Liesel and Leslie returned from Anchorage, this time flying via Heathrow airport. In the lift at Manchester, Terminal 2, someone had left a trolley laden with some really big, heavy cases. I didn’t think it was a problem, but I couldn’t find any airport official to report it to. So much for ‘See it, say it, sorted’.

I waited at the wrong exit, of course, but we finally met up and went home, where we enjoyed talking about our family in Australia. Just this week, Jenny, Liam, Martha and William climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge, enjoying good views of the Harbour and the Opera House.

Martha celebrated her birthday down under, she’s now in double digits and very proud of it!

Before Liesel came home, I took the car in to be washed. It seemed only fair to give it a bit of a clean and scrape all the moss off. I was a bit concerned though, when I saw this vehicle which had shrunk in the wash.

Our car survived in tact though, just big enough to transport all the luggage home from the airport.

It’s always good when walking around Wythenshawe to see something that transports you back to the 1970s.

We used to see bicycle tyres on many lampposts, and I’ve always wondered whether someone is good at throwing the tyres up and over, or do they shin up the post and slide it carefully over the lamp.

Liesel drove us over to Poynton Park with a view to having a picnic. In the end, we just sat in the car, the only picnic table being occupied. The park as a whole seems to be a haven for dog-walkers and the best thing about this park was a tree.

For the first time in fifty years, I stayed up late to watch splashdown in the Pacific. Artemis II and its four crew members had flown further from Earth than anyone else, beyond the farside of the Moon.

We thought we’d go for a walk at Dunham Massey. Liesel drove but the car had a mind of its own and it took us in totally the wrong direction. After the rainstorm though, we did have a very pleasant walk around RHS Bridgewater.

Yeah, The Bridgewater Ent! It’s lived here for a long time and looked after all the trees in Middle Wood: it’s now too old to be climbed on. So when Liesel got back down, I took this picture.

I was delighted to come across this particular succulent. It’s a new one to me and I can add it to my very important and long list of words that contain all five vowels.

Amongst other plants, we saw daffodils, striped squill, grape hyacinths, purple tulips, hyacinths and, er, chickens.

The back door to our block of luxury apartments has been closed gently and been slammed a million times since we moved here. But it must have been slammed once too often. On my return from a walk, I couldn’t fail to notice the glass was shattered. Within half an hour of phoning the management company, a man with a van turned up to remove the shattered safety glass. There’s a sweepstake on when the replacement pane will be installed.

The Thursday walk took us through Painswick Park this week. Where other parks were covered in dandelions, this one was festooned with daisies.

There were far fewer geese than usual too, so the path was safe to walk on.

Liesel and I had another attempt at visiting Dunham Massey for a walk, and this time, we ended up at the right place. Unfortunately, the rain was quite hard so we had to have coffee and cake in the café instead. Oh well. We picked up tokens to view a Rembrandt self-portrait at a very specific time. The painting is on tour around a few National Trust properties. It was interesting to hear about how they deduced it was the original, painted by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn himself, and not a copy made by a student.

I don’t know how much longer the old oak tree is going to survive here, but the poor old thing is still worth taking a picture of.

It will be a sad day when it finally topples over into the Moat.

Leslie spent the afternoon with Barbara and she arrived home soon after we did.

The latest radio show was on the theme of Antisocial Behaviour. Listen here, or else…

Just about a year ago, I was in Albuquerque and while I was there, I really enjoyed one of the best recent science fiction stories, Project Hail Mary. You can only imagine how pleased I was to see that there is now a new film based on the story. So, I drove over to Parrs Wood Cineworld to watch it. And while a film is seldom as good as the original book, too many fine details missed out, I did enjoy it. As did the other six people in the cinema. The trouble is that by the time the adverts and trails had finished, we’d all finished our snacks. Note to self: next time, turn up 40 minutes after the publicised show time.

It’s that time of year again and I was pleased to receive birthday greetings from Keiran. Well, with his Mum’s help.

A strange birthday which I celebrated by myself since Jenny and family were flying to Australia on this very day. I enjoyed my scone, jam and cream prior to refueling the car at the slightly cheaper Sainsbury’s garage. Petrol locally is now 155.9p per litre, up from 138.9p just a few weeks ago.

It’s always good to see the world burst into colour during Spring and sometimes a photo doesn’t do justice to the real thing, so it needs a slight tweak.

Too much? Well, here’s the original

My memory suggests the true colour was somewhere between the two. Still, delightful, though.

I returned to Manchester for a short wander prior to donating blood. The biscuits and tea were very welcome, thank you.

What was I saying about Spring? I heard the rain, looked out and thought it looked like snow. But, no, that can’t be right, it’s just the angle of the Sun, obviously. Well, no. When I went out later, I saw this:

A pile of hailstones on the car. It didn’t feel that cold outside, but as Liesel later commented, we often do have a bout of bad weather around my birthday.

A bigger group than usual walked around Wythenshawe, through the woods and the parks.

Usually, we end up at Costa after this walk, but today, as part of the Greater Manchester Live Well Spring Festival, we met in a Public Living Room for a cup of tea and a chat.

Having a go on the pedal exerciser was not compulsory but it’s a great way of going nowhere fast.

And how lovely to see all the cousins together.

Who let the pigs out? Someone at Wythenshawe Community Farm, that’s who.

I think we enjoyed the walk around Wythenshawe Park and a coffee afterwards. Not so keen on finding a discarded, abandoned, child’s bicycle though.

Jenny and family are having a blast down under, and Keiran experienced his first flight at the grand old age of 4 months, as they all flew north, spending some time at Port Douglas. Which just escaped the worst excesses of Cyclone Narelle.

In other overseas news, Liesel and Monica attended their first embroidery class. Liesel learned five new stitches and achieved this work of art. Not bad for a first go.

Don’t talk to me about how Rage Against the Machine got their name: they were just trying to use their printer too, right? Grrr. [Full details omitted, for now.]

As it was April Fool’s Day, I suggested to the Northenden Walkers that we’d previously all agreed to wear something pink. Nobody fell for it, except this lady who brought the correct handbag.

In the coffee shop, I was disappointed to find that this gorgeous bouquet was not actually for me.

Walking by the Mersey on another bright day, watching the eddies and whirlpools, but oddly I didn’t see any duck families on this occasion. I wonder where they’re hiding?

The latest radio show is Wythenshawe Radio’s Greatest Hits in which I play tracks played by other presenters over the last few weeks. It’s here waiting for you to enjoy.

Suddenly it’s halfway through March, the temperature is hovering around -11°C and the snow, slush and ice is piled up outside. Not content with building ordinary snowmen or even snowhuskies, some creative folks have been very ambitious.

I am of course referring to Anchorage, Alaska, where Liesel and her Mom are actually not responsible for this snow sculpture. This one and many others were part of the annual Fur Rendezvous (Fur Rondy) festival in Anchorage. They enjoyed a variety of traditional events such as dog sledding, fur auctions, and outhouse races. And I can’t wait to see what manner of fur coat they bought for me to help cope with the much milder Manchester Winter.

The Statue of Liberty was created by Steve Lukshin and won first place in the solo division of the Alaska State Snow Sculpture Championship. Who knew there was such a thing?

In other overseas news, lovely Keiran in Brookvale, NSW, seems surprised to have reached the grand old age of 4 months.

Nearer home, it is warming up. Whereas we used to see a family of three magpies outside our apartment block, there is only one at the moment.

And yes, It does bring sorrow to see him on his own. On the other hand, there’s a very cheerful blackbird living in a bush near us. I don’t know yet whether there’s a young family of chicks, but his song is delightful.

Sunshine and blue skies always lift the mood, so visiting Quarry Bank for a walk was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

I met Jenny and the family there, and we wandered along the river Bollin towards The Carrs, just before Wilmslow. However many steps we adults took, William and Martha must have taken double. I wonder at what age you stop running about like that and just walk in a straight line, using the least amount of energy.

We played Pooh sticks on one bridge and failed to spot any fish in the stream. And of course, trees are there to be climbed.

Sadly, in 2020, Chris Hall, 48, was struck by a 22m mature lime tree whilst walking his dog Benson on the the main public path in The Carrs Park at lunchtime on August 28th 2020, along the same route they had used for the last 11 years. This was a tree that council bosses had failed to make safe after a previwous incident. Cheshire East Council failed to investigate when a large branch had fallen from the tree a year before and was subsequently fined £500,000. I mention this, because we passed the attractive memorial, and only later did I learn the story.

Oh, and where’s Martha?!

We all played with a frisbee for a while and I embarrassed myself by no longer being able to throw the thing with any skill. Maybe it’s just intrinsically easier to throw a frisbee up on Epsom Downs than it is here near The Carrs skatepark.

The playground equipment include a zip wire which was most enjoyable. As was the climbing frame. Martha and William had an ice cream while we grown-ups had a coffee.

On the walk back to the car park, we passed horses and gorses. By the river, when William climbed down into a deep hole, not one of us followed him.

For the first time in ages, I thought I’d order a pizza from Pizzeria, here in Northenden. Sadly, I discovered that it had closed down in November. So I tried one from the place over the road. How disappointing. The Deliveroo driver stopped somewhere else to pick up another order, so by the time my meal arrived, it was cold. I complained and got a refund of the delivery fee, but even after re-heating, it wasn’t a very nice pizza anyway.

Loyalty cards, pah. I just want to do a bit of shopping, or buy something. I don’t need a loyalty card for everything, I don’t want to become a member, register, join up: just lower the prices for everyone. I don’t need to collect points, rewards, tokens, coins, airmiles or anything. No I don’t want to make a charity donation or give a tip. And I really don’t want to give feedback for every service I receive. Just stop it. Whinge of the week.

One of my current favourite writers is Joanne Harris: she wrote, Chocolat and its sequels. A year ago, a prequel came out too, Vianne. To mark publication of the paperback edition, she is touring the bookshops of Britain. So of course, I had to go and meet her at Simply Books in Bramhall. She makes writing a novel look so easy. She was interviewed by Kay Crewdson who I’ve only known before from the BBC’s North West Tonight programme, when she tells us how bad the weather’s going to be.

That’s not a bookshop, I hear you cry. No, the venue was St Michael and All Angels Parish Church, a 12-minute walk from the shop.

