For once we got Miles to walk with us on our ramblings around the Durham Woods yesterday. I was amazed at the amount of water in the River Wear rushing by so fast loaded with sediment dragging just a bit more of Weardale down to the sea.

The two lads and Fiona went off around the woods and I went off  down the path alongside the River because I have no walking boots at the moment and it is very muddy in the woods. It was very dark and gloomy but I liked that and without my family I walk a lot faster and positively sprinted into Durham City where I was to meet them at the Durham Cathedral Cloisters for biscuit break.

I was there 20 min early so it was nice just to sit quiet and work out some harmonica improvisation's around various tunes in my head but I noticed my feet were tapping vigourously and some people gave me a curious look I suspect because I was responding to hearing music but there was no sign of any earbuds or music player on me. Head music is the best of all no doubt about it.

We bought Clifford some new walking boots yesterday a great pair which will bless his feet for several years and keep them warm and dry. We got back home later than usual because of the shopping excursion for a boot fitting which took a bit of time, after all you have to get it right, so I got immediately down to making home-made hamburger, bags of onions, tomato sauce, fresh spaghetti and garlic bread. We watched a Will Ferrell film about iceskating a real hoot not least because we had watched "Anchorman" the night before and had a real good laugh at that.

Fiona is getting a lot fitter and last week  she only had to have an afternoon sleep once. The steady walking is paying off and I have always believed no matter what    physical limitations or illness you have got it is best to keep fit which is not so much about hoping everything will be all right in the end but about the quality of life at that moment. It was a really nice afternoon with the four of us together. Thank you family!

I can't see what all the fuss is about with gay marriage and I don't think it threatens the institution of marriage at all . Marriage , the way it occurs and what happens within it afterwards reflects the type of community the people come from religious or secular. Bahai marriage requires the consent of both sets of parents and if you don't get that you don't  get married. It is rigorously enforced. Consent from parents isn't required for secular marriages . Does that make a religious marriage better than a secular one . Nope.

If Catholics publicy state what is expected for a Catholic marriage i.e. its a heterosexual institution,good for them and the same for Muslim , Bahai or Hindu marriages : organised religions have the human right supported by their adherents to believe in their version of marriage. For them though and only them . They have no right to impose that belief on others . Problems occur when any religion wants to impose its beliefs about marriage on those who do not hold those religious beliefs. That is wrong and can give religion a bad name because religion is about individual choices made freely not coercing people to outwardly comply because one religion is dominant in a country. That type of religious expression was wrong , is wrong ,is dying out and will eventually be no more .

Besides , what is winning all the way,  is marriage itself, a religious institution in the first place and always has been , thats how it developed historically and if I was a person interested in having elements of my religious beliefs getting a wider take up in my country , and I am , equality between the sexes for example , I would and do feel quite happy that people in same sex relationships want to do what I as a Bahai have done but in a religiously specific way : get married! Good for them and it leads to better outcomes for kids in terms of money ,emotional stabilty and life chances .

Secular marriages and religious marriages are good ways to express love and great for kids and last longer than not being married at all!

Weeeeeeel , two nights ago ! downloaded Shelby Footes "The Civil War Volume I: Fort Sumter to Perryville" which has resulted in me reading the night away because it is so brill , consequently I slept in this morning and we didn't get out for a good walk around Richmond until 11AM. Richmond in the ground hugging cloud and mist was gorgeous and down at Round Howe alongside Billy Banks Woods a huge 30 foot chunk of the river bank had been undercut by the recent floods and had slipped down into the Swale taking half the path and three trees with it . Glad I wasn't walking along there when that happened. Its never boring .

We had a good look at the Yoredale series of rocks within the cliffs in Billy Banks Woods and for the first time I realised that they had a lot of small faults in them which get widened by frost and water erosion. At least I think that's right because its difficult to interpret the rocks quite often . Good fun and we had Latte Coffee and Scone break sat on a bench right next to the River Swale with the high running water sounding very soothing and a bit menacing at the same time . Taking coffee and scones in my rucksack  makes me feel very highbrow and its great just being able to plonk ourselves anywhere we like . Unchain yourself from the Cafe folks : freedom! Don't moan on about tax and  Starbucks  just don't buy from them . That is the quickest way for them to get the message!

