Brisk 4 mile trek around River Wear with family this afternoon. Nibbling wind gonna be biting soon . Brrrrrr! Not a bird in sight . Rowan berries stripped off trees. Dining elsewhere ! Many people strolling happy . Nice . Durham City Centre quiet. Cathedral mellow. Cloisters serene. Long Tailed Tits prancing in leafless trees. Visible for once ! Lads young men growing steadier with age . Parents bad example . Daddy growled at cutesy dog . He scampered off fearfully . Too happy . Frivolous! Darkening dusk silhouetted trees and birds on way back. Lowery cut-out mystery . Fiona slept into evening cloud fall on motorway back. Great afternoon out . Lot of love felt for family and friends. 

Xmas Day walkabout with Fiona downstream from Durham City . 6 miles of bliss . Coffee and Danish Pastry break sat on log on recently flooded muddy riverbank. Lovely. Two Goosanders floated by. Amazing sawbills with serrated beaks to catch and keep fish! Pacey walk on great path under steam puff cloudy sky . Two more Goosanders seen up close at Durham Center. Amazing . City solemn . Cathedral Evensong beautiful. Jesus' birth . Gods Day. "Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him." I have turned and I beam! God bless Christmas and all the people who celebrate it!

Whitby windy winter wonderland we went . South Sandsend beach up a metre of sand from last time . Longshore drift current  faster. Long deep wide sine wave smooth trenches on beach for a mile. Soggy sand ! Friendly Turnstone bird 1 metre away. River Esk flood running over incoming tide . Brown sediment deep. Slashed out of Whitby Piers ends to make delta patterned  stain on sea. Marie Antoinettes coffee and cake indulgence. Indulgent!  Fiona glowing. Beautiful. Lads enjoying our company. Wind blowing us around South Pier.  But up Whitby steps! North Yorkshire Moors sunset thrilling . Blowy cloudy sun-beamed crepuscular rays heart warming. Gorgeous . Steps walk warmed us up. Seagull stamping ground. Imitating rain. Worms fooled . Seagull eats worms. Off shore wind punching sea curved marked wind ripples on way back. Flattening waves though. Long shore drift. Drifting! Great afternoon.

Well no Whitby today. To wet. Little to see. So to Inshanghai Restaurant in Durham City  we trotted to from a wet Shincliffe. River Wear at dusk dark swirling rising rain swollen torrent. Birds singing though. Popped into Cathedral for that feeling of the spirit. Choir singing . Beautiful. Tummies also making noise . To Restaurant through dark woods we went . Tummies topped up. Even darker riverside walk to Prebend Bridge . Missed seeing International Space Station . Looking up not good idea when riverside walking in the dark. Laughter . But no splashes! Owls hooting we're tootling . Another wholesome night with the S-Ps.

Sunlit strewn winter sky drew me and the Goodwife Fiona to Saltholme RSPB . Grey fluff cloud on arrival. Rain threatening. Breezy cold wind sweeping across dozens of Shovellers on lake. Broad spade like beak for shovelling! Canada and Barnacle Geese flocked on meadows. Lapwings and Golden Plovers viewed through Wardens scope. Magic detail. Oil tanker creeping down Tees. Top deck floating across the ground. Eerie! Birdwatchers well wrapped  against stiffening wind. Pure White Little Egret airily moving from place to place feeding.  In its element. Saltholme salt-marsh magic again!

 Magical Durham River Wear walk with Fiona in fine fettle. Mysterious ripple in River. Not Little Grebe or Goosander. Ripple to big and in wrong place. Ripple appears again 10 m away in pile of logs. Either large salmon or otter. Suddenly head big tail and whiskers appear for two seconds to look at us. Otter. String of bubbles behind it as it dives. Magic. 14 years of walking that riverbank and first Otter. Spruced up excited walk after this. Do we ever stop chatting these days!? Warm day but wintry sky. Fiona ill yesterday with sinusitis but better today. Sign of general improving health. Fiona fine fettle female!

Teesside Saltholme RSPB sojourn today. Wildlife saltmarsh eye in industrial storm of machine making and chemical brews necessary for our lives. Fiona fine fettle lady by my side. First encounter with a Merlin hunting low and deadly. Wonderful. Next up and over  Redshanks and Pintails . Thousands of roosting Lapwings and Golden Plovers down from freezing hills for winter estuary life. Spooked by Merlin so rising up in bird clouds and then down to perching safety only to rise again . Merlin in sky. Foxes on ground!  Clouds crowding to grey on cold South East wind moving West threatening rain. Cumulus to Stratoculmulus to pannus confusion . No rain! Waxwings searched for.  Not found. No visit to Teesside yet according to local birdwatching old guy. Hull yes. Teesside no. Berries not good enough?! Miles trod and cold felt .Coffee and muffin feast at cafe. We experience a lot but make do with little. Parsimony favourite lifestyle flavoured with fun and love . Friends family  nature technology and love of God fulfill my life .

Gorgeous walk this afternoon under blue jet contrail filled sky of herringbone clouds. Durham Woods leafy golden decay beautiful. River Wear a brown mystery under winter low angled light. Rugby and lacrosse students full of expertise and energy indicating a hopeful future for all. Two Little Grebes ducking and diving for afternoon tea. Racing Mountain Bikers streaking around course set on cricket ground. Muddy amazing fun! Elvet Bridge full of people anticipating Luminaire light show. Prebend Bridge canyoned by orange and brown clothed trees. Lights for light show dappled through them. Framwellgate Bridge lit up and lovely in descending sun. Telephone box aquarium in Market Square illuminated and full of fish. Kiddie crowds surrounding. Biscuit break of happy views and increasing people smilingly anticipating Luminaire Light Show. Walk back to Shincliffe darkening clouds crossing sun revealing trees slumbering. Another beautiful afternoon foot fall with Fiona and Miles. Great feelings of love for family, life enhancing friends, cheerful Middle East and Far East old  friends and the world's peoples.

Autumnal Durham walk yesterday, autumnal York trek today .  Leafy light angled dappled patchy leaf colours everywhere. Delayed autumn excellent! City walls walked airily then Lendal Bridge traffic free . God bless York City Council. Pastys  perfect but lept on by pigeon before I finished. First-time mugged by pigeon for pasty. Revenge of the birds? Onto Bells for cappuccino coffee and romantic gazing with Fiona. Attempts at romance always lead to giggles!  Minster quiet. Sunlight streaming stained-glass dreaming Christian hope, God's hope, all of our hopes. Prayer chapel prayers for friends past and present. 80s girlfriend Toni Bunell and new husband Paul met in Minster Gardens. Hedgehogs just been fed. Go Hedgehog Lady Toni! Foss Islands road trek to Angie. Angie in and the sun shines brighter. Beautiful lady and life enhancing. Sent us off with Chilli Jam and more. I am unashamedly into cupboard love and the real thing ! Dark evening walk eventually crossing multicoloured lit  Millennium Bridge spanning gliding Ouse. Beautiful afternoon stroll.

Yorky Walky day .Around 7 miles. Low winter light showing Cathedral City at its best. People packed everywhere. Minster quiet. Prelude to illuminations evening. Candles in the aisles apparently! Prayers in prayer chapel for those here and those gone. Wandered over to university. Leafy trek very nice. Duckless lake had me wondering: "Where have they all gone!". Crispy duck crepe stall at Food Fair in Parliament Street had me wondering even more! Crash out on millennium Bridge. 20 mile an hour wind blowing up river and across my back cooled me down nicely. Rowntrees Park autumn multicoloured leaf heaven. Happy kids throwing themselves around skate park. Family thoughts and love for beloved wife very strong. Her love for me not strong enough to tear herself away from the garden today though! Great walk!

 Under cloudy patchy blue sky  rollicking walk around Durham Woods and City. Whole family  high spirits. Fiona renamed FUFL said "fuffle" . Fiona Urban Foxy Lady. Family falling over laughing . It will stick. Forest trees leaves mosaic patched duvet  over landscape. Beautiful. Biscuit break at Cathedral Cloisters. Viewed    Lego Cathedral project. Miles excited. Spends one pound   every two weeks to place a bit of Lego. 21 and still Lego bonkers. 10,000 Lego pieces at home   inspiration. Fiona in impulse buy tried on some retro jumpers at market stall. Size too small. City packed with students, shoppers and tourists. Happy productive atmosphere. Slurped coffee. People watched. Sides splitting with laughter as well. Crepuscular rays viewed from motorway on way home. Big discussion about  them being unique to  viewer because   miniscule differences in viewing angle. Clifford clever argument.   Person stands in the same place gets same view. Daddy trounced second son.  Earth has moved slightly in time person moves to same place therefore different angle.  Really good. Home. With Fiona crash , cuddle and listen to "Raising Sands". Family beautiful. Contentment good. Creative problems   keep me interested. I thank God for my family and my friends. God bless them all.

