Last Night's Fun

I just knew it! Last night's gig was a cracker! Denny Bartley, Nick Scott and Chris Sherburn - together they are Last Night's Fun.

Denny... Nick... Chris...

They were introduced as the best Irish music band in England; I'd say that is more than true! This band aren't just about great music, they are an evening's entertainment! The jokes, stories and fun starts from the moment they walk on stage and doesn't stop until they leave at the end of the gig. Last night was no exception!

I didn't make a list of all the tracks played, I never do with any band, but some of the one's that stood out were...Next Market Day; The Tinkerman's Daughter; Tom Joad; The Watchmaker and the most amazing version of Whiskey In The Jar!

Whiskey In The Jar...

If you get the chance, go and see this band! Before that, check out their music at...

http://www.lastnightsfun.com/clips.html .

All three clips need to be heard, and then there are three video clips! And all for free!

Nick playing the uilleann pipes...

TFI Friday!

You know how sometimes a week just goes on for ever, and the weekend never gets any closer... that's been my week! Now, there's just under 5 hours of work left before I can run out of the door screaming!

A great weekend will then start - and I'm going to make sure it is a great weekend! The gig we are going to this evening will be a good one, of that I'm sure, then, after a few hours in work tomorrow morning, the weekend is all about Lynda's birthday!

Excuse me... coming through... man on a mission!

A crazy man? May be! Then again, this world has gone crazy this week!

Today; well what a nice day it was! Yes, I'm kidding!

Tomorrow, we go to see LAST NIGHTS FUN.

I've been looking forward to this gig since I first found out about it - now I'm REALLY ready for what will be a great night!

If the above doesn't make any sense, don't worry! Today hasn't made any sense to me either!

Why bird watching?

That's the question I was asked today by someone I work with!

My answer was that it gets me away from people and phones, and that it is a great way to just relax! A quick look around the internet and I found three quotes that also got me thinking.....


That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you!

How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!

Okay, I think I'll stop there... getting a little bit too heavy for me!

Valentines Day - with a twist!

I was sent the following in an e-mail this morning - by Lynda, my wife! Not quite sure how I should take that! :-)

Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.
But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty and so is your head.


Of loving beauty you float with grace.
If only you could hide your face.


I want to feel your sweet embrace.
But don't take that paper bag off of your face.


My darling, my lover, my beautiful wife.
Marrying you screwed up my life.


I see your face when I am dreaming.
That's why I always wake up screaming.


What inspired this amorous rhyme?
Two parts vodka, one part lime.

Two easy days...

A weekend off work and what did I do with it? Nothing! And it was great! Okay, so we went out for a meal on Friday night, which was very good I must add, but apart from that, I've not really done a thing!

I stopped in bed until almost 10:00AM on Saturday and then went and did battle with the shoppers in Derby. I only needed to get my hair cut and buy a couple of things but it took me the best part of 3 hours! I HATE going into town! The rest of the afternoon was spent in front of the TV watching the rugby. Another England win. On Saturday evening we went over to see our friends, Rob and Jane, in Nottingham.

On Sunday I did make an effort to go out birding but when I looked out of the bedroom window, at around 7:45AM, it was raining. End of that idea! Back to bed for another couple of hours! The rain continued, in a rather patchy way, for the rest of the day so I watched the Winter Olympics on TV. Such a hard life!

The rest of this week... well, apart from work, it's a couple of trips to the gym and then on Friday evening we are going to see Last Nights Fun, in Belper. We've seen this group a few times now and they never fail to entertain! This is one gig I'm really looking forward to.

Next weekend is Lynda's birthday, so we are going for a meal at The Hunting Lodge in Barrow Upon Soar and then staying the night there. We have The Louis Room booked, all very grand, complete with four-poster bed! On the Sunday, Lynda wants to go walking at Bradgate Park so I'm hoping for good weather!

THE RENAULT'S GONE

The Renaults gone with a bent front end,
A man from Derby was willing to mend,
He paid five fifty of his hard-earned cash,
Then towed away the crumpled smash.

I stood there with money in hand,
Feeling quite sick cos I still owed 2 grand,
I started to search every magazine,
To find a new car to fulfill my dreams.

There it was in black and white,
One careful owner and the price was right,
I'd found a man who was trying to sell,
His Austin Allegro 1.3 HL.

When I told Tracey about my find,
She said I must be out of my mind,
If I bought that from me she'd walk,
Was she serious? Or was it just talk?

I picked up the phone and started to ring,
But her love for me meant more than anything,
So it wasn't the Allegro that I rang,
But for something just as grand.

YELLOW IN COLOUR AND NO FINESSE,
A 1.7 AUSTIN PRINCESS!

I was given the above by someone I used to work with a couple of years ago - not sure if he wrote it (I think he did!) but I've always found it rather good; must be my motor-trade sense of humour!!!

Great start...

Well, a day can only get better when you start by putting a two inch industrial staple into your finger end! That’s how I started my day! It didn’t hurt that much going in but pulling it back out did – I think it may have been the little “hooked end” that did it! At least the blood only dripped down onto the floor a couple of times, so not much cleaning up to do.

Hopefully the rest of the day will be a little more fun. Tonight Lynda and I are going out for a meal with our friends Mark & Sheila again. This time we’re going up to the Bulls Head at Denby. It’s a late birthday meal for Sheila – her birthday was on Monday – and an early birthday meal for Lynda – her birthday is a week on Sunday.

Not sure what I’ll be doing over the weekend yet; may go out birding again if the weather is OK or, I may have a nice easy couple of days at home as I’ve seen most of my “target birds” that are around in Derbyshire at the moment. I may even finish off sorting all the junk I’ve left all over the spare bedroom after swapping PC’s!

Feeling rough...

Today, I am ill! In fact, I could be dying!

Don’t you just hate having a head cold???

I know I do!!!

Right, must go… got a couple of parcels that need sending to America!

A quiet Monday.

After having an extra couple of hours in bed this morning, followed by a rather nice breakfast, I set off for a walk around Elvaston Castle and the surrounding grounds. The weather wasn’t very good again but at least it was dry and a little warmer than the past week or so! In the end, I walked for just under 5 hours.

The only new bird for my year list was a Mistle Thrush but I did see a total of 44 species, so not a bad few hours of local birding. Birds of note included 12 Nuthatch, 5 Goldcrest, 4 Jay, 4 Bullfinch, 3 Grey Partridge, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Winter silhouette.

The old driveway.

The Golden Gates entrance.

Spring is on the way...

Super Bowl Weekend!

Okay, not the best photo of a Short-eared Owl, but it will do as a reminder of a great bird!

In the end I didn’t go after the Great Grey Shrike on Saturday afternoon - I didn’t have enough time and also the bird had not been seen during Saturday morning - so I just went for the owl instead! The bird was out hunting by 2:00PM, so even though it was a dull and cloudy day the views were very good as it flew around. Even better was the fact that the bird I saw wasn’t even at the site I had intended going to, but at one of the local patches that I visit!

On the lookout for prey.

This first site (no, I am not naming it!) also gave me my first Green Woodpecker, Shoveler, Shelduck and Grey Partridge of the year. All reasonably easy birds to find in Derbyshire, but they still need finding each year! After watching the owl for around an hour, I moved on to my second site of the afternoon, Aston-on-Trent gravel pits. These lakes are still being worked for gravel and are strictly private so my viewing was from the works access road alongside the A50.

I had stopped off here in the hope of adding Smew onto my list and, after a short while searching the lakes through my ‘scope, I had located a stunning adult male! Another great “tick” as these winter visitors are rather scarce in the Derby area. As a bonus, I picked up Golden Plover and Dunlin here too! By now, it was just after 4:00PM so I headed for home with eight new year ticks in the bag!

Saturday evening did not run quite so well…. The plan had been to go and see our friends, Paul & Ali, so I could get them started on the basics of running a Blog. All was going fine until we tried uploading some photos; they just would not publish to the Blog properly! After trying everything I could think of we gave up! I’m still not sure what the problem is, maybe an issue with the Blogger upload, maybe their PC, but it has me beat! Still, it gave us more time for the red wine and the Play Station!

This morning turned out to be dry, if a little dull and overcast, so I decided that I would try for the shrike. After a quick breakfast and then a drive of just over half an hour, I was at Walton-upon-Trent for 8:20AM, far too early for the Shrike as it didn’t decide to join us until just after 9:00AM! The first views of the bird were rather distant and, what was more worrying, it was on the far side of the river, which meant it was in Staffordshire! Not good when you're doing a Derbyshire year list! In the end, it all worked out OK as the Shrike came over onto the “right side” of the water to see a Kestrel off from what must have been the shrike's territory.

