This week I’ve got round to something which has been nearly EIGHT years in the making. A few years back was the start of the world changing for us. Since then Hawklad has experienced losing his mum, two grannies, an uncle and a niece. Not to mention several pets. Hard enough for a grizzled, well weathered muppet like me, unimaginably tough for a child who was only 8 when the world started changing. I’ve always tried to find the right words for Hawklad, being open to whatever he needs to get through this but being brutally honest, I’ve tended to skim over some really important areas when it com ..read more

Muddy paths everywhere. At this time of year this should be a nice, dry way through the local woods. Not this year. In fact part of the path is closed off as it is flooded. Early morning runs through here are currently a slide FEST. Hopefully it can dry out as the bluebells will be out real soon, maybe they can swim. As my muddy legs got even more muddier this morning, I was pondering on something a work colleague had said in a meeting. ‘Daughter will be going to University September next year. That’s it, most of my full time parenting will be definitely over. She wants to go to St Andrews, t ..read more

It’s a steep old walk out the village.. try that when it’s icy. More tropical Yorkshire weather, more time by the coast. This time beautiful, old Robin Hood’s Bay. Welcome to the eighteenth centuries busiest Yorkshire smuggling port. Maybe the name came from this being the legendary ‘give to the poor’ hero’s seaside refuge, maybe it came from local fairy folklore. One thing is for sure, if it was Robin Hood or a Forest Elf, I hope they got wrapped up warm. It’s a place to blow away the cobwebs, it’s a place for the thickest of thick woolly jumpers. Many many years ago, a young me came here on ..read more

Switzerland has so many wonderful adventures to offer. Such a small country offering so much. Yet there is one thing that Yorkshire has over that LANDLOCKED Alpine Paradise. SEASIDE If your thing is bleak, windswept sprawling beaches and a frigid North Sea, followed by Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas, then it’s the Yorkshire Coast for you. Case in point….. On a typically tropical Easter Day, donned in a million woolly layers, we bravely ventured to just North of Whitby. To Sandsend Beach. Cold YES, worth visiting, MOST DEFINITELY ..read more

That’s a proper bridge. So far it’s kept my feet dry this season but has provided a few too many wobbly moments. Work had a few too many wobbly moments today as well. This morning was an important work Teams call. I was up and raring to go. Ok not so much raring as rusty, but at least I had a coffee at hand. Sat at my home old desk, just logging on when POWER CUT. PANTS. Ok no panic, I will access Teams on my mobile. But clearly the wind is in the wrong direction. No 5G, no 4G, not even 3G, only 2G. PANTS, mobile internet is going to be really slow. Not much will load up. Even bigger PANTS. I ..read more

We were watching an old James Bond movie with a long scene filmed in Switzerland. “Dad, even James Bond stuff looks better in Switzerland….” I couldn’t disagree. That set me off again thinking about how amazing a life in that beautiful country would be. Fast forward to early this morning. Sat outside with a coffee trying to cool down after more exercise torture. Yorkshire was grey, misty but at least almost dry. Did I mention that Yorkshire is great for COOL DOWNS, no need for ice baths here, just hot drinks…. Then a thought hit me, even the coffee tastes better in Switzerland. Deep sigh ..read more

It’s now been over two decades walking down the village back LANE. Actually it’s really about navigating the dangers, dodging the potholes. The many many many potholes, mile after mile of them. In places it’s more hole than tarmac. During the day it can be bad enough but at night, on those late dog walk. Yet, over the years the myriad ankle breakers have become ingrained on my mind, almost subconsciously I now know which way to step, hop, jump and sidestep. Without thinking, without looking, I flow through the pothole dangers. Who would have thought it, on that LANE, I almost become a cross b ..read more

As bizarre as it may seem, but we did have trips which didn’t involve Switzerland. And as hard as it seems to me, trips that happened before Hawklad. A time before I had digital, so it’s been time to try out the scanner. France about twenty years ago, a hot summer in the Loire Valley. The Loire if I remember right is known as something like the Garden of France, a perfect description. In our experience, it’s also ‘if you want to see a glorious Chateau, Loire is the place to be.’ Chateau de Villandry is almost 500 years old and in those years they have been working on the gardens. Really really ..read more

That’s as Spring-like as it’s got so far… You know those meetings, the meetings where TIME becomes irrelevant. In fact everything seems irrelevant. Everything goes into slow motion. You do that neat shark trick, where they switch off half the brain but still manage to swim. I had switched off more than half my brain and was still able to hold a pen, randomly nod and prevent gravity pulling me off my chair. The words just drifted by. Then like a half sleeping shark smelling blood in the water, I was jolted awake. Did he just say ‘you need a HUG’. Panic setting in, this was the oddest looking k ..read more

No sign of Spring yet…. Twenty odd years of living in rural parts kinda makes you accustomed to power cuts. The other night seemed no different. The flickering of lights like a Hollywood Ghost Movie, then everything goes off. Usually the lights come back on within a couple of hours. But not this night. This night, the lights flickered and then a huge explosion from somewhere across the fields. Then blackness. A recent innovation is that the Power Company now sends out text messages to say when the power is likely to be restored. This night, the first text was as expected. “Specialist Teams ar ..read more