It’s officially now warm enough to wear shorts, and show off these gorgeous old pins of mine. Although a trip into Manchester was ultimately pointless on this occasion, I revelled in the warmth: surely the warmest day of the year so far, 19° apparently.

Of the three weekly organised walks, I made it to all three. Everyone is happy with the new, improved weather.

Martha starred in a production of Shrek at school. And as usual, all the participants did very well.

I’m now torn between spending time outside in the (probably limited) sunshine and staying in, in front of the PC, preparing a radio show. As I discussed with someone the other day, I have no idea how I ever managed to fit in a full-time job.

The latest show is right here.

https://www.mixcloud.com/mick_the_knife/initialisms-1532026/

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.

https://www.mixcloud.com/mick_the_knife/international-womens-day-2026-832026/

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.

—

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

Step 4: Check if 1–99 have any ‘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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

https://www.mixcloud.com/mick_the_knife/ships-and-boats-2222026/

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.’

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…

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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…

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.

There’s no point trying to ignore Christmas. It’s looming over the horizon and even little Keiran has been introduced to the big fella.

The weather’s not very Christmassy though. It’s still unusually warm for this time of year, and it has rained a lot. Torrential at times and that means going out for a walk isn’t so appealing.

While prepping a radio show, I came across this old record of my Mum and Dad’s: Max Bygraves, You’re a Pink Toothbrush. It fits the theme of the show so I’m playing it. Earplugs are available, if you prefer not to listen to the blue toothbrush talking to its pink comrade. Pink toothbrush, how ridiculous.

Then, one day, the Sun came out. Low in the sky, sometimes hidden behind the trees, but it was out. The sky was blue. So, I got out my Seestar S50 to take a picture or two. I knew there’s a lot of sunspot activity right now so they were the target.

That was a good afternoon’s entertainment. Now, if the clouds would only disappear for one night, so I could see the stars or even the Moon, that would be very welcome, thank you very much.

The weekly Friday walk now takes place in Wythenshawe Park. That’s OK, but it also now starts at 10 o’clock, which makes it harder for me to drag my old carcass out of bed.

It stayed dry on this occasion, although some of the park was quite muddy. And as I drove home, I turned the radio on to hear… Me, Myself and I. Someone must have been off and they were playing the show I’d uploaded for Sunday.

📢 Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2, now in DAB in parts of Greater Manchester and Cheshire, Sunday 4pm for Mick’s Music Mix.

Later in the afternoon, I got stuck in traffic on the way to Martha’s school. She was taking part in a performance of Alice in Wonderland. I was initially told it would start at 4pm. I was still stuck in Cheadle when Jenny sent a message saying that it was actually 4.15, phew, I wasn’t late. I met Alan in the queue and I think it’s fair to say the show was a sell-out, lots of parents and grandparents standing at the back.

It was good fun of course, but it was a shame that not a single boy was taking part.

Despite all the rain, the river Mersey isn’t much higher that usual. Whatever they did to improve the flood defences seems to have worked, so far.

Meanwhile, Rochdale Canal in Manchester is higher and overflowing the pavements.

I booked this event a long time ago, and I decided to go into Manchester by bus. It shouldn’t take more than an hour to get from home to Aviva Studios, really, but it did, and I was glad I’d left so early. The Moonwalkers, with Tom Hanks was a fascinating, immersive celebration of the Apollo Moon missions. It brought back memories of how excited I was at the time to follow those events. I even kept a scrap book for each one, from Apollo 8 to Apollo 17. Sadly, those bit the dust when we moved away from Peterborough. But that’s a different story.

This show also looks forward to the next chapter in lunar exploration and we met the Artemis II astronauts.

If you plan to visit this show, The Moonwalkers, here’s a tip: Don’t sit on the beanbags near the front. It’s very hard to keep turning round to see the pictures being displayed behind you. Plus, it was really difficult standing up afterwards.

Afterwards in the café area, the entertainment continued. There was a party from somewhere, I’m guessing a Christmas works do. The ‘pub quiz’ consisted of old, corny, Christmas cracker jokes. Then, I heard parts of someone else’s conversation. “Oh, you know that idiot in North Korea?” I missed the next bit. “I had to laugh when I heard.” I wish I knew what she was laughing at.

I wandered through the city centre for a while, until I’d had enough of the crowds.

I really didn’t need to see this portrait in the window of a ground floor unit of Great Northern Warehouse. Entitled America First – Trump, Putin, China, by local artist Michael Browne, it is hard to miss as you walk by, quite disturbing.

More to my taste is this mural just round the corner.

This is one of over 80 music-inspired installations in the city centre! Music for the Senses. I tried to find out more, but you have to download an app, and pay for it, before you even know whether it’s any good or not.

After nearly twenty years, my Philips Sonicare toothbrush stopped working, just a few short weeks after Liesel’s turned its toes up. I left it a few days in case it came back to life, but I gave in and purchased a new one. I’ve gone for an Oral B this time, on the basis that it was the cheapest and if I didn’t get on with it, I wouldn’t feel obliged to wait another twenty years for it to die.

It’s always exciting when you open a new gadget. I can’t imagine the meetings that go on behind the scenes where they discuss just how much unnecessary packaging they can cram into the box: cardboard, plastic, twist ties and a user guide in 101 languages. Then, horror of horrors. The toothbrush. It’s pink. It never occurred to me to wonder about the colour when I was in the shop, but yeah, sure enough, it does actually say ‘pink’ on the box. Just as long as it doesn’t start talking.

I got up at the right time to winess a gorgeous, pink sunrise. Yeah, the same colour as my new toothbrush. Only, as you can see, in the photo, it looks more orange.

This event even made the BBC news site, if you want to look it up.

So, back to Wythenshawe Park, where not only is it muddy in places it’s completely flooded. In fact, there is such a large expanse of water, that it’s now inhabited by hundreds of water birds, too far away to see what they are.

Yes, usually, that is a large, grassy area.

AI is taking over the world and I’m sure it will be useful one day, but right now, I can’t believe a word it says. But after Donald Trump renamed The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in his own honour, I thought two can play at that game.

Meanwhile, downunder, they’re keeping the little one entertained.

On TV, as I write, I’m looking forward to the final episode of the Doctor Who spin-off serial, The War Between the Land and the Sea after which, we’ll have to wait until Christmas next year for the next real Doctor Who story. Oh well.

If you would like hear the show in which The Pink Toothbrush features, here it is on Mixcloud: Songs with Mistakes.

Merry Christmas to you, I hope you have a great time!

When the Management Company refers to our communal car park, we assume that we, the occupants of the five flats in the block, are the community for which the car park exists. It’s not supposed to be a free facility for the local bulding industry. But we had a visitor for several days, taking advantage of the free parking opportunity.

This Niftylift HR12N bi-energy articulated boom lift also churned up what pretends to be lawn . I don’t care about its 12.2m working height and 6.1m horizontal reach nor its narrow 1.5m chassis. It just shouldn’t be there. It’s the most dangerous machine around, at least going by all the warning signs.

When the young man came to retrieve it later in the week, despite its narrow chassis, he struggled to steer it out of the car park. I do regret not having a go myself, though.

Apparently there aren’t enough pictures of Keiran here, so, by popular request, here’s another one.

Martha and William were happy to make their own snowglobes at our place. After which, Jenny and Liam joined us for an early Thanksgiving dinner which was delicious, thank you Liesel!

I’ve never been to Oldham before so, after my dentist appointment, I was happy to join Liesel on her mission. While she visited Abi the beautician, I wandered around the hilly town centre. This included consumption of a well-deserved and enjoyable egg sadwich which I washed down with a nice cup of coffee.

Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre provided some entertainment. The sign asked me whether I could ‘Seek out Susie’, Susie from Shopping Susie’s Kids Club.

While studying the picture, a young lady asked me if I needed any help. No, I’m just looking at the picture, thank you. “Well,” she said with arms akimbo, “you shouldn’t be here, there are no shops here, only offices.” I’d had the temerity to take the escalator to a higher floor. End of the world.

Northenden is slowly changing. Outside the Post Office, the postbox has been adapted to accept some small packets and parcels. It has solar panels on top, and you should be able to press a button, scan a QR code on your packet, and it opens the door so you can drop you item in. Well, it already doesn’t work, and I’m not sure you can entirely blame the layer of early morning frost on top.

As you can see, some guy tried to park inside the postbox, but couldn’t quite manage.

It’s a EⅡR box and, what are the chances? Just around the corner, I bumped into QE2, just not the real one. This little knitted Queen was relaxing on the sofa in the hairdressers while Paul cut Liesel’s hair. The motto on my coffee cup lid seems to fit, too.

Keiran’s getting about a bit. He took Helen and Brent for a walk up at North Head, Manly. It looks like a lovely day and the good news is, he does seem to enjoy a car ride too.

Another pet peeve: websites for shops that are closed but don’t tell you until you’ve spent ages placing your order. Usually we can order a pizza for later delivery, but on this occasion, computer says no. Not just closed until 5 o’clock or whatever, it was closed all day apparently. Possibly longer, it didn’t specify.

It’s been raining a lot and it’s safe to assume that every sentence from now on can be preceded with ‘It was raining…’.

So instead of spending in time wandering around the Christmas markets in Manchester, we took the children straight to the theatre and straight home afterwards.

We saw a stage musical version of the old Disney film, Freaky Friday. Thankfully, the songs and the laughter and the applause were all loud enough to drown out mine and Liesel’s coughs. Yes, somehow we’ve acquired a lurgy. So had Martha and William, to a lesser extent.

Liesel and I enjoyed a drive into Salford too, to see Count Arthur Strong’s version of A Christmas Carol. During the first half, he played Charles Dickens, and we learned absolute nothing about the great Victorian storyteller. The second half was indeed a version of A Christmas Carol, but not as we know it. With a cameo from Anita Harris amongst others. Again, audience laughter drowned out out hacking. But boy did we get through some cough sweets.

We had cause to visit Salford again the following day. We can now add Salford Royal to the list of hospitals we’ve visited this year. On this occasion, it was Liesel’s appointment and it went very well.

Spontaneously (or was it?) on the way home, Liesel suggested visiting the Trafford Centre. I made notes of which postcode area we parked in before dining at Wagamama. That hot, spicy soup cleared a few nasal passages, I can tell you, phew!

I think the only shop we visited was Marks and Spencers, but that was enough excitement for one day.