Beautiful afternoon with the family and Nimbo Stratus clouds drizzling rain around Durham City. Student boys and girls sporting it with female football and the US heavy stuff. Leaves grey green under the clouds to brown, purple red and orange. Beautiful. Lads and love of my life chatting and cheerful. Durham Cathedral sombre and quiet under the rain. Cathedral cloisters silent, Clifford and I mellowed on bench whilst Miles and Fiona visited Monks Dormitory, now a library. Loved the clash between the sporty students thrusting and active, just as I feel, and the quiet peopleless Durham. Home to happy house. Cohen, crash, cuddle with the lovely Fiona and then arising to Italian meal preparation. Have to pinch myself because I have felt several times over the last 25 years  my life is a dream and one day I will wake up. But it's real and I thank God for my family and my friends every day.

 Some things do not change. Today Fiona brought in the last of the tomatoes and arranged them on the window ledge to ripen from small to large, left to right. But she  made a couple of mistakes in the size progression of the tomatoes. I knew with total certainty that when Miles sat down for his tea next to those tomatoes   he would order them in size correctly because he has done that  since he was   two years old. So, just before the lad sat down to eat his tea he arranged the tomatoes from small to large in perfect ascending order left to right. Some things do not change. God bless him.

Cracking day. Nice sleep in to start. Piece of hardware turned up to do better vocals understood it in minutes and deployed it. Good stuff. Trucked off to Durham with Clifford and Fiona under sunny Altostratus skies. Durham Woods green, orange and brown. City centre bustling with students. Spoke to busking guitarist Jake. Doing Ph.D. in computer engineering next year at Bath. Excellent. Brilliant guitarist and young man. Looked at Miles' flat and it is clean and tidy. He went to ceilidh last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Biscuit break in Durham market. Packed out with people looking happy. Met Mrs Wilcox administrator from the lads former secondary school. Wonderful lady, husband nice as well. Traipsed around Durham in basking light and then back home. Mini crash and cuddle with Fiona, meatballs pasta with tomato sauce now bubbling, third Batman film to watch and nice to have family together again. I thank God every day for my family and my friends. Looking forward to Butterknowle Music Bash tomorrow. I will try not to be too enthusiastic but I can hear the many notes flooding out already! Not good!

Yesterday, Miles moved into Hall of residence in Durham. Sharing with two fine German men. One has Latvian girlfriend who was there. All three laughed heads of when informed Miles had Latvian German grandfather. Ice smashed to pieces! Music mooching day mini harmonica practice. Visited IKEA. Second religion! Back up to Newcastle in evening to take Clifford to Bahai Feast and meet Newcastle Baha'is. Brilliant gathering, fruitful and loving. Must be kinder to Fiona. Sometimes get bee in bonnet when I am right but I am also wrong. Long-term marriage is about loving problem-solving and we have solved this one. No problem in our marriage ever lasts more than 24 hours! Amazing lady I am married to. Sometimes feel unworthy. Right: share of humble pie eaten. Back into music working day!

Great romantic and thoroughly moving day. Walked around autumn coloured York for about 6 miles with my beautiful wife. Mooched around city centre and then headed off to university visiting a totally lovely lady who I have known over a period of 30 years: Angela Gardham. Lovely to see her and she looked radiant and beautiful as she always did. Lived just down the road from her for   two years 1994-1996 and my second son Clifford was born over this period. Amazing house and garden, and her kids, who are young men now, doing really well and I felt very complete talking with her again because she was one of the first people I noticed in York in 1983 with her family that gave me the idea I wanted to be in a settled and happy family myself. Which I have done thanks to my lovely wife Fiona. I felt so privileged to be sat in the presence of two absolutely lovely fine intelligent women one of them being my wife and the other one my friend Angie. After this, walked around University Lake and saw three Great Crested Grebes, the parents and   fledgeling. Back home at six for soup and rolls still feeling quite emotional about meeting up with Angie again. Must visit friends more north and south of Darlington!

Great day yesterday. Figured out recording my voice problem and arrived at solution. Can now crack on with writing the many songs that are in my head. Did Baha'i stall in Darlington centre several people interested. Took Miles and his friend Luke to The Works Skate park in Leeds for manic four-hour session. Had good walk around Leeds myself. Walked amongst a huge group of students and at least a half a dozen  languages  spoken. Love multicultural and cosmopolitan Britain. New building gone up called Broadcasting Tower. Lot like Angel of the North with its rusted exterior. Nice to touch and walked completely around it. Only way to understand a building. Miles awesome in skate park and Luke was brilliant as well. The manager of the skate park had become a father since last there. First child died shortly after childbirth and now everything is okay. Lovely fine, intelligent and resourceful young man with a smashing wife and baby.Getting to know people  opens my heart up to a lot of their hurts but I feel that is a big part of loving all of humankind as I do. Love taking youngies to skate parks. Will miss it now Miles is off to Durham University getting really serious about mathematics. Hooray. Love being a father!

Great day yesterday. Up at 6:30 AM buzzing with thoughts about how to record my voice better. Took Miles to RKade skate park for final session. Moving. Been going there 10 years. Integral part of Miles's social contact when being home educated. Visited Mum in afternoon. Small Richmond walk bathed in Autumn sunlight. Mum chirpy and looking well. Took family home. Out swiftly to York for walk and wild country music session at the Community Pub the Golden Ball in Bishophill. Many friends there not seen for 17 years. Known most for 30 . Warm welcome. Right-hand well pumped. Loving thanks to Frank Pallister, Pete James, Harry, Mike, Ken Meadows, the lovely Suzie Mackenzie and partner Dave, Bert, and the big and warm Gill. 2.5 hours of manically incessant country music with no break. Just what I needed. Nearly warmed up at the end of it. Didn't play well at first. Shined eventually. More into harmonica now . Feel less disabled on that instrument. Going to attend Butterknowle music sessions again but using a looper to accompany myself. Back at 12:30 AM Fiona patiently and sleepily listened to my evenings tale! Brilliant wife and friends !

Beautiful day. Up early, Clifford going to hall of residence at Northumbria University. Daddy lectured Clifford in car about importance of getting Computational Mathematics course cracked. Daddy nervous? Whole family accompanying him. Cumulus cloud filled blue sky approaching Tyne Bridge looking over busy, North Run prepared Newcastle. Clifford's accommodation great. Students really helpful. I helped flatmate Nicola with using cooker and getting vegan bacon going. Nice girl. Clifford happy and whole family said prayers together in his bedroom before leaving.Clifford back home again next Friday. Onto Durham, walked Autumn tinged woods, sipped espresso and went to Cathedral to look at contemporary stained glass. At home. Crash out and cuddle with Fiona listening to Leonard Cohen Live in London. Gobbled tea of home-made meatballs, tomato sauce, fresh pasta and garlic bread. Watched Lord of War. Excellent but gloomy and thoughtful. I keep thanking God for such a wonderful son as Clifford.I don't miss him because he is where he should be. Miles away to Durham in two weeks time. Family wonderful, friends great and at peace with the world.

Wide-awake 5 AM. Wife dead to the world no chance of getting family out for walk. Up and out and headed off for York. Massive stratus cloud over North Yorkshire Moors slips sideways to reveal sun coming up. Nice! In York Minster early, absolutely nobody there at all not a sausage. Whole place to myself for 40 min. Said prayers in Chapter House for friends dead and alive. Octagonal Chapter House, sun bursts in from East side. Strode around York. Crash out on Millennium Bridge, buzzard spotted over Rowntrees Park, circling round in thermals wandering over to station. Buy cheap mobiles for boys. Home, bang on 1 PM. Out again at 3 PM to walk in Durham City, buy mini espresso coffee cup, middle-class aspirations fulfilled, ending up munching food at Inshanghai Chinese tummy filling place. Stride back to Shincliffe, around 10 miles in the legs for the day, watch "Bandits" at home, Miles giggling at my preening over my expresso sipping cup and feel a lot of love for family and friends. Great day and looking forward to a good shift at the job tomorrow. The night is still young!

Kids with parents who value education and are prepared to pay for it or home educate the kids themselves are going to do better no matter what schools do. That said, I think it is a travesty of our social and economic fabric that only getting academic qualifications is regarded as being successful. All that happens in reality is the Bell curve of intelligence gets raised up, it bulges a lot more in the middle, sure, a good thing if you want better technology and a cure for cancer sooner than later, but the very intelligent stay brighter than the less no matter how much a parent spends on the child's education. I've said to my family loads of times since I started working with Learning Disabled people that the two leading edges of our civilisation are how well we care for people who have problems of any sort and the science and technology that we get into . The main problem in my view is society has to value and pay for those millions of people who do great jobs in social care but get little reward for it. I don't think the answer lies in higher pay I think it lies in higher privilege in terms of reductions in power bills and housing costs so the pay they get is worth more. Raising taxes specifically for this purpose is the only way.

Private tuition risks 'learning gap'

www.bbc.co.uk

Private tuition for state school pupils is booming, particularly among wealthier families and in London, suggests a poll of 11- to 16-year olds.

 Cracking day starting out with Baha'i stall with Clifford in the morning. Miles was wasted with a cold so it was off to Durham with Fiona and Clifford. Nifty walk into City Centre, nibbled choccy biscuits in marketplace then off to Cathedral bumping into a Vikings and Saxons exhibition with Fiona looking at weavers and spinners and us lads getting into a mock knife fight between some Vikings and Saxons. Excellent. Strange structures outside of Durham Cathedral indicated the possibility of wondrous things going on inside. Correct, there was a fundraising flower festival   with amazing flower arrangements . Technically wonderful and beautiful as well. The best beauty of all was watching my lovely wife really enjoying herself looking at flowers.

