Mick and Liesel's Antics

Thinking about the children

My Dad liked the odd flutter down at the betting shop. Mostly on horse races, sometimes the dogs. And in the olden days, he dutifully filled in the football pools coupon each week. Actually, he won about £100on the pools once, in the 1960s, worth over £2000 in today’s money, so quite a substantial amount. He opened a bank account for the first time ever in his life. When the winnings had all been spent, he closed the account. The bank manager wasn’t happy: “Well, that was a waste of time, wasn’t it?” On the whole though, he wasn’t very lucky. As he said one day, he never had a nice holiday in Jamaica but he was sure Mr William Hill enjoyed a few.

I’m not saying he was a gambling addict, far from it, but I’m glad that that particular, harmless pastime doesn’t appeal to me in the same way. And when it comes to 50-50 chances, I’d never bet, because I’m more than 50% sure that I have genetic architecture that predisposes me to a higher probability of adverse outcomes.

This all came flooding back when I began using buses regularly again, here at home. Whichever bus I’m waiting for, I will almost always see one going in the opposite (wrong) direction first.

And another observation: many buses that pass by are ‘Not in Service’. I know the drivers have different shift times and need to return to the depots or wherever, but there is a very high percentage of buses on the roads here that are not in service. I think I only became aware of this again having seen very few buses in Sydney not picking up passengers for this reason.

The display on this bus wasn’t very helpful. The Airport and Piccadilly Gardens are in opposite directions, being the two termini for route 43. Still, I got to my destination OK.

I do miss this little chap.

After being tortured (slight exaggeration) again by the dental hygienist, I joined the Wednesday walking group. There were 22 of us on this occasion, the first noticeably warm day since I returned.

There’s a lot of confusion between International Book Day, World Book Day and International Day of the Book. Whichever it was, Martha and William joined in the celebrations this year.

The Thursday and Friday walks were less populated and by the end of the week, it was beginning to cool down a bit too.

It’s early stages of World War III since Israel and USA attacked Iran last weekend. That’s presumably just the excuse our local BP garage needed to increase its fuel prices. Wednesday: 138.9p/l, Thursday: 140.9, Friday: 142.9. No, I didn’t join the queue panic-buying petrol. For one thing, I was on the bus and didn’t have the car with me.

On TV, when I can find it, I’ll watch some Paralypics Curling. And I enjoyed another episode of Call the Midwife. It was a somewhat harrowing storyline, to be honest. But, equally, perversely, the best episode ever since it included a beautiful song performed by Mary Hopkin.

Happy International Women’s Day! You can listen again to my Wythenshawe Radio show right here.

Here is your slightly irregular reminder not to rely on AI chatbots:

I asked: if you were to spell out all the numbers from 1 to 1000, how often would you write the letter A? Here is the response:

Alright — let’s work through this step-by-step.

We want to know: how many times does the letter ‘A’ appear when writing out all numbers from 1 to 1000 in words (standard English, no “and” except as part of a number name like “one hundred and one” – wait, let’s clarify that).

—

Step 1: Understanding what we count

When writing numbers in English, there are two common conventions:

1. Without “and”
Example: 101 = “one hundred one” (no ‘a’)
2. With “and”
Example: 101 = “one hundred and one” (one ‘a’ from “and”)

The problem doesn’t specify, but if we want maximum ‘A’ frequency, we use “and” between hundreds and the rest for numbers 101–999.

Let’s also note:

· Zero is not counted (1 to 1000).
· The only letters containing ‘A’ in the standard English number names are:
and, one, eight, hundred, thousand, and maybe others? Let’s check:

Actually:

· and
· hundred
· thousand
· eight? Wait, “eight” has no ‘a’. “Eight” is E-I-G-H-T. No ‘A’. Let’s list properly.

Let’s list all number names and see which have ‘A’.

—

Digit names (0-9):

· zero (no A)
· one (O-N-E) → no A
· two (no A)
· three (no A)
· four (no A)
· five (no A)
· six (no A)
· seven (no A)
· eight (no A)
· nine (no A)

Teens:

· ten (no A)
· eleven (no A)
· twelve (no A)
· thirteen (no A)
· fourteen (no A)
· fifteen (no A)
· sixteen (no A)
· seventeen (no A)
· eighteen (no A)
· nineteen (no A)

Tens (20–90):

· twenty (no A)
· thirty (no A)
· forty (no A)
· fifty (no A)
· sixty (no A)
· seventy (no A)
· eighty (no A)
· ninety (no A)

Hundred, thousand, and:

· hundred → yes, 1 A in “hundred”
· thousand → yes, 1 A in “thousand”
· and → yes, 1 A in “and”

—

So the only words with ‘A’ are:

· hundred (1 A)
· thousand (1 A)
· and (1 A)

And digits/teens/tens have no A.

—

Step 2: Counting numbers with ‘A’

Since no 1–9 have A, and 10–19 have no A, and 20–99 have no A, it means only numbers where the word “hundred”, “thousand”, or “and” appear can contain ‘A’.

1. Numbers 100–999:

Let’s pick the pattern:

· 100 = “one hundred” → one A (from hundred)
· 101 = “one hundred and one” → two A’s (hundred + and)
· 110 = “one hundred and ten” → two A’s (hundred + and)
· 115 = “one hundred and fifteen” → two A’s
· 120 = “one hundred and twenty” → two A’s
· 199 = “one hundred and ninety nine” → two A’s

So:
For 100: “hundred” → 1 A
For 101–199 (except 100): each has “hundred and” → 2 A’s.

Let’s check 200–299: same pattern:
200 = “two hundred” → 1 A
201–299: each = “two hundred and X” → 2 A’s

That pattern holds for all hundreds blocks (100–999):

Block N00: “N hundred” → 1 A
Block N01–N99: “N hundred and …” → 2 A’s

So per hundred block:

Count of ‘A’s for that block:

· N00: 1 A
· N01–N99: 99 numbers × 2 A’s = 198 A’s

Total for block = 1 + 198 = 199 A’s.

There are 9 such blocks (100–199, 200–299, …, 900–999).

So A’s from 100–999 = 9 × 199 = 1791 A’s.

—

Step 3: Number 1000

“One thousand” → one A in “thousand”. So 1 A.

—

Step 4: Check if 1–99 have any ‘A’

No. 1–99 have no ‘A’ because none of their words contain ‘A’.

—

Step 5: Total

From 1–99: 0 A’s
From 100–999: 1791 A’s
From 1000: 1 A

Total = 0 + 1791 + 1 = 1792 A’s

Home Alone

At home, there have been a few schemes over the years where we can recycle the blister packs that medication now comes in. All of these schemes soon stopped for whatever reason. Here, in Sydney, we can leave such blister packs in Chemist Warehouse and they then either recycle them (we hope) or just throw away. And this morning, I disposed of three weeks worth of blister packs while waiting to meet Helen, Brent and Keiran by Warringah Mall.

Liesel and I took the bus from our b&b and Helen pushed the pram from home. The B-line bus was packed, so Liesel and I had to sit upstairs. A nice quick ride into Sydney and we finally had a chance to say a proper hello at Wynyard. Where the postcode is 2000.

Here is a rare photograph of Sydney Opera House taken from the upper deck of a B-line bus as it crosses Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We walked to The Rocks, another historic area in Sydney. The walk was mostly downhill and we even had to negotiate a few steps with the pram.

PaniQ Room is Sydney’s original and favourite Escape Room. It’s a fun and exciting way to spend some time with friends, family or colleagues and exercise your mind. This was our venue for an hour of adventurous missions, puzzles and riddles. Our mission was to restore a video tape to a hidden safe before The Godfather realised that it had been stolen. We enjoyed solving the puzzles, and following up a couple of misleading leads that led nowhere.

The music from The Godfather played throughout, and I for one felt it was time to watch those films again. There are no photos from the escape room itself, of course, we can’t reveal the secrets. We escaped with seven minutes to spare: Liesel and I were very glad to have Brent’s and Helen’s younger brains ticking over a bit faster than ours.

The successful escapists with Mafia hats

Yes, Brent is holding some gak while Helen and I are sporting cigars.

