After getting the right handlebars that don't hurt my gammy arm I had a great 6 mile Kickbike session with Clifford. Sort of insisted that he come out with me . Good dog! Totally embarrassed myself today , in part because of my mathematical whiz eldest lad maths machine Miles . My new handlebars turned up on Friday but I wasn't convinced they were the right ones because the one I wanted had a 45 degree angle from the horizontal to the bit you grip which is perfect for me because my withered arm has very little flexibility in it so ordinary handlebars aren't comfortable . So, Miles convinced himself and me that he could work out whether the grip part of the handle was 45 degrees or not thus " proving " that it was the right handlebars for Daddyo. We get a bit of paper A4 ( its a rectangle : first big mistake : the angles of the diagonal there are 60 and 30 degrees )and stick it under the handlebars all lined up with the longest side ans we both agreed , well I sort of let Miles do the thinking bit , why not , he's good at maths right?, so I agreed with his conclusion . Its not 45 degrees so the firm has sent me the wrong handlebar and just to confuse the issue they do two : one with a 45 degree angle and another with a 30 degree. "Its 30 degrees Dad its not the right one " So I ring up the firm today and tell them they've sent me the wrong product but they say I haven't but they will look into it . I ring up another firm who tell me going on the code on the handlebar it definitely is the right one so I ring back Manchester and go through my apology " Oh my God what an idiot I am " routine , well practiced up after 22 years being married to the lovely Fiona , and then get very irritated and decide to prove to myself it is 45 degrees something I should have done on Saturday without Miles in I'm convinced I'm right mode , jabbering away . Simple really , builders do it all the time of course its called squaring off and I got a square the top of a large muesli container, put it on the breadboard and placed the handlebar parallel with the top and the grip bit angling down over the square . If the bar cuts over the top diagonal and its opposite its 45 degrees alright: it did! " MILES" I dashed into the study room and told him about this and he denied he ever thought that angle was 45 degrees! Teenagers man : never listen to them !

This weekend has been one where the Saunders-Priem family has not done that much! This is mostly because Fiona was quite ill last week with a bad cold and has not felt like walking this weekend. I got out with the lads for a walk around Durham on Saturday which was just a quick brisk one to get some miles underneath our feet. I am still surprised at how little birdlife was around for this time of the year. They must all be sitting on their nests! There were very few students around either in fact the whole of Durham City Centre was very quiet. Nice! Yesterday, Fiona was still not well and my mother did not feel so good so we had an in day because Miles had had a good thrash around RKade Skatepark in Redcar during the morning . I spent the afternoon listening to chromatic harmonica players from around the world via YouTube. It amazed me how good a couple of them were but also how odd and limited most of them are. There seems to be an almost global phenomenon of copying jazz and rock licks and then just performing them without any thought to making them original again. It is interesting but I guess that it is one thing to want to play jazz and blues just because you want to "perform" and another thing to play jazz and blues because you want to perform in the way that the original people did that is in an original and distinctive manner. What I've just said in my view applies to a lot guitar players as well I know it is a fine distinction but I always try to create something different in my solos every time not just to grab the audiences attention but mostly to satisfy myself! I played at the Butterknowle Open Mike night last night which was very nice and it was a very good night. Good people . The people who go there, go there to enjoy themselves and that is the best thing of all! A subdued but actually quite pleasant weekend. The Saunders-Priem family has no problem rolling with the punches!