Today, I took Miles out for a driving lesson in the morning followed by a really good session in the skate park. He was doing really well so he got a bacon butty reward. And so did I! In the afternoon we had a 3 mile walk around the Easby Woods in Richmond and the autumn was really getting going because there with lots of leaves on the ground and the beach and sycamore trees were shining golden brown. It was a very quiet afternoon with very little wind and all the people we walked by seemed very laid-back and sleepy. Richmond seems to go like that sometimes and it was very quiet in town as well. Last week I lost my hat in Edinburgh Woollen Mill and when I returned today the very nice ladies had found my hat and I got it back. The trouble is, yesterday when I was at Millets in Darlington, I lost my other walking hat whilst getting a waterproof for Clifford! When Fiona went back to that shop today they had not seen the hat but I remember putting it on one of the racks and the lady said that she had swept up the shop yesterday and I am assuming that she did not look on the racks because she would have no reason to do so. Hopefully, I will get my other hat back next week. I have been doing walking and hillwalking for over 40 years and I have never lost anything ever. In the space of one week I have managed to lose two hats. Unbelievable! My mother was very well and we had a very humourous time which I think is the best way to approach visiting grannies because at least they get a laugh! The holiday is progressing very well.

This afternoon with the family I had a very nice walk around the woods in Durham. The leaves are slipping golden and brown even more quickly and the ground is getting fairly covered as well. Some Durham University students were having a race around the woods and it was nice to see such a large amount of very fit young people. They were only going 6 km and I pointed out to one of the organizers they should be doing double that which he thought was quite funny. We found a new perch for our biscuit break at the bottom of Durham market with a good view up the market facing west. It turned out to be a bit of an expensive afternoon because the boys needed two new skate decks and Clifford needed a waterproof for fell walking. I was amazed at how flimsy a lot off the very expensive waterproofs were so I was not too impressed with that and after we had gone back to Darlington I got him a much cheaper one but much more substantial from Millets. I know that the theory is that the better the material the more they are "breathable" but I have never found a so-called breathable coat that doesn't gets me super sweaty and super sweaty in any breathable waterproof , wax cotton jacket , or the non-breathable waterproofs that we use still feels very wet. 2 episodes of Star Trek, and mushy peas, sausages, chips and garlic bread will be started in about half an hour . A nice afternoon a good start to the holiday .

Today I took Miles skateboarding at RKade in Redcar and he had a wild time . Just before the skateboard session, on the way, we pulled off at the Middlesborough football stadium and he did some more driving and it went very well. He still goes through first and second gear a bit rough but he can pull up at junctions and then safely proceed. So, after the skateboard session we all went out to visit my Mum in Richmond but Miles drove part of the way. Very relaxing. Mum was fine and we had a good laugh and Miles drove part of the way home and took us through Gilling West village and safely negotiated a wobbly cyclist. He takes care and that bodes well. Didn't do much of a walk in Richmond , sometimes even we don't feel like it . I lost my hat rummaging through some sweat shirts in Edinburgh Woolen Mill because I was holding it in my right hand which has little feeling in it and the rummaging must have knocked it out of my hand. I have worn that hat over thousands of Miles of fell, mountain , moorland, wood and town and never waylaid it ! Still, the nice Edinburgh Wooly ladies will keep an eye out for it and hopefully it will be there waiting for me next week. A nice weekend . Fo is better now and will be teaching those kiddies tomorrow.

Yesterday in the morning I took Miles out for his second driving lesson. He is now getting the gears right and keeping the car straight. His first lesson, last Friday , went all over the place as he struggled with getting the gears right. He intellectually understands the procedure perfectly but of course when driving the car you don't actually think about gear changing that much so he was surprised that he couldn't do it straight away given that he understood it quickly. Tears of frustration soon followed ,followed swiftly by his strong determination to master the problem. I always admire the lads ability to recover and pick himself up. Seen it a few times with his maths. Good doggy.