The Saturday market was crowded, and I wondered how many of the people were passengers from the cruise ship, Discovery Princess today.

Ancient Feelings (2025) by Thomas J Price

This sculpture caught my eye outside the Museum of Contemporary Art. The 1.5-tonne, 3-metre-high head of a woman is cast in golden bronze.

We wandered around Circular Quay to the Opera House where we enjoyed lunch, outside, in the shade, avoiding the bright sunshine. Food and drink was ordered by QR code and disappointingly, the servers just walked our food and drink to the table, no roller skates involved.

Actually, we were underneath the Opera House, quite a daft place to sit, in retrospect. 161,000 tonnes of bricks and tiles above us, all held up by this pillar.

Helen and Brent lending their support too

My last ferry ride of this visit down under was enjoyable, and we then spent some time in Manly, listening to a busking sax player and buying a couple of things, before catching the bus back to Brookvale. We walked to 4 Pines Brewery where we met Nat and Rob. Later, Jacqui joined us, but it was a very brief, hot in the Sun, final meeting.

Walking along the road, we passed this delightful, attractive and very tasty plant.

No, I didn’t taste it: we all know that everything in Australia is designed to kill us! It’s very pretty, though.

Fuel by Night was the venue for Liesel’s and my final dinner here on this trip. This venue is a coffee bar by day, and is open for meals a couple of nights a week. Liesel and I caught the bus back to our b&b while Helen and Brent walked back home. Some quick packing before bed.

We’d walked quite a lot this week, further (for me, at least) than any single week at home since Winter set in.

Our final breakfast, at SeaSprout, was more than satisfactory, eggs benny, but without the ham, thank you very much. We’d finished packing at our b&b and Brent and Helen took us backbac collect it and drive it around to their flat.

Unbelievably, it was Liesel’s and my 20th wedding anniversary the following day, and we would be away from each other. What a lovely surprise to receive a present from the whole family: Helen, Brent, Keiran, Jenny, Liam, Martha and William.

Grandad, Oma, Martha, William and Keiran

Yes, we are officially a pendemonium of cockatoos! This picture was drawn by friends of Helen and Brent and I was able to pack it in my case to take home.

It’s always sad saying goodbye after such a good visit. I took an Uber to the airport. Liesel’s flight was several hours after mine, and Helen drove her, later on. I’m not at all jealous that Liesel spent a few hours longer with Keiran, honest.

The airport experience was OK. The flight to Abu Dhabi was long but OK. Glad I ordered Indian vegetarian food this time.

I didn’t expect to see a camel in the airport, but life is full of surprises.

I saw more of Abu Dhabi airport this time, there was a much longer walk between my arrival gate and the departure gate. Plus, I had to go through a security check this time.

It’s a very clean place, and the architecture is very interesting. Every posh shop you can imagine is here, and I walked right past every single one. Sorry, Liesel, wedding anniversary or not, I can’t afford the jewellery here!

The flight to Manchester was OK, long, and I just wanted to get there.

A quick taxi ride home and then straight to bed, having been awake for over 30 hours. Nice to be in my own bed, of course, but not so keen on the significantly colder temperature at home.

Most of the week, I was either asleep, thinking about sleep or fighting off sleep. At the last minute, I booked a ticket for a concert, hoping I wouldn’t nod off in the middle of it.

I took a bus into Manchester and a cab back home after the show. In late 1974, I had the opportunity to see Tubular Bells performed live at the Royal Albert Hall. I didn’t go. I’ve waited half a century for this. Yes, I saw Tubular Bells performed live, in its entirety, at the Bridgewater Hall.

Part one of the show featured excerpts from Tubular Bells II and III. And a fabulous performance of Moonlight Shadow. The composer, Mike Oldfield, wasn’t here but if he were, I’m sure he would have received a rapturous round of applause. The actual players certainly did. The 7 (or was it 8?) -piece band was led by Robin Smith, one of Mike Oldfield’s long-term collaborators

Did I fall asleep? Not a chance. The music was far too engaging, even from the Gallery, which is like the Upper Upper Circle, the only section with tickets available by the time I bought one.

For some reason, maybe I was still tired and a bit more fragile and sensitive than usual, but I found the music to be very emotional. It took me back to 1974 when I shared accommodation with the two best flat-mates anyone could ever wish for, so I’m sending lots of love and positive thoughts to Ann and Chrissy 😊❤️.

That late night was followed by an early morning visit to a health professional who extracted some blood for a few tests. Did I go back to bed when I returned home? I might have, I know I missed the 11 o’clock walk!

When I did venture out, though, I was very happy to see early signs of Spring. A bed of crocuses adorns the village green.

And then, on the Friday, I dragged myself out of bed so that I could join the regular walk in Wythenshawe Park. There was nobody there. Has the venue changed? Have they changed the start time? Have they all been abducted by aliens? I waited with a coffee for a while, and then I remembered: it’s half-term and the walk was probably cancelled. Did I do the walk anyway? Well, some of it.

The blood test results were all ‘normal’ so I felt safe to book my first donation for nearly a year. I was on the bench because of all the medical tests that I had last year.

Walking on a treadmill at home is just as boring as walking on a treadmill in a gym. You have a treadmill at home? I do, now, yes. Just a cheap one. But it’s been raining so much, I often stay at home rather than go for a walk outside. I thought this piece of equipment might help me get some steps in. One big advantage is, I can listen to my own podcasts and radio shows at home, and not have to listen to the loud EDM in a gym. Watching TV would be good, too, if only the room were set up differently.

And of course, sod’s law. The day after the treadmill was delivered, it was sunny, and said to be the warmest day of the year so far. So, yes, I was encouraged to get out a bit more!

In administrative news, it took a week for me to catch up on emails. I keep unsubscrbing but I still get too many.

I prepped a show for Wythenshawe Radio and sometimes, it takes much longer to go through the process. Too many songs a few seconds shorter than the listed duration mean I have a gap to fill: sometimes a whole new song can be squeezed in, usually I pad with a mix of jingles and old adverts.

While typing on the phone, I kept wondering why the colon (:) was displaying as a semi-colon (;). Don’t tell me the shift key isn’t working? No. The solution was, of course, to wipe the dust off the phone’s screen. Just one speck exactly in the wrong place.

Maybe I just haven’t noticed it before, but this tree in Riverside Park children’s playground jumped out at me this time. Not literally, but I noted it with some surprise. The river was a little higher than usual, not surprising after all the rain. (So glad I was away for three weeks of it.)

This week, the walking group did meet up in Wythenshawe Park. A further sign of Spring grabbed my attention and cheered me up.

A daffodil. This was the first one I saw, but there were plenty more elsewhere in the park. And further afield in Wythenshawe and Northenden.

I watched Martha and William swimming, and they are both so good, much better swimmers than I’ll ever be. Then round to Jenny’s for croissant and coffee, thank you very much!

My latest Wythenshawe Radio show is Ships and Boats

but don’t forget, there are plenty of other shows to listen to here on Mixcloud. Mickscloud. Or, tune in to Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 each Sunday at 4pm to be amongst the first to hear the latest extravaganza!

While I was settling in at home, Liesel was taking her time going back to Anchorage. She spent a couple of days in Honolulu with Trudi and John before flying to Seattle. One night there before the flight to Albuquerque. After a couple of days here, she flew back to Anchorage with her Mom. Temperatures are still below freezing, so although I might complain about it being cold here in Northenden, it’s not that bad, relatively speaking.

Colours

After our tacos, Brent dropped Liesel and me off near our b&b, thank you very much! It had been raining on and off most of the day, and we were delighted to see a rainbow at the end of the day.

I’m sure the apartments in that building, Casa Delmar, will be lovely: Alfresco living finds its ultimate expression as doors slide back to large outdoor terraces, extending your interior space and blurring the lines between inside and out. These are homes with a beautiful feel, designed for an expansive coastal Dee Why lifestyle. It sounds nearly as nice as NortNorthen. Expansive? I’m sure. Expensive too.

