I took Miles skateboarding this morning at RKade in Redcar and was surprised to find about 10cm of snow in the Tees Estuary. There had been none in Darlington . Miles had a great session and his friend Luke Bourner pulled off a really difficult trick . Good lad . After this we went to see my Mum in Richmond and had a walk around Easby Abbey in the low winter light and it was cloudless and beautiful. We saw a small flock of birds we couldn't identify but I think they may be Golden Plovers and I saw two woodpeckers ripping across a field . Got some speed those birds . Richmond is nice at any time of the year but in the winter light it is wonderful . My Mum was in good fettle and we had a very humorous time . We all seem to get very excited when we see her . Star Trek and egg and chips coming up and I'm playing at the Butterknowle Acoustic Club Xmas do tonight , with who I'm not quite sure but the Button Hole Jam said they'd put up with me for a few numbers and Fiona said she'd be my personal groupie . Wow!

Today has been a beautiful day . Darlington Borough Council gave permission for us Darlington Bahais to do a street stall to let the Darlington people know about our religion and I did this , this morning in High Northgate . A lot of people had a good look at the stall and one young lad took a booklet. Standing in the cold got my toes colder than they had been in years but the rest of me was fine . I felt really good doing the stall and I'm a passionate believer in all groups and religions from Muslims to Gay Rights people getting their voice heard on the street. Sort of adds a religious , political and moral dimension to the body politic .

After the morning on the stall I went out with the family to Durham and did a 5 mile walk . From Darlington to Durham is about 20 miles but the temperature dropped considerably and on River Wear there was a high browny smudge to the water but it was really low . This quite likely reflects the recent floods. 10 minutes into the walk we saw the Goosanders and my they are touchy . This bird just glimpsed us and then flew off. For some reason the low afternoon light made it difficult to see with our binoculars but there is also an effect from the low quality of the binos that we use because last year at Saltholme RSPB reserve at Teeside I had a go of the wardens very expensive binoculars and said to him that I didn't see a huge difference between them but he said you really see the difference in low light conditions and after today's experience in exactly those conditions I could see he was precisely right . The cloudless walk into Durham City was magical and joy of joys we saw the Little Grebes again by Framwellgate Bridge really close up , 5 metres away and the male, small as he was, looked so capable and cocky. Bet he's looking forward to Spring the female Little Grebes will be queuing up for his genes and even Fiona took a shine to him!

We went to the Cathedral but couldn't walk around it much because they were about to do a Carol Service but it was all dark and mysterious in there as Durham Cathedral always is . Because it is mostly made out of Dark sand stone unlike York which is made out of very bright Limestone , it has a heavy moody feel about it which I find absolutely enchanting . On the way back into town Fiona noticed a fake fur hat which she thought would grace her good looks whilst I said it gave the strong impression of wearing roadkill on her head! The lads just laughed their heads off. But after a little while walking the streets I did say she looked very cute in it and she said she was as warm as toast . So, she has a new town walking hat although I said that it would be best not to wear it up in the hills just in case some bird of prey mistook her head for something edible . Anyway , I'm expecting the buzzards to be circling when we are up in the Howgills next week! I expect her to be carried because no doubt they will find her as tasty as I do!

A great day and an afternoon where Fiona and I were way to excited, so much so that Miles said we were "boisterous" . About right and I hope we have two weeks of it!

From midday we went over the Pennine watershed, now the snow had gone , and down to Southern Lakeland to visit Fiona's Mum. On the way over we listened to the Time Out of Mind CD by Bob Dylan although there were grumbles from our lads. Well , children, sometimes Mummy and Daddy want to look at the great countryside much of which we have walked over think about those nice times and TOTALLY FREAKOUT to some cool music . Hey you both did admit you liked the band our Bobby was playing with . It was Leonard Cohen on the way back and the two grumblos in the back like him. Teenagers who like Leonard Cohen . What's wrong with them?!

Anyway , Fo's Mum Veronica was in good cheer but very frail, she is in her 80's and I am always raised up by that good cheer and how good her mind is, still very sharp, sharp enough to appreciate my wayward humor, in spite of the vascular dementia she is suffering from. It just goes to show you cannot keep a good woman down! The boys were really and I mean really good with her and she enjoyed all the photos of them sledging which we had on the netbook.

On the way over we had an hours walk around Ulverston where Veronica used to live and Miles led the walk and took us around a very interesting route with much to look at and talk about . He will be a good Dad one day . Good doggy. There are many architectural history points in the town such as a meeting room of some sort built in the 18th century with another storey added in the 19th century the only reason we knew that was because they had put the dates on both buildings.

Well , after a very dark drive back we were going to watch The Beebs Shakespeare offering with Patrick Stewart, Macbeth, but we decided to watch Star Trek instead. Sorry Mr Ian Fletcher of Taiwan my infallible guide on all things literary, but I often say that Star Trek is the new Shakespeare and now you know that I am dumb enough to believe that . Is there hope for me ? I hope not !

