A cracking day. I had a morning trek along the River Wear  just outside Durham City and saw a lonely and very twitchy Goosander  deciding  whether to fly off or not with me staring at it.    The City was quiet but a sunny strewn coffee and a nice chill led to a great house head party in my own thoughts. Back off to Darlington to see Miles and Fiona doing a table at the Healthwatch InterFaith event and that was great . They were in with the Jewish and Islamic folk and all the other religions and Humanists , Pagans an Rastafarians were in the other rooms. Jill Dunbar organised the event with her team and did a really great warm job. When we got back home I knocked up the usual meatballs and tomatoes sauce which was fab and then watched EM Forsters "A Room With a View " which was a bit barfing and I'd rather have watched Skinny Killer Cats Nuke the KKK but the sophisticated culturoids I live with disagreed so a culture vulture session it was. I think I'm turning into a middle aged punk.

A cracking day. This morning I did a 4 mile wander around the Durham Woods and spotted the first Goosander of the Autumn on the River Wear which is a sure sign that colder weather is coming. Fiddled around with a song to sort the mix  out and knocked up a smashing Persian Rice for the family . Mustn't let the standard slip or they'll boot me out . This evening with the Fantabulous  Fiona we went to Durham Cathedral to listen to The Sixteen a  wonderful Choral group. One of the best . I vowed I'll improve my singing .  The seats we had in the North Transept were perfect and the sound quality was excellent . Expresso  and Hot Chocolate followed in our favourite romantic cafe and we had a good laugh there . Romance for us is having a good laugh. World Cup Rugby coming up this weekend and what more could a man want!

Birthday weekend.

It's been my birthday weekend a time when I get to do what I like with the family. On Saturday morning I had a smashing Durham Woods and city centre walk in the rain all on my own . Very nice and the River Wear was flooded so there wasn't a duck in sight . I've got a bright red case for my tablet and slurping coffee in Starbucks whilst having a read felt very trendy! Back to the family, then off to Newcastle for an urban ramble in the bright sunshine. Lots of new buildings going up so very nice. We stuffed our faces at a Chinese Buffet spot in Newcastles' Chinatown. After getting home we watched Ghostbusters and slurped Diet Pepsi. On Sunday we visited my Mum, who was well and in the evening Fiona and I went to an organ recital at Durham Cathedral which was also broadcast live on Radio 3. The music was wonderful particularly the very modern and atonal Paul Hindemith piece. I love atonal music. Very jazzy but without the rhythm. Durham Cathedral full of organ music is gorgeous. In a cumulus cloudy dusk we wandered the Durham City streets hand in hand until we got to our favourite romantic cafe, the Rouge Cafe, and enjoyed the ambience.  Today, not wanting to stop the weekend good time, I took Miles to the train station 'cos he's off to London to flutter his mathematical eyelashes at the National Mathematical Institute to try and get £25,000 out of them for his teacher training in September. He's already got the standard training bursary of £20000 but if he can show the London lot he's got great mathematical chops and is into teaching they give him 5 grand extra. Go Miles!  After dropping him off I went for a walk in York, which was in the rain at first, but then bright hot sunshine burst through. I saw a couple of Red Kites on the way back at their roadkill restaurant where the A59 crosses the A1 and they looked magnificent. Well, the fun is over and I've got a stack of songs to write this week, placements to be applied for for my Teaching Assistant course and a great family to love to bits. A very nice weekend!

It is my youngest son ( Clifford)  birthday weekend and we have  had a smashing time . Yesterday we did a Durham City walk ,  had a great coffee at the Coffee House and then went to the Naw Ruz, Bahai New Year Celebration,  at St Oswalds Church Hall. There were a whole load of Iranian Kurdish Muslims there as well and they were dancing there heads off with some Kurdish Iranian dancing . Really good and the food was  brill. Middle Eastern food is my favourite out of all the  grub we eat. Today, after taking Miles for a very energetic skate boarding session at RKade in Redcar we visited my Mum in Richmond who was frail but in good fettle. Clifford didn't feel like going to Newcastle for a twilight town walk and then feast at the Wok Inn so we've just wolfed Chinese Takeaway food whilst  watching Tears of the sun and swigging Diet Coke. A lovely weekend and I am grateful to God for my family  and friends  .

On the last day of the Bahai Fast I was out walking around the Durham Woods really early , down by the River Wear, and I spotted an Otter on the bank right next to me  5 metres . A very relaxed Otter it was 'cos it slowly slid into the water , rootled under some tree roots then  it's super cute face surfaced and it looked at me for about 5 seconds then dived back under the roots again. Toal magic. 200 metres down river I saw a pair of Mandarin Ducks and 3 more further down. It's never boring when you're walking ! I can't wait for the Bahai Fast next year because I'm looking forward to all the early morning walks . Well, I'll be at college or working next year but I'll do early morning walks on the weekends . A magic day !

Well, I got up before dawn for the 6th day of the Bahai Fast and no food or drink between dawn and sunset. I trucked off down to York and did a 7 mile walk up to and  around the Uni and on the   lake I saw 10 Goosanders a courting  trying to breed. Good odds for the males because there were two of them and 8 females. Weird how they congregate on that lake . Last year there was 30 of them and a better balance between the sexes. The males weren't getting anywhere  near the females so if they can't  mate at those odds maybe it's best they  stay single for this year!  I  got back to the family gang and we went to Durham City for a 4 mile walk. We had a good laugh at the cafe teasing Miles about his funny way of saying things when he was younger then stomped up to the Cathedral to listen to a choir and orchestra rehearsing some choral music. So , after a crash and  a cuddle with the good lady Fiona I'm now preparing meatballs and tomatoe sauce for the hungry hordes and we're are gonna watch "The Mist" some sci fi horror movie. Cool! I had a great feeling  of warmth and love for the whole of humanity today and particularly my family and friends . God bless the Hemsworth Chat  FB group that I have a lot of fun on . Great folk!  Smart and fun . The best !