You know the song Come On, Eileen, by Dexys Midnight Runners? Well, for the last few days, I’ve been telling Liesel that when we turn the AC off in our room, it plays the first two notes of that song. To prove it, I found it on YouTube. And well, it doesn’t. But it certainly brings that song to mind every time.

We returned to Warringah Mall to do some shopping but Liesel took a detour into the eyelash tinting shop, so I had a coffee in the café opposite, The Best Chocolate Cake in the World. I didn’t have any chocolate cake, though.

It was great fun visiting all the department stores and clothes shops, no, honest, it really was. And every time we visit the ladies’ underwear department, I worry that I’m going to be stuck there for days, not finding my way out, like those priests in Father Ted.

Helen and Keiran joined us for lunch and a bit more shopping. A cuddly giraffe was irresistable, just a small cuddly for Keiran. I say small, but it must be nearly four feet tall. Did I feel daft carrying it through the Mall? Oh yeah.

At the time of writing, he hasn’t been given a name.

Helen dropped us off at the bottom of the hill, so we could cool off in our room for a while, avoiding 31° outside.

We found our way back to Freshwater Brewery by bus and Shanks’s Pony. One thing I’ve noticed is that, because so many cars have tinted windows, it’s sometimes very hard to see whether the driver is waving us pedestrians across the road. So we hesitate and they’re probably thinking, get a move on, you absolute whatever…

It was trivia night, and we were joined by Brent, Jacqui, Nat, Jo, Mike and Nicky. Helen and Keiran stayed at home, it was much cooler there. And our team came third. hooray!

Our original plan was to revisit Narrabeen Lake but the impending rain changed our minds. Instead, Liesel and I visited the big city, Sydney. We caught the ferry from Manly.

The nets here are to keep the sharks out rather than keep people in. But, we heard, a couple of days ago, a pair of sharks managed to break in. There must have been some damage to the nets. So neither of us went in for a swim.

In Sydney, there was very light drizzle, as we walked to the Australian Museum.

Look at the glorious blue sky. Well, not today! And note the 56 external cables wrapped around the body of Sydney Tower to prevent swaying during high winds. Very hard to count from this distance.

The museum was very interesting. We walked a lot but, as usual, that slow sort of walking isn’t energetic enough for my pedometer to count all the steps. So while I probably walked about 40,000 ⃰ steps, it insisted I’d only taken about 3,000 steps.

⃰ slight exaggeration.

Lots of taxidermied animals including crocodiles and snakes. Don’t forget the plesiosaur. Or the creaky staircase that takes you up to the gallery.

And what’s that thing hanging from the ceiling?

Irish Elk skeleton, Megaloceros giganteus

Ireland, Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene, 780,000-8000 years ago.

Standing about two metres tall, with antlers spanning more than three metres, the Irish Elk was one of the most impressive megafauna of the Pleistocene epoch. Unlike many other megafauna, it survived the Ice Age but became extinct, probably due to habitat loss, around 7700 years ago.

Despite its name, it’s neither an elk nor exclusively Irish – specimens have been found across Europe and in northern Asia and Africa. It is not closely related to any living species, but it is suspected that the animal was the foundation for the folkloric aurochs of German mythology. The bones of this specimen are dark, rather than the usual white, because they were preserved in the peaty bogs of Ireland.

Liesel suggested that its antlers have been put on backwards, but I’m not convinced. What do you think? Answers on a postcard…

The museum was also the venue for a fabulous collection of photographs, some of the best from Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. Nature at its most raw wasn’t very nice to see, although you have to admire the skill of the photographer.

This emu was captured near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It made me want to return to that very special outback town. I was also inspired to start using my real camera again, after relying on my phone’s camera for many years.

The set of sea stacks pictured are a prominent feature of this local spot, sitting perfectly to frame the rising Milky Way arm. This piece was my (Kavan’s) second attempt at shooting here, armed with a few extra years’ worth of experience. I still love this spot, Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand.

I know we’re visitors, but sometimes, other visitors can be annoying. I waited a long, long time to get this picture of a pig. Because another couple spent a long, long time while he took a picture of her while she touched the hog’s nose.

When you rub my nose and make a wish, your donation supports research, education and development at Sydney Hospital. Australia’s first hospital. So says the plaque underneath.

We walked back down to Circular Quay where we enjoyed an Aboriginal gentleman playing his didgeridoo, accompanying the theme tune from the TV series Neighbours.

We walked around by the Opera Hose, admired the groups of people climbing up and over the Harbour Bridge and confirmed again that we don’t need to do that, thank you very much.

On the ferry back to Manly, we overtook the Concordia-class cruise ship Carnival Splendor. I don’t think I’ll ever not be impressed by the size of those things, and the amount of skill needed in their design and construction. I doubt many of the passengers noticed how choppy the water was in the harbour this afternoon. But we on the ferry enjoyed bouncing around a bit.

Meanwhile, 10,560 miles away, guess who deserves a pat on the back?

William earned the Chief Scout’s Bronze
Award, congratulations and well done!

Liesel and I picked up dinner from a Dodgy Indian and we Ubered back to Helen’s. Is that a verb? Yes, it is now. But, no, really, the place is called The Dodgy Indian, in Dee Why. Of course, there was too much food for one meal but Helen and Brent were happy to have seconds the following day. Very nice, though, very tasty.

On going down for breakfast in the morning, we were horrified to see an invasion in the kitchen. What I thought was one of those black bits off the end of a banana was actually a caterpillar. I relocated it to the garden, assuming it had hitched a ride indoors the previous day, on the laundry basket or something. The only other bug I ever saw in this b&b was a small mosquito which I managed to catch. Yes! And then when I opened my hand to inspect it, it flew away again. Oh well.

Helen drove us to Narrabeen for the hike postponed from yesterday. Before walking around the Lagoon, we had coffee and Helen fed Keiran.

Some of the well-made, flat path was familiar, we’d been here a couple of years ago, but I’d forgotten how close much of it was to the main road.

We weren’t alone, we passed by several dog-walkers, plenty of runners and a few other people walking. There were just a few birds in the water, including black swans. We saw one fish jump. But most noticeable on the way around the lagoon was realising that the vegetation was mostly green, with just the odd splash of colour, mainly small, almost alpine flowers.

The bridges were very well built, crossing all the creeks, Deep Creek, Middle Creek, South Creek and Jonathan Creek. I thought I was back in Manchester for a minute when I spotted a red, plastic object, likely a bread basket, in the water. What a shame. Even though it was cloudy and cool, quite a pleasant temperature really, I realised I was a bit sweaty by the time we sat down for lunch in the Tramshed Café.

As you can see, Keiran enjoyed the walk and was pleased to have a nap at the end.

Here be dragons

Knowing that it was going to be another scorcher, I had an early breakfast before walking to Coles in Dee Why Grand. Liesel had sent a shopping list and I had a few bits of my own to get. I found everything I needed and was surprised at how heavy it was, altogether. I just hoped my plastic bag would take the strain for the walk back home.

It’s uphill going back and I was hot and sweaty. So I am eternally grateful to whoever discarded a shopping trolley on the pavement. I looked around surrepticiously, put my shopping in it and pushed it up the road. Let the trolley take the strain.

The trolley belongs to Woolworths and I hope it has since found its way back home. I only left it where I did because I had steps to walk up. And within 24 hours, someone else had indeed made use of it. The circle of life.

After lunch, I met up with Helen and we drove to Manly. We were meeting the other half of the family, Helen’s in-laws. Brent’s parents are Helen and Steve, known as Nana and Pa. His brother and sister-in-law are Liam and Megan. And Keiran’s cousins are Elliot and Ruby. And Ruby in particular was very taken with baby Keiran.

We met up at a bar called Felons, named after the American president and his coterie. I achieved a first today, not by intention. Twice I asked for half a pint of IPA, and twice I was given a full pint. I’ve not drunk two pints of beer in one go for a very long time, and not in the afternoon since about 1975. Still, it was nice to meet the wider family and to chat about Keiran, and maybe the odd other topic.

Brent arrived from working in Sydney, thus ending the first week in his exciting new job.

