Billy Fairburn's memorial.

We went out this afternoon which is unusual for me these days - it's 'Cricket Week' at the village club. That means there's a game everyday.

On Thursday, the M.C.C. send a team and that's a big day. Unfortunately, I've got a hospital appointment that day which means a long wait for some meds and an infusion. So who knows what time I'll get back.

Today was different, we had an invite to the club for a social because our friend and neighbour, Shirley, was sponsoring the day in memory of her Husband Billy Fairburn who died of cancer last year. I knew him for many years so I had to go even though I didn't really feel like it.

It was very nice - a quiet memorial. Good food and some happy conversations. A bit of music,

Unfortunately for me I took one look at the stairs and knew I couldn't make it - so I sat on one of the benches outside. I got well and truly rained on and couldn't get inside to avoid it. It was, of course a Cricket match in the middle of an English summer, so I was always going to get rained on. After that Robyn left me an umbrella.

Eventually the clouds blew over and the game started. It was very close. We were stopping them from scoring, they were proving very hard to get out.

I had lots of memories of Billy Fairburn and was thinking about how (if I'd had a long and happy retirement) I would have done all kinds of things I never had time to do; go travelling, watch more Cricket, do a bit of fishing.

Lots of things.  

I basked in the sun - this summer I've been cold all the time, often sitting under a woollen blanket it was so bad.

I've turned into a cold blooded reptile.

It was really, really painful. I think sitting on benches is not really my thing any more.

But it was a nice afternoon.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Midsummer's Night 2017.

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.
(Oberon, Act 2 Scene 1)

A Midsummer's Night's Dream.

Midsummer's has always had a dreamlike quality for me and I've always celebrated it.

In 2014, Robyn and me were up on Box hill, drinking Asti and watching the night fall. Then in the far distance, over 50 miles away, we watched in miniature, Glyndourne Opera celebrating its anniversary with fireworks. A magical night indeed.

In 2015 we spent the night before Midsummer's Day at Stonehenge, waiting for dawn. What words can describe the sight of the sun rising through the stones?

2016 wasn't so great - we had a wedding to sort out in far too little time and the Solstice had to take second place.

This year we didn't have any great plans - and in the end we walked to Ankerwycke to spend a little time at the Ancient Yew Tree - where King Henry the 8th wooed Anne Boleyn and near where The Magna Carta was signed.

It's a magical and mystical place - where the local Witches Coven carry out their ceremonies (this is an area where 'The Old Religions' have survived) around a Yew tree which may well be 2000 years old.

I foolishly walked all the way (well why not?) and as we got to the fields we marvelled in the oranges and yellows of the last flare of the suns setting.

All around us rabbits were rustling and cows were wandering about to find somewhere comfortable for the night.

It was still stinging hot.

We passed the pond and in the distance, the Thames glinted. We walked through the wood to the ruins of the old abbey.

And when we got to the little glade where the Yew is, Robyn tied one of our ribbons to the tree, something which has happened for millennia - for luck.

Then we walked back - by now I was in a lot of pain and struggling, but I made it.

Quite an achievement and part of the magic of the night.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Wraysbury fair 2017.

It was a real treat to make it to Wraysbury fair once again. As a child it was the only exciting thing that happened where I grew up.

And the weather was fantastic;

There were lots of floats in the procession that wound its way through the village to The Green.

Including a mini steam engine!

Lots of excited kids and not a few pom-poms;

The theme was 'The Mad Hatter's Tea Party'

This was 'Pumkins Pre School Group'

Lots of costumes and big hats;

And a big procession following the band;

We joined in at the tail end - there's nothing like stopping the traffic and walking along the middle of the road!

I made it to The Village Green and had a look at the stalls but I was rapidly running out of steam - I had to leave Robyn to walk round while I sat on one of the benches.

I had a quick look at the vintage car show, which is always a treat - especially this pink Caddie;

It was extremely hot and I was feeling quite sick - mainly from pain. Robyn was definitely losing it too, she asked me "Do you think it's the heat that's making you so hot?".

I was struggling and beginning to find it too uncomfortable to be sitting down.

I did check out my entries at The Craft Show - not my best results for my last year.

