Jonnys back on the road again

Here's Jonny with his truck! This was kindly taken by the Robinsons, who keep us up to date via their blog!
Unfortunately the engine blew up (probably due to oil starvation) not long after this, however a cash injection from England ensured the replacement is now installed and he is back on the road again.

Autumn leaves

We often moan about the weather but Autumn beauty is an intoxicating blend of colour, light and shade if we take time to look.

Day out in Hartlepool

Oh yes, the climbing, adventure park that is Summerhill! We discovered it yesterday! and James and Anne discovered climbing!

Invitation to the party

Anne and I are on Facebook as well now - due to the necessity of keeping vaguely in touch with our errant adult children. I will add links onto the side menu!

I have now firmly ditched motorbiking since my last accident (which was very painful) and wrote off my beloved Yamaha 1000 V-Twin - however being the son of my father, this year has seen the renaissance of my love for guitar playing which has been quite a surprise. You don't expect a teenage dream to become true in your 40's but for me that has happened. I continue to embarrass myself by going public with my music under the name Di Griso but despite the cringeworthy mistakes (of which there are many) I have managed to persuade someone who has been in the professional music scene to record her vocals on a song I have written next wednesday. She has a black soul voice so if the experiment works I will put it up on the Di Griso site as an Mp3 download.

This weekend Anne and I or one of us are being interviewed on the local radio because we are having Michele Guinness over to stay next weekend to speak on the subject of "Invitation to the party" and launch her new book at our church. As well as that I am speaking on Apostleship on Sunday, Anne is going to London for a medical conference, tonight we are going to an evening of Stand-up comedy and live music which is hosted by my exceedingly mental GP in Stokesley just down the road - it is called Stokesley Humour And Gig - hmmm notice the acronym!

Shakespeare-by-the-sea

What if William Shakespeare had been a Yorkshireman, instead of hailing from deepest Warwickshire?
And what if he had lived in the time of good Queen Victoria, not Bess?
Duke Theseus’ court in A Midsummer Night’s Dream reflected the Victorian 19th century just as effectively as the original elements of Elizabethan England.
And the fairies of the Forest of Arden could just as easily have been in the Valley Gardens of Saltburn!
So I went to the Autumn production of Saltburn ’53 Drama group - "Shakespeare-by-the-Sea.

A class-ridden society, with a powerful underworld: the court, the working class ‘mechanicals’ and the naughty fairies (all dressed as ladies of the night) comprise the three intersecting worlds of the play.

There were some hilarious performances particularly Peter Quince and Bottom tho all the mechanicals were like the Three Goons. Portraying Titania and the fairies as Victorian ladies of the night was a great idea but the outstanding performance was that of Hermia closely followed by Lysander, Demetrius and Helena.

Walk for Rhema school

As you may be aware Anne and I have been supporting Rhema school in Uganda since 2002 when I first visited Kampala. So Saturday found me doing a sponsored walk/run with my team from work.

Between us all, we covered over 60 circuits of Sedgefield racecourse (1.26 miles) in 4 hours - dressed as the Pink ladies and T-Birds from Grease.

There were over 20 other teams with prizes presented by yours truly and the whole day raised over £4000 - it was organised by Denise Wyatt who went as a Blues brother (central in the picture with her team).