We’ve walked past the Ivanhoe Hotel in Manly many times over the years, but I think this was the first time I’ve been inside. The ten of us sat at a long table for dinner. I had my default, salad and chips, but even this I found to be too much, man. Very nice chips, it was a shame to leave them, but stomach said ‘no’.

We haven’t had an airport drama for a while. So here’s one. Liesel is joining me here in Aus for the last week of my trip. She flew from Anchorage to Portland, then to Honolulu. For some reason, she was in danger of missing her connecting flight from Honolulu to Sydney. The crew were aware and obviously did what they could to hold up the next flight. They did, and Liesel ran through Honolulu Airport, in the wake of two persons in wheelchairs heading for the same flight. Which was held for them. But we wonder whether it would have been held if the wheelchair users had not been first-class passengers?

Anyway, I monitored the flight as it set off, didn’t hear anything from Liesel so I was 99% sure she was on board.

Now that I could relax a bit, it was time to extract myself from the pit and get on with things.

First stop, breakfast, and I enjoyed the best fried egg roll I’ve had since the days of Unique in Chessington. Just what this relieved old body needed.

Then a return visit to the library for more writing. And other people were sitting at my table! What an outrage. It’s funny to see students studying with two or three screens in front of them. In the olden days, it would of course have been a pile of books with many bookmarks. But it was nice to see the art of hand-writing hasn’t totally been forgotten by the younger generation.

While writing, I realised that what this library needs is a char lady to come round with a tea trolley every so often. I just fancied a cup of tea and a biscuit.

I skimmed through the newspaper, Sydney Morning Herald and while a lot of it wasn’t good news, it was interesting to read about events and news other than Trump, Epstein, Mandelson, Starmer. And a really good, in-depth article about AI, far more detailed than anything I’ve seen in the UK.

And then I found the puzzle page. I was on form: I completed the cryptic crossword, the quick crossword and a sudoku. I left that page open for others to admire.

Yes, of course there is photographic evidence of my achievement!

After what was by now a late lunch, I went for a wander around Stony Range Regional Botanic Garden, which is just over the road from where I’m staying, but with a busy 6, 7, 8 or 9-lane highway in between, it’s not easy to just nip over the road.

I saw butterflies, yes, plural, and heard the chirrups of many insects. I was expecting to see brush turkeys and/or their nests, but not on this ocacsion.

Having failed to get a decent picture of a butterfly, it just wouldn’t sit still, I sat down on one of the many benches, listening to the insects successfully drowning out the sounds of the traffic.

Then I felt something noshing on my laig. My ankles were being devoured by tiny ants, so that precipitated my hasty departure from the garden. Cue several days of trying hard not to scratch my ankles.

Meanwhile, Helen, Brent and Keiran visited the family again in Bondi. After a fun visit, they set off for the airport to collect Liesel and her luggage. This was now a full car, and is the reason I didn’t also visit Bondi.

They brought Liesel straight back to our b&b where she had a shower straightaway and went straight to bed and straight to sleep.

And I think we both had a reasonably good night’s sleep, despite not having slept together for quite a while, and we’re not used to each other’s nocturnal noises nor habits.

We met Helen and family for breakfast back at SeaSprout, which also has very nice coffee.

Back at Helen’s, food was prepared for the afternoon’s barbecue. And of course it’s raining. All this way, and Liesel is greeted not with hot sunshine, but with rain.

Lindfield is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney and this is where Dan and Helen now live, more emigrés from Manly. It was about a half-hour drive, in the end.

Most of the afternoon was taken up watching the children’s antics. As well as Fern and Asher, we were joined by Nat and Rob and their two boys, Hamish and Seb. Fern was fully aware that ‘boys will be boys’ and mostly kept out of their way. As she said, they put the ‘boys’ into ‘boisterous’. Well, someone said it.

I think magnetic Minecraft blocks are meant for building, a real-life version of the much loved videogame, Minecraft. But these boys were a bit more destructive, magneticly sticking the small blocks together to make larger blocks, and then watching the construction explode as it hits the floor. The box in which these blocks are stored is labelled TNT.

I’m not saying Keiran was wide-eyed and legless, but he definitely wasn’t standing up 😉

Thanks very much to everyone for contributing some delicious food. Just a shame that the weather kept us inside.

After breakfast, Liesel and I walked over to Helen’s. I read some of my book while Helen and Keiran caught up on some sleep. We then drove to the Mall where Helen and Liesel were both surprised that I bought a sandwich from Subway. They both had something more exotic!

And then it was time to feed Keiran and of course, the best venue for this was the library.

At one point, Liesel and I had thought about going to the cinema but in the end, that idea evaporated like early morning dew. A short walk in the evening took us down the road to a nice little place for our dinner. Again, my meal was too big.

We rose slightly earlier the next day, we had places to be, things to do and people to see. After breakfast, we took our time crossing the busy intersection, the site of NSW’s 1000th set of traffic lights, and caught the 199 bus into Manly.

As we’d arrived quicker than expected for our massages, we had a coffee in the shop next door. While in there, Liesel spotted Helene, our masseuse, leaving the car park. Helene spotted Liesel too and said, “see you soon”. How great to be remembered and recognised after all this time. Helene’s probably seen hundreds of clients but Liesel’s seen a very few different massageurs.

Liesel was seen first, so I went to do my thing in Manly Library. It’s only a short distance down the road from the massage parlour, but of course, I walked round the long way (the wrong way?). Just to get some steps in.

My massage was wonderful, but boy, does she have strong thumbs and fingers. “When are you flying home?” she asked. “Sunday.” “Oh, plenty of time to recover, then.” I need time to recover? I fully expected to wake up covered in bruises the following day, but actually, I felt fine. I knew I’d been worked on, but in a good way.

While we were in Manly, Helen took Keiran for another Baby Sensory session. This week, they were celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Manly beach was more crowded than we’ve seen it so far, and plenty of people were in the water.

We walked along the very busy path to Shelly Beach, and between the dragons and the turkeys, it was almost a wildlife safari.

And because the modern fashion is for very teeny weeny bikini bottoms, I had to apologise to Liesel, because it’s very difficult not to look when walking along with some young girl’s arse is in your line of sight. ‘Must get some peaches on the way home.’

Brush turkey and a very half-hearted nest

You know you’re in a civilised place when you don’t have to look too far for a water fountain. And we did need a lot of water today.

Yes, we saw other birds and other, smaller lizards on our wander, but the dragons and turkeys were by far the most interesting.

We joined the queue and enjoyed lunch at Norma’s Deli. It’s a popular venue, but I’m pretty sure we’ve managed to walk by it many times before, without entering its portal. And, for dessert, we visited the gelato place. And for dinner in the evening, it being Taco Tuesday, we returned to Freshie Mex for tacos. It was cool sitting outside and a friend of Helen’s, Kat, dropped by for a quick chat. It’s a small world, isn’t it! Except when you have to fly halfway round it…

More boats and birds

After a lovely chat with Liesel, who’s still in sub-zero Anchorage, I returned to Manly where I enjoyed coffee and a chunky choc chip cookie for breakfast.

Pauline and I met at Three Beans again for coffee and toast and Helen joined us after her appointment. It was a wee bit cooler today and quite windy. Nevertheless, we persevered: Helen fed Keiran and then drove us up to North Head.

There is now virtually no sign of the fires that took place in 2020 and we enjoyed a wander around the headland, gazing out to sea, enjoying the cooling breeze. Well, I was. Pauline would have been wearing a fur coat if one were available. She looked around for a kangaroo to skin, but no such luck. Instead, she just wrapped herself in one of Keiran’s blankets.

Back at the Mall, we had smoothies at Girdlers. Pauline went back home with Helen while I got a few more steps in before returning to my b&b to nap, read and write.

Brent has a new job and is in Melbourne for a few days on some sort of induction course.

And tonight’s dinner was Indian, at Shandar Tandoori, very nice food and not too hot and spicy. It was a windy night.

