Okay, I know it’s just a little bit early but…

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

I had to post that now because we are going to be a little bit busy over the next couple of days! Tomorrow Lynda and I are off work and have quite a bit to do one way or another. In the morning, we are both going to be picking up new glasses, doing a little bit of shopping in Derby, then heading off into the wilds of north Derbyshire for a gig. We are off to see The Silver Dogs play at the Little Mill Inn at Rowarth, near Glossop.

If the weather isn’t too bad then I hope to be able to take in a bit of a walk up on the moors… if the weather doesn’t play ball, we’ll just have to spend more time in the pub! Either way I’ll try and get photos of something!

On Saturday, after what I imagine will be a late start to the day, we have another gig, Thee na Shee at The Flowerpot in Derby. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a long while now and, with it being St. Patrick’s Night, I’m sure it’s going to be a bit of a party!

* edited photo courtesy of my friend Sarah, in Indiana!

NO SMOKING!!!

Last night we had a little taste of the future…

July 1 2007 sees the introduction of the ban on smoking in all enclosed public places in England and, after visiting the Bulls Head in Denby last night, it cannot come soon enough! Since the Bulls Head re-opened a week ago, after a massive fire last year, it has become a no smoking pub and it is great! To be able to go out, enjoy a meal, a drink, and not go home smelling of stale cigarette smoke was, quite literally, a refreshing change!

As for the rest of the evening, it was superb - great food, plenty of it, friendly and efficient service and a very relaxing feel to the place with an excellent job having been done of the refit. There was also live music in the bar area from a three-piece jazz group playing bass and lead guitar and clarinet. I wasn’t too sure about the music when we first walked in - not my usual style! - but, I have to admit it did add to the evening and I actually enjoyed it in the end. I’m NOT converted though!

Just for the record we ate…

Starters
Golden Breaded Mushrooms - Lynda
Parcels of Brie Cheese with Mango - for me

Main Course
Chicken Napolean - Lynda
Chicken Jalfrazi - for me

Dessert
Crunchie Bailey Boo - one each!

The weekend.

My morning at work yesterday was nice and easy - I spent most of it cleaning the fish tank in the showroom! Apart from that, there was little else to do. I did sort out one or two orders ready for Monday and also ran off a couple of reports but that’s about all.

Today I have been out birding again with Paul; we stayed local again, very local for me, and spent a pleasant four hours in and around the grounds of Elvaston Castle. We didn’t come across anything too exciting but even so, it was nice to be out and about in the sunshine.

The highlights, such as they were, included numerous drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker, at least 6 Jay, 3 or 4 Goldcrest, a pair of Bullfinch and a singing Chiffchaff. This little Chiffchaff may not have been the most colourful of things but to me it meant the start of spring! I always think that we are finally over winter when the first summer migrants arrive back. One other bird that would have been a highlight, if we could have found it, was a Tawny Owl. On two separate occasions we heard the owl calling close to us but we failed to see it!

I didn’t try for any bird photos whilst we were out, I played around with one or two different camera angles instead. I didn’t take too many photos but these are some of the better ones.

One last little bit of “news”… Lynda and I are off up to Scotland again later in the year. We will be going back to the Loch Lomond area, in July, for the music festival and the Callander World Highland Games.

Age; it’s just a number!

So, just when do little boys grown up and become men?

On the way into work this morning - on the mountain bike - I came across a minor problem, the track alongside the river was flooded underneath one of the road bridges. It wasn’t too deep, around a foot or so of water I guess, but it was just enough for it to come up onto my shoes as I rode through it.

Now, on the way to work I took it very slowly and managed to get through without getting wet apart from a little water on my shoes, which didn’t come through. Tonight, I could quite easily have taken the much sorter and drier route home - oh no, that wouldn’t have been half as much fun!

By the time I reached the “water splash” a fair amount of it had drained away which meant that it was now much easier to ride through quickly! Yep, I got wet! Even though I still have the winter mudguards on the bike, I still managed to get mud and water right up my back, over my rucksack and all over the bike! I also had quite a large smile on my face!

Boys, they NEVER grow up!

Yet more rain...

Here’s a thing… listen to the weather reports but DO NOT trust them!

According to three websites, and a weather forecast on the TV, it was not going to rain here until early afternoon today. Well, to me, early afternoon is not 11:00AM!

Even though I am still close to death from the attack of Man Flu, I kept my promise to Paul that we would go out birding this morning. We met at 8:00AM in the car park at Carsington Water and had a good run of luck with the birds we found for the first three hours, and then it rained! In true Carsington style, we were just about as far from the car as we could have been when the heavens opened - as is always the case when it rains up there! By 11:30AM, we were heading for home, very wet!

We did have a few rather good birds though… Tawny Owl was one of the first things we came across, followed later in the morning by Barn Owl and also Great Northern Diver (Common Loon, for my friends in America), numerous Bullfinch, a few Redwing, a single Curlew (heading for breeding grounds up on the moors I’d guess), around 20 Ruddy Duck and four very noisy Oystercatchers! Why do those things have to be so damn loud???

In the end, apart from getting a good soaking, it wasn’t too bad a morning. The plan is to make local trips like this one a regular thing so, Ali, expect Paul to be running off on Sunday mornings a little more often from now on!

A couple of little extra bits from yesterday… as well as getting my new printer/scanner whilst in Derby we also picked up tickets to see Thee na Shee at The Flowerpot on St. Patrick’s night, March 17. This is the evening after we will have seen The Silver Dogs play so it’s another two-gig weekend! Things are starting to come together nicely on the music front.

As we walked across Derby market place yesterday we were met by around a dozen Autograss cars - the Pennine club were holding a PR day to promote the forthcoming season. It was nice to catch up with a few people that I had not seen since last season finished and to see some race cars again -it’s been a long winter!

A brand new, rear engined, Class 7 from the Pennine club.

Don’t worry, I don’t take my camera with me when I go shopping - these were taken on my phone!

Lunar Eclipse…

Last night we witnessed a total lunar eclipse - and pretty damn good it was too!