And that was it. Liesel’s short visit home was over. It still seems strange to have a short visit to your own home, but that’s the way the universe is right now. I dropped her off at the airport for the flight to Atlanta. Then onto Albuquerque for for night. Then she’ll take her Mom back to Anchorage. Next time I see Liesel will be in Australia.

Oh, alright then, here he is again.

There is no doubt about it: Keiran is the cutest baby, ever, in the history of the universe. He’s doing very well, eating, sleeping and getting to know his parents. He’s gaining weight, which is great, but I must admit, I am a bit jealous of his luxuriant, dark hair.

It rained torrentially all day, so I was considering taking a taxi to Bramhall. Fortunately, the rain eased off, so I drove, passing by, or through, several large puddles on the way, and I parked around the corner from Simply Books. I was here to see Janina Ramirez talking about her new book, Legenda. I was just in time, but what I didn’t realise was that the event had been put back half an hour, to allow everyone, including Janina, to reach the venue despite the flooding in the area.

While hanging about, I looked at some of the books on offer. I enjoyed Gavin & Stacey on TV but I probably won’t get around to reading these two books, described thus on the covers:

• Joanna Page: Lush! from Swansea to Stacey and everything in between.
• Ruth Jones and James Corden: When Gavin met Stacey and everything in between. 

Janina Ramirez is very bubbly, enthusiastic about her subject and very friendly. Her talk was fascinating of course, and I look forward to reading the book.

She very kindly recorded a message for Liesel which will, I’m sure, be treasured!

Keiran and Helen returned home on Brent’s birthday and he’s already gadding about town.

Liesel arrived back home in Northenden after spending a night in Albuquerque where her Mom will stay with Buzz, Neil and Gabe for a couple of weeks. Manchester Airport Terminal 2 is very modern, but I find the road signs confusing and/or misleading. And sometimes, Google Maps doesn’t help much, either. I circumnavigated more than one roundabout.

Liesel wanted to be home now so as not to miss William’s birthday again. So we visited a couple of bakers to get the requested cakes for the birthday celebration. Due to heavy traffic everywhere, we arrived at Jenny’s later than planned, just before school pick-up time. We walked to school with Jenny and the children were very happy to see their Oma.

Sometimes, when you have a baby, you end up ‘feeding’ other members of the family too.

The first major excursion that Liesel and I took was a shopping expedition. We went to John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Tesco. Hours of fun, but we found everything we needed. We’re only a few short weeks away from Christmas so it was quite exciting to see these creatures in the shopping centre.

Liesel made two kinds of salsa that, next day,we took over to Jenny’s for William’s family birthday celebration. They were the perfect accompaniment to the bean chili that Jenny made for us. For his birthday, William received a few Minecraft themed Lego kits, and boy, is he quick at construction. He asks for help but doesn’t really need any, I think he just likes the company.

Liesel and I joined the other grandparents, Una and Alan along with Aunty Andrea, Uncle Paul and cousins Emily and Annabel. Annabel is a bit older than Martha but to her delight, she’s already taller than Liesel!

And because you haven’t seen him for a few seconds, here another photo of our cute little gransdson Keiran.

Before Liesel arrived, I was able to get a bit ahead with the radio shows, so I won’t have to lock myself away in the studio slash office slash spare room slash so-called third bedroom while she’s here.

Don’t forget you can explore/enjoy over two year’s of Mick’ Music Mix on Mixcloud.

The latest upload was comprised of ‘Songs with Monosyllabic Titles’. Catch it right here on Mixcloud.

Ooh, I haven’t had a moan about technology yet. This week I finally caved in to the nagging and upgraded my phone’s user interface. Always a nightmare because such updates change things and you often don’t find out what until much later. On this occasion, it took away the spelling suggestions/autocorrect facility from the keyboard. But the most obvious change (that I’ve seen, so far) is the bright yellow keyboard that you can see from space.

Grrr.

What an exciting week that was. The gardeners turned up and instead of just blowing the leaves around like they usually do, they actually collected them up and took them away. A lovely pile of compost for someone.

After losing that much weight, I can hear the old oak tree breathing a sigh of relief and stretching its limbs.

What an exciting week that was. I ventured into Manchester one evening to see Margaret Atwood speaking about her latest book, Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts. She told some funny stories and was very engaging. But I found the acoustics at the Opera House a bit disappointing. From where I was sitting near the back of the stalls, the reverberating audience laughter drowned out a lot of the dialogue from the stage.

This was the least worst of the two pictures I took. I was too intimidated by the ushers walking around with their ‘No Photography, No Videography’ signs.

Oh, and the other disappointment is that the books weren’t signed by the author.

Manchester is gearing up for Christmas, and I’m sure I’ll visit the Christmas markets sometime.

Thanks to recent solar activity, the aurora has been visible from Anchorage.

The southern version was visible from Manly, NSW, but Helen didn’t witness the event, having other things on her mind.

Storm Claudia brought strong winds and torrential rain this week. So loud, and of course, no chance of us seeing any aurorae through those clouds.

Under normal circumstance, you would expect tomatoes to be bigger than grapes. This week, I enjoyed these freaks of nature.

What an exciting week it was on TV too. A few weeks ago, Channel 4 put up a few select episodes of Brookside, the only soap that Sarah and I watched regularly. I’ve just found out that STV are showing (possibly) every Brookside episode, uploading five new ones every week.

Good to see these two together again:

It was an exciting week for young Martha too. She swam one mile, non-stop, and is rightly proud of her achievement and the certificate she received.

But of course the big news this week, the most exciting event, is the arrival of Keiran Michael. Helen and Brent have been blessed with this gorgeous little chap.

My heart is overflowing with joy for you all! For a moment, after seeing you on the video call, I thought about hopping on a plane straightaway to come over to see you all those miles away in Australia. Totally impractical of course. So, welcome to Keiran, our third grandchild! We look forward to seeing you in a couple of months time. Lots of love to you all.

I’m sure Keiran is looking forward to hearing his Grandad’s WFM radio show. The latest is on the theme of Water, for Our Earth Week which coincides with COP30. Listen here on Mixcloud.

Each school holiday the parents of a local primary school, Broad Oak, run a Hearts Trail in Fletcher Moss Park. This lets children explore and get to know the park and is always on a different theme. There was a Halloween theme this time, and Martha and William enjoyed the walk around the park, looking for spooky hearts. Plenty of other families were out for a walk too.

But I think more exciting even than finding hearts was testing the waterproof properties of their Wellington boots.

After the walk, I fancied a coffee (of course) but the queue was longer than we’ve ever seen it.

Autumnal colours shone through, especially given the exotic nature of some of the trees and shrubs in this garden.

One thing I didn’t have on my bingo card for 2025 (don’t you get fed up seeing this formulation on social media? I do and yet here I am, using it myself) was seeing William on the shoulders of a lacrosse player.

This is just one a few decorative park benches in Fletcher Moss Gardens.

Later in the afternoon, the children went roller-skating with their cousins Emily and Annabel. I went home and thought about going out litter-picking but, well, let’s just say, it’s the thought that counts. I did some stuff indoors instead while listening to the radio.

The management company warned us it was coming, but I was surprised when a large vehicle parked up in our communal car park.

I think it’s a cherry picker but really it’s a JLG articulated boom lift, probably a JLG  340AJ model. 

It’s a noisy beast and it followed me around the flat as the young painter decorated the exterior of the building. A bit disconcerting when you’re sitting there when the boom appears outside the window and the painter waves. You have to wave back, before ging to hide in a different room. In the end, I think it was only the woodwork that was painted. Plus a few splatters on our window. But I’m sure that’ll soon be sorted out if our window cleaner ever makes another appearance.

On my quick trip to purchase a new charging cable for my phone, I wandered through the book department. I won’t be buying this one:

Everyone knows a dice has the number 6 opposite the number 1. I don’t trust this cover so why should I trust the rest of the book? A lot of people do, though, it seems, following its publication in 1937.

Nothing much has changed in Northendedn and Wythenshawe. More leaves are falling from the trees. Posts are still being driven into. Despite all the rain recently, the river hasn’t risen noticeably. I did have some rotten luck though.

The pen I acquired from Saddlers Creek Wine last year has dried up. It’s a shame because it was one of the smoothest ballpoint pens I’ve ever used. I’ll just have to go back sometime and pick up a new one.

They’ve been going off for a couple of weeks now, but I was pleased to hear the excessive fireworks on November 5th. I can’t believe so many people, strangers, wanted to commemorate what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday.

And as we remarked the following morning on the walk, in the olden days, the morning after bonfire night would always be foggy and cold, with the smell of gunpowder everywhere and discarded rockets all over the place.

There is nothing worse than making a cup of tea and then the milk comes out of the bottle in lumps. Yes, it was still in date, always kept in the fridge. Nightmare.

Earlier, I suggested nothing’s new in Northenden. Well, Spring must be just around the corner. These beauties have just come into bloom.

Evening? This picture was taken at about noon.

Much of my time at home has been taken up with producing radio shows. I want to get a few spare ones under my belt before Liesel comes home in a couple of weeks. Speaking of whom, a few days ago, Liesel told me that after falling for 17 hours continuously, they now have seven inches of snow in Anchorage. It takes over an hour to put on enough clothes to go outside and walk over the road to the shop. From my point of view, the longer we retain higher than average temperatures in November here in Manchester, the better I like it.

Anyway, I interrupted myself there. Last week’s show had the theme of Chocolate, but in the end, it was mostly a long chat with Tasmin Archer. You can listen here on Mixcloud. It’s an extended version of the radio broadcast, because I didn’t want to waste all the chocolatey tunes I’d found.

I’m sorry Liesel’s missed out, but it’s pure bad luck that some of our favourite singers have chosen to visit Manchester this month, within a few weeks of each other, and while Liesel’s anchored down you know where.

The last time we saw Eddi Reader, she was in a cave with bats flying round. This time, I saw her at the Royal Northern College of Music, RNCM.

I have a bone to pick with RNCM. The ticket said the show started at 8.00pm. So the fact that the bus made very slow progress through traffic didn’t really matter, I’d arrive in good time. There were lots of students on the bus and then, later on, we were joined by a horde of half-dressed, half-cut, young ladies on their way to a hen-do.

