I was playing harmonica with the Button Hole Jam band last night and it was a great time at the Butterknowle Open Mike night. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming as usual Bryan Whiley being a great host. Julie McGrath and Peter Snowball were two really good entertainers Julie singing with that captivating lark like voice and Peter grabbing the audience with his sweet tones and great delivery. I have come to the conclusion that the evening is structured just like a folk club where musicians come and do their bit and appreciate what others do with a guest act happening every once in a while as well. Back in the 1980s I was first introduced to folk clubs by Toni Bunnel a fine folk musician I was having a relationship with at the time and prior to that I had no idea that folk clubs even existed! I was always knocked out then with what I thought was a version of community music but in actual fact folk music and folk clubs go back centuries apparently. It is a good format and my personal view is that Butterknowle Acoustic Club is really just another really good variation on that theme as the times and communities change. Let's face it without good musical organisers like Bryan Whiley and Peter Snowball who runs the Newton Aycliffe folk club and the many other people who do the myriad of non-musical activities in our communities what on earth would we have? Last night I also had a good chat with a local man from Weardale who told me about the huge amount of economic activity that was going on at the head of that Dale in the late 60s and early 1970s and now in his home village of Rookhope there is just a part-time post office "The times they are a changing" absolutely right!

I took Miles to RKade skate park this morning. It was good to see so many parents and their children waiting to get in and Miles had a ripping session focusing on mostly three tricks . In the afternoon we had a half an hour walk just around the town in Richmond because I knew it would be really muddy in the words and that was very pleasant. The good thing about being interested in geology is that even walking through town's it can still be interesting and there is much to catch one's attention. To be quite honest I think I would have preferred to have been up the Lake District hill Helvellyn with two friends I know from Digital Earth who were clambering about up there but family is family and you have to stick to what you plan. I was seriously considering sneaking up the Thirlmere side and surprising them at the top but we really did have to visit my mother today and that was good fun. A nice weekend but fairly quiet. It will pick up from 8:30 p.m. on tonight because I am playing music with the Buttonhole Jam Band and they have invited me to have a blow with them at the Butterknowle Acoustic Club which I do believe has been renamed Butterknowle Open Mike night. I am amazed they have not barred me from that particular music session because of my rather flighty harmonica playing. They seem to like it!Mind you tonight could be my last night because I am going to play jazz over the pop songs and it will be interesting to see how it goes. I used to do this all the time when I played with people in the North East of England and York so it should be all right. It can have a distracting effect on musicians with such weird sounds coming out but Button Hole Jam are good players and I am sure they can handle a Nutter like me!

On Wednesday evening I took Miles down to the Works skatepark as part of his birthday treat which should have happened a week earlier but he was ill. Well he just ripped around the park for three and three quarter hours and when I saw him towards the end of the session he was walking awkwardly because his legs were stiff because he was going up and down the much bigger ramps which are in the Works. Whilst he was skateboarding I had a nice 4 mile walk around Leeds City Centre. On the edge of the university area there were hordes of young people and Leeds City Council had put up an ice rink for everybody to enjoy themselves. It was a great evening!

Yesterday with the family we went to Whitby to walk under the cliff area between Whitby Pier and Saltwick Bay. It is a good area to see fossils as well as a good chunk of the sequence of rocks that represent the Jurassic period. Seeing fossils in situ was really good and the Jurassic series up the cliff was totally amazing. I realise yet again to get the full benefit of this type of walk you really need a guide to decode a lot of what you see. Put it this way, it was much easier to identify the birdlife! There were a lot of Oyster Catchers and Sandpipers. It was very slippy as we walked because although the tide had gone out it was low tide at 2:11 p.m. and we got there just before that time but I was keeping an eye on the tide because it had just turned and I did not know how quickly it came back in. It turned out we have little to worry about but it is always best to check because I did not fancy being roped back over those cliffs if we got stuck! Well actually it could be a bit of an adventure! We saw a huge amount of periwinkle trails which we were not quite sure what they were at first because we had never seen them. When we got to Saltwick Nab the boys went back on the cliff path and we arranged to meet them at the foot of Whitby steps. The next time we go there we are going to walk a few miles down the coast under the cliff and then cut back up one of the cliff paths and do a circular walk back on the top cliff path. There is a great feeling of space when you walk out on those long plain like rocky outcrops. We had the usual fish and chips at Hadleys the fish restaurant and of course an episode of Star Trek when we got back. A wonderful day out only marred somewhat by Fiona going down with a cold at about nine o'clock at night. Miles is also getting another cold. Sorry little doggies!

