On a blue sky cloudless day my eldest son Miles drove us up to the outskirts of Durham for him and myself, Clifford and Fiona to have a nice stroll around the Durham woods and through the historic Durham city. The weather was balmy and warm with very few birds around, they seem to be staying out of the sun as well and as we strolled up the old mining road and then onto the railway causeway which goes up into the Durham Woods  we went underneath a Woodpecker's nest but could not hear anything from it. A wildlife photographer was walking by the same spot and I asked him about the Woodpecker and he said he could hear something but we couldn't. If the young chicks had just been fed they would be quiet so we hung around for 5 min and then shoved off because there was no sight of the parents.

The canopy of new leaves in the woods is nearly complete but way down below the Hawthorn bushes were snowy with blossom, with the occasional pink blossom as well. Very nice. As we walked along the wooded track we could smell the Hawthorn blossom from a kilometre away over the fields where we had previously walked and the wind was coming towards us which was very pleasant.

We had biscuit break in the Cathedral in what is called the Cloisters a very mellow place in any and all weathers but especially today with the sultry heat and quiet people. The market centre of Durham was fairly quiet which was nice because Clifford needed a new pair of Dr Martens which we duly got him and he was really pleased with them, because not only are they good for walking into college with they look good as well. I saw some Dr Martin boots in various colours which I knew would look brilliant on Fiona with that very nice short dress that she has and she is coming around to it but like both of us we do spend our pennies carefully. Put it this way she is more likely to buy a new pair of hiking boots! Good lass.

Miles drove us there and back and he is doing that really well with the expected slight positive change in his personality because he is taking real responsibility, which is good because from October 2013 he will be doing a Ph.D. course somewhere or training to be a teacher, but away from home and completely in control of his own life for the first time. I thought it was important to give him control of the car for a year even though it has cost a pretty penny in insurance but it is well worth it because I believe young people should have real responsibilities where there can be extremely negative outcomes if you get it wrong and just a very nice ordinary time if you get it right. Right and wrong, reward and punishment: amen.

Anyway, he got us back home in one piece and Fiona and I crashed out listening to Leonard Cohen's 10 New Songs and now I have got the meatballs going, the tomato sauce is simmering and I'm about to put in fresh pasta, yes fresh pasta which is unusual for me and I now I have reached the culinary zenith of middle class behaviour. I knew I would get there eventually!  Thank you God for a very blissful and nice day which got off to a good start with doing my Bahai  Stall in the morning where lots of people were interested and took leaflets and I had a great conversation with an ex-colleague of Fiona's called Linda Griffiths who is a lovely lady. God bless the teachers of the world. I don't always understand what they do, being a home educator myself and all that, but I'm sincerely grateful that we have teachers and I count some of them as my best friends. Especially my wife!

I have got a bit behind with my blogging and on Saturday, May 5th in the morning with the family I went to a funeral of a Bahai friend called Abbas Bayat. We had not seen him for a number of years, and we saw a lot of him with his family when we went up to the Durham Bahai Community to celebrate the 19 Day Feast with them which we did on a regular basis at that time because it was nice to meet them and the boys really enjoyed it. Mr Bayatt was a really good bloke and he loved our lads and I fondly recollect him listening to Miles on one occasion, Miles was 7, talking at length about SimCity which was really good not least because Mr Bayatt did not understand English. He was an Iranian Bahai who had to leave Iran in the 80s because of the religious intolerance which came in after the 1979 revolution. Anyway, it was a lovely funeral and at the reception afterwards I met loads of Baha'is I had not seen for a number of years which was really nice. Because my birthday was coming up on May 7th it was my birthday weekend which meant I got to do anything I liked even going off on my own if I wanted to. But it was nice to stay with the family as usual and after the reception we had a great walk around Durham City all bounced up and full of energy from the food we had been eating! It was the usual back home and meatballs, spaghetti and tomato sauce followed by Star Trek. I truly love my family and family life in general. I had a great feeling of buoyant expectations because a long-standing friend Joe James and his wife Liz were coming to visit and stop over the next day. I was also enjoying the very cold and rainy weather with strong snap showers which felt really good.