So I arrived at RNCM at 7.40. But the show had started at 7.30. The ticket, which I’ve now named Boris, lied. I missed ten minutes of the superb support act, one Eilidh Patterson. Her name is pronounced to rhyme with Kylie, rather than the usual Daily. So confusing. But she’s a wonderful singer,

She sold her own merch but I’m trying to download music these days rather than buy more CDs. There are exceptions of course.

Eddi Reader never performs the same set twice, and there’s always one or two songs I’d like to hear that she misses out.

Her band, which includes her husband and Boo Hewerdine, was ace.

Again, it was a nice mixed aged audience.

I should have moved into RNCM, actually, because a few days later, I returned to see O’Hooley and Tidow on their ‘So Long For Now’ tour. Yes, after 15 years of performing together, eight studio albums, four BBC Folk Award nominations, composing Gentleman Jack as the BBC drama theme tune and performing at hundreds of venues and festivals across the UK and Europe, the much-loved Yorkshire folk duo of Belinda O’Hooley & Heidi Tidow have made the momentous decision to say farewell for now in order to explore other adventures that are beckoning  them. Heidi’s going back to University.

There was no support act, but in the second half of the show, Belinda and Heidi were joined by a string quartet, students from RNCM, who tonight, for one night only, played as The Polar Bear Quartet.

At the interval, the queue to buy some of their merch was ridiculously long, and I couldn’t even get close enough to see what they had on offer. Probably didn’t need anything anyway.

There I was, minding my own business, watching Autumnwatch on TV, when someone rang the doorbell. That never happens. It was our neighbours from downstairs, newly moved in. Kruti and her cute little granddaughter gave me a present for Diwali, which was very kind of them. I felt bad about not reciprocating, of course.

This year, I set myself the goal of reading the Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes. Well, the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to be precise. I have succeeded in this endeavour. The 12-year old in me appreciated the use of the phrase ‘He ejaculated’ 26 times during the four novels and several collections of short stories. But there was not one single use of ‘No shit, Sherlock’, which I find baffling. In the early stories there are a few female characters named Mary, including one who became John Watson’s wife. Later on, the Marys seem to fade away. Very enjoyable, but when you read them all like that, one after the other, you realise how formulaic the stories are, and how ridiculous in some cases. For ‘deduction’, read, ‘a series of random thoughts, non sequiturs’.

Since I requested to delete my Microsoft account, I have been bombarded with even more marketing emails than before, and since I can’t unsubscribe without cancelling my request to delete the account, I’ve set up a filter so I never have to see them again.

And I’m sure I’m not the only one playing Whac-a-mole with Microsoft’s efforts to thrust its AI Copilot on me. I don’t want it. It’s even popped up in the noddy utility Notepad. Whinge of the week.

I don’t see the results of a car crash every single time I go for a walk in and around Northenden, but it happens quite a lot. I used to post all the photos to Instagram, but I can’t be bothered to do so every time any more. I think the novelty’s worn off.

More music in Manchester when RNCM took over Band on the Wall for the day. The city was very busy, but at least the rain held off as I walked to the venue. I bumped into Hayley, from Radio Northenden and Wythenshawe Radio. The musicians played alternately on different stages so that was a good way to get some steps in, walking backwards and forwards.

A very good folkie, I thought.

This band were rockin’ the joint.

Theo (if I have his name right) was a bit folky, he sang falsetto.

There were ten acts altogether but for reasons I won’t go into, I had to leave early.

Of course, I needed to complete my hattrick of visits to proper RNCM. So I went to see Julie Fowlis. She was great, but the lyrics were mostly unintelligible. Not because she’s a bad singer, but all of the songs bar one and a half were performed in Gaelic.

The songs, being Scottish, were of course gorgeous. We should get some more of her music in our collection, not just the soundtrack from the film Brave!

What I didn’t expect, when Julie walked off stage halfway through one of the final songs, was to see her come back playing the bagpipes.

After the show, again, the queue to have a chat with her was very long, so I made my way home.

This week saw the final Wednesday Walk led by Chantel for Thrive Manchester. It was very well attended, despite the dodgy looking weather. In future, we’ll risk getting lost in the woods on a Wednesday as we wander round without a leader.

Oh, by the way, I have been reading books other than Sherlock Holmes stories this year. I’ve just finished Peaches For Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris, a second sequel to her best-seller Chocolat. And, between you and me, I think it’s better than Chocolat.

Google Maps can be a bit annoying sometimes but I’m glad it took me to Bramhall a strange way this week, given the roadworks currently taking place in Gatley. The venue for this very popular event was moved from Simply Books to St Michael and All Angels parish church. When I arrived, people were queueing outside, and we made slow progress. And then, on crossing the threshold, we realised the queue then wound its way all round the church hall.

We were here to meet Sir Mark Cavendish, possibly our favourite cyclist of all time. He’s written a book called Believe, which I’m looking forward to reading. And there is already a short waiting list, someone’s waiting to borrow it.

I’ve been preparing a couple of radio shows this week, so I’ve probably not been out as much as I would like. The most exciting moment for me was speaking to Tasmin Archer, fulfilling a 32-year ambition! She was great and I hope the end result informs, educates and entertains on Wythenshawe Radio.

Last week’s show featured Unusual and Unexpected Duets. Listen here on Mixcloud. and feel free to sing along.

The leaf blowers are out in force, doing their worst, making a lot of noise and achieving nothing other than blowing leaves and fungal spores and all sorts of detritus into the air. This is the downside of Autumn. And then of course, the next gust of wind blows all the leaves back where they came from.

After a stroll around the streets of Northenden, I stopped for a quick coffee at Boxx2Boxx. The owner, Jill, was in today, meeting and greeting many young fans.

Chester draws me in like a magnet. It’s a straightforward enough drive to Chester, but I managed to go wrong when I tried, and failed, to follow directions to a service station on the way. Oh well.

I parked up and walked to my accommodation, my Aurbnb. After checking in, I went for a walk around the city centre. I don’t often go lurking around old, deconsecrated churches, but since this was the venue for the evening’s entertainment, I was glad to check it out. Time for a sit down…

Not the most comfortable bench, I must say.

I know Chester is an old place, but it still surprises me to see just how old some of the buildings are. Since 1622 there has been an inn on the current site of the Golden Eagle. As such it is steeped in the history of the city and community. Adjacent to the Chester Castle and Crown Court, the pub served as a hostelry to the Cheshire Regiments Garrison and the barristers and judges of the Court. This tradition has been upheld, and veterans of the regiment still frequent the pub to catch up with old comrades. I didn’t frequent this establishment today.

It was a very pleasant afternoon, so my plans to visit museums and galleries were postponed, it was forecast to rain the next day. Instead, I enjoyed the cathedral bells for a while, but not so much the busker murdering Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross and other classics.

Three Old Arches form the façade of a row building dating from about 1200, believed to be the earliest surviving shop frontage in England.

For a brief moment, I was transported back to New Mexico.

Laughing at the plastic cactus outside this Mexican establishment might have upset the locals, so I restrained myself. Instead, I had a lovely meal at Thai Baan.

Back to St Mary’s for the gig. Frankie Archer again. I know, I know. When I first booked tickets to see her, I think my mouse must have twitched or something. Instead of Manchester, I clicked on Chester. After berating myself, I decided to spend a couple of days in Chester anyway.

In support this evening was Clara Day, who I’ve heard on the radio a couple of times. I would have been singing along if I’d known the songs.

And of course, Frankie’s set was the same as two nights earlier, her skill on the violin and on all her tech totally captivating the audience.

The threatened rain never arrived, so I spent a day walking around Chester’s old Roman Wall, and making odd diversions whenever I saw something interesting. I never knew until today, for instance, that the racecourse here is also known as The Roodee. Which explains why the car was parked in the Old Roodee car park.

This sculpture was unveiled in 1992 to mark the 900th anniversary of Chester Cathedral.

If it was surprising to see cactus here, even moreso to see a baby elephant. Not a real one, obviously, a bronze sculpture gifted to the city of Chester by Chester Zoo.

Chester Castle was never successfully overrun.

This sign on the back gate would undoubtedly deter any potential invading force.

But, just in case, a party of school children were being trained in the use of swords and shields.

I missed seeing a steam train by a couple of minutes. I heard the chuff-chuff sound, and I saw clouds of smoke behind the trees, but I missed the steam engine itself.

Outside the Cathedral, the Royal Photographic Society was displaying many prize-winning photographs.

On another occasion, I might ascend the 216 steps up the tower, climbing up through 900 years of history, as the sign says. You have to book tickets, so please remind me the next time we visit Chester.

What would you do with 275,000 Lego bricks? Build a model of Chester Cathedral, of course. This was a labour of love. The project started in April 2015.

A team of enthusiastic volunteers worked on one module at a time, on a separate table by the main model. They showed the public where to put the next brick. Once a module was completed it was fitted onto the main model.

The build took eight years and eight days and was completed in April 2023, after progress was slowed due to Covid and the lockdowns.

The good news is, after checking out, I didn’t make any mistakes on the drive home.

After an invasive procedure under sedation, Jenny collected me from the hospital and looked after me for 24 hours, thank you very much. I’m hoping that was the last one for at least a year. Best of all today, though, was spending time with the grandchildren.

After walking to school with them the next morning, Jenny took me home and I was in time to join the Thrive Walk in Wythenshawe. We commented on there seeming to be fewer geese in the park. Maybe they’ve started heading south for the Winter.

If you need some background sounds while you go about your business, don’t forget you can always listen to Mick’s Music Mix on Wythenshawe Radio. My regular time is now Sunday afternoon, 4pm. Or, catch up on Mixcloud. (Psst, no adverts on my shows.)

After the Wednesday walk this week, we walkers were still welcome to have coffee at Boxx2Boxx despite the fact that they were secretly filming inside. The cake was delicious. We sat outside in the ‘marquee’. Thick black drapes across the windows meant that we couldn’t see what was going on inside. Two bouncers outside seemed a bit over the top, though.

This week’s walk in Wythenshawe was attended by 7 people, and we all made good progress. I know I shouldn’t, but I did laugh to myself when one person slowed down whenever they were chatting. As if they can’t walk and talk at the same time. Planning and plotting an overtaking manoeuvre can be difficult when you’re on a narrow path in the woods.

In the evening, I ventured into Manchester for another gig.The bus ride and the walk to the venue were faster than anticipated, so I had time for a quick walk around the back streets.

