Day 168 - Wild Boar Chase

brown sheep of the family

We went looking for the boar today, with mixed success...

The day was grey and overcast for the most part, despite the optimistic forecast from the BBC...but as the afternoon waned, the sun came out and it warmed up nicely.

We wandered off down the lane, camera in tow, to see what we could see.

Almost immediately, I spied a brown or grey animal sheltering under the hedgerow, in a field full of otherwise bright white sheep. 

Fortunately I had the zoom lens with me, as they were a long way away, two fields over, and my deteriorating eyesight could only make out a blurry shape.

The photo clearly shows it was just a sheep (also, nice bokeh).

(after this photo, the camera decided it had no battery left, so I changed to my phone...when I rechecked upon arriving home, the camera battery was 94% full...doh!!)

Further down the lane and across the fields, we came across another set of tracks, coming from more or less the same place as yesterday, but heading off in a different direction.

There seemed to be two sets of tracks at some points, one set much smaller than the large.

Here are more of the larger footprints;

As you can see, compared to Anna's tanned hand, this is fairly large.

This lighter is 8cm long, and is about the same length as the fore hoof.  The spur indentations are another couple of cm to the right.

We're estimating that this print belongs to a large male.   For reference, a male boar would typically weigh somewhere between 100 and 175kg...I'm less than 90kg, and Anna's around 50kg, so it's two or three times the size of her, and maybe twice the size of me...this thing could be huge!

The track ran out when it reached the road, although we did find a potential day nest in the ditch under the hedgerow...

On the way back I stopped to grab a better snap of one of these beautiful red trees, over next door's gate.

ornamental hawthorne

The whole of the verge is riddled with ants nests and mole tunnels (must try to get a shot of a mole, we have loads in the garden and round about, at the moment), making mowing harder work than usual...and when mowing this morning, I inadvertently chopped the top off a busy ants nest...oops!

I had exposed a lot of eggs, causing quite a stir amongst the ant colony, and was still feeling guilty about it.

no eggscuse

This was the best of a poor bunch of photo's I took with the decent camera just after the offence was committed.

Using the viewfinder would have meant lying with my legs sticking out into the road and my face in uncomfortably close proximity to a seething mass of angry red ants!   So I just guessed, and took a few hopeful shots.

Checking back this afternoon, as we returned from our walk, they'd got most of the eggs back underground...phew!

As we got back into our garden, there was a hen pheasant hanging around, and I got a few poor shots on my phone.  

meep meep

I can't believe I was this close, with the decent camera around my neck, and the zoom lens on, and I used my phone to take the shots, thinking the good one was out of juice...argh!

Oh well, lesson learned!

More on the developing boar incident as we have it...

:-)

Day 167 - Am I Boaring You?

rusty roofs

Anna came home today!  Yay!

As she was feeling tired and jet-lagged, after a bit of an epic journey, we decided to go for a slightly longer wander across the fields, to help her stay awake...blow away the cobwebs and all that...Jazz seemed relatively lively so we thought we'd see how far we could get. 

We followed a track across the wheat field, to these old outbuildings...I find them cool and interesting, and like to visit occasionally.  They're rarely used, other than to store an assortment of mysterious, odd-looking farm machinery.

Consequently, there's always signs of wildlife in there...owls, pheasants, rabbits and badgers use it as shelter, at least, and sure enough, when I approached there was a pheasant roosting in the dark interior.  Once he'd departed (with the usual crazy squawking), we ventured in to see what we could see. 

There were the usual signs, rabbit droppings, a variety of bird nesting material.   Then, hunkered down behind an old tyre, I found a somewhat bedraggled looking squab - a young pigeon.

damp squab

We left him alone and wandered back out into the daylight.  As I strolled around the back of the outbuildings, I noticed some unusual footprints.  

We'd been looking at prints in the mud as we'd crossed the fields...there were human welly prints, accompanied by a large dog...possibly Diesel the Doberman, who lives next door. 

But there was another footprint, cloven hooved, and large...we scratched our heads and thought maybe a large deer, though it seemed unlikely. 

Round the side of the outbuildings there were a number of these prints leading along the gap between the wheat and the hedgerow. 

cloven hooves

Here you can see two prints.   Note the indentation by the 3rd knuckle of my index finger, and large, splayed hoof. 

sasquatch?

Here's a slightly closer view, and again you can see the depression just above the tip of my thumb. 

