Sometime there is a perfect day and I've just had one of them. I got my new song Durham County Line sung and recorded up this morning . After some initial hassles sorting out the how of recording it, it  in went in very quickly . Nice , because I wanted it done before going out to Newcastle with the family at 1.30pm. A Deadline Dandy me ! The scattered clouds and low winter sun over Newcastle Centre were great and we walked over the Millennium Bridge , up to the top of the Baltic Flour Mill Art Building , then over to the Sage and up to the top of that , then over the Tyne Bridge , down to the Tudor Holy Jesus Hospital , meandered  around the Eldon Square Shopping area and then plonked ourselves down at the Wok Inn to munch our way through some brill Chinese food . Hitting the street afterwards it was sleeting like mad so we hoofed it to the car promptly and headed for home . With chocolate and Diet Coke we watched a German film called "Run Lola Run" which was really cool and wacky, a fitting end to a great day . The best thing about today was listening to Clifford talk about getting back to University to study History and he is applying for Northumbria , Newcastle and York Universities . Good lad . It's been a tough year for him but spiritual , physical and emotional resilience is what our family is all about . We're a team but we also believe in first and foremost team human family  and I am super grateful for the love , support and great advice I've had from friends this year.God bless you all.

Fiona was down with sinusitis , Miles was down with a bug and Clifford was ....... down ......... so I headed off on my own for a mid morning walk around Durham Woods , River Wear and Durham  City. Whilst staring   at couple of Little Grebes a nice man with a whippet got talking to me about  local  wildlife and his fine whippet. He also told me his previous whippet  that ran off and was flattened on the A1(M) and yet again I  inwardly groaned at the fact that when I get talking to virtually anyone in the North East I often get more than I bargained for . I like that  but a flattened whippet stuck in my mind for a little while! Being passed by many young folk jogging and running, I strolled into the City where there was a food fair in the Cathedral and a 50 meter queue to get in . Using  a bit of local knowledge  I went through the woods around the back of the Cathedral to avoid the queue. I said prayers in St Cuthberts Shrine at  the East End which was  nice because there were several Christian folk doing the same thing . On the way back to the car , walking along the street , deep in thought ,I had the strange experience of a young woman appearing in front of  me in pyjamas . At first I thought it was a vision and resisted the temptation to poke her in the ribs to make sure she was real, simultaneously thinking that she must be , because if I was going to have a vision of a woman in pyjamas on a Durham street it would be in the 55+ age range . Anyway, she was real , vacant looking , staring down the street and next to an open door so this being a student town and me being a   gentleman I smiled and walked by . On the way back to Darlington the clouds  were  coming over and it felt like it was going to snow . Fiona had perked up when I got  back . Hooray. Well right now , the tea is nearly cooked , I'm feeling at one with the world and a great family feeding session  watching  Lord of the Rings   is about to happen . Yippee!