With all the birds I had hoped for this weekend all located, I decided to head back towards Derby and some local patch working again. I chose to go to Ambaston, a small area of old gravel pits, open farmland and newly planted woodland. Nothing too out of the ordinary here but it was nice to just have a steady walk around and see what I could find. More notable of the species here were Buzzard, Snipe, Redwing, and a feeding flock of around 200 Wood Pigeon. I also added a couple more year ticks with Yellowhammer and Skylark.

Not pretty whilst they are working...

...but old gravel pits can help the wildlife in the end!

Now it’s time for the American Football Super Bowl, so I’m about to go and get settled in front of the TV with a bottle of whisky and some Pringles! Tomorrow, I have an extra few hours in bed!

Casserole, birds and Super Bowl!

Friday! At last! I'm so glad that I'm almost done with this week! Just a few hours at work in the morning, then I'm off until Tuesday! Yes, it has been one of those weeks.

Still, no time for looking back, it’s the weekend! And it’s started rather well. Tonight Lynda let me loose in the kitchen on my own! How brave was that then? Not just of Lynda but also me! That is one dangerous place! As you may guess, I do not do much cooking apart from my own cooked breakfast 3 or 4 times a week.

This evening’s little adventure is all down to Donna, one of the Albannach forum users, over in America. A short while ago she posted a recipe on the forum for Breakfast Casserole and I liked the idea of trying it. Tonight I made some, all on my own! It’s gorgeous!!!!

Sausage meat, eggs, cream and cheese = Breakfast Casserole!

So, what about the rest of the weekend? After work tomorrow, I hope to go in search of a Great Grey Shrike, that has been in South Derbyshire for a few weeks, and then Short-eared Owls later in the afternoon. Both the shrike and the owls have been showing well but the weather may not be too good tomorrow so I’m not over confident of a result just yet.

In the evening, we are going around to see some friends, Paul and Ali, so that I can help them set up their own Blog. I just hope I can remember how I started this off!

Sunday will depend on the weather. I’d like to have another morning out bird watching but if the weather is anything like the past 4 or 5 days then I may just stay home and relax.

Sunday night is the American Football Super Bowl so I’ll be staying up to watch that. The coverage doesn’t start on TV until around 11:00PM here so I’ll not be getting to bed before at least 3:00AM on Monday, which is why I’m off work!

I've so much stuff I want to get done tonight, but I just can't be bothered!!!

So..........









Good night!

For Bleunwenn.......

Stones Island at Carsington Water is, as far as I’m aware, just a “tourist attraction” that was built sometime after the completion of the reservoir in the early 1990s. The stones themselves are carved from Derbyshire gritstone and vary in height from 1.7 to 4 metres in height and the heaviest weighs 7.6 tonnes - or so I’m told!

The reservoir is England’s ninth largest and can hold something like 7.5 billion gallons of water. There is some natural water run off into Carsington Water but most of it is pumped up from the River Derwent via an under ground aqueduct of over 10km in length.

All the above facts are things that I’ve learnt today too! Isn’t is always the case; you live close to somewhere for all your life, or in the case of Carsington, all it’s life, and yet you know nothing about it really! Thanks to Flore, I’ve found out one or two things today!

One thing I did know about this place… back in 1977 my dad won one of his best ever Autograss races right where the reservoir is now! Our club had their track in fields that were purchased as part of the reservoir build. I often look out into the water, from the end of the road that used to lead to the field, and think back to that day!

To this day, I can still picture my dad crossing the finish line, throwing both arms up in triumph and nearly turning the car end-over-end as he hit a big rut in the track!!!!

Two good days!

Saturday was quite a fun day in the end! If you can call standing out in freezing conditions, for 8 hours, fun! It was the second day of our big sales weekend at work, we'd had a “preview day” on Friday and, after I had helped clear all the frost and ice from the cars on show, I took up my place as “meeter and greeter” on the entrance gate.

Just about everyone arriving on site took very well to having their details logged as they arrived - name, address etc - with only one vehicle driving through our “check point” without stopping! Try as I might I just could not make myself wide enough to block his path! Still, at least the driver did steer around me and not drive over me! By the close of business last night, 25 orders had been confirmed so if today has been as busy then the event should be a success.

So, onto today. I had decided that I would have a second attempt at getting to see both the Red-necked Grebe and the two Black-necked Grebes at Carsington Water that I had missed last weekend due to the fog. The alarm was set for 6:45am and, after ignoring it for a short while, I was up and out of the house by 7:40am. As the grebes had been around for some while, I decided to head for Cromford first in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Hawfinches that can sometimes be found there.

After being at Cromford for only a matter of seconds I had 12 Hawfinch located! What a cracking start to the day! I’ve seen these birds on a number of occasions but never in such numbers and never showing so well. They sat in the treetops for around half an hour before moving off in smaller groups. With another “year tick” in the bag, I headed for Carsington Water.

The Black-necked Grebes proved that not all birds are so easy to find - I had to walk almost 150 yards from the car to find them! This was going a little too well. Most of the reports over the past few days had been of the Black-necks being in the Hopton Arm section of the reservoir and sure enough, that’s where I found them. Even though they were still in winter plumage these two little birds looked stunning in the bright winter sunshine. After watching the grebes and a number of other wild fowl for a short time, I moved onto the Sheepwash car park.

My next target was the Red-necked Grebe. This was the one I knew would be a challenge and that’s just what it turned out to be. I checked all the open water, in sections, between the car park and the sailing club with no luck. I then spent some time scanning the more sheltered area around Stone Island, again with no joy.

Two views of Stone Island

Time was now getting on and I decided to head back for some lunch. On the walk back to the car, around two miles, I did manage to see two Little Owls, 44 Barnacle Geese (feral breeders), around 200 Pink-footed Geese (in flight) and a few Goldeneye, all new birds for the year.

As I had to pass by the Lane End hide again I decided to have another quick look for the Red-necked Grebe from there, as the light was now better - no direct sun on the water. After a quick look around with my ‘scope I had found my final target of the day! Again, it was another winter plumage bird but that didn’t really matter to me, it was another Derbyshire tick!

On the drive home, I also added Common Buzzard to my growing county list for the year. In the end, I finished up with 17 year ticks today giving me a Derbyshire total of 70 species for 2006.

More of the same...

Today ran to current form - more problems! Then, at lunchtime today, I'm informed that we have a sales meeting tonight after work! Thanks for the prior notice! All thoughts of going to the gym went straight out of the window again!

On to brighter things… just finished a haggis supper, as it’s Burns Night, and very shortly I’ll be sat enjoying a Whisky or two to help me celebrate - or is it to try and forget the past two days?

The Band From County Hell have updated their gig reports today with an account of Saturdays show. It can be found here! They even used some of my photos again!

Another crazy work day! Why is it that when you're having a good day, and everything is running as planned, there is always ONE that can mess everybody else’s day up? My ONE did it again today!

As always, there is a way out of it… I rang and booked tickets to see “Last Nights Fun” when they play their gig in Belper next month! Made me feel much better!

The healthy eating took a bit of a step backwards today… I couldn’t drag myself out of bed in time for breakfast so I picked up a sausage and bacon cob on the way to work! I’ll think of it as a little treat - after all, I have lost 5lbs in the last 10 days or so! Then, just to make the day a little worse, I backed out of going to the gym tonight. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

I’ve just finished updating my first bird list of the year, which, after just one walk without my binoculars on New Years day and one trip to Carsington Water in the fog, now stands at 54 species for Derbyshire. Not a huge total but a reasonable start I think. I’ll be adding a separate Blog page onto here very soon so that I can keep track of both my Derbyshire year list and my UK year list.

A better weekend....

I had been looking forward to this weekend for the whole week - and more - and it turned out just great! Well, apart from today's weather!

Work on Saturday morning turned out to be nothing more than checking off a very small order that came in - took about 10 minutes - and then a full clean of the fish tank in the showroom. That took just over two and a half hours as it was time for a full sort out! At 12:30pm it was out the door, a quick drive into Derby for a hair cut and back home for some lunch.

By 5:30pm, we were back out of the door and on the road to Lincoln. The traffic was good and that, coupled with the new roads built between Nottingham and Lincoln in the past few years, meant by 7:00pm we were parked up and looking for the venue for the evenings gig. As it turned out we had passed the place we were looking for, a new music venue and bar called Christopher's, about 400 yards before the car park!

With drinks in hand, Lynda and I got settled into a rather nice leather sofa and listened to the sound check going on upstairs. The Band From County Hell have been a favourite of ours for a few years now but this was the first time we had seen them since the Derby Beer Festival last July. I was ready for this one!!!

At 9:00pm, they started playing to a packed house! I'm not sure just how many the room should have held, but I'm pretty sure that is was not as many as were packed in last night! There were even people stood four or five deep on the stairs that led into the room!