For once, the British weather played along with us and didn’t spoil the occasion at all, well, not too much! It could have been 10 or 15 degrees warmer but hey, you can’t have everything!

I tried to get as many good photos as I could - taken through my birding ‘scope - but the more the shadow covered the moon, the harder it got to get my camera to focus. Below are some of the better shots - not great shots, just better than the real bad ones! If you click on a photo, it will open into a bigger window.

21:52

22:02

22:14

22:15

22:18

22:23

22:25

22:35

Want to know more about lunar eclipses, and also when the next one will be visible to you, then click HERE!

A new toy!

Evening! Just a quick post to try out a new toy!

I was off work today and, seeing as how I’m feeling a bit down due to the Man Flu, I decided to treat myself to a new toy - an all in one printer/scanner/copier for the PC.

I have been wanting to scan a load of old photos and birding notes for some while, so, now I can, and it didn’t even cost me a penny as I had a bunch of Argos shopping vouchers to use from work!

So, here is my first scanned and uploaded photo…

Yes, that is me sat on the side of the car! Its back in either 1977 or ‘78 at the old Flagg Moor grass track. My dad is the one driving the car and it had been a great day's racing. We had won all of our heats, the final and also an all-comers race, which saw us given a full lap's handicap from the start - it still wasn’t enough to stop my dad winning!

Right, I must run as we are in the middle of watching the total lunar eclipse!

Today, I can confirm that I have been hit by that most deadly of viruses - MAN FLU! Quite how I managed to get through the night I will never know, but I did and I soldiered on through the day at work.

I have just about lived on Lemsip and orange juice today but I must admit that the 12-inch “dustbin lid” sandwich that Lynda delivered to work for me this lunchtime did help! Ham salad with chicken and stuffing - it was great!

Lynda and I both booked March 16 off work today, so we will be going to see The Silver Dogs play at The Little Mill Inn. Having the day off work means that we will be able to head up to north Derbyshire during the morning and spend the day having a look around before the gig.

It got me!

Today I started with what could well be MAN FLU! Friends, look out, I may soon be in great need of sympathy! This could turn out to be life threatening! I even sneezed earlier!

Everything else has been pretty quiet so far this week, nothing out of the ordinary going wrong at work, nothing out of the ordinary happening at home.

We are starting to look at more gigs that we would like to attend and the next one looks like being a band called The Silver Dogs. This is a band that we have not seen before, playing at a venue we have never visited before, but I am keen to catch up with them and especially their violin player Mark “The Mad Fiddler” Knight! Mark used to play with the Bluehorses a few years ago and it has been way too long since we met up with him!

Lynda and I are also looking at trips to Cumbria and Scotland later in the year but they both depend on finding places to stay and also things fitting into place with gigs / The Whitehaven International Maritime Festival / Highland Games / work and money!

So, that’s about it for the week so far.

Was it you?

If you checked this Blog at 7:30PM, UK time, today and use NTL then you were my 2500th visitor!

Thank you!

After The Rain...

It’s the end of another weekend and it’s been a good one!

On Friday evening, we went to see Last Night’s Fun play at the Derby Assembly Rooms and it was a great night of music and laughter! This band has to be seen playing live to fully appreciate just how entertaining they are.

Right from the word go it was a display of musical brilliance, coupled with a never-ending supply of humour. It they cut out all the interaction between themselves, and also the audience, they may well fit in another three or four songs but that is not what Last Night’s Fun are about, they are out and out entertainment and that is what we got on Friday!

The newest band member, Ciaran Boyle, is going to prove to be a great asset to the band; his bodhran playing is just awesome! I’ve seen a fair few people play bodhran over the years but this guy is something else; the range of sound that he can produce is just unbelievable. I suppose we should have expected something a bit special after watching him tune up before the gig. He took twice as long as the rest of the band making sure everything was just perfect - it shows! Roll on the next Last Night’s Fun gig we can attend.

On Saturday, I was in work in the morning. Nothing special, just another day at the office… things went to plan, others didn’t, and it rained on the way home. Well, more like it poured down! The short trip home in the car meant that the weather wasn’t too much of a problem, if you happened to be the one in the car! Lynda was that one; she had been into Derby shopping! I was the fool on the mountain bike that looked like a drowned rat!

Saturday evening was much better - we were at our second gig of the year and of the weekend. This time it was The Flowerpot in Derby to see Karnataka. After the big change in line up, since the last time I saw this band, I was a little unsure as to what they would sound like. I needn't have worried, they were amazing.

The set they played lasted for the best part of two hours and was made up of around 18 tracks. State of Grace kicked things off, quickly followed by After The Rain (quite fitting after the weather on Saturday!). A little later in the set came the stunning Delicate Flame of Desire, one of my favourite Karnataka tracks.

After a short interval, we were treated to more classic numbers… Time Stands Still; Dreamer; I Should Have Known and, the eagerly awaited, The Storm. This may well have been the first night of the new tour but it didn’t show at all - the band played superbly. Now, I just need to work out how I can catch up with them again later in the tour.

Today, I was hoping to be out birding in the county for the first time this year - it didn’t happen! The weather report was for heavy rain all day, so I stayed in bed. In the end, it was dry all morning so I could have gone out after all - sorry Paul, we’ll try again for next weekend!

Random bits of nothing…

I’m starting to think that spring is slowly creeping in; I rode in to work on the bike this morning without having to use my lights, the birds were singing their heads off all along my route and this evening the song was even louder as the Blackbirds claimed their roosting territory. The lights on the bike were on this evening but only as an extra safety feature, I didn’t really need them as it was still quite light.

On Friday, we will be at our first gig of the year - Last Night’s Fun at the Derby Assembly Rooms. Then, just like busses arriving one after another, we should be at our second gig of the year on Saturday. I say should because I haven’t had time to purchase tickets for this one yet! So, if we can get in, we will be seeing Karnataka at The Flowerpot, Derby, on Saturday evening. After that, there is a few weeks break before the next gig that will be Thee na Shee, at The Flowerpot, on St. Patrick’s Night, March 17.