Helen again picked me up from the car park at Officeworks. While waiting, I came across a plaque commemorating the traffic lights at this busy crossroads, Pittwater Road, Harbord Road and Warringah Road. What’s so special about these lights? They were the 1000th to be commissioned in New South Wales, back in 1974.

It reminded me of when Sarah, 2-year old Jenny and I visited Alice Springs. The locals were still celebrating the fairly recent installation of their very first set of traffic lights!

I was enjoying Crypt by Alice Roberts, about disease and death in the medieval period. So imagine my surprise, nay, my shock when, at 75%, the next page was the Epilogue. Followed by acknowledgements, references and a very comprehensive index. In fact, so comprehensive, I looked to see if my own name was in it. So 25% of the book took me just a couple of minutes to flick through. I can recommend it as a fascinating read, but remember, it ends properly at 75%!

After my usual bowl of cereal at the b&b, I walked up the road in Dee Why to meet Helen. While sitting on a bench, I was thoroughly entertained. There was a bird repeatedly whistling the first line of ‘Happy birthday to you’. And from the library itself, the children were singing some well-known songs including ‘The Hokey Cokey.’

I met Helen and Keiran after their Baby Sensory session and we (!) drove up the road to collect Pauline from her accommodation. Hers was a shorter visit than mine, and today was her last in Aus on this trip.

But, more exciting than any of this, was, I received a message from WordPress, the hosts of this mickandlieselsantics stuff. It’s our 8 year anniversary, woohoo! So much nonsense. ‘Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.’ Oh, alright then.

Goodbye Auntie Pauline, see you next time

After a cup of tea at Helen’s, while Keiran slept, Pauline and I caught the bus to Manly. Thanks for the lift down the road, Helen! I’d forgotten that Pauline’s case has a wheel missing: that’s why when I tried to help pull it, I kept walking around in circles.

In Manly, of course, it’s funny how we both fancied something as simple as toast and jam (me) or toast and peanut butter (she). One more visit to Three Beans then, where there was no accidental spillage today but we did get to know the Danish barista who’s here in Aus for a year on a work visa, didn’t like Melbourne because it was too cold and is planning to travel more. A great Dane enjoying her own adventure.

Perfect timing at the wharf, we caught the ferry with just a couple of minutes to spare. Strangely, the voyage today was more bumpy than a few days ago when there was a storm brewing.

Docked in the harbour was a huge cruise ship, Cardinal Adventure. Look at the size of it compared with Sydney Harbour Bridge:

2,600 passengers being served by 1,100 crew members. Later on in the day, I watched it depart, one tugboat at the stern, one at the bow. Well, that looks like a job I could do, guiding 109,000 tonnes of metal through Sydney Harbour.

I accompanied Pauline to the train station. My mission, which I chose to accept, was to make sure she caught the correct train, the one going to the airport. It was a hasty farewell, no idea when we’ll meet again, or where.

I walked around Circular Quay, towards and past Sydney Opera House. It’s a busy place and I lost count of how many different languages I heard spoken.

My goal was to reach Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, over there on the far headland. But the weather beat me, I’m sorry to say. Still, I made a couple of new friends in the Botanic Gardens.

Yes, it must have rained at some point, but I was oblivious to it.

I’d forgotten how many stairs there are at the Opera House. Up and down ~~like a whor-~~ like a yoyo, still, it’s all good exercise. And however often I see it, I am really impressed by the architecture, so different to anything else.

Any other bird sightings? Well, yes. Seagulls. And then back in Manly, these two beauties:

Little Penguin with a message for smokers

It has to be said, though, that since I’ve been here in Aus, I have seen very few smokers and vapers, so much more pleasant and civilised than in Manchester. (Whinge of the day?)

I returned to Dee Why library to write some more in what is now the ninth year of this thing. I definitely didn’t go inside just to try and stay cool, oh no. And in the evening, I met up with Helen and Keiran and friends Nat, Jacqui, Jo, Mike and Nicky for Trivia at Freshwater Brewing Company.

It was a fun quiz, general knowledge, and our team, Norfolk ‘n’ Chance, scored 25 out of 30. Not bad, we were in the top half of the league table, beaten by a few other teams. So here’s a quiz question: in this picture, Jacqui is aiming what at Keiran? (a) A hairdryer, (b) a fan or (c) a handheld speed camera? Answers on a postcard…

Almost as soon as Pauline had arrived, last week, she mentioned that there were a couple of books by Simon Winchester that she’d like to read, but couldn’t find anywhere. I helped her track them down online and she ordered them. The seller wouldn’t post to New Zealand, so they were addressed to Helen’s place here in Brookvale. Fingers crossed they’d arrive before Pauline departed.

Well, of course they didn’t. They were delivered the day after she left. My mission, which I chose to accept, was to send them on to my sister in Christchurch. So early in the morning, I walked down to the Post Office, bought an envelope, packed the books, and queued to pay. Juliet looked at me with pity. I’d failed to fill in the customs slip. Only it’s not a customs slip. You have to scan the QR code and fill in an online form. Not the best user experience ever. Under ‘Description’, I entered the word ‘Books’ instead of ‘Book’. That confused it. And the phone number field wasn’t long enough for my UK number, so I had to give it Helen’s Aussie number. So Helen will get the tracking info. Thank goodness Juliet was so patient with this befuddled pommie bastard, still redesigning the user interface in my head.

I was, however, able to enter my own email address, and it didn’t surprise me when a couple of days later, I received a message from the Aussie Post Office asking about my experience. Well, where do I start?
I met Helen in the Mall for lunch. She chose sushi, I had a Subway sandwich.

Keiran looking forward to the shopping expedition

Helen had some shopping to do, and I accompanied her. In Myer, I couldn’t resist testing out the furniture. Unbeknownst, I was caught on candid camera.

Actually, Keiran was in a pretty good mood and I was more than happy to have cuddles.

After Helen went home, I thought I’d visit the Library in the Mall, it would be nice and cool in there, right? And I could read my book for a while, right? Well, no. Disappointingly, it was hot and humid in there too, not relaxing at all. That didn’t deter the students already there, but it did deter me. So I bought myself dinner, ate it alfresco and returned to my b&b.

Buses, boats and birds

My sister and I agreed to meet at my long-time favourite coffee shop in Manly, Three Beans. I like Manly, it’s full of bright, young, fit and healthy people, so of course, I feel right at home.

It’s a 199 bus to Manly from my b&b and I have to cross a very busy crossroads to get to the bus stop. If I see the 199 approaching, and I have several lanes of traffic to cross, I’m not sure of the traffic lights’ pattern, so I have to wait at 4 or 5 crossings. One time, yes I missed the bus. The next time, the lights were in my favour, the 199 was held up by red lights.

Helen and Keiran joined us just after I’d knocked over Pauline’s berry crush smoothie. Pinky prurply gloop covered the table, the floor, my feet and of course, the provided napkins were nowhere near good enough to mop up the mess. The assistant tried very hard not to laugh at this useless old fart. Will my embarrassment deter me from visiting this establishment again? Nope.

We walked over to the wharf and east Manly Cove beach. Maybe too hot and sunny for Keiran whose sleeping and feeding routines are not entirely predictable nor reliable! So, leaving Helen and Keiran behind, Pauline and I set off for a longer stroll in the sunshine.

A few folks were on the beach, but neither Pauline nor I were tempted. Despite copious amounts of SPF 50, I for one would feel too exposed for too long.

Some new gym equipment has been installed so I had a go at a couple of the exercises. Easy. I reckon twenty seconds is plenty, for a first time, including fifteen chair lifts (I don’t know the names of the various workout techniques so while I can envisage what I did, I can’t name it with any certainty.)

We tried to have a chat with a brush turkey but he wasn’t interested, gobble gobble.

At Little Manly beach, the sign says: “There are severe penalties for taking, attempting to take, harming, possessing, interfering with, buying or selling White’s Seahorse or for damaging their habitat without the appropriate approvals.”

Appropriate approvals? From whom? Either it’s a protected area or it isn’t. Save our seahorses!

Pauline and I had a debate about this incredibly tall pine tree growing in someone’s back garden.