I got four 'thirds' and a 'Highly commended' but if I'm honest I think the judges were a bit harsh on me. Then again, I've never held back from being controversial and included two pictures from The Orgreave Picket of The Home Office in March. They were guaranteed to wind people up, which is why I entered them. I like being provocative.

I do think my water picture deserved better;

You have no idea how hard it is to 'freeze' water like that.

Any way I've enjoyed entering the competitions over the years, they were fun and a chance to open peoples eyes to the different worlds that were all around them, if only they opened their eyes.

We had to stay till late because I needed to collect the pictures at the end of the day and I couldn't have walked home and then come back.

By the end it was fairly agonising - but a good day all the same - even if there was a very long walk home at the end of the day.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

MacMillan Cancer Support Sale at Wraysbury village hall.

My back now has me hobbling around in agony but we still made it to The MacMillan Cancer Support coffee morning and sale;

Robyn was running a stall to sell her ear rings;

You can check out her jewellery Blog and even place orders here;

http://thedanglingjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

I wasn't up to making marmalade or to bring any of my stuff - my back was too painful but I sat at the stall and had a very slow and painful walk around the room.

We didn't make our fortunes but we covered our costs, had a nice morning and the rent for the stall went to a good cause.

It's just that I was dreading the drive home and I was right!

It hurt.

I'm spending the rest of the day very quietly.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me; neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Wraysbury Christmas Fayre.

An eventful Saturday, good and bad in equal measures. The antibiotics are doing their work and even better than that, my pain continues to improve. It's just a blip, I know that, but I'll take a blip right now.

We were going out in the evening but we also had a busy afternoon.

I had to clear out the drain cover - full of slimy leaves and stopping the waste water getting out.

I had to try and put back together one of our fence panels that some kind person kicked in on Friday night - the second time it's happened this year. I haven't fixed the first one yet!

And then we went to the first ever Wraysbury Christmas Fayre, which meant the high street was actually closed to traffic. There were stalls, fairground rides for children, a Santa and a very tall elf;

However it rained on us and I got into trouble with Robyn for grumbling that the event was hijacked by the church for what turned into a prolonged religious service. I ended up going for a walk.

It would have been a lot of hard work to put this on and I'd imagine it will happen each year from now on, getting better as it goes along.

Both Robyn and me are finding it quite hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year but we'll keep trying.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Wraysbury Macmillan Cancer Support Christmas Bazaar.

I don't know, I was doing really well.

Thursday we went shopping or, at least, I pretended to while Robyn did all the work.

Friday was really very good - I went out on my own. I drove to my doctor's to get the prescriptions then back to Tesco's to order the meds. Then spent 20 minutes wandering around the store until they were ready. I was invincible.

Then on Saturday morning when it actually mattered I was in agony!

Never mind, we were doing a sale at the Wraysbury Macmillan Cancer Support Christmas Bazaar, so I had to be there.

I've been going to their events for most of my life but now Robyn is making jewellery it seemed only natural to have a stall ourselves.

It was very Christmassy;

And there was a good crowd having a coffee and a chat.

After we didn't do so well at the Poultry group's sale a couple of months ago, I didn't have very high hopes, but were determined to have a go.

Robyn's been making jewellery for over a year - based on things we collected on our adventures and things that matter to her.

All the jewellery is either reclaimed, recycled or recreated and when I look at it I remember where we were and what we were doing at the time.

It's all very unique; one piece may be based on shells we collected while another was moulded out of a recycled milk carton. Because it's so personal, Robyn started a Blog where she writes the story behind each piece.

You can check out 'The Dangling Journey' here;

http://thedanglingjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

This time Robyn made a whole batch of jangly Christmas earrings and they went really well;

In fact she had some good sales and I sold a couple of pots of my marmalade too. We've not made our fortunes and, strangely, no one wanted to buy my collection of historic Shot Glasses.......again but we came out well ahead which was nice.

We also had a nice morning, chatted with a couple of people and the cost of the stall went to a very good cause.

And in the afternoon my hips thawed out a bit and I collected some wood for a fire.

Good day.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Fireworks!

On the night of my birthday we went to the Scouts firework display and bonfire - just getting started here;

It didn't take long to take!

