19-Aug to 25-Aug 2012

Sun 19-Aug: Walked down to The Dolphin this afternoon to meet up with Becky, Barry, Beth and Chris to mess about on the river in Chris's inflatable canoes, play baminton, throw a frisbee and occasionally take a breather from entertaining the grandchildren to listen to the jazz band. Here we are with a front row seat.

Mon 20-Aug: Well, after an afternoon of effort here's the impressionist masterpiece... my entry for the painting class 'A Vase of Flowers' in our Flower & Produce Show on Sat 01-Sep. In spite of being given all the kit to paint more than ten years ago, this is the first thing I've ever produced. Enjoyed the experience and learned a few things about watercolours in the process. Must do more this winter.

Tue 21-Aug: Here's me this afternoon, having rolled up in the car outside David's house for one of our weekly squash matches, something we've been doing now for almost 30 years. Having tooted the horn I always have to wait a few minutes to see if there's any movement in the net curtains to tell me he's heard and getting ready. Then out he comes and off we go. Today in the serious best of five, having pulled back from 0-2 down I lost 7-9 in the 5th game decider. We then had our usual best of three friendly, which I won 2-0... small consolation!

Wed 22-Aug: Took the granddaughters for a trip out this morning, Linda along for protection. Here they are having lunch at Houghton Mill cafe after playing at the local park... well, everyone had lunch except Izzy, who, after we'd meticulously gone through the whole stock of the cafe, couldn't find anything she liked to eat! Paige spent most of the time attached to the dead mobile 'phone Beth had given her. Think they enjoyed themselves.

Thu 23-Aug: It's that time of year, when I get my four minutes of fame and much leg pulling at my awful live interview technique. Here's the first instance this morning... an article in the St Ives Town Crier, the contents of which were extracted from some publicity text I sent them a few weeks ago. Unfortunately they misquoted the HRAA web site address, but otherwise a good pitch for the show.

Fri 24-Aug: Off to the local community radio station this evening for Richard and me to do an interview about the Flower & Produce Show. Not sure it helped to be told they had a potential listening figure of 125,000. Sure we can reduce that a bit for you, thought I. Click HCR interview to listen to the 30min interview (it's edited to remove most of the adverts and music). At least I was consistent... 72 'erms' is about the same as the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire interview last year, even though I was desperately trying to cut them out. Strangely, I didn't get much of a word in after I mentioned how proud I was of my plums.

Sat 25-Aug: After tea at The Dolphin we set ourselves up beside Barry's parent's boat awaiting dusk and the procession of lighted boats down The Ouse. Treated to a display of model aeroplane flying by Barry, and an inspection of the inside of the boat when there was a short cloudburst.