Our present Education Secretary surpassed himself yesterday (although not easy with his record of incompetence throughout this year) with my “Dad’s bigger than your dad”  comment. How on earth  has he stayed in his job this year? It got me thinking of past Education Secretaries of my time when I became aware of them. It started with “Milk Snatcher” and the less said about her the better! Many try and make a mark and consequently cause unnecessary turbulence and get despised by both  parents and teachers -Mr Gove being probably top of that group. The two best ones in my opinion and to be balanced I’ve got one from each party are Gillian Shepherd and Estelle Morris; is it because  they are women and listened rather than play macho politics? One person who impressed me when I went to Downing Street representing  public service workers was Margaret Hodge who I was introduced to and although she wasn’t Education Secretary I think she was called Children’s Minister then and she knew all about the Sure Start project that was at my school at that time.

The first time for a while on the bike it felt like the wind was a keen knife was cutting through our clothes. took a while to warm up afterwards. We did our fortnightly cheese run into Stroud. Later went bird watching by Splatt Bridge and took the pictures of the sunset that are scattered through the blog.

Will try and do a new Tier 2 quiz this weekend.

I did mention in a previous blog  I that was playing around with some ideas for a poem-I’ve tried to encapsulate that whole suffocating dreary blanket that this lockdown has been. So I have put it at the end of the blog-may still revise it. But being the optimist I am it has to have some hope at the end!

You may of noticed there was no quiz yesterday mainly because I didn’t have time to think up questions! Now we are out of lockdown I won’t do a quiz everyday but as we are now Tier 2 I will endeavour to do at least 2 thematic quizzes each week.

Finally at the end of the blog is another charismatic bird just saw five of them on the feeders-I was trying to get a picture of a Goldcrest but not easy as they move so quickly! I will keep trying!

                                          Kingfisher     

        A dismal, dull, dank grey creeps

                                   Menacingly edged with deadly virus

                        As depression drifts and seeps

            Locked out from human touch

                              Winter squeezes and steals the light

                                    A prelude to its malevolent spite

            That looms over the coming months

A shadow blanketing our world.

        A sound,

    a distinctive beep, now alerts the antennae

                        Where?

                                    There!!!!

            A bolt of iridescent blue

       Pocket sized

                        Shoots, skimming low over the water

            High speed flash

 Gone in a blink

                        Yet my heart sings

                                    Hope smiles !

The Long-tailed Tit that I mentioned above -this is one of the pictures I took.

Sorry short blog today because I’ve been busy! Long ride over the hills this morning with no puncture! Then tonight I’ve been gripped watching the Mighty Hatters beat top of the table Norwich! First time since March with fans-I think I mentioned I turned down the chance of going into the ballot for a ticket-did feel envious of those there. COYH!!!!!

Yesterday’s Answers on Bikes

a) The King of the Mountains is a polka red dot jersey.  b) BMX stands for Bicycle Motorcross  c)  66% of bikes were made in China   d) 30% of trips in the Netherlands were by bike  e) Wilbur and Orville Wright ran a bike shop before becoming famous for the first aircraft flight.

Decided the Elbow song (although not technically about a bike puncture) was appropriate for today’s title. My plan today was to finish off untangling the Christmas Lights and putting them up in our Apple Tree which I do every year and then go for a long cycle ride right up to Tewkesbury as the weather looked perfect. Lights sorted and looking good (don’t usually put them up this early but we need some cheering up!) and I set off in the Winter sunshine. Delightful ride until I went round Gloucester via the nature reserve by the river. Disaster struck! Got to Maisemore Bridge and realised I had a slow puncture. No worries fix it and carry on! sadly I then discovered I hadn’t put back all my tools from last time in the little pack I carry on the bike. Had to call the cavalry to rescue me. So decided to clean my bike when I got home and repair it -and my goodness it does get mucky at the moment every time you ride it!

Story update tomorrow!

The Bird Quiz answers from yesterday

a) Condor is the national symbol of Argentina, Peru, Bolivia and Chile  b) Barn Owls are found all over the world  c) New Zealand has the most species of flightless birds d) Halcyon is a Kingfisher  e) Ruddock is the old name for Robin

Some Bike quiz questions

a)  What colour is the King of the Mountains jersey in the Tour de France  b) What does BMX stand for?  c) In 2019 what % of the 130 million bikes were made in China?  d) What % of trips are made on bicycles in the Netherlands? e) Which famous inventor brothers who are famous for another form of transport ran a bike shop in Ohio?

Kingfishers are wonderful birds and have seen a few recently.  I am currently working on a poem on this wonderful bird-I may share it with you all in a future blog if I manage to complete it.

Hope to do an update on my story tomorrow.

Today’s Quiz all on Birds -you can probably have a good guess at all of them.

a) What four South American countries have the Condor as their national symbol?  b) Which species of owl is found in every continent apart from Antarctica?   c) Which country has more species of flightless birds than any other?  d) Halcyon is a name for what bird in Greek legend?  e) The Anglo-Saxon name Ruddock is for which common British Bird?