There was an accompanying trail of slimy poo!

not deer

We'd briefly considered whether the hoofprint might belong to a Fallow Deer, although it would have to be a huge deer, with the size of the print - 3-4" long. 

That theory bit the dust as soon as we saw this poo - I don't know what this animal has been eating, but it's clearly not predominantly grasses!

Could it be a wild boar?!   

I saw one less than a hundred yards from this spot, 8 years ago.   There were a number of sightings in the area at the time, and local speculation was that they'd escaped from some (unspecified) boar farm. 

But since then there's not been a hint of them...but still, these prints...that poo...

We strolled home discussing whether we could find somewhere to put the trailcam, and determined to look up boar prints when we got home. 

Passing a completely different field, we saw a deer. A Roe Deer, I think - there has been a family group living in these fields for a couple of years. 

I took some photo's, but you can't even see there's anything there, let alone that it's a deer!

no deer

The deer is smack on the vertical mid-line of this shot, and around 55-60% up from the bottom...don't bother looking though, because you can't see a thing!

We bimbled on, and came under the watchful eyes of a small flock of newly shorn sheep.

feeling a little sheepish?

Amusingly, they seemed a tad more skittish than usual, as if embarrassed by their nakedness.

Anyway, once home, I googled wild boar hoofprints...this is definitely a wild boar!!!

How exciting!

We've lent the trailcam out at the moment, but I'll ask Anna to retrieve it...

It would be a real coup to get a photo of one for my blog!

B-)

Day 166 - Alsatian Wolf Dog

doggystyle

Sitting at my desk at home, whilst working, my eye fell upon this block of dog-themed post-it notes that I was given at Christmas.

It's one of those things that has been sitting on my desk for months and I've never really looked at it...funny how the mind tunes out things that are always there, only really noticing when something changes. 

For some reason, today it snuck into my attention zone, and I noticed that it has different dogs on each side, and on one side, curiously, it has the three breeds with which I'm most familiar.  

huge lab, or miniature alsatian and westie?

Of course Jazz and Bluez are Black Labrador Retrievers, all around brilliant dogs...although not quite as gigantic as pictured here - I think this is a Black Lab crossed with an elephant, judging by the size of the other two! 

Earlier in Jazz' and Bluez' lives, we often dog-sat for a couple of West Highland Terriers, Luci and Bear.  Luci (short for Lucifer!) was small, and reminiscent of the little westie in the photo.

Luci and Bluez were good friends...at least, he put up with her quite patiently, given she was such a little ball of high-octane energy...Bear was a very handsome, confident little chap, and he used to escape from Chez Balogne often.   They were great fun, very different from the labs.

I've known a few German Shepherd Dogs (GSDs) in my time.  Most notably, my hairdresser (back in the days when I both had hair, and got it cut) had a huge, brilliant GSD called Zack...and my friend Jezz was surrogate master of an equally brilliant GSD named Tarot, a few years ago.

See, they always have cool names, too!

Jezz is looking to get one soon, and I've long had my eye on them too. 

Apparently they used to be known as the Alsatian Wolf Dog, which is a great name.

I really like the white ones, I think they're just gorgeous, and the black ones are super-cool too, beautiful animals.

All-white and all-black, whilst not exactly common, are by no means rare...but in the UK any such pups get killed because they don't meet the breed standard...

(don't even get me started on the Kennel Club...they have a lot to answer for!)

Anyway, Kim would like a white one too, tho' I'm not sure it's an ideal breed for a first time dog owner. 

All that said, Anna has issues with GSDs, and they're not necessarily that reliable with cats, so I'm not seriously considering one...but if I had my druthers, a white (or black!) GSD would be high on my list.

I reckon we could do some kind of deal....

Maybe if Anna can have a donkey one day, then I could have, let's say, an Alsatian Wolf Dog?

;-)

Day 165 - No Horse With a Name

keep up, puny human

Jazz and I went on a mission to find Frankie this evening. 

It seems to have been raining for several days now, and it's been wet and damp for a few weeks, so we haven't been over to where Frankie was pastured.   But I've been asked for news of "the horse" a few times now, and my conscience was pricking at me a little. 

So we girded our loins and headed off to the woods on the hill behind us.  I wasn't sure how far Jazz would get, but as we started up the hill in the woods he became lively and excited.

He even cantered past me at one point - the first time he's done that in months!

Four legs are much better than two on difficult terrain...claws help in mud too!  This path is on a steady incline, rising gently up the hillside through the woods.  It's really boggy at the moment, welly-sucking wet, and I struggled to keep pace with the old dog.

