My brother has been going through old photos from my mum's house and I've just retouched and enhanced this one. This was taken on the occasion of my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary in 1970 at their home in Hartlepool. This scene consists of my grandparents, their children, their childrens' spouses, and their grandchildren - minus my brother who I think is behind the camera.

That's me on the bottom left. Only the persons in the front row, and my mum (immediately behind me) are still alive. To my left at the front are my cousin Martin, my brother Eric and my cousin Fergus.



Sorry to say that my cousins' family has been touched by tragedy to an unusual degree. My Aunt Alwyn, pictured on the right, succumbed to cancer this same year, in her mid 40s. Six years later her husband Gordon, top left here, suffered a fatal heart attack in his early 50s. And their daughter Katherine, standing between Gordon and my dad at the back, died in January 2016. I think she would have been 59.

Very quick one this morning. All over in about 45 seconds.

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I have a pair of Oakley cycling glasses (actually generic "sports glasses" possibly) like these ones, except mine are grey and light blue:



I had them fitted with my varifocal prescription. Very light and comfy, though to be honest more often than not I just put on an old pair of varifocals, the same ones I use for driving or Tesco.

Varifocals have been brilliant for cycling, for me. They allow me to focus on a watch or a bike computer, and also to have a clear view of the road into the distance.

I also have some cycling sunglasses similar to Dom's, with a prescription insert that goes behind the main lenses. They came with a number of interchangeable front lenses including clear ones but I only use the highly reflective dark filter ones. They look ridiculous with the clear lenses because you can see the insert behind.

These look like they'd do what you want:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Polarized-Cycling-Sunglasses-Interchangeable-Protection/dp/B08976MR2V/

Dry day, decently bright though not quite sunny, but - a cold wind was blowing. Since it's likely to rain for the next few days, I thought I'd leave early and get the March campaign underway.

I decided on a Twycross Bypasser; hadn't been along Orton Lane for a while. I did the longish version going into Warton. Since I was suffering slightly in a cold headwind I decided, once I got to Sheepy, that I'd come home the quickest way from there. The trouble is, I never know which way that is. I came back through Twycross, Congerstone, Shackerstone, Swepstone and Ibstock anyway.



I bonked near Twycross. Hadn't eaten that much today, I guess. But two mini pork pies soon sorted that out.

I saw a large, grey bird near Shackerstone. At first I thought it was a pigeon, but it was flying along the ground along the side of the road in front of me, in a most un-pigeonlike manner. Then it just cleared the hedge on the opposite side and swooped down over the field again. I'm pretty sure it was an owl.

33.98 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6758244853

I had that same idea after I bought one a couple of years ago, never tried it though.

Actually I'm currently not able to fly it legally, bought it when you didn't need a licence but that's changed.

Quick one this morning, less than two minutes. Still took four goes though.

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I was a bit alarmed to note that roughly 1/3 of people who reacted this morning to a satellite pic of the Russian convoy near Kiev on the GB News Facebook feed did so with the smiley. Looking at the comments it seems that a lot of people think the war is fake; here's one for example:

Where is the snow??? This looks like its been shot in the summer...we are being played ...I've seen a report from reuters which show evidence that they are using photos from other conflicts ...one peice of footage shows zelensky ...apparently this photo footage was taken from a film zelensky starred in...He was an actor ...don't believe all you/we are being told ...and seeing....its all part of the wicked propaganda being spewed out of their lying mouths.

I did buy a handlebar cam years ago. In itself it worked OK but the results were very wobbly. Can't remember if I ever tried mounting it on a helmet, it did come with a mount for that (or I might have bought one).

What I did in the end was to buy a regular camera mount and mount it on the seat post. The footage you get that way is more stable although of course it's a rear view. But for me it was just a novelty and I only tried it once or twice.

90 hours, wow. Even if it's half that, pretty phenomenal.

Massive, historic increase in military spending in Germany.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60549916

Let's hope they're not marching along the Champs-Élysées in ten years' time!

First car tax for my diminutive Volkswagen Up. Only £20!

It's been a great little car so far, more than up to the job of doing long motorway distances and ideal for Tesco and back.

I have some USB ones as well, these ones are really good -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Defurhome-Rechargeable-Battery-Bicycle-Waterproof/dp/B07Y36TGRS/

I mostly use rechargeable ones as spares though - they're much more likely to run out of juice on a ride. I nearly always use an LED torch as a front light - they tend to be brighter. But actually the front light from the Amazon set above is just about bright enough to light up the road ahead.

I use a small front light in flashing mode for dusk, when it's still light enough to see the road, or when going through decently lit areas. The little silicon strappy ones that take a coin cell are ideal for that.

This rather cheap-looking thing is a new bike light I've just received from Amazon. I have a lot of bike lights I must admit. They're one of my go-to options for retail therapy.

So why did I buy this one? Well - my mum has gone into a nursing home now and for some reason, she had a very large number of AA batteries in her house, most which I've now inherited. This rear light is unusual in taking AAs rather than AAAs. Just a way of using them up.

The light with batteries is substantially heavier than a AAA-equipped light would be, but - I did have an idea that on a very long ride, I could leave it empty all day then swap the AAs from my DAB personal into it. Then I could use my phone to listen to the radio for the last 30 or 40 miles.

So in that circumstance, it would actually save a bit of weight.

It seems to work well. My only question mark would be the water resistance.

FIFA have now suspended all Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions. Pleased to see this because their earlier pronouncement that the Russians would be able to compete without their flag and as the "Football Union of Russia" was IMO a ridiculous half-baked measure.

But it was never going to fly when some of the national sides said they wouldn't play against them in any circumstances.

Yes I agree that's the worry - and the irony is that the harder it becomes for him to subjugate Ukraine, the more dangerous he potentially becomes. Ukraine seems to be an emotive subject for him.

There must be some acceptable way that he can be claim to have profited for his audience at home.