In the evening, we walked up the road to Northenden Theatre where, as requested, I’d booked tickets not in the front row. I think at least one of our party doesn’t like being too close to the action.
Northenden Players Theatre Group performed Alan Ayckbourn’s play It Could Be Any One Of Us. It’s a murder mystery and each performance concludes with a different perpetrator. Great fun and well done.
It’s that time of year again when we get flu jabs. I had mine but this year, I wasn’t able to get the Covid one. Liesel and her Mom had had both in Anchorage, so hopefully, we’re all protected as much as we can be.
Just like Christmas, Halloween seems to start earlier each year. On our walk in Wythenshawe, we couldn’t miss noticing this well-decorated house.
No, it’s not that spooky in daytime, but who knows what sound effects they’ll add at night?
The bus ride home afterwards was entertaining. The pre-recorded announcer kept telling us we were on a 43 bus to Manchester via Wythenenshawe. And, sure enough, the laser display at the front of the bus also showed Wythenenshawe. Very hard to photograph as its refresh rate is out of sync with my phone
And yes, I am aware of the irony of me highlighting someone else’s typo in a blog that has quite a few, many of which remain unnoticed for years!
After my next walk, around Wythenshawe Park, not as wet as last week, Liesel, her Mom and I went for a walk somewhere guaranteed to be dry: The Trafford Centre. We had a late lunch before doing some shopping. Shopping isn’t my favourite activity, but I can still be impressed by the artwork in this Centre.
Some New Orleans music would have been nice. But the good news is, we arrived home just in time before the next torrential downpour.
We returned to Biddulph Grange for a stroll, it’s been quite a while since our last visit. It was the perfect temperature for a walk amongst the Autumn colours.
The koi carp were hanging out at the edge of the pond as if waiting for some food from people. And after seeing these big fish, it was weird to see a small monkey puzzle tree.
I think we’re so used to seeing fully grown specimens, but like the rest of us, they probably start off life quite small.
The gardeners obviously do a good job here, with plenty of beds full of colourful flowers, even at this time of year.
The wooden bridge in the Chinese Garden is always a good photo opp.
Did I mention Halloween? How about some scary witches?
We returned to RNCM for another show. The Red Hot Chilli Pipers have been performing for twenty years now. I’ve played them on my radio show a few times, but this was our first time seeing them play live. And what a show they put on. Very loud, yes, with three pipers on stage, but very exciting and most enjoyable. The Red Hot Chilli Dancers did a good job too, but their real name is Flings & Things.
Their use of coloured lights was pretty impressive too. There was a very young child on his Mum’s lap in front of me and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take his picture.
Well, in the interval, Mum and child disappeared but another lady asked me if I’d taken a picture of the child? My first thought was, yes I did, and I was going to show his Mum. Liesel’s first thought was oh, no, I’ve told him several times not to take pictures of strangers’ children. In fact, Zoe, for that was her name, wanted a copy of the picture for her sister-in-law which I was happy to share.
What a brilliant show, with covers of songs from A-ha to ZZ Top via Queen and Robbie Williams. I think Vicki Robertson was the vocalist and Liesel and I disagreed over her singing style. But then, Liesel is never that keen on cover versions of anyone’s songs.
Keiran enjoyed a different kind of show and he was quite happy to move forward and join in the action.
He did grab the puppet but very soon left it behind while he seemingly attempted to destroy the whole puppet booth.
And now it’s time for our next adventure. A few days in London. It didn’t take long to pack and we set off around noon. It had been raining all day. And it rained for the rest of the day. Liesel drove in the rain for over four hours, stopping a couple of times but for only a few minutes. It never really eased off, I think this was the first drive from home to London that was wholly in the rain. Lots of rain. We arrived at Ealing Riding School in the rain, checked into our cottage, walking through the puddles in the car park and by the gate. The horses looked a bit miserable carrying their young passengers around in the rain. I’m sure they had a good rub down later on. We listened to the rain as we fell asleep.