Many of the old favourite songs came out in a set that lasted for just under two hours, including "Do These Things Happen To You", "Boom, Boom, Boom", "Irish Rover" and "Roddy McCauley". In amongst these were also a few new songs from the latest CD, "Ghosts & Spirits", such as "Glasgow Hills", "The Ballad Of Charlie Dowd" and "Billy Allen".

All too soon, the last song was played and it was time for us to head for home. Happy, but wanting more! The band already has quite a few festivals lined up so it looks like it could be a fun summer!

BFCH gig photos here!

So onto today. Whilst driving home last night it soon became clear that the weather we had enjoyed during Saturday, nice, clear, and sunny, was going to cause problems for Sunday! Mist and fog was starting to form over the Lincolnshire fields. Sure enough when I looked out the bedroom window at 6:45am I was met with thick fog - not good for bird watching! Back to bed for an hour. By the time I had had breakfast, driven the 30 minuets or so it takes to get to Carsington Water the gloom had lifted a little, but it was only a little. Visibility was down to around 200 yards all morning.

I did manage a total of 39 species in just under 3 hours, not bad in the end. Highlights, if you can call them that, included 105 Ruddy Duck, 10 Snipe, a pair of Bullfinch, 2 Tree Sparrow, a single Lesser Redpoll, 1 Willow Tit and a party of 12 Long-Tailed Tit that showed down to less than 10 feet from me.

It was also nice to see that the first signs of spring are showing in the form of some early Catkins. Now if only we could get a run of dry and bright weekends I may just shake off the winter blues and get out like this more often on a Sunday!

So I messed up!

Not quite sure how I did it but I've just found that the post I wrote on January 7 was still waiting to be published! Oh well, it's up on here now! Better late than never! Who knows, some of the other stuff on here may make a little more sense now..... then again!

I also slipped up on the healthy eating a little this morning as well - I couldn't drag myself out of bed for a proper breakfast before work again! I'm sure it must have something to do with this weather and also the dark mornings!!!

Still, at least I'm still putting the work in at the gym, been twice this week so far and will be there again tomorrow night. Not that it's having much effect on me! I'd managed to shift 4lbs of Christmas excess by the start of this week but that's been replaced by 2lbs of cooked breakfast! Some you win, some you lose!

The weekend is looking a little more promising weather wise so with a bit of luck I'll get out and add to the bird list for the year. There's one or two "good birds" around at the moment so it's time I went and picked up a few year ticks!

Today was a good day!

Well, just over 12 hours ago I wanted to start and sort tickets and things out for some gigs that I fancied.

Two phone calls, and a few text messages, and I'm off to see The Band From County Hell on Saturday, and then in February it's the Oysterband here in Derby! Big word of thanks to my mate Paul for the Oysterband ticket - saved me trying to get into Derby for it!!!

The BFCH gig is over in Lincoln, not a place I know well at all but that's one of the reasons for going! A new venue and a trip out and about! To be honest I'm really looking forward to this gig - not seen this band for a while and they are always brilliant!

Tomorrow I'll start and look at gigs for later in the Spring - why not? I'm on a roll!

Oh, the healthy eating went real well today, as did the gym! I could do with a beer right now though!

Change......

There needs to be some, and it has started today!

Late last night I told Lynda that I would get myself back into my old morning routine, and start getting up in time for a cooked breakfast again (that made her laugh) - well, I managed it, no problem! That should help with the second change, cutting down on the amount of "rubbish" I eat during the day at work!

Since Christmas I have been eating far too much chocolate and crisps - that will stop! We're already hitting the gym 3 or 4 times a week so it's just a case of working a little harder whilst I'm there - starting tonight!

Now that the new PC is all up and running it can become a "work tool" again and not have me sat at it for hours - more time for doing things that actually matter in life!

Now, if only the weather will stay dry for a day or two over a weekend, I can get on with some "serious" bird watching, if there is such a thing, instead of sitting in the house all the time!

Later today I'll start looking into tickets etc for some of the bands I want to see in the next couple of months. Live music..... beats talking about it every time!

Oh well, another weekend is almost over! Where does the time go? If only Monday to Friday went as quick.....

We went for our lunch at The Bulls Head on Saturday, had a cracking meal again, then I spent the rest of the afternoon sorting stuff out on the old PC - again! At least it's all done now!

This morning, I looked out of the bedroom window at around 8:30am and it was dull, grey and damp again! Straight back to bed! No walk or bird watching today! It's starting to get me down now this winter! Think I must be suffering with S.A.D. or whatever it is!!!

By the time I got up around an hour later the sun was out! Great! Why couldn't it have been like that first thing? Oh well, another easy Sunday. I cooked breakfast again - two weeks running now that Lynda has had a cooked breakfast! - then sat and read the papers whilst listening to a few CDs.

I've just finished looking for tour dates for some of the bands we follow and the next few months are already looking quite good. Two chances of seeing The Band From County Hell in January. Last Nights Fun and the Oysterband in February. Then Bluehorses in April; and thats before all the spring and summer festivals start!

I'm even looking at a trip to Scotland for a couple of bands - but that's a "wait and see what happens" thing at the moment!

Right, time for a small whisky and a read of my book!

Friday 13th !!

A bad workman blames his tools!

The best things in life are free!

Every cloud has a silver lining!

Some you win, some you lose!

It’s not the end of the world!

Don’t get mad - get even!

Don’t worry, be happy!

It’s only a game!

Life goes on!


Just about says it all for today!

At last, the weekend is almost here! And I can’t wait! It’s been one of those weeks this week - work's been crazy busy, not the nice sort of busy! Anything and everything has been a problem - orders not turning up, others arriving damaged, some just plain wrong! Most were late! Oh, and tomorrow is Friday 13th! Great!

On top of all that it’s been hard getting back into the old routine now that Christmas and the New Year are behind us. I still can’t drag myself out of bed in a morning in time to make breakfast before work, going back to the gym after a two week break is killing me and we just don’t seem to have time to do anything other than come home from work, eat, catch a bit of TV, then sleep! I need this weekend!

So, what am I going to do with my two days off work? Err, I’m not sure! Saturday, Lynda has decided we will go out for lunch, so that will be either The Bulls Head at Denby or The Risley Park as we have some money off vouchers to use up! Lots of good food, and cheaper than it should be! That will do for me! In the morning I may go and have a look at getting a new fish tank for home - my two goldfish are in need of more space!

If the weather is OK on Sunday then I hope to be out early either bird watching or walking. I don’t really mind which, just so long as I can get out and away from people, phones and cars for a few hours! If it’s another wet day then I’ll stay in bed for half the morning and then sit around the house with either some music playing or the TV on! I NEED A DRY DAY ON SUNDAY!!!!

Note to self......

MAKE THIS PC LAST!!!!!!

It's just over a week now since I decided that enough was enough, booted the old PC off my desk and set up the new one! And I'm still finding things that need transferring from one to the other! If it's not photos, it's e-mail addresses or favourite web sites, or sound files, or video clips, or birdwatching records - that was fun as there were over 6000 of them! Never again! OK, rant over with....

Yesterday the weather wasn't up to much at all so we had a lazy start to the day and didn't get out of bed until around 10:00am! Not like me at all! Lynda walked to fetch the Sunday papers and I then cooked "brunch", scrambled eggs on toast! I cook a great scrambled egg!! The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent in front of the TV, and the old PC, as I downloaded files onto CD for transferring (boring job!).

Lynda cooked a late lunch/early tea of Chicken Casserole which, I must say, was one of the best chicken dishes I've tasted in a good while! And there was plenty of it!

The highlight of the day was the live football game on Sky TV - Man Utd v Burton Albion! On paper this one was a walkover for Man U, but this was an FA Cup match so anything was possible. Burton's ground was a sell out of just over 6000 people and they managed to hold on for a 0 - 0 draw against a side that is over 100 places above them in the Football League - what a result!

That was enough to earn them a replay at Old Trafford, Manchester, a game that will earn the small Burton club over £800,000 when they play at the home of Manchester Utd. What a difference that will be for them playing in front of a crowd that could be up to 68,000 or more! No doubt Utd will take the replay with ease but there's no taking Sunday's result away from Burton!

2006 is up and running.....

Well, the new PC has been in place for almost a week now and I still haven’t loaded all my software and files onto it yet! I guess I must be about 75% there by now so at least the worst is over - be pleased to have it all finished though! Tomorrow will see the rest finished with luck as it looks like the weather will keep me in the house. I’d hoped to go for a walk in the morning but the forecast is for rain, mist or even fog. That’s if we don’t get snow, which we did for a while this afternoon.

The past week has been really busy at work with a number of decent orders for accident repair parts - I love the bad weather! We have also been notified of a rather large re-call on one type of vehicle, which will result in a substantial number of them coming through the workshop in the coming weeks. It’s also only two weeks now until we have a 3 day car sales event planned - we all get to work longer hours on the Friday, Saturday AND Sunday! Great!