The show was at Hallé St Michael’s and I was here to see my second favourite Martha, Martha Tilston. As Liesel said, she always puts on a good show. In support was Alwyn Jones.

Again, he sang his own songs, and I was unable to sing along. But, neither could anybody else. The audience was a nice mix of old farts like me and young people.

Martha, of course, didn’t disappoint. She manages to hold the audience in the palm of her hand, inviting us to accompany her without actually saying so. Again, her final song was taught her by her late step-mother, Maggie Boyle.. She stood right next to me, in the middle of the audience, so I’m sure my boat race has ruined some of the videos taken by some audience members!

She was accompanied by Matt Kelly, who’s been at her side for as long as I can remember, right from the early days, gulp, well over twenty years ago, in the Grey Horse, Kingston upon Thames.

Don’t forget, Mick’s Music Mix on Mixcloud. Here is the latest show, the theme is ‘Goin’ Home’. Plus, as a bonus, at the end of this show, you can find out how I was appointed Governor of the state of Alaska.

Liesel took Holly to Whittier and on this occasion, the weather was kind enough to make a boat trip worthwhile. And they all had a great time out on the ocean waves, watching orcas breach and glaciers calve. I can only imagine the smell of the sealions as they (mostly) outswam the predators.

Meanwhile, here in sunny England, I enjoyed a walk with Jenny, Liam, Martha and William over the border in Derbyshire. The car park in Crowden was nearly full, but we squoze in easily.

The path followed Torside and Rhodeswood Reservoirs. Yes, reservoirs that haven’t (yet) been sold off by the privatised water companies. William was pleased to make friends with the smallest frog in the world. They met when William enjoyed the first of several bush wees. (He’ll be pleased to read that when he’s a bit older.)

Martha was equally impressed by the very bright toadstools.

We didn’t run up any of the higher hills, not on this occasion. No, we just appreciated the leisurely walk on a well-worn, slightly undulating path. However many steps we grown-ups took (17,500 in my case), I’m pretty sure the children ran twice as far.

I have visions of Liesel rolling her eyes when she sees this photo:

The temptation to bend a tall structure in this manner is irresistable. On the other hand, the view was very English.

Only as we were on the home straight, did I see a sign confirming that we were on the Pennine Way. That’s another item on the bucket list, to walk the whole length of the iconic route.

This week, I felt I was fighting technology a lot. My main fight was with Microsoft. I’ve had a Schrödinger’s account for a while. It won’t let me log in because there’s no such account. Yet when I try to create a new account, it tells me there already is one.

This week, my Microsoft Office stopped working. They were unable to verify my licence. Go online to verify, it said. I’m already online, I replied, I can’t get any more online than I am, no matter how much you nag. In the process, my Word and Excel were disabled. I could view existing documents but I couldn’t edit them nor create new ones.

I got to a place where I could enter the Product Key, and it told me that Key had already been used. Yeah. By me. Three years ago.

There is no way to speak to a human at Microsoft. There is a phone number, but when you call it, the automated voice just says to go to the website.

When you go to the website, you go round and round in circles. I had to enter fifteen one-time codes, and my password several times, getting nowhere fast. In the end, I decided to delete the account. It asks 101 questions before you get to actually get to that point: mostly about features that I didn’t even know existed, that I’ve never used, and I won’t miss at all. And then, the account’s not actually removed for 60 days, ‘in case you change your mind’.

Then, if you open (in my case) Word or Excel, that is taken as to mean I want to cancel my request to delete the account. To avoid opening one of those by mistake, I uninstalled all the software.

A couple of days later, I received a marketing email from Microsoft. I don’t need that either, so I’ll unsubscribe. Easy, I thought. To unsubscribe, yes, I have to sign in. If I do that, then my request to delete the account will be cancelled.

The whole set-up is just nasty. Amongst all the big tech companies, I used to think Microsoft was one of the, if not ‘good’ guys, then one of the least worst. Oh well.

I’m now using getting used to Libre Office. It does 90% of what Microsoft Office does, it’s free and open source. So, a big razzberry to Microsoft.

On a lighter note, literally, Una sent some gorgeous photos of the Northern Lights from Anchorage.

Just as glorious, of course, is Northenden’s tiny village green, embracing the season.

Another technology fail. Booking flights to a holiday destination used to be fun, something to look forward to. Now, it’s soul-destroying, it just feels like you’re fighting the system all the time.

I’m visiting Helen in Australia at the end of January. After several days faffing about, trying to find a cheaper flight, it was time to pick a flight and book it.

After successfully entering all the details of my booking, double- and triple-checking (recalling Liesel’s faux pas last time, when we got tickets for March instead of April, oops, but never mind), Etihad declined my credit card, despite me confirming it was genuine via the bank’s app. I called the bank, there was no reason for my card to be declined, they said, the problem must be at their end.

I looked up Etihad Customer Support and being a bit flustered, I clicked on the first link that came up. Connect to our partner for a refundable £1 to get help. Cheeky bastards, I thought. When I did, I saw they want £1 then £24 a month subscription. At this point, I realised this was a con. So, back to the bank who strongly recommended cancelling my card and reissuing. This was a bit disappointing and annoying, and yes, inconvenient, but it was the right thing to do. Some rogue company might have my credit card details.

I still had to pay for my flights, of course: I don’t know whether the booking disappears after a set amount of time. So, I used my other card. This is one that I’ve been running down for a long time. I’ve not used it now for several months, and I’d planned to cancel it in due course. Again, to verify the card, I had to go to this bank’s app to say it was genuine. The payment went through.

So, I’ve decided to keep this second credit card, for just such an eventuality, an emergency, even if I don’t use it on a regular basis.

On my ‘main’ card, the one that was incorrectly declined, there are a couple of subscriptions so I’ll have to go in and change those, once the replacement card turns up.

Also, a reminder to myself, even if the heading in a big typeface says ‘Etihad Customer Care’, check the actual link before clicking on it.

I didn’t spend all week fuming in front of my laptop. I did go out a couple of times for some fresh air, some shopping and, oh alright, a coffee. I had a flu jab and a covid jab, one in each arm, to spread the load of the 5G microchips being injected into my body. But best of all, I went out to a gig.

I saw Frankie Archer at Low Four Studio in Deansgate, Manchester.

Yes I’ve been busy preparing shows for Wythenshawe Radio, after a break of very nearly a year. It took a while to recall how to use some of the software and, inevitably, new ‘features’ have been introduced that I’m not interested in. That’s progress, apparently!

The venue was intimate, and the audience enjoyed the support act, Satnam Galsian. She sang songs in Punjabi and in English, and played her own shruti box, a bellows that provides a drone to accompany the vocals.

Frankie Archer herself bounced onto stage and performed several ‘dark’ songs, promising to sing some more upbeat ones in the second half. When playing her fiddle, dancing around the stage, you can tell she’s really enjoying herself. And I don’t know how she can keep on top of all her equipment, samplers, keyboards, pedals and other gadgets. 

The Demon features in the video for her latest single, The Demon Lover.

If you would like to hear more from Frankie, listen to my latest radio show, now up on Mixcloud. As well as Frankie, there are some great songs which (sometimes inadvertently) namecheck other bands or singers.

It feels like it rained continually for a week after I returned home to Northenden. But that doesn’t matter, because I was sleeping for most of that time anyway. I was vaguely aware of the passing of time and the rain splashing against the windows and the wind howling through the trees and eating every now and then, but I’ve no idea why it took much longer to get over the jetlag this time than it usually does.

Still, the rain did stop eventually so I went for a wander down to the river, to see how high it was, and to see whether there was a realistic chance of any flooding.

The water was no higher than usual. I’m not saying I was disappointed, but I was certainly surprised.

The trees in the woods were taking a while to dry out, though. And if the rain didn’t cause any damage, the wind certainly did.

The last half dozen blackberries didn’t look very appealing, either, so we left them for the foxes. And the last half dozen bees are slurping the last of the pollen from the sunflowers, sunflowers that look a bit sad now that Autumn is approaching.

In Manchester Central Library, I joined a group of writers. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but in the end, after a bit of a chat, we just wrote for an hour, uninterrupted, and with no expectation to read out whatever nonsense we came up with. I’d never been up to the 3rd floor before, so of course I had to take a picture of the dome.

It was fun meeting Kimberly and Sarah, both published authors. The good news is, I was able to get a seat on the tram home.

Walking through the woods, we don’t often see birds. And when we do, they usually fly off pdq. But one little chap was sitting on the fence, yes, he just couldn’t decide whetehr to stay or not.

He wasn’t bothered by us, and he wasn’t in distress, so we just said hello and walked on by.

And in Painswick Park, there seemed to be far fewer geese than usual. Maybe they know something we don’t, and they’re heading south before the weather deteriorates.

A few of us had a discussion about the colour of this car:

Grey with a slight hint of blue was the consensus. But Google told us is was Cape York Green Metallic. Green? Sure enough. When we looked up the registration number, it did say green. I’m sure if I reported an incident to the police, I’d describe this vehicle as grey rather than green. So I won’t bother. And in any case, as far as I know, it’s not been involved in any criminal activity.

Over in Anchorage, the Autumn colours are a bit ahead of ours.

Later in the week, Liesel had a visitor, a young American, Holly, all the way from Washington. I’m sure she’ll appreciate the Autumnal colours.

I’m getting back into making radio shows so keep an eye on the Wythenshawe Radio schedule. It was a joy this week to have a chat with ‘one to watch’ Frankie Archer, the feminist Northumbrian electro-folk musician, who is going on tour very soon. Yes, I have my tickets. Mostly though, I was refamiliarising myself with the various software. Inevitably, there were ‘updates’. And updates almost always means adding in more features that you’ll never need. I’ve always thought, if it ain’t broke, don’t break it. So that’s my little whinge of the week.

I’ve heard of Hatcher Pass, but today was my first trip there. We drove towards Willow, a city that once very nearly became the state capital. My ears popped as we drove up into the mountains. Our specific destination was Independence Mine State Historical Park. Gold mining here was once a big operation, and we enjoyed walking around the site, always keeping an eye out in case someone had dropped a gold nugget or something.

The landscape looked a bit Scottish, although the tundra vegatation here is totally different.