I maintain it’s a real tree, wood, with the crown growing naturally at the top. Pauline thinks it’s concrete or metal. Next time we visit, we’ll take some kind of testing kit.

After meeting up with Helen again, we went for lunch. The sushi train was fun to watch, while trying to grab something appealing without knocking other plates off. It was also interesting to see the cooks make up the sushi, so much faster and more efficient than our efforts at home, when we seem to spend a lot of time removing sticky rice from our fingers.

We wandered along the Corso to the main Manly beach. The sea was much calmer today and a few people were swimming or surfing.

We decided not to walk along towards Shelly Beach, the path was exposed to the hot Sun with minimal, if any, shade. So, sorry, eastern water dragons, you’ll have to wait until next time to see us.

Back in my room, I did some writing. Actual hand-writing. For the first time in ages, I thought I’d send some postcards.

After having breakfast at Hideout Dee Why, I walked up the road to Dee Why library, a quiet place in which to write, with the keyboard this time. A lovely Chinese couple approached and gestured as if to ask whether it was alright to share the table. Go ahead, I said, with a smile.

The lady started getting out a bundle of papers, including passports and I just carried on doing my thing. A library assistant approached and told them, “no, no, he’s over there”. They got up, apologised and went over there, presumably to speak to the real JP.

After a spot of shopping at Aldi, I know how to have a good time, I went over to Helen’s where I was greeted by a little chap outside the front door.

By the time I’d found the keys, he’d disappeared, I assume, into the bushes. But no. He’d slipped under the door, so he was now sitting still in the hallway, wishing he were a chameleon.

After tacos for dinner, we all enjoyed watching more wildlife in the garden. The orange spider wasp was chasing its own dinner, a spider, possibly a huntsman, but ignoring the tiny ants that would have been an easier catch, I would have thought.

Then, as we were leaving the premises, we saw this little beauty:

I told it not to go into Helen’s garden, there are foul beasties in the undergrowth.

As Pauline and I walked down the road to catch the bus back to our respective pads, we heard an awful screeching racket. Cockatoos, they look great, but their call would never appear on a mixtape of relaxing birdsong.

They were singing in the wires, so loud, that a couple of residents came out to see what the noise was all about.

The following morning, there were warnings of smoke drifting down from bush fires on the mid north coast of NSW. I didn’t detect any, but the city itself, Sydney woke to a thick blanket of haze.

I met Pauline for coffee on a return visit to the Hideout. A ten minute walk for me, a bus ride for my sister.

We passed this beauty as we walked again to Dee Why beach, the trunk smooth as Keiran’s bottom. It brought to mind the iconic twin, ghost gums on Larapinta Drive near Alice Springs. Sadly, those trees were destroyed by arsonists in 2013 in the middle of a restoration programme, following some dieback. These ghost gums were regarded by the Arrernte people as living spirits, so this act of vandalism hit the community hard. I have memories of touching, but not hugging, one of them in 2002.

Further down the road, we ingested the great smell of frangipani, or plumeria. Almost pungent in its potency, I was surprised I didn’t have a sneezing fit.

The hibiscus flowers were very bright, you could believe they had internal back lighting.

Today was the day of the annual Fun Run or Sun Run from Dee Why to Manly. It takes place very early in the morning, so we didn’t see any of the action. And we certainly didn’t participate. By the time we were up and about, all the road closures had finished.

After coffee at the beach, Pauline and I set off for Curl Curl. We caught the 166 bus most of the way, got off a couple of stops early, then enjoyed walking along the boardwalk on Curl Curl beach.

As we walked by McKillop Park on Freshwater headland, I thought, that looks like a strange and interesting sculpture, so I looked it up.

It was created by First Nations artist and creative director Nicole Monks and her design studio, mili mili. It is a tribute to the historical significance of signal fires, which were lit on headlands by Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years. The artwork is an architectural place-maker that marks the beginning of the Northern Beaches Coast Walk. It provides a space for reflection, shared storytelling, and enjoying panoramic ocean views.

And yes, the ocean views were stunning, but a life on the ocean wave was not for us. We tried to have a chat with a cormorant but he was more interested in preening himself.

There were a couple of surfers in the water, but we also came across one up here on the headland.

This statue commemorates Duke Kahanamoku’s historic surfing demonstration at Freshwater Beach headland in December 1914. The Hawaiian Olympic champion swimmer is widely regarded as the “Father of Modern Surfing” and his visit ignited Australia’s passion for the sport. Next time I’m here, I’ll try and remember to walk around to see the front of the statue!

We found Harbord Diggers, a return visit for us, and we met Helen, Brent and Keiran for lunch. We sat at the same table as last time, and Keiran was really engaged with the texture of and the lighting and shadows on the wall behind us.

Knowing from experience that veggie burger and chips here was too much of a challenge, I opted for a tofu poke bowl today. Poky? Again, there was too much food and I couldn’t finish it, despite the many different, tasty flavours.

We were entertained by a delightful singer. I didn’t catch her name but I believe she’s a local, northern beaches artist.

Helen and Brent gave us a lift to the Mall. Then Pauline went back to her place and a bit later, I returned to mine for a late, welcome, afternoon nap.

In the morning, I could smell hot pine, similar to that in a steamy sauna, but it wasn’t unpleasant or acrid, like the anticipated smoke.

We all met at the Mall and caught a B-line bus into Sydney. Not to be confused with the Bee Network in Manchester, of course.

From Wynyard, we walked down the hill to Darling Harbour. Docked on the other side of the harbour is a replica of Captain Cook’s tallship, HMB Endeavour, outside the National Maritime Museum.

But our destination today was the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. The worst part of the slow meander through the venue is that I’m not walking fast enough for all my steps to be counted by my pedometer. Tens of thousands of steps, no doubt, all lost to the ether, or something.

Keiran slept and fed and I think he enjoyed the lights and the different colours, not to mention the hundreds of other strangers.

There were also octopuses, rays, sharks and of course many, many different tropical fish. The dugong was taken in as a young orphan, cared for and then released into its natural habitat. After a short while, it had lost 25% of its body weight, so they brought it back into captivity where it seems to be thriving now.

Given the curved glass and the subdued lighting, it was quite difficult to take good pictures, but that didn’t prevent us all from trying. Here is an example of some wildlife from one of the tunnels.

Brent, Helen, Keiran, a stranger and some fish

For some reason, this penguin’s stance brought to mind the old Elton John song, I’m Still Standing, and I can’t work out the link between the two, even after several days.

We dined at Helm, just over the way from the aquarium, and on this occasion, I ate just the right, satisfying amount of very nice food.

A thunderstorm was forecast for later in the afternoon. While Brent and Helen took the bus back to Waringah Mall, where they’d parked the car, Pauline and I opted to return by ferry and bus. Both ferry rides, from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay, and from Circular Quay to Manly, were very smooth. The sky was grey and it was cooling down, so it felt as though a storm was on its way.

From the ferry, we noticed a few groups of people climbing up Sydney Harbour Bridge and I thought, never say never, but I’m unlikely to do that, and probably not when there’s a storm a-coming.

I got off the bus just as it started raining but it’s only a 2-minute walk from the bus stop to my b&b. After a long chat with Ann, my host, I retired for a long, late nap. There were a couple of thunderclaps, but mainly, it just rumbled in the distance, we didn’t even have the excitement of seeing any lightning.

If everything technical worked correctly back at home this weekend, you might have heard my show on Wythenshawe Radio, WFM, with the theme: Songs from the Land Down Under, featuring many Aussie artists, some familiar and some new (to me) thanks to Brent and Helen’s input. You can catch the show here… and I hope you jolly well enjoy it!

Family and other wildlife

Well obviously, I’m not used to the Sun rising as early as it does, here in NSW, but I was up with the lark, or the mynah, and went downstairs for breakfast. Brent very kindly drove to the airport to pick up my sister Pauline and I walked over to the apartment to visit them.

We ate lunch outside, in the shade of course. I think it’s fair to say that, on the whole, Keiran was the centre of attention.

For dinner, we went to Harbord Diggers. My veg burger and chips were great, but there was so much food, I coudn’t finish. I thought I was in America or something.

