A little something for the weekend

I'm not a big one for online flotsam and jetsam, but this is inspired. There's a version of 'Imagine' constructed from George W speeches that is even better. I'll try and find if anyone's interested. Anyone?

An afternoon out for the boys

With Caryn at university full-time and Lukey at school part-time, there's some entertaining to be done. Yesterday it was easy. 'Oliver Cromwell' - a huge, spitting, hissing, noisy steam train, one of the last engines to be in service before steam bit the dust in 1968 - paid a visit to the station it was based at after an absence of 40 years.

As some of you will know, my dad quite likes his steam trains. I've never really got it (think that was belligerence than anything else), but I seem to be catching on now. And so every time a steam engine comes this way (and it seems to be quite often), he tells us about it and me and Luke inevitably have to go and see.

It's hard to believe these behemoths were so commonplace. They are truly impressive machines. Looking at the driver and fireman on the footplate, completely covered in soot and dirt, you can understand why train driver was the coolest job in the world. That must have felt like a proper day at the office.

Quick catch up... in pictures

Was clearing out the pictures on my phone and realised I've taken quite a few that I've yet to use here. Me and Olive spent the last day of the summer holidays on a dad and daughter day and night out in London. She was born in London and whenever we do visit, she just seems to fit in there. Nothing fazed her, she just took it all in her stride, like we do it every day. But I guess she's like that anyway. I get the feeling that the pull of the big smoke will be strong in our beautiful daughter in the years to come.

Anyway. Above is her being Harry Potter at King's Cross. Her friends are all very impressed.



See. She's a natural. St Paul's Cathedral? Pah. She was much more interested in the story of the wobbly bridge that's not wobbly anymore and the falcons who live in the Tate Modern chimney.



And the second we arrived back from London we whisked ourselves off camping. These are the frankly breath-taking salt marshes at Stiffkey. And will you just look at our daughter. Hair all over the place. Very grunge, very cute.

... and then there were two

Lukey started school yesterday. So both our children are now at school. Admittedly Luke's only there half days until Xmas so it's not much different to his playgroup, but he's on his way.

Although Olive secretly loves school, she does like to pretend it's boring and she has already twigged that she has to go every day until she's almost not a teenager anymore. That level of realisation must seem quite frightening when you're six. I can recall thinking that school seemed to be going on forever. Thing is, you wish it away and all of a sudden you find that you're 41 and wonder how that happened. Life? You just can't win.

Yes, yes, last published August 13...

Look, I'm busy. There's only one of me and the demands on my time mean no nothing else at the moment.

What's happened since August 13? Erm. I went to a lovely wedding in France on my own for a couple of nights. As you can see from the above pic, security was pretty tight. Hur. The plan was to get away for a weekend and stock up on loads of sleep, but I ended up having hardly any. First night I was back at the hotel by midnight only to discover a music festival raging outside my window until the small hours started getting bigger again. My luck that is.

Then me and O went to London for the day last Friday, visited Tate Britain and stopped over at Uncle Christopher's. Had a good night down the boozer with my brother... then home on the Saturday morning - no sooner was I in the front door than the car was packed and we'd set off to the wonderful Stiffkey for a night of quality camping. In a tent.

Wife started at university on Monday, O when back to school today, L starts school next week... but mornings only until Janaury.

And me? Oh, you know.