Month: August 2026

Liesel and I have never watched more than a few minutes of it, but the children love The Gladiators on TV. So it was an extra special treat for them to be able to watch a live recording. I’m sure when this episode is broadcast, we’ll be looking out for them in the audience.

It’s August and this period in the media is sometimes referred to as The Silly Season. Newspapers and the Internet are full of daft stories that wouldn’t normally attract much attention. Some of those stories might even be true, who knows? But one thing is true, it’s a great time of year for excessive hurkle-durkling. And I might be a bit guilty of that.

After a bus trip into Manchester, I wandered round a bit before my appointment. A large polished silver tanker grabbed my attention, but whether it contained oil or milk or nuclear waste, I don’t know.

I paid my first visit to Stretched in Manchester, where my muscles were indeed stretched with the assistance of Emily. I am aware that I should exercise and especially stretch much more than I actually do, but sometimes the motivation just isn’t there.

Over the road, I asked for an egg muffin and a latté. The barista misheard and brought me over the muffin and a pastel de nata. Not what I was expecting, but very nice and it brought back memories of our trip to Portugal a few years ago.

Liesel, with her Mom’s help, baked chocolate chip cookies. She claimed they were the best she’d ever made. Really? I think Liesel just said that to make me feel bad, that I was missing out.

To help me get to sleep on these very warm nights, I’ve been listening to some of the Proms on Radio 3. The most unusual one so far, maybe, included songs by Henry Purcell, Thomas Dunford and Paul McCartney. The song chosen was Hey Jude, when there are arguably hundreds of better McCartney songs to choose from. I also enjoyed the Prog Rock classics Promenade Concert.

The Arctic Thunder Air Show took place at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. Liesel was able see it from her office, so I’m not sure how much work got done that day.

There are six F/A 18 Super Hornets in this formation, looking good in front of the mountains. Many thanks to Amrit for the photo.

The Botanical Garden’s looking good too, Liesel was impressed by how tall the delphiniums are this year. And what a gorgeous colour too.

Another trip to St Michael and All Angels Parish Church in Bramhall, this time to see Susie Dent. She has been appearing on Channel 4’s Countdown for about 85 years, but she still looks pretty good. I think it was another sold-out event, arranged by Simply Books in Bramhall, but again, I was disappointed at the acoustics in the church. Despite sitting in the second row, I found it difficult to hear what she said some of the time. She was interviewed by Shahed Ezaydi, an award-winning writer and editor, specialising in features and reporting on culture, social issues and feminism. The subject of tonight’s chat? Susie’s latest book, Death Write Large. Liesel enjoyed her first novel, Guilty by Definition, and I am looking forward to reading both.

And if you would like to hear the first airing of the lovely little jingle that Susie kindly did for my radio show, listen to Question and Answer on Mixcloud.

After Susie, the most exciting event of the week was the partial Solar Eclipse. I was very happy to watch it from Jenny and family’s garden. Over a period of two hours, I took over 50 pictures with my phone and my Seestar telescope, so here’s a selection. There were a few clouds in the sky, but the viewing conditions were pretty good. Other scientific equipment included a colander from the kitchen. As the eclipse came to an end, we watched the Sun disappear behind the bushes at the bottom of the garden.

So while the universe gives us delights such as an eclipse, and Susie Dent, and don’t forget the Perseid meteor shower (although I did), it always has to come back with something negative and depressing doesn’t it? I think it’s Park Woods in Wythenshawe where the regular weekly walk takes us, over the road from the Fire Station. There’s a nice little wooden bridge over the stream. Well, there was.

Some toe-rag has pushed it over, I’m guessing in an effort to impress his girlfriend to compensate for his very small penis. Or something. So unnecessary.

My second Stretch session was as good as the first, probably better, since I knew more what to expect and I was more relaxed. Over the road in the coffee shop I bumped into a very popular nanny.

And I got a latté at the first time of asking, no bonus pastel de nata!

Liesel and her Mom flew back to Seattle and on to Anchorage where they’ll stay for the next couple of months. Meanwhile, I was pottering about in Northenden, down by the river, watching the ducks and the people feeding the ducks.

The highlight of the week though was my first ever visit to Coventry. We’ve been close by on the way to a more distant destination but after all these years, I made the trip to visit my old friend Tina. Not saying she’s old, but we’ve known each other for quite a long time. And we haven’t met in real life for very nearly a decade. Would we recognise each other? Well, yes.

We met in the lobby of the Hotel Indigo, which, as you can see, doubles as the hotel car park. We chatted over lunch before Tina showed me around the city. I’d spotted the old cathedral spire from quite a distance: it’s 295 feet tall, so quite hard to miss.

On another occasion, I might climb to the top and admire the view. The rest of the old cathedral is in ruins having been bombed during the second world war. A bad time for everyone of course, and this sculpture is found in the ruins.

The two figures are embracing to symbolise peace and healing following World War II.

Next door to the old cathedral is a new one. One of the first things to catch your eye is this bronze sculpture located on the exterior east wall.