In the afternoon Clifford was still wasted with his cold and Miles really didn't feel like a walk, could be something to do with his new computer so the lovely Fo and I went off to Durham and did a 4 mile walk there. Fo was still woozy from her bug so we took it easy. The leaves on the trees were colouring gold to brown and there were even bigger columns of dead leaves floating down the Wear. We had a coffee and cake at Durham Cathedral Cafe and afterwards listened to the Cathedral Choir doing evensong. A very beautiful experience. It is an all male choir and the alto parts normally done by women were being performed by countertenors , men with alto sounding voices. I love men with high voices! It gives a very distinctive tone to the sound and even top choirs like Tenebrae have countertenors in the alto line : half and half in fact.

Finished off the day with two episodes of Star Trek and Leonards Cohen's " Ten New Songs". Good day .

On Sunday,in the morning I took the lads skateboarding and Miles was doing in-line skating as well as his skateboarding. He is getting on very well with this much better than last time when he resembled a newly born calf on roller skates! After this, the lads were a bit wasted, so in the afternoon Fiona and I had a nice 2 mile walk around Easby Abbey and there were many leaves floating down on top of us shaken off by the wind. We visited my mother and she was all right. After this I took Fiona home I went out on my own for a 7 mile walk around York in the sun set, evening light and then in the dark. The sunset was lovely over the city walls and I was surprised how quickly it went to dark because of the low cloud. York is quite a mysterious place in the dark and it is a more dark city than for example Leeds which is very well illuminated. I quite like this. Around York University Lake all of the ducks were tucked up in bed and fast asleep. That gave me the feeling I should get home ! A nice little ramble and on the late Sunday afternoon and early evenings I always feel quite restless and want to get out for a walk. The rest of my week goes better when I do this.

Last Saturday, we did a 4 mile walk around a very autumnal Durham. More dead leaves were floating on the river forming columns flowing downstream. The Himalaya balsam seeds are slowly getting to the point where they start to eject their seeds and make a popping sound when you walk by them. The first time I heard this I wondered what it was. In the city center we had a very funny incident with a large group of young lads. Our two lads had got a bit ahead of us and we wanted to have a look at some stone tiles that had been used for resurfacing the market square in Durham so both Fiona and I boomed out simultaneously "Boys!" which to them means they should come back to us. The trouble is this group of lads was alongside us at the time and they all stopped walking and looked at us for about 10 seconds wondering what we were going to say next. I find it heartwarming that the training of our children seems to work with anonymous groups of them as well! They were good boys.

This afternoon with the family I had a nice 4 mile walk around Ripon in North Yorkshire. On the outskirts of the town the leaves were creeping red and brown and we went up to Ripon Cathedral to have a look at the outside of it as well as the inside. I am still amazed at the wonderful fossils which are on the flagstones on the floor of the high altar. After this we went up to the Spa Hotel where Fiona and I 22 years ago had our wedding reception on the sixth of August 1988. Walking through to the gardens at the back of the hotel brought back to my mind the happy faces of the many people who came to our reception but especially my good friends from the 1980s who graciously accepted to come to the reception even though a lot of them didn't actually believe in marriage!

We then went up to Ripon Cemetery and said prayers around Fiona's fathers grave. We said a prayer each and then stood in a line in front of his grave holding hands and said the Healing Prayer together. It was quite a moving moment and it has been a long time since we have been up to his grave. Humor came back very quickly when we had our biscuit break on a very long bench near the grave and the atmosphere was very peaceful with mellow grey skies and autumn. Lovely. On the way back to the car we went to see where Fiona lived as a child and young adult in a house called "Riga" the name of the capital of Latvia because Fiona's father was half Latvian and half German. A very nice mellow afternoon, followed by a tasty spinach curry that I had cooked before we went out early on because I did not want to cook when I got back and we also set up the rice to slowly cook when we were out. I seem to be going through a period of falling in love with my lovely wife again and again. Very strange but nice!