Just to get some more grit into Fiona's legs we banged up the path from the river to the Castle walk and she looked a bit wasted at the top but is getting stronger no doubt about it . We are doing a long miler around  Keswick in the Lake District soon and are training her up for that. It will be good to see her sister Becky and the boys to see their cousin India. Well back to the Civil War book and I can't wait to read the other two volumes!

Interesting day. In order to beat the crowds chasing that last brussel sprout in Morrisons at North Road Darlington I was there at 5:55 AM this morning with my trolley and granny catcher on the front just in case anybody got in the way. It was definitely a take no prisoners occasion and I survived but I cannot speak for others! There was a very tense atmosphere as if everybody     believed that the produce available was the last remaining stuff and you better get it now  or else. Could have been right I never saw one turkey in the whole place. Good for them: a supermarket is not the best  place for Turkey to go at Christmas!

Well I did get the food to tide us over until Wednesday and before 6:45 AM I unwisely told a sleeping Fiona about my good deed for the day and it was amazing how she pretended to say what a good chap I was and wasn't that nice when I knew she would rather have stayed in snooze land. Faking a civilised sleepy response is a necessary part of a long lasting marriage!

So, I was up and I usually am up early most mornings and I trucked off down to York to do a nice 8 mile walk around the in the gloom and pecking rain which turned into something more serious within 90 min. York Minster was full of chairs but no people and for about 20 min I was the only person there other than a handful of guys setting the place up for the various services today. I think the Church of England has found the answer to declining congregations: invisible people. Or, they do not do Carol Services at 8:15 AM in the morning! I was asked if I was from radio York and then the recipient of a big moan from the enquirer because   the radio York people have locked up their equipment in a room but they have also locked up some equipment this man needed. Christmas or not: he did not look happy.

I was and I said my usual prayers in the Prayer Chapel for my friends past and present alive and dead. A sudden blood sugar low had me racing towards a pasty shop for a chicken I am not sure what it is called and a Curd Tart. But at 8.30 AM in the morning? That was a new one for me and fairly pleasant and  I will start having chicken pasty and curd tart for breakfast quite often. Nice!

My decision not to take a wetsuit, flippers and snorkel was not good because the river Ouse had burst its banks and part of the walk I wish to do was underwater although I was tempted but I thought within 10 min I will end up someplace like............. Hull and Fiona would not be happy because she wanted me back so we could listen to the carols at Kings College Cambridge at three o'clock.

I got back in good time which was nice and the drive through the very flooded Vale of York was  informative because there are a lot of places I would not like to buy a house in that part of Yorkshire with all this rain that is coming down. There were ponds and pools forming in every depression and huge lakes where small rivers had burst their banks.

It was nice to stretch my legs but I don't think I will be going down to York that much in future and some of the things in my mind,  small as it is, I have resolved. Don't ask me what they are because I don't actually know myself, hence the trip to The Place Where It All Started For Me. Going to York is a true voyage of discovery  but the delights of the Yorkshire Dales, Howgills, Lake District and the just up the road Durham Woods also have their claims on my feet!

It was great  listening to the Carols at Kings with the Fireball Fiona because we both fell asleep through X amount of it and I think she fell asleep over the bits that I was awake and the other way round! Lovely music though !

After a fairly sleepless and sweaty night as the cold worked its way out I woke up this morning distinctly not feeling like going with my family to RKade skate park in Redcar. Then again I thought , "I have taken Miles down to the skate park when I felt a lot worse so to hell with it: get up!". Glad I did because the Redcar beach was amazing, with an offshore breeze blowing into very big waves piling in onshore which caused the crests of the waves to be blown back on themselves in huge arcs in the air but moving sideways across the wave. Total magic. Anyway, not magic enough for me to go and walk the beach with Fiona and Clifford I preferred to  have a good read as I usually do.

