Felix is playing the piano a couple of feet away from me very loudly. Sophie is showing off her new shoes and enquiring if that’s the last bit. Jaygo is now shouting something from upstairs. Eirene is washing something in the kitchen. I’m putting Sophie to bed is the fresh topic. Sophie has decided that “Da, First I’ll be with mama for a story then you’ll be putting me to bed and I promise I won’t scream at you.”

On Saturday night after a nearly full on Matt Spesh we went camping. It’s getting harder to find a campsite that fulfils my exacting standards these days but I enjoy the hunt. One that allows fire is an absolute must for me. I’ve banged on about this so much before, I’ll spare you the rhetoric but lets just say it’s a must. Another important factor is the place its in. Water is good. Forests / woods are good. Rocks are good. Roads are bad. crammed in regimented plots are bad. Somewhere that I’ve never been to before is good.  In my quest to find campsites that ticks the above boxes (the latter is getting harder and harder) I’d previously earmarked Rough Hey Wood Campsite and clocked a write up on The Happy Campers website.

Arriving at Rough Hey was a bit fiddly for our long wheel base van but we got there without too much bother. Slightly worried caretaker type people living in an on site teepee were unsure about letting me on in the van as it had been raining and as they and I knew,  big front wheel drive vans are rubbish in the mud. After a bit of persuading and noting the clement forecast they let me on. It was really quiet (to be expected for the time of year). Geographically odd place – a flat field with a gorge on one side and an old disused railway track on the other. No end of interesting tracks and walks. It’s a really peaceful safe-and-secure feeling spot surrounded by a sycamore and birch wood. A single portion of dog poo position directly under Eirene’s foot glummed us for a bit – so we moved the van a bit and all was well again. It wasnt long before our friends D & G turned up, and with an hour or so’s light to go we headed out into the woods to gather some wood. The kids loved that. Getting involved with a proper grown up mission. Obviously, years of campers had had the idea before us and we had to treck quite a way in to find a few dead limbs, but we found them and dragged them back so I could saw them up. Luckily, I’d brought a couple of bags of log with us so this was just a luxury top up. They were selling bags for (the going rate of) £5 a bag, but I always prefer free over costs money.

As we were getting back we noticed J&H and their kids and pip the perma pup had turned up. A lovely evening ensued, involving drinking, laughing, stories, catching up and attempted sky lantern launching (we were asked not to launch any more after the first one). Woke up the next morning with a rather thick head but cups of tea and saussage sandwiches soon sorted that out. Spent the morning chilling and chatting whilst the boys whittled sticks and went bear hunting.

A lovely spot – proper bargain price of £10 per van or tent considering it has decent showers and toilets (I’m not sure if that’s the off season price or not though). I’d defiantly stay there again and would  recommend it to anyone that liked proper camping in places that are not purpose built caravan farms.

A stupendously good birthday weekend I’ve just had. Big thanks to everyone!

I got a really good pile of ace gifts. My main prezzy was a Phillips NP1100 network player / internet radio player. Radio from all over the world through. Been having fun with that. Hooked up to the hi fi / don’t have to have the computer on. Lots of Triple J, lots of radio 6 and the odd smattering of Soma FM, some Bolivian radio and good old radio 4 have been the hot spots. It also does podcasts and can hook up the mp3 files on a computer to the stereo.  High tech old tech.

Some of my other notable gifts were Bill Bryson’s “Shakespear” illustrated edition,  which I’m loving so far. After my recent bard epiphany Shakespeare has been a source of mild fascination. He was a slippery fish in his day – not much in the way of hard fact about who he really was.. Bryson’s book is pulling it all together in a brilliant way so far.

I also got a CD – Röyksopp ‘Senior’. A beautiful album that having listened to it on spotify, I wanted the ultimate quality version (CD original) so I could enjoy it in all it’s subtle glory. I was semi impressed with its counterpart ‘Junior’ form last year but something about this album really caught me. Quite magical, a bit dark and trippy. Fairly down tempo. Nice.

I also got some limited edition starwars prints that I’m told Lucas served a cease and desist order on them last week so they are now even more geek sheek.

I also got a “Virtual Baloon”. A charity fund-raiser of an idea by the Police Treatment Centres fund.  I get to design a balloon which on November the 5th, along with all the other particpants are virtually set off.  Mathematical modelling (based on meteorological and baloon variables) will decide where the balloons goes and the one to travel furthest wins. stay tooned for more on this.

I also got 10 sky lanterns who’s flight path is also goverend by meteorological variables. To wash it all down with, I got a chocolate cake made from marrow and courgette, a really nice bottle of  red and a bottle of Żubrówka vodka.

Should keep me entertained for a while!

Henry is going to do something really good today – he’s attempt to run 117 miles. You could also do something good by sponsoring him. At just after 1730 today, he’ll set off on a run of that was originally billed as the “Hardmoors 110 Ultra Marathon” – it’s now actually a 117 mile and is an off road, ‘non stop’ fell race.  He’ll be running up and down hills, over moorland, through bogs, shale, rocks, sand, mud, grass and grit for a minimum of an estimated 29 hours with no more than the odd 5 minute checkpoint / re fuel break. That’s his plan anyway. When I saw him last night, he was fairly ‘bricking it’ at the prospect but confident that his strategy is sound enough. He’s done the training, he’s done the prep, he’s got the head torch (most of the event will be at night), spare batteries, high tech enduro food like “Hammers perpetuum” and some traininers. It’s all down to him now.

Henry’s chosen charity is a fantastic cause: Médecins Sans Frontières. A humanitarian aid organisation that seem to have a very ‘can do’ attitude.  They get medicine and aid right into the heart of where it is needed and swipe political, race and war issues to one side to get there.