A Sandy Denny song for today’s title! Despite the dull misty weather we have made the most of it and packed plenty in. We had a productive session in the garden first thing and followed by a good ride around the Longney Loop. I went bird watching at Splatt Bridge this afternoon and although visibility wasn’t great had an enjoyable afternoon. A couple of hazy photos of a Buzzard and a Stonechat below.

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on losses  (no new quiz tonight)

a) Out of 130 Spanish ships from the Armada half of them didn’t return.  b) Churchill lost 187 seats in 1945  c)  Steve McClaren was the Wally with the Brolly d) Little Big Horn was where Custer met his end.  e) Lord Cardigan led the ill fated Charge of the Light Brigade

No I haven’t done anything unprofessional or gone to the shops in my nightwear at least I don’t think so. It was watching my football team this afternoon, I think they forgot to get off the bus! They gave two goals away in the first ten minutes all gift wrapped and carried on in than generous vein for the rest of the game. It is lucky there is no proverbial cat around at the moment!

One good thing to report our first Blackcap of the winter appeared today in the garden it was a male-hopefully will be around to be photographed in the coming days. We rarely see them in the garden in the summer but I see plenty around locally then but we always get a male and female during the winter.

Yesterday’s Answers on Fog

a) John Carpenter directed the film The Fog    b) Sandberg wrote the poem  c) The Great Smog of December 52 killed 12,000 people in London. d)  Lindisfarne sang Fog on the Tyne e) It was written by band member Alan Hull

Today’s Quiz I thought should be on losses following my comments on the football.

a) The Spanish Armada was a famous loss how many ships out of the 130 that sailed did they lose?   b) The 1945 General Election was a famous victory for Clement Attlee how many seats did Winston Churchill lose?  c) Who was “The Wally with the Brolly” after a famous England football defeat?  d) Where did General Custer suffer his last stand in 1876?  e) Lord Cardigan led his men to what catastrophic defeat?

The fog never really lifted today meaning we had to alter our plans. We had intended to cycle into Stroud to buy cheese from the Shambles Market (we often do this fortnightly). I made an effort around midday but the fog was really dense around Frampton Green so decided to play safe and returned home. So it was jobs around the house and some writing till settling down to watch some cricket from South Africa this afternoon which was good!

Yesterday’s answers on speed 

a) Florence Griffith Joyner is the fastest woman runner doing the 100m in 10.49 seconds. b) The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal with 242 mph recorded when diving  c) Shoaib  Akhtar had the fastest ball recorded ball at 100.2 mph or 161.3 kph d) A greyhound can run at 45mph  e) A Sailfish is the fastest fish

Today’s Quiz is on Fog of course

a) Who was the director of the film The Fog?  b) Who wrote the poem The Fog that starts with the line ” The fog comes on little cat feet……..”  c) The Great Smog of December 1952 killed how many people?  d) Which group first sang “Fog on the Tyne? e) Which group member wrote Fog on the Tyne? 

What a super day. Love frosty Winter days. The Buzzard above looked great sitting up in the tree. A Kingfisher shot across in front of me up as I walked by the canal-sadly it was so quick I didn’t get a picture but it is good for the soul when you see that bolt of blue.

Even though sport can now have limited crowds I’ve just replied to a survey of season ticket holders at Luton to say I won’t be returning any time soon-not sure if travel is really possible and I think it would be sensible till wait for the vaccine.

Yesterday’s Quiz answers on distance

a) 3 miles in a league   b) 8 furlongs in a mile  c) M1 Motorway is 193 miles long  d) It is 86 miles between Luton FC and Birmingham FC  e) The Moon is 238,855 miles from Earth

Today’s Quiz is on Speed

a) Usain Bolt holds the world record for the fastest man who holds it for women?   b) What is the fastest animal in the world?  c) Who delivered the fastest recorded ball in cricket?    d) What speed can a greyhound run at?  e) What is the fastest fish in the sea?

Well actually it should be the Proclaimers new song “I Would Cycle 5,000 Miles…..”because today while cycling with Clare (her birthday ride) I got to my 5,000 miles for the year which was my target and still a month to go! We timed our ride for the afternoon and got lovely sunshine which was good for the soul after a dismal wet morning.

Yesterday’s answers on water -you could probably tell I was struggling with questions!

a) Polar Ice Caps hold the most fresh water b) Growlers are small submerged ice-bergs (you might have had a beer container as your answer)  c) Indian Ocean is the 5th largest d) Common Frog is the amphibian e) Deep Purple (the band )

Todays Quiz is all on Distance  (some classic imperial measurements that are probably obsolete now!)

a) How many miles in a league?    b) How many furlongs in a mile?   c) How long is the M1 Motorway (will give you 5 miles either side)?  d) How many miles between the mighty Luton and last night’s opponents Birmingham City?   e) How far is the Moon from the Earth?