I received an events diary from the British Heart Foundation earlier in the week that lists many of the forthcoming fund raising events. Apart from the High Peak Trail walk in November, that I have taken part in for the past couple of years, another event has grabbed my attention - a bike ride in the Derbyshire Peak District, in April.

Participants can choose two distances, either 30 miles or 57 miles. Right now, I am feeling as though I may just fancy a go at the 57 miles! The only reservation I have is that my old timer of a bike may not be quite up to the terrain! I have requested more information on the route and location of this ride so I should be in a position to make a decision soon. Yes, I WILL be chasing sponsorship!

One final little bit of news; I have been made aware of a new Blog site today, the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project. In 2006 a pair of Peregrine nested on the cathedral tower and for this year a Blog site has been created to follow the fortunes of the birds. The site is still in the early stages of development but over the coming weeks there may well be web-cam coverage available. Add the link to your favourites and follow the story as it unfolds.

Yesterday was Lynda’s birthday, I’d have loved to have been able to take the day off work so that we could have spent the day out and about somewhere but staff levels at work dictated otherwise - the boss booked time off before I could! Strange how he only told me he was going to be off work after I asked for the day off!

We did go out for a meal last night though, we went over to The Boar's Head at Sudbury again. I’m starting to rather like the place after these first two visits. The food has been superb on both occasions and the service excellent.

We started the evening with drinks in the lounge before moving through to the restaurant to eat. Lynda had melon and oranges in Cointreau to start, followed by venison with mushrooms and onion in a Port and wild berry sauce. I chose roast tomato and basil soup, again followed by the venison.

For the sweets, Lynda had crystallised pineapple with a ginger and chilli dressing - it sounded like a strange combination to me, but Lynda said that it was very nice! - whilst I chose lattice pancakes with mixed summer berries and ice cream.

We finished with coffees, served back in the lounge area, and then, before we left, we spent a while chatting with the owner about my family history! It certainly is a small world - he knew more about many of my relations than I did!

The past two days...

Yesterday, Lynda and I joined up with the Derby RSPB Local Group for a birding trip to Pennington Flash and Martin Mere, both in Lancashire. This was the first proper birding that we had done since the trip to Far Ings back on December 9th and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.

As we left Derby, the weather was dry but it was very overcast and dull but at least it was not raining, I hate birding in the rain! As we travelled north, the skies slowly started to clear and, by the time we reached Pennington, the sun started to come out. By 10:30AM we had blue skies and very little in the way of cloud - much more to my liking.

Blue skies over Pennington.

Birds seen at Pennington included Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Pochard, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, a single Skylark in rather early song flight, Willow Tit, a couple of Jay and some superb male Bullfinch. The light during the morning was perfect for birding and allowed me to get some of the better photos I’ve taken through my birding ‘scope.

Male Bullfinch at the feeding station - taken through my 'scope.

By 12:30PM, it was time for us to move on to Martin Mere. This was the part of the day that I was really looking forward to - Martin Mere in winter is one of my favourite reserves in the country. It has superb facilities, a large number of hides spread around the reserve that give great views of the mere and surrounding countryside and it also has the added attraction of a large captive collection of waterfowl to look around. Add to that the huge numbers of swans, geese and ducks that are attracted to the reserve and you can easily spend a whole day there.

On arrival at Martin Mere, the first stop was at the visitor centre to purchase a couple of bags of corn. Then it was out into the captive area in search of Nene. When visiting a Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust reserve we ALWAYS have to feed the Nene. These geese have to be some of the friendliest, and nicest looking, geese in the world. They're also one of the most endangered!

Nene or Hawaiian Geese.

From the Nene, we moved on to the wild part of the reserve and the birding proper. The numerous hides gave us very good views of the 1400+ Whooper Swan as well as the thousands of Pink-footed Geese that also over winter in the area. We also saw birds that included Barnacle Geese, Wigeon, Pintail, Common Buzzard, Peregrine, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Lapwing - in their thousands, Ruff and Black-tailed Godwit. Smaller birds included Stonechat, Tree Sparrow and a single male Brambling - bird of the day for me.

Some of the many wild swans on the mere.

Once again, the light was near to perfect here and that, coupled with the closeness of many of the birds, let me play around with the camera and ‘scope again. My favourite shot being of a group of Lapwing roosting in the sunset. So, all in all a great day's birding. Hopefully that will now kick start my local patch watching and I’ll be back out with the binoculars again next weekend.

Lapwing as the sun set over Martin Mere.

More photos from the birding trip HERE!

Today, I had a bit of a lie in, uploaded some photos onto Shutterfly and then did a little bit of gardening. After that, I made sure that all the bird feeders were topped up and then checked my bike over ready for work tomorrow. There is no way that I’m getting caught up in the nightmare traffic on Pride Park again unless I really have to!

Monday to Friday

As you may guess from the lack of updates on here this week, it has been a quiet few days. It went something like…

Monday - Work was a pain as we had no internet access for much of the day! No internet means no contact with our parts supplier and no way of requesting parts returns etc! Lynda and I were at the gym in the evening.

Tuesday - I was on the internet at home at 6:45AM doing all the things that I couldn’t do at work on Monday! When I got into work, the internet was fine! I could have stayed in bed a little longer! Rode to work and back on the mountain bike.

Wednesday - Valentines Day! A dozen red roses for Lynda and then we had pizza and a rather nice bottle of red wine in the evening.

Thursday - Derby came to a halt from late afternoon onwards. Seven weeks of road works started on the A52 heading out of town and all the surrounding roads, including Pride Park, were gridlocked! I walked to the gym after work - around ¾ of a mile - and I arrived at the same time as Lynda who had driven less than half a mile to get there. Some of the people at work took almost an hour to drive the mile or so off Pride Park!