In the Cathedral far too long with one eldest child left alone possibly getting hungry. So, no home cooking, a trip to Mr Wings Chinese food Emporium and then back home to munch it with Miles watching "50 First Dates" which was excellent and very uplifting. Family life beautiful, friends great, job going well and it looks like they want me and songwriting is fun. A good day!

 This afternoon around the surrounds and City of Durham underneath rain tinkling stratocumulus clouds we had an exciting and joyful walk. I had my first two shot diddy coffee from Starbucks which has moved me further up the ladder of my quest to middle-class perfection. Biscuit break was in the market squareand in the Cathedral we saw a  bat in the Cloisters. Whilst staring up intently  few  people started doing the same thing and going "Ahhhh". It did look cute if not a bit lonely. Got into a nice discussion with a  pleasant young Christian lady out doing a stall on Elvet Bridge who has just completed a physics degree and was  interested  that Miles had completed his mathematics degree and was going on to do a Masters in her university. In spite of  knowing  he was a Bahai she invited him to her church! Sometimes we do go to church if they are very nice Christians. Could this be the first  invite from a lady to this fine young man ? Great to see folk    letting everyone know  religion still exists! Got back to the car before the rain came down, and I'm now cooking an  Italian style tea, about to watch "Anchorman" and have got a good evening set up of songwriting and harmonica. Love my family, friends as well as all of humanity.

Well, Clifford the Youngest is full of surprises. We have always seen him as just a bit beneath Maths Supremo Miles. Nothing wrong with that quite a few people blow better harmonica than I do and I'm a real believer in pecking orders and levels. Shock horror! Anyway, the lad got AAA for his A-levels Mathematics, Further Mathematics and History. Examination wise he has trounced his brother! Only joking, we just expect them to clear the bar I am not bothered how high they clear it. He could apply for another university right now based on these examination results but God bless him he is happy with Northumbria University Mathematics Course and he's sticking with that. Our two fine lads are staying in the North East for now which is great because I am getting to love the place! Love Yorkshire as well by the way!

 Clifford has got his place to study Mathematics at Northumbria University. Total respect to the lad because he has worked very hard at his mathematics. Just a week after his last exam this year he got down to working on his mathematical weaknesses and will be continuing with this until the back end of September, so he is well prepared for his undergraduate work. I do not know what his results are yet but they can't be anything less than ABC or else he would not have got his place.

Over floating duvet like stratocumulus clouds from horizon to horizon me and the rest of the family had a nice stroll around Durham City. We had a look at   accommodation for Miles. It looked very nice, safe and secure as well as poking round some of the streets which looked really interesting. Biscuit break was in the marketplace and my foodie wife insisted on getting two punnets of strawberries and a large tub of double cream. I suppose I will have to eat it! We went around Durham Cathedral which was very busy   there being people dressed up in Viking and Anglo-Saxon costumes showing activities that those people did. Really good. The afternoon cuddle has been done, the tea is a cooking , I have more music running round my head than a man should have and we are about to watch "End of Watch" a cop thriller. Not sure what I'm doing for the rest of the evening but harmonica playing, songwriting and possibly even a long walk may figure largely in it. I'm free, well the bonds of wife and family always pull me back and are never really out of my mind. God bless them. And God bless my friends for putting up with me!

Just got back from a beautiful shift and I love my job. Also found out today when recording my song I can do it in sections rather than singing the whole thing in one go. I am a complete idiot because I should have realised this earlier and my only redeeming feature  is I do realise things later! Beautiful 2 mile walk back from my job with a golden sunset and wispy high cirrus clouds and a loan paraglider looping around several miles away. Love the North East.

6:30 AM Fiona is wide awake and alert. That hasn't happened for over a year. So, Fiona, me and Clifford are going for our 25th anniversary outing early . Had a nice tramp around the centre of York, said prayers for friends past, present and deceased in York Minster Prayer Chapel. Renewed our Bahai marriage vows in a corner of the Minster Gardens: "We will all verily abide by the will of God" said by me and Fiona in turn, and for 25 years we have. Spoke to a York friend I haven't seen for 17 years , Angie Pallister, as she used to be called and we will be seeing her again in the near future. Just got back from Tandoori Nights at Richmond in Swaledale after gobbling a load of food up and had much hilarity with my mum and the rest of the family. Also finished off the lyrics for my latest song this morning which will be recorded up tomorrow. A stonkingly good day. God bless my lovely wife!

 I have just come back from a very nice time this afternoon in Richmond in Swaledale at the Richmond Live three-day music Festival. The whole family met Joanne and Jeff Horn as well as their very talented daughter Sarah who plays the fiddle. She did this this afternoon with a band called Blackstone Edge and they were all excellent. Under a sky full of high cirrus clouds we had fish and chips in the marketplace and with full bellies struggled up a bank through the woods to get back to the car to go home. Family and friends are very beautiful experiences.

Several times a year I have to explain to someone that I am physically disabled. "You've fathered two children , been married for years , blow harmonica like a madman, sing like a lark, fit as a fiddle, got brains and a degree: Whats wrong with you? " . Ummmmm. And you'll be surprised at how many people change there behaviour towards me when they realise I'm a cripple and not only that because of my abilities above are condescending or even hostile at times. Strange world! Best to except people as they are in my view. To the people friendly towards me : "Thank you " . To the rest: " Get better soon"!

Teenager 'must prove disability'

www.bbc.co.uk

The parents of a teenager who has been severely disabled since birth say their daughter has been asked to prove that she is not fit for work.

Want to see more from BBC News?

My eldest child Miles got his Mathematics Degree result today obtaining a 2.1. He has worked really hard and fully deserves the place he has just got at Durham University to do his Masters in Mathematics. No doubt he will work even harder. I love him to bits because he is a great Bahai lad who truly believes that work is worship and he loves God well before he loves his parents or anything else. Which is the way it should be !

My wife maimed one of my cacti tonight. I wonder if she wants it to look a bit more like me. A crippled cactus living with a crippled man. Symmetric. Anyway, no problem, because on the grounds that I need a cactus that can fight back, I should be able to get a sheep eating one now. To any of you young guys out there who eventually want to settle down with a good woman: spot every little thing to impress her with how forgiving you are and "Please can I have my sheep eating cactus now". A sheep eating cactus is the key to a great marriage either having one, wanting one or avoiding one. You heard it here first lads!

A cracking day. Took Miles to RKade skate park at Redcar AM. Spoke to some lovely friends there. Back home and then out to see Mum at Richmond in Swaledale and had a lovely chat with her PM!  Muggy low cloud weather in Richmond was gorgeous and felt like the Mississippi Delta as we strolled around.  The Ice  Age is coming but not today!

 Well, that's it has finally come to the point where I do not understand anything about what my eldest lad studies for mathematics particularly with regard to what he will be studying next year for his MSc at Durham.  I will keep my mathematics stuff up to A level and Further Maths standard just to keep the old brain ticking over but that is it. Songwriting, jazz harmonica, geology, botany, birdwatching, history Bahai studies and trying to keep being a good husband and bloke  are the only interests for me from now on.

The lad is on his own: hooray! Goodness, he is only going to be 20 miles up the flaming road!

Miles education

My eldest son Miles has been given an offer to study for a MSc in Mathematics at Durham University. The offer is unconditional. I would like to say, the lad has talent mostly from his genes and the very optimise a kid's talents way he has been brought up by his parents. But the real icing on the cake is   the sheer determination and hard work that he puts in without which the genes and his parental upbringing would count for nothing. That is entirely his own doing and I love him to bits for that. That really is his choice.

He had to do a series of tests, mathematical problems, one of which was very challenging and he has crossed the bar which this pretty good University expects there Postgraduates to reach. Well done Miles!

Now, in order to pay for his studies next year : does anybody want to buy a kidney?

I have had a cracking day. I sketched out some more melodies and words for songs this morning as well as putting the few I have done onto Youtube because more people will hear me  with my songwriting and harmonica playing. What I am doing is pursuing my job rather vigourously working with Learning Disabled people but also writing songs as well as getting my harmonica up to scratch with a view to going out touring and just letting the Good Lord decide which way it pans out.

Other than a morning of complete self-indulgence I had a great walk with the whole family around the Durham Flower Meadows on the North West side of Durham City. A beautiful surprise awaited us on the top of the first hill which was several Northern Marsh Orchids and Early Marsh Orchids the same ones we saw up in Teesdale last week. We were amazed to see them about half a kilometre from the centre of Durham. The soil must be very calcareous there and I know that Durham is situated on the Pennine Coal Measures rocks consisting of sandstone, limestone and of course coal but it did not occur to me that lime loving plants would be there. Of course they will be!