Yesterday afternoon with the family I had a good 7 mile walk around York in weather that went from light drizzle to good solid rain. It was very overcast but with my family companions who needs sunshine . Going onto the York walls I used my magnifying glass to look at the stone because some of the surfaces are unweathered due to the many visitors rubbing the the weathering off . I have found the magnifying glass more useful than a loupe in the field because the loupe can be adversely affected by the lighting conditions. I'm pretty sure the walls are made of Oolitic limestone and Fo and I couldn't work out what the spherical nodules were . There were also some blocks with calcareous grit in them sort of very small pebbles and we have seen the same thing at the top end of the North Yorkshire moors. Some investigating about this is required I think . We went to All Saints Church in North Street and had a good look at the building and it was very peaceful and solemn in the grey afternoon light . I sang a prayer with my countertenor voice and Miles thought I sounded like a choirboy ! Very nice . Over at York Uni Lake we were amazed to see lots of Mallards but no , Tufted ducks or Pochards and many other species which are usually there . Could be the bad winter who knows. We trotted off pretty sodden to a Kebab shop in Walmgate and had a great tea just right after tramping around and then home to an Episode of Star Trek. What would we do without Star Trek. A great afternoon out.

On Saturday both Miles and Fo had recovered from the illnesses of the week and because it was Miles' birthday weekend as we call it we had a nice 90 minute walk around Richmond in some pretty dismal weather redeemed only by the excellent company and the good laughs. Oh, the other bit of redemption was seeing my great Richmond friend Andy Lovell who I have known for nearly 40 years and the only reason that I don't see Andy often is he is a professional saxophone player working the cruise boats and pantomimes a job he has done since leaving music college in 1977. He is a really nice man , always my friend , absolutely brilliant parents and typical of what I call "Old Richmond" fair , wise , smart and downright canny in how he lives his life and treats others . It took me a while but I've become more like him over the years ! He is always pleased to see me and Fo and particularly the lads. I see his parents as well sometimes when we are walking and they are great people . After the walk we picked my Mum up and went off to Durham to munch our way through a Chinese Buffet at the Inshanghhai Restaurant and the lads really enjoyed themselves as did my Mum . After dropping Mum off the evening was rounded off with a two episodes of the New Shakespeare : Star Trek!

Today When I rousted Miles at 8am he didn't want to go skateboarding because he stayed up to late last night but 20 minutes later he had got himself up and was raring to go. Good doggy! He ripped more than Schwarzenegger on steroids at Rkade skatepark and I had a excitingly insightful read of my geology book as well . When we got back home it was straight out with the other two of my family for a 2 hour walk around a gloomy , cloudy Durham where it looked like the birds had stayed at home as well. Still, whilst approaching Framwellgate Bridge there was a fine mini flock of Long Tailed Tits high up in the bare beech trees and that was well worth getting out for a walk . Its always worth it there is always something interesting . We also noticed that a small landslip had been further eroded by the recent River flooding and it will be good looking at the progress of the erosion over the years. Tree are being stipped out now as well and some of them seem to be dumped on the weirs lower down. When we got home I knocked up the current family favorite of lamb meat balls tomato sauce spaghetti and garlic bread and there was impatient riling and dubious comments because I was taking care in how I served the food out as I always do . Hungry family members can be so undignified sometimes and I had to threaten them with phone calls to Daddyline and Husbandline as well as Witheredhandline if they didn't shut up. Umm withered hands seem to be getting some mentions in my musings this weekend . Well I love the old claw but when the medics give me a robotic hand eventually so I can play Chopin sonatas on a tuba underwater I will not miss the the little chappies absence! A good weekend but my ribs are hurting a bit with some of the over the top laughing . Oh well plenty of time to iron them out with loads of walking this week come rain or shine !

