Last Wednesday with the family I had a good walk out into the Howgills. The boys as is usual went on ahead on a particular route they had chosen which would take them around the highest part of the Howgills. They walked up the watershed between Bowderdale and Langdale Valley and getting eventually to Hazel Gill Brow and then going on to the Calf. They then descended down to the Bowderdale Pass and then up to Yarlside. Down to a place called Kensgrife and then up to Randy Gill Top and then back down Bowderdale and to the car. Fiona and I slowly walked up Bowderdale having a good look at the drift geology erosion features which were really good. There were many alluvial fans big piles of small rocks which had been eroded out of the gullies which extended from the bottom of the valley right up to the top. At right angles to the valley I might add. Fiona seemed better at spotting them than I did and she also saw a wandering heron before I did. Damm, that lady is getting quicker thinking than I am as we get older. The erosion features were interesting because I thought it would be a case of straight erosion of gullies right since the end of the last ice age say 13,000 years ago but that may not be the case because after the ice age the whole of the Howgills within a hundred years so had become populated with trees and shrubs. With the retreat of the ice came the advance of man who promptly cut down all the trees and I think that that is when the erosion really started. I'll have to look up about when man got to the Howgills.You can never avoid history! God bless Tom Owen a friend of mine from the 1980s for telling me this. We eventually arrived at the foot of Yarlside and had our lunch there and I must admit I was getting a bit fed up with the similarity of the territory and because there was no chance of me finding some black shale which is where I may find a graptolite, 440 million-year-old plankton. So instead of going up Randy Gill Top we decided to charge up the gully behind us and that was really good fun because I got very close to all of the rocks and scree on the way up and there was some lovely patterns of soil creep as well.Soil creep is when water moves through the soil and causes the soil and grass to look like waves descending down the hill. You find it absolutely everywhere and I am fascinated by it As we approached the top of the side of the Bowderdale Valley I could hear the wind swishing through the grass something I have never known anywhere else except in the Howgills. Arriving at the top there was an amazing and magnificent view of the highest point of the Howgills, the Calf, and also great views down into the Langdale Valley a place we walked down one sub zero very cold Christmas Day five years ago. It looked beautiful not least because the first time I walked in the valley the visibility was down to about 200 m. Looking back on the watershed between the Bowderdale and Langdale Valley we saw some really large furry caterpillars creeping about in the grass which was nice. I did two really good slipovers because it was very wet and I have concluded the reason I am falling over a bit more than usual is because my walking shoes have finally given up their grip. They are now in the bin and a pair of new walking boots will be bought pretty soon. We got back to the car 15 minutes before the time set for the lads but they were half an hour late after having a really good ramble around the heights of the Howgills. Miles looked as fresh as ever because he is extremely fit and Clifford looked only a little bit tired so I was very pleased with them both. They were a tiny bit grumpy because they had a mild falling out over which path to be on coming down about the Bowderdale Valley and I told them off because they should have resolved the issue before they saw us and we would only be looking at 2 radiantly happy lads as we normally do rather than 2 grumpy ones. I resolved the issue very quickly as I usually do that is quite forcefully making sure which one should have done what, Miles had overall responsibility after all, and emphasising the point that we are Baha'is and whilst nobody can avoid a problem we can resolve them gracefully. They are good lads and nobody is perfect. A very beautiful day out but next year we all agreed we would like to go and look at the autumn woods around Lake Derwent in the Lake District. Both Fiona and I are as fit as whippets at the moment and I was amazed how fresh and quickly we belted up the gully which was a vertical climb of at least 500 feet. Good fun!

