I said I would keep going on about the Two Severn Bores! The Two Severn Bores are the talented musician Dan Everett and yours truly! We have currently got 5 gigs called Severn Songs and Stories-these include Kingshill House Dursley, Wotton Festival, Frampton Village Society, Bristol’s Folk Tales, SP3  so anyone reading this wants us to perform let me know maybe a W.I., Village Hall etc. Kingshill is Friday 1st February 7.30.

I have been busy writing parts for the stories I will be telling and learning stories for the Family Story Telling at Kingshill this coming Sunday.

Not sure if I have had a Steve Miller Band title before for the blog unless it was The Joker. Wanted a bird title for today for a couple of reasons especially with a hint of soaring! It was our monthly bird survey by the River Severn this morning. A beautiful morning although nothing unusual appeared. Saw a good number of Lapwings, Redshank, and Curlew. I also did a short session with the children at Wick Court before my usual Story Telling session.

Re- Story Telling I have mentioned before that musician Dan Everett and I calling ourselves Two Severn Bores have 6 gigs lined up doing Severn Stories and Songs between now and April starting at Kingshill House, Dursley  on the 1st February 7.30 kick off. Will keep mentioning these. I also have a few schools booked up over the next two months.

The other reason for feeling like soaring is my football team got planning permission for their cutting edge stadium-you will hear more of this but it is great news!

A great weekend for us up in Newcastle, visiting the Galleries, some great bars and sampling local ales. Also a lovely warm welcome wherever we went.

Of course on the Saturday we went with over 3,000 Hatters on the Metro to the Stadium of Light for our game against Sunderland. Absorbing game and we played some wonderful football and the home side were grateful to their Keeper.   Fantastic stadium and stunning views from the top of the stadium where we were.

An Elvis Costello song for today because I have been writing quite a bit this week so thought it might be appropriate. Been working on a couple of different projects. More news on these later.

Busy on the bike, big ride with plenty of climbing yesterday. Also seen the Short Eared Owl on a couple of occasions but keep missing the Merlin!

Had quite a bit of interest for Story Telling  in the next month., more news on this over the next month or so.

Been looking for Otters again but no luck although I saw a Short Eared Owl yesterday afternoon sadly just missed a Merlin.

Been listening to the Mighty Hatters in the cup and we did well to earn a replay. Big . game next weekend at Sunderland-we are up there for a few days. Fingers crossed!

Getting close to finishing my Severn story. Will need a bit of tweaking. Now really do need to rehearse our programme with Dan.

Had a meeting about the Story Telling Day at Kingshill House at the end of January for families and also our Gig there on the 1st February.

Had a lovely welcome from the WI on Thursday night  and I told three stories.

Just finished packing up my stuff for tonight’s gig for Frampton W.I. , a couple of old favourites on the agenda for telling.

Been busy writing in my spare time and close to finishing my final Severn Story for the Severn songs and Stories Gigs that Dan (the musician) and I are doing over the next three months. We now need to rehearse together to make the performance smooth! Also need to learn the other stories! We are being fairly ambitious with what we want to attempt. Our first gig together is at Kingshill House, Dursley on the 1st February more details in later blogs.

Our Peter came back from a run this morning and was chuffed to have seen 3 Otters on the canal about a mile from our house. I’ve never seen an Otter locally but have seen their tracks in several places like the River and nearby Reed Bed. We went to look later but no sign. Means I will now do a couple of early morning walks to search! On the wild life front there have been a few sightings of Waxwings in Gloucestershire, so fingers crossed!

Early Floyd song for today’s title.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We certainly did and yes the bike has featured over the week. I mentioned I did cycle with Pete on Monday. Well we all had a family ride on Boxing Day that involved climbing over Selsey Common, and for Clare a first descent of Frocester Hill. Today I did a further 20 odd miles which took me to over four and half thousand miles for the year not bad for the old boy. Planning a big adventure for next year!

Busy writing my third story for our “Severn tour” and pleased with it so far. Hope to be close to finishing by the end of next week.

My football team continue to do well and I’m looking forward to Saturday’s game.

Almost there, Christmas Eve!

Lovely ride with our Peter today up and around Painswick. Have been working on writing the final story for our Severn Songs and Stories and encouraging so far!

Merry Christmas one and all!

A delightful old fashioned  evening last night watching Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band doing their Christmas Carols and Capers. Wonderful talented musicians playing a wide variety of instruments with great enthusiasm. We saw them doing one of these evenings about fifteen years ago. It seemed to transport us back to another time that was what we thought a rural Christmas  was all about but was probably an illusion. We left with a warm glowing feeling, catch them if you can.