The Christmas and New Year break didn’t have quite the effect on me as last year did; I only gained 8 lbs in weight this time! Obviously didn’t eat enough! Lynda and I have been back to the gym twice so far this week so no doubt I’ll soon move the extra few pounds again and, no doubt, Lynda will hate me for losing it so easy!!!

Tomorrow I’ll start looking into forthcoming gig dates for some of the bands we follow. One or two of them will be playing within easy travelling distance for us over the next few months so I need to be getting tickets organised now before they sell out.

OK, things are starting to return to "something" like normal again! That is if you don't look at the state of the spare bedroom that my PC desk is in! I've sort of trashed the place over the past two days!!! I've two PC's on the go - one on the desk, one on the floor - and the whole of the spare bed is covered with cables, CD's, all sorts of packaging and associated rubbish! SORRY LYNDA!!!

So, what's been going on......

New Year's Eve was a quiet night home for us, can't face all the nutters in the pubs these days, with plenty of food, a good few drinks and the TV. Jools Holland's show was pretty good again, some decent music from James Blunt, Kaiser Chiefs and, at midnight, the 1st Battalion of Scots Guards made the run up to 12 o'clock go off OK. Then, as expected, the streets around us exploded! Ever since the millennium I'm sure that more fireworks go up at midnight on New Year that on November 5th! Still, they put on a good free show!

New Year's Day and we were up and about by 9:00am - obviously didn't drink enough the night before - had a quick breakfast and pulled on the walking boots. The idea was to walk from home to Elvaston Castle, walk around the grounds then return home. In the end we finished up walking for over 4hrs! We did get to the castle but sort of kept on going and adding bits on to the walk as we went along!

Having walked through the grounds at Elvaston we carried on towards Borrowash before following the banks of the river Derwent towards Derby. On two more occasions we added to the length of the walk rather than head for home! In the end it wasn't until we reached the outskirts of the city centre that we decided it was time to leave the river path and head back for some dinner! In the end I'd guess that we walked around 9 or 10 miles. In the evening Lynda went to her usual pub quiz whilst I tried to catch up with things on the internet. Sunday night was the final straw as far as the old PC was concerned - it crashed every few minutes and I decided that it's days had finally run out!

Straight after breakfast on Monday we headed into Derby, returned a short while later with my new PC and that's when I trashed the spare room! In the end I'll have a lot more desk space with the new flat screen, it just doesn't look like it right now! I can't believe the difference in speed between the old PC and the new one, it's already making things so much easier here on the Blog and with sorting digital photos out. Then again, with 320GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM it should be a bit quicker than my old system!

That just leaves today, Tuesday. Back at work for the first time since Christmas Eve! In the end it wasn't too bad at all. OK, I'd been left with a fair bit of paperwork to sort out plus one or two "problems" that needed my attention but on the whole a nice steady start to the year! We even went to the gym for around an hour after work! Come to think of it that hurt more than work!!!

New Year walk photos

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I've not forgotten about the Blog, but have been having major PC problems over the past week!!!

This has now been solved - a new system is now in place and I'm in the process of changing all my files and photos over!

I'll post a re-cap of the past few days very soon!

Time for a re-cap I think!

Christmas day went pretty much as planned... stayed in bed 'til around 9:00am, got up and had breakfast, then opened our presents, with a bottle of Bucks Fizz! Not bad going, 10:00am and the first real drink of the day!

The rest of the morning was spent in front of the TV before we started to prepare Christmas dinner. Time to open the whisky bottle for me, and the sherry for Lynda. Just a small taste to help with the cooking that's all! Very soon Lynda had dinner ready and out on the table - and what a dinner! I love my Christmas dinner! So much so that I have mine on a serving platter rather than a normal plate! Makes it easier to fit everything on that way!

A superb meal was helped along with a rather nice bottle of wine but, I must admit, the Christmas pudding did have to wait until we had cleared the dishes away before we could face eating that as well!

We had planned to watch Shrek on TV in the afternoon, followed by Shrek 2 at night. Luckily I'd seen the first film before, as I fell asleep in the afternoon. I did see the second one though!

Monday and Tuesday were both very quiet days. We walked to fetch the newspapers on Monday and chose to go to the shop at the far end of the estate, then walked back the long way around so that in the end we had walked about 2 miles or so. Not a long way but it burnt off a little of the food we'd been eating. Lynda went into Derby on Tuesday, for the sales, and a "quick" trip turned into more than 4 hours! Later on Tuesday afternoon it snowed!!! A little late for Christmas but nice all the same.

Yesterday Lynda was back at work so it left me with no excuse to stay at home when Mel suggested we did a walk. So, with a rather good covering of snow now on the ground, we did a walk of around 4 hours through the fields and lanes of Lower Hartshay, Fritchley and Crich. I've no idea how far we walked but it was far enough! The walk was much easier going than I'd expected with the snow being about 3 inches deep at most. The only slight down point was that the sky was heavy with snow cloud for a lot of the time so one or two of the photos I took came out a little dull. Having said that the views from the Crich Memorial were still pretty good!

There we have it, the week so far! Not done a lot but it's been great and sure beats being at work! New Year's Eve next! Another quiet evening of food and drink for us.... until the fireworks start all around us!

Walk in the snow photos

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

So, it's Christmas Eve! Work is now over, as far as I'm concerned until 2006, all my shopping is finished, presents are wrapped and under the tree and the car is safely locked in the garage and won't be coming out again until at least the 27th! It's time to start eating and drinking!!! Pity we don't have any snow though, feels like late summer outside not the end of December!

Very soon Lynda & I will be opening a bottle of mulled wine and getting settled in front of the TV for the evening. No doubt snacks of various types will be consumed in more than adequate amounts, as will the drink!

Tomorow will start with a light breakfast of hot bread rolls covered with butter - it's something we always had on Christmas morning when I lived at home, and we carried on with it when Lynda & I bought our house. This will be washed down with a bottle of Bucks Fizz! After breakfast we will open our presents before starting to prepare dinner. A small whisky or two will help with the fetching and carrying I'll do for Lynda who will, I'm sure, sample a sherry whilst cooking!

Christmas dinner has got to be the best meal of the year without doubt! Loads of turkey, stuffing, bread sauce, vegetables and potatoes. Oh, and not forgetting the "pigs-in-blankets". Small sausages wrapped in bacon for those that don't know!!! I love 'em! That little lot will be helped along by a bottle of wine and then followed by a good old fashioned Christmas pudding covered with brandy sauce!

Needless to say we won't be moving far for the rest of the day. However, by early evening we will start on the cold meats, pork pie and turkey again! I love Christmas!

The past few days.

Right, a quick update of the weekend whilst I have time!

Friday's Bluehorses gig was a great one! The venue was a little slow filling up with people but, by the time the band came on stage, the place was packed out. The band chose Friday as one of their "Christmas party" gigs so it was fancy dress - only a few of the crowd joined in but the band had gone to town with the Harry Potter theme! There's always one of the guys that uses these gigs as an excuse to put on a skirt! This time it was Jay!!! Liz's interpretation of Hogwarts uniform was, erm, rather nice shall we say! :-)

BLUEHORSES PHOTOS HERE

Saturday I was at work, all very straight forward apart from KIA sending me a console/ashtray unit all the way from Korea - pity we had ordered a wiring loom! Someone is going to be waiting a little while longer for their car being repaired! In the evening it was the work's Christmas meal. All went off fine with that! The place was quite nice, if a little hard to find, the food was good (and spicy!!) and there was plenty of it, the drinks were all paid for by the boss and everyone behaved! All rather good for a motor trade night out! We left at just after midnight and arrived home around 12:45am.

Sunday morning dawned dry, bright and very frosty. The temperature was -4C at breakfast time, just the same as 4 weeks ago when we did the BHF walk - I did another long walk yesterday, but just for the fun of it this time! Then after I'd finished, it didn't feel like fun! More trouble with my knee!

I met Mel at the gym at 9:00am before we headed off into the Derbyshire Peak District. We parked in Ilam before walking back around Thorpe Cloud, along Dove Dale, Mill Dale, Wolfscote Dale, Beresford Dale and then up into Hartington. This took us around 3 hours, we then had to get back again! After a short stop for tea and coffee we headed back out of Hartington over the higher farm land before dropping back down into Wolfscote Dale again. We then retraced our steps, many, many of them, back to the car! In total I think we walked around 16 or so miles! Hence the bad knee again!

For the most part the day was dry, bright and cold, but for the last four or five miles we walked in a light rain as the cloud cover increased. Mel got to see her first "live" Kingfisher as we followed the river, then saw another later on in the afternoon! All in all not a bad day - I just wish I could shake off this problem with my knees.

