The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed the absence of a blog post this week. I can’t really explain what happened, except to say, I was busy, I was doing other things. I was almost done, but then I was overcome by a sudden fit of existential dread, I was taken on a wild ride through the realms of the unconscious mind and then, of all things, I was swept away by a whirlwind of emotions.
Later on, I was called upon to save the world from an ancient evil, and while pursuing that task, I was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a time-traveling wizard who led me to become lost in the labyrinth of my own thoughts.
Actually, this is a good one: I was just about to finish, but then I was struck by a bolt of inspiration and had to start over. Yes, I was almost done, but then I got lost in the infinite possibilities of the multiverse. But I think the real reason for there being no post this week was, I was on the verge of completing the task when I was struck by a sudden bout of procrastination. Sorry about that.
Heartfelt thanks to my mates Albert Camus, CS Lewis, Sylvia Plath, JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Gabriel García Márquez, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett for supplying these excuses. I’ll be back soon.
Things are looking up now, Spring really is icumen in. Oh hang on, that’s Sumer, and we’re not quite there yet. No idea why the Cuckoo Song should come to mind though. I still think the best line in that 13th century poem is the one about the goat farting, but then I am, at heart, still 12 years old. Maybe the birdies singing in the hedges reminded me; no cuckoos though. Where are the photos, Mick? Well, it helps of course if I remember to take my phone camera out with me. Yes, I forgot my phone. I couldn’t believe it. But here’s a bird I saw another day in Didsbury:
Lapwing in Lapwing Lane: what re the chances?
We celebrated World Radio Day this week. I toddled over to Wythenshawe Radio with a few other volunteers to be interviewed for the occasion by students from the University of Salford. You can view the results here. Skip to 11m48s for our bit. I say ‘our bit’, but somehow, by mistake, they missed my bit out.
Thomas from the University of Salford with Marie
On Valentine’s Day, I took my girl out for a meal. Yes, Martha and I had a nice meal at Pizza Express and while waiting for our meal, we enjoyed a few games of hangman.
This was a prelude before going off to Wythenshawe Star Gazers. We were hoping for clear skies. Huh. By the time we arrived, well, at least it had stopped raining. Even though there was nothing to see in the sky, Martha helped Kyle set up a telescope.
Martha showing Kyle what to do
I think it’s great that Martha is so interested in the night sky. Her favourite planet is now Mars: a while ago, it was Saturn.
In a previous post, I was worried about the number of ‘senior’ moments I was having. Well, this week, I went to the Forum in Wythenshawe for a meeting and as I pulled into the car park, my body decided to have a sneezing fit. So I stopped the car, natch. After my nose settled down, I locked the car and walked away.
This meeting of the Wythenshawe Radio volunteers was one of the best attended, so much so, I had to grab a chair from the pile in the corner. I had a chat with a couple of folks before leaving. On returning to the car, this is what I saw:
Badly parked car
Liesel and I often laugh at the way some people land their cars almost in a space, and here I am, turning into one of them. I couldn’t believe it.
Our world is in grave danger. We face a set of existential threats that put all humanity at risk. We need solutions that seek to solve these issues, not just manage them. We propose a new approach: long-view leadership!
That’s just one of the totally meaningless adverts I wasted time on this week while on 𝕏 formerly known as Twitter. Here’s another one:
Data delivery architecture is something people don’t discuss enough in DeFi and DEX trading. Even a millisecond lag in getting live blockchain data can prompt suboptimal decision-making and financial outcomes. The solution is real-time, decentralized streaming across DeFi.
What’s the point of adverts if you don’t know what they’re trying to sell? Block and move on, that’s the way forward.
A couple of times this week, I’m ashamed to say I didn’t go out for a walk because it was raining so hard. Just call me a wimp.
The theme of my radio show this week was Lost and Found. Listen here. I found some good songs to play.
