• familyhistory

    A History: Ann Slater

    October 28, 2024 - By 

    Usually, when you’re doing family history research, you can just find bare bones of a life, the births, marriages and deaths, addresses and jobs from censuses. But occasionally, you find yourself finding a far richer story, whether it’s been born in a workhouse and left in England when your parents emigrate to the US, or dying after falling on own sword and being treated by Queen Victoria’s surgeon.  The stories are not always about direct ancestors, but their families, and they’re discovered as you’re trying to cross reference other information. That was the case for the story of Ann Slater,…

  • adventure - events - running

    My first Fell Race

    April 24, 2023 - By 

    I did my first fell race this weekend. Organised by Mercia Fell Runners, it was a 5k race with about 350m of ascent targeted at Novices only – those who had never done a Fell Race before. There were 78 entries and 58 participants who headed to Church Stretton to give it a go. Lots of nervousness before the start, talking to a number of people who had turned up – with about 60% of them women. There was a definite reluctance to have tried this sport through a more regular race, with concerns about being able to do, but…

  • life

    The Newbie

    March 17, 2023 - By 

    Moving house is always given as an example of a stressful experience, and so it is, but the aftermath should never be underestimated.  Especially when, like me, you’ve moved from London, where I’d had a home for 20 years, to the “countryside”. Sort of the countryside, it’s a village and the Birmingham sprawl is not too far away, but it’s a huge change in facilities and utilities available. It’s a place where I know no-one nearby, except family members. But they’ve never lived elsewhere and have a network of connections and a pattern of life that has not had me…

  • adventure - travel

    Dhaulagiri Circuit Trip Report – over the French Col

    November 28, 2022 - By 

    This report is split into 3 posts Italian Base Camp to Glacier Camp We’re into the sharp end of the trek today. We had an early call at 05:30, the intent is to get started early before the sun hits the slope in the valley and starts letting loose the rocks. In previous years, the route went up from the camp and across the glacier at a higher level, before crossing the river to the left hand of the valley. This has no change and we head down to the bottom and cross just above the end of the glacier…

  • adventure - travel

    Dhaulagiri Circuit Trip Report – up to Italian Base Camp

    November 28, 2022 - By 

    This part was relatively straight forward. We slowly made our way north and upwards, travelling along valleys. There was a lot of up and down and a few diversions, but nothing was too difficult. Apart from me falling into a river! This report is split into 3 posts Darbang to Sibang An early start today, I think the earliest we had across the whole trip. A 0530 knock on the tent with a cup of tea and a washing bowl of warm water.  We got tea and water across the whole trip when we were in the tents. We were…

  • adventure - travel

    Dhaulagiri Circuit Trip Report – getting to the start

    November 28, 2022 - By 

    This trip was originally booked for October 2020. But we all know what happened that year!  It moved first to 2021 and then finally to 2022. We were a go. The trip was picked based on providing skills needed to get to my long term ambitions. I don’t know if I will end up climbing a big mountain, but on the journey, there’s lots of things I need to learn. For this one, the key skills were around tent and kit management, combined with weather extremes and varied terrain. The circuit definitely provides that!  It’s not a well-travelled route; there…

  • weeknotes

    Quarter Notes 3 2022

    September 30, 2022 - By 

    Another episode of the quarter notes, written purely for my benefit so I can remember what I was up to! I started the quarter with another trip to London, this time to go to my first cricket match, a T20 country game at Lords. I’d been invited along by a Twitter Friend to learn about the game as I had never watched it and my placement at the Commonwealth Games was at the Cricket. Excellent time was had a Lords – even if my first impression of the Pavillion was a sea of men in blazers, with the only women…

