Daughter's with Duke of Edinburgh, XBox on a Diet

As you can see from the title of this post my weekend has been busy my daughter has been away on a trip to the New Forest to walk across this green and pleasant land and cook meals with a camping trangia this was the final trip for her award.
She was much happier at the prospect than the last trip but was still worried about the hot weather,but returned tried but happy after a good weekend.She told stories about one tent falling down and came back with a multitude of snacks she didn't eat. Her feet hurt, her back hurt,she saw deer and wild horses  and was glad she had gone.
It brought back memories of my many camping trips in the past with my Family,Scouts and also in Europe as a young person. Finally the tent I had, became a casualty of the last Glastonbury I attended back in 1998 when after rupturing a disc in my back I spent five hours in agony carrying my belongings back to the car in the poring rain before abandoning it to the clear up squad.I was sorry to see it go I had used it to go to many festivals through the years including the last Stonehenge free festival in 1984,I am on the video of this that I saw on-line a while back but it seems a age ago now. You can get a idea about this from the following clip I am not in this one though Stonehenge 1984
The other thing that happened this weekend was my sons Birthday he was 14 and is growing up so quickly I can hardly keep up.His only birthday wish was a new console.We were luck, when he got the first one a Nintendo Wii to be one of the only families in area to get the newly realised console due to the shortage of supply that Christmas.Because I had pre ordered early  I was the only customer in the local Currys store to get one.
Now this year he said that he wanted a XBox so today we went out to Oxford and pre ordered one of the new slim XBoxes with the hope that Kinect controller when it is released  will  stop any more controllers whizzing across the room.He was so happy. Maybe now he will not feel the need to keep on to me about how good the XBox is and I can look around for the money for the online subscription XBox live that is a requirement to play with other across the internet.For all those who want to see a picture this is what it looks like

XBox 360 slim with Kinect controler

Due to the good weather My breathing has been quite good and I was able to get out alone for a afternoon and look around at the options available before we went today and ordered it.That may not seem much but I have lost a lot of my confidence since I got unwell and mostly go out with someone to help me with the things I find impossible like carrying stuff and also to be available to get my oxygen from the car should I become very breathless.
I am hopping that this will carry on and I might be well enough to go on holiday to visit my wife's folks on the south east coast,as we missed a holiday last year due to my hospital admission and protracted infection.
Holiday require a lot of organising so I will leave a discussion on that for another time.
Finally my eldest Daughter is about to leave the country for a season at a well known ski resort for a couple of months so if she is reading this hope you have a great time.

Badgers in the Night, Red Kites in the Sky

My son returned form his night out under canvas, tired out, with stories of badgers. It seems that he had little sleep, and had been out walking round with his mates and had seen one running around.It was great to hear that he had a good time and had got the excitement to be out in the countryside that is lacking in some children now.
I have only seen a badger up close once and was in awe when I did. I brought to mind my youth,out walking a weasel running across the path pausing briefly to look at me before disappearing so close I could have touched it. Going out and looking for Slow worms, Lizards and Grass snakes.
Pond dipping for Newts,Tadpoles and the strange things that live at the bottom of natural water, Like the native white claw crayfish a protected animal now. Hours spent fishing, watching the wildlife.Water voles that as a child I would see around me all the time are now rare. The kingfisher that I have seen a rods length away on more than one occasion ,seldom seen now.
Most children Have only one chance to see these animals dead on the side of the road.We seem to be too protective, and these aspects of the world take second place to computer games,shopping and television now. The chance to be out in the countryside on my own with nature,of all the things I cant do, I really miss that the most.
My daughter went out and got her supplies for her camping trip today and came back with first aid kit,dehydrated food and long life milk I hope that her trip goes well.I remember doing the same when I went to camp with the scouts.
One thing I did worry about when my son was away was getting called for a transplant.
Most of the time I have developed a need to shut out the fact that a call could come any time or i wouldn't be able to get on with life. Last night I had problems doing that as I imagined my son coming back to the fact that the lung transplant had gone ahead,how would he feel if it wasn't successful and he didn't say goodbye.I think this is a reaction to what happened to me when my father died as his death was sudden and unexpected.

On the subject of wildlife I have few contacts with it now but one thing I am still awed by are the red kites that fly over our house I have devoted a lot of time to getting photos of them so I thought I would include one of my better pictures 

Red Kite

I remember as a young teenager in the Forest of Dean walking into a clearing and seeing deer grazzing that was one of my most inspiring encounters. We are lucky where we are to occasionally see deer near the road and I have a video of one we saw while I was in the car with my son about two miles from our house last year I will post that for interest rather than quality of film making 

Oxfordshire Deer.
There are other deer in Oxford in the wild,such as Muntjac deer that I have seen on a few occasions.
Also in captivity a most notably in Magdalen College deer park called The Grove they are maintained for the fellows meals and were accessible to the public until recent years but I believe you can still get guided tours. Or if you have Quicktime plug in  there is a virtual tour of the college Here
 

Muntjac