Tina and I were welcomed inside and we listened to the choir for a while. They were rehearsing for evensong later on, when they would be performing with a full orchestra. We declined the invitation to join them.

Apart from the very large choir, nearly a hundred singers, what caught my eye was the strange contraption near the front made from dozens of old wooden coat-hangers.

It’s a very impressive organ too, 5,000 pipes apparently. It made me realise, I should play more organ music. On the radio show, I mean, not actually play an organ: if I tried, it would be a horrible noise.

In Priory Place is a rather unusual water sculpture.

And then you walk a little further and your heart sinks when, among all this wonderful architecture and fine works of art, there’s a bloody KFC.

Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the turbojet engine, was a Coventry lad and is well commemorated in the city with not only a statue, but the Whittle Arch that spans Millennium Place. It’s a striking twin-arch tubular steel structure, designed by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard and completed in 2003. We paced it out and found it measures 60 metres wide and stands 15 metres high.

Nearby is the Coventry Transport Museum, but we decided not to visit on this occasion: we’ll go on a day when it’s not so warm and sunny outside.

After a coffee and cake in M&S, it was time to go home. Again, no photo of my companion, but Tina sent me this selfie a bit later on, thank you, Tina.

For the first time in a while, I joined the Thrive walk in Wythenshawe Park. Again, no photo of my companions, but I did see this pig being hosed down.

The latest heatwave seems to have finished, it was just a nice, gently warm Summer’s day.

And then a nice surprise: the next day it rained for the first time after a 35-day long dry spell. Any rain is welcome right now, especially given all the wildfires around the country.

Manchester Day took place on Sunday and a splendid time was had by all. Not me, though. Every time I thought about leaving the flat, there was a torrential downpour. I’m sorry to say, I chickened out. I am a wimp. I didn’t want to do out in the rain. Just not used to it any more, I guess. What a wuss.

Time for the regular Keiran fix. He’s a proper little water baby.

We usually enjoy watch the Tour de France on TV, but this year, the rights have gone to a streaming service that we don’t subscribe to, TNT Sports. They show very edited highlights on Channel 5, but it’s just not the same. Still, now the World Cup’s over, we can look forward to the Commonwealth Games. Nope. That too is now exclusively on TNT. We can hear commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, but that’s not as good as watching the events. So consider that the whinge of the week.

Oh and while I’m in whingeing mode. President Obama is visiting the UK to give some talks. He’s coming to Manchester. Liesel and I would love to see him. But the hassle of joining a waiting list for pre-sale tickets… Which doesn’t help when those tickets go on sale, well, what a waste of time. No worries, I’m a Co-op member and I get early access to Co-op Live Arena tickets. The app connects you with Ticketmaster.

What a load of bollo.

Well, I really didn’t want to disappoint Liesel, so I tried again later. Exactly the same set-up, but I got into Ticketmaster. Then I saw how much the tickets cost. So disappointing. I can’t think of anyone I’d want to see for about £200 per ticket. How can they justify that? Or even more.

I’m sure the event will sell out regardless, but it’s obviously not for ordinary people.

For the princely sum of £3 though, I did get to see the the Greater Manchester Mayoral hustings, an event organised by Manchester Mill.

It was interesting to see politicians being politicians. I didn’t change my mind about who to vote for.

Joshi Herrmann, founder of Manchester Mill, Phil Eckersley (Conservative), Richard Kilpatrick (Lib Dem), Bev Craig (Labour) and Geraldine Coggins (Green). The Reform and Restore candidates and an Independent didn’t show up.

Actually, despite the good, interesting questions from the journalists and from the audience, and the candidates’ responses, I doubt whether many people were persuaded to change their mind.

Walking by the Mersey, it’s always a joy to see what’s in the water, ducks, geese, mergansers, a heron on a good day, armchairs, wait, what?

Yes, someone went to a great deal of trouble to dump this chair in the river. The nearest place to park a vehicle is quite a long way away. And the local tip is fairly close too. On a happier note, though, the heron was present, on the island.

We’re still in the middle of Summer but there are signs of a premature Autumn. Trees are shedding leaves early following a long, dry, hot spell.

And some sunflowers are brightening the place up already, a bit earlier than usual.

Here’s evidence that I’m not completely averse to walking out in the rain. By the time we started wandering around Wythenshawe, it had only recently stopped drizzling.

Liesel and her Mom visited Whittier, that strange little ‘town under one roof’ where half the inhabitants live in a big block of flats, Begich Towers Condominium.

This Glacier has retreated so far in recent decades that it can no longer been seen from its own visitor centre!

On a glorious day, they enjoyed a walk down to Westchester Lagoon, a premier urban oasis and a vital part of the greenbelt system in Anchorage.

Later on, they had a picnic in Hatcher Pass, the site of old gold mines. Liesel took me there last year too, a fascinating place, well worth the ear-popping drive up into the mountains.

Record breakers. I didn’t break any records at all while prepping this week’s radio show. It’s all short songs and I managed to squeeze 71 of them into two hours. Listen on Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 on Sunday at 4pm.