The family was in good fettle and both lads have finished their exams. However, Miles, who is applying to do his Post Graduate MSc in Mathematics at Durham University amongst many others, received his "questions which have to be solved in a week" yesterday from the Maths Department. So, he was busy yesterday that was until he cracked the first one in 90 min and he is busy with the second one. There are only four and I cannot quite see what the purpose of it is given that they are fairly straightforward for the lad. But there may be a catch which is why he will be spending several hours no doubt making sure there isn't. But according to His Highness today, there is no catch and it is solved. Good lad. I think!?

The Blues Brothers first film  vee vill be vatching, the meatballs are knocked up and cooking as well as the tomato sauce and I am feeling very constructive at the moment as in constructing things both at work as well as with my current hobby of writing songs. Fiona is getting fitter which is nice and the lads seem to be on their way to the next stage of their life which involves Universities. I am astonished at the peace of mind that has come upon me over the last few weeks. This is usually a prelude to something very busy happening and it is quite exciting thinking what will it be? Getting more involved with Learning Disabled work or warbling and tootling in the music industry. Who knows! Who cares :  life is very exciting anyway. Woof woof!

Totally gorgeous and wonderful walk in Teesdale with Fiona today . We walked between Low Force and High Force and saw everything we wanted to see and more . The Northern Marsh Orchid , lovely surprises like Lapwing fledglings pondering around very carefully , all downy and flightless and very vunerable . Very cute as well. Fiona saw loads of the plants she was into and it was a great walk . We took just over 3 hours to walk around three miles and the intensive look at the birds and plants was wonderful. We are going up Cronkley Scar just a couple of miles further up next week  because Fiona is getting fitter and there are lots of plants and birds we want to see up there as well.  I identified my first Stonechat today , well when I got back home and it is a gorgeous bird.  Some brilliant ferns unfurling their , err, ferns and I'm going to make sure I can identify them all next time !

Funny how just going for it in life can put you on a sort of high. I am enjoying my job, getting into songwriting because that is the only way forward with regard to playing professionally and coming to the end of my adviser role with my lads education which I must admit is taking a load off my mind. I feel a lot more mentally relaxed now and I did not know really until recently just how determined I was in the nicest and most intelligent sort of way, because force does not work, that my two children would optimise the abilities that they have. Job done I think although like anything it could always be done better and I kick myself in the shin since I started thinking  like that because it really is: job done. Time to move on!

Miles my eldest finished his mathematics degree finals yesterday and on three out of four he thinks he has got over 80% and one of them 70% or above. He is applying for Masters courses next week with a good chance of getting on one of them and developing the mathematical skills to do a Ph.D. after that. He knows of course that even if he does a Masters and gets a Ph.D. it  still does not guarantee being a maths researcher because that takes that little bit extra luck  as well as talent.

Clifford's A-levels are going okay although I had to do a mega talk to the chappie about managing fear and not to worry about it because he cannot fail in the long run. If he blows it this year he does a handful of maths courses again next year  and then goes to university. I sometimes think the culture in this country of fear of failure is not too good and the kids should just be encouraged to do their best and accept failure which is inevitable in something or other but what is not inevitable is just sitting on your backside and not getting up and going again. Never give up thats what I say.

Fiona is definitely getting healthier and in a couple of weeks time we are going to hit the big hills and walk up them although we will not be doing the tops because we find them quite boring now  being into birds, plants and rocks. Clouds as well! I sometimes think outside of the sinusitis, she is just tired from 30 years of doing 60 to 70 hour weeks the last 16 of which have been very heavy indeed. Anyway, she is a grand lass and I love her to bits for her stoicism as well as determination.

Waffling done, time to see how my home-made pork burgers are doing and then we're going to watch a film called "Men of Honour" a film about the first black American Navy diver. I love watching these films which show the progress of racial unity one of the major foundations of achieving the unity between all human beings on the planet.

Just got back from a great walk in Buttercup filled fields around Durham City with Clifford and Fiona. It looked and felt ethereal, cool and heavenly because although there was a hot sun there was also a very cool breeze blowing from the north-east. Not many clouds in the sky but what we did see were fallstreak clouds where the ice particles are heavier than the surrounding ice particles and fall down ,  the whole thing looking like a bent  ice cream cone  flowing in the direction of the wind. Really exciting and it was the first time I had seen this phenomena. There were several   little ones as well. What was unusual was that there is usually a hole in a huge flat hozizontal cloud   but in this case there was no hole just this downward flowing  bent ice cream cone. Nice!

Pretty wild walk and Fiona got very excited when she spotted an extremely active tree creeper from  2 m away shooting up the tree looking for food. She also went to a second-hand clothes stall which has excellent stuff from the 80s and 90s and she bought a jean jacket which makes her look very cool indeed. So cool that I feel the need for a personal fire extinguisher when around her. For me that is . Oh well, who says life gets quieter as you get older.

Very unusually for our family, being into routine in an almost autistic way, we are having our Persian Rice this evening with sausages and green beans. I do believe we are going to watch " Nacho Libre" a crazy film about Mexican wrestling starring Jack Black.

Fiona took a couple of tumbles scrambling round part  of a wood and I am always impressed by her willingness to throw herself up and down things. She got into an  an argument with some brambles as well which she is busy combing out of her hair at this moment. A great afternoon out!

Yesterday when out in Richmond with Fiona, we sat on a bench with a lady and because she had a rucksack I inevitably asked her where she was walking   and it turned out she was a German lady called Verona and she loves Yorkshire and comes to visit quite often wandering around the place. She was based in York on holiday, a city she loves, and we had a nice conversation about walks around the northern part of Yorkshire. She had a huge book of Yorkshire walks and dutifully ticked  the ones I recommended. I gave her our card and I hope she gets in touch. She lives in Berlin at the moment and it is great there are Yorkshire fanatics worldwide. A very nice lady.

With the gorgeous Fiona I had a nice afternoon out visiting my mum and doing a mini trek around Richmond. My mum is in good fettle but she is weakening a bit as she gets older. Still, she managed an hour of my wayward sense of humour which  cheered  her up.

After this, Fiona and I did a nice 2 mile circular walk around the West end of Westfield's a nice roughly square mile of common land at the, errrr , West of Richmond . As we plodded up the hill there were huge fields full of Buttercups and Sedges which looked especially beautiful under a mostly blue sky, with very high cirrus stratus and a nice backdrop of gathering cumulus clouds over the North Yorkshire moors. It felt like paradise and Richmond is a very beautiful place.

Very strange with the cumulus clouds at the moment because they are not towering up to become cumulus congestus clouds they are merely staying fairly flat which is a clear indication of a lack of heat and not much convection. I personally think this is one of the first signs an ice age but I don't think anybody will believe me. Anyway, it will be a couple of thousand years before it really kicks in but if in my lifetime I start to see patches of ice still left on top of the Lake District peaks over the summer that would be a sure sign of global cooling not warming. Funny how ideas can get in my head and I go around thinking about this quite a lot. It is quite likely to be a wrong idea but it is good fun thinking it through.

Before we even went out this morning I had a really good session with my harmonica and singing and it is coming together quite nicely. I have been amazed that when I start to do some exercises with the harmonica it really improves my playing no end. I cannot do them for very long   like I used to when I did them all day but I only need a bit of seasoning these days I already have the body of practice done. A lovely afternoon out with my beautiful wife.

 Oh yes, at the Goth weekend after we had had ice creams there was a very tall trim and beautiful lady who was wearing some sort of light brown plastic one-piece dress from her ankles up with a fairly low cut to the chest and plastic shoulder straps. I just had to get close to this lady to have a look at the dress as it turned out I got very close as I stood right in front of her whilst  several people were talking to her and taking photos. I am not sure a plastic dress like that is comfortable but she reminded me of the Borg Queen from Star Trek and she was just as pretty as well. I would have liked to have touched the material but I think that may be going too far although I could have asked. Sometimes I am shy and have a sense of decorum!

On 27th April I had a nice pre-birthday day out at Whitby with my family. The weather was nice and it was a bit cold but best of all after we had looked at our usual glacial weathering and the rocks in the glacial till and had walked down the beach into the centre Whitby when we noticed a lot of people wearing black and someone told us it was Whitby Goth Weekend .

So, all these people wearing black and some in a sort of military uniform carrying big brass guns were from the  Gotholithic period in the early 1980s. I loved the purple and blue hair that the very fine middle-aged ladies had and also some of them had daughters in tow who looked really stunning. My lads noticed them definitely! Unusually for us as a family we decided to have a cup of coffee in a very nice quaint picturesque Cafe which had quite a few Goths in there. At the coffee counter there were a couple of young ladies who looked like they would really like to talk to a couple of nice young man and my lads were with us so I invited them to go over and chat to them if they liked. They smiled but declined.

Upstairs there was a Goth mother and daughter pair and a guy and his wife, the guy being in a military uniform with a huge brass gun. Fiona ask them politely if she could take photos   and they were very obliging. In fact every one of the Goths we spoke to was super polite and didn't mind having photos  taken.  I'm  amazed at what can happen when you go out for a walk around Whitby to look at birds and rocks and then suddenly find this wonderful subculture laid out all around the streets. North Yorkshire is always surprising!

