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A wet and windy day at home. Time for some admin and organising, and helping Amanda complete the RSPB Garden Bird Watch.

An overnighter in London to catch a guitar extravaganza at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in the form of “The Great Guitars” featuring Bireli Lagrene, Martin Taylor and Ulf Wakenius. We heard and witnessed a stunning display of virtuosity and musicality.

An enjoyable jam and improvisation session with a few musicians in Warminster.

Another one of my weekly catch-ups with friend, graphic designer and digital all-rounder Darren Haines to work on updating website content.

An overnighter in London to catch PBUG at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London’s Soho district. On the 8th, our son Zac sets off on his travels, starting in Thailand…

Another of my regular get togethers with Darren Haines, working on updating website content.

A return to the Bahamas in search of the elusive Great Hammerhead. Starting and finishing with a couple of days each end of the trip in Nassau, our quest for “Hammertime” this time took us to Bimini, having failed to get the encounter two years ago at Tiger Beach, off Grand Bahama. This time….

Some bits of work on the “writing project”, plus an overnighter in London to catch jazz saxophonist Camilla George perform with her band at Ronnie Scott’s.

A late afternoon visit to the Ham Wall Reserve near Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels, to see the Starling murmuration. They numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but we only saw them flying at some distance away (the location being different every evening).

A writing weekend in Warminster and Shaftesbury.

An overnighter in London to catch Emeli Sande performing at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.

Down to Kent to stay at Chatham ahead of Zac’s Club 100 season opener at Buckmore Park. A really promising day for him in terms of his driving, but he was hamstrung by penalties. At least two driver warnings were incorrectly applied to him, in my opinion.

A visit to the Cheese & Grain in Frome to catch Hugh Cornwell perform with his band.

A Sunday stint of working on some writings.

An afternoon writing stint, a bit of progress made.

An overnighter in London to see Philip Lassiter perform with his band at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Further work on my long-term writing project.

A weekend in Bournemouth with Amanda, to work on some future planning.

Continuing work on my long-term writing project.

An evening working on planning our Iceland trip.

An evening writing session at Chatham in Kent.

An overnighter at Chatham in Kent, ahead of one of Zac’s Club 100 Karting rounds. A frustrating day, but some good promise of a decent season to come.

A morning writing session at Chatham in Kent.

A few hours working on my writing project.

A few hours continuing onwards with my writing project (and it’s Zac’s 21st birthday).

Working on plans for my Iceland trip, which I’ll be doing with Fuzz.

Working on my ongoing writing project.

A great night in Bristol seeing Robert Plant perform with Saving Grace.

Weekend working on my ongoing writing project.

An overnighter in London with Zac visiting Ronnie Scott’s to see Gilad Hekselman’s Trio Grande. We had a 21st Birthday special treat meal at Nobu.

Some fairly intensive and focused writing sessions.

Evening stints of planning for my Iceland motorcycling trip with Fuzz.

An Easter weekend of writing based at Portland on the South Coast. I got to a good point.

A bit of “Iceland planning” with Fuzz.

A visit to Japan, initially based at Nagoya from where we visited sites around the city, the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, the  Shirakawa-gō World Heritage site, and Kyoto including the Kinkakuji Temple and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Then, we travelled on the bullet train from Nagoya to Tokyo, where we spent an excellent few days.

An evening completing some Iceland planning.

A chilly wild swim at Studland, the first time in a while.

An overnight in London, to catch jazz guitarist Julian Lage perform at the Barbican.

A visit to London, to see Tomasz Bura and Guthrie Govan perform with their band at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.

A weekend in Wales, based at Betws-Y-Coed in Snowdonia. Zac raced for the first time at the Glan Y Gors circuit and had a good day at the office, so to speak. Some nice roads to and fro as well.

An overnighter in London to catch Shez Raja perform with his band at Ronnie Scott’s, which included John Etheridge and Guthrie Govan.

