Today with the family I went to the Peace Festival in York. It was a most beautiful experience. I had let a friend of mine from the 80's, Sybil Wood, know that I was coming to see her and her husbands band Digital Earth sometime over the summer but we couldn't do this so when I realised last week the York Peace Festival was a good place to meet I was very pleased. When we got to Rowntrees Park I saw Sybil and her husband almost immediately but there were a lot of people with them and they were getting stuck into scones and cream , I found out later , so rather than impulsively barging in I decided to wait for a bit of space. So, we went to the main part of the park where a lot of organisations and causes tents were and we ran into Margie Vernon a very lovely lady I had seen around York since about 1982 but didn't meet until 1990 when I was married and living at Stamford Bridge which is 5 miles from Pocklington where Margie lived . Around 1990 we got to know Margie and John her husband , a chemistry lecturer at York Uni. really well and saw them several times over a 4 year period where we visited each others homes and had many great discussions. Margie is a passionate supporter and exponent of many good causes and her husband is a fascinatingly warm , sharp and intelligent man to talk to. I really admired him. It was great to see her and she was as trim, fit and mentally sharp as ever, she is in her 70's and still riding her bike and after some very warm discussion she was talking about what she was currently interested in as if we had seen her for the last 14 years and not the other way 'round. The people I love the best are those that you just see again after a long period of time and it doesn't matter it is as if you had seen them yesterday and the relationship is as fresh and warm . Well after talking with Margie we headed into York centre for a walk , came back to the main stage area and ran straight into Sybil and it was the same experience as it was with Margie. That was an amazing experience for me because I had not spoke to her since around 84' 85' I think, although I did see her pushing a pram around the town sometime in the 90's. Sybil was one of a few people in York at the time who I paid attention to in terms of pulling my life together because of her wise words, but best of all her kind, well intentioned manner which basically said to me that not only I could do better but I would do better. I was having a pretty wild life at the time but I knew I wanted to change and would indeed have to change . I did. 2 years later I was in York Uni. got into the Bahai Faith and had got married to a fine Bahai lady the lovely Fiona. I had straightened every tiny bit of my life out. Good for me good for the world. With me kindness and intelligent straightforwardness pay off and I was privileged to get this from several people in York in the 1980's Sybil being one of them.

It was lovely seeing Sybil talk to my wife and children , she is just so good at immediately relating to people, something I can now at last do this myself and I had had a great and thoughtful chat with her friend the wife of one of Digital Earths keyboard players. A very nice lady who gave our lads some free CDs which I insisted on paying for but she said no, but I am going to buy them off Itunes anyway because I believe that a band that is good as Digital earth should be supported financially because they are really that good . Buy there stuff folks it is really good and I think they are going to get even better in the near future. Another of Sybils friends , a very kind lady , offered us some cream and scones and we really enjoyed those.

We had a nice walk into the town as usual prior to seeing Sybil and Miles and Clifford climbed their favourite tree in the Minster Gardens and we had a nice cup of coffee at Costas or Costa-a-lot of money as I call it !

Back at Rowntrees Park Digital Earth were a very good band who sounded excellent live. My lads loved it and will be doing their maths to the two CDs tomorrow no doubt. I used to play the trumpet and went to music college in 1974 and taught the trumpet as well as working semi-professionally and Jon Wood , Digital Earths flugal horn player and Sybils husband was most excellent. He plays really well and I loved the way he integrated his fine horn sound into the rappy, souly , rocky music. I was a little bit jealous I must admit it ! He is very good. As we were heading off for home we spoke with John for a few minutes and he is a really nice man who I hope I will see sooner than later. I love big bluff blokes who know what they mean and say it. And he is a fine horn man as well.

After a great afternoon we headed back home and watched Star Trek. One of the best days of the year for me and God bless, Sybil, Jon and their family, Digital Earth and the York Peace Festival. We will be going again next year and we will be doing a Bahai stall as well!

Nice day yesterday. No walking for once . The lads had a good thrash around RKade skate park , they were energetic and pretty awesome ,I was really into a good reading session so got into Sense and Sensibility and some maths and Fo headed off for a shopping trip in the centre of Redcar.I only do shopping with her when she needs my help and that is usually when she attempts to chose clothes! In spite of doing no walking we still had our biscuit break : habits die hard in our family . Home and a couple of episodes of Star Trek . An uneventful but pleasant day. This is one of the things I like about family life : even when we don't do that much it is still good fun and interesting and there is always room to do something different which in this case meant not doing much . Because we went to a later session than we normally do , we usually do the 10-12 one, the skate park was full of kids and our lads really enjoyed that . Instead of doing there own thing they got in with some of the others like the most excellent skate boarder Sam. He is really good. There were a lot of scooters there and it is good to see that youngsters are keeping that going . Good for them and for the skate park. Most of them have picked up on the park discipline and are not bumping into themselves ,BMXers and skateboarders like they used to . Contrary to what most oldies think skate boarding , blades, scootering and BMXing are very cooperative and disciplined activities. Together and individually youngies and not so youngies like the middle aged shredder bunch (MAS), older guys who used to skate in the 70's who took it up again today, take decisions and then do it when there are very real risks involved. I am always inspired and amazed at the amount of diligence and determination they all put into it .