A big surprise was to see a wedding party: they’ll have some fabulous pictures of the bride and groom with a gorgeous backdrop.

Some of the old buildings are in need of some TLC. Visitors are warned to stay on the path.

We walked up a few of the tracks and it was quite exciting to be here in the moutians. A couple of years ago, I might have been tempted to run up the slopes like a gazelle, but those days are gone, I fear. In Winter, the area is a popular ski resort. The amount of gold found in the rocks and minerals seems to be very small, it takes a lot of hard work to extract it, but 30,000 people thought it was worth the effort.

And as if the buildings being in a state of disrepair wasn’t bad enough, it’s a good job we weren’t planning to catch this train back to Anchorage.

On the drive home, we stopped at a place purporting to offer The Best Ice Cream in the World. It wasn’t. It was OK, and the scoop was American huge, nothing special, really. It began to rain before we arrived home, but our spirits weren’t dampened.

In the morning, Liesel went out on a mission, which meant that Leslie and I walked into the big city. The streets being on a grid network meant that we couldn’t really lose our way, but neither could we completely avoid the traffic.

Even though Autumn is knocking at the door, some of the flower beds in the parks are still very colourful. As is much of the street art. The murals in particular are delightful.

We met Monica in Midnight Sun for lunch and Liesel joined us a few minutes later. We spent some time across the road in the Museum. Dogs are very popular in Alaska so it’s no surprise that there is a Dog Show in the museum, a collection of photos and other exhibits celebrating dogs. Obviously, this exhibition is located in Patricia B Wolf Family Galleries.

On the drive home, we passed a wall adorned with some up to date graffiti, with slogans such as: Human Rights Matter; ICE – Due Process Only; Make billionaires pay taxes again; War Criminals not welcome in Alaska [Putin met Trump here recently]; We did not vote for Project 2025; No human being is illegal; Слава Україні!; No Christian Nationalism; Make America free again; Alaska is not for sale. Yes, it’s a very big wall.

Leslie once again joined Aaron to watch a football game. So Liesel and I had a rare date night. Our first thought was to dine at the Ethiopian restaurant. The car park was empty, and I tried the door, but no, it was definitely closed. Not even a notice on the door. Oh well, off to a Nepalese/Indian place instead. It was called Everest. Of course. The food was very tasty, not too hot and spicy, and, we think, prepared with a lot less ghee than they use in British Indian restaurants. We took the leftovers home in a box. Several boxes in fact.

Rather than go straight home, we thought it would be nice to visit Potters Marsh for a crepuscular walk. There were plenty of other visitors this evening too, and we managed to walk the full length of the boardwalk.

There were fewer birds than we expected, but for me, the most exciting one was the bald eagle sitting in a tree about a mile away. We made good use of the binoculars supplied by the local authority.

Again, I looked at the people carrying 2-feet long zoom lenses with a touch of envy.

Liesel joined Una for a jewellery making class over the road from the Museum. Leslie spent more time with Aaron. Don’t worry, I had things to do. I walked back to the Museum as I wanted to visit the Cold War to the Cosmos exhibition which we hadn’t had time for yesterday.

There are three magpies outside the Museum: they reminded me of the three magpies that live in the oak tree at home.

The Cold War displays were fascinating. I didn’t know, for instance, that America’s nuclear bomb tests weren’t confined to New Mexico and some south Pacific islands. They also bombed a small Alaskan island.

There was a lot of information about the cold war, early warning systems, and the cosmos, but also about climate change.

Lots of information. To me, some of the graphics were too detailed and I’m sure a lot of people would have just walked on by, I know I nearly did.

Later on, we joined Monica and Gregg for dinner at Pho Gia Đình Vietnamese Restaurant. I think Gregg is still adjusting to being retired. Well, me too, after nearly ten years.

Liesel hasn’t visited Thunder Bird Falls since she was a teenager, and that was a long, long time ago. We had a lovely walk there, even if the initial long and steep incline from the car park was a bit daunting. The smell of Autumn was in the air, nothing bad, just the normal seasonal decay. Which, unfortunately for me, brings back memories of cross-country running at school.

We passed lots of dog walkers and interestingly, every single dog was on a lead, as the signs requested. But it was a very pleasant hike and at the end of the track, we admired the waterfall while chatting to a couple from South America.

Nearby is Eklutna Lake, the main source of fresh water for Anchorage. The lake was too big to walk around, so we just wandered down to look at it. We didn’t even skim any stones on this occasion. The sign said ‘No camping, no fires’ so I can only surmise that the smoke we detected came from the official campsite nearby.

One thing we didn’t need to see on the way home, as we overtook another vehicle, was the moose’s head with a huge rack. It was accompanied by a chainsaw on board a Yamaha Viking Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) being transported on a trailer. 

I spent much of the morning packing, and of course I was bound to leave something behind, it would just be a surprise in a few days time to find out what it was.

I also took pictures of all of Liesel’s parents’ records, maybe a new feature of my radio show will be ‘A track from my wife’s Mom and Dad’s record collection’ but with a more succinct name. These records were mostly from Liesel’s childhood, though, lots of Disney and children’s stories.

Liesel, Leslie and I walked to a popular restaurant, Fletchers, where we joined Una and Phil for a most enjoyable lunch. Afterwards, I paid a quick visit to a gift shop and on the way home, I stopped off at Fire Island for a coffee. Yes, I deliberately took a long-cut home.

Uh? Why take a picture of a hotel that we’re not even staying at? Well, the combination of a clear sky and slightly tinted windows gives out a lovely electric blue reflection.

I’ve mentioned it before but I do like the Anchorage Light Speed Planet Walk. Today I saw the Sun, and I passed by Mercury, Venus and Earth, walking at the speed of light. And at that speed, it would take 5½ hours to reach Pluto, so I decided to leave the rest of the Solar System for another occasion.

Aaron and Jodi joined us for dinner, and I said a quick hello to Gideon, who’d been out playing football again.

Well, that time arrived at last. Rain set in as we set off for the airport. I was heading back to sunny England, while Liesel stayed in Anchorage with her Mom. As always, I was unduly anxious about the airport experience, but this time, straight through security and lots of time just to hang around. Even moreso with my slightly delayed flight.

In Frankfurt, I enjoyed the bus ride from plane to gate. And I enjoyed the train ride to my departure gate, having taken a wrong turn somewhere and leaving the secure area. Again, the extra security measures here were blamed on the US government although why they’d be interested in us when we’re flying the UK, I have no idea.

Welcome home, me. Miserable outside. But I was greeted with a box of vegetables outside the door, thanks to Groobarb and Liesel. A few days ensued, adjusting to the new timezone, sleeping, unpacking, short walks, nothing too taxing. As usual, I have a long to-do list and I’m sure it will be even longer next week.

Liesel and I returned to her Mom’s apartment, which was just as warm as it always is, even without the heating being turned on.

After a bit of a rest, I was still jetlagged and bedazzled, but happy to join Liesel as we drove over to a friend’s house. Along with many other people, we’d been invited to a Henna Party, something us blokes wouldn’t normally attend, but this was an opportunity for everyone to meet and get to know Rupert a little better: that’s Jyoti’s fiancé Rupert.

The two bottles of Pimm’s that I’d successfully brought over were enjoyed by many of us at the party, mixed with lemonade and with plenty of fruit added.

Thanks to Melanie and Dave for hosting the party, there was an overwhelming number of people here, some of whom I have met before, including some to whom I couldn’t immediately put a name.

Many of the ladies had henna applied to their hands, in complex patterns, but as I’d been up for over 24 hours, Liesel dragged us away home before her hands could be decorated. Boy, I had a good night’s sleep!

My first full day back in Alaska was relaxed. So relaxed, we even went for a pedicure. The cheese-grater got a good workout on my heels, thank you very much. We paid a short visit to Amrit’s office to quickly address an administrative matter. The view of the mountains was unusual. Then I realised: there was no snow. Last time I saw this vista, people were speed skating on the ice that covered the park just over the road.

We lunched at Bear Tooth, mainly because Liesel’s first choice, the newly opened Eye Tooth, wasn’t open today

Later on, we visited Jyoti’s place for dinner. About 20 people came over, some from Anchorage, some from Talkeetna and a couple of folks from much further afield.

Jyoti’s dhal was as delicious as ever and I’m sure the carnivores enjoyed their chicken. Someone suggested going out for a quick walk, so we did. A very short walk, just to the bluff overlooking Turnagain Arm.

There were a few sandhill cranes down on the mudflats, hard to spot from this distance. Then from a distance, we saw a small flock of them take off and entertain us with a flypast.

Even more exciting was the sight of a couple of bald eagles in flight.

Someone remarked on how lucky it was that the cat that had been lurking nearby had now gone back indoors. It would have been a nice snack for the eagle.

Liesel drove us home around sunset, so it was interesting to see the Alpenglow on the distant Chugach Mountains, even without snow to reflect much light.

The first long(-ish) walk of this visit took place early(-ish) in the morning. We wandered down to Westchester Lagoon, Liesel setting the goal of turning around at the second bridge. Some people were paddle-boarding and kayaking in the lagoon, and after a while, we finally found the family of swans that Liesel had told us about. The cygnets are pretty much fully grown, but their plumage is still baby grey.

A few colourful flowers brightened the place up, and we noticed that some of the trees’ leaves have begun to change colour: Autumn is just around the corner.

We walked slowly back home, and Liesel drew my attention to some skis in a most unusual place.

She said that round the corner, there was a stick library. I asked why someone would want to borrow a stick? She said that people don’t but dogs do.

Which makes perfect sense in a city where there are approximately 17 dogs per capita. I don’t know if that figure’s correct, but I extrapolated from the number of people we saw today compared with the number of dogs.

I was able to have a bit of a nap in the afternoon, before the main event of this visit.

Anchorage Museum was a great venue for a wedding ceremony, and this is where Jyoti and Rupert celebrated their nuptials.

Liesel, Leslie and I were amongst the first to arrive. We met some of the same people that we’d seen over the last two nights, at Melanie’s and at Jyoti’s.

It was nice to be reacquainted with Theresa, our companion when we walked Hadrian’s Wall a couple of years ago, and to meet her daughter Neela for the first time.

