Short footie post -sorry if you are expecting comments on Story Telling!

Had my first visit to Kenilworth Road yesterday. A crowd of over 9,000 expecting to see the boys roll over the opposition. We didn’t quite click and a poor referee allowed a cynical Wimbledon get away with an awful lot. Hate it when sides waste time before half time! They scored the only goal a good one. Hopefully better on Tuesday!

We are off to London tomorrow to see Pete and visit the Matisse (cut outs) exhibition at the Tate Modern. Probably do Kew Tuesday morning and then onto Hitchin and Luton.

Well the showers Sunday/Monday put paid to our Swansea gig-it was cancelled. I spent a pleasant afternoon with Mike instead.

Forgot to mention we went to Stratford on Thursday to see Henry IV part 2 (we had seen part 1 live at cinema. Once again Antony Sher was superb as Falstaff.

I have got through two games of cricket although not a 100% but OK. Think it will be another week before I can trust running to a boundary flat-out! Our Gloucestershire old men have now qualified for the knock out stages. Hope we have a game before I go away!

Busy preparing my Dreams story for sending off, needs footers double spacing and a synopsis to go with it.

I was supposed to be playing cricket today but sadly our opposition cried off. It was a chance to test out my dodgy hamstring! Have a couple of games lined up mid-week but forecast looks iffy! I did manage a good few miles on the bike this week and gradually trying to regain my climbing legs!

On Monday I have a gig with my brother Mike in Swansea. It is an outdoor gig so we will have to watch the forecast!

Finally the title of today’s blog title is a sport one! It was the first day of the footy season despite the Test Match taking place. Great wins for England in the cricket and the mighty Hatters back in the football league at long last. I think I might have gone if I hadn’t been down to play cricket but have two games coming up next Saturday and Tuesday week.

Just finished tidying up my Dreams Story. To me it reads well but perhaps I am not the best person to comment! It is over 33,000 words.  I am going to enter it in a competition organised by the National Literacy Trust. I would like to try to raise my profile and see where it leads. No doubt there will be masses of entries!

Been fairly social at the end of the week and ventured out on a ride with the boys on Sunday. First decent ride for sometime because of my dodgy hamstring. Hopefully I’m OK but won’t really know until I try to run again! Felt a slight twinge but not sure if that is my hypochondriac imagination, old age or just normal!

Enjoyable gig at Bream Library yesterday. Changed my stories when I arrived. Enjoyed doing the Troll story and I will develop this one. The Library is run by volunteers and had a lovely atmosphere.They are doing a great job. Having said that it is sad to see how the whole library service across the country has been damaged by cuts, would be good if our lords and masters realised how important libraries are for people’s learning .

Read through my dreams story today and I am going to enter it in a competition-“Nothing ventured nothing gained”. Still needs some tidying up!

Well I will be tomorrow! Of to perform in a library and the theme is mythical beasts. so found a great new Troll story to perform as well as one of my dragon stories. Those of you who know me from a long time ago will recall various versions I used to do of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff! I am going to investigate more Troll stories for telling!

I was originally going to cycle over to the Forest of Dean but decided with my dodgy hammie not to risk it!

Just recovering from a mad few days. Sorry about the delay in blogging! When I signed off I was mentioning my cricket, well last Thursday against Somerset it was scorching. Struggled with my dodgy hamstring and to make matters worse my calf muscle went on the same leg! Age catching up? It didn’t help that we came second!

Friday saw us dash across country to Colchester for my mate Colin’s retirement do. A great evening and it was a privilege being there.A cracking thunderstorm while we sleeping in the van. We then set off Saturday because I was performing at Wick Court at their Cider Festival. I got some great feedback but I wasn’t completely satisfied with my performance. I spent a few hours on Sunday morning helping get everything down.

Another 3 performances on Monday at the WWT in their new shop. The audience was mainly young children with parents.

Visited the physio before my performing and she confirmed what I knew-TAKE A REST from cricket!!!!

Just been on the WWT web site and was shocked to see a picture of me! It was in their events section advertising the stories I am telling there on Monday. I am doing three sessions during the day. They are revamping the shop and this is their launch.

Before that on Saturday I am telling stories at the Cider Festival sandwiched between some bands! So busy,busy!

On the cricket front I played two games last week. The Seniors beat Devon on Thursday and I played for Slimbridge on Saturday  carrying my bat! Tomorrow off to the Festival at Cheltenham to watch followed by a game against Somerset Thursday. My Peter is trying to get us tickets for Lords on Friday!

It has been a bit of a social whirl the last couple of days. But I will start with the Story Telling. I did an evening performance at Wick Court on Tuesday with the children I had been bird watching with earlier in the day. Lovely children who were full of enthusiasm. For the stories I did a simple bird one, followed by Odysseus (I was asked for a Greek story earlier in the day), finishing with the Sleeping King. Good to have that slot before bed time it does add to the atmosphere. Clare has given me back my story Dreams with a couple of suggestions for development. So will work on that over the next month or so. I’ve got a couple of interesting gigs coming up this month one at the WWT and another at a library.

Wednesday was my social day! I cycled over the top to meet Mick (fellow Hatter) for lunch. It was our annual pre-season natter and catch up. Last night was our Book Club meal at our Forest of Dean venue! Laurie was an excellent host and the meal theme was Turkish to fit with our next read “My Name is Red”. Wonderful array of food and drink as always!

If you have looked at the web site there is a subtle change to Bill’s Own Stories (I’ve updated it!) I am Story Telling tomorrow night at Wick Court for a visiting school. They are paying me in bird food for our feeders at Wick Court.

We really enjoyed our time away. The cricket on Thursday was a long way to go for a game of cricket and to come second! had a good day and saw my sister. Friday in Yorkshire we visited Saltaire and enjoyed looking at the Hockneys in the Mill.  Great day! Yorkshire looked great with bunting (usually the main tour jerseys), posters and bikes! The whole event was a great celebration bursting with civic pride and a sense of community. As I mentioned I cycled to Otley and was one of thousands moving around on a bike.Very up and down! Enjoyed watching the caravan come through! The peloton passed in seconds! Sunday we were just above Haworth and had a super view down a long drag. So when the peloton came into view we could see it rhythmically working together for a while. The crowd was buzzing and a lovely atmosphere. Really glad to be at such a special once in a lifetime event!