We got to the Orchard and I scanned the field for signs of Frankie.

Frankie?

There was no sign of him down the field, or even any signs of recent activity, and nothing higher up the meadow either.

Fraaaaaaaan-kie??

On the Manorial estate there is an old Coach House, with a central courtyard surrounded by stables.   I've only stuck my nose in there a couple of times, and it always looks used, but there's never been any horses in there when I've looked.  

I didn't think that the shepherd would have the option of stabling Frankie there, but figured we'd go and have a look, just to remove doubt. 

On the way we passed one of the old sheep fields, with these glorious trees with dark pink blossom:

no Frankies

I don't know what they are (I expect Anna will tell me), but these photo's don't do them justice...when Anna brings the DSLR back I'll head over and try for something better, whilst they're so beautifully in bloom. 

Anyway, Frankie wasn't in with the sheep either.   I wandered over to the coach house and as there was nobody about, I sidled closer to see what I could see.   I'm not sure if I'm trespassing, or whether I'm allowed access because I live in one of the estate cottages...but what the heck, nobody was looking so I snuck in there. 

Sadly the stables are empty, as usual.

sans Frankie

The "Lord of the Manor" lives elsewhere, but his daughter and her family live in the main house on the estate...they have a couple of horses, and I suspect they use the stables...but their horses will be outside at this time of year.  

Frankie must be convalescing elsewhere...I will look out for the shepherd and ask him what's happening when I see him...I'll let you know.

As this is a photo-heavy blog post, I'll round it out with this nice shot I took on the way back, of the little ornamental canal just over the road. 

can't lead a horse...

Not the greatest photo, I know, but it's a pretty place, even in the rain...

The good news is that Jazz managed the walk ok - that was the furthest he's walked for a while, and he coped reasonably well.   

Of course, he's sparko and snoring on the floor behind me now...

That's my boy...

:-)

Day 164 - Hit It!

this came in a box

My quest to corner the world's cardboard supplies via a cunning strategy of buying everything on the internet continues unabated today.

Here for your delectation and delight is my latest new toy...no, scratch that - at this point I'm going to claim that this is not a toy, it's a real musical instrument...it's a Cajon, to be precise.

The Cajon is an ingenious device.  I will try to explain how it works, although it's complicated, so please bear with me - I'll try not to use too much technical jargon, ok?

Ok, in order to play the Cajon, you have to carefully adhere to the following two stage process...(note that bypassing either stage will lead to the process failing in its entirety):

Step 1 - get a box.
Step 2 - hit the box.

Did you follow that?  I know, it's confusing, let me tell you another way...oh no, there isn't another way - just get a box, and hit it.

I looked up the word cajon, as I was concerned with its similarity to the word cojones...

Turns out cajon means box...should've probably guessed that! 

Anyway, the Cajon can provide rhythmic accompaniment to any musical endeavour, used tastefully...a common approach is to simulate a drum kit, with a kick drum sound, a snare sound, and a high slap or crack for embellishment.

Here's a brief sample from my first attempts to do something musical with it this evening, to give you an idea... 

(Note that if you listen to it on a smartphone or iPad type device, it will sound tinny and rubbish, and you probably won't be able to discern the different sounds clearly...that's my excuse anyway!)




Did you spot Jazz voting with his feet?

Hmph...after he woke me up a couple of times in the night too! Lil' bugger...

I plan to use this with my looper to provide rhythmic, drum kit style backing to live loops, in my studio as a percussion instrument on other recordings, and as a mainstay of the cooperative musical evenings I'm still planning on arranging(!)

Also, I shall play it just for fun, because, you know...it's fun!

B-)

Day 163 - Drizerable Day

rock gear

Typical glorious English Summer Bank Holiday weather today!

(Please note the epic amount of sarcasm dripping from the word glorious...)

It started off dry and mild, so my plan was to take the clippers to my hair, pop to the garage to get petrol and 2-stroke oil for the strimmer (and milk for the coffee), then mow the lawns and strim around the garden a bit more. 

If the sun came out to any degree, I would nip down the lane and have another look at that tree I'm going to climb...

All went well until I went to the garage - by which time it was starting to rain lightly.  Although it had all the characteristics of a brief summer shower, it demonstrated once again how much I know about anything at all, and settled in for the day. 

It's late afternoon now, still raining, and very wet out there...although the rain has been fairly light, in the main, it has now been persisting for several hours.

It's very much the definitive drizerable day.

