It was a lovely morning on Monday so did my Theale, Pangbourne, Mapledurham ride. Nothing much to report but some precarious work going on under Reading bridge.
Had a chat with JnA on Tuesday morning. Things are settling down a bit. Went out for another ride as another sunny morning. Went into the paintball place near Mapledurham as it says it closed on their website.
Didn't see any CCTV and figured I'd be OK if I trid on an unexloded paintball. Did the Brewdog quiz in the evening with the UC team. 50 out of 54 and one we got wrong was a bit ambiguous. M went to BRO on Wednesday morning. Got a picture of Madeline with her eyes open.
Cases in Reading are starting to fall after the festival according to the Zoe app and the government stats. Students are back though so expect they'll go up again. Cases also well down in Glasgow but still nearly double here. My jam hadn't set so redid it with extra lemon. Went for a short ride on Thursday morning over to Tilehurst station and back down the river. Tweaked my back carrying the bike over footbridge then a again when I hit the wheelie bit back home. Eased off enough to try swimming though. The jam is still a bit runny but it can at least be classified as runny jam as opposed to blackberries in syrup. Had a goolie zoom in the evening, all good. Abandon my book as it was utter obvious drivel, how do they get published? Started on the latest Richard Osman. Went for a walk to Fobney Meadow on Friday morning to see if I could spot any intetesting birds. Thought I saw a pair of peregrines on one of the pylons but when they took off they looked more like buzzards. Checked the Berks Birds site and buzzards have been spotted on the pylons so that's probably what they were. Managed to actually walk through the meadow but got severely nettled at the end. Went swimming in the afternoon followed by a ride to the Lodden Brewery. So that's like a triathlon I've done. They are back to glass.
Watched Reading beat Middlesbrough 1 0 on Saturday. Ralph came along on his electric bike. Its the first time he's been mainly because of covid and he left early to avoid the crowd. Did a bit of garden tidying on Sunday. Here's the latest picture of Madeline.
Went to check out Reading Hydro as Andy had sent some pictures. Looks good but didn't seem to be running.
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Had a chat with JnA on Tuesday morning. Things are settling down a bit. Went out for another ride as another sunny morning. Went into the paintball place near Mapledurham as it says it closed on their website.
Cases in Reading are starting to fall after the festival according to the Zoe app and the government stats. Students are back though so expect they'll go up again. Cases also well down in Glasgow but still nearly double here. My jam hadn't set so redid it with extra lemon. Went for a short ride on Thursday morning over to Tilehurst station and back down the river. Tweaked my back carrying the bike over footbridge then a again when I hit the wheelie bit back home. Eased off enough to try swimming though. The jam is still a bit runny but it can at least be classified as runny jam as opposed to blackberries in syrup. Had a goolie zoom in the evening, all good. Abandon my book as it was utter obvious drivel, how do they get published? Started on the latest Richard Osman. Went for a walk to Fobney Meadow on Friday morning to see if I could spot any intetesting birds. Thought I saw a pair of peregrines on one of the pylons but when they took off they looked more like buzzards. Checked the Berks Birds site and buzzards have been spotted on the pylons so that's probably what they were. Managed to actually walk through the meadow but got severely nettled at the end. Went swimming in the afternoon followed by a ride to the Lodden Brewery. So that's like a triathlon I've done. They are back to glass.
Went to check out Reading Hydro as Andy had sent some pictures. Looks good but didn't seem to be running.
More of Madeline to finish off the post.
Madeline went for her first walk on Tuesday.
Did a ride out to the West Berks Brewery. It was a bit wet to start with but turned out quite nice. Beer not really up to scratch, same as last time. Went to watch Reading beat Peterborough 3 1 to move ys out of the relegation zone up to 15th. Went for a bit of ride on Wednesday afternoon to Caversham, through the golf course and back down the Mapledurham route. Went swimming on Thursday afternoon. Madeline had her first trip out worn by her dad.
Had a goolie chat in the evening. Greg has double vision and is going for some tests. His petition to stop turning back boats full of asylum seekers has been accepted. John fell asleep. On Friday M went to the dentist in Oxford. I watched the latest Zoe covid app video. They are concerned about hospitalisations and think the government should introduce their plan B measures now. That's sensible stuff like wearing masks and social distancing. They are also concerned that the government's list of symptoms has not been updated.
Went for a swim in the afternoon then had a call with J n A. They've had a couple of rough nights with Madeline not sleeping. The theory is that she's not being fed enough. Amy's milk is now fulling flowing though so hopefully things will improve.
JnA messaged on Saturday to say they'd all had a good night.
I have a ticket for Double Dot Bash but have decided not to go as it will be a crowded indoor space and I dont want to catch anything before visiting Madeline. We went blackberry picking in the afternoon to our usual spot by the church in Mortimer. Note to self "Dont wear shorts next time."
