Sunday 29.1.2017

After two walks this week on freezing cold but dry days - especially on Wednesday, a penetrating heart-attack easterly wind which nearly had us over and necessitated several layers on body, head and hands - today it was about crunching over last night`s snow in shirtsleeves, hatless and gloveless, a diamond-dazzlingly afternoon, the sun ever higher in the sky with real warmth in it though the ground remained frozen for the most part.



Meanwhile and between country walks but involving some city walks it`s been all about the fantastic Celtic Connections, keeping the dark at bay and the best kind of antidote to, let`s say, the world of alternative facts if by any chance you`re needing one, bringing together as it does musicians from all over the world.


Lots of driving up and down, late nights, bleary eyes but it`s been worth it to see:
Banda das Crechas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6vRN4oK6LI)
Billy Bragg & Joe Henry (http://shinealight-joehenry.billybragg.co.uk/)



Anxo Lorenzo trio with Xabier Diaz e Adufeiras do Salitre

not forgetting Barluath (http://barluath.com/)


Phew! And still to come:

James McMurtry with Nathan Bell and Alice Drinks The Kool Aid
Martin Green's FLIT
& the fantastic Treacherous Orchestra with Ezza

All at http://www.celticconnections.com/. Altogether the best way to beat any suggestion of the "winter blues".

Wednesday 18.01.2016

So let`s see:
Christmas? Check.
Hogmanay? Check.
Traditional January trip down south? Check.

Walks around the beautiful Cotswolds? Check.

Back to work? Check.
Back to walks? Check.

(i) round the block at lunchtime from work on a quite stunning, mild, spring-like, bird-tweeting, sparkly sort of day,prompting slight detour to get best views:

(ii)round the woods this afternoon on another springlike day, the sun with real warmth in it, the kind of light that enhances the lichens and throws shadow bars across the path......

....and in New Year`s Eve Resolutions update: the French is going well and I am somehow delighted to learn the word for rear-view mirror is, apparently, retroviseur. Of course it is. :) Juggling not going so well....perhaps as someone suggested I should try doing it in French. All other resolutions on track.

Tuesday 3.1.2017

Happy New Year....resolutions same as usual (see last year) but also want to improve on my French and possibly learn to juggle though I`m almost sure the latter at least will go the way of most resolutions.
Meanwhile almost arrived in the beautiful Cotswolds, currently putting on a particularly splendid sunset to greet me. Train journey without hitch but why is it Cross Country charge for wi-fi and it doesn`t work very well while this last leg, with GWR, offers free wi-fi and it works? Just wondering.......

Thursday 29.12.2016

Not a patch of snow left anywhere,all greens and browns as far as the eye could see, a mild(ish) breeze wafting the scent of pine about and a sky full of golds and greys and blues and whites...and then......later on...U.F.O.s......

Wednesday 28.12.2016

No dramatic meteorological events today....and yet... and yet. Overcast but with glimpses of blue, a brisk breeze, the light muted as the sun began to sink below the horizon. One kind of typical winters day then: the freshly turned-over soil a rich brown, all kinds of green with patches of snow still lying, a day for throwing back the shoulders, taking deep breaths and walking a bit faster....
...and then as we came down the hill, the sun having finally disappeared behind us in a blaze of gold, the sky ahead of us - to the north in fact - began to turn a pale pink, a prelude to a crimson finale that spread across the whole sky as if to demonstrate there is no such thing as an "ordinary" day.

Tuesday 27.12.2016

Love the British climate - one day a zephyr, the next snow and a baltic blast and today - a lilting breeze, a smidgen of real warmth in the sun (though snow still lying in the shade) and the birds in the woods emerging from wherever they were hiding yesterday and tweeting away as if spring were just around the corner.......and contented sheeps on the neeps ....wonder what tomorrow will bring :)

Monday 26.12.2016

Still blowing a hooley but today it`s an icy blast: normal service has been resumed for Boxing Day on our Scottish hillside.....