From midday we went over the Pennine watershed, now the snow had gone , and down to Southern Lakeland to visit Fiona's Mum. On the way over we listened to the Time Out of Mind CD by Bob Dylan although there were grumbles from our lads. Well , children, sometimes Mummy and Daddy want to look at the great countryside much of which we have walked over think about those nice times and TOTALLY FREAKOUT to some cool music . Hey you both did admit you liked the band our Bobby was playing with . It was Leonard Cohen on the way back and the two grumblos in the back like him. Teenagers who like Leonard Cohen . What's wrong with them?!

Anyway , Fo's Mum Veronica was in good cheer but very frail, she is in her 80's and I am always raised up by that good cheer and how good her mind is, still very sharp, sharp enough to appreciate my wayward humor, in spite of the vascular dementia she is suffering from. It just goes to show you cannot keep a good woman down! The boys were really and I mean really good with her and she enjoyed all the photos of them sledging which we had on the netbook.

On the way over we had an hours walk around Ulverston where Veronica used to live and Miles led the walk and took us around a very interesting route with much to look at and talk about . He will be a good Dad one day . Good doggy. There are many architectural history points in the town such as a meeting room of some sort built in the 18th century with another storey added in the 19th century the only reason we knew that was because they had put the dates on both buildings.

Well , after a very dark drive back we were going to watch The Beebs Shakespeare offering with Patrick Stewart, Macbeth, but we decided to watch Star Trek instead. Sorry Mr Ian Fletcher of Taiwan my infallible guide on all things literary, but I often say that Star Trek is the new Shakespeare and now you know that I am dumb enough to believe that . Is there hope for me ? I hope not !

This afternoon with the family I had a nice four mile walk in the low winter ight around Durham. The river was in flood due to the thaw setting in in the uplands but it was not as big a torrent as it could have been because the snow cover on the hills was not that deep in spite of the cold and snowfall. There had been a fairly big landslide near Prebends bridge and the onward erosion of the UK continues on ! Near Framwellgate Bridge we saw a Little Grebe again and it was hunting for larvae and insects close to the bank because the river Wear was roaring along . We were 5 meters from it . A really lovely grebe and we saw another further down river and this was much smaller so I assume it was the female . Can't wait to see them in their summer coats. In town we grabbed some spare chairs to use for out biscuit break and it was very cosy sat at the bottom of the market. For about half of the walk we were walking on melting ice which was more slippery than a bankers reasons to sell you something you don't want! Very slippery. A few days ago I said to my friend Sybil Wood that walking around a town in snow and ice is worse than clambering around the hills in the stuff and today was very tricky . A nice afternoon out with the family and a Trekky evening is coming up and that's great. Star Trek is the new Shakespeare.

After the lads had a good morning session with the maths and Clifford was in school for an hour and did some maths as well we decided to to sledging in Durham for the afternoon. Miles has fully recovered from whatever cold bug he had so he was raring to get out and thrash the slopes with sledges for 90 minutes which is just what they did. Because of everyone sledging over the weekend and a hard frost last night the slopes were almost dangerously slippy and when Miles first whizzed down he was amazed at how fast he went . After watching them for five minutes I went for a nice 3 mile walk around the town and woods really enjoying the low winter afternoon light glancing across the building and the trees. Hardly any bird life to be seen on the River Wear but I did notice that between Prebends and Framwellgate Bridge it was icing over . Gosh it was cold this morning . When I drove Fo into work it was -11 and on the way back just before our house it descended to -12.5. The only time ever in the UK I have known temperatures like that we have been high up in the Howgills or Teesdale and there has been wind chill as well. Today just outside my house -12.5 and no wind whatsoever . Man that's cold . Before we went out today I did a careful gear check with the lads and they had their body warmers on and Clifford was in double gloves . Mind you when they hit the slopes they were that excited with the speed they were getting I don't think they noticed the cold.

After the afternoons exertions when we got back Miles got straight down to an hour of maths and he is really enjoying the last module of his pure maths course which doesn't start 29/1/11. He is well ahead and the other course he is doing he doesn't need to prepare up at all for that . Clever doggy! But he has also done a lot of work over the last three months. Nice afternoon out and to put myself in Fiona's goody extra goody books I have knocked up a chicken casserole for tea and I'm looking forward to hearing the "Ooooooooooooooooooo" from her when I tell her what we are having for tea. Cold weather walks, chicken, nice man what more does a woman want!

This afternoon with the family I had a nice 5 mile walk around Durham starting from Shincliffe village . The river was gunmetal grey with all the snow around and joy of joys the Goosanders were back. Three of them like last time so I'm assuming it is the same three. That was good but 500m downstream it got even better because I noticed a very small diving bird and I knew it wasn't one of the usual suspects so as I was loudly wondering a lovely lady from Ilkley said it was a Little Grebe and having just verified that : she was right . A Little Grebe in its winter plumage and we saw 5 of them at the Shincliffe end of the river one on its own at Framwellgate Bridge. Total bliss.

In town we went to see the Victorian Market up at the Cathedral and it was a very good show with lots of food and craft stalls. One of the stalls had several birds of prey from a local BOP centre and we noticed a few empty stalls which irritated me a bit because the lady from Durham Markets said yesterday that they had no stalls available for us to have a Bahai stall but I suppose some of the stallholders may not have turned up . Still she did say to book July 2011 for the next Victorian Xmas Market and we will take her up on that. Fo and I love doing Bahai stalls and it is great when people ask about our religion and interesting when they just want to disagree with it! We have met allsorts doing Bahai stalls!