Friday - It was damp and drizzly in the morning so I didn’t bother with the bike - big mistake! By 3:00PM, all the roads on Pride Park were at a standstill again. By 5:30PM, it was gridlock. Lynda left work at the same time that I did and drove home; I chose to walk the 2 or 3 miles and arrived just five minutes after she did!

I'll update you on the weekend a little later!

So, the snow came - around two or three inches of it here I guess. It arrived just as the forecast had predicted, smack in the middle of the morning rush hour on Thursday! The drive into work was okay for us; all the main roads had been well gritted so it was just a case of taking it easy on the side roads.

The drive down to my meeting on Thursday was pretty routine too - the dual carriageways were clear of snow and, even though it was snowing quite heavily, visibility was not too bad. I even arrived a good 15 or 20 minutes early. Best to make a good impression.

The meeting itself went off without any real drama, now it’s just a case of waiting to see if we notice any improvement in service from the supplier. The birding was quite good from the meeting too - I had good views of a Common Snipe as it flew past the window, numerous Redwing and Fieldfare were feeding across the road from the building and a Common Buzzard was perched in a tree in direct line of sight from where I was sat!

On Thursday, around 30 of us from work went to Frankie & Benny’s for the evening - the boss was paying as a treat to us all for winning the UK Dealer of the Year Award. We started off by having six of their big Sampler Platters between us - there were chicken strips, BBQ wings, loaded potato skins, deep fried onion rings and garlic bread etc on those - and it would have been quite easy to have eaten too much as a starter! After that, everyone chose his or her own main course. I didn’t even have to open the menu; it just had to be Meatballs on Penne Pasta for me! I love ‘em!

Last night was yet more food - we went out with our good friends Mark and Sheila for a Cantonese buffet at the Jasmine Garden. The choice of dishes were as good as ever and we all made numerous trips back to restock our plates. The chicken and sweet corn soup was particularly good as was the sweet and sour chicken, the roast pork and the sesame toast! In fact, it was ALL good stuff!

Today, I have been back up at the farm helping my dad put up the final 12 nest boxes that he had. Most were small Blue Tit type boxes but there were also one or two larger ones, another two owl boxes and a single Woodpecker box. Hopefully they will all have residents in them this spring.

The Colts won the Super Bowl, so the weekend ended on a high for me! The final score of 29-17 made the win look a little easier than it was. The whole game was played in the pouring rain and this resulted in one or two more errors than could normally be expected but it did make for an exciting game.

The new week did not start quite so well though. Getting to bed at almost 3:30AM took its toll on me as the day went on and by early evening, I was beat! I don’t think going to the gym after work helped either! By the time it came to riding into work this morning - in temperatures below freezing - I was back to normal again, must have been all the coffee I drank on Monday that was starting to kick-in.

We’ll be back at the gym again tomorrow, if the weather doesn’t stop us. Well, it is a different excuse to normal. The weather forecast is for between 4 and 5 inches of snow over the next 24/48 hours. Whether we actually get ANY snow remains to be seen! For once, I’d be rather pleased if we didn’t get any - I have to drive to a meeting on Thursday morning, just when the forecasters say we will get the heaviest falls!

Finally, and most importantly, congratulations to Paul and Ali on the arrival of Bethany Grace today. Hello to you, Bethany!

It's all going good...

So far, so good! The weekend is panning out exactly as planned!

Derby County won yet again yesterday, a 1-0 victory over Southampton. Derby are now 6 points clear at the top of the table, although they have played two games more than fourth place Birmingham City, who are on 54 points.

England took Scotland apart in the 6 Nations Rugby yesterday afternoon, winning 42-20. Star of the game had to be the returning Johnny Wilkinson. In his first England game since 2003 - when he scored that last gasp drop goal to win the World Cup - Wilkinson scored 27 of England’s 42 points. He even managed a rather contentious “flying try” that many think should not have been awarded!

Today, Lynda and I met up with my mum and dad for lunch. We went over to The Boar’s Head Hotel at Sudbury. This was the first time Lynda and I had been there but it is a regular haunt of my parents - they have been going there for Christmas Day dinner for a few years now. I think we will be going back! The food was gorgeous - especially my Venison and Partridge Casserole! Oh, and there can’t be too many restaurants in Derbyshire that had six rather nice Corvette Stingrays in the car park today!

So, that just leaves tonight. After I post this, I will be shutting the PC down for a while and going in search of TV food. Tonight, it’s the American Football Super Bowl! Kick off is at 11:25PM UK time so it looks like it will be a very late night for me, or should that be an early morning? One way or an other I can’t see me doing too much at work tomorrow! The coffee machine may well be in for a hard time in the morning - “I’ll have a 76 please - Cappuccino with no extra sugar!”

One last little thing. Would anyone care to sponsor me to £10’000? The novelty of the new TV and DVD is starting to wear a little thin and I’ve found a new “toy” that I’d like please! And it's road legal!

Firstly, I have to say sorry to Sheila! On Tuesday’s Blog post I said that we would be at the gym on Wednesday evening - we weren’t! Sorry! We had planned on going, and even had our gym kits in the car, but I didn’t feel too good during Wednesday afternoon so I chose to give the gym a miss! We SHOULD be there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week with luck - best to check first though!

On Thursday evening, we collected the new video/DVD recorder. Disconnecting the old video and separate DVD player only took a couple of minutes and the new unit went straight into its “auto set-up” programme as soon as I turned on the power. “Great” I thought, “this is a piece of cake”.

Only problem was I couldn’t get any picture on the TV at all! After about another 10 minutes of trying the tuning on the TV again and checking all the connections and leads I found I was one Scart short of a signal - I had not connected one of the leads. In fact, it was still at the far end of the room with the old DVD player! Everything is working a treat now though.

Shortly after we got in from the gym last night, we received a phone call from Paul, a friend of ours, to tell us that Saturn was visible just below the moon if we fancied a look. So, it was out with the birding ‘scope, on with a sweatshirt and out into the back garden. Yep, he was right; sure enough, there was Saturn, complete with its rings! Okay, through a birding ‘scope it wasn’t the best view but it was still worth a look, especially as the sky was so clear. The moon looked much more impressive to me though!

