“I went down to the river…….”  I have had a marvellous day. I took Neil who I do the bird watching with at Wick Court over to the 100 acre (by the Severn) for him to see a Marsh Harrier. Had some great views and some excellent sightings including Cranes on the sea wall. It was Neil’s first Harrier!

We then went onto Wick Court to do bird watching with children from Newham. Children were delightful and they were a wonderful audience when I did Story Telling by the camp fire. Beautifully atmospheric!

Yesterday’s Gig at Wick in South Wales also went well and it was a lovely school and the children were really responsive.

I enjoyed watching Wolf Hall last night-what fantastic acting!

With all the above plus a few miles on the bike means I fairly tired as I write this!

Bob’s song title seems OK for this blog! Had a busy few days and one rather alarming near miss! I was interviewing for HVV on Friday at the top of town.

Watched the mighty Hatters at Plymouth on Saturday went with old friend Dave who is an Argyle fan, his son Mark and our David. Social meet up in the pub with others till we separated to go to different parts of the ground. Great win and an impressive team performance. It is Cheltenham next Saturday. Fingers crossed!

Sunday saw us travel up to Preston to see old friend Chas who hasn’t been too well. We had a good drive round the hills and a great lunch. It was the journey home through the road works that saw a great big lorry drift across the motor way scrunching up the side of the car. Miraculously he realised in time so we didn’t get pushed into the barrier because of the road works. Phew!!!!!! No one was hurt but car a bit of a mess but driveable Just waiting now on the insurance company, at least he admitted his fault!

Cycling is challenging this week! Just about to pedal into Stroud- sleeting as well. Off to South Wales to deliver fairy stories tomorrow.

We had another one of our super book club meals last night. The evening had a New Zealand theme because we are currently reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It is a  weighty tome and I’ve almost finished it. The strands are all coming together and I’ve enjoyed it. We will talk about it next month. The food offering from everyone was once again excellent!

Got quite a soaking this morning doing our monthly bird watch on the Severn. We wondered if we would see anything in gale forced wind and rain. Had a Great Skua the first one I’ve ever seen in Gloucestershire. So that was worth the soaking!

Just to say if you need me during the week of World Book Day please get in touch asap because slots are filling up fast.

Learning some traditional fairy tales for a gig next week which I am really looking forward to. Not often you get asked to do exclusive fairy stories. Had to learn a Welsh one as well which has been fun.

Had a couple of soakings this week on the bike just doing local trips! Busy with Children’s Centre stuff this week.

Apologies for this rant!

How sad that Sky has such little consideration for the real fan but of course they are wonderful for the armchair fan! I have thought that for years and last night I suffered the rubbish of having to watch football on a Thursday night instead of a Saturday afternoon. All for the goal of wall to wall football! We would have had a full house on a Saturday. I dread the next T.V. contract.

Rant over!  back to Story telling stuff next time (well maybe!) I am busy unearthing information to inform my next story idea and enjoying the process.

Learning a couple of new stories for telling. One is a Welsh Fairy Tale for a Gig later this month. Still mulling over ideas for my story based at Wick Court. Hoping to do a bit of research on this over the next few days.

Been a bit under the weather so our wedding anniversary plans for today were curtailed.  Hopefully we can celebrate properly later this week.

Also haven’t been on the bike for a few days biggest gap since were away in September.

Welcome 2015! Had a lovely new Year with our friends Colin, Cee, Alan and Liz plus Ruby the dog . Lots of sparkling wine! Took Colin on a ride today and we aim to do a hill tomorrow. So no Story Telling adventures for a while but I have a lot of bookings over the next three months.

Christmas has gone, family has dispersed so it is time to get back on the bike for a ride up a hill! Haven’t done Frocester for at least a fortnight so decided I needed to stretch those legs! A little slippery in places so I took the descent with some caution.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We had a lovely time and I even managed to see the mighty Hatters twice.

I mentioned before that I am currently playing with some ideas for a story based around Wick Court. The research on the River Severn has thrown up some interesting ideas to develop. I’ve also got to finish my allotment story. How will I fit it all in?

Merry Christmas folks and thanks for reading my blog. I am amazed at how many of you want to read the ramblings of this old gnarled Story Teller! I have really enjoyed this year and feel I have upped my game on the performing front. I have certainly had some interesting and fun gigs this year.

Looking forward to the festivities with the family as well as a bit of footie!

Have a good one!!!!!!!!!!!

A quick blog. Just been supporting a Slimbridge lad James Bottger who is walking up and down Robinswood Hill 76 times (the equivalent of climbing Everest). He started at 10 on Saturday and apart from about 90 mins sleep has been at it up to now (4.45 p.m. on Monday.) He is raising money to send his daughter for an operation in the States. Amazing support and what a great effort!

Starting doing some research for a story connected with Wick Court (Farm for City Children). I hoping to write a story set there. At the moment the idea is germinating!