mickandlieselsantics

Bikes, Boxx and a Beatle

It was a nice surprise being invited to babysit one night, when Jenny and Liam visited an Escape Room. I had to reassure Martha and William that of course, Mummy and Daddy would be home later but at the back of my mind was: suppose they don’t manage to escape from the Escape Room? Spoiler: they did.

William in particular wanted to stay up until midnight, so I’m grateful that he can’t quite tell the time yet: midnight arrived at about 7.30pm.

Martha’s been learning about the state of the planet at school, and in addition to a bedtime story, she told me about plastics in the sea, and microplastics, and how they get into the food chain. Good night, sleep well!

While they should have been winding down, it was necessary to perform some acrobatics on their beds. Run and jump. Martha had to jump onto William’s bed though, she couldn’t quite manage the height of her own, bunk, bed.

I joined Kyle and the Wythenshawe Star Gazers one more time, but again, it was too cloudy to see anything interesting in the sky. The Moon tried to peek through and I attempted to capture it.

I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned it at all, but we’ve had a lot of rain recently. The ground is totally saturated, so even the (rare) shortest of downpours now results in huge puddles. They make for interesting, challenging walks around the neighbourhood.

Some of the other walkers were talking about wearing wellington boots, or waders, and who knows, sometime in the future, we might have to wear life jackets on these organised walks.

Some bad news now. Even though it was raining (what a surprise) I took the car in to be washed and valeted. It all went well until the guy hoovered up our National Trust car parking sticker from the window. Now that’s a powerful vacuum cleaner!

And so my hundred years of solitude came to an end. I collected Liesel from the airport and managed to drive straight home, without missing a turning and going home via Chester or Edinburgh.

Anchorage is still colder than here but the snow is beginning to thaw. Somehow they have more hours of daylight than we do in the UK at the moment.

Liesel had 24 hours to get over the jet lag before we went cycling. Not actual cycling, but we went to Manchester Velodrome to watch a session of the National Track Cycling Championships. We met up with the family there, and after being ejected from the seats we’d wrongly occupied, we had a good time.

The cyclists hurtled towards us down the back straight for about four hours, in various races, sprint, pursuit, keirin, scratch race and a very exciting women’s points race: overall, a much longer session than anticipated. Martha and William were really good though, and they went home suitably decorated.

We look forward to seeing some of today’s winners, champions all, as their careers progress. Look out for Lauren Bell, Jenny Holl, Hayden Norris and Sam Fisher in particular. It was fun to see Jody Cundy in action again, and the children were pleased to see him too: they know him from Strictly Come Dancing.

As I said, the session was longer than we expected, so we decided to dine out in the evening. Wagamamas, since you ask. The sky was obscured by clouds but again, the Moon peeked through, albeit shattered.

It’s funny how we can book tickets for events really far in advance, and then they all arrive together. Like buses. Two days after the cycling, we went to see Seth Lakeman in concert, in Manchester.

It was our turn to collect the children from school and this time, we took them to a bookshop, with the idea of buying a book each. And what a lovely shop it is too. If you’re in the area, drop in at Simply Books, Bramhall, fantastic ambience with friendly and helpful staff.

Martha and William chose their books, after which we took them to Gusto for a pizza.

After dropping the children back home, we thought we’d go into the big city by tram. Huh. Given the local traffic conditions, it would take us nearly as long to drive to our chosen tram stop as it would to drive all the way into Manchester. Ridiculous, but that’s what we did: drove into Manchester. It was worth it though. Seth always puts on a good show, and this one was celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his second solo album Kitty Jay, and the first half of the show was devoted to that set of songs. Did we sing along? No, not as much as usual. Did we dance? Again, not so much, at least not until he told us to get up. But I was fidgetting in my seat quite a lot, not necessarily in time with the music, but trying to find a comfortable position to ease the discomfort of my sciatica. Still, mustn’t grumble, eh!

No disrespect to the rest of the terrific band, but those pictures are, as my Chemistry teacher used to say, nbg.

It’s cold. There, I said it. I even said it out loud this week, it did feel cold outside. But the Spring flowers aren’t deterred, they’ll always cheer us up.

After the Thrive walk, we visited Boxx 2 Boxx for a coffee as usual. I didn’t realise at the time, that we would become part of the Instagram marketing campaign for this little coffee shop.

I enjoyed what will be my last Thrive walks for a while, despite it being cold. The Sun came out briefly, yet it’s still cold out. It’s not my birthday for a few weeks, but Jenny and Helen had plans for me. Liesel and I had to keep March 1st free but until we arrived at the venue, The Plaza in Stockport, I didn’t know what we were going to see.

I think the last time I saw a stage show about the Beatles was with Sarah in 1975 or so, a superb production called John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert. Barbara Dickson performed all the songs on that memorable occasion.

Tonight though, Daniel Taylor told us George Harrison’s story, and performed the songs. The band was good, and after the show, I felt I should go back and listen to George’s albums again. They played a couple of songs from The Travelling Wilburys too. Some folks believe that to be the greatest ever supergroup: George, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.