I had a wonderful day yesterday walking around Whitby Beach and Town with Fiona. First up was a seal resting on the beach halfway between Sandsend and Whitby . People were concerned but it was just ttryint to have a sleep. When we got back to the same spot 5 hours later it was gone and I don't think the seagulls ate it ! The harbour area was  slow and late winter feeling and not too cold. Coffee and Cake at Marie Antoinette's was great and we sat outside ooing and aaing over the great Double Chocolate Brownies cheesecake we were munching We walked on the East Beach to spot fossils , birds and cliff erosion .  There weren't many birds around even though it was a falling tide. After going up Whitby steps on the way down we met Julia and Roger Pattison who we knew when we lived in Stamford Bridge in East Yorkshire . We hadn't seen them for 20 years . It was nice to be in touch with them again and we are going to stay in touch through Facebook. A second cup of coffee was due so we had this at the Full of Beans coffee stall and the great Mr Black Belt Karate, Mr Dan Howard was in charge . He's a smashing  young man who we know through RKade Skatepark in Redcar where he skateboarded . A great conversation . Listening to Joan Baez warble Bob Dylan songs on the way back home was great  but best of all when we got back was that Miles has got a Teacher Training interview at Sunderland Uni . He's been blown off by Durham Uni and Carmel College so third time lucky we hope . Go for it Miles. To end the day we watched part two of the BBC Alaska three part series which was  about the Alaskan Summer . Wonderful and a great end to a wonderful day . We are going up into the Fells of Swaledale next week and Fiona is back legging it again! Hiking ladies rule!

I just had a cracking afternoon out with Fiona and Clifford around the Durham Woods and Durham City . Warm wandering clouds floated over all the boys and girls rowing their arms off on the River Wear Regatta. Nice . The town was busy but not so busy that Clifford and Fiona got their hot chocolates swiftly and with satisfaction . The mellow winter Pennine lowland atmosphere was all over the peoples faces and in Durham Cathedral the choristers were warbling their warbles beautifully around the Upper Carboniferous Westphalian sandstone blocks which reflect the sounds wonderfully . We trundled down a quiet A1 on the way back into a stunning Altostratus Cloud sunset with the golden yellow egg yolk sun descending and impressing joyfully . Brill . Well, the Venison Meatballs are simmering in the Tomato sauce and we are about to watch the Danny Boyle film " Sunshine " which is a bit different from his film "Trainspotting" which we watched last night . I'm shot through with that warm connected feeling again and a big love to my family , friends and all humanity .

A brill day put has been had with the Goodwife Fiona. We trucked off to Saltholme RSPB reserve on Teesside to gaze at da birds and ducks and gaze we did . The highlights were seeing a Snow Bunting for the first time , 3 egrets and amazingly a beautiful Fox right in front of the Saltholme Center munching away on all the fallen birdseed. It was cold with a big C but Fiona was suitably engulfed in the remains of some animal around her head and several layers around the rest of her . After the Birding and freezing bit we went to Redcar to do more er............Birding and freezing and were rewarded by seeing around 50 Common Scoters floating raft like on the sea. After pondering why they always went to the same place the thought leapt into the remaining mental space I've got , not much , that they are diving ducks and where they were floating is above the reefs which are the habitat for the food they eat namely Sea Urchins , small crabs , mussels and such organisms . Totally brilliant . Our plan to gawp at the fossilised 200 million year old Jurassic shelly beds didn't work out 'cos the tide was in and they were underwater . A cracking day with a cracking lady !

I've had a wonderful weekend. Yesterday, with the whole family I went to Newcastle and had a great early dusk evening ramble around the Sage , Millennium Bridge up the Baltic Art Gallery and then into the City . We had a meal at the Wok Inn, our favourite family friendly fine food eating emporium and then went to a Memorial gathering at the Newcastle Bahai Center for one of the friends whose father and died recently in Iran. That was great and very moving although I noticed there was a lot of joy and laughter afterwards during the social part and all the nice Iranian food. It was great when we walked into the place and  the first thing we saw were the Iranian rice cookers plugged into the wall cooking and keeping the rice warm . Very nice .

Today I took Miles down to RKade Skatepark in Redcar   and went for a great birdwatching walk on the beach and saw a huge duck in the sea which I can't identify . I cannot relate it to anything on the RSPB site but it must be there . I also spotted a great geological feature which is a bit less of a mystery , which is :  all of the Redcar reefs exposed by the low tide are straight and parallel to each other  except one which bends in parallel with the other rocks as if it is part of a huge circle . I know they are called arcuate bands  but what they represent  I've yet to work out . Its either a fossilised meandering river bed , because they exist further down the coast or a tilted on its side anticline, part of the Cleveland Dome which is where the North Yorkshire Moors are geologically  at at the moment . A fun evening is set up to crack these bird and rock mysteries .  Well,  the meatballs  are cooking in the tomatoe sauce and I feel very settled ,  because I've decided to apply for Teaching assistant and Cover Support jobs in education and I'm putting the songwriting on hold for a while . It's a bit too easy that stuff at times 'cos my head is full of melodies and I just have to reach out and write them . The world is winning folks and  in spite of the woes lets focus on the good stuff as well.