A Bank Holiday weekend of gigs, Snarky Puppy at Ronnie Scott’s in London on the 4th, Kula Shaker in Bournemouth on the 5th. Then, an evening walk in the woods at Shearwater on the Monday.

A trip to Sicily to celebrate our 25th anniversary staying at Taormina, followed by the Aeolian Islands staying on Lipari. During our time out there, we visited Castelmola and then travelled up to Milazzo for the ferry to Lipari. Whilst there, we visited Salina, Panarea and Stromboli.

Collecting my new BMW R1250 GS Adventure from Bahnstormer in Alton.

Iceland Planning in terms of figuring out how to pack the motorcycle, seeing what I think I still need, general preparation, plus a trip down to Honiton to see Fuzz. Also, trying to arrange a return to the Bahamas, this time to Bimini for the Great Hammerheads.

An overnighter in London to catch Air performing their Moon Safari album at the Albert Hall.

A trip to East Anglia for Zac’s Club 100 Kart series race at Ellough Park near Lowestoft, and decent drive from Zac. Overnight on the coast at Bacton, followed by a brief visit to Hickling Broad on the Sunday morning. Saw a few Swallowtails, with one specimen landing briefly on my jeans (sorry, no photographs,… Continue reading 31st May – 2nd June

A “trial run” for our Iceland trip to the South Downs for a visit to the Knepp Wildlands, staying at nearby Cattlestone Farm where we tried out our tents. We ironed out a few problems, so it was useful.

A full pack of the bike for Iceland.

Final check and pack ahead of my ride to Iceland and back.

A ride to Iceland and back on the motorcycles with Fuzz (as you do). This long-awaited trip (a door to door duration of 6 weeks) involved riding to the top of Denmark via France, Belgium, Holland and Germany to catch the ferry from the Danish port town of Hirtshals. We had three days to ride… Continue reading 18th June – 30th July

A visit to the Langford Lakes Nature Reserve run by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, located in the Wylye Valley.

Some catching up, planning and admin, plus work on a pair of 2025 Calendars.

An overnight stay at Tenterden in Kent, ahead of a visit to the Lydd Kart Circuit for Zac’s Club 100 Kart Series, which was marred by him being caught up in an accident, though he wasn’t hurt. Afterwards, a visit to London to see PJ Harvey perform at Gunnersbury Park. A really good show, and… Continue reading 16th – 18th August

A visit to the Czech Republic, to visit the historic town of Cesky Krumlov in the South West of the country. To get there, we had a brief overnighter in Prague, and then took the train to and from our destination.

A day of organising and planning.

An overnighter in South Wales near Bridgend, ahead of Zac’s Club 100 Kart Series race at the nearby Llandow Circuit. It was good day’s driving for him.

Various bits of laptop work and future planning.

An overnighter at Weedon Bec near Northampton ahead of Zac’s Whilton Mill Zac’s Club 100 Kart Series race at the nearby Whilton Mill Circuit. Again, it was good day’s driving for him.

A day of organising the few things for the Autumn and Winter.

Making final changes to our new 2025 calendars.

A weekend of planning and organising.

A quick overnighter in London to catch Forq perform at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.

An overnighter at Wroxton, near Banbury ahead of a round of Zac’s Club 100 Karting series at the Shenington Circuit. A frustrating day, but it happens…

A morning drive to Fordingbridge and Downton, with various organising in the afternoon.

A weekend of kart racing with Zac at the Buckmore Park circuit in Kent, trying the Tillotson T4 Karts for the first time. An interesting weekend, helped by the friendly Tillotson crew.

An overnighter in London for guitarist Matt Schofield performing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.

Getting ready for Australia in terms of final arrangements and packing.

Out and about at Glastonbury (for brunch), and then a good walk at the nearby Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve.

Our two new 2025 Calendars arrive – Diving Dreams and Driven To Abstraction.

An overnighter in London to catch saxophonist Donny McCaslin perform with his band at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.