Drizerable is a word combining drizzling and miserable, and very much describes a day like today.  Don't bother looking the word up, I made it up...having said that, I just looked it up (yeah, yeah, sue me, whatevs...) and it seems Lil Nicki is also claiming authorship...

Shame Nicki can't spell...the word is mine!

Mwahahahahaha

Anyway, nefarious plagiarism aside, fortunately, I had a backup plan (and a preferable one at that, yay rain!)...

Another entry on my list of challenges for the year is to build home music studio, and I realised today was a good opportunity to make some progress.

So I rearranged our spare bedroom (the Rock Room), and spent some time tidying and organising gear, and setting up the basics of my music studio.

In the photo above, you can see:

• Headphones
• Stereo Amplifier
• Vocal Processor
• 10:2 Mixing Desk
• DI Box
• Microphones x 2
• Guitar Processor
• Loop Station
• Bass Guitar
• Electric Guitar
• Electronic Drum Kit
• Digital Audio Workstation (PC!)
• Virtual Sequencer
• Virtual Mixer

Now all I need is a Sound Engineer (who would understand how all these work), a competent Musician (who could play all these instruments convincingly), and a Producer (who could bring creative genius and musical ideas), and I'll be good to go!

rock gear

This photo is taken from the opposite diagonal of the Rock Room...now you can see how well named it is!

Thanks, I'm here all week!

;-)

Day 162 - Tree Hugger

climb me...

This tree spoke to me today, as I was walking Jazz down the lane...

I've talked, in previous blogs, about how occasionally when I'm at the crag, a climb will call to me.   My eye will be repeatedly drawn to a feature on the rock, maybe a crack or an arête...it will usually be something at the upper limit of my grade range.

Throughout the day, I'll find myself going back and looking at it, pondering, assessing. 
Inevitably, before the day is out I will feel compelled to man up and get on it.

I don't know why this happens, and I don't fully understand the compulsion to do something hard, potentially scary, and possibly dangerous.  But I don't try too hard to resist...and I've never regretted succumbing to the temptation.

Consequently, I now treat this urge as a reminder to myself to Be Alive, to take a risk, to embrace Life.

As I strolled down our lane in the beautiful evening sun a few hours ago, I heard this same calling - only now it's come from an old tree!

I must confess that I am a bit of a tree-hugger.  When Jazz and Bluez were pups, I used to walk them daily in the fields behind where we lived.   There, a majestic old oak stood alone in the middle of an arable field.  I found myself talking to him as we went by each day, and before long, I discovered I couldn't pass without going skin on bark with him.  

To me it seemed that we were communicating through this simple physical contact...

It sounds a bit sad when spoken out loud (or typed), but I felt that he was my friend. 

Soon after that, we moved away and I've not been back since - but clearly he's still there in my consciousness...and perhaps that has something to do with this oak calling me today? 

He's an old oak, handsome and verdant, resplendent in his new coat of fresh foliage.  I see him most days, but he's never caught my eye this way before.  Maybe it's the light, or maybe I'm simply ready for a new challenge...or maybe i just need a new tree-friend?!

In any case, as I approached the tree, I realised that I have to climb him...I don't know why, other than that he's a gorgeous tree, very climbable...and it's on my list of challenges for the year : Climb a Tree!

When I walked underneath him I realised I had marvelled at his brilliant branching before.

a-maze-ing

He's a sturdy old fellow, with this amazing twisted quality...the crux (the hardest part) of the climb will be the start...once up the main trunk to where it all branches out, it looks reasonably easy...although given that it may be as many as 30 years since I last climbed a tree, I'll reserve judgement on that...we'll see!

So I shall therefore be on the lookout for the right time and the right weather, hopefully in the next couple of days, to wander down the lane and get more intimately acquainted with this wise old oak.

I'll need to work out a way of getting some photo's - I want to avoid the "pics or it didn't happen!" charge, of course!

On a related note, on my way back up the lane, I noticed that a large branch has ripped off one of the other old oaks along the lane.

what the...?

This is most curious...it's been blustery, but not that wild, and this branch looks strong and healthy, and 4-6" thick, at the snapping point. 

How on earth has enough energy been applied to this single branch, 4 or 5m above the ground, to snap it clean off?

It's a mystery, and no mistake!

}:-/

Day 161 - Troubled Sky

beeline south

Over the last week, most of my photo's have been taken indoors, and curiously, I find this is giving my blog a misleading look...my life feels greener than the images suggest! 