On the way back to Shincliffe we saw a Goosander again and it just flew offf as soon as it saw us . They are a very wild bird with only 2600 breeding pairs in the UK although a lot more over winter which is why we mainly see them in winter. In the past they were heavily killed of by fishermen and landowners because it was (incorrectly) believed they dented fish stocks . Gosh , everything has it's story doesn't it! A gorgeous afternoon out ending up with Fo and I crashing out in bed and listing to Tenebrae her slaying monsters on the DS , me doing this and surfing the net . Cosy!

An interesting week. Clifford was off school all week because the school was closed due to the snow and he got loads of maths done . His future looks very promising and Miles is impressed with his work although I will have to make sure his exam technique matches his developing maths brain. It's no good learning all this maths and physics if you can't do it in the exams. On Thursday afternoon I took the lads sledging in Durham when there were huge snow showers blowing across the city. I had a walk around the very cold town and the clear colour of the River Wear was amazing because of all the snow melt water in it . In spite of all of the Pennine passes being closed including the one at Wearhead snow has been melting into the streams due to the sheer weight of the snow which raises the temperature at the bottom of the pile and so it comes pouring out . A sort of mini glacier effect! Anyway it looked very pretty. Going around the Cathedral was magical and there were only 4 people in the place and no one at the East End so I tried out my countertenor singing and was amazed how much it just filled the space and I could hear it echoing back from the West End. Cathedrals truly are places to sing in !

When I got back to the lads after 90 minutes they were having a great time and didn't get as wet as last time . After a slippy ride home Miles being Miles after tea wanted to skateboard at RKade in Redcar 25 miles over to the coast. He had a good time there but only did 90 minutes because he ( for once ) got quite chilled. I don't think he is quite over the cold bugs yet . A nice constructive week delighted up by the presence of Fo working at the kitchen table getting her planning and preparation done . Teachers : I love 'em! But I particularly love one of them!

This afternoon we went to see my mother in Richmond. The boys did 45 minutes of sledging at a place called Westfields at the western end of Richmond naturally! There was a bit less snow in Richmond and the cloud cover was much higher but looking very mellow and wintry. Fiona and I had a walk around Round Howe and we saw some deer footprints. The snow was a lot deeper on the opposite side of the valley from where the boys were sledging because it gets no sun at all. It is amazing how out of the way it feels even though it is only about a kilometre from the road. We saw a lot of fresh molehills the moles seem to get very active when the weather gets really cold. That's one I don't think I will look up! When we got back to the lads they were all excited and glowy which was really nice. Mum was well but her foot was still quite swollen from the operation she had a few days ago to straighten her toes out. Thinking I was helping her because she mentioned about toilet rolls a few days back I took a huge pack of 24 but it turned out she didn't need toilet rolls. Oh well, what are sons for but for forgiving! A nice day.

In all the snow me and the lads had a nice afternoon out in Durham. They sledged and I had a beautiful walk around the town . The lovely Fo was still not well so she stayed near home and had couple of miles walk around the local park just to get better quicker. The snow was quite deep in Durham and coming in on the Shincliffe road it was a bit hairy but passable. There were a lot of students and kids sledging and it was great to see my lads dashing up the slope to get going . I was stood next to a tree the branches bending with the snow and I thought it had started snowing again but it was just blowing off the tree. After watching the lads for 5 minutes I headed off into town over Prebends Bridge keeping an eye out for the Goosanders on the river but they were nowhere to be seen. The clouds were low giving a cosy feeling which could also be due to fact that I had wrapped up well warm. Soon regretted this because 10 minutes later I was very sweaty. At what age do you slow down? Eventually I went into Durham Cathedral because I just love cathedrals and churches in the low winter afternoon light. I have had many a spiritual moment? in these places and oftentimes I say a prayer in them or even sing one . Couldn't find the prayer chapel today so the secular feelings option of coffee , sausage roll and a custard tart made up for it in the cathedral cafe which was half empty and very relaxed. Missed my deadline to get back to the boys so they could have there biscuit break so I just sauntered along the river enjoying a fine English winter soaking in those Medieval vibes and getting that great sense of history and nature which I often feel when going around Durham. I'm falling in love with the place!

When I got back to the lads they were wet , muddy and Clifford was pretty cold because he only had thin socks on . Bad dog. I didn't do my standard gear check before we went out . Bad Dad Doggy. They were still going strong up those slopes and it is about 50 meters in vertical height so they did at least 20 runs so that makes roughly a kilometre of climbing or 3000 feet in old money. Sledging is great exercise no doubt about it . Of course Miles wasn't cold at all and was raring to go for some more but Clifford had had enough so home it was and as a lot of snow had started I'm glad we got going when we did because it was really sticking on the A1 but because we are used to going up to Upper Teesdale in the same weather it was no problem : "Don't touch the brake "! Someone did earlier on and the car was being cabled up a bank it had slid down by a tow truck. It's not just Miles who needs to learn to drive! No one was hurt. Back at home Fo was all cuddled in up bed with her DS trying to destroy a monster when we got back and had the lads in there to help her out . After shooing them out we listened to a Radio 3 concert of Cuban and Mali muscians which was brill. A nice , mellow, but with the snow, exciting afertnoon. I love my family .