Nipping over to the East Pier I looked back at the cliffs and there had been a huge rockfall of a least 50 foot in width right from the top where all the detaic  rock sediments were from the period in the Jurassic where most of Yorkshire was just one huge delta with lots of sand and silt. It did me remind me rather uncomfortably that  walking at the bottom of those cliffs can involve a slight risk of thousands of tonnes of rock falling onto one's head. Believe you me it is worth it!

We had our usual fish and chips at Hadley's which was great and there were a couple Goths in there as well and looking out of the picture windows onto the street and all these amazing Goths around was quite something. What surprised me during this day is when we were at the cafe we all   hung out together for a change instead of moving on looking at stuff and that was really nice and something I want to do again. I feel the showing my children  something because it is interesting phase of my relationship with them  is coming to an end. Nobody was bored we were enjoying each other's company having a good laugh and talking about the Goth weekend and how amazing the people looked. A really nice day out and the best way I like to celebrate my birthday, because I don't like my birthday day, is  to do it before hand and have a nice time. Thank you family!

Now I have got my study room set up and soundproofed for music as well as recording stuff I woke up this morning with a feeling that the musical part of my life can go ahead at last. Or not, because I am writing and recordings songs to put out there to show to people that I can sing and write music and pretty shortly I will be putting out harmonica stuff as well to try to find a musician or musicians to work professionally with i.e. go out there and gig  and tour.

It is a  good at the moment because I am doing a day job working with Learning Disabled people and this fits my model of how any musician should conduct their affairs which is to pay your way doing a normal job and then have a go at being a musician as well. So, I am feeling pretty comfortable and this is the mental backdrop behind my walk today and feeling of contentment that I have.

Since about 10 PM last night it threw it down with rain and on my way up to Durham City for a walk around the town with Clifford and Fiona I was amazed at the amount of surface water . The tiny stream in the middle of Bowburn on the way to Durham had burst its banks and the road was completely flooded to a depth of about 18 inches which surprised me because we have not had that much rain and is an indication of how soaked the ground still is.

Walking around the banks of the River Wear was a delight and we went to look at the flood defences they are building and walked through a lovely part of the woods with many bluebells rising up the sides of the bank . Beautiful.

Because of the weather the city was really quiet, the clouds were very light glowing grey having discharged a lot of water and I could just see the condensation evaporating off the ground which will form haze and possibly mist  later. It is great getting into Earth Science books because it gives an explanation of what is going on around me.

Biscuit break was in Durham Cathedral Cloisters and was good fun particularly as we are sitting on the light side of the Cloisters facing West and I don't know why we didn't sit there in the first place years ago. Maybe us  Saunders-Priem's    like dark and gloomy places I don't know. Anyway, after hoofing it back to the car I went back on the A167 to avoid the flooding at Bowburn but there were pools on the road in several sections on the way back.

Miles is working like a Trojan at the moment meeting deadlines and getting really into his mathematics and I have been very impressed by his ability to get up at 6 AM and just crack on. Several times this week he has done 10 or 11 hours of maths a day. Good lad. I am supremely grateful to the Good Lord that I could get a job and show him that I can go out to work and it always worried me that he had never seen that side of me. I have always been keen to work at any job, I like to get up early in the morning and get out and  about.

Home-made pork meatballs, pasta , tomato sauce and garlic bread is progressing nicely as I write this and I have got a good evening lined up of writing lyrics   for two songs, melodies come really easy for me and then recording them for public listening next week. I am hoping to find a musician or musicians who want to go out and play professionally  but with original music not  covers because original music is the only way to make a half decent living. I don't think I'm going to be successful at this but the only talent I really have is  persistence, determination and trying. In fact Fiona finds me trying a lot of the time but I've realised    that is maybe why she loves me because I try for her and my family as well. A great day and I am about to watch Terminator 2 with my family and we have nominated Fiona an Honorary Boy for the duration so she can join us in watching it.

The day started out with a nice morning of singing practice, working my way through a load of songs and reading up the first volume of Shelby Foote's history trilogy of the American Civil War.

Miles was up early this morning and he is busy getting his final assignments done before the end of the month as well as preparing for his finals so he didn't come out for a walk around the Durham Woods and neither did Fiona because she felt pretty wasted. So, it was just Clifford and me which was great because he brings out the quiet in me and it was a very mellow and relaxing walk.

Durham University has built a new Law Department and we have seen the front of it but today we decided to walk around the back which was quite a hoot because it is like a series of horizontal game levels with lots of right angle turns and I did not know whether we could get round the back or whether it would just stop and we would have to turn around. Thankfully it was a walk-through to the University Library. I love town walks because there is an adventure everywhere!

Biscuit break was in Durham Cathedral Cloisters as usual but I heard the massed  warblings of a choir coming from the main cathedral and when we went in there the Durham Cathedral Choir and Orchestra were rehearsing Mendelssohn's Elijah for a performance tonight. It sounded pretty good but I found the solo alto very weak and if she had been a strong warbler I would have gone this evening. Altos need fat bottoms and if they don't have it you just can't hear them when they go into the lower register!

So, the food is on the fry , the bake and the boil is coming up, for the home-made pork balls, well they are cylinders because I use a metal cutter for them, garlic bread, tomato sauce and pasta. I love the time I spend with my family and tonight we will be watching "The Lovely Bones",  a film by Peter Jackson which I've seen twice before and is weird, moving but very disturbing as well.

A productive day and spending a couple of hours walking around Durham with my youngest son Clifford brings it home to me what a lovely lad he is and his character shines out with every step. He is a good grafter as well and that will stand him in good stead when he goes into the education system as a Mathematics Teacher in four years time. God bless him and all those educators past and present without which we would not have civilisation.

Wow those peas. I've gone from to little mush to nearly to much . Really temperamental. Nice taste though at the end of it . Love the grunting and wolfing sounds as the family gooble them down. Not a pretty sight tea in our house and couple that with watching comedies  as we do at tea time like Fawlty Towers and there is something really Medieval about the whole thing ! Still, we let the local stray dogs in to clear up  so no problem. They certainly lick those plates clean and do a good job of the carpet . Much better than a dish washer or hoover  . We've gotta go natural folks so put the pooches  to good use !

Hooray, I have conquered my mush at last. Perfect mushy peas every time, but I do have to keep an eye on them. My harmonica pucker was put back in place a couple of weeks ago and now my slide is getting back to its slick lightning state. Can life be any better than this? Well yes because all of the above has got me writing melodies again and maybe I will stick some lyrics to it if I can think of anything. "Rock on, crock on , 57 could be my lucky number!" Bad start!

No Bahai stall today because it was too windy so I stayed in and got on with singing practice as well as a bit of harmonica blowing. I do not know why I bother but I have a strong feeling I will be needing it in the near future. Sounds mysterious? It does to me as well.

Miles has been working his head off because he has one month to do four assignments, his final ones and then into his finals, so to have a break he came out with Fiona, Clifford and I to have a walk around the River Wear in Durham. The rain and flooding over the last four months have really taken their toll on the banks and several paths  have been closed because the river has eroded them away. I'm not sure what they can do and   I would   close the path's for good and let the river have its wicked way because if they start putting in concrete culverts it will increase the speed of the river and created a lot of damage and silting downstream. Anyway it is a good one to watch over the next few months.

On the walk it felt like high Spring even though spring is only really starting. I saw one Jay looking down on it from 100 feet above as we were on a fairly high peninsular bank where we don't normally walk but it was really good. There was also an excellent view onto the South End of Durham Cathedral although I will have to check that I have got the right point of the compass because it can be a bit confusing looking at that building from various angles. Still, under the blue sky chopped up with puffy cumulus clouds it looked really good and God bless the Christians for putting up such great buildings.

Biscuit break was in the marketplace which was chock-full of people as well as a couple of folk buskers, a fiddle player and a drummer which was really good because they were not using amplification and it was much nicer without it. There is nothing better than natural acoustic sound.

When we got back Fiona and I had our usual crash and a cuddle listening to the ever interesting Leonard Cohen and now I am getting the tea together which is the same as last week and the happy routine of our family life carries on as always effective in delivering joy, intelligence but most importantly of all family unity. God bless my family and friends and I have a cracking evening set up of more warbling and rootling and tootling on my harmonica.but

A good read but completely irrelevant to my life now.I found the bit about Jo Frost interesting and I happened to watch one of her Super Nanny programmes where a young woman married to an ex-marine policeman was having trouble controlling her children when he was out doing his job. When he came back from a day's policing the children behaved  perfectly  with both parents because of his very disciplined and no-nonsense demeanour

I thought this was a simple case of the man conferring authority on to the mother. The policeman husband should have just told the kids that when he is out of the house if they do anything that bothers their mum it will bother him and there will be big trouble. I have done something similar but too a much lesser degree with my own lads from time to time. Interesting that Jo Frost did not recommend this because she concentrates on individual solutions to childcare problems when most of them happen because of lack of unity between the mum and dad.

I think the phrase I used with my lads was, and I must stress this was very occasionally, "Cross your mum and you cross me". I saw it as an empowerment gesture for my very fine wife.