Just too busy!

Hey, I'm still alive - just very busy at work and home at the moment, hence no updates!

Monday, I did finish up playing Twister with Chloe again. She still cheats! Plus, this time their new dog tried joining in - what chance did I have? Right foot on green, left foot on blue, both hands on yellow..... then the dog starts licking my face!

Tuesday, we went to the gym and again my knee gave me trouble! Didn't do much of a workout but it was better than not going at all!

Tomorrow is the BLUEHORSES Christmas gig here in Derby, should be a cracking night, just a pity I have work the following morning! Then Saturday evening is my works Christmas meal at an Indian restaurant over in Nottingham.

Sunday I should be doing another big walk with Mel, if the weather is OK. Forecast at the moment is for it being dry and clear but very cold, we'll see!

Frankie & Benny's

Last night we went to Frankie & Benny's - not people we know but an Italian restaurant and bar on the edge of Derby. It was the first time we'd been in here and I must say it was very good. Even better, it didn't cost us a penny as it was all being paid for by Lynda's work!

There were around 20 of us there for the evening, staff from the sales dept. at Lynda's work plus their partners, and it turned out to be a real fun night. We all met in the bar at around 7:30pm and got some drinks before being shown to our table. There was a fair choice on the menu, around 20 starters and the best part of 50 main course meals, most being either pasta or pizza dishes. So far so good!

After changing my mind each time I looked at the menu, I finally settled on the Crispy Coated Chicken Strips as a starter, followed by Meatballs on Penne Pasta as my main course. Lynda went for Potato Skins filled with cheese and chives and then Mushroom Ravioli.

The starters were very good, the honey and mustard dressing on the salad that came with the Chicken Strips was absolutely delicious! The meatballs, well, what a plate full! A huge bowl full of pasta topped with 5 equally large and very tasty meatballs in a gorgeous ragu sauce! One of the guys with us had the same as me but was beaten by the amount of food and couldn't finish it- me, I could have eaten the lot again! It really was that good. Lynda tells me that her meal was equally as nice; the small amount of Mushroom Ravioli I was allowed to try certainly tasted OK!

So onto the sweets.... the waitress had the cheek to ask if we wanted to see the menu! OF COURSE WE DID!!! Lynda went for the East Coast Sundae - a huge glass full of toffee and chocolate ice cream layered with chocolate covered honeycomb, mini marshmallows and topped with chocolate sauce and cream! Me, I had a cinnamon waffle topped with ice cream, toffee sauce and toffee crunch pieces! Both very nice!

Next time I may just try the sweet chosen by one of our party - the Chocolate Cookie Sandwich! It's two giant cookies, loads of ice cream, cream and then topped with chocolate, butterscotch and strawberry sauce! It's meant to be shared by two people, he had one to himself!!!

The weekend, so far...

So, it's Sunday morning and we've eaten our way through the first part of the weekend OK! Friday evening's buffet at Mark & Sheila's was great - we all ate way too much food but hey it was good! There was so much choice I can't even start to remember all of what we ate. I do know that we kept on going back to the table for more! The pizza was good, as was the spicy chicken, the salmon, the beef, the ham, the sausage..... The home made ice-cream, with apple pie, was absolutely gorgeous! I was full to bursting by the time I'd finished eating!

Saturday was the Derby RSPB Group's December coach trip. There hasn't been a December trip for some years now because the interest in it had dropped off due to people having Christmas shopping and such things on their minds at this time of year. So, to try and get some of the interest back a slightly different format was tried this year. We were to have a mornings birdwatching, followed by a Christmas lunch! More food!

The venue was Far Ings Nature Reserve in Lincolnshire. The site is an old clay and tile works that dates back to around 1850. Since it was abandoned the clay workings have filled with water to form a series of fresh water lakes. Now, the area is home to a variety of wildfowl, waders and also common woodland and garden birds. Lynda and I saw a total of 46 species between 10:00am and 12:30pm. If we hadn't needed to stop for the much more important business of eating, then I'm sure we could have added more birds to the list.

Wildfowl numbers were a little low but we did come across Gadwall, Pochard, Tufted Duck and a pair of Goldeneye. Waders of note included, 60 Dunlin, 49 Redshank, around 40 Golden Plover in flight, 5 Snipe and a single Curlew. Most of the waders were roosting under the Humber Bridge - which, Lynda was sure, was moving in the breeze!

A feeding flock of around 40 Siskin was the best find in the wooded area of the reserve, along with numerous Goldcrest, Redwing and a single Willow Tit. By around 12:30pm our thoughts turned to food and we headed to the hotel that backs onto the reserve and, after changing out of our muddy walking boots, we headed for the bar! Lunch was due at 1:30pm so plenty of time for a pint!

Our group of around 50 were seated in a really nice dining area that overlooked one of the lakes - should have kept our binoculars with us - and the food was great! I had soup to start, followed by a good old Christmas dinner of turkey, new and roast potatoes, vegetables and plenty of gravy! By the time I'd cleared my plate I was getting pretty full again, still made space for the Christmas pudding that followed though! Plus another pint and a rather nice cup of coffee at the end! Oh, and a mint chocolate! All in all a great day out, enjoyed by everyone. With luck this will become an annual event for the group.

So, now we have Lynda's works "do" this evening - more food and more drink! Tomorrow we are going over to see Lynda's brother and his family which will not doubt see us eating even more! That and probably playing Twister or Jenga with my 5 year old niece! And she usually wins!

Far Ings trip photos

The chaos starts tomorrow!

Friday sees the run up to Christmas move up another gear! Over the next four days we are out for three evening "do's", one lunch time meal (as part of a days birdwatching trip), plus a visit to see my mum before her birthday!

Then the following week Lynda is out for a meal on the Wednesday evening, with some ex work mates, on the Friday it's the Bluehorses Christmas gig here in Derby (can't wait for that one!) and then on the Saturday night it's my "works do" over in Nottingham.

If we survive all that extra food and drink then we have a clear week, so far, leading up to Christmas Day! Will have to hit the gym extra hard that week so I can then put all the weight back on again! Last year I managed a highly respectable weight gain of 14 pounds over Christmas and New Year! Gives me something to aim at this year!

Buxton Goes Tribal!!!

OK, time for an update! Yes it's a day or two late but I've been kinda busy this past few days......

It all started on Thursday around 1:05pm. I checked out the Albannach forum and found a post from Nikki about a "private gig" in Buxton - damn, just up the road and it's behind closed doors! Oh well, can't be helped! Then things changed, very quickly! By 1:15pm Jamesie, from the band, had posted an invite on the forum for us to join them at the gig! What a result!!!

Over the next few hours, and into Friday, messages passed back and forth and it was all sorted. Not only were Lynda and I going but also Nikki, Gila and Meg, who is over here from the States. This could turn into a fun night!

Saturday evening arrived and so did the rain! When we set off from Derby it was pretty bad, what would it be like up in the Derbyshire Peak District? Well, it was wet, very wet! We passed through low cloud and mist and along roads with about an inch of standing water in places! In Buxton we parked the car then decided against getting out for a while - it was throwing it down outside! I took the opportunity to send a text message to Nikki to find out where they all where. The answer that came back.... LOST! Oops, not good news, then to make things worse I lost all phone signal so we were out of touch! Time for a beer!

Once inside the hotel things started to run a lot more to plan - we found the bar, then the beer, then the band, then Nikki, Gila and Meg found us! We spent around an hour or so in the bar, just chatting and taking photos of everyone so that they could be posted on the Albannach forum for everyone over in the US to see, before it was time for the gig. And what a gig it was! Jamesie and his troops just blew the place apart!

The drums and pipes echoed off the walls of the hotel like thunder! This was pure tribal energy at it's best, the place just didn't know what had hit it! I could go on for pages about the gig but it's easier just looking at the photo links at the end of this - you'll get more of a feel for it that way!

So, that's why I've been a little slow with the update - I've been in recovery mode, that and sorting through all the photos Lynda and I took!

The night ended for us in Buxton at around 12:30am on Sunday morning, then we had the hour or so drive back to Derby. Even that wasn't enough time for me to come back down to earth, I was straight onto the Albannach forum to chat with the people over in America! I think I eventually went to bed at around 3:30 in the morning - tired but very happy!

Sunday, I started my Christmas shopping! Strange how things soon bring you back to earth with a bang! I hate shopping!

Buxton gig photos

More Buxton gig photos

What a pain...

Went back to the gym tonight, the first time since doing the BHF walk just over a week ago, and the old knees gave up on me again! Only managed around half an hour of cardio stuff before having to stop. The pain in my left knee was just too much again. After doing some fixed weights I headed for the swimming pool - much easier!

