The Sisters of Mercy

A perfect autumn day

I've worked in and around the textile industry for over 33 years and meet a lot of people every year. Some are just starting out in their careers. Some feel like contemporaries. Some are real gurus; leaders and learned people. Two of the gurus work at separate plants in Lancashire and not only are they both great guys but they are expert in theier fields plus have an ability to not only pick up new things but share the old too. Today I saw them both. They were pleased to see me and I enjoyed our time together as I do always

Today I saw also some wonderful autumnal trees hanging on to their leaves if only at least for the time being. I spotted a couple of flocks of marauding winter thrushes, recently arrived from cooler climes. By a newly flooded corner of a field I noted a brace of oystercatcher proving that they don't all over-winter on the west coast

On the way home, on the edge of Three Peaks country, I treated myself to a new tweed cap made from wool cloth produced by Abraham Moon who employ some experts and gurus of their own. It'll be perfect for winter dog walks. It's great we still produce some fantastic product in our islands, and a shame that what my friends and colleagues do isn't better recognised and acknowledged

Little Walter

Velvet Underground

Pablo Picasso

Black Sabbath

Fellephant Kirk Fell video

Streak on

My streak continues and is up to 46 days now. The good news is the couple of mile road runs that felt tough a month ago seem routine so pushing on to longer outings will be on the cards soon. The challenge is this coming week I'm away in Germany training with work (I started a new job a fortnight ago). My hotel is relatively small and I doubt if it has a gym so headtorchers either early morning or later in the evening will probably be on the agenda

No-one to give me love

Let the music play

Pictures on my wall

Forty plus

Stef failed to get out one night earlier this week and broke her streak but I'm still going. Last night and this morning I took Sophie vizsla (she'd been staying with us all weekend) out for a short run, swapped her for Tussock and nipped out again. Today in particular went really well with the section of Dales Way by the vicarage being great because of the autumn foliage on the trees

The Smiths

Lightships