Had a zoom call with JnA in the evening. TnS briefly joined but they were at the All Points East festival. A very lazy day on Tuesday. In the evening we did the quiz at Brewdog. Came last but it was a good quiz. Spent most of Wednesday getting ready for EOTR. Got some cash out for the first time in about 18 months. Everything has been card only. I think Reading Festival was. There's been no mention of that from EOTR though. I guess its because its a bit remote and signals aren't very good. Also got some LFTs from Boots. I did one and was -ve. Met TnS and Keith and Fiona at Amesbury services on the A303 on Thursday and travelled the rest of the way to EOTR together. Fiona had blue hair and Sally had some pink bits. Kevin ,Adrienne and Jamie had got there early and set up their event shelter and saved us spaces. Penno was also there with Matt. Watched Kikagako Moyo and Stereolab both good. Tom pointed out that KM played in lots of different time signatures, like 5/4 their final number was 3/4. Fine use of the electric sitar. A bit of a throwback. I'd given Stereolab a listen and wasn't too keen but very good live. Had a bit too much beer so woke every 2 hours to go to the loo. Johnny Dillon provided a nice start to the day on Friday with a set of acoustic instrumentals mostly played in a open tuning. Couldn't make out the make of his guitar but sounded great amplified by a small mic attached to his guitar. Looked like he was playing with his thumb and finger nails. After we went to see a bit of comedy, a chap called Ignacio Lopez, half Welsh half Spanish, very funny taking the piss out of the brits. M stayed for more but I went to see Aoife Nessa Frances. Really liked her, simple, melodic songs with an effective beat provided by a very understated drummer. Apart from that it was just her on electric guitar and a keyboard player who also chipped in with some backing vocals. Then off to see Katy J Pearson. I thought she'd be a bit more folky but she was quite poppy. Good though, got the crowd going. Then watched a bit of Balimaya Project. African like with lots of drums. Didn't really do it for me, a bit too much going on but there was a fine Kora solo. We went to disco bingo after that. The rest of the afternoon and early evening then just kind of drifted away until it was time for Arlo Parks who was excellent and is probably going to be really big. Great songs and a great band with a guitarist who did a couple of nifty solos, he did look a bit like one of the Mario brothers tough. We then watched John Grant, hadn't intended to but we heard him going a sound check and that sounded good. A bit miserable but interesting enough. We then went to see Josie Long but most of her stuff was just a political rant except for her being heckled by sheep. As I was drifting off to sleep I heard some fine fast and furioys guirar playing coming from the tipi tent. It turned out to be Bo Ningen. Sally saw Katy J Person emerge from Big Jeff's tent on Saturday morning. What's going on there? There was a challenging start to the day musically with Kieron Leonard. I've tried to see him on numerous occasions in the past but it never happened for various reasons. I stuck it out. There were 2 other 'high strung' guitarists, double bass and a cittern player. I met M in the garden stage, she had sneaked off to watch Golden Dregs who she really liked. We listened to a bit of H Hawkline and then M went off to see a film so I watched Modern Nature who were excellent. Sort of slow jazzy songs. Great sound, guitar, keyboard, sax, double bass and drums. After that it got a bit patchy. Anteloper were experimental jazz, a very good drummer and a trumpet player who didn't really play but made noises. Hen Oglegg were kind of electronic folk with an electric harp but it didn't really do it for me. As with Friday the late afternoon and early evening sort of disappeared until it was time for The Comet Is Coming. Full on jazz with sax, keyboard and drums. The drummer did a solo at one point but really he was just doing a solo all the time. Good stuff. We didn't watch the headliners but instead explored the woods and found ourselves on the ferris wheel.
When we got back to the tent had a message from James saying Amy had been admited to hospital with high blood pressure as a precautionary measure but they may induce her. Gave him a call on Sunday morning, then got a further message saying they will probably let her out but unlikely the baby will go to full term. Its fine though. We watched a bit of Anna B Savage and Charlie Cunningham first thing. We just caught the end of Anna, just playing electric guitar and singing, good but maybe a but too earnest. Charlie was playing spanish guitar and singing. A bit lighter, nice sound. Then we were off to see Billy Nomates. Just her and a laptop. Great stuff, very energetic and great songs with a bit of a polical edge. We saw her later walking to the signing tent. Seemed almost shy in contrast to her stage persona. Then went to see Shirley Collins a folk singer from way back who is 86. Her band were of a similar age. We got there before the start so couldn't see if they'd been wheeled on. They were very good and obviously were pleased to be there. She can just about hold a note. Then went back for Black Country New Road who are from London, not the black country. There's a few of them and they have a violin and sax as well as the usual which makes for and intetesting folky, rock sound. The singer talks rather than sings which gives it all a but of an edge. Had a call with James and he told us Amy has been kept in for another night. Later saw Yard Act in the tipi tent. The first time I'd been in as there were often queues and didn't really want to be in a crowded tent. Also M is not keen on the big top so only in there for KL. Plenty of room for this lot though. They were possibly my faves of the weekend. Very amusing songs, good stage presence and great band with some heavish guitar I wasn't expecting. Popped back later for a secret set by BCNR but by then I was a bit worse for wear so Tom guided me back to the tent where I fell asleep in a chair, woken up later by Jamie. Packed up and got off by about 11 on Monday and home by 1. A great EOTR. Didn't see as many bands as usual but had really good time. Amy is back home, they will monitor her blood pressure and may induce in a couple of weeks. Baby is 6lb 12oz. Chilled in front of the telly.