The air temperature was just below freezing tonight making the outdoor pool feel even warmer that it was - just like swimming in a hot bath it was! I managed about 30 lengths of the pool before it was time to head home. You certainly feel just how warm the water is when you climb out and walk back to the indoor pool area!

Will give the legs another try again on Thursday and see how it goes then! Think I must be getting old!

Weekend re-cap...

Work was quiet on Saturday morning so the fish tank did get it's clean! I started it at just after 9:00am, after having a sausage & bacon cob whilst sorting the days workshop parts out, and was finished by 11:15am. For the third time I got a "friendly" bite from the biggest fish in the tank - that one really is pushing it's luck now!

Saturday evening's meal at The Plough Inn was great! We picked Mark & Sheila up at 7:15pm and arrived at Normanton on Soar by around 7:40pm. As the table was booked for 8:00pm we ordered some drinks and went and sat in one of the lounge areas. The big leather sofas were so comfortable I could have stayed there all night. If a fire had been lit in the big open fireplace, then I'm sure I would have!

Once at the table it was the usual problem when at any of the pubs owned by this group - what to choose - as there is such a choice! I'll not go through what we all had but the Potato Skins with Cheese and Pineapple starter was very nice, as was the Marilyn Monroe chicken that I had! The chicken is a boneless breast covered in a sauce made with cheddar cheese and cider with a light bite of English and wholegrain mustard, very tasty. The steak that Mark had looked very good as did the Boozy Bullock Pie chosen by Sheila. Lynda tells me that her Chicken Napoleon was also very good.

When the friendly waitress asked if we would like to see the dessert menu we all jumped at the opportunity! Not because we were still hungry I must add, just because we could!!

I'd have liked to have put a picture here of the Crunchy Bailey Boo that Mark and I both chose but I'm not sure you could face it! It's a HUGE bowl of ice cream, covered in small pieces of Crunchy chocolate bar, with a rather large measure of Baileys liqueur added! What an end to a meal! We rounded off a very pleasant evening with coffees back at our friends home.

Over the next 3 weeks we have another 5 "meals out" and thats BEFORE Christmas arrives! Think I need to hit the gym hard again!

Today I went into work for a short time so that I could feed the fish there, then spent most of the day sorting out hundreds of photos that I have on my PC. Most are now safely stored on CD!

Chill time....

It's Friday! Time to look forward to the weekend again!

Tomorrow I've got work in the morning, may be cleaning the fish tank if there isn't too much going on, then back home and stay in the warm in the afternoon. We've missed the snow here so far but it's freezing cold and the wind will cut you to the bone!

Tomorrow evening we are going out for a meal at The Plough Inn, at Normanton on Soar. We've not been here for a while and when our friends, Mark & Sheila, suggested it was time we met up again we chose The Plough for a change! Any excuse for some good food! Might not be a bad idea if I start looking at the menu now - there's always such a choice I can never make my mind up!

Not sure about Sunday yet, all depends on what time I can get out of bed, if the snow holds off and also if Mel decides we're doing another walk! I'll let you know on Sunday evening!

BHF Walk Day...

Well, we did it! 17.5 miles in the Derbyshire Peak District, in November! It's now 8hrs since we finished and I can honestly say.... THAT HURT!!!

So, how did it all go? Well, I was up and out of bed at 5:40am, had a cooked breakfast, packed all my gear, made a flask of coffee and loaded the car. By 6:50am I'm ready for setting off. No such luck! It may well still have been dark but one of our friendly Blackbirds wanted some food!

After feeding the wildlife I'm off to meet Mel, my sometime training partner at the gym. Having picked her up we set off to Cromford and the starting point of the walk. The drive there only takes around half an hour so we arrived in plenty of time for our 8:30am start. Once in the car park we met up with my mate Paul and then handed in our registration cards. A quick photo call and we're off.

The first mile or so was alongside the old canal and nice and flat, after that we hit the first climb of the day, and it's a big one! Still, best getting it out of the way now and not at the end of the day! The view from the top was worth the effort in the end. After that we had another few easy miles before hitting our second climb - I was glad when we reached the top and the first BHF rest point. We grabbed a quick cold drink here and set off again.

The next 6 or 7 miles were quite easy going, the ground was still very hard from the overnight frost ( -4C when I left home ) and we made good time, passing many of the walkers that had set off ahead of us. At 10:45am we took a 10 minute break for drinks and a bite to eat. I'm not sure but I think it was around the Longcliffe area, so we'd covered about 8 miles.

Minninglow was the second BHF rest halt at 10.5 miles. Here Paul had some soup from the BHF, Mel had a cup of tea and I had more of my coffee. We rested here for 15 minutes - the breaks were taking longer now! We decided to push on for another 2.5 miles so that we could reach Friden where we had our lunch stop. This was at around the 13 mile point. Lunch took us 25 minutes, I said the breaks were taking longer!

Getting started again after lunch proved a bit of a pain! Literally! My knees were starting to feel the distance now. Still, only a little over 4 miles left. The next couple of miles didn't prove too bad once we'd settled back into our pace. Even my knees eased off a little.

Parsley Hay was our final rest point only 2 miles from the end, and we only stopped for 10 minutes! What a mistake though! My legs were starting to seize up by now! We also noticed that we were no longer catching other walkers up, or being overtaken! Everyone was feeling the strain! Having said that, the morale was still very high with everyone - ourselves included.

We covered the last 2 miles in half an hour so the pace was still quite good but it certainly hurt. Not just me, but also Mel and Paul! And just about every other walker that was around us! At the final check point we had our sponsorship forms stamped, took a few more pictures and headed slowly off to find the coaches that were waiting to take us back to Cromford and the car.

All in all a great day! Rouned off by a gentle swim back at the gym followed by a short time in the spa pool. Can still feel my knees though!

So, will I do it again? I think so! I've had problems with one of my knees for a few years now so expected a bit of a pain there, the muscles in my legs feel fine and I'm not tired at all. If my knees are OK in a day or so then yes, I'll be back again next year!

BHF walk photos here!

Andover break...

What a nice easy trip to Hampshire, for a change! We left home at just after 6:00pm and by 8:35pm we were in Andover - no traffic jams and no fog or rain like the week before. Why can't our roads be like this all the time? We did see two shooting stars on the way as well, which were good.

We sat and chatted with Lynda's aunt and uncle for the rest of the evening, catching up on news and also having our first taste of sandwiches with "invisible crusts"! Don't ask! Having sorted out the plans for the following morning, we were doing a walk and pub lunch, we headed off to bed and an early night.

Thursday was very frosty with clear blue skies - ideal walking weather. We met at just before 11:00am for a circular walk around the village of Quarley. The walk was an event arranged by the Andover U3A and was well attended with around 30 people there. The birdlife was a little quiet, we only saw the more common species such as Pheasant, Crow, Magpie etc but did see around 8 or 9 deer on the edge of one of the woods. We also came across an old barn that has so far escaped being turned into a house!

After the walk we headed off to the Old Plough at Grateley for lunch. Lynda and I both had chicken in white wine with Yorkshire puddings, very nice it was too!

On Friday Lynda, her aunt and myself visited the Fairground Craft and Design Centre at Weyhill, a complex of converted old barns from a no longer working farm that now house a variety of craft workshops and shops. Here Glenys, Lynda's aunt, treated us to two hand turned vases made from the seed cases of a Banksia tree. Very unusual and attractive they are too! In the afternoon I sat in the house reading while the girls went off shopping and Morgan, Lynda's uncle, went to his photography group.

Saturday and we had to start thinking of heading home. After a lazy morning in front of the TV with the papers we loaded the car with our bags before heading off for petrol and then down into Andover for a pub lunch with the rest of the family. We had a great time there, all eating far too much as usual!

The journey home wasn't as pleasant as the journey down, we encountered patchy fog around Oxford and then spent the best part of an hour queuing into roadworks just before the M40. Once through that the rest was quite straight forward and we got home around 5.00pm.

Walk photos here!

Looking ahead....

Only just over 2 hours till I finish work for the week!

Then it's straight off to Andover for a couple of days break. We're back sometime Saturday afternoon ready for my sponsored walk Sunday.

Just had a look at the weather forecast for Buxton on Sunday.......


High: 2°C
Low: -3°C
Rain / Scattered snow showers
Wind: From the West Southwest at 3 mph
Precip: 30 %
Max. Humidity: 88 %

Sunrise: 7:41
Sunset: 16:05

Hmmm, could be a fun day then!

The sun still shines...

After what seemed like weeks of rain, with only the odd bright day, Saturday arrived dry and cloud free, if a little cold! If only it would stay like it for the rest of the day! The morning continued in a positive manner as we waited in the centre of Derby for the coach to take us to Titchwell, Norfolk, for the day's birdwatching. A male Peregrine Falcon flew over and landed on the cathedral across the road from us! First good bird of the day!

