I am story telling in Cheltenham tomorrow at a care home. I was doing quite a few before covid hit but this is the first time I’ve been invited in to one since the epidemic. From what I understand my audience will be mixed so I am currently planning my stories to tell!

Now trying to put together a simple book for my granddaughter Ellen’s third birthday!

I went to football yesterday and got a soaking walking up to the ground. It was a dismal game and the Mighty Hatters struggled to get any sort of rhythm. The referee didn’t help – he was incompetent! However, a more urgent approach after falling behind saw us scrape home. It is ironic the two games we have won have been our poorest for football! Off to Plymouth on Friday night hoping we can get a third win on the bounce.

It has been a Yo-yo sort of day! Went out this morning with Clare ( her first decent cycle since her recent op) on our bikes and stopped for coffee where we unexpectedly met some old friends.

After a quick lunch I cycled to Wick Court for a one off bird watching session that was being filmed as part of a promotion for the farm. I managed to get the scope on a kestrel for the young people with me. I came home for about 70 minutes before cycling back for my regular story telling session! Feeling tired now!

No not Story Telling! Tomorrow we have someone coming to Wick Court (Farms for City Children) where I volunteer to do some filming for promo. They want to see me with the youngsters bird watching. Not sure if I should get my hair done! I will be story telling there as well in the early evening!

I am going into a school next month to do the Boudicca Revolt- it involves me wearing a red wig, painting my face with blue paint and waving a sword threateningly at the Pride of Rome! Those of you who may of worked with me or at schools I visited might recall me yelling “Stuff the Romans” and winding up my audience! (There are some posed pictures of me doing Boudicca on the Historical section on my web site – I have upgraded the wig!)

Wonderful evening at the Seth Lakeman concert in Stroud. This time it was a trio playing not the full band. The grainy pictures below is Seth has just finished the atmospheric Kitty Jay (he always does this one on his own). The bottom picture is the trio. Always good to hear live music!

Tired out from story telling today (it was an early start and and a long drive). What a lovely festival had been taking place and what a place to tell stories! The picture below is the Great Barn where I performed. You do occasionally get some good atmospheric places for a gig! You might remember in December The Two Severn Bores performed in the Great Hall of Berkeley Castle and we have also performed on a boat in Bristol Harbour!

Really chuffed that my team the Mighty Hatters actually managed their first win of the season which was a relief! ironically it was probably our worst performance of the season! It was certainly a scrappy game. Now sitting waiting for the T20 cricket final that Super Glos have managed to get to the final! So a sporting feast for me!

Missed the osprey last night by 5 minutes!

Off to The Great Barn tomorrow for Story Telling!

At this time of the year we occasionally get ospreys calling in on their migration. I saw one on Tuesday night being mobbed by a raven. I was hoping to get a photo but had no luck. Two have been spotted over the last couple of days but I just missed seeing one tonight. A picture below not mine but maybe I can get one in the next few days if it stays for a while. I did see a kingfisher and a heron ( a slightly fuzzy picture below).

Thoroughly enjoyed being back at Wick Court on Wednesday and we were treated to plenty of migrating swallows and house martins overhead.

I made my debut for the Gloucestershire Over 70s yesterday- I am their youth policy! My highlight was diving to haul back the ball right at the boundary edge- so I did look like the youth policy!

The title might give a false impression that it is calm here at the moment. Spent this morning helping with cutting back our magnificent walnut tree. Needed doing otherwise we would have disgruntled neighbours with their light being blocked!

I am off to Wick Court tomorrow after the summer break to take young people birding.

Looking forward to Book Club tomorrow night- it is my choice “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster. A book I remember reading to my class as a young primary teacher. I often recommended it as book for young people (or not so young people to read. Juster was obviously influenced by Alice in Wonderland with a similar off the wall humour and imagination. Re-reading after many years was a real treat and left me with a lovely warm glow! Will be interesting to see what my fellow bookies think!

Not only have I quite a bit of Story telling coming up but we also have Gloucester History Festival to look forward to and a Seth Lakeman gig on Sunday.

We had a stroll to Splatt Bridge today. I was hoping to take some pictures of birds. I saw a lovely long-tailed tit on the wire with perfect light but as soon as I got my camera out it flew off! Still a lovely robin singing instead (see below)! A not so good picture of a starling in the garden as well!

I am enjoying watching this Test Match which is a decent contest!