Fairly short blog today! I hope you all have had a wonderful time. We certainly did here in deepest Gloucestershire. It has been tough with late nights, alcohol, and wonderful food! The only blot was watching my favourite football team capitulate today in Bristol. Such a disappointment after a wonderful game on Boxing Day-it is going to be a long season! The Bristol Brewery before the game was a highlight.
Sadly I haven’t been able to get any writing done over this holiday period.
Merry Christmas to you all. There are quite a few of you out there who read my ramblings that is supposed to be about my Story Telling adventures; but, as you will no doubt know by now often includes other things from bird watching to sport.
Thought I would use the title of my seasonal story for today’s title. Appropriate as I have told this story a few times this December. I am very fond of this story.
We had a super day today, We were chuffed to attend Hugo’s Baptism today in Stroud. Hugo is a delightful boy son of our lovely friends the MacDonalds.
Yesterday I watched the once mighty Hatters unluckily lose, one day surely our luck will change!
My webbed feet are growing especially after today’s soaking. I was telling Christmas Stories at Avening Primary (the Headteacher is an old colleague of mine, she was an outstanding teacher and now a super Head). I had a lovely time but as I left (I was on the bike) to go to a meeting in Dursley the rain was unrelenting- “Cats and Dogs” well more like”Horses and Cows” I ended up riding through floods that went over my overshoes-so hence the webbed feet! The cavalry rescued me after my meeting which was welcome-I’m currently warming up after my soaking.
That is it for a while on the Story Telling front but it means I can focus on writing for the Two Severn Bores.
Must love water! -I was fully immersed in a freezing pond at Wick Court on Tuesday transferring plants to another pond.
We had a lovely Christmas lunch yesterday with Clare’s lovely friends from SP3.
One chink of hope at the end of a depressing tiring week was the return of a pair of Blackcaps in our garden. Fairly sure these are probably continental birds here for the winter, they are lovely birds. We do get Blackcaps in Britain all year round but we get an influx during the winter. Picture of a male at the end of the blog (not mine!)
Our Book Club met on Wednesday and the theme was lyrics-we could only pick one song and explain why it was important to us. A great evening and the choices were diverse although nostalgia was evident in our choices!
I have my last Story Telling of 2019 scheduled for Thursday-Christmas themes! So in theory getting down to writing for the Two Severn Bores Spring Tour-watch this space!
Sunday was a busy day and saw two musicians at different parts of the day. The first was Billy Bragg at an election rally in Stonehouse sing some fairly well known songs to inspire volunteers but they had some topical updates running through them. He also sang the Leon Rosselson song “World Turned Upside Down” about the Diggers one of my favourite songs and resonant with the current climate crisis and the way many of our leaders are ignoring it. We later saw local folk singer Hattie Briggs in Stroud.
Although I had to miss watching the Hatters on Saturday because of a family event it was certainly a great finish and three valuable points!
Apologies for not blogging this week but it has been all go! This mainly because it has been reasonably dry which is welcome. Spent most of Monday demolishing our dilapidated fence and with Steve we had to slide in the new fence panels on the Wednesday-my goodness that was a trial! Clare was helping us using a rake to stop the panels from tipping over-the body was wrecked at the end.
Two lovely Story Telling sessions with young people this week -one at my local school Lakefield and I also did my last slot this term at Wick Court.
Wednesday night at the wonderful Three Horseshoes went really well despite having to cope with some performers being ill. We adapted well to some late withdrawals and we all did an extra turn. We ended up with nearly £100 donated for Farms for City Children in appreciation.
Have also managed to clock up the miles on the bike despite all the above and my usual Bird Watch with the young people at Wick Court.
Today is an incredibly short blog.
First of all don’t forget The Beer and Books entertainment at The Three Horseshoes Frampton Wednesday 4th starting 8 p.m. Working hard at learning a new story.
I have to mention the disastrous football match yesterday where my football team gave their hosts an early Christmas Present. It was awful to watch as we were well and truly thrashed!!!!