Taken through my birding 'scope.

As Lynda needed the car this morning, to go into Derby for an eye test, I went to work on the mountain bike again even though it was still -2°C at 8:00AM. Apart from having to watch out for the odd icy patch along the riverside path it was one of the nicest rides I have had for a while. The sun was coming up in a clear blue sky, the birds were singing and there was a light mist over the water. It was one of those mornings when I could have just kept on riding - or at least just sat and watched the river and the birds pass by.

The River Derwent this morning - taken with phone camera.

Not much to add today but, seeing as I’m on a roll with this place, I thought I’d “Blog” anyway!

We hit the gym again last night. I had a good workout - must have been in the right frame of mind! - whilst Lynda had a new programme set for her by one of the personal trainers. We’ll be back there again tomorrow night.

Spring must be just around the corner - yeah, right! - as I managed to ride the long route to work on my bike this morning. No more dark mornings!

On Thursday, we should be able to collect the new video/DVD recorder so I’ll have my new toy to play with.

Then, it’s the weekend and its Super Bowl time. Late, late night for me on Sunday with a beer or two, plenty of Pringles, and maybe even a pizza, whilst I watch the game!

A rude awakening!

After a relaxing evening last night, watching TV, drinking a cider or two and eating Pringles, all hell broke loose first thing this morning! Well, at 8:00AM anyway!

Lynda and I were fast asleep in bed when I was suddenly awoken by a loud noise in my left ear. After coming down off the ceiling I grabbed for the alarm clock radio, whilst moaning at Lynda for switching it on on a Sunday! Grabbing the alarm only made things worse - I actually switched it ON, when the thing was already off!

By the time I realised that the alarm wasn’t the target I should be aiming for, and had grabbed the cordless phone from the bedside cabinet, the ringing had stopped! Great, not only had I been awoken way too early on a Sunday morning I had also missed the phone call. Still, it could only get worse… a quick look at the display on the phone revealed that the battery was almost dead, I’d have to go down stairs to get the other phone to see who had called!

Once downstairs I discovered that it was my mum that had called and, on returning her call, it became quite clear that she realised that she had fetched me out of bed! Guess I didn’t sound too awake, much to her amusement.

The phone call… that was to ask if I was free to go up to the farm and help my dad put up the nest boxes that we should have done last weekend - I jumped at the opportunity to spend the morning out in the open.

Some of the nest boxes including the "block of flats"!

The rest of the day went off without quite so much drama; we managed to put up around 18 nest boxes in all (including the birding equivalent to a block of flats), we didn’t get the tractor and trailer stuck in the still rather wet fields, I only managed to hit my finger once with the hammer and the wind, that had been increasing in strength all morning, didn’t blow me off the ladders. All in all, a good result for the day.

Now, it’s just a case of waiting to see if the boxes are accepted as suitable homes by the birds.

"Shouldn’t someone be holding my ladder? Please?"

More photos including Freddie the bull, who came to see us, are HERE!

The TV...

Well, I fetched the new TV and it’s great! Bigger picture, better definition, better colours, just better really! My other new toy will have to wait until next Thursday though, the shop was out of stock of the video/DVD recorder. Still, that means I get to play with another new toy, on another day!

When we pick the video/DVD recorder up, we will be faced with just one more decision and that is whether to stick with using Scart leads or go with the new, all singing all dancing, HDMI leads. I am told (by the man selling them!) that we will see a noticeable improvement with the HDMI ones - I would hope so at the price! A one-metre HDMI lead will cost between £40 and £60! A Scart lead, we could get for under £10 if we wanted any new ones.

More on this one later in the week!

So, another week comes to an end. Not a bad week but I am glad that it is almost the weekend!

The snow arrived a little later than forecast, it started at 10:45PM Monday, but it did not amount to much. When we went to work on Tuesday morning there was about two inches of very soft snow and that was all gone by midday. The rest of the week has just been very cold with a fair amount of ice on the side roads - not the weather for using the mountain bike! That has not seen the light of day since Monday!

I ordered another engine at work this week… I sent it back again too! Yes, another damaged unit! The replacement arrived the following day and thankfully that one was okay. On February 8, I have been invited to a meeting with the UK parts distributors, the UK franchise managers and a couple of other dealer representatives to discuss any issues we may have with the parts supply/credit process. That could be fun - I will start and compile my evidence this weekend!

I have managed to get my head in gear for the gym again this week, two visits so far, and I have also managed to drag myself out of bed in time to have breakfast each day. I’m not sure if it’s down to eating breakfast or going to the gym but I do feel as though I’ve had a bit more “go in me” this week.

On Wednesday, Lynda and I went in search of a new TV and a video/DVD recorder. If they have the ones we want in stock I will be picking them up tomorrow after work, new toys just in time for the weekend.

One last little thing... the foxes have been fighting out in the garden most evenings this week so I guess that there has been a bit of a territory battle going on or more than one dog fox has been showing an interest in our local vixen. With luck, we may be seeing cubs playing in - or destroying - our garden again this spring.

It’s been a quiet week overall, work has settled down into a more normal pace again and once more the enthusiasm for the gym has left me! I managed one ride to and from work on the bike - Monday - but after that it was the car every day. It’s not that I didn’t want to use the bike more a case of not being able to because of the weather.

Now that the gales and heavy rain have left us I thought I might able to get back on my bike, having just seen the weather forecast, I may not! Tonight we could be in for freezing temperatures followed by showers in the morning. We might even get the odd flurry of snow later in the day too. How nice.

On Tuesday, the Albannach pendant I won just before Christmas arrived - cracking bit of work it is too. Take a look at Gunnar's Anvil for more information on the jewellery and metalwork created by Rob Stewart over in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Thursday was the day the gales really hit their peak. Locally, roads were closed, trees were blown down, and houses were left without gas or electricity. Nationally, the number of people killed in the bad weather reached into double figures, many major roads and motorways were closed and thousands of people were caught up in the traffic chaos that followed. Four of our staff from work were caught up in the delays as they tried to return from a training course in Worcestershire. The journey home, which should have taken a little over two hours, ended up taking almost six hours!