At least once a year we have a meal out at the RKade skate park which is always bacon butty's and Pot Noodle's all-round. The proprietors, John and Nicky, don't often see Fiona so they had a nice chat together which was great and they also don't often see Clifford because he doesn't skateboard anymore. Miles in spite of his splat last Friday just got down to business as usual and romped around having a really good time. Good doggy! A very pleasant lunchtime.

It was the usual Sunday afternoon when we got back and pasta and tuna for tea whilst watching "Allo Allo" the comedy about the Germans in France during the Second World War. We followed this with the final episode of "The Nazi's: A Warning from History" which was excellent and  every child should watch the whole series in order to see what happens when religion and democracy fall apart and allow a bunch of fascist thugs to run a country. In other words neither religion or democracy can stop these things it needs something else which in my view is a world security pact where the whole world gangs up on the Hitler's that may turn up in the future and if we do not get a world security pact they certainly will! Anyway, no Hitlers are turning up this Christmas ,just Santa, so stuff them and I am looking forward to the remainder of the holiday because we have loads to do. Fiona is fitter so some good walking is on the menu: Yum Yum!

Walking through a wet, windy and wild Durham Woods with Fiona and Clifford was really nice. I like it when the weather makes the countryside dark and moody. An incredible amount of water was laying around but the River Wear was lower than I expected because it empties out so quick. Miles stayed at home because he couldn't be bothered to go out and walk in the rain. Bad dog!

Biscuit break at Cloisters was amusing and crunchy as it always is. Very dark though and we could hear carols coming from the Cathedral which was very nice. The Christians are putting on quite a few services for this Christmas. It was packed out  with what looked like lots of mums with toddlers. It must've been a mums and toddlers Carol service!

Onwards to Tesco's the mundane quality  of the whole afternoon increasing into the sort of bliss the only our family can enjoy experiencing the damp and wet ordinary. Thank God for that because an awful lot of life is indeed: ordinary. Fiona attempted to give Tesco's a five pound note because she could not find where Tesco's automatic checkout machine was supposed to give her five pounds back. Fortunately, a real-life human rushed over and gave her five pounds and I think the poor lady on those checkouts must do that an awful lot. I was on another checkout and I had to check very carefully for where the notes would come out.

Splashing back home to the damp and increasingly flooded Durham countryside was totally uneventual in part because I think the car actually knows the journey and I'm sure if I fell asleep at the wheel or even died it would just quite sedately take me back to my house. When we got back home we went through the usual routine of setting everything up so it will be dry  eventually and then Fiona and I had a really nice crash and cuddle listening to Leonard Cohen Live in London. Fiona was quite tired so she kept falling asleep and I feel that her little legs have maybe had a bit too much walking this week. But bless her little legs because they are getting stronger and we are soon going to be going up and over some of the bigger Pennine hills, Howgills and Lakeland fells.

The meatballs, tomato sauce with coriander, fresh spaghetti and garlic bread are chuntering away nicely and when I call my family in spite of them being engrossed in games and Fiona dead to the world in bed it is remarkable how 30 seconds later they are all there like eager beavers waiting to be fed. A really lovely day and God bless my family and friends because they are really lovely and I love you all.

In spite of the rain Fiona and I went for a walk around the Durham Woods and into the centre of Durham splashing and trudging our path to our Latte coffee break and scones. When we are out together we always carry hot coffee and scones because we can eat them anywhere we like.
The River Wear was flooded and rising and because the land has still not drained off the water from the previous rain the whole of a field was grey with water moving down it and the red furrows where the farmer had ploughed a few days ago were sticking through. Quite a sight and  all this water that is laying around could affect agricultural productivity pretty soon.

After our coffee and scone break walking around Durham Cathedral was beautiful and quiet and there were hardly any lights on which gave it a very mysterious and dark feeling. Nice. On the way back we kept an eye on the River Wear because it was rising and it can burst its banks very quickly which was of no concern whatsoever to a fine Grey Wagtail picking his way over flotsam to find grubs and beetles.

Fiona is getting a lot fitter and she strode up a hill like she used to which is great. All those years of walking have put a lot of fitness into her legs and body which keeps her really healthy. And me as well. Woof woof!

Worth a read and nice to know that the equality between the sexes is marching on even in Saudi Arabia. Long way to go for them but they will get there.

