Today has been a beautiful day . Darlington Borough Council gave permission for us Darlington Bahais to do a street stall to let the Darlington people know about our religion and I did this , this morning in High Northgate . A lot of people had a good look at the stall and one young lad took a booklet. Standing in the cold got my toes colder than they had been in years but the rest of me was fine . I felt really good doing the stall and I'm a passionate believer in all groups and religions from Muslims to Gay Rights people getting their voice heard on the street. Sort of adds a religious , political and moral dimension to the body politic .

After the morning on the stall I went out with the family to Durham and did a 5 mile walk . From Darlington to Durham is about 20 miles but the temperature dropped considerably and on River Wear there was a high browny smudge to the water but it was really low . This quite likely reflects the recent floods. 10 minutes into the walk we saw the Goosanders and my they are touchy . This bird just glimpsed us and then flew off. For some reason the low afternoon light made it difficult to see with our binoculars but there is also an effect from the low quality of the binos that we use because last year at Saltholme RSPB reserve at Teeside I had a go of the wardens very expensive binoculars and said to him that I didn't see a huge difference between them but he said you really see the difference in low light conditions and after today's experience in exactly those conditions I could see he was precisely right . The cloudless walk into Durham City was magical and joy of joys we saw the Little Grebes again by Framwellgate Bridge really close up , 5 metres away and the male, small as he was, looked so capable and cocky. Bet he's looking forward to Spring the female Little Grebes will be queuing up for his genes and even Fiona took a shine to him!

We went to the Cathedral but couldn't walk around it much because they were about to do a Carol Service but it was all dark and mysterious in there as Durham Cathedral always is . Because it is mostly made out of Dark sand stone unlike York which is made out of very bright Limestone , it has a heavy moody feel about it which I find absolutely enchanting . On the way back into town Fiona noticed a fake fur hat which she thought would grace her good looks whilst I said it gave the strong impression of wearing roadkill on her head! The lads just laughed their heads off. But after a little while walking the streets I did say she looked very cute in it and she said she was as warm as toast . So, she has a new town walking hat although I said that it would be best not to wear it up in the hills just in case some bird of prey mistook her head for something edible . Anyway , I'm expecting the buzzards to be circling when we are up in the Howgills next week! I expect her to be carried because no doubt they will find her as tasty as I do!

A great day and an afternoon where Fiona and I were way to excited, so much so that Miles said we were "boisterous" . About right and I hope we have two weeks of it!