I could of course put Boxing Day for the title! First of all I hope all of you had a good Christmas although it was probably different to what you normally do! We had a surprisingly social one meeting friends for a walk on Selsey Common and then joining neighbours on the street. We even managed a ride!

Disappointed with my football’s team’s lacklustre first half today-on to Tuesday!

I promised a picture from my story Pig the Legend drawn by Jane Fryer so look at it below. Should get you guessing about the story! I think it is unlikely I will write much more about the book until I have firm details but I was excited by the news so wanted to share something.

A Boxing Day Quiz (I think I will go for three quizzes a week because we are now Tier 3!)

a) What bird was traditionally hunted on St. Stephen’s Day?(-the answer will surprise you if you don’t know)  b) Who looked out on the Feast of Stephen?   c) Why is it called Boxing Day?  (Pepys mentions why!)  d) Where is the traditional Boxing Day Test match famously held?  e) What do they call the 26th December in South Africa?

Well Christmas Eve has come into Gloucestershire in style. The non-stop rain of yesterday has seen widespread flooding with roads closed. The roads into village were awash and were closed for a while last night. We decided not to cycle today because we didn’t fancy aquaplaning through the roads! Went for  walk instead – pictures from the walk are of the Buzzard on the ground looking for worms I think and the Little Grebe on the canal.

The good news that I hinted at in an earlier blog is my story “Pig the Legend” will be published in the Spring. So I will give you an enigmatic taste and will put in one of Jane Fryer’s fantastic illustrations in the next blog. More details in future blogs!

MERRY CHRISTMAS  !!!!!

Thought we would go all seasonal today. Picture below is of some strange “Santa Ambassador” (no prizes for guessing the identity). This was two years ago before I got onto my sleigh that was being pulled by a tractor around Sharpness-the reindeers were having a rest! Sadly because of the sad circumstances of 2020 my services have not been required this year. Over the years I have done many Santa Gigs starting with my first ever job as a young teacher way back in the mists of time through to my last teaching job and beyond. At Dursley I had to go over to the playgroup across the playground-so I would wear my tracksuit bottoms and wellies with my Santa outfit, as soon as I did my bit I would go back to my office quickly change (including trousers and said wellies) and then pop out to greet families leaving their party with the children telling me they had just seen Father Christmas (Yes!)

At the school parties I used to persuade a friend or one of my sons to dress up as Santa and I would walk around the classes with Santa ringing a bell. One older child memorably said as I was standing next to FC “It is Mr Church!” they were meaning Santa so I quickly said “It’s all done by mirrors!” I then heard a loud whisper “There you are I told you it was Mr Church and it is all done by mirrors!”

When I was Chair of the charity running the Children’s Centres I had to do three or four gigs in a couple of days around the Stroud area! It was often quite humbling listening to them earnestly innocently telling me all sorts of things about their lives and what they hoped Santa could do for them.

Finally a joke told to me a couple years ago by a Y4

“What do you call Santa’s little helpers?”

“Subordinate Clauses!”

What I intended for today’s post I will do tomorrow because I have been locked out of the blog most of the evening! It is good news as well!

Quiz Answers below

a) The last conjunction that could be seen was in 1226 so seven hundred and ninety four years ago (800 will do as an answer!)  b) Olympus Mon on Mars is the largest volcano in the solar system  c) A supernova is the explosion of a star  d) Mars has two moons Phobus and Deimos  e) It takes about eight minutes for the sun’s rays to reach earth!

I was really looking forward to observing the celestial conjunction this evening where Saturn and Jupiter appear as a double planet. Sadly it was raining and not one star to see in the night sky. I did go to have a look but only found 3 strange blokes on camels who were lost! Seriously our British weather often spoils events like this-I can recall being invited into a home made observatory with a fantastic scope to see Halley’s Comet ( a one in 76 years chance) and it was a similar night as tonight.

We did manage to get a cycle in today; it was being Postman Pat (not sure which one of us was Jess the Black and White Cat). Luckily it was before the heavy rain started although it was damp and mizzle for us!

A Cosmic Quiz for today.

a) How long ago did Saturn and Jupiter last have a similar conjunction? b) What is the name of the largest volcano in the Solar System and what planet is it on? c) What is a Supernova?  d) How many moons does Mars have? e) How long does it take for the Sun’s rays in minutes to reach the Earth?

A delightful start to a showery Sunday by looking out of the window. Female Blackcap was the first bird I saw in the bushes close to our front feeders. As I peer out a Great Spotted Woodpecker appears a Coal Tit  dances in and out of a feeder when the coast is clear all within a couple of minutes. A little later the male Blackcap appears, I attempt to take his photo but he doesn’t play ball! How lucky we are to live in such a wonderful place.

Tomorrow I am hoping it is clear enough to see Saturn and Jupiter– I will take the scope out if it is clear because I am led to believe the moons could be visible. Will report tomorrow.

