Christmas in Madchester

With Margot in Romania Jim took up her ticket to come to Selby with me to see Vin Garbutt "The Teeside Troubador". One of a kind. Theoretically a folk singer but I think the chat between songs takes up more of the evening than the songs themselves. Very funny. I noticed he tours down south and abroad and wonder how anyone outside of the north-east understands a word he says.

That's the end of the Selby season so looking forward to the new programme dropping through our letter boxes in the New Year.

Kept busy while Margot was away, getting in a tree and putting up some lights, though we won't be here to watch them. The five of us are spending Christmas in Manchester at Matt and Sam's with the young people doing all the work. Sounds good. Other than that, finished my coursework 40 minutes before the deadline and helped Rahab set up her broadband connection - the one-eyed man in the land of the blind (Kipling?)

No-one told me table tennis on Tuesday night was a party rather than a normal night but no-one commented on my tracksuit, probably thought that was my party outfit. Did get a couple of games in.

Jim set off for Bassingbourne, taking in a visit to Becca's grave and Christmas Eve lunch with Jeff and Debbie, aiming to arrive in Manchester later that evening. Margot and I combined a bit of last minute panic shopping with looking after Florinda's shop, Florinda having headed off to Scotland. Too wet and miserable for most people but we probably sold enough to make it worth while opening up.

Christmas was great. Probably more food and TV than was good for us but we did walk Bones a couple of times and on Boxing Day Team Huxford did a few laps of the park to get back into training. Jim and Matt did the Christmas meal - we were impressed.

Margot gave me "Home" by Marilyne Robinson(the author of Gilead, which I raved about earlier this year) though I have just started "Out of Romania" by Dan Antal. Its about the revolution there in 1989. Interesting if you have seen the carefully preserved bullet holes where the secret police shot at demonstrators. Margot got "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett which apparently is better than the film.

Matt and Sam gave us "The Illusionist" a beautiful little film by the maker of Belleville Rendezvous. The background paintings of Scotland, and Edinburgh in particular, ae worth looking at on line - http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2309062656/tt0775489 - if published in bookform that's what I want for next Christmas.

Boxing Day saw a walk alongside the River Mersey (yes the same one, it winds its way through Manchester on its way to the Pool) and then, the next day we went into town for the ultimate movie contrast. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protoool at the IMAX. Suspend disbelief and enjoy the vertigo, but try and see it at an IMAX for the full impact. If you like bungee jumping,you will love this.

Back at home now and a few days before a quiet New Year's Eve before the Grand Tour of the M25 scheduled for next week

Home Alone

The charity rugby match went well, though the change from Rugby League to Rugby Union at half-time made things even more confusing than usual. Thirty players turned up and as many spectators. With a raffle in the clubhouse afterwards we raised several hundred pounds and the teams signed a Burley RFC shirt which will go to Becca's parents as a momento

In the evening Margot and I went to Selby to see Lau, a three-piece folk group taking a music in new directions. Very atmospheric. Fantastic evening and well worth looking out for. http://www.lau-music.co.uk

if that wasn't enough, on Monday night we went the National Centre for Early Music, a converted church in York with fantastic acoustics and a venue that performers really like. As well as early music they do folk, jazz and world music. We went to see Emily Smith, a Scottish folk singer we saw in the same venue a couple of years ago. She’s been nominated for Radio 2’s Folk singer of the year award and rightly so. She’ll be touring again in May 2012 so watch out for her. http://www.emilysmith.org/

On Tuesday we went over to Manchester for Matt’s birthday. We went with Sam and Jim to Sapporo, a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant. In case you haven’t come across this it’s a sort of indoor sushi/noodle barbeque with your own chef, who doubles as a comedian. Sounds dubious, but was good fun and the food was terrific. http://www.sapporo.co.uk

Jim drove home but Margot and I stayed over and in the morning I took Margot to the airport. She was off to Romania for some workshop with teenagers up near the Urkraine border. She’s still there now in 2 feet of snow so let’s hope she get’s out in time for Christmas.

