Fresh Air At Last

We finally managed to get out of the house and head into the adjacent fields for a walk today. You can call us fine weather walkers I suppose but there's not a great deal of fun in tramping across muddy tracks whilst chilled to the bone or soaked to the skin.

But there was no chance of that here in Framlingham today as the sun shone from dawn to dusk. We picked up a leaflet with a couple of circular walks in town the other day and thought that we'd give them a try. We somehow managed to stray away from the correct path and added an extra mile or two to the five miles planned. 

March hares were out in force. We counted as many as six in one field but they remained camera shy. There is one flying across the field in this photo but you'll need eagle eyes to spot it.

The route took us around the grounds of our fabulous local castle. We've read all about it but are saving a visit until we get around to joining English Heritage.

It was time for us to be very proud parents again yesterday as Paul's latest creation Beat The Pack aired on BBC1 at 3 p.m. Hosted by the very likeable Jake Humphreys, the show's contestants battle it out to try and win a prize fund of £12,000. It's a great format and we hope that it's another success for the BBC.

I had my very own moment of fame today when Scott Pack (check out meandmybigmouth over there on my blog recommendations) sent me this photo of a page from the paperback edition of Jim Bob's Driving Jarvis Ham. I reviewed this hilarious novel on Amazon when it was published last year and I'm dead chuffed to see my comment alongside those from Time Out, Dave Gorman and The Independent on Sunday. 

I've not written any Amazon book reviews recently. That's not to say that I haven't been reading but  recent reads, Wolf Hall, Bring Up The Bodies, The Fountainhead and The Testament Of Jessie Lamb  already have more than enough reviews to let buyers make their own minds up.

A Busy Few Days

After the relative calm of the first days of last week, things got busier on Thursday when I headed to London to act as a contestant in a run through of one of the many new quiz shows being developed by son Paul in his job as a TV producer. I really enjoyed the opportunity to help out even if I wasn't exactly great at answering the questions. 

Paul has devised and developed a fair number of shows in his career so far including Magic Numbers, The Colour Of Money and Sky's smash hit and number one rated show on SKY1 HD  A League Of Their Own which is now in its seventh series. 

And tomorrow sees the first airing of his new creation Beat The Pack on BBC at 3p.m. Unfortunately we have to be out at 3p.m but it will give us an excuse to open a bottle of champagne tomorrow evening when we watch it on catch up. We can't wait to see it.

On Friday it was back to London again as I took my collection of Japanese Satsuma to Bonhams. I've been collecting this for the last ten years and it used to look great displayed on an oriental stand that we had in our old house. However, downsizing has meant that there's no room for the stand here in Framlingham so it is all going into Bonham's Bond St sale of Japanese Art in May. I left about fifteen pieces and hope that we get some good prices. It should go a fair way towards repaying us for the garden landscaping which will be an added bonus. Funnily enough, Bonhams' Japanese art expert didn't think very much of the piece that Lars Tharp raved about (and valued at £2,000) when my collection was shown on The Antiques Roadshow and only put it in the sale to make up a lot with another piece.  

Earlier in the week we went to Fram Soc's book club. About ten of us attended and discussed Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Marion and I enjoyed it very much but I was the only bloke at the meeting. I was made very welcome but I wonder if the members would have enjoyed it more if it had been an exclusively female gathering.

Yesterday saw our regular visit to the local shops and market to stock up for the week. We're enjoying getting all our shopping locally and hope that our small input into the local economy will help keep shops open. I'm pleased to say that all the shops (and The Crown where we had coffee and some great cake) were busy yesterday. 

Today I went out with the metal detector for the first time since we moved. I'll write about the finds tomorrow.