It’s a sign of the times, I suppose, that I was very conscious of not saying something that could be misconstrued. All the ladies were telling each other how wonderful, how gorgeous they were looking, all dressed up beautifully for the occasion. Several times, I too thought “You look nice”, but in this post-#MeToo age, I felt uncomfortable vocalising this, especially to the younger members of the fairer sex. What a shame. But they could all have come from the pages of a fashion magazine.

The food was plentiful, charcuterie, vegetarian samosas, lamb & turkey kabobs, tandoori chicken, potato chips, chocolate and enough cupcakes to sink a battleship.

The marriage ceremony was beautifully conducted by Una, who you may remember, joined Liesel and me in unholy matrimony all those years ago.

It was then time to party with nice mix of western and Indian music. I wandered around a bit, greeting people and even climbing the stairs for a better view of the proceeedings.

I’m glad I hadn’t eaten too much when the time came to make my mark on the dancefloor. I managed not to tread on anybody’s foot, so I’d call that a success.

People started drifting away, and the hosts were packing up as Liesel, Leslie and I left. Later, we found out that the bride and groom and several guests had moved on to another venue to continue their debauchery well into the night.

After all that excercise, I had a really good night’s sleep, even if the dreams were a little weird.

After dropping her Mom off at Aaron’s house, Liesel drove me for a massage. Debbie’s been around for a long time but this was the first time I’d met her. Her massage was fantastic, very relaxing, and highly recommended. And it was booked well before I decided to show off my moves on the dance floor last night.

Liesel had also planned a date with Catherine and Hans, and we drove up to their house for lunch. Cath had baked quiches for us which we enoyed, while watching the weather. The plan was to go for a walk, but it looked decidedly murky out there.

And yes, it did start raining, so our planned walk was delayed and eventually cancelled. Still, we had a good chat about this and that. They’re now off to Switzerland, but I forgot to tell them that I’d seen some skis up a tree, if they needed some.

Dinner was planned for Phở Lena but this venue was closed. Plan B then was So Thai, and that’s where we met up with Aaron, Jodi and Mom for a very nice pad thai.

No, we weren’t magically teleported to Guildford, Surrey, England: this is just one of the photos Pauline sent me from our old hometown.

After leaving the Thai restaurant, Jodi and Liesel visited the shop next door, Enlighten Alaska. The sign on the door said ‘No pets allowed’, so I didn’t go in.

At Alaska Botanical Gardens, the ticket clerk assured us that there had been no bear sightings recently, but we did notice a large ursine deposit by the boundary fence.

The gardens are very well presented and we enjoyed a very pleasant walk.

Although we’d come for a walk and to enjoy the flowers and other plants, we were also impressed by some of the sculptures.

Tempting, but we didn’t want to spend a few thousand dollars on a collection of rusty bicycle wheels pretending to be a tree.

There’s a pair of large magpies here, made from local willow, alder and birch branches.

Look closely and you’ll see a little Liesel and Leslie, just for scale.

We decided to follow the extra mile long trail, and we were joined by a young lady from Colombia, now teaching here in Anchorage. She said she was scared to walk any further by herself, as she was a bit scared. She apologised for her bad English, but there was nothing wrong with it. Plusl, our collective Spanish was no good. Dos cervezas, por favor.

We saw more evidence of approaching Fall, or Autumn.

We noticed as we wandered around that there were no birds singing. And apart from a few bees, there were very few insects. I did spot this well camouflaged little chap.

The separate Herb Garden was interesting too. The biggest herb growing here was rhubarb, but this is pretty:

A quick errand took us to Monica’s house after which we returned home for dinner and to watch some cra… thing on TV.

There must be something in the air or the water here, because I had more weird dreams. After breakfast, we left the city, visiting Portage, famous for its glacier which has now receded a mile and a half since Liesel was born. Not that I’m blaming Liesel, but we got nowhere near it. And it was on this drive that I saw the first snow of my trip. Just a few patches on the mountains across Turnagain Arm, but it all counts.

Of course, a few spots snow aren’t as interesting as the glacier which we saw from a distance.

We haven’t visited Whittier since that time many years ago when we joined Cath and Hans on their boat. The tunnel is longer than I remembered, two and a half miles, and just one lane, so vehicle convoys enter the tunnel in alternating directions every half hour. We were lucky in both directions, we didn’t have to wait too long at all.

The first thing we noticed as we emerged into Whittier was how much lower the clouds were on this side of the mountains.

We decided the visibility was too poor,  there was no point in joining a boat trip today. But how lucky were we to see a train about to go through the tunnel.

We didn’t spend a lot of time here, just admiring the calm sea and its mineral rich colour, which doesn’t really show well in photos. This is when I wish I were a painter instead.

More sightseeing on the way back, of course.

We even stopped off at Williwaw Salmon Viewing area where we did indeed view some very sluggish salmon trying to make their way up the narrow stream.

This was as close as we got to seeing any wildlife. Not even a moose by the roadside.

Back in Anchorage, we had a late lunch at South, a popular restaurant. While Liesel and Leslie had proper, big, American meals, I was quite satisfied with my Cauliflower Tacos (v, gf): cornmeal crust, sofrito, roasted poblano, avocado, cilantro, flour tortillas. All washed down with a long refreshing gin and tonic based beverage.

The two moms sitting near us with their young children left enough food on the floor to feed the 5,000. I believe a reasonable tip was left for the staff!

We thought it would be a nice day out to visit Alaska Zoo. I remember the first time I was taken, many years ago, in the depths of Winter. It was so cold that day, even the Siberian tigers didn’t emerge from their dens. Today was pleasantly mild, but I think the Siberian tigers must have moved on to that great celestial zoo with much bigger plains on which to roam.

The thing that struck us today was just how much fencing and chicken wire and mesh there is. Plus how much plastic there is in the animals’ pens. The place seemed a bit worn out, shabby even, compared with, say, Chester Zoo. It needs a bit of a touch up, some new signs, some fresh paint. And they really should think about replacing all that tight mesh. But despite this handicap, I did get a few good photos.

I took some pictures through the mesh, believing that I could use an AI tool to ‘remove’  the cage elements from the image. No luck there. I’ll try again when AI has grown up a bit.

Two hours at the zoo was plenty, and back in town, we had a late lunch at New Sagaya, Midtown Market branch, not the one just over the road from Leslie’s apartment.

The good news is that on this visit to Anchorage, my nose hasn’t been bleeding nearly as much as it usually does, for which I am very grateful.

The Online Safety Act has been in the news a lot recently. Ostensibly, it’s to protect children and others from harmful content on the internet. Well, some sites are being a bit over-zealous. I tried to access something quite innocuous, and for the fiorst time ever, it wanted to check I was old enough. This site chose to do so by looking at me and estimating my age. I made sure my boatrace was in the designated ellipse, which it called a circle. It then had the nerve to tell me, “That doesn’t look like a real face.” Well, it’s the only one I have, so I guess I won’t be visiting this site again any time soon. Rude.

Helen flew home after a relatively short but welcome visit, looking good and ready for the next adventure.

Pauline and Andrew returned from their side trip to Thirsk and beyond. They had a splendid time visiting Newcastle and Alnwick and came back with Geordie accents.

Suddenly, there was an exclamation from their room. What’s wrong, Andrew? It sounded like a big deal. It wasn’t really. While staying with Yvonne and Ian, Andrew had hidden the loudly ticking alarm clock amongst his soundproofing clothes. He just realised that he still had it. Pauline consulted her old school chum who revealed that other visitors had merely removed the batteries from the clock!

While berating Andrew for inadvertently stealing a clock, Pauline came across Yvonne’s copy of the English Heritage brochure in her own bag. I told them that in view of their criminal record, I have taken a full inventory of items in my own luxury apartment.

After a leisurely start to the day, we walked over to Didsbury again. It’s a nice walk and I wanted to see the refurbished path on the side of the river that’s been closed to pedestrians for a couple of weeks.

The path used to be notoriously bumpy, with bricks and rubble peppered along its length. It would be nice to see it nice and smooth and flat, like the path at the Didsbury end.

The level of anticipation as we approached the new bit was almost unbearable. I was on my own at this point, as Pauline and Andrew walked along the upper level path, not fully appreciating how important and exciting this new path was. It’s white gravel, not solid concrete or anything and while it’s better than what we had before, I wonder if it will survive next time the river’s in flood?

Then round the next corner, the renewed path came to an end.

Disbelief followed by manic laughter was the only possible response. I guess we Northenden folk don’t deserve the same riverside walking experience as the posh people of Didsbury.

Andrew found a golf ball which he decided to keep, adding it to his collection of purloined items.

And then, just before Simon’s Bridge, there’s another stretch of white gravel to enjoy.

Even the upper level path has been treated, just a little bit.

How good is AI, part 1? I showed this picture to Google, to see whether it could identify the location. I knew it wouldn’t identify the people. But here’s what it said:

The image captures a moment of two individuals, possibly a couple, [true] walking outdoors on a sunny day. They are on a path surrounded by lush green foliage, suggesting a natural setting like a park, countryside trail, [true] or a garden. The man has his arm around the woman, indicating a close relationship. [true] In the background, other people can be seen, suggesting a public area. This image was shared on Facebook with the caption “Me walking into danger”. [Utter rubbish, the similar picture on Facebook is of a total stranger] Don’t rely on AI for anything important.

We stopped for coffee and a snack in Fletcher Moss Park before wandering around the rockery, admiring the plants and the baby moorhens in the murky water.

Some people are so talented, and this woodpecker certainly lifts the mood.

And finally, in this small collection of bird related pictures:

Obviously not a real chicken, but the name given to this fungus that likes growing on rotten wood. Apparently it’s edible and tastes a bit like chicken. None of us were willing to try it out.

In the parsonage garden, we were greeted by another wood carving.

The weeping ash tree was planted nearly 200 years ago, but succumbed to ash die back disease in 2022. The Green Man that has been carved into an old tree stump is believed to be an ancient symbol of life, death and rebirth. The work was carried out by Andy Burgess, wood sculptor, September, 2023.

We visited the Parsonage where we learnt some local history. Shouldn’t laugh, but Didsbury gets its name from Dyddi’s burgh, from a long time ago.

The place has been lovingly restored over the years, the highlight for me being a stained glass window which acts as a sundial, one of only 44 such in the whole country, apparently.

And in the garden, perhaps the mosts surprising thing was seeing late blooming magnolias.

