Hopping In Puddles

Today is my dad's 86th birthday and he's still going strong . The problem is the older you get the less there seems to be to get you for your birthday. Personally I don't feel I need anything , and struggle to think of anything that I want. Maybe getting older means socks become acceptable. I got my dad a mug with a pictures of the world's oldest in use post box , as he is very interested in post boxes having installed hundreds.

Today I was out walking and the snow has gone but has left lots of big puddles and a couple of girls pased me and ended up traversing several , which I circumnavigated, and then remembered that the glascially beautiful "Hoppipola"  by Sigur Ros is Icelandic for "Hopping In Puddles" and it does sound like that's what it could mean.

It was used as the theme to David Attenborough's BBC series "Planet Earth" so I will share that with you on this very brief post.

Ice Road Trucking

It's the last day of January and we have had on and off snow for most of the last week. Today I have a 140 mile journey from Newcastle to Barrow to celebrate my dad's birthday and give him his present. The snow this week has not been heavy but the weather has been cold enough to make footpaths treacherous underfoot , so I'm more likely to slip than anything else. It's hardly an Ice Road Trucker scenario. So looking forward to that as dawn crawls over the eastern horizon.

Uri Geller and The Postbox

One of the problems on birthdays is trying to get a decent card, so I look for unusual post boxes (my dad's work and sort of hobby)  and saw this one here , on the Thames Sonning bridge which has mystified Uri Geller and the local villagers. It looks to be in good repair which would imply that it is painted and maintained, though it's hardly convenient , although it's more convenient than the oriental underwater postboxes  I've seen pictures of  (just Google postboxes)


So it's now time to shower, and pick up the car, and get ready for the drive, but just for an added complication tickets for the 6 Music Festival went on sale yesterday, but each day the tickets are on sale separately. I wanted to go everyday but Sunday is the best one (more bands I want to see) , so I will try for today as Royal Blood and The Fall are playing , and will attempt to get tickets tomorrow as Public Service Broadcasting , Wire , Gaz Coombes and The Charlatans are playing . These are just some of the bands in what are damned near perfect line ups. This gives me an excuse to include the video for Gagarin , so have a brilliant weekend everyone, it's the last day of January which is an excuse to have lots of fun and look forward to a great week next week.

The Odd Postbox..

My dad's job / hobby is the maintenance and installation / de installation of postboxes between Carlisle and Buxton . I saw this odd one on our recent Tideswell holiday which was one that he put in.









Previously I've come across few oddities such as this one in Worcester.








And then there's this similar one in Buxton which is probably another of my dad's.






And finally a Chinese style one in Stowell Street , Chinatown , Newcastle!!