Six local soldiers (Diggers) returned from the poppy fields of France after World War I and later sat on Freshwater Beach where they discussed creating a place that they could remember their mates, join those who protected Australian shores and support each other and the community they lived in. This was the genesis of Harbord Diggers and these original Diggers are now honoured by the six poppies proudly on display in this memorial artwork by artist Jade Oakley.

Each poppy is balanced on a hidden hook, so that when the southerly blows in off the sea, the sculptures bob and dance like poppies in a field. The flickering light of the concealed flames within each poppy are a reminder of the eternal flame, and the poppies appear to ‘grow’ from the reflective pond.

The glowing perforated brass background represents the sea and the sand of Freshwater Beach.

Pauline and I arranged to meet the following morning after breakfast to go for a walk. She’s staying a bit further afield and walked to my b&b. She is having problems with her Google maps and lack of 4G so she approached my b&b from the ‘wrong’ direction, which was awkward as I’d set off to meet her.

For a brief moment, when I saw this item, and despite the sunshine, I thought I was back in Manchester.

I guess someone wanted to get rid of this old bike when they replaced it with one of those big, chunky electric ones. Of which, we’ve seen very many around here, being ridden on the pavements, at speed, by very young people in some cases. With bare feet.

But eventually, meet we did, and Pauline and I walked to a coffee shop (how did you guess?) called Barrel One Coffee Roasters. We stayed in the shade as much as possible, it was a very hot day, I saw it up to 34° but I saw 40° mentioned elsewhere. Nice coffee but I do feel bad for the folks working in a place like this on such a hot day.

As noon approached, we walked along the road to Bucketty’s Brewing Co. This was the venue for Family Bingo. We met Helen’s friends Helen and Dan, with their children Fern and Asher. Helen, Brent and Keiran arrived a few minutes later and we got the drinks in for out mammoth bingo session. The caller didn’t use any of the familiar terminology: clicketty click 66, two fat ducks 22 or any of those.

An hour of fun and I won nothing. Brent won a model aeroplane kit, as did Asher who couldn’t wait to get home before constructing his.

Pauline and I walked over to Warringah Mall for some shopping before catching the 193 back to Helen and Brent’s. This is the one that takes us round the corner and up the hill so we can walk down the steps. Who wants to walk up that hill on the hottest day ever?

On Australia Day, I walked to Dee Why Beach where I met Pauline at the Chill Bar for a coffee. A cold coffee. In fact, a very welcome coffee milkshake. The beach was very busy, it being a public holiday, but the sea was still a bit rough.

We thought about walking to Curl Curl Beach but my aching carcass very soon said ‘no’. A combination of an irritating cough, insufficient sleep and the ever present threat of shortness-of-breath, I suspect. So, feeling a bit manky, I thought it best to stay away from Keiran today.

Excitingly, we did spot a pair of kookaburras, or as they appear in my hastily taken photo, a pair of white blobs sitting on the fence.

I tested negative for Covid, RSV and two types of flu, which was a great relief. Cough sweets and cough syrup help momentarily, but what I really need is a scratchy toilet brush down the back of my throat. (I’d wash it first, don’t worry.) But the pharmacist was very helpful.

And the barista didn’t mind me at all, sitting at the back of the café, performing my rapid antigen tests.

As I walked to the pharmacy, I’d noticed some honking and tooting and beeping from the traffic, but I took no notice. I found out later that one of those toots was from Helen who was taking Keiran to his first Baby Sensory class.

Pauline and I met the family at Freshie Mex for tacos. I was satisfied with two, but Brent’s a growing lad, he consumed at least four.

Warriewood Wetlands is a bus ride away. I met Pauline there for a very pleasant wander through the woods and the wetlands. We think we followed most of the tracks within its 26 acres but it did feel strange as we exited a couple of times to find ourselves in a residential area.

The first point of interest was a noxious smell. I looked at my sister accusingly, but she denied all wrong-doing. Maybe it’s the stagnant water, we thought. But then Pauline looked up. Bats. Dozens, scores of fruit bats, or flying foxes, just hanging around up in the trees.

It’s a great place for wildlife, nothing too exotic though. We saw lizards and at least one very big butterfly. We heard more birds singing than we actually saw. Some dusky moorhens were teaching their chicks how to find food.

A sign warned us that this was a snake habitat, so I stomped along for a bit, until I forgot.

We didn’t expect to see ibises in one of the areas, but the biggest surprise was seeing a spoonbill. He was very shy and like a lot of bitds, he knew when someone was about to take his picture, and he flew off into the wild blue yonder.

There were also a couple of swamphens, although Pauline knows them as Pūkeko in New Zealand.

There’s a small shopping centre here too, so we popped in for a coffee. Small? As Pauline said at the time, it was like the Tardis, so much bigger on the inside. So we had coffee and I visited KMart to buy some shirts. I don’t think I’ve bought myself shirts since 1992 or something, but a couple of my older ones have suddenly ‘shrunk in the wash’.

I really enjoyed my afternoon nap today and was hoping this cough would soon go away.

Return Down Under

One more day in England, then: a busy day packed with packing, unpacking and repacking. So far, I’ve only remembered one item that I left behind by mistake, so that’s not too bad. I made a quick trip to say hi and goodbye to Jenny with a few perishables and then attempted a short night’s sleep.

I rose at 5am for the first time in ages. I’d like to say it felt good, but nah. The taxi was punctual and I soon found myself at Manchester Airport. I’d checked in online yesterday, so I thought I could just go up to the machine and print out my own luggage tags. Not Etihad, not yet, they don’t have the software. So I joined the check-in queue with all the other riffraff. After a while, we special people, those with boarding passes, were taken aside to a much shorter queue.

It was ridiculously hot in the airport. So I took my coat off and added it to my case just in time before it was weighted, tagged and sent to oblivion behind the desk. In fact, I sent a message to the family that I was sweating like a drugs mule. Someone said I probably shouldn’t say that sort of thing if I were going to America.

But no, I’m off to Australia to visit Helen, Brent and Keiran.

Security was easy: all electronics and liquids could be left in the bags. All I had to do was empty my pockets and take my belt off before posing for the full body scanner.

Did I mention the airport was exceedingly hot? At the first opportunity, I replaced my jeans with a pair of shorts. I was beginning to feel like a real Aussie.

I survived the chemical assault that is the perfume counters in the duty free shop, other than the obligatory sneezing fit.

Two flights later, I landed at Sydney Airport. On the first flight, to Abu Dhabi, I was next to a large and very fidgetty young man. My main thought was ‘ew, he keeps touching me’.

The transfer at Abu Dhabi was easy, just a walk from one gate to another. It took a while to find a coffee shop but it was a very nice beverage. Which I had to finish quickly as boarding started ten minutes earlier than publicised.

On the second leg, I was next to a 10- or 11-year old boy and his mum. Later on in the flight, he fell asleep and rotated so that his head was on his mum’s lap and his feet were on mine. For some reason, I didn’t mind this so much. Weird eh? When, later, his mum took off her eye mask and saw what had happened, she apologised.

I was given four veggie meals altogether: pasta, pasta, pizza, pasta. I have changed my menu choice for the return flights, for something, if not more tasty, then certainly more varied.

I finished reading one book and the whole of another during the flights. I can recommend Erased by Christopher Coates, a nice easy read, but there are definitely a few plot holes! I watched no films nor TV, just had a look at the map every now and then to monitor progress. We flew over Colombo and this is probably as close as I’ll ever be to visiting Sri Lanka.

Formalities at Sydney Airport were straighforward and I was greeted by Helen, Brent and lovely little Keiran! As it was quite late in the day and I’d been awake for over 24 hours, they drove me to my Airbnb in Dee Why, thank you very much, and I met my host, Ann. I’d chosen this place as it was the closest I could find to Helen’s apartment. A welcome shower was followed by a reasonable, but too short, night’s sleep.

In the morning, I walked down the road to meet Helen and Brent. While waiting, I noticed the not unpleasant scent of jasmine. It seemed an odd contrast with the roar of the traffic passing by.

