and so I crossed out the entry, and came to work as usual. At 9.30am Dave, who dog-sits for us, called me. We had booked the dogs in with him for the day, and we hadn’t arrived. So where were supposed to be today? We haven’t a clue, and still can’t remember. Apologies if it was with you, and we didn’t turn up.

9th July – I’ve lost interest in the Olympic Games since this morning, when I discovered the identity of the official beer. Heineken. Heineken! The Powers That Be are desperately trying to engage our National Pride, and what do they offer? A Dutch fizzy lager. However, the chap from Heineken did reassure us that there is an official Olympic Ale. I waited with anticipation. Maybe Speckled Hen from Suffolk? Yorkshire Black Sheep? London Pride? No. John Smiths. John Smiths is not an ale. It’s what you mix with lemonade in a shandy. It’s what you get at a wedding in an occasionally used bar in a hotel function room. My view of John Smiths is that its best to cut out the middle man, and pour it straight down the loo. The trouble is that if the Olympic visitors head for the London tourist spots, they will only find John Smiths. I know this. Not long ago Steven promised me a real ale pub overlooking Covent Garden. It served John Smiths and ice cold Guinness. At least I was distracted by a young lady below our balcony who was doing odd things with hoops while wearing her feet behind her ears.

After the young lady had untangled herself we found a some excellent London Pride only a block away from the tourist route. Someone needs to give suitable advise to the Olympic Visitors. And to Steven.

8th July – Working last night. Shortly before 2.00am, we were heading back to the office from a call close to Walkers Stadium. A black cat strolled out from a side road, saw me approaching, and stopped at a Zebra Crossing. I slowed and stopped, the cat strolled across the zebra crossing in front of me, and I set off again as we both continued on our separate ways. I’m not sure that it is wise for a black cat to use a Zebra Crossing. Now you see it, now you don’t, now you see it, now you don’t…….

7^th  July – The small river at the bottom of the fields has finally broken its bank after all the recent rain. I intended to take the dogs on my normal Saturday walk across the fields to Thurlaston, but got to the bridge over the river and found the next field totally flooded. I still attempted the footpath, but had to turn back when the water depth approached welly height. The alternative route along the bottom of the fields behind our house seemed flood free, but the water was hiding in the undergrowth of grass and wheat, disguised as wet vegetation, and I got a welly-full. The road between our house and Huncote was flooded, which was a bit unfortunate as I had to pass through it to collect Matthew from Leicester Station – but it was passable.

This really is the squelchiest summer that I have known. Footpaths that are mud free in mid-winter are a quagmire in places. The only walk where have the remotest chance of keeping the dogs clean is around Croft Hill. It’s not a long walk, around the Hill, but at least the dogs self-exercise by chasing rabbits. They never catch any, which is just as well, since I can’t see Chas skinning and gutting and cooking rabbit pie. She won’t even contemplate shrink wrapped de-fluffed rabbit.