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…
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