Today was one of the best days of the year so far weather wise, clear blue skies, very little in the way of wind and no rain. It would have been the perfect day to have been up at the farm putting up all the new bird boxes that my dad wants to get in place before the breeding season starts. Well, it would have been, if it hadn’t been for all the rain we’ve had these past few weeks.

The ground is that wet everywhere that there was no way we could have taken the tractor and trailer, with all the boxes and the ladders, down into the fields. All we can do now is hope for some dry weather so that we can have another try in the next week or two, if not; it looks like we may have to carry everything to where it is needed bit by bit.

This coming week is Farmhouse Breakfast Week, so this afternoon I cooked another batch of my “breakfast casserole”. Any excuse to eat! All I need to do now is manage to get myself out of bed in time to actually eat some breakfast before heading off to work.

You have to laugh, don't you?

Laugh? I nearly bought a round! Well, I would have, if the pub next-door to work had been open!

A replacement engine arrived at work on Saturday to do the job of the damaged one we received on Thursday. This time, I was already at work when the delivery arrived and so was able to check the parts myself. The “new” engine never even came out the back of the lorry! One quick look at the box had me a little concerned, it had a hole in the packaging.

As it turned out the hole was nothing to worry about - no damage to that side of the engine. The other side wasn’t so lucky! The damage to this second unit wasn’t as bad as the first but the oil filter housing had taken a bit of a beating at sometime and there was no way we could risk fitting the engine to a customer's car, so back it went!

This morning Lynda and I went to the gym, again. That’s three times this week! Well, three times for me - Lynda didn’t go Thursday when I worked myself into the ground! At long last I feel as if I am now fully back into the swing of going to the gym on a regular basis again.

We have tickets for our first gig of 2007 - Last Night’s Fun at the Assembly Rooms in Derby. I always enjoy seeing this band play and now they have a new member on board, Ciaran Boyle, playing bodhran, I’m looking forward to this gig even more.

Other gigs that I’m planning on going to over the next few months include Karnataka, Thee na Shee, The Reasoning and, maybe, The Battlefield Band. No doubt there will be many more added to the “wants” list over the coming weeks as bands announce their 2007 schedules.

Well, things have certainly picked up over the past few days!

I started my week by watching a gorgeous sunrise on Monday morning and having a reasonably quiet day at work, since then all hell has broken loose! It has been non-stop every day from then on!

On Tuesday, the plan was to have gone to the gym after work but, for some reason, I didn’t feel too good from around lunchtime onwards and the idea of a workout was abandoned. Not quite sure what was up with me, I just felt all “washed out” somehow. Maybe I’m missing all the Christmas food!

Wednesday brought more than its fair share of problems at work and I was glad to get out of the place and head for the gym. In fact, I was so glad to leave work I actually packed by bags and left half an hour early! It was a case of… “Sorry but I’ve had enough for today! I’ll see you in the morning!” and off I went! The only problem with going to the gym in that frame of mind is that you tend to do too much and, although the workout got things out of my system, it sure did hurt the next day.

Thursday was one of those fun workdays that just attack you the moment you walk through the door. I'm usually at work in plenty of time to check in the day’s parts delivery and deal with any issues that may arise from it. This Thursday, we had a different driver deliver to us and he was early, very early. By the time I walked in the door at 8:15AM he had been gone for over an hour.

Okay I thought, shouldn’t be a problem, the boss has checked the deliveries before so I’ll just carry on as normal. Well, normal tends to be around three or four cases of parts, on Thursday it was 24! I could only just get through the door into the goods-in area! If that wasn’t enough of a headache first thing in a morning, I then discovered that a complete engine we had been awaiting from Germany was part of the delivery but it was damaged! Great, over £3000 worth of scrap metal I needed to try to claim back from the supplier!

After numerous phone calls, a trip home to fetch my camera - so that I could take photos of the damaged engine - and then e-mailing the photos, I think we may get things sorted. The thing is, if the delivery had arrived at the normal time, I’d have just rejected the engine there and then and saved all the extra trouble! I’ll tell you what though… the gym helped again last night! STRESS!!!

The sun came up...

Some mornings I just do not feel like work (OK, most mornings I do not feel like work!) and this morning was one of them!

The alarm went off at 6:45AM, as it always does, but I couldn't drag myself out of bed until almost 7:30AM! Then, it was the usual mad rush to get everything ready for my bike ride into work. The weather this morning was dry and there was only a small amount of cloud cover - at least something was good about Monday morning!

As I left the house I could see that the sun was coming up and that we were in for a colourful sunrise. By the time I got to the edge of Pride Park the sky was ablaze - pity I didn’t have my camera with me. Even more of a pity that I had to go into work!

A quick glance at my watch showed that I had a few minutes to kill, so I took the slightly longer route via Alvaston Park, any excuse to arrive at work at the last moment. As I stood looking at the sunrise over the lake, I remembered the camera on my phone. A couple of quick snapshots, one last look at the day that was just starting, and I headed off for work.

It may be just another small city park but that little bit of nature sure did help me through the day!

Alvaston Park Lake - phone picture!

Alvaston Park Lake - phone picture!

River Derwent, Alvaston - phone picture!

Back to normal...

Well, 2007 is well underway and nothing has really changed, yet!

Work is still a little bit hit an’ miss… one moment I’m sat wondering what to do next then, out of nowhere, I have too much to do! Friday afternoon, hopefully, saw things start to pick up again after the Christmas and New Year break with three rather large crash repair jobs being phoned in within the space of two hours. Bad news for some ones insurance, but good news for me!

The weather is hit an’ miss too, it cannot seem to make its mind up from one day to the next. I managed to use the bike Tuesday, though I did get wet going to and from work. Wednesday we went to the gym so no bike that day. Thursday and Friday were damp and drizzly but I got away with biking without getting too wet!