As if the metal heron in Northenden’s Riverside Park isn’t impressive enough, here in Didsbury, there’s an eagle perched above the lychgate leading to the parsonage garden.

We walked home after a quick visit to the Art of Tea café and bookshop. By now, the temperature was a welcome 28°.

In the evening, after a sunny day with clear skies, I was hoping to see, and maybe photograph the thin cresnt Moon just after sunset. Sadly, a band of cloud appeared low in the sky, ruining my plans.

While Pauline and Andrew visited Manchester Art Gallery, taking the bus into the city, I stayed at home to prepare for my own next adventure. The to-do list was successfully tackled, even though for a while, for every item I ticked off, I thought of somegthing else to do.

I did something today that I very rarely do. I went clothes shopping for myself, specifically to acquire a pair of blue socks. Can I just say yet again that the men’s clothes department in M&S is so depressing. It could do with some colour. Even the socks I found are a dull shade of blue.

Later in the afternoon, we all watched some cricket on TV.

Early Wednesday morning saw P&A go out for a walk. I joined the regular, organised stroll and Pauline accompanied us too.

How good is AI, part 2? I saw something interesting, took a picture of it and asked Google, what could it possibly be?

It said:

The object in the image is a puffball mushroom, likely a species from the genus Calvatia, such as the Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea) or the Skull-shaped Puffball (Calvatia craniiformis). 

Such certainty. But, just round the corner, there was a whole bunch of these things, some of which had burst, revealing them to be wan-coloured balloons.

We enjoyed a coffee back at Boxx2Boxx. Sitting outside, we felt about three spots of rain, but the rain didn’t start properly until after we’d returned home. The threatened thundersturm didn’t materialise, in the end, and I think we were all a little disappointed.

At Pauline’s request, we joined the children and their parents at Piccolo, an Italian restaurant in Didsbury.

This was by way of another farewell meal. Next morning, I was up before 5am, and ready to catch my cab at 6am. P&A were staying at the flat for one more day, before catching trains all the way to Guildford, the  birthplace of me and my sister.

Manchester Airport, Terminal 2, was where my next rip to Anchorage began. No major upsets, other than the Baggage Handling system being down, so even though loads of us had checked in online and just had to print our baggage labels and attach them to the bags, we couldn’t just quickly drop them off. In security, we didn’t have to take anything out of our bags before screening, no electronics nor liquids. So civilised. But I had to take my belt off or the personal scanner would have been confused.

The worst experience though was probably walking through the fume cupboard that is the duty free shop with its sickly combination of perfumes. My sneezing fit could probably be heard at my final destination.

The flight to Frankfurt Airport was uneventful but after landing, we had to while for someone to find the bus. The bus ride to the arrival gate was nearly as long in duration as the flight itself.

More stinky perfume in this airport, something that my old Chemistry teacer would have described as ‘Sewer de Paris’. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the inky stench from the complimentary copy of the New York Times provoked another sneezing fit.

The officers here made it very clear that the extra, unwelcome and unnecessary, passport check at the departure gate was at the instigation of the US Governement. It slowed down the boarding process, but in the end, the flight to Anchorage departed just a few minutes late.

I understand the science, but it still feels weird, taking off at 3.30pm and arriving at 3.10pm, same day, 7000 miles away. The flight was a little bumpy in places, but I noticed from the on-board screen, we were deviating a bit from the planned route, presumably to avoid the worst of the stormy weather.

It took a while, but I finally realised what Condor’s new livery reminds me of. Pippi Longstocking.

It was lovely to be collected at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport by Jyoti. In an unexpected and exciting turn of events, she drove me straightaway to Fred Meyer to buy some groceries. Liesel met us here, and while I ran towards her in slow motion, she didn’t reciprocate. Indeed, she was quite rude about my ‘silly walk’.

How good is AI, part 3? I was chatting with a chatbot about some David Bowie lyrics, ahead of me re-starting my radio show very soon (spoiler alert!)

Here is what it said. Yes, there are factual inaccuracies, so not to be relied on:

Here is a list of David Bowie songs that mention specific numerical times, including the ones you noted:

Songs with Specific Numerical Times

1. “Five Years” (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972)

· Time Mentioned: The title itself, “Five Years.”
· Context: This is the most famous and impactful use of a specific time period. The news announces that the world will end in five years, creating the album’s central apocalyptic tension. It’s a countdown that hangs over every song.

2. “Time” (Aladdin Sane, 1973)

· Time Mentioned: “5:15”
· Lyric: “Time, he’s waiting in the wings / He speaks of senseless things / His script is you and me, boy / Time, he flexes like a whore / Falls wanking to the floor / His trick is you and me, boy / Breaking up is hard, but waiting for you is the hardest thing I’ve ever known / (5:15) and I’m still waiting for you, don’t you know?”
· Context: This is the prime example. “5:15” evokes the “angel hour” or a very specific, anxious moment of waiting, possibly after a night out. It’s a time suspended between night and morning, perfect for the song’s themes of anxiety, decadence, and wasted time.

3. “Young Americans” (Young Americans, 1975)

· Time Mentioned: “9:25”
· Lyric: *”**They pulled in just behind the factory / That’s where he, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know /

This is about one-tenth of the regurgitation, so I pressed the Stop button at which point it continued…

he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know / He took her, you know, he took her, you know

This response is Al-generated, for reference only.

I said:

sorry to interrupt but I think the record’s got stuck

It said:

You are absolutely right! My apologies, that response went completely off the rails and got stuck in a very long and bizarre loop. Thank you for catching that -it was a technical error on my end.

Let me correct that and provide a proper, concise answer to your excellent question about specific numerical times in Bowie’s lyrics.

Nah, I’m good, thanks.

So, to summarise, AI stands for Absolutely Useless.

Another drive to Disley on a Saturday where I joined the family for another Escape Room experience. The view from outside the place, overlooking the Peaks is of course, real England.

The Escape Room itself had a Viking theme and there were plenty of runes to read. But our descriptions of the various characters must have amused the organisers. Still, we solved the puzzles and escaped with fifteen minutes to spare.

While deciding where to find lunch, I was happy to find this memorial bicycle.

The sculpture was dedicated on 12th October 2013 in honour of the careers of Disley’s Multiple Paralympic Gold Medal Winners Dame Sarah Storey DBE and Barney Storey MBE.

It’s just outside the Ram’s Head which by coincidence is where we settled for lunch.

Well, you’ll score no points at all for suggesting that this is a portrait, drawn by William, of his Grandad. Me. Apparently you can tell by the stinky feet. Well, that’s rude, I haven’t had stinky feet since 1976.

Helen joined Jenny, Liam, Martha and William at the cricket on a nice, bright, hot Sunday. Two games of The 100 were played at Old Trafford.

The children both had a go but I think they were severely hindered: just look at the size of that ball!

We don’t get many visitors at our luxury apartment, but here’s one that came in through the bathroom window.

This moth seems to be frayed at the edges, but it was gone the following morning, I’m glad to say.

Over the years, I’ve reported several adverts and posts on various social media sites. Usually, the response from Meta or whatever is that it’s OK, it follows the rules and no action will be taken. And I’ve thought, in that case, your rules need to be changed then. Well, this week, I succeeded in getting an ad removed.

They admitted that something went against their Community Standards, woohoo!

I went over to the swimming pool to watch Martha and William messing about in boats. There were two to a canoe. William didn’t mind falling out to collect the paddle that he frequently dropped, but he admitted later that he had fallen out on purpose a few times. I’d say ‘most times’, but that’s William!

I took care of the children in the afternoon while Jenny and Helen went off to a spa for some pampering. The canoe lesson was longer than I’d expected, so by the time they’d finished, it was getting late for lunch, and at their suggestion, we just went to the local Costa.

Over the next few hours, they fully inspected and played on the new equipment in the playground in Wythenshawe Park. I know we’re in the middle of the school holidays, but I was surprised how many other families were there today.

The old café has gone and has been replaced by a collection of vans. One sells coffee and cake, another pizza, and there are a couple of others. No decent ice cream here so reluctantly, they opted for a Mr Whippy type thing with bits. I didn’t like the look of that, so I had a strawberry split ice lolly instead, my first such for many years and it was so disappointing, it’ll probably be my last for many years too.

In the evening, we met up with Liam and the newly-pampered girls for a meal at Gusto. We don’t yet know whether this branch in Cheadle Hulme is one of those due to be closed, but it served its purpose this evening.

A couple of medical interventions this week. I had my first ever shingles jab and I’m due to have a booster in 6 months time. The jab was no bother but my upper arm was hot and tender for a couple of days afterwards, nothing that a couple of paracetamol couldn’t fix. Next, I went for a haircut. Again, no problem, nothing that a couple of paracetamol couldn’t fix.

In the evening, I attended a meeting for the Wythenshawe Radio volunteers. After the organised walk in Wythenshawe next day, I turned the radio on in the car and was surprised to hear myself with a very old show. I don’t know, but I suspect that someone from the meeting just didn’t fancy doing his show and they found one of my old tapes lying around.

On Friday, I met up with everyone over at Bramhall Park for lunch. Too late for a cheese and onion pie, grrr, but the cheese sandwich and chips filled the void.

Afterwards, Martha and William fed the ducks and geese, zillions of them, with officially sanctioned duck food. They both commented on the family throwing bread at the birds, knowing that that wasn’t supposed to happen.

We went for a short walk, and William particularly enjoyed playing down by the stream, under the bridge, jumping from rock to rock. Against all odds, he didn’t fall in the water. They expended more energy in the playground while we watched and, half-heartedly, I played hide and seek with William.

Other then the birds, this was the only wildlife we saw here, a distant cousin of my recent nocturnal visitor, perhaps.

On the way out, we passed this tree which Martha and William climbed and then slid down.

Later in the evening, round at Jenny’s, we had pizza and salad. William demonstrated his twerking skills. Again. And we all played a couple of rounds of Colourbrain, the Disney edition. We played in teams, the idea being to identify the colour of objects or characters in Disney films. I realised two things. There are a lot of Disney films that I have never seen. And of those I am familiar with, I am not that good at remembering the colours of things. Thank goodness Helen and the children, Disney fans all, were playing. Great fun!

All good things come to an end, including Helen’s short visit. We had a farewell meal at Ela, a Greek Taverna in Handforth. Too much food, man. And I didn’t have a chance to use my limited knowledge of the Greek language.