A biological dilemma today. Two fine blackbirds have built their nest again this year in a really stupid place where the chicks can be got at easily by cats as well as the crows. Do I get a crow trap, a lovely device which uses the crows instinct to be social to catch three at a time and clear our area temporarily of crows or do I just leave them to their biological fate? My line so far is that if birds are that stupid to rear their young in such precarious places Natural Selection should put a brake on their obviously not very good genetic thinking and they don't rear young this year.

The black birds nest is about half a metre above the ground in some greenhouse shelving that Fiona has left outside about a metre from the back of our house and right next to the tap that she uses for watering. It is a great sheltered spot, South West facing but again it can take the brunt of the Westerly wind which lowers the temperature, results in the chicks being hungry, because they need more energy to grow and keep warm but the blackbirds feed them at a fairly fixed rate so the chicks will die. Sometimes I wish I never knew these things!

With the family, for teatime viewing I have just watched "Pitch Perfect" a teen flick comedy about American University acappella groups. Because my eldest son Miles has very serious tastes in rock and jazz like Yes and the band Chicago from their earliest jazz rock days, the look of total horror on his face at having to to watch and listen to such lively and flippant music was a joy to behold! All part of your education kid!

Gosh, just got my first pay cheque for a very long time and it feels really good. I have worked for and earned every penny of it but the best thing of all was the great hug from Fiona! A big thanks to all those people who encourage me as well as kick my rear  sometimes when I need it. Thank you!

The day got off to a good start and just kept going! The Bahai stall in the centre of Darlington went very well and I had a nice conversation with a man who   said that until the UK becomes more spiritual we will not become a better country. I totally agreed with that.

After the stall, Fiona, me  and Clifford had a nice stroll down and around the banks of the River Wear into Durham city and I was amazed at how green everything has suddenly become and becoming. All of the plants are starting to go into spring overdrive and greening into the landscape giving it a much welcome bit of colour after what feels like a long winter. Very nice!

Biscuit break in Durham Cathedral Cloisters was a good laugh as usual but we changed where we sat which is a big thing for us Saunders-Priem's because we usually do the same thing every time. We decided to sit on the sunny side of the Cloisters facing into the sun and it was really nice and could be our permanent biscuit break place from now on.

Stepping back to Shincliffe Village where we started from under a very deep blue sky with high wispy cirrus clouds which I found hard to identify, and the usual trying to get somewhere but we can't quite yet because it is not warm enough cumulus clouds , were beautiful. I find I cannot lose on the walks these days if there are no birds, get into the plants, if the plants are not interesting get into the clouds and the rocks are always there to catch my interest or if I feel bad about something they don't mind being kicked!

Miles stayed in again today to crack on with his Maths and he is filling in application forms to do his Masters at various universities, Durham and Leeds are the first ones he is going for. He has always been a talented lad and I put that down to good family environment and his genes, mostly his genes but the hard work he has to put a lot of effort into and I feel really proud of that because that is his bit, he just gets the encouragement from us and he does the rest. Good man.

And on the subject of good men of which which I know several in this area as well as globally, my friend from the skate park Daniel Green has also been working his head off completing his Games Programming degree at Teesside University and I like the fact that he puts up little snippets of the stuff that he does which I find mostly incomprehensible .I  get inspired by Daniel and other youngies who really go for it and low and behold they start to succeed. I am a go for it sort of person myself and have been for the last 25 years. If there is a go for it musician out their young or old please get in touch!

Well, when we got back home we crashed and we cuddled and Leonard Cohen inspired us to fall asleep in each other's arms but I am now wide-awake and getting the tea together for the hungry hordes. It seems the better I cook this stuff the hungrier they get. Good! With the forthcoming food we will be watching two episodes of the "Young Ones" and it is really funny comedy much funnier than I found it back in the 80s where I did not find it funny at all because I did not understand it. For me understanding is the basis of everything and I put a lot of time and effort into this. It also makes life more fun. How many funs can I get into this paragraph?! "Paul stop going on you idiot!"

A beautiful day, I am ironing out some of the weaknesses in my singing voice and feeling pretty good about life and where it may go. Anyway, I know where it is going for the next few days and I thank God for my family and my friends.

After 25 years of marriage I do not have a heart anymore just a shrunken hand desperately clutching onto normality. The Shrunken Hand theory of marriage is worth getting into. It is where they all end up when they are successful and I feel really happy about this. Fiona's hand shrinks less than mine but both of our hands are shrinking no less. Sometimes when I'm out in York and places like that small children occasionally notice my hand shrinking and that is the start of their understanding about how to eventually be good wives and husbands. All of the above is a stone cold scientific and sociological fact believed by millions of people who are just as crazy and misguided as I am. God bless us!

After a really nice couple of hours walking around the Durham University Arboretum with Fiona I have got down to cooking the tea having my usual tussle with the mushy peas. This week I have lowered the amount of bicarbonate of soda because there is already some present in the peas I have got from Morrisons. They still keep me waiting right until the last 10 min and then the mush occurs much to my relief. O the trials and tribulations of a man fearful that his family will push him out into the snow, well okay the daffodils, if he gets the meal wrong!

The Durham University Arboretum was totally wonderful. We have got season tickets so we can look at it all year round and it is a gorgeous extension of our Durham Woods Walk. For the last couple of weeks we have seen no Jays in the Durham Woods but today we saw and heard at least half a dozen of them. So now we know where they have all gone: the Arboretum. The Cactus House and the Tropical House incorporating the Insect House were really interesting and next time we go, like every time from now on, we will be taking our magnifying glasses and loupes. The Arboretum is also an excellent place for birdwatching.

I have been wanting to get more into the Botany side of nature and this is a good chance to do it and we can see the development of the plants through all four seasons. A nice afternoon out with my lovely wife and it looks like the mushy peas have stop walking on the wild side and have come in from the cold to reach their true destiny of being mushed.

One very beautiful moment was when we walked across a bridge and Fiona spotted what looked like bubbles in some very still water alongside the stream but she knew they were Toad eggs and I am very excited about looking at the development of them over the next two or three weeks. I will be taking a small cup to scoop one of them up to look at it through my magnifying glass . Life is really exciting!
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With Fiona I had a nice ramble around the Durham Woods this afternoon specifically to do birdwatching but we saw few birds. We heard the high looping whistle of many Nuthatches but never saw any of them until we climbed up the bank and I noticed a bird hanging on a tree trunk and then flitting to another one and lo and behold it was a Nuthatch.

That was great because it was only the second time I had  seen one but it got even better because I saw it go into a hole in a knoll in a tree which was its nest. It went in there several times but I could not see whether it was taking nesting material or insects for its young. Totally brilliant and we will be able to observe it for the next few weeks as it raises its chicks.

My lovely wife was absolutely brilliant and delightful company today as she always is. To see the rapturous look on her face when she gets into her birdwatching is totally wonderful. As Bob Dylan said about the woman he was singing about who he admired so much it hurt, "Everything about you is bringing me misery". Man, I am so unhappy!

A great end to a week of a residential training course, making a really useful discovery with my singing voice and getting the focus right with my music which is away from harmonica and more towards singing. Man, I am getting so bored with the harmonica in terms of being "serious" about it. I feel much more serious about my singing.

Anyway, outside of my usual imaginative and not so serious ruminations I had a great day today starting with taking Miles down to RKade Skate park first thing this morning only to find that he had got it wrong and not checked that it was a session he could attend: it was the under 12's session but due to the kindness of Nicky one of the managers of the park Miles and a few other really dozy youngies were allowed in.

After this it was straight back home and immediately out to have a nice 4 mile walk around the Durham Woods with the good wife Fiona and my fine second son Clifford. The temperature was up above 10 centigrade today so there were magnificently big cumulus clouds moving into the cumulus congestus range starting to rise high but not getting too high because it was not warm enough. Biscuit break in the cloisters was high and happy as it usually is not least because I felt exceptionally excited as I often do these days. I suspect I will only calm down when I am dead. Maybe I will still be as excited in the next life I do not know but for the sake of all those around me I hope I have calmed down.

Driving back I was thinking about the deep fun  I am having reading Euclid's Elements the basis of mathematical geometry which is fairly straightforward but thoughtful and strangely relevant to my life at the moment. I don't know why I bother. I'm not doing my mathematics degree anymore and I can't become a mathematics teacher due to not being able to use the computer because of RSI but it is just very intellectually interesting with no real application to the real world for me. But what the hell: it's all jazz.

When we got back Fiona and I had a crash and a cuddle and I ran the music through a 60 W keyboard amp I have and it sounded absolutely great: very clear and there were parts of the music I had not heard before. I now see why people can get quite excited about the right speakers for listening to music. I'm not sure I am using the right speakers but it sounds good.

At the moment I have just made the home-made pork burgers with plenty of garlic and onion, the sauce is a bubbling, the pasta water is on long-range boil which it will come to in about 25 min and I have a strong feeling of expectancy in my life which is possibly due to the reorganisation which is going on in the company I work for which doesn't really apply to me because I have already passed the interview stage but not only that I feel I may go somewhere with music now I am working on the one weakness I have   had with my voice which is consistency. I can hit the highs and lows but a singer needs  consistency   to front a band every night.