I mentioned the gym, well, I’m back in the mood for the place now. Tuesday was the first workout since just before Christmas and it hurt. All the excessive eating over the holidays came back to haunt me and, to be honest, I was glad to leave the place. By Wednesday morning all the pain was forgotten and I was pleased to have had the workout. This morning I was at the gym again by 9:30AM and had another good workout and, if all goes to plan, I’ll be back there three times next week.

So, everything is just about returning to normal. I’ve not had a chance to get out birding yet, that needs to be sorted out soon, and I also need to start and look for one or two bands to go and see. Other than that, it’s business as usual!

The Woodland Trust

Like most of us, I enjoy sending and receiving Christmas cards, and birthday cards and pretty well any cards! They kind of make you feel wanted or special or remembered don’t they!

Well, when they all have to come down off the fireplace, the wall, the Christmas tree or wherever you stick yours... DON’T THROW THEM AWAY!

That card with the fat Santa on it or the cute little bear or the snow-covered church was once a tree and you can help turn it back into one!

Just click on the banner below to find out how you can do your little bit to help plant a tree!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, that’s another year over and another just starting. At least the weather at the end of 2006 didn’t continue into today - this morning dawned dry and bight with a clear blue sky, the wind was still blowing somewhat but not half as strong as last night.

After a quick breakfast, we were out of the door at 9:30AM and setting off on our first walk of the year, a repeat of the one we did last New Year’s Day. We walked from home to Elvaston Castle, around the lake, pausing to feed the ducks and geese, then on towards Borrowash where we joined the river path back towards Derby. We followed the river all the way back to Alvaston Park, stopping again to feed more ducks, geese and swans, before heading back for home.

The weather all morning had been great but as we headed away from the edge of Pride Park we could see clouds starting to build over Derby. Before we had walked much more than half a mile the rain started! Luckily it didn’t last too long and wasn’t very heavy so we didn’t get too wet - the rain did give us a great rainbow over the city though. We arrived back home at 1:00PM, more than ready for lunch!

Tomorrow it’s back to work and, with no holidays booked yet, the prospect of a long, cold and wet, winter ahead! Maybe I’ll just hibernate!

Lynda, with "friends", at Elvaston Castle.

Aren't birds great?

River Derwent - very fast flowing after all the recent rain.

Err, right! We didn't plan on swimming anyway!

"Look, another bag of bread everyone!"

"Feed me!"

So gentle - when they want to be!

Okay, who stole Christmas? I cannot believe it is already New Year’s Eve; it only feels like yesterday that it was Christmas Eve!

So, Christmas Day. It started and finished pretty much like any Christmas Day does here, with the usual food fest stuck in the middle! We got up around 9:30AM, had breakfast and then opened our presents whilst drinking Bucks Fizz! As I said, pretty much like any other Christmas - 10:00AM and the alcohol had started!

Later in the morning, Lynda started to prepare Christmas dinner, with me as the fetch and carry assistant! I had choices to make by this point - open one of the new bottles of Whisky that Santa had brought me or stick with an already open bottle? I chose an open bottle of Glenmorangie. A very short while later Lynda joined in with a Sherry. The cooking was now under way! After a superb meal of Turkey and all the “extras”, plus a bottle of wine of course, it was time to get settled down in front of the TV - Christmas afternoon has to be spent trying (unsuccessfully) not to fall asleep doesn’t it?

Boxing Day was another quiet day spent at home. We ate, we drank a little, and we watched TV a lot. We certainly did not join in with the craziness that is the Boxing Day sales! Why anyone would face that madness when they could be at home eating and drinking is beyond me! Then again, it could have something to do with my total dislike of shopping!

All too soon it was back to work and the prospect of three days of total boredom. That is just how it turned out - no customers = no cars in the workshop = me having nothing to do! It was so bad that I actually CHOSE to do a full stock take! I’ve spent the past 25 years trying to avoid doing stock takes and this year I do one just to avoid being bored!

With just under nine hours of 2006 left it’s time to look forward to the New Year. If the weather picks up (it’s windy and raining now) then tomorrow the plan is for Lynda and I to do a repeat of the walk we did last New Years Day. If the weather is still bad… food and drink! That’s as far as I want, and need, to look ahead!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The past few days have seen the weather turn decidedly horrible! Derbyshire, along with most of the country, has been covered with thick fog accompanied by freezing temperatures.

The ride into work on Wednesday wasn’t too bad, the fog was pretty thick but at least it was daylight. Coming home in the evening, well, that was a little trickier. The fog came down even more, it was dark and on top of all that, my glasses kept misting over! I was like riding with my eyes closed! By the time I reached home water was literally dripping off the end of my chin and from my glasses! All good fun!

Yesterday, I went into town and I finished my Christmas shopping. Having all my shopping done this early is something of a result for me - I can often be rushing around at the last moment! Not this year! Having saved a couple of days holiday for just before Christmas was worked out rather well; all the shopping is done, I don’t have to face the gridlocked roads as everyone tries to get into town and I get more time to sit around in front of the TV and eat!

Being at home during the day has given us a chance to see just what is eating all the bird food that we put out in the garden each day. So far this morning we’ve been visited by up to a dozen House Sparrow, two Blackbirds, three Dunnock, three Collared Dove and two Wood Pigeon. I’ve heard, but not seen, a Robin and a single Wren has been moving around in the garden next door. A very small mouse has been fetching seed from one of the bird tables and a squirrel put in a brief appearance on the garage roof.

In a short while, Lynda and I are going out for lunch. We are off to The Bulls Head at Breaston. It’s not a place I’ve been to before but Lynda often goes with some old work mates and says how good the food is! I’ll let you know what I think!

Three photos from out in the garden this morning.

Facts and figures!

If you like facts and figures that, well, tell you all the facts and figures then here are a few I’ve found relating to the new indoor speed world record that was set back on the 12 December!

Cars totalling £750,000 were put through their paces, each car having 3 timed runs over the 230 metre straight in the NEC, Birmingham.

