I listed a few things that came into my head yesterday as reasons to be cheerful and I missed an obvious one.

• Marcus Rashford -those of you who know me will know Manchester United footballers don’t come high in my thoughts! However, this remarkable young man has been absolutely brilliant over the last few months and is wise beyond his years. Well done Marcus!

Yesterday’s answers on January

a) Rio de Janerio means January River in English   b) Scott reached the South Pole in 1912   c) Janus is the Roman God  d) 6th January is the date of Epiphany (also a significant date in the Church household!)   e) Garnet is the January birthstone

As I mentioned Scott some Polar exploration questions for today!

a) How many of the 28 members of Earnest Shackleton’s 1915 expedition survived?  b) Roald Amundsen was the first to the South Pole what other polar exploration  was he the first to achieve ?  c) Name the companions of Scott who reached the South Pole?

Thought I would use Ian Dury and the Blockheads for today’s title because my goodness we need it! The news has been so depressing, the incompetence and indecision of our government just adds to the depression. So some random positive thoughts!

• Oxford Astra Zeneca -brilliant collaboration to get to this point
• NHS brilliant but we must look after it!
• Jacinda Ardern a politician who is honest, compassionate and competent a real beacon of hope!
• David Attenborough a truly great man and a national treasure

I could of added more things but they are the first things that came into my head.

Anyway it looks like more quizzes on the Blog today’s is all about January.

a) Which world city’s name means “Rivers of January?”   b) On the 17th January Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole in what year?   c) From Roman mythology January is named after what god?   d) Which date on January  is the traditional date for the Feast of Epiphany?  e) What is January’s birthstone (hint – the name comes from the 14th century  English word meaning “dark red”)

Thought I would go with the Chemical Brothers for today’s title and their offering that was the cycling theme for the 2012 Olympics. Not that I was in a Velodrome today but outside on two wheels cycling into a bitter wind – balaclava on and my warm merino base layer!. My first decent ride of the New Year and sadly it looks like I will be going for plenty of solo rides for some time. Hopefully we will still be allowed to exercise!

I am currently working on revamping the web site so hopefully in the near future it will look different. I will have a new page for the Two Severn Bores that will have our River Severn  podcast on (hopefully more will be added through the year.)

Yesterday’s Swan Quiz answers – hope it wasn’t that taxing!

a) Swan Lake the ballet was written by Tchaikovsky and was based on Russian and German folk tales.   b) The two species of swan that come here in the Winter are Bewick and Whooper -I have seen both here in Frampton and also bizarrely a Black Swan one Christmas *  c) Female swan is called a Pen  d) Six Swans story was collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm-I have told this story many times and always add something new to each telling.  e) It is Seven swans a swimming in the 12 days of Christmas.

• I have to say when I saw it I did rub my eyes in disbelief I can only assume it had escaped-one interesting fact is although there have been  several generations of Black Swan in collections like WWT  they still breed according to Southern Hemisphere seasons!

No blog today but a quiz! Saw a couple of swans today flying so the quiz is on swans!

a) Who wrote Swan Lake?  b) I saw mute swans today what are the other two species of swan that visit us in the UK?  c) What is a female swan called?   d) Who wrote the Ugly Duckling (spoiler alert) which of course turned out to be a swan!  e) Who collected the story Six Swans? f) How many swans a swimming in the 12 days of Christmas?

Happy New Year to all my readers and let us hope for a better year for all of us. I look forward to seeing friends again properly and hopefully Story Telling again to a live audience.

Yesterday’s Winter Quiz answers

a) The Shakespeare quote was from Richard the Third– I always enjoyed Laurence Olivier’s wonderful performance although Shakepseare version is not that popular in Yorkshire!  b) The Winter Palace  is in St.Petersburg and I often tell a wonderful folk tale that is a trick story that ends up in the Winter Palace and having visited the Palace three years ago it has certainly added texture to my telling!  c)  Christina Rossetti’s poem was “In the Bleak Midwinter” -my favourite carol!  d) Narnia was where the White Witch wouldn’t let Christmas come  e) Frost Fairs were held on the Thames the last one was held in 1814 -the last time the Thames froze over was in the 62-63 winter.