As part of my regular wanders around Northenden, I sometimes check up on the little library in Riverside Park. I really didn’t think it would work this well, but it is great to see it being used. It’s full of books, adults’ and children’s.
Little library
I keep meaning to fix the door locking mechanism, but I need to remember to carry tools with me, a sonic screwdriver or something.
Speaking of which: I have reached the episode of Doctor Who that brought me nearly to tears when I was a young 14-year old. The one in which companion Zoe Heriot left the series, and was returned to a point just before she set off on her travels with the Doctor. The Time Lords erased her memory of these adventures, and I found that incredibly sad.
Farewell, Zoe Heriot
I’d forgotten that this episode was also the last one with the second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton who was replaced by Jon Pertwee. It was also the last one in black and white. The third Doctor’s stories were shown in colour, but of course, I didn’t know that, it was a couple of years before we had a colour TV at home!
I don’t spend all my time watching classic Doctor Who, honest. I’ve also been catching up on Planet Earth 3, something that Liesel doesn’t really get on with, especially when the animals catch and eat each other, although there’s not a lot of that.
There was time for my own adventures too. When I give blood, every few months in Manchester, I go by bus. I’d rather not drive because, if I were to feel faint after the session (although this has never happened) I would be unable to drive home.
So I went out and stood by the bus stop. I was surprised and delighted to see a new litter bin there. There’s always been one on the other side of the road, but not by this particular bus stop.
Sod’s law dictates that whichever bus I’m waiting for, one travelling in the opposite, wrong direction will appear first. And so it was today. I thought it was strange that the sign on that bus said it was was going to Manchester Piccadilly. Weird, I thought. But as it pulled away from the bus stop, I suddenly realised: I was waiting on the wrong side of the road. I should have caught that bus. What a prat.
Now, of course, I’m concerned that I’m going to be late for my appointment. But I wasn’t. I gave my name at precisely 2 o’clock. Not on the list. They only take platelets on a Monday, not full blood. Monday? I thought it was Tuesday. So, rather than being late, I was a day early. What a plonker.
As I said to someone, I’m glad I wasn’t trying to donate my brain, nobody would want that particular organ today, it really wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
Twenty-four hours later, I successfully donated, enjoyed a small packet of Bourbons and a small packet of digestives and was about to grab some custard creams when the nurse took the trolley away.
Still, it was good to see the first signs of Spring on the local village green: crocuses and snowdrops here, and a couple of daffodils elsewhere.
Village Green with obligatory litter
I was sad to learn of the death of Christopher Priest. He was one of my favourite science fiction writers in the 1970s and ’80s. I met him once, when he came to our Science Fiction Society meeting when I was at Queen Elizabeth College, so nearly 50 years ago. He was a top bloke, very generous with his time. I still treasure the email he sent me after I got in touch wih him after he wrote an obituary for Harry Harrison. Who, by coincidence, was another guest speaker at our SFSoc all those years ago.
Reading Chris’s obits, I discovered that he was born in Cheadle and attended Cheadle Hulme School, a mere stone’s throw from where Jenny and the family now live.
Wythenshawe Star Gazers provide opportunities to use other people’s equipment to view the night sky. I went along this week, despite the 99% cloud cover, and we were able to just about see Jupiter through a telescope, not in any detail though thanks to the more local clouds.
Plan B is to have a talk indoors, and Kyle spoke to us about the planets. Dave was there with some great photos that he’d taken, despite living so close to the airport with its bright lights.
Let me blow my own trumpet and say that the leek and potato soup I had this week was the best I’ve made in a very long time. So glad it lasted two days.
Jenny and Liam went out for a meal with friends Matt and Amy, and I was delighted to be asked to look after Martha and William. We played a couple of games, Uno and Furious but best of all, we watched a few episodes of Bluey on TV. Don’t tell Mummy and Daddy, but they stayed up a little bit later than they were meant to, shhh!
Martha the pathologist
I don’t want to know what Martha was doing to this poor old teddy.