Well, with the family yesterday I went over to visit Veronica, Fiona's mum and on the way we had a walk up through Carlingill up to Black Force through the slippy and treacherous but very beautiful gorge. On the subject of which as we came to a first stream crossing Fiona got cold feet about doing the great leap on to a rock in the middle of the stream and then on to the bank so she just ploughed into it but she did not pick her spot to well and it was quite deep where she stuck her foot in and she fell over and got very wet. It was the best stream fall in I have seen her do in years and we were in hoots of laughter. She is so game to have a go and I really love her for that. Onwards and upwards we were clambering about the sides of Carlingill which was quite treacherous because it had been raining and the Silurian rocks are very slippery when wet. Anyway, instead of doing my usual jump down from a metre height off a rock I thought it was a bit too slippy where I was about to land so I just did the old bum slide over it but the trouble was where my feet did land it was very slippery and I went careering over about 6 feet down to the edge of the stream, rolled, to save my back and then promptly nutted a very large rock inadvertently. I am sure the rock never felt a thing but I did! The boys were in hoots of laughter about this because Daddy is usually very surefooted. I must admit that when I picked myself up I felt very invigorated. And all of this before we even got to the very tricky and treacherous gorge. Well, when we got there it was very slippy and the path was about 20 cm wide sort of stomped into a 50° slope. Because so few people walk through Black Force it is very unstable and I was amazed to think that I took my family through there when the lads were quite young a few years ago. But on that day it was very dry and I specifically chose a dry day because clambering around gorges when it is wet can be just downright dangerous, in this particular gorge a few weeks ago someone died falling into it. So, everyone was holding on to the thick heather and grass as we traversed up and that was fine and quite safe but when we got to the arete to the right with a good view of the Black Force waterfall the way forward through the gorge was just too treacherous to take my family through. And so it was the great turn back. Downer, but it got interesting for me walking back because I have no grip in my gammy hand and could not hold on to the heather and grass and in several places where I put my feet I had some trepidation about whether they would stay in place or not and it was a long slide down to the gorge at the bottom. Oh boy! Still we managed and it was fun with a bit of heart thumping! As Fiona got changed out of her wet clothes in the car she had a huge swelling just below the knee where she bashed it in the river stumbling in. Go for it Fiona!

When we got to the South Lakes Veronica was in good fettle and talking with her was moving, magnificent and very merry and she enjoyed Fiona and I doing a demonstration of ceilidh dancing which we did for the boys to show them what is involved.They now want to go to a ceilidh! It is a real privilege to visit her and Fiona had taken a photo album of pictures of her when she was a baby and child and Veronica really enjoyed that. Looking at photos seems to captivate her and she literally looks 20 years younger. Brilliant! I look forward to seeing her next month. Well, after a crashing and banging walk around the slippy part of the Howgills and a gorgeous visit with my mother-in-law under our belts we headed off on our 100 mile trip back to the other side of the country and the Teeside Delta. A good day.

Life is interesting. I was really wondering what to do now my househusbanding bit has come to an end and thought because of my physical disability I would have a job getting into teacher training to be a mathematics teacher but this is not the case. Also, for at least the last year because the Subject Knowledge Enhancement Courses have changed the entry requirements I have actually got enough mathematics modules from open University to apply, get my mathematics enhanced, sounds interesting, and then go on to a Teacher Training course. I haven't actually been ready to do this until now because of my househusband duties but now I can am putting in my application form for three Teacher Training providers as well as applying to do observation of mathematics lessons in three Darlington secondary schools because the Teacher Training providers want this to happen before they will consider anybody for interview. One of them specifically told me that I have to find out for myself whether I will be able to do the job in terms of the computer usage and if I can there is no barrier whatsoever to applying but it still remains the case that secondary schools may not employ a mathematics teacher no matter how badly they need one if they feel he or she cannot use the computerised planning system because of physical handicap. I really do not think there will be a problem with this because a lot of planning is done on Microsoft Word and not only that the voice recognition program Naturally Speaking is much better at working in Internet programs and programs that are on a network whereas in the past it was very unreliable. It is looking good folks, I always like to address my aspirations in that way and my tail is up and there is a chance I may be able to start this January but it depends on whether I can get CRB clearance in the next few weeks as well as doing my lesson observations. There is a chance that I could apply and say that I will be doing this in the near future and I may go down this route but I will see. It feels strange that I am looking outwards into the community and society in terms of working in them both rather than being preoccupied with a home life and family. Good stuff!

