Crannog in Midwinter

The Doubleus are going to be joined for Christmas this year by the Irving clan. Meyrick had a rather uneventful trip up from London despite the weather. On the other hand, the overnight flight that Tony and Chris took from Cape Town via Istanbul was one of the last to land at Heathrow before the snow and ice really took hold. Reward for this was a 2 hour wait on the runway followed by a 2 hour wait on the tube followed by a 4 hour train trip to Newcastle.

Feeling that they hadn't done enough travelling, after a few days this "hardened northern posse" decided to brave the snow, ice and feezing fog and venture up to the cottage at Gatehouse.

Temperatures of minus 12'c greeted us on arrival. But a crystal clear night sky with a full moon gave way to a very crisp still day with a perfect blue sky. So after a warming breakfast of porridge (what else in a Scottish winter?), we set off for our walk with Jeff in Laurieston Woods.

Jeff was a little perturbed to find one of his all-time favourite drinking streams frozen solid. Not one to let his spirits be dampened, he quickly got stuck in to a bit of ice skating! It looked such fun that by the end of the walk we'd all had a go!

The Weddoes play Bizarro

I recently drove through a blizzard to see the Wedding Present play the hometown gig on their Bizarro Tour. I say "hometown," but David Gedge now spends most if his time in Southern California than Leeds (you can hire his Santa Monica pad whilst they're on tour). And I say "The Wedding Present," but obviously DG is the only member from the original line-up.




After dealing with ice and snow on the way to Leeds city centre, Mark and I met up with Simon and warmed ourselves on Thai food and Tiger beer, before we were treated to a storming gig.

TWP warmed us up with "Heather" from the "Seamonsters" LP and "Something and Nothing" off their first EP "from more than 20 years ago," Gedge said, "and I know what you're thinking: how do I still look so good?" I think the Grecian 2000 may have something to do with it, David.

They then launched into the complete "Bizarro" LP which was still stunning all these years later. Sadly we weren't treated to the B-sides from the singles (The Weddoes cover of "Box Elder" was the first Pavement song I ever heard), but we were treated to a few extras before the obligatory statement: "This is our last song. We are The Wedding Present and we don't do encores."

I can't wait for the "George Best vs The Seamonsters Tour" that must surely be in the offing.

An excellent night couldn't get much better could it? Well, yes. The purchase of an "All the songs still sound the same" T-shirt was followed by it being autographed by DG; no wait for a taxi in -5'c; Sierra Nevada Pale Ale waiting in the fridge; and a satisfyingly swift victory for England in the Adelaide Test.

Powder Hound

We were woken at 5am by a whining Jeff Dog. His mountaindog genes were kicking in: he'd seen the snow and was desperate to be out.




After fortifying myself with porridge and strong black coffee, I was ready to hit the slopes (and by that I mean the hill at the bottom of Salisbury Gardens). It turned out I needed 2 dog handlers for the shenanigans I was planning, so Mrs Doubleu and the lodger both had to suit up in appropriate arctic gear.

After "giving" me on my snowboard a 50m head start, Jeff was released to chase me down. He quickly caught me as I speeded down the hill, and savaged my mittened hands before pushing me to the snow and leaping all over me. Repeat several times with no ski lift to get to the top: it was hard work and Jeff wasn't making it any easier with his newly acquired attack-dog skills... but I would have my revenge.




It wasn't deliberate but I ran him over! I felt dreadful when I realised I'd cut his paw open. Thankfully he didn't seem to have notice and even though he would eventually need staples, he was still galloping around, chasing snowmen, with a grin on his face.

Adirondack Wanderings

Now that The Doubleus have decided they are not emigrating to Canada AND have seen Niagara, there was just one item left on their Canadian "bucket list": canoeing in the Algonquins.

Well, after the stress of selling the Highlander and the anxiety of waiting for the "check" to clear after we'd driven all the way to Pennsylvania to deposit it, we weren't going to drive back 4 hours north of Toronto.

Instead, we headed to upstate New York, to the wilds of The Adirondacks. Same canoeing, different lakes, difficulty with the pronunciation and perhaps less chance of being eaten by a bear. We set out from Floodwood Pond after a 5 minute talk from St Regis Canoe Outfitters: what could possibly go wrong?


A very mellow day followed with paddling across ponds, lakes and down creeks. We watched ducks swimming and a heron fishing. Even the 1/3 mile portage, where I had to wear a 2 man canoe as a hat, wasn't too bad.

All was going well and we arrived back at base on schedule (ie before dark). My arms were aching after a full day's paddling - but guess what: Mrs Doubleu's weren't! She's either super-fit or (and I suspect this is the most likely explanation) she was only pretending to paddle. Just one more lift up the bankside when: crack! I think I popped that rib again!

Niagara needs Viagra

Or something like that. Mrs Doubleu was a little underwhelmed by Niagara. Apparently Victoria Falls are taller and wider. Me, I was blown away the falls are just a little more impressive than High Force in the Durham Dales.

The Maid of the Mist trip was a little tacky but worthy of the hype. It is the only way to really appreciate the power of these falls. And as a bonus The Doubleus are now proud owners of matching blue bin bags with arms and hoods, result!




The town of Niagara Falls, though was worthy of all the scorn Mrs Doubleu heaped upon it. Imagine Blackpool minus the sticks of rock, fish & chips, and the donkeys; plus a glut of generic chain "restaurants" and the super-obese some of whom were too lazy to get out of their cars and merely drive by with video cameras pointed out of moving car windows!

Some tackiness though can be a force for good.

Buffalo, NY

Well, this is what greeted us outside the motel lobby as we walked to breakfast this morning. Turns out it's the opening game of the NFL season today. It's all gone a bit wild west buffalo bill round here. At least that explains the raucous tailgate party in the parking lot last night, but it would have taken a fair bit more to keep us awake. Even the bed bugs didn't manage that! Nope, not the classiest hotel The Doubleus have ever stayed in.

All this didn't put us off our game though. Reloading US mobile: check. Registering on Craigslist: check. Cataloguing all the gear: check. We even made $700 by 2pm... By selling $2000 worth of gear. Darn it! Feels very similar to Mrs Doubleu's Amazon "business".

To be fair though, she's been ruthless sorting her clothes. Maybe a quarter of the clothes she's never worn since I've known her have now made their way to charity shops. And even if the legion of DVDs I've made my way to Starbeck post office to send have only recouped an average of 20% what they were bought for (minus postage), there are benefits. I'm fitter from walking there so often, and there's more shelf space for all the books I haven't read yet.

Notes to self: 1/ you do not need to buy any more books for 2-3 years; 2/ Mrs Doubleu is not the only hoarder in our household.

Mrs Doubleu in worldwide culinary first.

Never usually one to be too adventurous with her food, Mrs Doubleu appeared to be at the cutting edge of a new culinary trend this week.

As she baked her already world famous (at least in our house) cupcakes this week, Mrs Doubleu reached for the butter in the familiar silver and blue Lurpak livery. She was puzzled by the savoury smells coming from the kitchen and subconsciously blamed me for making a mess in the oven. Later I was frankly stunned by the garlic stench in the mixing bowl. Yes you got it, she'd only gone and used my garlic butter in her cupcakes.

Resisting the impulse to go the whole savoury hog and "ice" them with cream cheese and chives, they were served plain. They were unusual but not entirely unpleasant- basically cupcakes that gave you garlic breath.

They did pass both the Jeff and the Harv tests with flying colours gaining snorts of approval from both. Sadly neither of these gastronomes are known for their discrimination: just this week Jeff was caught eating another dog's poop and Harv, well Harv, shame-facedly admitted eating KFC.