Had a game of squash with Matt before heading back to York (despite me going back to coaching on Monday, he won). He’s on a fitness regime and both he and Jim have signed up for the 3 Yorkshire 10k runs next year. Their main aim seems to be to beat me, which shouldn’t be too difficult unless they persist in playing rugby the day before.
Jim’s moved back in with us temporarily with his TV and his computer and is looking for a flat in York in the New Year. We watched “Animal Kingdom” on his big screen. A good film but - like”The Slap” which finishes this week on TV – not quite the side of Australia the Tourist Board would want us to see.

Dovedale

Dovedale - the Izaak Walton

The discount weekend at Dovedale went well despite Jim having caught my bug. He bravely joined us on Saturday on a walk up Dovedale as far as Milldale with Matt and Sam, Margot and myself and the two dogs. In the evening he went to bed and missed the dinner dance included in our bargain break with an ageing 'beat combo' working its way through the hits of the 50s and 60s. Margot and I danced and eventually Matt and Sam were persuaded to join us with a few moves - in a post modern ironic sort of way I think.

Sunday morning I took Storm for a pre-breakfast walk up Thorp Cloud which proved sheep free so I let him off the lead. If I hadn't he would have surely pulled me over the edge. Later in the day we walked along the Manifold River before heading back North, stopping for lunch at the Arkwright Mills in Matlock.

I'm glad he got a good run in on as on Monday things went pear shaped. I took Storm for an early morning walk down by the river and on the way back an elderly cyclist came round the corner (on the pavement) and before I saw him Storm lunged and bit his thigh. As I pulled him off the guys jeans leg came too. After I took Storm home I took the gentleman to A&E and offered to buy a new pair of jeans. He was OK and not too upset but we realised that we could no longer be confident we could control Storm and took him back to the Dogs Trust. They don't put dogs down and the police seem to feel they wouldn't need to take any action but we were really sad to see him go as for 99% of the time he was a loving, if over-exuberant, dog who now seems destined to live his life out in the Dogs Trust home.

Jim is going to put off considering another dog until he has got his life a bit more sorted. He plans to rent a house in York for a few months while selling his house in Wakefield and buying one in York. Its a shame as I now realise I am a dog person but it makes sense.

Thursday I went with a group of youngsters with learning difficulties to start on a project to turn Balloon Tree Copse into a nature reserve. If you want to know more go to our website at www.yorkgreenwaychampions.btck.co.uk

READING

Deadline for my Development Psychology course essay loom so have given up fiction for a bit.

Nevertheless still have time tonight to watch last Saturdays two episodes of The Killing II - I now want it to be tomorrow so I can see what happens next. Shouldn't be wishing my life away but it is very exciting.

COMING SOON

Sunday sees the charity rugby match arranged to raise funds for Becca's hospice. Some semi-pro players are coming to Jim's rugby club so we shall be spending 2 hours standing around in the cold -better than playing I suppose given Jim's injury record.

To Selby to see Lau in the evening.

Book Club

During the summer I started to work my way through a history library inherited from my dad, my uncle and my son, Jim's, undergraduate course. Come the autumn and half way through the first thick tome I have put that on hold as the demands of my Development Psychology course at the uni took over.

Needing a break I picked up Jodi Picoults "My Sisters Keeper" to take to Norfolk and which I devoured over the weekend. She deals with a big Issue in each story and this one was to do with a couple having a child to provide donor parts for a sick sibling. She really manages to bring the topic to life and together with the pace and twist of a detective novel it was one of those reads that makes you wish you hadn't got other commitments to get in the way.

So much so that I scoured the shelves and went straight into "Vanishing Acts" which touches on issues of child abuse and abduction, alcoholism, abduction and honesty. It coincided on my Development Psychology module on morality and probably was more useful, certainly more gripping.

I'll probably go back to her, but for now I'm racing through a memoir "In Search of Fatima" by Ghada Karmi. A refugee from Palestine as a child, she grew up in the UK and it really gives a human face to the tragedy of Palestine as well as actually bringing out some of the history that seems to have been forgotten. The first part covers much the same ground as that series on TV The Promise which deserves another viewing. My uncle Peter was in Palestine but I never talked about it with him. So much is lost because we never ask - and then its too late. So I have plans to do my own memoir while my memory is still (more or less) there. Just don't hold your breath.