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.

Delightful visit to see our new Granddaughter. As any grandparent says she is beautiful! It is good for the soul to see your children being lovely parents. Clare of course has excelled herself by making bunting, knitting cardigans, and making a wonderful play mat. I might put a photo in a future blog!

I went to football on Saturday and the weather was awful and it meant the ball skidded off quickly making control difficult. It show how far my football team have gone in the Championship when the opposition sit back and try and stop us playing.

I may of had the Dire Straits song before as a title but couldn’t think of anything else for this topic (could of been Sisters as well as Brothers in Arms). Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will know I am a keen cyclist and clock up many miles in a year on the road. One rather touching thing that happens when you are out on the road is the greeting fellow cyclists give each other. There is a variety of greetings – a hand raised, slight flick of the hand on the handlebars, a nod , a cheery “Good Morning or Afternoon”, “Hi “ or when you overtake someone or get overtaken a full discussion can take place. We all stop for each other if we see someone with a puncture or a mechanical when we are out. Maybe one day there will be a song called “Comrades on the Road” that I could use as a song title.

Picture is of three cycling comrades well above the famous Alpe d’Huez climb- one is much older than the other two!

Will blog on stories, football and other stuff tomorrow!