To redress the balance, I took the opportunity when presented with a brief sunny interval earlier on this afternoon...the light was bright and warm, and the greens vibrant. 

It's a different green to that we had a few weeks ago, as it starts to thicken and settle towards a darker, Summer shade...and the bee is a happy accident, caught nicely against the troubled sky, which is far more indicative of today's windy, wet, blustery weather than the sun would suggest. 

In the distance you can see the slopes of Edge Hill, where King Charles amassed his troops before the opening battle of the English Civil War, in October 1642.   

I think I've mentioned that before, but this blog is now so extensive that I can't remember everything I've written...I suppose you should prepare for me to start repeating myself. 

It's fair to say that my memory is poor, and I often can't remember obvious things in my recent past.

I put it down to a flaw in the trivia switch in my brain - all sensory input is first assessed for triviality, and if deemed trivial, it's routed lightly over the surface of my mind, never to be disturbed by any deeper scrutiny...such information is treated as throwaway - very little attention is given to it and it's not retained. 

My trivia switch is apparently very sensitive, and nearly everything is deemed trivial - so I don't remember much.  My blog is now so extensive that I can't remember everything I've written...I suppose you should prepare for me to start repeating myself...

;-)

Anyway (before I forget where I was going), these are the views from our bedroom windows...the one above is looking Southwards out of the South West facing window, and below is the view Eastwards from the North East facing window at the opposite end of the room. 

on the fifth day, look to the east...

As you can see, life is still green around here!

B-)

Day 160 - Ninja Cat

balance it is...

Maisie has never been the most cooperative of cats, nor the most photogenic...

But then I suppose those qualities sit well with her ninja proclivities.

Anna is in Florida, playing with dolphins and whatnot (so she say - I've yet to see pics, despite promises), but of course she's missing the animals here all the same.   When we Skype, Jazz and Loz are usually lurking somewhere around me, but Maisie is never to be seen. 

As a true ninja, it wouldn't do, to be hanging around in broad daylight being seen and everything!

No, Maisie lurks in the shadows, upstairs out of the way...resting ahead of whatever her latest ninja mission might be. 

So Anna hasn't seen her since going away, and therefore requested a photo.   As I was short of precisely one photo for the day, I went and found Maisie snoozing on the bed in the spare bedroom.  I only had one real chance at a getting a good photo - as soon as she's awake enough, she'll just follow me around, looking for a hand to rub her face on...and getting far too close to the camera in the process. 

I just caught the photo above at the last second...none of the subsequent 20 or so I took were any good, as she was always blurry and getting in too close...like in this one, for example:

thanks Maisie, helpful

Anna came up with several potential scenario's; Cat in a Hat...Cat in a Bag...Cat in Another Bag!   Whilst these are all desirable, for the ongoing Cat in a Bag series if nothing else, they're not the kind of photo you can capture on demand!

Not with a ninja cat, anyway. 

Maybe with a trained (read: brainwashed) performing cat, like those they apparently have in Key West...but not with a true blood, old skool, ninja cat like our Maise...

B-)

Day 159 - Looperland

no man band

Well, it seems I have to put Roob out of his misery, and reveal what was in the box...

Apparently waiting a little while for some trivial detail of someone else's life was too much for him, and he had to vent his frustrations in the comments of yesterdays post...I bet he'll be disappointed when he eventually finds out.

It reminds me of Se7en...(yes I know, that 7 really doesn't work, does it?  Except you know what I'm talking about, don't you, so maybe it does!).

"What's in the box?"

"Don't look in the box..."

"WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!"

"DON'T LOOK IN THE BOX!!!!"

Fortunately, it's nothing so horrific...although perhaps it's not that interesting either.  I think I've built it up too much, over-hyped it, and now the weight of expectation bears heavy on me...

I might have to just leave it another day...that'd be ok, would it Roob?   ;-)

Oh, ok well I'll tell you then...it's one of the bits of kit in the photo...

Happy now?!

Oh, you want more detail?  Ok, it's a Loop Station...a loop machine, if you like...but I suppose you're still none the wiser...it's the left most one of the two big flat things on the floor, the one with a glowing red 3...now you see why I was surprised at the size of the box it came in!

What it does, simply, is enable you to record sounds or musical phrases from a variety of sources, and loop them...you can layer sounds on top of one another, and bring sounds in and out of the mix...and you can create huge pieces of music with just a guitar and voice (or either one on its own), or you can add any sounds you like...