.A very good day at the end of an excellent week particularly on the residential course where I never learnt anything I didn't already know but what I did discover is that the fine people around me were doing their job in a very committed and good way with Learning Disabled people, so outside of the great advancements in civilisation we have through science and technology just basically caring for people who have a problem, which could be you or me one day, is also advancing. Amen to that!

 A cracking day starting out with doing a Baha'i stall in Darlington centre which went really well. A lady had picked up a leaflet a few months ago and said she will be in touch with us soon. Whether it is enquiring about the Baha'i Faith or joining it I do not know but she  and her family are very welcome. Another delightful moment was meeting one of Fiona's ex-colleagues Linda Griffiths a lovely lady like most primary teachers. When I think about it most of the finest men and women I know are primary teachers. Bizarre. And I am married to one. Ummmmm!

After getting totally frozen on my stall I got back to the family and with Fiona and Clifford went straight out for a walk around the river Wear  in Durham City. The skyscape was wonderful with a deep blue shade and oblong rectangular shaped puffy cumulus clouds which just couldn't get going up because there was not enough convection to raise them really high. Beautiful though.

Durham city was fairly busy what with the Grand National going on as well which seems to boost the pub business but everybody was happy and smiley which is how I like to see people. Biscuit break was just joyous as it usually is.

Fiona got a bit fragged  out with the walk so was fast asleep within 10 min of being in the car on the way back. When we got back joy of joys my new book, a history of the American Civil Rights movement "Eyes on the Prize" had arrived which means I will have a really good evening as opposed to just a good evening getting stuck into that. I will do a few other things as well I'm going to sing a few songs this evening as well as watch some star Trek episodes.

Miles stayed at home today to crack on with this mathematics, good lad, and I'm impressed with his hard work and devotion to his subject. Well, I am doing home-made burgers which aren't really burgers because I use a cylindrical cutter to make them about 2 1/2 inches wide and a little bit higher cylinder shaped, a lovely tomato sauce, fresh spaghetti and the usual garlic bread. My family brings out the best in me, so do my friends and I'm positively inspired by them particularly my mate Don Bertram who got a promotion in his job running a windfarm down in Norfolk. I need people to look up to and inspire me and between my family and my friends I get all the inspiration I would ever need. Plus the odd kick up the backside sometimes which I need to push me on as well as cut me down when I get too excited. God bless them all!

Man, life is tricky. Last week I thought I had lost my mush and this week I have got too much. The mushy peas seem to be going the way of a green soup. Got to rectify this in the next 5 min or else the family will kick me out in the snow and leave me to die with my harmonica pucker whistling in the wind. Mushy peas: a true test of a man's Yorkshire credibility.

I had a lovely walk around York a couple of days ago, 6 miles no less, with the lovely Fiona and Clifford. There weren't many birds to see but the sky and clouds were beautiful and it was amazing to see the top parts of cumulus clouds getting so high that they started to spread out, the ice crystals sinking and evaporating in front of our eyes. I've never seen clouds disappear so quickly just leaving a milky white trace behind spread out across thousands of square metres of sky.

Today the fantabulous Fiona accepted my offer to take her for a nice walk around Billy Banks Words in Richmond which was great. The spring is very late so it felt quite wintry complete with a biting north-east wind. Still, after delicately flitting through part of the woods and stomping our way through World War I style mud in another part we eventually arrived back at Richmond town centre and purchased the last two Fat Rascals to revive our flagging energy. Our boots were really heavy by then covered in mud but we kicked a lot of it off when we were sat underneath Richmond town clock which brought a nice comment from a lady about it being okay to leave a load of mud around the marketplace because we are in the country anyway. Did she really need to tell me that? But God bless, she did and it reminded me of the many times that people have given me a quizzical look when I have told them something similar.

Well, the mushy peas look like they are going to get there and my place in the family is safe. To everybody out there doing the family bit, walking or just aiming to have a good time: have a great weekend!

"Teachers are warning that young people are being damaged by an over-sexualised culture."

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21990043

Yes this is true . We did not get involved with  quite  a lot of parents or their children because the parents did little to stop there children from toddlers on behaving like mini adults . Its a judgement but one I'm glad we made. There was the constant harping on from some parents that kids that don't do what every other kid does are "missing out" . Really?  True choice for parents and children is  when you give all sorts of experiences to kids and then form a parental judgement  about whether the activity furthers and protects them.  Fiona and I rarely see families walking the hills or even the countryside just outside of towns . That choice is obviously not being offered to kids!

To put this in some perspective . Some children are trim and fit . Are they missing out because they are not fat and unfit like an increasing amout of them are ?

Excellent and brilliant " Love your neighbour". Christians and Muslims praying and working together.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21953899

Today Fiona was fit for footing it for a few miles so we went off to Saltholme RSPB bird reserve to look at the ornithological attractions. It was slightly cold and we were deceived into thinking it was warm when walking with the wind and once we turned into it it got really cold. We saw Great Crested Grebes doing their courtship rituals as well as Red Breasted Mergansers rushing at each other furiously which I guess must be part of their courtship thing.

There were not a lot of birds but the skyscape more than made up for it with a very high patchy alto cumulus, sort of like fluffy pancakes in the sky with blue patches between them. Really nice. The whole wide open view of the Teesside industry with the Tontine hills part of the North Yorkshire Moors about 10 miles away is a wonder to behold. Smashing area we live in and Fiona was in good foot fettle and that was lovely.

When at the SaltHolme Hide the wind was blowing so furiously through the letter box shaped viewing panel that she protested very loudly that she was cold and we had to go back now. Poor lady. I have been getting her cold and wet ever since we met in 1987. At least I am consistent!

O boy I am having trouble with my mush again. Maybe I don't think about ferrets enough, or wind swept wastelands full of sheep or is it the dastardly experiences of hanging onto a fellside by my teeth in a howling wind dispelling my Yorkshireness , but my mushy peas are giving me the No Mush Til I'm Ready Two Step yet again. Has the quality of peas to be mushed gone down? Blame the government, Tony Blair, climate change, the farmers of peas who no doubt are flinging every pea they can get at the Southern market for Holier Than Thou Health food so they're eye is off the ball or even pea resulting in me having a beat my head with spoon moment trying to get the lowly pea mushed . Help : I'm having a crisis! I play my harmonica for inspiration but no luck!

As Fiona is getting fitter and healthier we got out yesterday for a nice 4 mile walk around the Easby woods at Richmond in Swaledale. There were a lot of bird sounds in the woods but we could see few of them and I reckon they are courting as well as nestbuilding.

Because it was the last day of the Baha'i Fast we said prayers at the small and very ancient church next to Easby Abbey. We could not get into the church so we sat in the porch amongst all of the lovely Easter Flowers and said our prayers there. It was a sort of Christian-Baha'i interfaith experience except there were no Christians just flowers and they had been put there by the fine Richmond Christians so I think that counts. Lovely  and I sang a prayer as well

We usually carry our own coffee and biscuit but as I was fasting I treated Fiona to coffee and cake at the Station Cafe. I once got a train from there way back in 1959 and they have restored and redeveloped the place very nicely. It was absolutely chock-full of Senior Citizens and we surely are a retirement nation in this part of the world.

Fiona woke up very fit this morning. Nice! So, it was off to the Durham woods to see which birds were out and about. Not many! We heard a few and saw hardly anything. But what we did see was brilliant. Three fine Goosander's on the River Wear as we walked up to the Houghall farm. Two more Goosander's just above the weir at Prebend Bridge and then on the way back 2 gorgeous Goosander's which looked in prime condition and were hovering around the riverbank which is very unusual for a Goosander, they normally spend a lot of the time in the middle of the river so we deduced that they may be looking for a nesting site. Good fun.

After all of this wandering and walking and seeing the council work that had been done clearing a landslide only for it to liquefy and a lot of very runny mud is streaming across the path, we trundled on back down the A1 and Fiona was fast asleep within 10 min. God bless her! She missed the fine cumulus clouds building up which is a sure indication that spring is in the air because it is getting warmer.

A good move if they do this. No one in this country would tolerate a wild lion roaming around the human population so why should they ? We killed our wolves and bears off long ago. Not only that Africa is slowly enclosing its wild areas , as we did centuries ago and this is a necessary condition for their continued economic growth. Ultimately it will boost tourism. The more Europeans see Africa as "wild" the less we see them as being just like us and wanting to and deserving the great social and economic development we have .
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21687176

From when Miles was a toddler until we left York in 1996 Ian I saw a lot of Mums having a really hard time with their babies and toddlers. I felt for them and one said  she had not  had a nights sleep for three years. Fortunately I'd started to practice diplomacy then and didn't till her that since Miles was 42 days old we had had 6 disturbed nights. Some Mums  asked me about this and I said it was  about knowing when to respond and when not : distinguishing between the various sorts of cries.

 My mother in law told me this because she'd done it with Fiona and her sister. The few time Miles did cry it was  usually because of the surprise of waking up in the dead of night . I'd  watch the clock , 5 minutes go past and he was straight back to sleep. It ocurred to me then that instantly responding to a babies cry doesn't give them the chance to figure out what they want to do. If the Mum charges in and the baby is going back to sleep again she wakes the poor soul up and naturally there is a lot of crying . The more the Mum does this , the baby gets trained to cry . I will never talk about this to a woman again after mentioning it to some in York. Nearly got strangled with a breast feeding bra once. Yuk! After all , a man doesn't know how to look after a baby does he?! As I said to the lads " Bring your babies up like doggies but don't expect them to be as intelligent!".

