Today I took Miles skateboarding at RKade in Redcar and he had a wild time . Just before the skateboard session, on the way, we pulled off at the Middlesborough football stadium and he did some more driving and it went very well. He still goes through first and second gear a bit rough but he can pull up at junctions and then safely proceed. So, after the skateboard session we all went out to visit my Mum in Richmond but Miles drove part of the way. Very relaxing. Mum was fine and we had a good laugh and Miles drove part of the way home and took us through Gilling West village and safely negotiated a wobbly cyclist. He takes care and that bodes well. Didn't do much of a walk in Richmond , sometimes even we don't feel like it . I lost my hat rummaging through some sweat shirts in Edinburgh Woolen Mill because I was holding it in my right hand which has little feeling in it and the rummaging must have knocked it out of my hand. I have worn that hat over thousands of Miles of fell, mountain , moorland, wood and town and never waylaid it ! Still, the nice Edinburgh Wooly ladies will keep an eye out for it and hopefully it will be there waiting for me next week. A nice weekend . Fo is better now and will be teaching those kiddies tomorrow.

Yesterday in the morning I took Miles out for his second driving lesson. He is now getting the gears right and keeping the car straight. His first lesson, last Friday , went all over the place as he struggled with getting the gears right. He intellectually understands the procedure perfectly but of course when driving the car you don't actually think about gear changing that much so he was surprised that he couldn't do it straight away given that he understood it quickly. Tears of frustration soon followed ,followed swiftly by his strong determination to master the problem. I always admire the lads ability to recover and pick himself up. Seen it a few times with his maths. Good doggy.

In the afternoon Clifford was still wasted with his cold and Miles really didn't feel like a walk, could be something to do with his new computer so the lovely Fo and I went off to Durham and did a 4 mile walk there. Fo was still woozy from her bug so we took it easy. The leaves on the trees were colouring gold to brown and there were even bigger columns of dead leaves floating down the Wear. We had a coffee and cake at Durham Cathedral Cafe and afterwards listened to the Cathedral Choir doing evensong. A very beautiful experience. It is an all male choir and the alto parts normally done by women were being performed by countertenors , men with alto sounding voices. I love men with high voices! It gives a very distinctive tone to the sound and even top choirs like Tenebrae have countertenors in the alto line : half and half in fact.

Finished off the day with two episodes of Star Trek and Leonards Cohen's " Ten New Songs". Good day .