I found out later it’s not proper jasmine, it’s a Murraya paniculata, commonly known as orange jasmine or mock orange. Very nice scent, although I failed to pick up its notes of citrus.

We drove over to Freshwater for breakfast at SeaSprout, which I’d visited on a previous trip. Given the state of my throat, I surprised them by choosing an apple and ginger juice rather than tea or coffee. Yeah, I picked up a cough on the flight (I think) and put it down to allergies.

But where’s Keiran, I hear you ask?

We went to Aldi where I got some bits for my place. Then I hit the wall, and went back for a nap.

I walked down to Dee Why Beach, enjoying the sunshine and the warmth, after what has been a dreary few weeks at home.

There were a few people on the beach despite the sign saying it was closed. But what the sign means is, don’t go in the water. This follows four recent shark attacks here and in Manly, caused by run-offs from the recent floods. Little fish eat the tasty effluent. Bigger fish eat the smaller fish. Sharks detect a feast nearer to shore. There was no danger of me venturing into the Pacific Ocean on this occasion, in any case, it was just too rough.

The Chill Bar beckoned and I had a coffee before walking over to Helen’s place where we enjoyed Brent’s stir fry, thank you very much.

Still with a niggling cough and a bit jet-lagged, the walk back to my b&b seemed to take a lot more than ten minutes. But here comes the weekend!

Everything’s Alright

The funniest thing I saw recently wasn’t on TV, it was through my window. I think it’s a new little puppy in the house over the road. It escaped and even though its legs were much shorter than theirs, it outran the two men chasing it down the road, in the rain and in their slippers. Did they ever catch it? I expect so, but once they were round the corner and out of sight, I stopped watching. But now, of course, I’m waiting for a repeat performance. And a comment I often heard out on the streets in regards to a dog’s bad behaviour came to mind: “Ooh, he’s never done that before”. Yes he has.

They’ve dug up Royle Green Road in recent times for gas works, water pipes and fibre optics. And they’re digging it up again soon for major gas works, closing the whole road in the process. I don’t know how I’ll be able to leave the flat in the car, there’s only one way out, soon to be blocked. So, to avoid that problem, I’m going walkabout.

But first, here’s a lovely picture of Keiran, just short of two months old, reading the book that his late, great Granny made a generation ago. This book has been enjoyed by many children over the years and deservedly so, it was a labour of love by Sarah.

So, then, we’re now over two weeks into the new year and what have I done? Just the usual daily routine, never quite enough exercise, probably a bit too much of the wrong sort of food.

Here’s a Public Service Announcement. When you visit Northenden, don’t trust the direction signs.

For example, this one is pointing in the wrong direction to the library. That facility can now be found in the Church Hall at St Wilfrid’s Church. And if you’re happy to see the Public Toilets signposted, don’t get too excited. They’ve been closed for at least as long as we’ve lived here, over seven years. Indeed, the building is now a very welcome coffee bar. Very handy after a stroll along the river.

It’s been mentioned before, but the temperature in Anchorage continues to make me uncomfortable, even though I’m not there. -18°F translates to -27.77777°C. I’d be sitting inside the freezer to warm up. Instead, I’m going to take a big trip south

Manchester always delights when the Sun’s out and on this day, there were two Suns in the sunset. Yes, a lyric from a Pink Floyd song.

Yes, we haven’t had a lot of Sun recently so I thought I’d add an extra one to the sky over Manchester, with the aid of AI, of course.

Hard to believe but it’s nearly 40 years since Sarah, Pauline and I attended the London premiere of the film Labyrinth. Of course, we all hoped David Bowie would be in attendance, but he wasn’t. Jennifer Connelly, who plays Sarah in the film, joined us, as well as Prince Charles and Diana, although they were in the posh seats. I mention this because to celebrate the anniversary, it’s being shown in some cinemas here again. No, I haven’t been yet. But very soon, I will be battling the drop bears.

In terms of Wythenshawe Radio, the next several shows have been made and delivered, so I’m hoping they’ll be uploaded and played out at the right time, while I’m away. You can always have a look at Mixcloud and listen to any of over 140 of Mick the Knife’s shows.

I’ll see you soon, from down under… put the kettle on, Helen…

Treemendous

Happy New Year! Yes, a little bit late, but we’ve been busy doing a lot, and sometimes doing nothing at all. And so it goes. Which reminds me, I found the source of a quote I like. ‘We are put on this Earth to fart around.’ Thanks, Kurt Vonnegut. He also came to mind recently when I listened to Curious Cases on Radio 4. They were talking about ice, its formation and the more than twenty states of ice. I wondered whether Ice-9 as described in Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut was one of those twenty. No. Apparently, it’s totally fictitious. So that’s a shame. Although, given its properties, maybe not. I think I’ll have to re-read the novel.

So while farting around, I continued playing with some AI tools.

Eat your heart out, Christopher Wren.

On BBC iPlayer, I watched an animated reconstruction of the old Doctor Who story, The Celestial Toymaker. I was reminded of where I probably heard a particular joke for the first time, and I have been repeating it ever since.

The answer is ‘an umbrella’ for you at the back.

One day, over Christmas, Martha admitted she didn’t get the joke. When I explained, her face lit up like the Christmas tree she was standing next to.

Christmas was fun. Alan and Una invited me over to their place for Christmas lunch. On the way, I stopped off at Jenny’s and spent Christmas morning with the family. I think it’s sad that our excitement about Christmas diminishes as we get older. But it was fun to spend time with Martha and William.

Obviously, I didn’t have a tree in our luxury apartment, so here’s a picture of Jenny’s.

Underneath, huge piles of presents and at least one of the children was eating chocolates from the tree… I didn’t indulge.

We played a game called Codenames, that was good fun. And we had video chats with Helen and Keiran, celebrating his first Christmas, and with Liesel.

Round at the other grandparents, we were joined by their other grandchildren, Annabel and Emily. So there were eleven of us around the table for a gorgeous, and huge, Christmas lunch. Thank you very much Una, great job, and so much delicious food!

Yeah, I too thought that the cousins were about to break into a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, but they didn’t.

After a couple of hours, I was still too full to eat a slice of the Christmas cake, that Martha had made with the help of her Nana. I took a slice home and it really was nice!

It’s been too long since I’ve included a picture of Keiran. So here he is, just a couple of days after Christmas.

I joined Jenny, Liam, Martha and William at Factory International in Manchester to watch Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show. Plenty of acrobatics and circus skills on display, and they make it all look so easy.

But the big shock of the day was seeing William when he took his hat off.

Losing his hair like that inspired me to remove the beard that I have been nurturing for a month and to have a haircut. Not as extreme as his, though.

So on the one hand, it was a fun Christmas. On the other hand, it was the worst Christmas ever, because there was no Doctor Who Special on TV ! There’s a consensus that this was one of the worst years ever for Christmas TV. So glad I have books to read and radio shows to prepare.

Walking around Northenden was alright. The Sun appeared briefly from time to time, but in general, it was just colder and more unpleasant than it has been for quite a while.

Meanwhile, Keiran paid his first visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney to bring in the new year.

I didn’t stay up to see the new year in. No, I was in bed listening to the fireworks while reading.

And suddenly, it was proper Winter. Temperatures below zero. Frost on the cars. People slipping on the pavement outside. But then, unpleasant as it is, at least it’s not -25°C like it is in Anchorage. Brrr, just the thought of that makes me feel uncomfortable.

I joined the family for dinner just a couple of days before school re-started. I’d missed seeing the snow fall, so it was a surprise that afternoon to see it sprinkled everywhere. Not enough snow to make a snowman, but Martha had made a larger than usual snowball. She was interested to see how long it would last before it thawed completely.

The regular walks have resumed and earlier today, we wandered through the woods which were less muddy than I expected. But a couple of trees have fallen over. Or, if they’re really old, I suppose I should say they’ve taken a fall.

I’ve been working on a few radio shows so that I don’t have to think about them when I’m away in a couple of weeks.

Last week’s was a 3-hour special, in which I remembered musicians who died in 2025. Lots of them. You can listen to the whole extravaganza here.