Beamish Open Air Musuem

Hi everyone, visited another place that I have never been to before and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The aim of the museum is to portray life in Northern England in both the 1820's and 1913. All of the exibits and buildings are seen in their everyday settings and characters will explain and display as well as use the exibits.
All of the buildings are original and many have been transported brick by brick from local towns and rebuilt at their new home at Beamish.

Below are just a few of the pictures, many more can be found by on my Facebook page.

Taken in the garage and is typical of pre- World War 1.

By the end of the 19th century growing towns required an effective transport system so from the late 1890's electric tramways were developed across the region

Taken walking towards The Town which once again represents a typical North East town from the early 1870's

The 2 pics above were taken in the Colliery Village. In 1913 over a quarter of a million boys and men produced over 56 million tons of coal annually from over 400 of the regions pits
Taken in the kitchen of a pit cottage. The school above was dismantled piece by piece and rebuilt. All together the Colliery village contains a row of cottages, a school, Methodist Chapel as well as a pit and engine house.

Tour of Britain 2009

The cycling world gathered in Darlington (my home town) on Sunday morning for the start of the 2009 Tour of Britain. The roads in and around the town were closed at 9.30am in anticipation of the start at 10.15.
Bang on time various school kids and clubs started to lead the race as the plan is for the competitors to use the first few miles not only to warm up but to involve the community.
Plenty of people turned up to spectate and it was a struggle to get a decent position to take pictures, maybe I should of told them I was the official photographer of the Gainford Leek Show hahaha.

If you click HERE the link will take you to the Tour of Britain website

Gainford Leek Show Sept 2009

Hi all, things are going well and the recuperation is going well. Had more blood tests today and will need to wait to see if any adjustments need to be made to my medication.
Last Saturday was the village Leek Show and I popped along to give my dad some support as he had quite a few leeks, vegtables and flowers entered into the show.
The photographer didnt turn up so I took some pictures not only for myself but for the Leek Club itself and for its website. I was quite pleased with the results considering I have never photographed vegtables before.
My dad did very well and was either placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in pretty much every class he entered. Pretty good !!

My dad with his prize winning trench leeks

Back home for a while

Hi everyone.
Flew home last Friday and landed in Manchester early saturday morning. Jumped on the train which is just outside the airport and travelled 2.5hrs to Darlington.
Spent the first day at my brothers and slept forever when I went to bed on the night.
Have been through at my parents since and having a very restfull and relaxing time.
I need to have another blood test soon to find out if the meds I am on need adjusting.
I will be taking plenty of pictures and posting them soon. The blog looks very bare as it is so I will set about changing that.

Going home for a while

Hi, due to the amount which the sickness benefit pays in Canada I cannot afford to stay and attend my outpatients appointments here. The amount which I am entitled to would barely cover the hotel expenses and being placed on a low salt diet hasnt helped the issue as that also would be virtually impossible to adhere to.
So I am flying home for a month where I will not only be able to carry on with my treatment but also eat a healthy diet which wont put too much stress on my heart.
Its my full intention to come back to Canada as soon as I am deemed fit to work and drive and hopefully that wont be too long.
Work have been great about it all, not only with the administrative stuff like booking flights but also with the amount of running around they have done, storing my stuff from the truck and arranging a lift to the airport. Its not that often that my employer gets a thumbs up but they deserve one for this; thanks for helping out, its very much appreciated. The same goes for all of the well wishes, the emails and phonecalls. A special thanks goes out to the people who took the time to visit, I understand that your home time is precious so a big thank you for taking the time and putting yourselves out to spend a bit of time with me.
The blog will continue when I am at home and I aim to post regularly.
Just a quick update on my condition, I feel great and the medication I am taking is doing its job. My heart rate has dropped dramatically however it does let go occasionally and does its own thing, the meds are regulary monitored with blood tests and fine tuned to counteract this. I am confident in myself that I will be fighting fit before long and will be looking forward to getting back to work.
No pics I am afraid, I know some of you wanted some snaps of the nurses but in the interests of your health I dont think its advisable.

Thanks again for the support I have received, I will post soon.


Below are some shots from one of my last trips which was with Paul on his mentor trip. They are all taken running across the Rockies from Vancouver British Columbia to Calgary Alberta. I will miss driving through this scenery.