This afternoon with the family I had a nice four mile walk in the low winter ight around Durham. The river was in flood due to the thaw setting in in the uplands but it was not as big a torrent as it could have been because the snow cover on the hills was not that deep in spite of the cold and snowfall. There had been a fairly big landslide near Prebends bridge and the onward erosion of the UK continues on ! Near Framwellgate Bridge we saw a Little Grebe again and it was hunting for larvae and insects close to the bank because the river Wear was roaring along . We were 5 meters from it . A really lovely grebe and we saw another further down river and this was much smaller so I assume it was the female . Can't wait to see them in their summer coats. In town we grabbed some spare chairs to use for out biscuit break and it was very cosy sat at the bottom of the market. For about half of the walk we were walking on melting ice which was more slippery than a bankers reasons to sell you something you don't want! Very slippery. A few days ago I said to my friend Sybil Wood that walking around a town in snow and ice is worse than clambering around the hills in the stuff and today was very tricky . A nice afternoon out with the family and a Trekky evening is coming up and that's great. Star Trek is the new Shakespeare.

After the lads had a good morning session with the maths and Clifford was in school for an hour and did some maths as well we decided to to sledging in Durham for the afternoon. Miles has fully recovered from whatever cold bug he had so he was raring to get out and thrash the slopes with sledges for 90 minutes which is just what they did. Because of everyone sledging over the weekend and a hard frost last night the slopes were almost dangerously slippy and when Miles first whizzed down he was amazed at how fast he went . After watching them for five minutes I went for a nice 3 mile walk around the town and woods really enjoying the low winter afternoon light glancing across the building and the trees. Hardly any bird life to be seen on the River Wear but I did notice that between Prebends and Framwellgate Bridge it was icing over . Gosh it was cold this morning . When I drove Fo into work it was -11 and on the way back just before our house it descended to -12.5. The only time ever in the UK I have known temperatures like that we have been high up in the Howgills or Teesdale and there has been wind chill as well. Today just outside my house -12.5 and no wind whatsoever . Man that's cold . Before we went out today I did a careful gear check with the lads and they had their body warmers on and Clifford was in double gloves . Mind you when they hit the slopes they were that excited with the speed they were getting I don't think they noticed the cold.

After the afternoons exertions when we got back Miles got straight down to an hour of maths and he is really enjoying the last module of his pure maths course which doesn't start 29/1/11. He is well ahead and the other course he is doing he doesn't need to prepare up at all for that . Clever doggy! But he has also done a lot of work over the last three months. Nice afternoon out and to put myself in Fiona's goody extra goody books I have knocked up a chicken casserole for tea and I'm looking forward to hearing the "Ooooooooooooooooooo" from her when I tell her what we are having for tea. Cold weather walks, chicken, nice man what more does a woman want!

This afternoon with the family I had a nice 5 mile walk around Durham starting from Shincliffe village . The river was gunmetal grey with all the snow around and joy of joys the Goosanders were back. Three of them like last time so I'm assuming it is the same three. That was good but 500m downstream it got even better because I noticed a very small diving bird and I knew it wasn't one of the usual suspects so as I was loudly wondering a lovely lady from Ilkley said it was a Little Grebe and having just verified that : she was right . A Little Grebe in its winter plumage and we saw 5 of them at the Shincliffe end of the river one on its own at Framwellgate Bridge. Total bliss.

In town we went to see the Victorian Market up at the Cathedral and it was a very good show with lots of food and craft stalls. One of the stalls had several birds of prey from a local BOP centre and we noticed a few empty stalls which irritated me a bit because the lady from Durham Markets said yesterday that they had no stalls available for us to have a Bahai stall but I suppose some of the stallholders may not have turned up . Still she did say to book July 2011 for the next Victorian Xmas Market and we will take her up on that. Fo and I love doing Bahai stalls and it is great when people ask about our religion and interesting when they just want to disagree with it! We have met allsorts doing Bahai stalls!

On the way back to Shincliffe we saw a Goosander again and it just flew offf as soon as it saw us . They are a very wild bird with only 2600 breeding pairs in the UK although a lot more over winter which is why we mainly see them in winter. In the past they were heavily killed of by fishermen and landowners because it was (incorrectly) believed they dented fish stocks . Gosh , everything has it's story doesn't it! A gorgeous afternoon out ending up with Fo and I crashing out in bed and listing to Tenebrae her slaying monsters on the DS , me doing this and surfing the net . Cosy!

An interesting week. Clifford was off school all week because the school was closed due to the snow and he got loads of maths done . His future looks very promising and Miles is impressed with his work although I will have to make sure his exam technique matches his developing maths brain. It's no good learning all this maths and physics if you can't do it in the exams. On Thursday afternoon I took the lads sledging in Durham when there were huge snow showers blowing across the city. I had a walk around the very cold town and the clear colour of the River Wear was amazing because of all the snow melt water in it . In spite of all of the Pennine passes being closed including the one at Wearhead snow has been melting into the streams due to the sheer weight of the snow which raises the temperature at the bottom of the pile and so it comes pouring out . A sort of mini glacier effect! Anyway it looked very pretty. Going around the Cathedral was magical and there were only 4 people in the place and no one at the East End so I tried out my countertenor singing and was amazed how much it just filled the space and I could hear it echoing back from the West End. Cathedrals truly are places to sing in !

When I got back to the lads after 90 minutes they were having a great time and didn't get as wet as last time . After a slippy ride home Miles being Miles after tea wanted to skateboard at RKade in Redcar 25 miles over to the coast. He had a good time there but only did 90 minutes because he ( for once ) got quite chilled. I don't think he is quite over the cold bugs yet . A nice constructive week delighted up by the presence of Fo working at the kitchen table getting her planning and preparation done . Teachers : I love 'em! But I particularly love one of them!