The results will be submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records for approval and certification. The times were recorded using a Vericom VC3000PC Performance Tester and were overseen by independent data company Datron Technology who are recognised by the Guinness Book of Records.

Some of the vehicles taking part included…

Ariel Atom Supercharged 300HP Costing £35,000

Top speed - 76.80mph

Aston Martin V8 Vantage 380HP Costing £82,800

Top speed - 64.80mph

Audi RS4 (LT) 414HP Costing £51,825

Top speed - 72.14mph

BMW Z4M 338HP Costing £42,795

Top speed - 64.87mph

Ford GT 500HP Costing £120,900

Top speed - 71.53mph

Jaguar XKR (LT) 420HP Costing £67,495

Top speed - 59.78mph

Mitsubishi EVO FQ360 366HP Costing £35,504

Top speed - 75.61mph

Shelby Daytona Cobra 530HP Costing £91,650

Top speed - 68.65mph

Westfield Sport 2000 192HP Costing £19,950

Top speed - 68.49mph

And the winner…

Autograss Special - Toyota engine - 280HP Costing £20,000

Top speed 82.05mph!!!

Oh, and the old record? That was 81mph, set by “The Stig” from Top Gear driving a Toyota F1 Grand Prix car.

So much for looking forward to seeing Bluehorses at The Flowerpot! I didn’t make it! And, I’m NOT happy about it! After a couple of days of small warning twinges my bad back kicked in again on Friday afternoon, and for the first time in around 8 years I missed a Bluehorses gig at The Flowerpot!

All thoughts of returning to the gym with a vengeance have obviously gone out the window again, that will now have to wait either until later this week or even after Christmas! I will get back into the routine of doing a workout 3 or 4 times a week though.

I forgot a little snippet of “news” last week… I’m a winner! Albannach, one of the bands we follow, had a competition on their web site to win a silver pendant of the band's logo and I won! Even though the band are based in Scotland the pendant will be coming over from America, where it is being “made to order”, so when it arrives I’ll post a picture or two on here.

On Sunday, I started my Christmas shopping. I don’t like to start too early but then again, I don’t like leaving things until the last minute! Sunday seemed like a good compromise to me! Well, it was still a whole week before Christmas Eve! I’m nowhere near finished though so there is still plenty of time for a last minute panic!

One last little bit… A “grasser”, sorry , an Autograss racer, has set a new speed record! 82 mph, INDOORS!!! Phil Cooper, ARC5, set the record at the NEC, Birmingham! There is a video of it below, just click on the arrow in the centre of the screen to play - you may have to click twice!

Just a flying visit to bring the past week or so up to date!

After almost cancelling the gym membership a couple of weeks ago, I have now found the enthusiasm to get myself back there and start my workouts again! Note, I said "I" have now found the enthusiasm! Lynda is still not so keen!

A week ago today our cable TV stopped working and, to cut a very long story short, it was only fixed this afternoon. It has taken more than three hours of phone calls, two separate visits from two different engineers and four set-top boxes to finally resolve the problem! Talk about a company with No Technical Liaison, No Team Leader to take complaints over the phone and a Near Total Loss of our custom! Still, it’s sorted now so we’re back to having dozens of channels of nothing to watch! Well, apart from this years New Zealand Stock Car Championships which have been great so far!

The weather has put paid to my cycling somewhat this past week. Strong winds and heavy rain have been the norm most days so it’s been back to using the car. The rest of this week looks like being much the same.

On Saturday, Lynda and I went on the Derby RSPB Group coach trip to Far Ings Nature Reserve. This trip was also the group's Christmas dinner outing so, for me at least, the birding wasn’t such a priority! I was more interested in getting back to the hotel for the Christmas dinner! We did see one or two good birds during the morning - Dunlin, Shelduck, Redshank, Sparrowhawk, Curlew and Yellowhammer being amongst them - but the hotel bar and the food was always going to be the highlight for me.

BLUEHORSES - LIZ PLAYING THE BABY BLUE!

Last night, I drove down to Bilston to see Bluehorses play. The Robin is now one of my favourite venues, since its refit a year or two back, and last night's gig was another good one. The band played a great set to a reasonable sized crowd but I think that a Friday or Saturday night would see a lot more people turn out. The weather probably didn’t help either - strong winds and heavy rain made for a tricky journey. This coming Friday sees Bluehorses playing at The Flowerpot in Derby, now that WILL be a good gig!

BLUEHORSES - LIZ

NEVERLAND!

ADRIAN DENT - NEVERLAND.

Last night was the launch of the new NEVERLAND CD at The Flowerpot, in Derby, and what a launch it was! It was one of the best gigs I’ve seen at the ‘Pot, if not the best!

NEVERLAND took to the stage at just after 9:30PM and played a non-stop set right through until around 11:30PM. In total, they played over 20 tracks, some old favourites, some from the new CD that will soon become favourites!

I’ll not go into a full track list but Talking Tree started the night off, then we were treated to Doom Garden Jelly Fish Blues, Fire Cradle, Never Learned to Speak, Kebab No More and Think I’m Gonna Buy a Car, amongst others. The final encore was the classic Stars and the Blues, the perfect end to a perfect gig!

ADRIAN DENT & MICK DOYLE - NEVERLAND.

The new CD, well I’ve only had chance to play it through once so far but on first hearing it’s great! After another play or two, to get used to the new tracks, I reckon it’s going to become one of my regularly played CD’s.

More NEVERLAND photos!

So, what else has been going on - not a whole lot!

After a week or so of thinking about it, Lynda and I have decided to carry on with our gym membership. Since the summer, we’ve not been making the most of the place and came close to stopping altogether. The next week or two will prove to be make or break I think. I’m off work for a couple of days this week so will go to the gym during the day as well as after work later in the week. I’m off work again next Monday so the plan is another daytime workout then. With luck, this will prove the kick-start that I need!

Derby County… well, the unbeaten run from November came to a halt with the first game of December! A 1-0 defeat away to West Brom on Saturday saw The Rams stay in fourth place in the table, 3 points off the top spot.