Apologies for last blog not being published till the 24th it was written on the 20th!

Anyway it is Christmas Eve now, so Merry Christmas folks! Have a good time -at least it might be dry tomorrow!

I’ve still got something! I was Father Christmas today at Park Children’s Centre and doing it again tomorrow! Children were delightful and didn’t seem to mind FC’s suspect beard and moving waistline!

Last night we held Poetry in the Shoes. What a wonderful night it was. My brother Mike came especially and performed his poems in the pub-he was superb. His book of poems come out in May. There were great contributions from Brian and Terry as well. I told my Angels Story as well. I think the pub may of attracted some new customers as a result.

Had a super weekend in Norfolk. Visited Cley on Saturday one of my favourite places and I noticed it was featured on Country File last night. We got up early on Sunday to go to Snettisham to watch the Knot and Geese being pushed off the Wash by the tide. It was wonderful the cacophony of noise, the beauty of the Knot making different shapes.

This Wednesday we have Poetry at the Three Horseshoes in Frampton. It is a Book Club event open to anyone. My brother Mike is performing (he is just about to have his first book of poems published) and I will be doing Master Of Ceremonies. Should be a good night if anyone wants to join us. We are starting at about 8 p.m.

If anyone wants to leave a test comment to the blog I would appreciate it as there hasn’t been one for a while so I want to check it can still be done.

Yes it has been busy! Another lovely bird watch with children from Southwark at Wick Court. Children were full of enthusiasm and had that real sense of wonder of the world around them.

I popped into to my old school to watch their Christmas performance; good to see everyone again. The school looked great some wonderful displays.

Saw the wonderful June Tabor and the Oyster Band  in Bath on Wednesday night. They were brilliant. They are playing in Gloucester Cathedral in February for anyone local go and see them (sadly we can’t because we are in New Zealand) you are in for a treat! The Bonny Bunch of Roses is one of their impressive songs and as it is about Napoleon and of course reminds me about  my time on St Helena. They play a real mixture of songs and style of music. Very different to the Fairport version of this song.

I am not mentioning the debacle of Tuesday night! Just to say I thought I could defend better than our defence even at my age but perhaps I might be a bit slow!

We off to Norfolk for the weekend to watch the wildlife spectacular where thousands of Knot fly up in a group.

Been a busy last few days. Taking groups of children Bird Watching at Wick Court on Wednesday and I am doing it with another group tomorrow. Also took Alfie (my mate Brian’s Grandson) out this morning for a Bird watching walk.

I have been writing quite a bit over the last few days. Had some more feedback on my story so I have been rewriting bits of it again. Hopefully after Christmas I might be trying to get someone interested in publication. Also have been doing a bit more on my sport writing as well.

Had a meeting about the Children’s Centres last week more this week!

Went to watch the  Town find some form and win 3-0, big game at Newport on Tuesday!

Friday’s Story telling at Postlip Hall was a delight. Atmospheric setting! Daniel Morden with some excellent musicians gave a first class performance. We went with friends who enjoyed the whole evening.

A good spell for English sport in the last few days. Two surprising wins; the first was the excellent test win in India where one of Luton’s finest Monty Panesar bowled us to victory.  I am getting up early to watch the start of the 3rd Test don’t think I’ll make the 3.15 a.m. first ball! I managed to book tickets for the first day’s play of the New Zealand-England test match in Dunedin in March! I watched the rugby on Saturday and had to keep rubbing my eyes in astonishment-we made the All Blacks look mortal! Our David was lucky enough to go! Finally the last word on sport the Hatters scrapped through to the 3rd round and we now face Wolves. I have seen a few tussles with them over the years.

Short post today! I went to do my bird count at Wick Court and drop off some seed for the feeders there , I am taking the children for a watch around the site next week. Although it has been dry for a couple of days it was still very muddy and my wellies got stuck in the mud so it would have been entertaining watching me trying to get out; I was tottering and managed to avoid falling over. Spoke to Heather at Wick Court about the next step in equipping the children for keeping their records, we may do a laminated sheet for individual children with pictures of the main birds on.

Tonight we are going to watch Daniel Mordern and some other Story Tellers at Postlip Hall beyond Cheltenham.

Had a very vivid dream last night that I have remembered and written notes on. Great possibility for a short adult story involving bittersweet time travel. I will let you know how it develops.

I have just done another update on the Magician story and sending to another couple of young people and two adult friends for comments and then will try to see if I can persuade a publisher!

I have also started writing something on Sporting theme that is hopefully different and how it has touched me, it may come to nothing but those of you who may remember my idiosyncratic football reports for the Stroud News (I was always given a theme that I had to incorporate in my reports at the end of a game!) or some of you may recall my tongue in cheek offerings for the old Luton Fanzine “Mad as a Hatter”-well samples of both are likely to feature if this project develops. It will also include a political dimension, I always felt on the outside of the sporting mainstream of the time (still do)  because of my views e.g. as a cricket lover I was firmly in the anti-apartheid group when all you heard at cricket matches was sport and politics shouldn’t mix-I did flounce out of one or two bars over this and shout abuse at Mike Gatting and co! My football perspective has always been odd and almost the dinosaur like-e.g. I always make a point and will say “top flight football” instead of Premier League, I resented Sky giving the impression that football only started in 1992!  I will try to write with humour even if it is from an old git’s perspective!

Well what a weekend and I’m not talking about the weather (I seem to talk a lot about the weather in this blog)! It was a significant birthday for Clare. I had booked a surprise  weekend in Salisbury with the boys and their partners to join us. I had my fingers crossed that we would all get there and the weekend go well. Despite the persistent rain on Saturday the weekend went like a dream. We had a wonderful stop at Avebury on the way enjoying both the wonderful Henge and the delightful Manor. We enjoyed Salisbury Cathedral and the a great Thai meal on the Saturday. Clare enjoyed the time to talk with the boys and the girls. Old Sarum walk on the Sunday morning was the icing on the cake. Clare is still floating!

I am aware that several people have had problems posting comments on the blog. I think that has been fixed so feel free to leave a comment to test the system-I did get an awful lot of spam before, hopefully that won’t happen this time.

Been cycling in wellies and waterproofs this week to get the paper because we have a small flood/gigantic puddle at the end of the road!

Off tonight to David’s and on to watch the mighty Hatters play a Trophy game at Dorchester. The real big time! Hopefully a chance to watch some of our youngsters.

Busy week for ordinary stuff-dentists, opticians etc. Last week I had a health MOT at the surgery. A fine healthy specimen all round!

Yesterday I made the irresponsible decision to cycle to the dentist! the rain had eventually stopped but my goodness there was much water everywhere-more rain expected this afternoon, so stand by to baton down the hatches! Being on the bike was difficult where there was flooding but once on the cycle path I was quicker than a car because roads were blocked.

I had some feedback from one of my ex pupils who read through my story. She was positive but she did suggest the language some of the vocabulary might be difficult in places for children of primary school age. Useful to hear that because I had made a deliberate effort not to simplify the language. So I am now looking at it again. I will keep you posted on progress!

No more blogs till Sunday night or Monday-away for the weekend.