A Tale of Two Cities (London and Brighton)

This is cousin Colin and Mr Fink. They completed their London to Brighton charity bike ride on Saturday.
Apparently the hills on the route were absolute killers, especially the infamous 'Devil's Dyke' on the approach to Brighton (I drove down it and I reckon it's easily a 1 in 10 incline).
My only worry came when I was waiting at the finish for my boys to arrive back, I spied one of the support team getting out of one of the vans, carrying Graham. All I could think of was, "If Graham is there, WHERE IS MR FINK?" I awkwardly asked the lady, "Where is the man that belongs to the heron? He's my husband...the man, not the heron...?) She advised me Graham had become tired on the hills and gave up but Mr Fink was bravely finishing the course. ;o)

Well done brave lads, you really earned that sponsor money.

Walk With The Stars

Last week, Astral spent her second week in the local hospice. what a beautiful, serene, 'happy' place. While I was visiting on Monday, I came across a leaflet, "Walk With The Stars" raise money for the hospice by completing a sponsored 5 mile walk. "I'll do it." I thought.
I registered, i set up my sponsor page and as an incentive I said, if I were to get £100 I would do the walk in my pyjamas. The next thing I know, The Foggs (and many others) had sent £100, just to make sure I wore my pyjamas. I said If I were to raise £200 I would carry Graham T Heron round with me on the walk. My work chums pitched in and Graham was on the team. Lastly I said if I raised £400 I would wear the flashing bunny ears. Friends, family and old school chums didn't let me down and the picture shows what I looked like as i set off on my very first sponsored walk.
I was terrified, I didn't know how far 5 miles looked like, could I walk that far? How would I explain if I couldn't make it? Anyway. I met up with Bionic-Woman (had a new knee and a new wrist) and she and I walked the 5 miles. It was hard going for the last little bit and i have a decent sized blister on the ball of my foot which gave my gyp, but I did it. I walk 5 miles in 1 hour 30 minutes and felt a huge sense of achievement. (Mr Fink went to bed early as he had a Father's Day golf game in the morning) so The Glums had kindly offered to 'pick me up' and take me home. I shared my triumph with them and went home to bed.
Just one thing makes me wonder - I wonder what people would have asked me to do for £1000?

Cumbria part 2

View from the car when Nanny directed us half way up a mountain, only to realise it was a dead end and on the way down we met half of the county's sheep population coming the other way. the helpful elderly shepherdess asked, "Did you think I was standing int road fot good of me 'ealth?" so we just blamed Nanny and took pictures of the sheep like good little tourists!

The rest of our holiday was amazing, Doris and Little Fink went horse riding on a very rainy Saturday, they had a great time and I was 'proud mum' when I saw Little Fink on her pony, "Pinto" cantering up the beach.

We also took in the sights of St Bees - the wind had whipped the sea up into foam which was blowing all round the place - surreal.

We went to Ravenglass and saw the narrow gauge train, "L'al Ratty", we also visited the nearby Roman Baths (baths in Cumbria - they must have been mad brrr!). Then we headed up to Muncaster Castle and took in the castle, we waited patiently for the herons to come down to be fed on the battlements of the caste, Graham was beside himself but unfortunately the clocks had got back the night before and the birds had all been there an hour earlier. Graham was the only heron at the celebrated and widely advertised event! (During his whole day out with us, only one lady asked us why he was there. I told her Little Fink was 'special' and she would only be calm if she could bring Graham everywhere!! he he). Doris, Ched, Nanny, Little Fink and I went on a ghost walk (it being Halloween an all) round the dark grounds of the castle, we were led by a guide in Victorian costume telling us about the various murders and wrong doing that had gone on in the area, resulting in the ghosts and ghouls we were to see. As we passed a gazebo on our left a blood curdling scream resounded, Nanny shrieked in my left ear and Little Fink in my right. It was pretty scary. Then we headed up to the church, were led inside and given some background info, then walked back into the darkness outside. As the church door closed with a satisfying gothic thud, the church bells started to ring - THAT was spooky, church bells in the dark. brrrr. We rounded the corner listening to tales of Jenny Greenteeth who could just out of the water or hide under bridges, ready to trap unsuspecting children, when as we rounded the corner and passed a massive clump of gigantic bamboo, over 10 feet tall, the bamboo started to shake and rattle and a manic laugh came from within. Terrifying. As we rounded the final path and were told the tale of the poor woman drowned in the river Esk by 2 fellows, a shrieking woman figure in a white shroud ran up the path in front of us. We finished by walking down to the castle fire juggler. In some ways he was the scariest thing as his act was so bad!

