Thought Deep Purple’s song was appropriate for today. I refer of course to the amazing Mark Cavendish who today drew level with Eddie Merckx for the number of stage wins at the Tour de France. Brilliant! What a come back!!!! I am always fascinated by the Tour, it is an amazing endurance event-cycling for 3 weeks including the Alps and the Pyrenees.

I know I said I would write about the Inca Trail but it might have to wait a few days.

 Drama in the Fruit Net 

Second title of the day! I meant to write about drama in our garden a couple of days ago.We discovered a young Blackbird was trapped in our fruit net, his leg was caught in part of the net. We tried to rescue but the bird was panicking so it was difficult to release him. It wasn’t helped by the parents dive bombing us. So we had bird flapping at ground level as we tried to free him while ducking as the parents attacked us from above. I tried to explain we were helping but communication was a problem! The good news we did release him after a traumatic ten minutes but we didn’t get a Thank You!

Had to be after last night’s football didn’t it! Some of us can remember the last final England played in.

A short blog today -sorry.

Sadly my sport wasn’t so good today we lost to Wales today at cricket. I blame the captain (guess who and he got a duck?)

Book News -now seems likely to be mid August when it will finally be published. It has been a tortuous journey in recent weeks.

Thought the Don Henley song might be a good one for today even if the weather has been indifferent. I think Mark Cavendish is the boy of this summer-what an amazing  comeback!!! I certainly didn’t see that coming did anyone? For those of you who don’t know who is he is a cyclist and is closing in on the all time Stage Wins in the Tour de France. The picture above is one that has been in my blog before- I took it a few years ago on Caerphilly Mountain during the Tour of Britain.

More photos at the bottom from my garden. We have been pleased we have seen both male and female Blackcaps this week . Female below taken from an upstairs window.

An old Neil Young song title for today.

Thought it appropriate after listening to the news about the proposed end of lockdown. I do feel the message is muddled and can only see cases rising. Of course I am looking forward to going back to normal, especially to being able to perform live gigs regularly again. Can’t help but think the government has got wedded to July 19th so are blind to the data. Get more young people vaccinated before we open up! I hope I am wrong!

On a positive note I have a few outdoor gigs coming up in libraries and arts venues over the next month. So I will have to knuckle down and relearn stories and how I perform them.

I will attempt in the near future to finish off my Peru musings I wrote about before with our Inca Trail adventures. to whet your appetite the two pictures below are of sunrise  at Machu Picchu taken from the Sun Gate.

Got home from Bristol absolutely dripping this evening, we had been at the cricket and it got rained off (torrential rain) but the soaking came from waiting in the queue for the Park and Ride for twenty minutes. My goodness did I get wet, I now have rucksack, hat, shoes and other stuff all drying around the house! It is a long time since I have been that wet. The cricket was underwhelming only forty odd overs. It remains a mystery that cricket  a game for warm dry climates was developed in this country with its frequent weather systems coming across from the Atlantic!

A shower and a steaming mug of tea with wonderful home made flapjack soon restores your well being! As I was sipping my tea a distant memory came drifting back- of it was coming off the Pennine hill wet and cold and visiting the cafe at Horton in Ribblesdale. Their pint mugs of tea were legendary!

Have to start with tonight’s footie. That was certainly a comprehensive performance. I don’t normally get excited by England, certainly I get more involved following my team. However I find Southgate a really impressive man and how he has molded this diverse group of players. How it he has supported the players taking the knee is exemplary has shamed our prime minister with his divide and rule comments. Now looking forward to Wednesday.

I was supposed to play cricket today but sadly it was called off and I’m not that optimistic for my visit to Bristol for the One Day International- forecast isn’t great.

We have had a delightful few days away with the family in Somerset. I have fully enjoyed playing being an active grandparent, crawling on the floor, making silly noises and singing daft songs! I even managed a cycle with my David through the beautiful countryside near Stourhead.

Will have an update on the book on Monday. I have to decide if the cover has a matt or gloss finish! We are not far away!

Story Telling is gradually picking up with some library gigs in the holidays and one at Kingshill House.