"I don't think a country will improve if only one gender accelerates in society while the other just stays as it is," (Jamila Al-Shalhoub full time female Saudi lawyer). Totally right.

"The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment." (Abdul Baha , Bahai Writings). Totally right.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20697030

Response to a Facebook remark about people who are God fearing.

"Well , God fearing or just fearing it doesn't really matter to me because everyone fears something and this shapes and guides their lives  .  Religious or atheist it doesn't matter, that principle and practice holds. If Crosby Stills and Nash can state " You who are on the road must have a code you can live by", when the person who lives by that code violates it or has it violated fear is involved.  God fearing people have raised nearly all of the human civilizations so far and there is no evidence at all that  that phenomena is decreasing : going the other way in fact. Look at the growth of population in India , Africa and South America : all countries where most of the inhabitants are religious . China will be the next  country to get religion big time ! Religion is still the predominating and fundamental belief held by the worlds peoples right across the globe in part because so many of its principles overlap with secular beliefs. Which is why its a bit daft when religious  and atheist folk try to claim they are totally different : they have more in common than that which differentiates them. The whole world  direction at this point in mankinds history is towards that which is held in common: unity.

I'm God fearing and I love being that way . I don't think you see me having a problem , misery or grief through it. Had a bit o grief with Fiona this morning and got caught out again as a total idiot with one of my friends Klara Whiley who I see once a month at least,  up in Butterknowle so there is no escape and all  because I misunderstood one of her posts . Two things I do feel miserable about by the way !  "

Totally right, but Toby "each to his own" comprises some belief in institutions (laws, rights, relationships) and a belief in how a life is lived . Across all of the "each to his own " are commonly held practices and beliefs which you or I may "feel" are our own and express our individuality  but are in reality  held in common by all others.  As humans we have more in common than difference between us in other words.  A life based on feeling or temperament , religious or atheistic or whatever doesn't see or understand that common denominator between people  .  Everybody  has different channels , Fiona ,you me  but  we are all in channels , we are all human  and because a different channel expresses difference, the naming of someone elses difference as   irrational or mistaken is plain wrong . People have a right to be respected in the way they  see the world as they like, religious , atheist or anything else. All different channels have to be respected in thought , word or deed and public expression  or else we can't move on from the violence and nastiness of the past. For Bahai's loads of humanists, secularists  and for me its about Unity in Diversity , mankind is one channel first (unity: we are all humans) and many channels second (diversity: we are all individuals) . They go together but the oneness of mankind comes first and if it doesn't , "each to his own", we have a very fractious world where the rich don't feel part of us  and so on . As you know most of the rich and many others really do express "each to their own" to an obnoxious extreme and  what I and many others would  like them to do is see more of the true unity between them and us and contribute accordingly !

The arguing for womens rights , racial justice from individual temperamental position , feeling or through thinking as I do into is never doomed to failure its actually achieved mankinds greatest achievements!

Under a dull, dark, and damp atmospheric sky we walked our way through the Durham Woods today. The ground was slightly treacherous because although the snow and ice had cleared there was still a lot of frozen ground which could be slipped over quite easily with the ice just underneath the surface.

Fiona was very fit today, Clifford always is and she loped over the hills easily as we went a rather circuitous route around the outskirts of Durham City before heading into Durham Cathedral and cloisters for biscuit break.

When we went through the Cathedral there was a Carol Service and we noticed that a lot of the angels all in silvery suits walking down the nave were learning disabled people  thoroughly enjoying themselves . It brought tears to my eyes because it was a lovely sight as well as the great singing. God bless the Christian religion for bringing such wonderful experiences to us.

We had very high spirits today not least because Fiona was so fit and her legs are coming back into fettle so some bigger and longer walks are definitely on the menu. Miles was busy with his mathematics this afternoon so stayed at home, but I am now doing my usual conducting of the Orchestra of meatballs, tomato sauce, fresh pasta and garlic bread so as to feed my very hungry family tonight. A very beautiful afternoon out particularly watching the learning disabled folk being angels, and they really are angels, as well as the great singing and atmosphere in Durham Cathedral.

