I have been slow to go blackberrying this year especially as the blackberries appeared early this year. I went this morning and the usual thing – I got stung and pricked by the thorns my arm ached stretching up to reach those juicy berries high up. Well worth it because tonight we had my favourite pudding “Blackberry and Apple Crumble”- delicious! I do like the idea that these berries are free to anyone who can be bothered to pick them. Sadly our Bramley has only produced a few apples – not sure if that is a result of drought or a pruning last year! I keep meaning to write a piece about blackberrying but of course Seamus Heaney and Sylvia Plath would be hard to follow.

The Two Severn Bores gig at Wotton on the 28th November is now live on the Under The Edge Arts website. Will be more about this in future blogs- hope if you read this you will join us!!!!

It has been a busy week for me. We were busy for the the first three days of the week having fun and looking after our two young grandsons Owen and Robin. We visited Slimbridge on Monday and Owen was delighted to spot a distant Heron and a Lapwing! They enjoyed playing in Welly Boot Land!

Thursday and Friday I went to Cheltenham to watch Gloucestershire playing cricket. I went with my two sons on Thursday and cycled there on Friday.

Today I watched the Mighty Hatters being held to a draw.. We were frustrated by the petty fouls and an incompetent referee. Off to Chelsea on Thursday!

Saturday was the start of the football season and we travelled to Reading on the train full of hope but some trepidation! The journey went smoothly and we even managed to get a bus from the station using our bus passes!

The game kicked off and the Mighty Hatters were soon ahead. However, it then went pear shaped as our defenders gift wrapped Reading with two goals and a glaring mistake by the ref saw us go in 3-1 down.

The Mighty Hatters are certainly resilient and came roaring back to score two quick goals to equalise. We got to the closing minutes of injury time when we scored a dramatic winner to win 4-3!!! Cue jubilation in the away end! A couple of pictures below!

What a great evening. We made a big mistake on viewing the eclipse last night. In our usual laidback way we left it late to go to Frocester Hill to view the eclipse- we didn’t bargain for a good part of the population of Gloucestershire were also heading the same way as us! Traffic jams and chaotic parking made we needed to go for Plan B. When we wriggled clear of the traffic carnage we headed back to Frampton and Splatt Bridge. We just made it in time and what a lovely occasion. Lots of local people who were sharing glasses, colanders and helping hold white cards for each other giving it a great community experience. Pictures below I took on my phone!

Football kicked off on Saturday. I managed to watch the Mighty Hatters on TV win comfortably in the first round of the League Cup. I am off to see them on Saturday-COYH!!!

I am off to Buckinghamshire tomorrow to play cricket-it will be hot!

Storytelling on Wednesday morning to the ladies of Upton St. Leonards Probus- I am doing Mysterious Tales from Gloucestershire. I am resurrecting a story I wrote for The Two Severn Bores show we did on the River Severn- does mean quite a bit of work relearning it!

Had some lovely long cycle rides over the weekend!

We have just been looking after our delightful grandsons for the last 3 days so feeling a little weary!!! On Tuesday we took them on the local heritage railway near where they live. We got off at Winchcombe station because there was an indoor train sets and push long trains mainly featuring Thomas The Tank Engine. Really impressed by the range of equipment the young people could engage with.

Now catching up !!!

Bird Survey on Thursday was interesting – we had some good sightings-Yellow Wagtails, Whinchat, Curlew, and Great White Egret among the highlights. One surprise was a Greater Flamingo on the mud of the river. Apparently it had escaped from Birdland in the North of the County.

Told some stories including some old favourites at Wick Court on Thursday night to old friends from Liverpool.

I have managed to cover a few miles on the bike in the last few days.

One picture below from the Circus – might be a couple more in future blogs. The picture by the lake is Clare, Ellen and I spotting dragonflies.

Story Telling later today to young people from

Booked my first away football ticket for the new season (I still have my season ticket!)

We have enjoyed a variety of culture over the last ten days or so.

Last Friday at Stroud Subscription Rooms we were delighted to see Sunrise at Sunset a celebration of Laurie Lee’s writing. This had two outstanding actors accompanied by some superb musicians- the actors shared extracts of Lee’s writing while the musicians played a variety of evocative numbers including a Spanish flavour to chime with his experiences in the Spanish Civil War.

We managed to see The Odyssey last weekend and it certainly was epic! The scale was breath taking. The accents of some of the characters jarred (sorry to my American readers) and I felt Nolan skated over and sanitised Odysseus stays with Calypso   and Circe on his journey. Having made that point thought the scene with Circe and his men was excellent as was the Cyclops! 

We had an emphatic win against Somerset last week and once I was in the runs but was reduced to playing on one leg with my troublesome Achilles (that is a tenuous link to Odysseus!) We are away to Wales this week.

Finally had the delight of my Granddaughter’s family staying this weekend. We took them to Giffords Circus– it was brilliant and Ellen’s face was a picture as she watched the tumblers and acrobats!

The World Cup has finished. I do think  this format wasn’t great for the environment with thousands of air miles being clocked up. FIFA do act like cheap spivs! Please get rid of the hydration break- it should be two halves not four quarters! Finally to my American friends who read this font-size it is not the Super Bowl half time is 15 minutes. I enjoyed watching teams like Cape Verde DR Congo!. .A culture round up in the next blog!