Well, the harmonica practice kennel is set up in the garage and I can wail away to my hearts content without bothering anybody. I am also shrieking out my countertenor in order to take the sweet out of it and get a bit of rough in there. The diatonic harmonica is proving much easier to get around than I thought and should sound pretty good in a few days time. As usual sounding good isn't a problem but accuracy and getting the notes to come out when I want them is!

Carlos Del Junco diatonic harmonica player. Amazing technically and plays really choice, tasty music. Diatonics rule : for now ! Getting my doghouse come harmonica practice kennel set up in the garage tomorrow, woof woof . I can get really serious now . Umm, Fiona will have a place to banish me to. Note to self : try to be extra good!

A wonderful music session was had at the Royal Oak Butterknowle last night. One word to sum it all up? Sparkling. The sound levels were right so singers could be heard and everybody played really well particularly Reagan Hardy Mr Percussion who always has the right rhythm for the right time. The diatonic harmonicas I was using worked very well and I have finally got the right type of tone out of the amplifier that works for those kind of sessions. Singing "Old Flames" at the end was really good and very moving with me and Klara and Brian Whiley warbling away together in close very nice harmony. BHJ aka "Button Hole Jam" were on really good form and ever since I left them roughly a year ago they have just got better and better. I must join another band and leave it so they can improve! I heard some really good close vocal harmonies last night and that is definitely the way to go. The mighty Mr Guitar Man Owen Guy-Fisher was on really good form with his voice and there is much more to come from that young man. A really good night and I am looking forward to the next one!

 I have recently discovered a coat conspiracy of the left type. That is 2 guys who had recently been at my place then left their coats and my views changed in their direction . Ominous. Like everybody else I have various ideas and opinions, prejudices as well as pretty well thought out stuff which could be wrong as well. Two things which I think are not very good ideas are windfarms and party politics. My good mates who have been to my house recently are proponents of both .

So, we have good discussions, well natured and politely disagree. However I recently noticed my line softening a bit. Going past Redcar Bay on the Tees estuary the other day, the power company has finally put in the foundations for the wind turbines. They are sticking out of the sea awaiting the propeller monsters. This would normally raise my ire but I just thought "Oh well it will not be so bad after all". There was a big beef recently all over the media about the Labour Party local election victories. I would normally be pretty indifferent to that but after Joe left his coat I just thought "Good for them".

 I have a sort of bonhomie about these two ideas that I previously was against at worst and indifferent at best, caused by, I believe,  the presence of two coats that have been left behind by my two good mates. The first coat was left by my friend Gaz Robertson who has some good strong views about wind turbines and left politics. His coat is made out of some sort of hemp material and is very comfortable. I know this because I tried it on, after he left it, in fact I was going to wear it for a while but then I thought I better get it back. Which I duly did. Maybe it was the trying on that did it.

The second coat was left last weekend by my mate Joe James, a long-standing local Labour Party politician and good community activist with a pronounced affection for wind turbines although his love tends to be of the "They are not nuclear" type. Still, love it is. I haven't tried Joe's coat on, well it would be difficult because Fiona has already posted it back to him, and he left his scarf as well, both occupying one peg for a couple of days. Hardly enough time, you would think, to influence a strong headed soul like me. But it did.

Well the truth is, the only thing which I can find which has softened my thinking and attitude towards windfarms and party politics are these two coats. Is there some left conspiracy, because it can be safely said that both of my mates are on, in, and from the left. There is no doubt about this. They know there is no chance of me changing my views because the only person who ever does that is me but like everybody else I am open to suggestion, although logic and good thinking might succeed. Then again the mysterious leaving of the coats has softened  my views.

The coat conspiracy. If friend or foe comes around to your house with something that you disagree with and they would like you to believe it unless you want your views modifying make sure you always hand the coats back. Other people's coats, once left, can convince and might be dangerous at worst or seriously put you in the right direction and best. You heard it here first folks!