What a wonderful Winter’s Day! A lovely walk around Frampton Lakes followed by a dodgy pedal ( odd patches of ice on the roads). A few self indulgent pictures below and a quiz!

Good news we have now got the Two Severn Bores podcast on the River Severn sorted (I mentioned this some time ago) -what I aim to do over the next month is redo the web site and put the podcast on it.

Today’s Quiz is on Winter of course!

a) Which Shakespeare play starts “Now is the Winter of our Discontent”   b) The Winter Palace is in what city?  c) Which Christmas carol is based on a poem by Christina Rossetti?  d) Where has the White Witch stopped Christmas and is winter all the time?  e) What was the name of the public festivals held on the frozen Thames throughout the 17th and 18th centuries?

Today’s blog was prompted by a questionnaire I had to do this week. I had to fill in a whole lot of stuff for the publishers re my prospective book. One question asked what books or authors have influenced me-we had tackled this once at Book Club and it was really interesting listening to others on their book choices. I found it really difficult because throughout  your life your perception of books will be different.

However, my choice was influenced by the first Christmas when I arrived home from college I had just got a copy of The Once and Future King by T.H. White on the recommendation of a really good friend. It is of course the Arthurian Legend that runs the whole gamut of emotions.  Memorably I spent all that Christmas with my nose in the book much to the amusement of my sister who had a new cassette (younger readers might not know what that is) who spent all the time recording us and all she got from me were either grunts or monosyllabic answers. That book inspired the first decent length story I ever wrote and subsequent stories I’ve written. I think it also probably fired my Story Telling.

Great win last night for the Mighty Hatters!

Will try and do a quiz tomorrow.

Apologies for no title for yesterday’s blog -think I’m losing it! Today’s title reflects my cycle ride today. It was only just above freezing and the balaclava came out for the ride so with my wonderfully streamlined body it looked like I was out on a SAS training ride. It started to rain so I got a soaking and sadly two miles from home my back tyre started to lose air so it was a question of nurse it home because it wasn’t exactly conducive to stopping for a repair. A new tyre will be fitted tomorrow because this has happened to often!

Yesterday’s Cultural Quiz on the Wind answers

a) Kenneth Grahame wrote Wind in the Willows  b) Raymond Briggs book was called Where the Wind Blows  c) Gone with the Wind was written by Margaret Mitchell  d) Shelley’s poem was Ode to the West Wind   e) Donovan of course sang Catch the Wind

Fingers crossed for the mighty Hatters tonight!

Woke up this morning to see a dusting of snow which was different! We managed to go out for a walk later and the wind was like a knife. I thought I would do a quiz on winds but realised I have done one before so today we have a cultural wind quiz. Well I am stretching a point! You will notice all my quizzes are inspired by something that I have experienced during the day getting worried that it might getting repetitive!

Quiz questions on Wind in culture

a) Who wrote Wind in the Willows?  b) Raymond Biggs picture book with wind in the title on Nuclear war is called?  c) Who wrote Gone With the Wind?  d) What is the name of Shelley’s famous poem with wind in the title?  e) Who sang “but I might as well try and  Catch the Wind?”

Yesterday’s Boxing Day Quiz

a) The Wren was traditionally hunted on Boxing Day in several countries particularly Ireland because one legend has Irish soldiers were betrayed to the Vikings by the beating of a Wren’s wings!  (picture below-not mine!) b) Good King Wenceslas of course looked out on the Feast of Stephen  c) Boxing Day was traditionally the day when tradesmen were given boxes with gifts in and Pepys mentions it in his diary  d) Melbourne Cricket Ground is the famous Boxing Day Test Match venue although there are Test matches in New Zealand and South Africa  e) It is called The Day of Goodwill in South Africa -what a good name!