If you want some good karma – stick a few quid up Henry’s Just Giving website or make a pledge on the comments of this post.

Good luck Morris!

These a very cool if not utterly uncool in a sad geek way (a stigma I’ve learned to live with). I don’t care. I want one. If I wear it all day something worthwhile is bound to happens – where upon I’ll hit a button and it saves the last 30 seconds. The (so far) ultimate avoidance of the “I wish I’d caught that on camera” moment. Bluetooth connection to my android phone allows me to remote control it, view it, share the video and images it records straight away here on Dragondrop, flickr, facebook, et al.  It can all be controled from a handy app on my Android phone. No iPhone users – they DON’T have an app for that.

It also works like a standard bluetooth headset so you can make calls hands free. I think I know what I want for Christmas now.. more info : http://www.looxcie.com/

Harrogate, originally uploaded by DragonDrop.

We were lucky enough to be allowed up “Harlow Hill Tower” the other day, a purpose built astronomical observatory. It’s Harrogate’s highest point – 700ft above sea level and it boast incredible views in all directions – up Nidderdale in one direction and The Vale of York with York Minster visible on a good day, in the other.

It was quite amazing how much you could see. As well as the Minster, you can see Ripon Cathedral, The White Horse, Drax and Ferrybridge power stations, the wind farm and Menwith – as well as some closer to home land marks, such as Grove Road, The Conference Centre and probably all of the church spires in Harrogate. See more of my shots from the top – over here >>

Got round to getting broadband ordered at DragonDrop Centraal. Went with Virgin cable. We’ve had a T-Mobile ‘broadband’ dongle now for nearly the full terms of it’s 18 month contract and it’s been the most frustrating, next to useless, over priced, temperamental, erratic and downright grr bit of kit I’ve ever invested in. I’ve been counting down the months so that I could get a decent connection again (commercial sensibilities prevented me from having two active contracts running at the same time.) I was sold a prize stallion but by the time we’d left the stable, he’d turned into a lame donkey.  I’ve tried to get it to be a bit more broadbandish and failed. I’ve had the conversations with support and tried x, y and z. I’ve scoured the internet for answers and failed to get anything close to the utopian service that was described at point of sale. It shouldn’t be allowed to be called a Broadband dongle as it’s very misleading in my humble opinion. Something more akin to a Flawedband™ dongle would be a more apt moniker although not quite as marketable. Shame, because every other aspect of T-Mobile has been brilliant for me over the many years I’ve been a customers.

In readiness of a blistering pipe of information into the house, I’ve spent the last two nights deep cleaning my main machine at home. It’s been running like a sloth and had a virus apparently. Defragging, removing and moving junk around, that sort of thing. I’ve worryingly picked up an occasional blue screen of death problem though. Hope I haven’t done anything drastic. I’m currently trying to update windows over the t-mobile Flawedband™ dongle which could take a while. It seems that once you’ve started an update, there’s no turning back.  Well back to it I guess..

Burning Boat from  ’A day up in’t Dales‘ photo set

On Saturday, I was lucky enough to be invited on a bike ride, setting out from Grassington with pubs as our waypoints. One of the ‘team’ has been away from all things Dales Pub for the past year or so – working in St Helena. Our route was altered at the last minute – due to some of the pubs on the original route having closed down.

First stop – well not even a stop really because technically, we hadn’t started – was the Foresters in Grassington or ‘Fozzers’ as it’s colloquially known. Cracking Tim Taylor Landlord. Steak sarney and chips. Brilliant chips. I’ve had a few good times in the Fozzers. It never disappoints. Expect the unexpected.

From there we headed out to the Clarendon in Hebden. Nice pint of Black Sheep, smelt of fish a bit and lacked an atmosphere at that time of day.

From there we headed out to Appletreewick and got stuck into a couple of pubs – the New Inn where we had a walled garden to ourselves with a view across the Dale. Nice ale. After that we went down the village to a stunning bit of pubbery – The Craven Arms. This place had built what was once a very common building – a Cruck Barn – as a function room. They had apparently lovingly re constructed it from old photographs alone and is the only one of it’s type in the world after the last surviving original burned down a few years ago. We bumped into some of my friends old friends and ended up spending an hour or two a this lovely spot. Stories such as their hut was once Bing Crosby’s fishing lodge we’re amongst the discussion topics abound. Had a ‘bad pint’ there but the staff bent over backwards to replace it and make me happy. The replacement pint was a belter.

From there we headed down to Burnsall, the Red Lion to be specific. Good pint, superb stuffed foxes. We heard the rumor that they were setting fire to a boat in the river at 7.30. This we had to stick around for. (Video and Photos over here). From there we headed back t’ fozzers. Sleep got the better of me though after all the days fun and games – luckily, I’d parked the van at the top of the village. I missed an angry umpa lumpa I later heard who came steaming in from a fancy dress party up the road (expect the unexpected, in the fozzers, as I’ve already chimed). A superb day out.

One of the great things about the Yorkshire Dales is it’s pubs. Steeped in history and character, cracking pints and some of the best views in the world, these are some of the finest drinking parlours in the world. The original social network that made up the Inn’s, Hotels, ‘Bars’ and more typically – pubs of rural Britain are in decline – a dying breed thanks to the smoking ban, cut price supermarket prices combined with increased taxes etc.  Some of the survivors are the ones that have adapted to change by making themselves either gastro or family friendly, some are just cracking pubs that through the sheer fact of being brilliant are thriving.

Big day today for the DragonDroplets. Felix’s first day at big school (St. Aidan’s) and Sophie’s first day at primary school (Grove Road Harrogate).

Just watching Felix set off on his bike now on his big solo adventure out of the window as I type this. Mama stuffing last minute things into his ruck sack. He does look really grown up. Good luck my boy and good luck Sophie Pi.