You can use it offline to create full music productions for recording or practice, or if you're confident enough, you can use the Loop Station as a performance tool (known as Live Looping). 

In the photo, I have my guitar plugged into an effects pedal, then into the Loop Station.   I also have a microphone plugged into a vocal processor, and then into the Loop Station.

But rather than embarrass you all (and myself) by giving you one of my early forays into the world of looping, let's go straight to the professionals...here's a great demo from a guy called Rico Loop (seriously?!) working for the manufacturer at a music show...stick with it for a minute or two to see how versatile the thing can be...




I have to say a couple of things at this point - It's nowhere near as easy as this dude makes it look...and the dancing thing isn't compulsory...phew!

You can look forward to further ramblings (and perhaps some video or music) from Looperland, once I've found my way around...

It's a big place, and they speak a funny language!

In other news, Anna is off cavorting with the local wildlife (I hope that's not a euphemism!), so far including manatee, bald eagle and alligator...

And right about now, Anna should be swimming with Dolphins in the Keys...I can't wait to hear all about that!

B-)

Day 158 - Rock Star

not as wide as advertised

Well, today really didn't go as planned, as I hope is evident from today's photo.

Now, those of you who know me (and there may be as many as several of you out there), will know that I'm into neither celebrity nor selfies...and yet this photo is both (kinda).

Allow me to explain...

The plan was to get up earlyish, drive up to Jool's warehouse in Nuneaton and drop those laptops off, then head straight off for a long bouldering workout, before heading back home, where my new musical toy was due to be delivered. 

But it turned out that Jools was having a hectic and stressed morning, with only a few hours to get sorted before going on holiday for a week...I ended up working there until around 1pm, and leaving with a couple more computers that need some work doing. 

At least I'd decided to climb indoors rather than out today, as the plan would have been dead in the water at this point. 

Over the last couple of years, there have been a number of days when I've had opportunities to climb outdoors, when Anna hasn't...today, I'd considered going bouldering at The Roaches, Cratcliffe or Burbage South, but felt that would be yet more experience for me when Anna can't make it...especially after my 50@50 the other week, when I climbed 50 routes and Anna climbed none...

So I decided to treat it more as a workout, and go indoors.  Our favourite bouldering centre is in Loughborough, which is almost never convenient...however, being most of the way there already this morning, I realised it would be perfect for a few hours exercise.

But then it was was 2pm by the time I got there, I was hot and tired before I even started, and I tired quickly.  I rarely climb indoors on my own, and I clearly need to learn how to pace myself.   After an hour or so I was hot, unpleasantly sweaty, and pumped.  And I felt very tired, and very weak...yay! 

Either I'm completely out of shape, it was simply the heat exacerbating the situation, or I just climbed too hard too fast (by my puny standards, of course).  I did around 30 problems in total (and down climbed them all) in the space of an hour, and apparently that's about enough for me at the moment...

However, as a bit of a bonus, this chap was there setting some new problems (I tried one of them - couldn't get off the ground)...it was one of those curious moments where you meet someone you "know", whilst being just some weird stranger to them...

Anyway, this guy is Tom Randall, and he's a very well known and highly accomplished climber around these here parts (and beyond).  

(Climbers make the best kind of celebrity - the kind nobody has heard of!)

Tom is part owner of the bouldering centre I think, although I've never seen him there before.  
He and another climber named Pete Whittaker are known as the Wideboyz, due to their love of climbing wide cracks called offwidths.   They famously (amongst the climbing community at least) went to the States and climbed all the hardest offwidths they could find, including the hardest in the world, which was unclimbed up to that point.

The Wideboyz also produced a series of crack climbing instructional videos, which we watched with great interest, before finding that cracks are still really hard to climb!

(Anna and I have been meaning to get on top of our crack climbing this year, but it hasn't happened yet...)

Video's always seem to be popping up of Tom climbing some super hard stuff in the Peak District, and some super fun stuff too...all of it light years beyond my meagre bumbling, of course.

So I asked Tom if I could take a couple of photo's, simply meaning "whilst he worked"...but I think he assumed I wanted to be in the shot so stopped working and pulled a couple of faces with me.  

I felt bad for interrupting his work (I honestly hadn't meant to), but he was a really cool guy, very friendly and fun, as you can see, so it worked out well!

Thanks Tom!

One last note...that bit of kit I ordered...here it is, duly arrived, with Jazz kindly posing for scale.

big box

What on earth did I order, a new drum kit?!   I can't believe the size of the box!

One day I might show you what was in the box...

;-)