Yet another manifestation of the world unifying in this case amongst Islamic business people and the users of their products. The main problem seems to be consistency and justice across different Islamic countries because of differing interpretations of Islamic law. They have gone into negotiations to "set up a global certification board"

It has occurred to me that no matter what the problem on the planet from the old lady down the road not getting her social care package deployed correctly to saving the decline of some British birds there has to be some consultation enshrined in an authority above the local ,regional or national. More and more folk seem to be coming around to that point of view as a necessity for life. I once joked with a Jewish friend of mine that money is the new religion but I never realised that religions themselves are having to be reshaped around the needs of money and business. Interesting!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20405292

A response to a BBC news article about the bus service Arriva in Darlington behaving very wrong towards disabled people.  It has been my experience that very few people will inconvenience themselves for a physically handicapped person.

"The firm (Arriva) said it adhered to Department for Transport guidelines which state that if other passengers are occupying wheelchair spaces, staff are not obliged to move them or make them move."

Doesn't it say an awful lot about attitudes that Arriva won't ask passengers to move but what is even worse passengers don't seem to move themselves when a physically handicapped person needs the space.

This reminds me of an incident that occurred with me in an Irish Session in a pub called The Maltings in York in the early 90s. Because my right wrist is fused, when I play my harmonica I don't push the slide in with my finger I have to sort of punch it with my whole arm so my elbow sticks out a bit. Some guy in the Irish session objected to the fact that I took up a little bit more space than other people and got quite nasty about it. Two things happened: I came very close to punching him but more interestingly I received absolutely no support whatsoever from the people around me most of which I knew quite well. We have a real problem in this country with people speaking out on behalf of others not through campaigns and petitions, which is safe and easy, but actually when an incident is occurring. We prefer to look the other way just as the Arriva bus drivers are doing. People think I am crazy when I draw these connections but believe you me they are connected!

The guy in the Irish session made it up with me eventually but are still feel that if there was a situation where my handicap got in the way of what he wanted to do he would give me no consideration whatsoever. Maybe that is how it really is in an animal sort of way: the weak old and crippled should be pushed aside so normals can have a more convenient life. But don't the normals become weak and crippled when they get old themselves. Short-term thinking? Be kind to people now because you may end up living in a society where they are not going to be very kind to you later. The trouble is we are already in that society!"

A response to a Facebook post:

" Christianity deviated from its principles very early according to a couple of books on the early Christian church I read, one written by a Christian. However, I believe that more good occurred than bad and after 300 years and the decline of the Roman Empire the Christian Faith started to shine mostly because of a big promotion by Constantine who may have not been a confirmed Christian but did want some form of unity and used the Christian Faith to get it. For me, that is the key to the great development of Christian civilisation warts and all, an effect we still feel to this day and a great effect. That bad versus good tension is there within the religion all the way through e.g. Christians developed African slavery around the 16th century and Christians in America and the UK got rid of it in the 19th. In other words the religion contains its own seeds of redemption as all religions do. On a personal note I am quite flawed myself and I see the same process at work of mistakes by commission or omission and redemption by getting it right. According to my wife not right enough sometimes!

I do not worry about fundamentalists today because they are legally and militarily fenced in by social democratic forces which I have complete and utter faith in even though as a family which is in a minority religion we have been got at mostly through the education system because of that minority status. It is the same for several people who I have come across in particular Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses and all of this in North Yorkshire and Darlington County Durham. Prejudice is alive and well but one of the best things that new Labour ever did in my view was the Human Rights Act 1998 because I felt personally protected by that act and still do: it stays the hand of some of the idiots and they have to look over their shoulder before they do what they do.

 I do not believe in party politics but I do support a democratically elected government no matter how flawed and governments of all stripes do some pretty good things. The home education I did with my boys only came about because of the 1944 Butler Education Act and Butler was a Tory. There is a lot of bad in our system but a whole ton of good as well. It is a legitimate from you, me and virtually everybody I know that we should aim higher and get better justice for people on low incomes, the disabled and the old and I am sure even within this flawed system we are going to get that but like all struggles it has highs and lows and at the moment I think there is a low. But not too low it could be a lot worse and has been!"