Blogs from Matlock, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Was it 1989 I wondered ? I have a memory of an old man. He was walking along the banks of the Cromford Canal. He leaned on the umbrella he was using as a walking stick . He stopped now and then and talked about steam. About the Industrial Revolution and the way it evolved in this part of Derbyshire. He described the rivers , the damp weather and the site of his factory with its lights blazing well into the night . He talked about the philantrophy of Arkwright who built the village of Cromford. A village that climbs up a hill. The houses of three stories were built of local stone and are still standing . He built an entire community . I don't remember the name of the old man . Professor someone ... read more

Where in the world are we? Why am I thinking about a café run by an old man named Sam? Where is the lovely Gabby? What is the restoration café? In answer to the first question we are just up the road. A few miles from home in the town of Matlock Bath. We have been to Matlock many times but for some reason we have never ventured just up the road to Matlock Bath. It's a lovely day. The sun is shining although there is still a chill in the air. We are two twelfths of the way through 2018. Into the third month of the year. The metereologists have told us that we have reached meterological Spring. Spring proper does not arrive in my mind until we reach the middle of this month. Around ... read more

Well what a momentous week! The best result you could wish for. An unexpected one at that. Life will never be the same again. A country rose up loud and proud . The Dragon roared . Victorious that's what we are. No not the referendum and Brexit . Wales coming top of the group in Euro 2016 . Finishing above England with a win over Slovakia, a thrashing of Russia and a woeful sad last minute robbing by England. To top it all we are now through to the last 8. Unexpected - yes - with a population so small we don't have the players . The players we have play in lower divisions of the English League with the exception of a handful of Premiership players and one rather special one - Gareth Bale. Despite ... read more

Sunday 24th June 7am Summer rain in the time-borrowed garden. Everything is drenched, rain heavy, dripping - the air, the hedgerows, grass, foxgloves, roofs and pathways are all rain covered. The rain rebounds off the old pigsty roof, dancing up and down. It sings a song around me. The rain-showers become a chorus repeating back and forth in between the verses of quiet. It is 7am and I am in garden of an old house in the Arkwright village of Cromford. It is void of human interaction, no cars, no neighbours, everyone is sleeping inside and I can clearly hear the patterns of the shifting rain. Above the valley, the mist is rising and the clouds sink down. I can just make out the horizon. The gardens overlap, divided by old dry-stone walls, obsolete pig stys, ... read more

Home last weekend to see my parents, a friend and to purposely walk through the bluebell woods in my memory. In the morning, my mother and I picked the flowers from her garden, chose the route and set off for the grave of my grandparents, across the fields, through the wood gathering past and present. On the way, I stopped at the old house of my granddad and looked over the fence knowing that the uncle I had not seen for 30 years now lived in it. My uncle came out and shouted to me whilst my mother was picking grape hyacinths on the bank, just out of his view. “ hello love, can I help you? Are you looking at the garden?” and I said, “no, I’m just looking”. (at the smallness of it all) ... read more