In any case, I recommend a trip to the castle after dark. they also light up some of the trees in different colours, well worth a visit imho.

The View from the North

Life in Cumbria is great this week.

We travelled up on Wednesday, met my Auntie who owns the static caravan we are staying in, when we got to the caravan the lights wouldn't turn on. I checked the fuse box, outside fuses and plugs. I phoned Auntie, she phoned her sister and the cavalry were sent to our aid. Before they turned up the lights all came on! When the second Auntie, cousin, cousin's wife, son and girlfriend turned up it appears it must have been a power cut DOH! Cue embarrassment and cups of tea!

Thursday we attended the funeral of a dear Uncle, a sad occasion but mixed with happiness at seeing relatives from my mum's side of the family (Nanny). For a little light relief after the funeral we went to Morecambe. What a beautiful place. It is clean and fresh with loads to look at, loads of mazes, sculptures, mottoes and scenery. The monument to Eric Morecambe on it's own is worth the trip and as you can see, Graham really enjoyed it!

Friday, Nanny and i went metal detecting on Haverigg beach, found loads of bullets (!), Little Fink found 2 silver sixpences and assorted dross! In the evening Ched and Doris arrived, we had fish and chips and played Doris-style tiddlywinks - this is very dangerous as Doris plays to win. In the end Little Fink took to wearing swimming goggles to protect her eyes from Doris's wayward winks! Very funny.

More news soon - I love Wifi!

Graham lands in Wales

Graham has landed in Wales on his holidays with The Glums.

Here is the first picture of Graham enjoying his vantage point from the Glums caravan in the foothills of Snowdon.

I'm glad to see he has arrived safely as Bambi (Mr Glum) did say Graham was not welcome on their holiday and something him being an endangered species and breaking him (or was it me) into small bits...or something. However, If I'm not mistaken, Graham's plumage looks a little 'dull'. Like someone has picked all the colour off him?

How very dare you? Poor Graham.

The Silly Season Begins

Long time no post.

On Sunday I left Mr Fink busily putting the camping gear away and playing with his new surround sound system (apologies to the neighbours, it wasn't my idea) and went off with The Glums to their caravan. The caravan lives, for most of the year in a secure depot, nearby. You would have thought we were on holiday, the weather was warm, Mrs Glum and I sitting in camping chairs enjoying cups of tea. Then Marsha and I picked some blackberries, unfortunately not enough for jam as we ate most of what we picked!

On the way home I happened to notice someone had left a life size plastic heron in the field and mentioned it in passing.

Later that evening we were watching Gryff Rees Jones on a program tracing the path of the River Lea through Beds and Herts when he visited Hatfield House where he was looking at an Elizabethan map. The map had a note on it to show where the heronry was. DING. "Mr Fink, do you fancy a game of plant the heron?" After I explained to Mr Fink, we set off to nab the heron. Under cover of darkness we drove to the field, I got out, Graham is so lifelike that in the twilight I thought, "If that thing moves I shall die of fright!"I abducted Graham and jumped back in the car. Next we made our way to Glum Towers. I gained access to the front porch, positioned Graham.....argh, I could hear child's footsteps going up the stairs. I quietly shut the porch, ran to the waiting car, jumped in and drove off, just as Marsha's bedroom light came on.

As we drove home, we were giggling like a pair of fools, congratulating ourselves on a fine bit of silliness. The only question is, will Bambi (Mr Glum) see the funny side or will he in his early morning stupor, fall over him and break his (Bambi's) nose?

Time will tell.