This is the photo of me that my Uncle gave me a few days ago, I was so young!

It's Boxing Day, the day that traditionally the children of the well to do boxed up old toys and took them to the children of the workers.
Here all of my family come to my sisters house on this day for us to have our Christmas meal together.

It's Christmas and it's a bit of a wet one this morning.
Since my sister and her husband Ray are working today, we opened some of our presents last night. There was only my nephew, Shadow the dog and myself here this morning. Shadow was a bit out of sorts, probably too much partying last night. Our Christmas day festivities will happen later today when everyone is at home. Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Yes it's Christmas eve and it's a wet one.If it had stayed cold like earlier in the month the rain we have today would be snow and we could have had a white Christmas. We must remember however that Christmas is about family and I am here with mine. I am also getting greetings from those abroad.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL

It's Christmas eve eve. at least that's what we call it in our family.
Went out nice and early for my Sunday run. There was a good frost but it was bright and there air had lots of country smells in it.Ran for about 1 hour and it felt quite easy. One thing that I have noticed is that my breathing seems much better than it has for a while.

It's the winter solstice. so of course it was the shortest day and it went very quickly.
I have been in the UK for 3 Saturdays now and for the second time I got to see Wolves play live on TV. Last time they lost 3-2 to Burnley, this time they drew 1-1 with Leicester. They will be in 7 th place in the Championship at Christmas, which is 7 places higher than the same time last year.
My uncle Dave sent me a photo of me when I was 17 today. It's amazing to look back.

Yesterday the Queen of England became the oldest monarch ever. At 5pm she became one day older than Queen Victoria was when she died in 1910. So there is a little bit of trivia for you.

When I am at my sisters, it's a bit like having a housekeeper. I get to put my washing in the laundry basket and get it done for me. I must point out that I have offered to do it for her. My clothes come back smelling so nice and fresh.

In New York I sleep on a Futon be, which is quite firm. I've been sleeping on a futon bed for probably 10 years and I like it, it's also a twin sized bed. The bed I'm sleeping on at my sisters is a double with a soft mattress. I sleep on the left side of the bed, but sometimes find that during the night I walk into the middle of the bed in my sleep. I have a nice room in my sisters house.

Went to do the weekly shopping with my sister today.Yes Asda was the place, it took us 2 1/2 hours to do it all.
When I got home I got to go for a nice run.

When I was a kid growing up in England, Football was the game I watched the most. Today I went with my sister, niece and her friend to a place called Holly Bush, which is sort of a garden center. When we got there, there was a long line to see someone. It was a surprise to find out that someone was, Gordon Banks and Bert Williams. Two great goalkeepers of the past. Gordon won the World Cup with England in 1966. They were doing a book signing. I didn't have my camera with me, which was a shame. When I was a kid I thought Gordon Banks was one of the best goalkeepers ever. He is still fondly remembered.
Two nights ago I dreamed there was snow on Christmas day.

When I woke up this morning I didn't want to go out for my usual Sunday morning run, I don't know why but I just didn't.
Today was Grand slam Sunday in the English Premier League. Th e4 biggest teams were playing in 2 games. In the first one ManU beat Liverpool 1-0 to go top, then Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 to back on top. I watched both games and I thought the Arsenal v Chelsea was the better game.

I've been here for a week now and of course it has gone pretty quickly.It started off on the wet side with a couple of days of rain and now it has turned quite cold.I still feel as though I'm settling in a bit.
One big thing that has happened since I got her is, that as of yesterday the England football team now have a new head coach and he is Italian, at loeast through the next world cup.

One of the great legends of Ultra running died on Wednesday his name is Ted Corbitt. You probably don't know who he is, but people in the UR community will. Besides being a great runner and inspiration to many, many runners, he was also the most humble person you could ever meet. I was lucky enough to have met him many times and even had the chance to run a race with him.
It is a sad day in the running community but I am sure it is one that will bring many of us together in remembering him.

Today there was one of the two weekly stall markets in Penridge, there is pretty good mix of different kinds of fare available,
I am doing quite well with my running at the moment, it is so much more relaxed than in New York and I am surrounded by countryside so that of course helps. The weather has also been pretty good so far and it is usually above freezing during the day.

It's turned quite cold here in Penkridge, but it's bright and sunny. Can you believe it, I was born on this day 54 years ago.
There is a small bakery in the village called Jaspers and they make really good Cherry scones, I bought some yesterday, 4 for just £1:65 and they were scrummy.

Well I've been in the UK for a couple of days no. The flight went well and was quite quick, just five and a half hours. I went for a run Sunday morning from my sister's village to another called Acton |Trussle, a round trip of about 6 miles and felt really good. It is really nice to be here to spend the holidays with my family, Stay tuned.

I may have lived in New York for almost 30 years, that's where I live but England is my home and I'm going home for the holidays.I have about 3 hours before I leave for the airport and I'm actually ready to go. Since I am visiting with family it is a pretty easy trip to prepare for. This time tomorrow I'll be checking the football (soccer) scores on the TV in my sisters house.
I will continue to report as well as possible from there.

It was my last work day for the year today, tomorrow I'm going home! I left at lunchtime. i have to finish my packing.
There is a new series on NBC called Life about a detective named Charlie Crews, I even got one of the guys at work watching it. He watches it on TV and I watch it the next day on the internet. Last night was the season finale, when my friend came in to work he said jokingly that I should go straight home and watch it. Well I waited till it was time to leave work and came home and watched. It was totally awesome!

We caught our 11th Raccoon at work today, it was the biggest one so far. he was pretty calm to start with but then he got grumpy. If the Fed Ex boys did their job he's playing in the park now. Though it did get a little snowy and cold this afternoon.
I have to start doing some of my packing tonight, ready for my trip on Friday, I'm looking forward to the break.

I slept well last night and although it was a clod walk work felt good when I got there. I made myself a nice herbal tea, but a short while after that started feel really sick to the stomach. This was followed by sneezing and a runny nose. All the symptoms of a cold. When the guys came in later one of them gave me some ester c powder and that made me feel better. I worked the whole day and even had a bowl of homemade chilli for lunch.
On the way home a did buy a new travel bag, this one has big wheels. I have had trouble before when they have small wheels because they wear out quickly, so we will see what happens with this one.
Oh and Celtic made it into the last 16 of the Champions League!

A Serbian friend from Geneva passed through New York yesterday on his way to DC. We had dinner and it was a chance to catch up on a few things, also to talk about a few possible future projects.
It didn't get above freezing until quite late last night, but then it got quite warm and almost all the snow was gone this morning. Finally vanishing as the day progressed.

We had our first snow of the season today. It started just after I woke up and before I went out for my run. The temperature was in the low 20's F when I ventured out for my run with Abichal and the snow was falling lightly. With the wind in our faces for the first few miles it felt really cold. I went out to run 10 miles again at a good pace, Abichal had a slightly different paln so we split after 7 miles. I felt much stronger this week, but then I hadn't run 2 races earlier.

Though there was bright sunshine it felt really cold this morning when I went out for my run. The temperature was around freezing but there was a strong wind, so it felt a lot colder. For some reason my legs felt very tired. It seems quiet here in New York, maybe the weather has something to do with that. I am sleeping well and it may have something to do with that too, maybe it is part of my natural urge to hibernate.