The beginning of a new personal odyssey for me, to see all of the UK bird species. The aim is to see all the species I’ve never seen, and to see again the species I’ve already seen as part of that same overall mission. I’m unsure as to how long it will take, but for… Continue reading 26th – 27th October

An evening jam session with Al Summers and other improvisers.

Final bits and bobs, then off to Heathrow – destination Singapore and ultimately Australia.

An excellent trip to Australia (via Singapore on the outward and return legs). After arriving in Cairns, we headed straight up to Port Douglas for a night, followed by four nights in the Daintree rainforest staying at the Daintree Wilderness Lodge. We had excellent wildlife sightings and encounters such as Cassowary, Saltwater Crocodile and a… Continue reading 31st October – 22nd November

An overnighter at Chatham ahead of Zac’s final Club100 Sprint 60 kart race of the year at a wet Buckmore Park. Zac finished 8th in the standings after a frustrating final race.

After Buckmore Park, it was straight into central London for an overnight stay, to catch the rap and hip-hop influenced Abstract Orchestra at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.

A visit to Barcelona in Spain for a business conference.

Attending the 50th Anniversary of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society at Devizes, hearing the history of the society and some interesting talks about topics of an avian nature.

A productive jam session in Warminster with Al Summers and other improvisers.

Various sorting, organising and trying to get on top of things after such a busy month in November.

Making a booking visit the Raja Ampat area of Indonesia, something that’s been on our “must do” list for a long time. We’ve got a long wait until we finally get there, as places book years in advance!

An evening visit to Bristol to see the Chameleons perform at the Marble Factory venue.

Various organising, content writing and “admin” plus a visit to Salisbury and Langford Lakes.

An overnight stay at Brockenhurst in the New Forest followed by a muddy walk around the Clay Hill Heath area, for a spot of birding, then a visit to Lyndhurst before heading home.

A day of admin and organising for 2025.

A Christmas Eve jam session with musician friends Al Summers and Simon Farr.

A three-night stay at a nice apartment in Teignmouth (Devon). Whilst there we walked the railway sea wall, briefly visited the RSPB Labrador Bay reserve (on a dingy late afternoon, finding no Cirl Buntings), and an excellent walk around the RSPB Exminster and Powderham Marshes, seeing wintering Brent Geese, Avocets, Curlew, Dunlin, Black-Tailed Godwit and… Continue reading 27th – 30th December

A breakfast in Stockbridge followed by a decent walk around Bentley Wood.

Sporadic evening work on website content.

Our new “Diving Dreams” and “The Butterfly Effect” 2024 Calendars have now arrived.

A visit to Thruxton Circuit to watch Zac drive is first single-seater/open wheel race car (a Formula Renault). Afterwards, Amanda and I headed to Stockbridge for lunch, followed by a drive down to Studland for a wild swim.

Continuing onwards with a writing project.

A drive up and across to East Anglia to stay at Lowestoft in Suffolk ahead of Zac’s Club 100 Kart series event at Ellough Park, then a night in Norwich across the border in Norfolk.

A late afternoon “wild swim” at Studland.

A late afternoon visit to Glastonbury, and then to the RSPB Ham Wall nature reserve to check on the early progress of the Starling murmuration. There were a few gathering, but we’ll attempt to go back in late November/December when its’ normally at its’ peak.

Some weekend time spent on a writing project.

An overnighter in London to see Robert Fripp & Toyah perform at the Shepherds Bush 02, loosely based around their Covid lockdown videos.

Our long-awaited trip to Sao Paulo in Brazil, to attend the iconic Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the equally iconic Interlagos Circuit. Whilst “in town” we had limited time for other things, but were able to explore the areas around our accommodation near Avenida Paulista including the Museum of Art of Sao Paulo (MASP)… Continue reading 1st – 9th November

Overnight at Chatham in Kent ahead of Zac’s Club 100 Karting series race at Buckmore Park. In the morning, a bit of time for some writing before the race. A good day to finish the 2023 season.