I apologise for my ramble through illicit card playing yesterday. I don’t think I conveyed the fun we had and how subtle our cheating signs were till we were rumbled ( we had got away with this for a long time). Our sixth form common room was a separate building from the main school building so we did get away with murder! Occasionally cards were hastily hidden when a teacher approached and a couple of times we got hammered! I don’t think young people today doing A levels are allowed such latitude!

Will try and do a quiz tomorrow or Tuesday.

I am sure all of you are depressed with today’s news so I am trying to be positive today and hopefully the rambling below might make you smile!

This year I have been in touch with some people I was at school with (having not been in touch with some of them for fifty years (yes I am old). We fondly recalled a game of cards we played as hard working sixth formers in our free periods and lunch time (we should of been studying). The name we called it was “Dirty Emma” and the idea was to lose the Queen of Spades (another name I’ve heard it called was Chase the Lady), we developed stylish flourishes for putting down the Queen. We developed this through our two years in the 6th form till so we split into two teams called the “Straights” and the “Curlies” -it referred to our hair nothing else! Our team (guess which one I was in) developed  an elaborate cheating system to give our team clues to the cards we were holding that the “Straights” had no idea about. We were winning regularly which they put down to bad luck. Then one memorable game one of our number starting scratching his knee vigorously (meaning lead with Hearts) which wouldn’t of been so bad until he said “How about some…..” and started scratching even more-so the cat was out of the bag so from that moment on both teams developed even more complicated cheating systems. Surprisingly none of us were recruited by M.I. 5  at least I don’t think so. All that waffle is so I can put in the picture below. There is also a picture of me just out in a School House Match- you might find it hard to believe I once had that much hair!.

I thought my football team played well today and could of easily won against a team that just came out of the Premier League.

Puncture repair day-yesterday’s puncture sorted and changed a faulty inner tube on my Mountain Bike. Just ordered new tubes and a new tyre to be on the safe side. As it was wet and windy it was doing lots of odd jobs sort of day.

Enjoyed watching the Great Spotted Woodpecker and the male Blackcap on our feeders.

Yesterday’s Quiz which I don’t think was that testing especially anyone who works with young people

a) Alex Schaffler is the wonderful artist who did the Gruffalo  b) Maurice Sendak wrote Where the Wild Things Are  c) Oxford is the city that features in Pullman’s books   d) The Lake District is where Swallows and Amazons is set  e) Mr Tumnus meets Lucy in Narnia.

Amazed that we have stayed in Tier 2 here in Gloucestershire we were expecting to go into Tier 3 as numbers have been rising. Not that it makes to much difference to us as we continue to be sensible with what we do.

Today has been a busy day a bit like what it used to be! Out doing a Bird Survey on the River first thing. A slow start but it soon warmed up both temperature wise and birds. 133 Snipe and two Jack Snipes was a particular highlight as well as five Pink footed Geese flying over, a couple of hundred Lapwings looked wonderful flying down the River in the sunlight. Many other birds to make it an excellent morning. A high tide and the picture below is just before it reached it we thought we had better not hang around!!!

I have mentioned the Tides and the Bore before the bank in the near foreground is being significantly eroded and we note it each month.

I did a decent ride afterwards almost forty miles developing a slow puncture, that needed some air on a couple of occasions!

Tonight we had a resumption of our Quiz League via Zoom first match since lockdown in March and in our match we scrapped home by one point!

Incensed reading about  Rees Mogg’s comments on Unicef what planet does he live on? Well I can answer that a very privileged planet! Marcus Rashford’s humanity towers over his spitefulness!

Finally a Tier 2 quiz but on Children’s Books as I mentioned them in yesterday’s blog . Yes I know I did one before!

a) Who illustrated the Gruffalo?  b) Who wrote Where the Wild Things Are?  c) Which English City is where Philip Pullman anchors his Northern Lights Trilogy and subsequent Book of Dust books?  d) Where is Swallows and Amazons set?  e) Who does Lucy have tea with in Narnia?

Thought I would share a lovely memory that was triggered by my Grandpa Joe question in the quiz. My first ever class I taught was what we now call Year 4 and my first class book was Charlie and of course at that time hardly anyone really knew the book or had seen the Gene Wilder film. It was a bit like the old fashioned Saturday Movies with the end of each chapter being a cliff edge. The children loved it and I remember them  absolutely living through Charlie’s despair and then ecstasy over the Golden Tickets. It gave many of the children that wonderful gift the love of reading. The class book was always important to me and was always a special part of the school day. It was great to see children anticipating where a story was going and occasionally bemused by the twists and turns. The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler was one story that memorably had children completely fooled at the end! many years I later had to give the author Gene Kemp a lift to the station and told her about it and she was genuinely touched.

Had some good news about my story Pig the Legend today so hopefully I will have some news about publication in the New Year.

Disappointed with the football tonight.