I’ve called it music bonanza because we have been to two live gigs this week on top of last week at the Colston Hall when we saw Jon Boden and The Remnant Kings.

On Wednesday we saw Show of Hands at Stroud Subscription Rooms. It was as always an entertaining night. They had focussed on some of their older catalogue which haven’t been played for a while which was great to hear. They are a talented duo (no Miranda on this tour) and they know how to work an audience. Last night we went to support Dan Everett playing at the Prince Albert. He is a wonderful musician. Those of you who read my blog regularly will know Dan and I have done some work together and we have two Gigs planned  later in the year.

Had a lovely interactive Story Telling with young people from Portsmouth yesterday at Wick Court.

What a scorcher we had on Monday! We actually got up early to do some gardening before it got too hot. It is great to be able to eat outside and just relax. We have had to endure a long spell of unrelenting grey and wet.

Body wasn’t too bad after yesterday’s long ride.

I spent yesterday at cricket with the Gloucestershire Seniors-cricket at last!

Still really numb at the moment after last week’s shock so I am trying to do things to distract my thoughts. So you will see I have had a busy few days.

The title is because I am optimistic we may have Blackcaps nesting in the garden seeing both male and female around.

Friday night went to a superb gig at the Colston Hall Bristol. We saw Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings and it certainly surpassed expectations. Jon Boden was the front man for the band Bellowhead who I have written about previously.

Yesterday went by train to watch the Mighty Hatters final game at Notts County with 4,500 fellow Hatters. Terrific rocking joyful atmosphere and despite it being 0-0 we played some wonderful football. Possibly one of the best ever away days I’ve been on! Impressed by everything Notts County did to welcome us and their fans were really generous. The pub was excellent too right by the brewery

Today I foolishly went on a cycle ride all the way round the River Severn with my pal Martin. 5 hours in the saddle and 74 miles covered, with all the hills of the Forest of Dean. The picture is a selfie (yuck) with Tintern Abbey in the background-I do look miserable but squinting a bit holding the phone and looking into the sun!  The body is tired now!

Those of you who read my blog will have noticed I haven’t written anything for a week or so. At the end of today’s blog I will explain because we had some really sad news at the weekend but first I will update my Story Telling news .

We had a lovely afternoon Story Telling at Wick Court last Thursday with a school from Putney. Today I have been telling stories to young people from Vauxhall. My busy last week finished with a delightful day at Uley Primary on the Friday. It was a foul day and I got soaked cycling there and had a mechanical in the rain going home! I did a mixture of poems and stories.

Having mentioned children from Vauxhall we were close to there yesterday as we visited Tate Britain to see their Impressionists in London exhibition.

My sad news is we were devastated to hear my sister Liz was taken seriously ill on Friday night and put into Intensive Care. We rushed up to Altrincham but sadly she lost the fight on Sunday night. It was a complete shock to all of us. The one thing that stood out was the amazing job the NHS do, the staff at the hospital were brilliant. One nurse explained to me how the government’s proposed pay award is a joke. So I did leave making extremely rude comments about Mr Hunt our Health Secretary and the absolute mess he has made of our precious NHS-actually you could say the mess the government has made of all our public services.

My lovely little sister worked for the NHS for many years. She was a talented physiotherapist who did invaluable work with patients with MS.

RIP Liz you will be missed by all of us.

Had a lovely two days in Hereford Story Telling for the National Literacy Trust. On Monday Morning I told Mog The Baker’s Cat one of my favourite stories from Necklace of Raindrops to Y1 children. In the afternoon I had children from Y1 to Y6 so had to revert to one of my “pantomime” stories my own Pirate Pete-because I was performing this in a public area (Costa in the Odeon Cinema) I had several adults listening who came up to me afterwards telling me how much their enjoyed the story. Ironically the school on Tuesday morning where I did Japanese Folk tales remembered Pirate Pete from the previous year.

Now preparing poems for Friday’s Gig!

I mentioned our wonderful day at Leighton Moss on Friday in my last blog. Well life on our adventures up North continued as we moved onto Carlisle. We had a delightful morning visiting a wonderful sprawling Second Hand Bookshop I had been to last year on the Coast to Coast cycle ride. I managed to add some more books to my growing Story Telling Library. I love finding old books and they usually have some great stories although presentation is often dated.

We met up with Mick and Cath and a couple of drinks in local hostelries we moved onto the football ground to hopefully watch the Mighty Hatters clinch promotion. What an afternoon we had! The game ebbed and flowed, while many fans were keeping in touch with Exeter’s progress-if they didn’t win we were up. Five minutes from time the Exeter result came through-it was a draw! An almighty primeval roar from the away support let the players know we were up. The celebrations went on for some time! Marvellous !!!!! It has been a  roller coaster of a ride in recent years so it is great to have our moment in the sun! Two more promotion parties to come before the season ends! Also a lovely article in today’s Guardian about our best ever moment 30 years ago to continue our smiles!

I was working for the National Literacy Trust in Hereford today, more about this in my next blog.

Wonderful day at Leighton Moss the RSPB Reserve by Morecambe Bay. Sunshine helps! We had the evocative sound of Bitterns booming deep in the massive reed beds. Highlights included  Marsh Harriers, Sedge Warblers, Willow Warblers, Shovellers, Bullfinch as well as hearing Water Rail and Cettis Warbler.

We topped off a great day watching Peregrine Falcons at Wharton Crag. Beautiful birds in flight.

Busy week next week so enjoying our break.

Some of you may remember me posting in the Autumn my thrill of seeing an Osprey in Frampton well have waited years for that moment; Last night I walked up to Splatt Bridge to see what migrants were passing through. I noticed a large white bird on a post-yes an Osprey-I had wonderful views of the bird as he moved closer along the posts. I also saw my first House Martin of the year.

I pedalled to Tuffley Library today to tell stories to very young people.

A really tenuous link to today’s title thanks Mr Bowie! Really commenting on yesterday’s football at the Theatre of Hope and Dreams. I went with our David for our annual hospitality, knowing that a win would almost take us closer to League 1. A wonderful day, great win with some super goals. Had a lovely time visiting the changing rooms and on going on the pitch and was rounded off with me winning an autographed football for getting closest to the final score. Luton really do the whole day well and the club are doing great stuff in the community.

I cycled to meet our Dave on Friday who cycled up from Exeter not sure where he gets these daft ideas from!

Chuffed to bits to see my first decent sighting of a Ring Ouzel in Gloucestershire and on Selsey Common as well (close enough for me to cycle to see them). Normally we try Cleeve Hill with only a glimpse if lucky. I had good views of both a male and female. On the bird watching theme my telescope is out of action for a couple of weeks. Several Swallows on the canal today.

Great Book Club discussion last night on “A Man Called Ove” that was wide ranging. Good to hear different perceptions of the book.

Learning a new story that I hope to tell at Tuffley Library on Monday. Got some interesting gigs coming up this summer.