By just after 9:00AM we were stopping at the Farm Cafe on the A17 - one large sausage, bacon and egg cob later and I'm ready for anything the day can throw at me! Having done this trip many times before I took the chance to sleep off my second breakfast at times during the rest of the journey! 11:00AM and we were at Titchwell. By now the weather was looking great, clear blue sky, plenty of sunshine and only a light breeze.

The first good bird on the reserve was a "heard only" Cetti's Warbler. We did spend a short while waiting to see if it would show but then moved onto the marsh itself. From the path down towards the sea we saw Curlew, Little Grebe, Dunlin, Ruddy Duck, Little Egret, and large numbers of Brent Geese feeding on the salt marsh. A Water Rail caught us by surprise as it took flight from the side of the path. It wasn't just the fact it flew up from close to us but also seeing a Water Rail in flight was pretty unusual.

From the sea shore we managed to pick out Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver and Great Crested Grebe on the water and also 5 Gannet flying past some way out to sea. After much searching we also picked up 2 or 3 Velvet Scoter in amongst the Common Scoter. Three Sanderling that flew past were the only waders of note.

On the walk back towards the visitor centre we stopped off at one of the hides for a while and saw a flock of around 400 Golden Plover and large numbers of Oystercatcher. Other birds of note included Turnstone, Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Grey Plover, Ruff and Pintail. A Peregrine hunted overhead for a while but failed to make a kill. A Marsh Harrier showed briefly over the reed beds as we walked back along the path to the visitor centre. By this time the sun was starting to set on what had been a very good day's birding! We saw a total of 59 species ourselves, not a huge count but still a very enjoyable day!

Titchwell photos here!

It's Friday......

It's only been a four day working week but it's been a long four days! Another hour left at work and then I've two days off! Roll on 5:30pm! Straight from work we're off to the gym for an hour or so,then home so I can clean my walking boots - been going to do them all week!

Tomorrow we're off to Norfolk, with the Derby RSPB Group, for a days birdwatching at Titchwell. Just hope the weather is better than it is here right now, it's raining and the wind's blowing like crazy!

No idea what I'll do Sunday yet, maybe just sit around the house and catch up on some TV! Then again Lynda may well have other ideas - mow the lawns, wash the car, clean the house, shopping, gym!

Is it time for work again yet?

BHF UPDATE!

Not long now!

It's just under 2 weeks until the British Heart Foundation walk. My sponsorship total, so far, stands at just over £290.00!

I'd aimed at raising £100.00 when I first received my forms, that target soon became £200.00, now £300.00 will be no problem! Can you help me hit £400.00???

You can sponsor me via the BHF web site on the following link....!

http://www.bhf.org.uk/sponsor/richardcrooks/

Pizza, timber buildings and horses!

After a pretty horrible week I was glad to see Friday come around so that we could have a bit of time to chill out and enjoy ourselves a little. After work Friday it was straight down the gym for a quick workout before heading off for a pizza and a beer with Lynda, Paul and Ali. OK, it kind of defeats the object of doing a workout, but I like my food too much to be a slave to good eating all the time!

The pizza was great, as was the salad bowl we shared (my bit of good eating!) but the unlimited trips to the ice cream machine were better! Even more so because of the chocolate buttons that Lynda piled on top of the second bowl full! I love them! After we'd eaten our fill we headed back to Paul and Ali's for coffee. A nice quiet evening just chatting and enjoying some chill out time.

Saturday I was in work until lunch time. Lynda picked me up at 12:30pm and, after going home for a quick change of clothes and a bite to eat, we headed off to Shrewsbury for the Bluehorses gig. The journey only took us just over an hour and a half leaving us plenty of time for a look around the town.

Many of the old timber framed houses are still in the town centre as are some of the old cobbled streets. We also had a quick look around the castle grounds but, as is often the case with such places, the castle itself had a lot of steel work up against it where restoration work was being carried out.

The early part of the evening was spent in The Bull pub having a meal and a couple of drinks. Cottage Pie, salad and potatoes was my choice, Lynda decided on gammon, eggs, pineapple and chips - we both went for the apple pie afterwards! So, at just after 8:00pm we walked back to The Buttermarket, the venue for the gig.

The first thing that hit me, almost literally, was the amount of old red brick in the place! The stage was in one of the end arches of the catacombes, underneath the main building, a great setting once the main lights were turned down and the spot lamps came on. The band took the stage at 10:00pm and rocked the place until just before midnight.

Highlights for me included Witch In Wedlock, Black Is The Colour and, one of the newer tracks, Billy. Crow On The Cradle was a new track to me and I'm sure it will become a 'horses classic! But the best was still to come in my mind - SKYCLAD! Saturday's performance of this track must be the best it's ever been played! The speed that Nat played the bass left myself and most others totally in awe! Oh, and it left Nat with some pretty nasty blisters on his fingers too!

After the gig we stayed around for a while chatting with everyone before finally saying our goodbyes at around 12:15am and heading for home.

Click below for photos!

Town photos!

Gig photos!

BHF UPDATE!

With now just a little over 3 weeks until the British Heart Foundation walk my sponsorship total, so far, stands at just over £250.00! But, there's still plenty of time for that figure to increase!

You can sponsor me via the BHF web site on the following link....

http://www.bhf.org.uk/sponsor/richardcrooks/

RSPB Walk

Sunday dawned dry and bright so Lynda and I decided we would join the Derby Local RSPB Group for their guided walk at Blithfield Reservoir, Staffordshire. Two days running that I'd been out birding, things must be looking up! After a little over half an hour drive we met up with the rest of the group, 22 people in total.

The first thing that struck me, apart from the two low flying hot-air balloons, was the lack of water in the reservoir! The past few months must have been a lot drier than I'd thought - we really do need a lot of rain if our water supplies are to recover. Thankfully we didn't get any on Sunday!

The first part of the walk took us through a section of very old deciduous woodland that was somewhat lacking in bird life. I did hear a Great Spotted Woodpecker but that was about all. What it did hold was some interesting fungi, unfortunately many were damaged by people walking the paths or had been eaten by birds or animals, but I did get one or two decent photos.

At the end of the woodland we came out on to the banks of the reservoir. Here we saw Wigeon, Ruddy Duck, Goldeneye, Teal, Mute Swan and 2 male Pintail. There were also around 100 Black-headed Gull roosting on the water's edge and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull. A steady walk along the reservoir edge also gave views of Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe and Grey Heron. In the surrounding fields and hedgerows we also saw Magpie, Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch and Robin.

The best find of the day for me was the huge fungi that were growing in long grass by the path. There was a group of four of the things - sorry don't know what they were called! - all over 12 inches across and standing almost as tall! I passed a good few minutes taking pictures of them!

We continued to the far end of the reservoir and another wooded area. Here there was a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees. New birds for the day here included Nuthatch, Goldcrest, Goldfinch and Linnet. Views over the water gave us a single female Goosander, 9 Shelduck, 2 Shoveler, 2 male Pochard and a further 3 male and 1 female Pintail. Nine Golden Plover flew overhead with around 200 Lapwing. By now it was just after 12:00pm and time to head back to the car. By the end of the walk we had seen a total of 40 species of birds. Not a bad count for a Sunday morning stroll.

On the way out, from the car park to the road, we stopped twice so I could take more photos of fungi!

Shardlow stroll

Another Saturday off work and another grey start to the day! Isn't it summer yet? Never mind, get out and make the most of the fact that it's dry! First, breakfast! You can't start the day without a good cooked breakfast, well I can't.

As the weather could have gone either way I decided on staying local to home again, and with the last few days having been very wet I needed a walk that would be on reasonably firm ground. Shardlow canal was my choice as I hadn't been there for a couple of years, it would be fairly solid under foot and would hopefully give one or two good birds.

I parked on the edge of the village and within a 100yds or so of the canal path. First birds were a family group of Mute Swan, 2 adults and 3 of this years young. As I walked down the path they drifted up the canal and climbed out on to the lawn of one of the waterside houses - not sure I'd want them on my lawn!

The hedgerows along the canal give close views of Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Chaffinch and Song Thrush. Every now and again a Moorhen would creep off into the Willows overhanging the water, trying to take cover as they saw me approach.

By 10:00am small numbers of narrow boats started to move down the canal, most seemed to be people out on their own boats but one or two were boats on hire for holiday use. The latter were easy to spot once they came to use the lock!

Overhead, Redwing had started to move through, a sure sign that autumn has arrived. In total around 40 birds went over in small groups, only days or even hours ago they would have been in Scandinavia. A small number of Goldfinch landed in the top of a dead tree, one or two Skylark flew up from fields by the path and a single Great Crested Grebe drifted down the river where it joined the end of the canal.