  • life - weeknotes

    Quarter Notes 2 2022

    August 11, 2022 - By 

    I started April with a trip to the Peaks. It was supposed to be a walking weekend with my Wine Club weekend, but covid intervened. I ended up visiting on my own for a few walks. The rest of April was very quiet, little done. I carried on with fitness, getting progressively fiter and stronger. I have a weekly session with the PT for strength training and the rest of the time is mainly spent on walking and running, getting in as much elevation as possible At the end of the month, I made a trip down to London for…

  • life - weeknotes

    Quarter Notes 1 2022

    August 11, 2022 - By 

    I missed 2 years, but then again, so did a lot of the world.  Now back to usual service of boring blogging. The big news is I sold the London flat and moved back up to the Midlands, which meant buying a car. Still not bought a new place but working on it I started the year with a trip to The Brecons. My trip to Nepal has been postponed twice and is now on for October 2022. But lockdowns and covid messed with my head and I let all the fitness go. So I have employed a personal trainer…

  • events

    The Commonwealth Collective

    August 11, 2022 - By 

    Ah, my time is done, the Games are over and now to reflect on the time I spent as a volunteer as part of the Commonwealth Collective.    After failing for 2012 but getting in for 2017, (You can read all about my experience at the World Athletics in 2017) I decided to try and be part of another multi-sports event – the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in my local city Birmingham.   Recruitment I registered as a volunteer in September 2020, when covid was hitting everything and this was hope for the future, that things would change. I got invited…

  • familyhistory - General

    A History: Florence Pashley

    October 3, 2020 - By 

    Florence Pashley was my great-grandmother and was one of the first relatives we started to gather information on way back in the 80’s when all of this research was done by occasional trips to London to the records office (in Islington at that point) and trips to local records.  A slow build-up of information that often left more questions than answers, especially when we could not find the next link in the chain. As I recall, it started off because granddad was never 100% sure of her surname, or rather the surnames of his maternal grandparents, (he was also not…

  • General

    Home testing for Covid-19

    May 12, 2020 - By 

    As part of this long lockdown I’ve been tracking my health through the app developed by the Covid Sympton Study I try and go in and record symptons (or lack of them) daily. During the nearly 2 months I’ve been doing this (I think it’s 2 months, time gets a bit concatenated) I’ve had 2 sets of not quite right; the first in the middle of March with a heavy chest and breathing, the second this last week with itchy, weeping eyes and again a heavy chest. No other symptons apart from those – which could be a chest infection…

  • life - weeknotes

    Quarter Notes 4 2019

    April 7, 2020 - By 

    Hah. blogging – what’s that?  I see more daily notes happening in these time of lockdowns..so finally documenting what I did in the last quarter of 2019, when the future was rosy, seems a good idea. Remember those times! Bournemouth Half Marathon: I’d originally signed up to the do the full, but with a summer training for a mountain, I decided that switching to the half would be better. A lovely event, although with a route that was a lot of back and forth – and going through the finish line multiple times was a bit weird (weirder for the…

  • life - weeknotes

    Quarter Notes 3 2019

    October 8, 2019 - By 

    Summer is a memory, the leaves are falling and it’s time for quarter notes number 3 of the year.  So what have I been up to? First up in this quarter was Henley Regatta.  I went on both the Friday and the Sunday this year, catching up with a friend from New Zealand and various army rowing connections.   The weather was excellent, the rowing was great and a really good time was had.  An actual social event with friends! It was a supposed to be a follow up to the earlier walk around Richmond, but with a BBQ at Juliet’s…

  • adventure

    Operation Fitter Rachel: Sept

    October 8, 2019 - By 

    Yes, another month with improved motivation.  Not perfect, but getting there. The numbers 23 activities.  (+3, some great quality sessions) 37 hrs (- 11. back to more normal parameters in events, no 12 hour walk in there, up 10 on Jul) 101 miles.  (-27, again not skewed by a 35m event, so therefore in line with plan, up 30 from AUg) This month was topped and tailed by events.  At the start of the month I did a 25km walk, called the Thames Bridges Trek.  Organised by the same team who organise the ultra’s I do, this was a walk…