Last Saturday with the family I had a golden gorgeous walk in hazy sunlight through the Durham Woods. The leaves are finally turning and many were floating in the River Wear which had an undecided look about it because there has not been much rain but just enough to keep up a good flow. Again I took the family on a mystery walk which was so mysterious even I did not know where we were going. I handed over the reins of direction to Miles but took them back again quickly when he led us into blind alleys whilst navigating through one of the Durham University campuses. Mystery yes, blind alleys no! The centre of Durham was full of bright and beaming people and there was an atmosphere of good cheer which is always nice. The reorganisation of the marketplace in my view has been very successful enabling lots of people to hang out there if they wish, as well as buskers getting their bit in as well. Fiona had quite a strong cold unfortunately which always affects her sinuses but her legs and lungs were as strong as ever. Again, as with Miles, I often wonder how much of a greater effect on them their colds would be if they did not get out doing strenuous walking and staying fit and healthy. Walking is a good way to go folks!

Well, Miles has finished doing his exams for this year. It started last Tuesday when he had a three-hour paper to do in the Thistle Hotel in Middlesbrough. He was very excited not least because he has thoroughly prepared as usual but come 5:30 p.m. when he finished he was so excited that he kept on gibbering away about all of the questions reciting bits of the paper to me and his answers as well has his possible answers as I drove him to the skate park in Redcar. That got my head buzzing and I was way too excited when we got there! It took a bacon butty and a Pot Noodle to calm me down. He did his second three hour paper yesterday and was much more level about the whole process. He expressed a lot of enjoyment just about the hotel and the design of the building which reflects his interest in urban environments motivated by his continuing development of his Lego skills. Whilst I think it is good to retain the child within he did something yesterday I was pleased with when he simply abandoned me to my book before the exam started and went and introduced himself to the other budding mathematicians most of which reacted in horror when he started bubbling away about the questions which he thought were going to come up and and how easy or hard they may be. One of the guys took a real shine to him and they had a good discussion. Must tell him that it is good to not hide his light under a bushel but also don't burn too brightly because people may feel scorched.Mmm. It was great to see all of these people most of which were over 50 improving their lives with education. I got talking to a lady who was doing an exam in Environmental Science as part of her job. At the end of the exam I spoke to her husband who told me that she had done another exam two weeks earlier. The firm she worked for in Teeside takes the education and training of their employees very seriously which is most excellent. Well, his academic year is over and it is interesting that he only has seven more exams to do and then he will have graduated completely. There was not much pressure on him really because he has averaged over 90% in both of his courses this year and in order to get a 2.1 he just has to get 70% or over in the exams and those scores will enable him to progress to where he thinks he wants to go which is Masters and then PhD or maybe even straight into PhD. I call that the "poor route" because he will be a student until he is around 25. If he went straight into secondary teaching he would make it a lot more money. I suspect in the near future it will be any female in his life that puts him on the track towards fulfilling his potential completely as a human being which isn't just about career fame and fortune.

Well today has been a no walking day. This morning I took the lads out to RKade Skate park in Redcar and they had a really good thrash. One of my friends a refrigeration engineer was telling me a really good story about the sorts of jobs that he got that could be very tricky and difficult because of government regulations and how they clash with his personal initiative. It is a common theme with people in business and somehow it always seems to be that the rules do not follow the good practice a lot of business people do. Anyway, often in arcade I get a can of Coca-Cola and as I always do with canned drinks give it a careful wipe and when I'm sat down in RKade usually rub the top on my left thigh as well. Well I was so engrossed with Andy's story that I forgot that I had gone through my wiping down routine and just picked up the open can of Coke and started rubbing it against my left thigh completely oblivious to what I was doing but slightly questioning about why Andy was looking at me as if I'd gone stark raving bonkers. Of course about 10 seconds later I jumped out of my skin and we both laughed our heads off and I had a very wet leg. It is yet another instalment in what could be the almost legendary lunacy that Paul Saunders-Priem either indulges in or something happens to him. Of course when the lads and several of the other skateboarders heard about this they were laughing until their sides split. If anybody ever wonders why nobody ever takes me seriously now you really know! A quiet reflective day with something to laugh about and a lot to think about.

