Wow it is raining Horses and Cows out there at the moment! It has been a strange few weeks really dry  for most of the time and then torrential rain.

Had a delightful lunch out today with old friend Moira and a good catch up sharing news on our respective families.

I think I have planned my Halloween stories for next week but it might change!

The football tonight was poor and I have to say the worst performance I have seen from my football team but luckily the opposition was equally poor! A draw was probably a fair result.

Watching the weather forecast for tomorrow’s bird watching at Wick Court with our young visitors.

I have to do a Halloween Story telling next week at Kingshill House. I have got several ghost stories up my sleeve mainly for older children and adults, however, my audience for next week is likely to be fairly young. This presents me with a dilemma because although they want to scared obviously it can’t be too scary! I am currently sitting trying to write something appropriate for younger children. I do tell a shaggy dog story at Wick Court which I could adapt and of course the folk tale Baba Yaga is a possibility. I will report in next week’s blog if I manage to come up with something.

Not  ghost pictures for the blog but the pictures below are  of a Tawny Owl and a Barn Owl. The male Tawny’s call of course is often associated with night time and Barn Owl is often called the Ghost Owl.

I have to start with the Hatters wonderful win today at Millwall. We are certainly playing well and no longer bullied by teams like Millwall. Our injured players are gradually coming back so the future is looking encouraging!

Lovely ride with Clare into Stroud to pick up a few bits and pieces before sitting down and listening to the football.

I am slowly bringing out all my old favourites in recent days. Today Pirate Pete my whole school story came out for the first time in nearly two years. Like Mollie yesterday I was  a little rusty in the Telling! You do realise when you are telling regularly some of these stories become a lot more polished. It does feel  good that I am  gradually getting back in the groove! The last two gigs I have lived up to my name The Story Traveller because I have been able to cycle to them!

No not Game of Thrones! Yesterday I saw my first of this year’s Winter Migrants with the young people at Wick Court 50+ Redwings flew over. I suspect these birds had just arrived after their journey possibly from Scandinavia. (there is a picture I took last year of a Redwing in Frampton,)

After my day at Wick Court I rushed off to Cheltenham for another Festival treat. It was touch and go with the traffic if I would make it on time – I had to run after we had parked (Clare was lucky her event listening to author Ann Cleeves didn’t start till 15 minutes later than mine!) I went by the skin of my teeth onto enjoy the multi-talented Amy Jeffs author, historian, artist and musician  telling stories from her book Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain she even had a band with her on stage. Amy and the band sang songs she had written based on the stories and poems in the book. It was a stunning hour and I was completely enthralled  – the songs were beautifully crafted. To finish off my action packed day I had Book Club in the pub with food! A provocative and thoughtful discussion on David Baddiel’s book Jews Don’t Count.

I was Story Telling tonight back at Wick Court for the first time in eighteen months. I told my  Mollie the Sheep story and I have to say I was a little rusty in the telling! Good to revisit the Story again after so long!

Delightful evening at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. We saw two events starting with photographer Martin Parr talking about his book From the Pope to a Flat White– the book is photos taken in Ireland from 1979 to 2019. Compelling listening to both how a photographer works and how Ireland has changed in that time,

That was followed by listening to poets Simon Armitage and Sam Lee (also a well known folk musician) discussing environmental issues through a focus on the Nightingale. Both poets were erudite, thoughtful and superbly talented. Sam also sung a song that originated from Sussex. We ended up buying copies of both their books. Simon Armitage’s book is a translation from a medieval poem from Middle English of an argument between an Owl and a Nightingale. The evening was brilliant value!

Yesterday we watched our son Peter run the Manchester Marathon he has had to wait nearly two years since he entered (it was cancelled of course last year). With inspired use of the tram we managed to see him 5 times! He was aiming to do it in under three hours and managed it in two hours 58 minutes so he was chuffed. His parents were pleased as well! Pictures below of him in action! The last one is close to the end and it shows!

Welcome back to the Cheltenham Literature Festival we missed you last year! It has been a regular fixture for us for at least 3+ decades. We have seen many authors from different genres and performers over the years. Today we saw an impressive and positive Ed Miliband talking about his book Big Ideas. Much of the focus was Climate Change and the way forward. Good to hear an intelligent politician looking for solutions and not indulging in Ya Boo politics! We are back at the festival Tuesday and Wednesday.

This followed a delightful Autumn ride that included a coffee stop in Nailsworth and an ice cream up on Rodborough Common,

We had a wonderful day yesterday visiting our Maidenhead part of the family and playing with our charismatic Grandson Owen ! He is now 10 months old and in to everything!

An action packed day. A journey up to Colwall to tell stories at a sort of Dementia/Elderly support cafe. I also took my tarantula puppet and it went down well. My multi-coloured waistcoat that Clare made some time ago was much admired.

Then it was out for a ride with my friend Peter into deepest Herefordshire.  Delightful ride exploring country lanes with quite a bit of steep climbing.

A Rolling Stones number for today’s blog title. I went on a ride this morning calling on old friends David and Judy. I threatened David his picture would be in today’s blog. So the two pictures below are from a visit to see David and Judy I think it is either 1985 or 86. First picture is David with my David (who become a Dad himself last week), you might recognise someone in the back of the trailer!

I’m off Story Telling tomorrow so I will blog about it Thursday night.