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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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