It was, as always, fun to watch the children swimming too. Martha had been kick boxing earlier while William was playing football. I can only imagine the complexities of the speadsheet that helps their parents coordinate all the children’s activities. I joined the family for lunch after which, we spent some time in a park in Gatley.
William dressed for lunch
For the first time in many years, I played tennis. Five minutes of that exercise was enough for this short-of-breath old fart. William and Martha had cycled to the park, and they proceeded to ride around the skateboard park too.
What else did they bring apart from bikes and tennis racquets? Well, the remote controlled car and cricket bats, of course. In the end, we didn’t play cricket. but it was a full-on afternoon. Thankfully, the car stayed in one piece despite William’s efforts on the skateboard park. And, it was a surprisingly warm afternoon, hence Martha’s decision to remove her coat.
As always, Liesel set off in good time for her physio appointment. Usually, she’ll go for a short walk before the session. Left to my own devices at home, I continued work on this week’s radio show. Imagine my surprise then when, fifteen minutes later, Liesel phoned to tell me that the car wouldn’t start. At first, I couldn’t believe she’d even been trying for that long. But no. She’d been waylaid by our neighbour Ravi, and they’d been chatting all that time.
The first thing was to make sure Liesel didn’t miss her appointment, so thank goodness for Uber. Which I had to book because Liesel doesn’t have the app. Next, make use of our breakdown cover. But, it turns out, the car’s not covered for breaking down at home. The paperwork says it’s included, but then, in very small print, in a lighter colour, it says this is an optional extra. Well, I thought we’d opted for this extra but apparently not.
Anyway, the car just needed a jump start and it’s been alright ever since. So what happened? I think I must have nudge the internal light by mistake, and it stayed on all night, draining the battery.
A couple of days later, Liesel was due to fly over to Anchorage to stay with her Mom for a few weeks. The first hint of trouble was when she told me she was flying out of Heathrow. In my early morning stupor, I thought she meant we had to drive to Heathrow to catch her first flight. The booked route was Manchester to Reykjavik to Seattle to Anchorage, three flights in all. But the message Liesel receieved was that the first leg had changed, so: Manchester to Heathrow to Seattle to Anchorage. Why? The weather in Iceland was so atrocious, all flights in and out were cancelled.
But then Liesel read her emails. There were several from Iceland Air. The first one said her flight was cancelled. The second said that she had been re-booked onto British Airways, to Heathrow. The third said that her original flight to Reykjavic had been postponed to later in the afternoon. Confused? Liesel was. I was. Ambigious at best. When Liesel called the helpline, she was answered straightaway and a very helpful assistant confirmed that yes, she would be travelling via Heathrow.
I can confirm that after dropping Liesel off at the airport, everything went pretty smoothly and she arrived in Anchorage tired, relieved and on time.
A few days later, I needed to drive somewhere, and I was expecting to find the car again covered in dust from the Sahara, as predicted. But no. Instead in a localised avian conspiracy, the birds have been using our vehicle for target practice.
Apparently baking a potato in the air fryer is quicker and cheaper than baking it in the oven. Well, it worked out beautifully last time. This week? It took flippin’ ages. It had a nice crispy jacket, that was the best bit of the whole tuber, but the very centre still wasn’t cooked properly after what felt like 24 hours. I was hungry by the time I ate (most of) it. I think it’s fair to say, there is a knack to using these new-fangled contraptions which I have yet to fully acquire.
But it wasn’t all distasters this week, oh no. Some things worked out quite well. For instance, I joined Jenny, Liam and the children for a walk at Quarry Bank Mill.
William the acorn
Despite his best efforts, William didn’t fall down any muddy slopes, nor fall into the river. If he had, I was quite prepared to take pictures while Daddy rescued him. It’s great that he’s so adventurous, but if I were still in the habit, I would have been biting my nails.
William the explorer
Martha wasn’t averse to performing her own stunts either.
