Last reminder that tonight in The Ship – Beer and Books (my Book Club) are providing entertainment. It is a mix of music, poems and of course stories.
We start at 7.45 – all are welcome- it is free! There will be a collection for Farms For City Children.
It is that time of year when the young Tawny Owls are either establishing new territories or the older ones are keeping their existing ones – so they are very noisy at the moment. Often hearing them at night around here. Here in the village we all knew a regular roosting tree that became a bit of a tourist attraction until the tree blew down. The picture below I took a few weeks before it happened.
My gig for Upton St.Leonards WI went well yesterday- they have asked me back for a third time next year! I told a new version of the story of Merlin and the Dragons – I am telling it again in the pub on Thursday night,
On a poignant note I went for a walk with one of my old friends from school this morning remembering a dear friend of ours who we worked closely with. We told stories about her and we both laughed and cried. It helped us both come to terms with a really sad time. I had showed both of them the tawny in the picture on previous walks.
December is a busy month for this Story Teller! I am about to go out to Upton St. Leonards to tell stories to the W. I. ( I visited them last year and always a good sign to be asked back!)
Thursday at The Ship at Framilode it is my Book Club’s traditional entertainment (note the different venue)- I MC the evening and will of course tell a story ( I always use this to showcase a new story|) All our welcome (it is free but we do a collection for Farms For City Children) – we always want a crowd!
As well as two more slots at Wick Court I have two Care Homes to visit this month.
A bit of whirlwind sort of week! A quick resume of my activities!
Wednesday: Regular bird watching session with young people from South London at Wick Court. It was cold with a bitter wind! Pleased to see a bullfinch for the second successive week. I was asked some great questions on birds!
Thursday: An early start (meant had to scrape the windscreen!) and off to our family in Bishop’s Cleeve for childcare! Looking after our two delightful grandsons all day. (Knees feel it after lots of playing on the floor!) I rushed back to do my regular story telling at Wick Court and then out for our team quiz- we won! Exhausted when I got home!
Friday: Another early start for me! Off to Brockworth Primary for a story telling. I did the Boudicca Revolt to Year 4 classes and hence today’s blog title! I even managed a ride this afternoon.
Taking it easy tonight!
Yes folks I have come back from a two hour cricket net with an aching body! Fancy doing this in November! I am going back to India in February to play cricket and today’s net you could call a bonding session as it was with the squad for India!
Following the net we have just finished a Two Severn Bores workshop developing ideas for our next project Merlin! Dan is working on songs and music while I am working on stories. I have just finished a version of the boy Merlin faced with the threat of execution by King Vortigern. We have a booking in Bristol in April so hope to have something ready towards the end of January.
Awful weather yesterday across the country – it was bad enough here but not as dire as elsewhere especially South Wales.
This picture above is from my brother’s upstairs window in Nantgarw in South Wales looking out on the road! Luckily they kept water out of the houses by collectively digging a trench to divert the water. We found our road into the village under water that was just about passable.
At least today has been quieter and thankfully dry (although it is now raining as I write). We went looking for starling murmurations at dusk We only saw a 1,000 or so birds and they went down as groups and not as one mass. A couple of poor pictures below of the birds and one of a leafless tree (I love tree shapes and their silhouettes make interesting pictures.) 
My goodness what an awful couple of days with wind and rain! Certainly won’t be getting on a bike today! However, the good news we are expecting a visit from our two grandsons later (and their parents!)
Yesterday I did travel up to watch the not so (at the moment) Mighty Hatters. Despite the weather we had one of our best drives up for a while. The football was as dismal as the weather, my team are certainly lacking confidence at the moment. Still at least we won (the referee didn’t help). We now face two difficult away games this week- I will have everything firmly crossed!!
This we just got back from ill be a fairly short blog today! We have just got back from a talk at our Village Society. These are monthly on a wide range of subjects. Talking of cultural things I didn’t mention last week at the Film Society we saw a stunning French film Anatomy of Fall – brilliant acting and direction.
Tomorrow I am off to watch the Mighty Hatters – actually a Saturday 3.00 kick off- only our second home game to kick off at a sensible time! Fingers crossed!!!
A bitterly cold day at Wick Court yesterday with young people from Gosport. At least the sun was shining and we had some good spots. I went back tonight for my regular story telling gig.
I have been busy writing this week trying to finish the story I am telling at the pub. Hopefully I will finish it in the next few days.
Hoping to get a ride in tomorrow!
I am not talking about the snow today! I spotted our first blackcap this winter on the feeders. I am sure the birds we see on the feeders are the continental birds that come here for the winter that are almost becoming a different species to the birds that are here in the summer. Occasionally catch a glimpse of one in the summer and hear them often. The pictures below I took this morning (yes I know I have posted pictures of blackcaps in my garden before!) I will try and take some better shots during the winter months!!!