Now it's going;

As it got hotter and hotter people started to move back away from the fire - until the fireworks started.

As we left, the fire was dying down.

We walked there and back, with about an hour and a half standing which is pretty good going for me these days, although I was feeling it on the way home.

I've had a decent week; cut the Bay tree back, changed a bulb in my car, dealt with the electrics (which involved getting
up the ladder to get my head into the loft to check we weren't on fire), stood outside watching the fireworks.

Can't say it hasn't been tough but I've been functioning.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Teasels in the sun.

We went for a walk at 'The Arthur Jacob Nature Reserve', which is only a couple of miles from us.

It sounds very grand but in fact, if I tell you that before this became a nature reserve it was known as 'The Horton Sludge Lagoons' you'll get a better idea of the place.

It's a highly polluted piece of former industrial land, which nature has been encouraged to take back from us.

On one side is an industrial estate, on another the road, on a third is a disused gravel pit and above a constant stream of planes from Heathrow Airport.

It's meant to be an island for nature with emphasis on reedbeds - but it's getting very dry these days, possibly due to climate change. 

It was still nice on a sunny day and the Teasels were running wild.

They are a kind of thistle but the seed heads are very hard and survive for months. they are also prickly and it means that this was once a valuable industrial crop used to 'tease' out felt so that it became soft.

One or two latecomers were still flowering, most were ready for winter.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Wraysbury Cricket Club and the M.C.C.

On Thursday I had a busy day - in the morning I was back up at Hospital for some more bad news - no surprise there because it's too early to get a result for the current chemo.

Then we went to Tesco's to do the shopping on the way back. So I was fairly tired by the end of it all.

But it's 'Cricket Week' - Wraysbury Cricket Clubs annual festival. They have four days of matches and today the mighty M.C.C. were playing.

If I'd had the long and happy retirement I deserved I would have done all the things I didn't have time to do. I would have travelled the world, taken up fishing again......and I would have watched lots of Cricket.

So today, I spent the afternoon watching the second half of the game....even if I did nod off a few times.

You can just about see the red and yellow of the M.C.C. flag on the left of the pavillion.

The M.C.C. (Marylebone Cricket Club) is the oldest club of all; they own Lord's, control the rules of the game, and they send out many teams to play games around the country like this one. Sending out quality players to local little clubs to raise the standards of the game.

It's all a bit feudal and it's not quite me but it made for a good match. They were always going to be good.

And as soon as I sat down my heart sank - the M.C.C. had finished their innings with 233 runs and although it was a limited over match that was a tough target to meet.

Then I saw the fielding; crisp and tight and not letting anything through.

Then I watched their bowling - two really fast ones and really up for it.

Gulp!

We didn't score more than about a run an over for the first 2 or 3 overs.

And it was quite cold and overcast, I took this when the clouds parted;

Then it started to turn into a perfect afternoon.

Nicely hit.

The openers got into their stride and hit a few before they were out.

Then the middle order started slogging it out;

The run rate was creeping up - to about 4 an over. And I'm starting to do those frantic calculations you have to do in a limited overs game - we needed at least 5 an over to be in with a chance.

Then there were a couple of LBW's and a run out and it was all going very wrong.

Then they tried their medium bowlers and a spinner and it wasn't working out for them for a change.

Our village slogging started to pay off - this batsman had a great time hitting a couple of 6's and a fair few 4's;

And then I'm stood on the boundary line waiting as the score got closer and closer until in the end we won with about an over and a half to spare.

Oh Wow!

The scorer had given up at this point;

It was a very exciting game indeed and well won against the odds.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Solstice 2016 didn't really happen.

I was very sad on the day of the Solstice this year - it's always been something special for me and for the last two years it's been extra special.

Two years ago, Robyn and me were sitting on the top of Box Hill, having a drink, eating chocolate cake and watching the night fall. Then by accident we saw the fireworks at Glyndebourne some 50 miles away.

It was when we knew we were in love.

Last year, with a broken back, we spent all night at Stonehenge waiting for the sun to rise between the stones. It was very, very special.

We'd wanted to go back for the winter equinox last year but I was too ill.

Right now I'm struggling and we just have too much on - we couldn't go. So it was very sad.

