Displays

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!