On this fine damp afternoon with light rain falling, myself and the family had a leaf strewn walk around the Durham Woods. As we passed the Houghall agricultural College houses we saw six piglets nuzzling away on a sow stretched out on the muddy ground whilst the little piggies were sucking away. When she noticed us she stood up and some of the piglets were still trying to feed. Next week we are going to gather up some of the acorns and feed the pigs. As we walked through the woods climbing up to the top of the valley I was waffling on to the boys about coppicing and how important it was for managing woodland, providing timber for fencing as well as charcoal for fuel. It just so happens that when we got to the top of the valley we walked down a semi-coppiced lane so I stood in front of this nicely coppiced tree with its seven or eight branches coming out of the ground and continued on with how useful this forestry technique was. Clifford was interested and respectfully listening but then he suddenly decided that enough was enough and he shook the tree which brought down a load of heavy rain drops which which were hanging on the leaves and made me very wet. We then proceeded to ambush each other as someone walked under a tree the other would shake it. The Saunders-Priem family has simple needs wandering the woods and getting up to antics. We proceeded up to Durham Cathedral and had our biscuit break in the Quad and then went to have a walkaround the Cathedral which was nice because there was an orchestra playing a 20th-century piece of music, very dramatic, somber modern and moving. I suggested to Fiona it would be nice to come back up in the evening and listen to the orchestra playing this music but she did not feel like it. Boo-hoo! On the way back to the car along the river it was good to see loads of the Durham students doing football, rugby, touch rugby, no touch rugby for the sensitive types, ball without the foot for the disabled lads and lasses and lacrosse. Yet again, there were lots of Chinese students and some of them were busily snapping photos of what to me looked like very ordinary bits of Durham. I have a sneaking feeling, that these bits of Durham could be the next great big purchases and investments of Chinese capital in our country. Or maybe they are just spies although I cannot think what industrial secrets are lurking in the sandstone of Durham Cathedral! Back home it was the usual meatballs, spaghetti and a yummy tomato sauce followed by no Star Trek for a change instead we're watching the miniseries "John Adams" which is absolutely brilliant and I recommend it. I've read the book once already and I'm on it a second time and the miniseries and the book complement each other although the book is way way better. Another lovely afternoon out with my gorgeous family and I'm feeling quite zany this evening!

The day started with a couple of hours on a Baha'i stall in the center of Darlington which was nice not least because there was some interest today . I had a great discussion with a Christian about religious exclusivity and why for him it was so important . I simply said that the idea and practice of exclusivity in any beliefs, religious, political and atheist had had its day and living together with the difference and the diversity was the way forward not believing that everyone else was wrong. Nice man and the fact that he was so nice indicated he might believe he was totally right but he could indeed live with the difference quite happily ! In the afternoon I went out walking with the family in the Durham Woods and it was balmy, bright and brilliant. The River Wear was peppered with leaves as Autumn finally drifted in and the water had a looking through a brown mist aspect to it . Trotting through the woods, every time there was a light breeze the steady clatter of oak nuts and beech mast sounded as they got shook off the trees and struck the ground .Eerie because it sounded like rain on a very warm and muzzie day . The town was full of students looking bright and beavering as new experiences were being felt by some and anticipation shone in the faces of many . Good for them! Back home and a nice doze with the lovely Fiona listening to the second part of Handels Messiah and after that the meatballs spaghetti and tomato sauce are sizzling away as she sleeps on and the lads get stuck into annihilating the world with their computer games . A lovely afternoon and double Star Trek coming up. Oh, and my getting smarter and doesn't he know it eldest son Miles as he walked in through the door opened up his last marked assignment for the year and found he'd got 99%! Of course we said because he'd lost one mark he's gonna fail. Its good because whilst its obvious the lads got natural endowments with mathematics he works extremely hard and very intensively frequently revisiting to master the stuff and whatever he has got needs a lot of effort to liberate it ! Well done Miles. Don't blow the exam in two weeks time! Open University students have finals every year and hes got two of them soon. Family life : beautiful.