Another magical weekend. Yesterday was great with sunshine, Fiona feeling fit, Clifford on top of his mathematics at sixth form college and Miles working his head off for the afternoon doing his Uni mathematics. Nothing like that feeling that it is all in place! The main aim of our walk in Durham City yesterday was to see the latest landslide and what was being done about it. There was a digger busy at work dragging down all of the loose soil and I reckon the path will be open in a couple of weeks.

Barely saw a bird yesterday they must have all been sunbathing! But had a good laugh walking up the steps of Elvet Bridge from the Riverside. A group of about eight teenagers were throwing some sort of cap gun paper off the bridge onto people below laughing as it exploded which wasn't as bad as it sounds but irritating. They were very excited and having a really good laugh. I was so so about this mildly youthful anarchic behaviour and as I walked through them I suddenly shouted as loudly as I could, "BANG" and they jumped out of their skins one youngie going so far as to run away with a really worried look on his face whilst the others realised I was just a middle-aged jovial idiot having a laugh at their expense. Good fun and proof that most youth are really alright was they thought it was really funny as well.

A miracle occurred yesterday. We actually got Fiona a jumper that she likes. It is second-hand has a small hole in it and we were politely informed by the stall holder that if we got one of the American army jackets there is a real bullet hole in that. She looked absolutely lovely a hiking lady through and through the highest evolution for the female species.

Today I took Miles skateboarding and my mate Lukes delightful girlfriend Ashleigh Perkins pencil sketched me while I was doing my reading session. She is a very talented lady no doubt about it doing Fine Art at Teesside University. After this we went to visit my mother who was in good fettle strangely enough feeling a lot better now she is off painkillers. The human body is a mystery not least the female one.

I should be starting work this week I finally got my identification . I'm looking forward to this new phase in my life and not having to bother with music so much which I wasn't enjoying  anyway because I did not want to be away from my beautiful wife, the lads, as well as the many good friends I know in this Northern Paradise. Life is moving forward from me which is my way of saying: it is good.

Because Fiona couldn't make it last week due to being ill we did a lovely Whitby walk today. We inspected the glacial till cliffs spending some time looking at the very interesting rocks. What I thought was a Shap granite last week is not. It is also a lot bigger than I thought it was and we will have to wait until the sea washes all the mud away from it. It certainly isn't going anywhere although it may get buried by the 100 foot high mud cliffs and bank above it.

The weather was sunny with a low haze in the air and plenty of cumulus clouds because it was warm. Then again when we got out of the car the north-east breeze felt very cold. We had a delightful cake and coffee apiece at a wonderful cafe, sat in two chairs just watching the people go by and commenting on the buildings. Nice, an oldies thing I think.

Because the tide was out and I thought it was continuing to go out although Fiona knew it was coming in we went along the East Beach of Whitby town to Saltwick Nab. Very interesting and I saw a 240 million-year-old riverbed complete with ripple marks in the fossilised sands. Several of these huge oblong shaped rocks had these. Really good. I kicked myself that I did not take the Whitby cliffs guide to the Jurassic because I could have understood the sequence of rocks a lot better. I will have this next time.

So, it was pretty obvious that Fiona was right and that the tide was coming in so I turned around to go back and saw that the small headland had about 10 feet of sand still uncovered and I knew it would be underwater within 15 min. I was not sure whether the bay beyond it was completely flooded so we jogged the 500 m to it just in case. What a hoot and I was genuinely worried because we wouldn't have got cut off but we would have definitely got our feet wet right up to the thighs as well. If I had hung around gawping at the  rocks another 15 min longer we may have got more than wet thighs. If any guy out there ever reads this: sometimes it is good to listen to your wife!

After that adventure Fiona was asleep within 20 min of being in the car and the lads were pleased to see us when we got back in that lovely puppy dog sort of way they do even though they are pretty big dogs these days. Woof woof! A magical trip out with a magical woman called Fiona Saunders-Priem.

Last Saturday under a grey wintry sky me and the lads had a nice walk around the Durham Woods. The only bird of note that I saw was a fine Jay perched on a power cable squawking for all it was worth. Whether it was squawking for a mate or about a mate or to get rid of competitors I do not know but it was a total delight to see it. Fiona was not with us being zapped out with sinusitis.

Today Fiona and I trucked off to Newcastle to pick up some skateboard wheels for Miles, very big ones which are better for riding the absolutely excellent bowl that is at RKade skate park in Redcar. Not only that the wheels have been designed by Steve Alba aka Salba who is one of Miles skateboard heroes.

Since we were last in Newcastle a whole load of new buildings have popped up, a science city, student accommodation, hotel and a business unit. It is really good to see the Northeast forging ahead in its economic development. Whilst we were circumnavigating this whole complex just to look at all the materials used, stone as well as ceramic, we saw across the road, foundations  being laid for the rest of the science city. The North-East is forging ahead and nothing can put it down.

Fiona was in good fettle and the boppy walk around the city centre and down to the Baltic Arts Building and the Sage were really good. I have  got to like this area. A major sore point was we never took our binoculars or loupes for looking at rocks which was a big mistake. The tide was out when he got there so some mudflats were exposed, always a good place to look for birds but worse than that many of the buildings in Newcastle have some excellent sandstones and granites from around the North which are well worth a look through a geological loupe.

It was nice to see Fiona walking 4 to 5 miles comfortably although when she got back home she crashed out and was fast asleep within about 20 min. A very nice day and my eldest lad is getting on well with his mathematics he got 97% for his last assignment spending a lot of time on some of the very tricky bits. He's not simply going for scores he really wants to prove to himself that he has the mettle to get involved with mathematical research as well as the understanding. Both are needed: a hairy chest and a big brain!

Yesterday with the lads but not Fiona because she was ill with sinusitis, I had a nice afternoon and evening out at Whitby and then RKade skatepark at Redcar.

It was  overcast grey and bitterly cold at Whitby and we looked at the ongoing landslides on the glacial till cliffs on Sandsend beach. As usual I had a good inspect of the rock fragments embedded in the mud and joy of joys I found a Shap Granite boulder about 40 cm square with deep scratch marks on it (glacial striations). This indicates that it either had something rubbing over it, it rubbed over something else or a mixture of both! Amazing to think that this rock had been plucked out from a cliff or the ground over 100 miles away on the outer Western edge of the Lake District in or around a place called Shap and then  carried over to the East Coast by the glaciers. Very exciting. If I could have dragged it home I would but it weighed at least 10 stone. I found another small granite which I have seen in  my geology books but I have not identified it yet . Frustrating, because I know where it has come from and the route but I cannot identify it  . Something to do today!

Trundling on to Whitby harbour after this, as we crossed the swing bridge munching our ice creams we saw an Eider Duck  a few metres down from the bridge. It was hunting for small crustaceans and shellfish. We had a laugh when suddenly there was a white explosive stream from the back of it in the water as it had a poo!

After the Whitby walk we wolfed bacon butty and chips at Arcade skate park in Redcar and Miles had a two-hour skate session which left him quite tired! Goodlad. A very nice day out but it would have been better to have had Mum and wife Fiona with us!

Under high clouds of Cirrus Intortus twisting their ice crystals away thousands of feet up we headed for our weekly outing to the Durham Woods. There was plenty of blue sky to illuminate our way and birds were singing like mad but we could see few of them.

Halfway through the woods Clifford suddenly stopped and whispered "Dad, there is a Deer  over there" and indeed his sharp eyes had spotted a Roe Deer with its back to us . Really exciting! I was  sure there would be another one nearby because they are often in groups  and indeed there was just behind it. Magic. Because quite a few people walk and run through the Durham Woods the wildlife is familiar with human beings.

It got even better 100 m further on. I heard a Nuthatch whistling but could not see it and just to the left there was a familiar thwack of something hard banging against a branch which could only be a woodpecker. The Greater Spotted had made its appearance! It had its back to us and unusually was  stationary indicating a lot of insects and grubs in the tree. More magic!

Last week in the woods quite close to Durham Cathedral we saw a fork in a tree had become split and I said  it was about to fall and then proceeded to walk underneath it and stand there because it was a good spot to look at the birds. This had the lads laughing their heads off. I am contradictory ! Anyway, today about a ton and a half of tree had fallen sometime in the past few days and I was  glad I was not standing there when it did. Going out into the English countryside these days feels slightly edgy what with all the landslides and trees falling down. Good fun.

Fiona was a bit wasted with her sinusitis but game enough to do a 4 mile walk which is what I love about her. She has pluck! However, riding back in the car she was asleep within 5 min.

When we got back Miles was still beavering away at his mathematics, goodlad, and Fiona and I had a crash and a cuddle listening to "Old Ideas" by Leonard Cohen. At the back end of this very mellow day I am about to get the food going to feed the hungry hordes. God bless family life and God bless my friends.