We had a lovely day in North London today. We went walking on Hampstead Heath visiting Fenton House and garden. Also enjoyed our bus journey to get there. We always try and travel by bus in London if we can because it always interesting. Found a great local pub for Sunday dinner.

Yesterday was a disappointment at Spurs. The Mighty Hatters battled superbly through adversity another defender injured at half time so we we only had one central defender on the pitch. Silly mistake at the end cost us a point. The stadium was impressive but like most premier league large stadiums was lacking in atmosphere. Really worried if we will be able to put a team out on Wednesday! A couple of pictures below.

Following on from yesterday’s blog = I got an absolute soaking today on my bike as it was raining cats and dogs, well cows and horses!!!!

Tomorrow we are off to North London. the Mighty Hatters are playing at Spurs tomorrow and then at Arsenal on Wednesday night. So we are staying up in Town visiting a wide variety of  places of interest in between. I am pessimistic about our chances in both games – we still have 11 players injured, the latest is one of the quickest players in the league and I think he might of given us an outside chance tomorrow. I just hope we are not thumped in these games- it doesn’t get any easier our next away game after these two games is Manchester City! I will have my fingers firmly crossed and will probably being watching through my fingers- well I can’t hide behind the sofa can I! Just as encouragement a picture of me after i won a football a few years with two of our players – the player on my right is still playing for the Mighty Hatters and I hope he might score a goal for us  this season and will then have an amazing record of scoring in 5 different divisions with the same team!

My goodness the last few days have been wet with some really heavy downpours!

Luckily this morning when doing the monthly bird survey out by the River Severn it was dry but windy! The ground was of course waterlogged. and there was plenty of evidence of last week’s five star Bores with flotsam littered everywhere. Saw my first Sand Martin, Avocet and Wheatear of the year! Heard stories of some Blackbirds that have already fledged!!!

The Two Severn Bores are rehearsing tonight to get back up to speed for our gig next month. It is amazing how much you forget about parts of a story if you haven’t told since last November!

The pictures for today are from India where the weather was certainly predictable – no rain and hot. I guess you don’t need many weather forecasters! One picture is me bowling in the net and the other two are silly ones! (p.s. those who know my cricketing abilities will know I am not a bowler!)

The one below the signs says “parking for the physically challenged” – which might be appropriate for the Glos Seniors Tourists!

This one is Sean and I being silly before play at the Rajkot Test Match! Note we are in our distinctive  tour shirts which you couldn’t miss us in. It get some comments from the commentators on T.V.!

A busy day for The Story Traveller!

An early start saw me get to Wick Court to do the feeders. We then got a real soaking when we took the young people from Maidstone bird watching. The wind was bitter so we all had cold numb hands!  I was impressed that nobody complained despite the soakings and the cold.

I then rushed off to Cheltenham for a cricket net and then back for story telling at Wick Court. I thoroughly enjoyed telling two stories.

I am now tired sitting writing this!!!!!

I ventured up to Splatt Bridge this afternoon because I had heard Marsh Harriers were sky dancing. Sadly no luck although I saw one bird in the distance. However, I managed to hear a Bittern booming from the distant reed bed- brilliant!

I gave you lambs in my last blog so here are a few signs of Spring I saw on my walk. The Swan came off her nest for a while so I had to wait till she went back on!

And finally a Greenfinch sitting on top of a tree singing his heart out!

It has been a busy weekend. Managed to get some time in the garden doing quite a few jobs because it didn’t rain! Spent most of this afternoon having fun with our grandsons.

I did go looking for the Marsh Harriers yesterday as they are supposed to be building nests (the male often makes six potential nests and the female selects one!) I didn’t see any and apart from hearing some Chiffchaffs no sign of migrants. The only sign was the lambs I photographed!

We had a super Book Club on Wednesday night in our idiosyncratic local. We all enjoyed their renowned Three Shu Pie before we started our discussion. I mentioned we were discussing Demon Copperhead and we all acknowledged it was a good provocative read. We spend much of the time looking at the parallels with David Copperfield which Barbara Kingsolver used as her vehicle to highlight the opiate crisis in the States. We all agreed that Dickens himself would of appreciated her story of a  poverty crisis with a powerful message. It has made me want to read some more of her books.

I was summoned to give some grandparent support to my two grandsons in nearby Bishop’s Cleeve yesterday morning. We both went over again today and had the delight of a bus adventure with Owen age 3, he insisted on both journeys that we go to the back seat! Great fun!

I enjoyed my Story Telling stint at Wick Court last night with our charming visitors from Brunswick Park Primary School London.

I also survived my first cricket net back in England (regular readers of the blog will know I had one in India before our games out there.)

Finally today’s picture not mine is of a Marsh Harrier – we currently have a lot of activity from a pair in Frampton! Fingers crossed that the mating is successful.

If you click on the link (Destiny or Fate Performance) below you will get the poster for the Two Severn Bores gig at Newent Library. You do need to get a ticket but it is flexible if you pay or not. Hope to see some of you there.

Will update my last couple of days in tomorrow’s blog. Off to Story Tell in a little while.

Destiny or Fate Performance

After a couple of lovely days in Exeter with our lovely family it was back to Frampton life today. It was mainly routine jobs.

Looking forward to tomorrow- Book Club in the evening where we are discussing Demon Copperhead. A book I have mentioned previously and how much I got thoroughly absorbed in it. Will be interesting to see how the others enjoyed the book. Our discussions are usually wide ranging.

I also have Wick Court tomorrow for our regular bird watching slot. I also have my first cricket net of the year in the afternoon. Think I might be tired after all that! As I am netting tomorrow a team picture of us before our first game in India at Shivaji Park – can you spot me!

Had a delightful day in Exeter playing with our wonderful granddaughter Ellen. She is following in the family footsteps and enjoying riding her bike (a balance bike).

Proud of the effort the few fit Mighty Hatters  put in yesterday to earn a deserved point. Another two players got injured in the game!