Martha the climber
It was a very pleasant walk, along paths that we don’t visit very often. There’s a small beach by the river, which Martha studied in detail, looking for interesting stones.
Martha the mudlark
Here’s a novel idea. Coffee cups that you can reuse. Yes, at National Trust Quarry Bank Mill, they’re experimenting with reuseable takeaway cups. I don’t know why this has never been thought of before. I suppose they just don’t want us walking around with china mugs of coffee.
Reuseable takewaway cups
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, my sister Pauline, and Andrew, had a lovely day in the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch. Late Summer is so colourful.
Christchurch Botanic Gardens
We collected the children from school and brought them to our place where, unusually, we watched TV. Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave. We all enjoyed it and I felt a bit sad that William and Martha wouldn’t get some of the gags because they don’t have all the cultural references that we old farts do. Indian food tonight: dahl and saag paneer with rice, yogurt and grated, spiced up carrot. Liam and Jenny joined us, and there was far too much food. After Liesel left for Alaska, I ate Indian leftovers for two days!
For a few days earlier in the week, we enjoyed listening to the chainsaw outside, over there somewhere. They were cutting down a tree, and I was worried that it was this beauty.
Autumn colours (from November)
But, phew, no it wasn’t. It looks a bit bare right now.
The same tree today
The victim was the next tree, a bit further down the road. It was growing just a few feet away from a telegraph pole, so it was probably a harder job than usual to cut down, because of all the phone lines. But it’s always sad to see a tree murdered in this way.
I enjoyed a few walks in Northenden and Wythenshawe, in a group or by myself. In fact, on one of the organised walks, there were just the two of us so we agreed to shorten the route: it was probably quite muddy in the woods, yeah, that was the reason…
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been completing another one of those giant crosswords from Teazel, 1284 clues solved in 8 hours and 19 minutes. Quite an achievement, right? But I did take issue with one clue: To provide with complete dress, full equipment, etc (3,3). Easy I thought, but it wouldn’t accept any of my answers ‘_I_/O_T’ – obviously ‘something out’, right? The answer was ‘Rig Out’. I’d tried ‘Fit out’ and ‘Kit out’ to no avail, but I think they’re all acceptable solutions to the clue. Still, it didn’t affect my enjoyment too much.
Speaking of enjoyment, I am continuing to watch the old Doctor Who series from the 1960s. I’m so glad I didn’t have such a critical mind as a young child. The wobbly sets, the acting to camera, the naff pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo dialogue, all a given. What I’ve now noticed though is how often a character changes outfit halfway through a scene, when there’s no realistic way they could have changed.
And while I’m thinking about TV, the second series of ITV’s Trigger Point has started. Embarrassed to say, I binge-watched all 6 episodes over two days. Vicky McClure playing the main character will I’m sure win awards for her performance. But there are more ‘bloody hell, I didn’t see that coming’ moments in this series than anything I’ve seen for a long time. Highly recommended if you like a thriller, a bit of suspense and some surprises.
Here’s another picture from Grandad’s boasting photo album.
Martha the martial artist
This is the children’s latest activity: kick boxing. They both enjoy it, but I personally don’t get the appeal of kicking boxes around.
How is Liesel getting on over there in Narnia then? Narnia business! Well, it’s apparently warming up: the temperature was up to -23°C a couple of days ago… not my cup of tea at all. I accept that it looks pretty, especially the frost.
Hoar frost
I mentioned the radio show earlier. I usually start preparing it on Monday, with a view to uploading by Wednesday evening. Sometimes the editing is dead easy, straightforward, the timings work out nicely. Other times, it takes ages to adjust things by a few seconds. Liesel has commented in the past that occasionally I spent far too long on the toilet. Well, this week I spent way too long on the Toilet Humour show, for that was the theme. You can listen to two hours of songs, some obliquely, related to or about toilets here on Mixcloud, if by any chance, you missed hearing it on Wythenshawe Radio on Friday afternoon; where were you?
Mick and Liesel's Antics 