At this point I turned and retraced my steps back to the village. I'd taken just under an hour so far, a walk that without birdwatching could probably be done in less than half the time!

Extra birds seen on the walk back included a single Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Green and also Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a female Sparrowhawk hunting along a field edge.

Back in the village I had a short walk along to the old canal warehouse, which is now a pub, before heading back to the car. Must go back to the Clock Warehouse pub again soon, not been inside for years!

All together I saw a total of 36 species during the morning, not a huge count but much better than sitting in the house! Back at home I was met by our friendly garden Blackbird demanding to be fed! Why he couldn't eat the fruit that was out on the bird table I don't know, but he wasn't letting me in the house without some more!

St. Neots Sunday!

5:45am and I'm up and in need of breakfast! One large bowl of cereal followed by sausage, beans, toast and scrambled eggs and I'm ready to face the day! By 7:00am I'm on my way to St. Neots for the last race meeting I'll do this season.

The trip took just over 90mins, with very little traffic (not surprising at this hour!) but quite a bit of mist and fog along the way. Once at the track I had a quick look around but couldn't see Gary or his car - could have been because of the fog, but more likely because he hadn't arrived yet! Oh well, time for a quick look at some of the SEGTO cars as the mist started to clear.

The saloon cars didn't look that different from our NASA cars but the specials certainly did! It was like going back 25 years! OK, the running gear may be modern but the shape of cars was from way back!

After Gary arrived we had a quick look at the track, decided on what tyres needed fitting to the car and then watched a few races before it was time for the MG to hit the track. Five or six races later and the tyres were changed back to the first set, as the track conditions had changed so much! Oh well, time for our first heat!

After a slightly slow start to the first heat the M219 MG ZR was soon up to speed and moving through the pack and, by the time the chequered flag fell, another race win was in the bag!

The second heat should also have been another win but a slight mistake going into the 3rd and 4th bend one lap from the flag, saw one of the local drivers get a better line through the corner and take 1st place and Gary second.

The final... well we'll never know! A big first bend bunching saw the MG take a heavy smack to the nearside front wing going in to the corner, which was only a panel damaged, but coming out of the bend the same car took another, bigger, hit at us! This time breaking a driveshaft as he hit the MG's front wheel - out of the race Gary went! So much for non-contact motorsport!!

Not quite the end to the season we wanted but all in all a good day with some good racing and even plenty of sunshine in the end! Roll on next season!

End of the week...

Just a quick update!

Work was quiet this morning so I took the opportunity to give the fish tank a full service. The glass was cleaned inside and out, the filters cleaned again and around 30% of the water changed. It all took around three and a half hours but the end result was well worth it - the tank looked great again afterwards. I also got a bite off the biggest fish in the tank again, three times it's done that now! Once more and I'm either going in after him or he's coming out!

The weather for Sunday is looking like it will be OK for racing, temperature of around 60F, light winds and staying dry. By this time tomorrow I'll know if the forecast is correct! Full details and hopefully some pictures late on Sunday evening - if I get back in time!

The week so far......

Monday... I found out that I was a Lottery winner!!! Lynda checked our tickets and my numbers had come up - £10.00 for me then! Not even enough to pay my petrol money for St. Neots this weekend, but it all helps!

Tuesday... We came close to flooding the showroom at work! We have a rather large fish tank, over 17ft long and 6ft tall, that I help look after. Just before I left on Tuesday I fed the fish and, as part of my normal routine, I had a quick look at the filtration system. Oops! It's not flowing through one of the tanks correctly! If I'd not spotted it then I think within 4 or 5 hours we would have had a rather large problem! Had it sorted in around half an hour before heading off to the gym.

Wednesday... My mate Gary phoned and we are all OK for racing this weekend! He must have worked pretty hard on the MG this past week or so because the poor car was far from good after the last meeting! Now we just need the weather on our side again. It's another trip down to the St Neots track but this time just for a fun meeting. The meeting is a once a year event that allows cars from the NASA organization to race against cars from the SEGTO clubs. Two totally different rule books and totally different types of car! Should be fun. I'll try for pictures of the more interesting cars!

Today... A quiet day at work mainly due to us having no computer system working for part of the afternoon! The PC's themselves were working fine, as were the internet connections, but the programme we use for workshop bookings, parts orders and sales and also car sales did not want to play! An update was e-mailed to us from the IT company and, after 3 attempts at running it, we were back up and running. After work it was another trip to the gym, then home to do this update.

BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION UPDATE!

http://www.bhf.org.uk/sponsor/richardcrooks/

That's the web address you need so that you can donate to this very worthy cause via the sponsored walk I'm doing!!!

My current total now stands at just over £234 which I'm quite pleased with but please, if you haven't already done so, consider adding your name to the on-line sponsorship page!

Thank you so much!

Back To Birding!

I can't believe it's almost 4 months since I last did some "proper" bird watching! OK, I've been on 2 or 3 walks during that time, where I have seen birds, but today was my first time out with my binos and scope since June 22!!

After a couple of heavy rain showers yesterday this morning dawned dry and bright and by 7:45am I was out the door and on my way to the first stop of the morning. Ambaston Gravel Pits is a small area of old gravel workings and farm land which is only around 15 minutes from home, by car, so makes an ideal local patch when time is short. Today I spent 2hrs there and although I only walked around 1/2 a mile from the car and back I saw 36 species of birds. Not a big total but it was just good to be out in the early morning air!

The main pool held c500 Black-headed Gull, 6 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 25 Coot, 4 Teal, 4 Mute Swan, 9 Mallard, 2 Tufted Duck and 2 Little Grebe.

The fields and surrounding hedgerows gave, amongst others, 2 Red-legged Partridge, c40 Stock Dove, 20 Linnet, 2 Yellowhammer, a single Kestrel and one Grey Wagtail. A pair of Stonechat were flitting around the tops of a reedbed. Flyovers included c40 Canada Geese, 4 Jay, 4 Skylark and a single Lapwing.

As I started back to the car a slight movement on one of the small islands caught my eye and on checking through my 'scope I found a Snipe creeping around the water's edge. Within a few minutes I had counted a total of 13 that I'd missed earlier! Just as I was about to walk off, a shrill, pig-like squeal stopped me once more. Definitely a Water Rail, but would it show? Five more minutes and I had another bird on the day list! Not stunning views but they very rarely are with such a skulking bird!

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My second site was Barrow upon Trent. The only public access here is to a small lake that has been left after the gravel works had finished with it. The last time I came here was back in March this year when a Slavonian Grebe was present - nothing that good today!

I walked from the village, down the lane to the lake, around the lake and back, a total time of just 85 minutes. There was nothing much of note here but the walk was good and I did see 25 Pochard, 50 Tufted Duck, 10 Great Crested Grebe and 7 Mute Swan on the lake.

Other sightings included 1 Jay, 3 Bullfinch and a Green Woodpecker. Two Buzzard circled on thermals a short way away for a time with one landing close by at one point.

All in all not a bad morning! 45 species in total and all within 10 miles of home!

Some you win, some you lose!

And it was all going so well!

Then.....BANG!!! And what a bang it was!

The East Midlands Champion Of Champions race was the first race of the day on Sunday and after a week of on and off rain the track was always going to be a bit on the tricky side. For Gary this wasn't proving that much of a problem, he was quick away from the start and making ground up on the other cars from the word go.

The main problem with these sort of races is the handicap system used - the lower classes of car, less modified than ours, start up to a full lap ahead of the quickest. This makes for a more exciting end to the race as, in theory, the last lap or two will see everyone in with a chance of taking the win. Great for the spectators, not so if you're the one battling from the rear of the grid!

Around 3 laps into the race and Gary was on one of his famous wide line charges around the pit bend, going right around the outside of one of the Class 3 cars (modified front engine, rear wheel drive) as if he wasn't there! Just as Gary set off up the back straight the Class 3 "lost it", shooting off his racing line and taking Gary straight in to the post and wire fence! End of race!

The end result was a re-run, that we were not allowed back in, as we had been the reason for the stoppage, and some pretty heavy damage to the car! All the left hand rear of the car was pushed in around two or three inches and the rear wheel pulled out of line by about 4 inches! Some quick work in the pits (thanks Micky Manning for your help!) and the car was sort of straight enough to run again.

As the meeting wore on we became aware that if we could just get the very battle scarred MG to the finish of the next two heats then Gary would still win a hat-trick of titles! The overall Club Points Championship had us 8 points clear going in to this last meeting. Our nearest rival took a first and a second in his races; Gary did a second and third which left him Overall Club Points Champion, as well as Class 6 Club Champion and also League Class 6 Champion!

In the end not a bad day but the damage picked up now means that the planned trip to St. Neots, in two weeks time, is in the balance.