After asking the the family I'd like it if they came they wanted to stay in so I had a good 8 mile walk around York today all on my lonesome.Had a nice coffee in the Minister Gardens and then bought Call of Duty 3 for the PS3 and "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest " for Clifford mostly because I love him to bits but also as a reward for doing well in his GCSE's. Hey: a bit worrying about GCSE's :Longfield School mistakenly put him in for a Science paper, he's supposed to do it next year when they have done the course work , and he got a C anyway! The "21st Century Science Syllabus , developed at York by the way , should be binned! Its way to easy. So, after a pleasant sojourn at Waterstones book shop I headed back to Parliament St. to listen to "Rob and Ric " a slide guitar and drum kit duo. Totally excellent the only way they could be better would be to get me on chromatic harp. I love slide guitar and the way Rob or Ric was playing it . Definitly going to look them up. Hope they are local, I want to play with them! Headed off for York Uni. to have a look at birds and strecth my legs and saw one of the Great Crested Grebes on the Lake next to Central Hall and most amazing of all a heron perched on a post in the middle of the water lilies at Derwent college lake. At first I didn't know what it was because it was stooped over attempting to catch fish and I was actually looking at it from the front and could see only its back and tail feathers. It was 20 metres away and completely unconcerned with me staring at it with binoculars or the occasional person going by. It was a full grown adult and it's beak was nearly a foot long . Totally brilliant. Well, back into town and finished my Coke at the Minister Gardens, woofed a single cone and had a quick discussion with a teenager skateboarder in Rowntrees Park about the virtues of skate boarding as a way to keep fit and have fun. This lad had also been to RKade at Redcar and he thought my lads were lucky being able to go three times a week. Back home to the lovely Fo and doggies , Clifford being over the moon with his gifts. At York nearly bought Fo a necklace , it was made out of sedimentary and igneous rocks flat and polished but after some quite vocal umming and ahhing the shop lady said it might be best to bring your wife in to have look first. I said " That would be safest!" Throughout my life I have consistently found women to be wiser and have more common sense than men. Then again some of the best things in life don't require either! " Its a mans world but it don't mean nothing without a women" Right on!