Yesterday Fo went down with a bug returning from school early so today just me and the lads had a 2 hour walk through the Durham Woods. To ring the changes and to spend more time looking at wildlife without slowing the lads up I sent them on their own around a circular route into Durham center and I was to meet them at the Cathedral 90 minutes later . The River Wear was in full spate and I could smell the peat in the sediment, a smell usually found when we are next to the peat bogs and rivers on the moors . Nice memories. Because of the River level I knew there wouldn't be much chance of seeing any waterfowl but I was wrong : there were a pair of beautifully mature Goosanders riding the current downstream and I could barely keep up with them without running . Durham Uni were having a boat race day and as soon as the Goosanders sighted the boats they paddled over to an eddy next to the bank and went through an amazing grooming routine where they were scratching themselves with their deep orange feet, burying their long beaks into their feathers and best of all sipping water and tipping their beaks up until they were nearly vertical . I was only 50 metres away and could easily see the black tip on their beaks. I'm not sure how old these two were but they looked young , capable and well in there prime . The female was bigger than the male which made me think that the male was younger. I've always thought the older female members of our own species are pretty impressive so I know where the lad is coming from! After I got to the boats there was no more waterfowl and I met the lads in town as planned for biscuit break. On the way back the students were still boat racing and one boat in its enthusiasm to win tipped sideways as it was going to the finish line and filled with water . What a hoot . When we walked up to the start it got even better because two boats were just starting but one of them steered immediately towards the bank and crashed into it , first with the oars and then the tip of the boat . What a laugh . I'm always impressed by peoples propensity to make a fool of themselves . Including my own I might add. There were a lot of angry words which quickly changed to laughter . Good fun. When we got back Fo was better , had been out in the back doing the Garden Goddess bit and got Clifford to leap over the neighbors fence , the neighbor being away in Angola doing security work , to retrieve a greenhouse panel that had been blown off overnight . A good day and I excelled myself with cooking spaghetti, tomato sauce and meatbals for the family which I'm convinced is the only reason they just don't kick me out like some unwanted dog. But there is the fact that I've (with help from Fo) inadvertently created two maths whiz kids and I've to proudly say that Miles got his first assignment back today , he got 99% but what was more impressive was that he posted it on Wednesday , his tutor lives way up in Swaledale right at the top near Keld , the tutor must have got it on the Thursday and today its back marked. Open university and the Post Office system are two institutions that we should all be very proud of . A great day.

Still with the warblings of playing harmonica with other like minded crazies at Heighington County Durham last night me and the whole family have just got back from a lovely walk through the Durham Woods, into Durham City Center and back to Shincliffe. From all the rain in Cumbria the River Wear was well flooded after all the head of Weardale is only a few miles from the Cumbria area anyway so it must have caught part of that storm. Going through some lovely allotments that look onto Durham Cathedral across the river one of the diggers there told us to keep an eye out for a sparrowhawk and on cue a few minutes later one turned up about 5 metres above us at the top of a tree . Beautiful. It looked around for a few minutes which must have been frustrating because dinner was twittering all around it but then it flew over to another tree all part of its sectioning its territory routine . I actually surprised Fiona because I knew what it was going to do next . I'm sure she now thinks that I have a psychic connection with a common raptor. Got to keep her guessing lads ! All part of trying to be an interesting husband! We trooped around the Cathedral which was very dark and mysterious so dark that it was hard to tell the fossils from the people but then again I've had that problem every time I've watched Prime Ministers Questions. Had a good laugh on the way back attempting sparrowhawk impressions and an enthralling double episode of Star Trek coming up and I'm cooking a spag boll for tea which isn't sphagnum moss and something unmentionable but a reputable Italian dish. Another great family afternoon out.