Then again we'd already had a busy day;

These are the cobbles of Camden Lock, under water from the rain. We went there to buy a hat for me to wear at our wedding.

We also had a wander around what is still one of my favourite places and on a wet Monday morning there weren't many people about either.

Then we took a look around all the food stalls and Robyn made me try a Turkish wrap.

Now, I don't normally like wraps but I liked this one;

Then we headed up to town to buy rings - which we thought would be easy but it wasn't and we need to get back to collect them later this week. Now that's a problem because I have a hospital appointment and another dose of chemo to look forward to!

Then we got home and realised how much we still have to do - with people arriving most days.

So no night out for us on The Solstice but we did go for a walk around historic Ankerwycke to watch night fall.

The sky was amazing;

And we watched the moon rise too - it was the night of a 'strawberry moon' also known as a 'honeymoon'.

Well it was a full moon and very pretty;

And we took a look at The Ankerwycke Yew which is between 1000 and 2000 years old;

So what did we do the next morning?

We found that the wedding music we'd carefully burnt onto both a DVD and a CD wouldn't play on a CD player so we went into Egham and did all the charity shops - we found nearly all the music that Robyn had chosen on old fashioned CD's for just under £3!

We got back home and Robyn got a reply from The Registry Office, who confirmed that the 70 days notice period expired yesterday and The Home Office hasn't done anything to stop us getting married. We are legit!

We went over to the reception venue for our appointment to go through everything with them.

Then my printer cartridge ran out - no more copies.

I should explain that when I started this Blog, I tried to get a new cable for my obsolete old laser printer but I was told it would cost almost as much as a new printer - so I bought a new printer and blogged about it.

But I kept the old cartridge - somehow it seemed wrong to throw it out.

So now I opened up the old cartridge and then using a soldering iron, burnt a hole in the empty one. Then I refilled it from the old one before I sealed it up again with duct tape.

Amazingly, when I put it back in the printer it worked. I fear it won't last for long because these days cartridges come with a chip that kills the thing when you've used up the number of copies it thinks you should be allowed to have.

Anyway, Robyn then typed up the schedule of music, printed it off and we drove in to Windsor to drop it off with the discs to The Registry office - which happened to be at exactly the time we will get married in a weeks time. We also met one of the registrars who will do our marriage for us as she arrived for another ceremony.

We got home and after a rest I cut back the grass in the front garden.

Then, in a panic, we realised that the plans we'd made about flowers weren't going to work out - so we've come up with something different to deal with that.

Wait and see, it's exciting!

Wow I'm tired out now.

Lots still to do - no wonder people do this months in advance.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Wraysbury Fair 2016 the results!

We had a great time at the fair - this is Robyn saying hallo to a 'Skink'; 

There was a whole area reserved for veteran cars including a good range of commercial vehicles from the old days;

I particulary enjoyed the painstaking reproduction of a 'Post Office' telecoms van from the 1950's but I put the pictures of that up last year.

There was a good range of classic American cars including this Ford Mustang Muscle car;

A pink Cadillac, of course!

There were some british cars from a bit earlier;

And a 'Thunderbird' to die for;

There were plenty of 'Leave' posters all around;

And then finally, I had to go to the Craft Tent, where there were some amazing cakes and sausage rolls, 'lego' models and 'a garden in a seed tray'.

I really liked the section for model makers and here's a dream car from the 1960's;

It only got a 'third' place too.

Perhaps I'll have to have the original from the veteran cars section instead;

That was a bit uncanny.

Then I took a look at my photos;

I got a 'First' and a 'Third' for 'People' while for the 'Party' section I got a straight 1,2,3.

Which is about as good as it'll ever get for me;

I'll post the pictures in a few days, on a quiet day.

I have to admit that I put my entries into categories where I knew I had a good chance, avoiding some of the more popular ones.

I'm not apologetic; this year is probably my last show, not least because my health is likely to restrict my activities in future.

I know it's silly but it meant a lot.

There was lots more going on - steam train rides to raise money for the village charities;

Lots of silly string being fired off everywhere;

There was a Frank Sinatra type singer and Robyn and me....we had a dance.

And we had lots of cakes;

It was a splendid Village Fair, you couldn't ask for more (apart from a little sunshine!)

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com