Thank you Helen and Jenny for the early birthday present! Did I sing along? Sotto voce, yes. I can recommend Something about George if you’re at all interested in the so-called quiet Beatle.

Speaking of George Harrison, he famously gave his ukulele to Sam Brown, who now conducts ukulele lessons in Oxfordshire. Well, that’s too far for Martha to travel, but so far, she is enjoying learning the instrument. She already has a couple of chords in her repertoire.

Since the last proper post here, I have sent two Wythenshawe FM radio shows out into the universe. The themes of the shows are Doctors and Wales, respectively. Set aside 4 hours for some marvellous music.

I don’t often write about the books I’m reading, but I do have to recommentd one that I have just finished. I’ve been a fan of Kerry Hudson since she came to Manchester Literature Festival a few years ago to talk about her then new book Lowborn. Well, the follow-up to that has recently been published. Newborn is just as personal, honest and moving as its predecessor and you can’t help but wish Kerry and her family all the best for the future. Highly recommended.

Excuses, excuses

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.

Disbelief

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.

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:

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.

Books, Bats and Bikes

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

The car survived, OK, but the radio show this week was about Breaking Things, breaking up, breaking down, breaking out. You can pass or waste two hours by listening here.

(Mis)adventures

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.

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.

Martha wasn’t averse to performing her own stunts either.

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.

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.

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.

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.

But, phew, no it wasn’t. It looks a bit bare right now.

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.

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.

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?

Balls, Beavers and Boris

Helen’s flat has been invaded by a spider. As usual, his name is Boris, in honour of the pet arachnid that was once resident in our bathroom in Chessington. We look forward to meeting the new Boris when we visit Helen real soon now.

Nearer home, the River Mersey continues to flow fast and high, concealing most of the island.

Not surprisingly really because, all together now: “it’s been raining a lot”. Including all day Tuesday when we collected the children from school. We took them to the softplay place, Head Over Heels, where they burnt off many Caolories. I don’t think they’d been out into the playground at school at all today.

It’s not my favourite idea of fun, but William loves hiding in the ball pond. His sister was there with a camera, a trainee paparazza perhaps.

After a snack, we took them home, hoping they’d eat some of the food that we’d prepared for them all. We didn’t all eat together because Jenny and Liam were a bit mouldy, colds, we think. Plus, my chronic cough still won’t quite let go. But the good news is, my recent blood tests and ECG all came back with good results.

Liesel and I joined Sue and nearly twenty others for a walk beginning at Romiley, another place we’ve been close to in the past, but never actually visited. We enjoyed the walk, and I didn’t find the hills too onerous. A bit muddy here and there, and there were two stiles to climb over. The views were pretty good though, and some horses came over to say hello. Well, not literally say hello, but to see if we had any spare apples or carrots, I think.

We followed some bridle paths, and I was amused by the signs warning people not to follow their Sat Nav. Needless to say, us pedestrians had to dive into the bushes for safety as a white van came along the restricted road, only to return a few minutes later.

It’s always exciting to come across and walk across yet another golf course, and this one was no exception. Here too, we saw some warning signs, telling the golfers to look out for pedestrians.

And it’s even more exciting to see early signs of Spring, a small but welcome splash of colour.

As if they don’t have enough after-school activities, Martha and William continue to sign up to everything. Football,Spanish, cricket, dance, theatre, Rainbows, Brownies, swimming, the list goes on. This week, William was very proudly investitured (?) into the Beavers, where he’s making friends with people he doesn’t know from school.

And then there’s the martial arts of course.

It’s very sad that William now pronounces ‘Ninja’ correctly, it was much more entertaining when he began the word with an ‘m’ sound instead! As we’ll remind him when he’s 18.

If you want another two hours of absolute nonsense, listen to Mick’s Music Mix on Wythenshawe Radio via Mixcloud.

Trees

The old oak tree looks the same as I step down from the train and there to meet me… no that’s not right. The old, the really, really old oak tree is still clinging on by its fingernails at Dunham Massey.

Liesel, Sue and I went to this, one of our closest National Trust venues for a Sunday afternoon stroll. It was a very popular place for a walk, everyone and their dog was there. A couple of paths were roped off, presumably to keep us away from the deer, but it wasn’t as muddy as we’d anticipated.

In the olden days, when I was on Facebook, I remember our friend Robyn used to share images of lost gloves seen out in the wild. I was reminded of his unusual obsession/collection when we came across this glove tree.

Every few weeks, the fruit and veg box that we have delivered includes kale. It’s alright, it’s not a favourite, and if it’s cut up into very small shreds, it can be chewed and swallowed in a reasonable amount of time.

We certainly didn’t expect to see this specimen attempting to escape from the garden at Dunham Massey. As we walked away, I checked over my shoulder to make sure it wasn’t following us.

Snow was threatened and it arrived overnight, making the area look relatively clean. It didn’t last long: in fact, by the time we picked the children up from school, it had already thawed in Northenden, so we couldn’t build a snowman.

Martha and William used Liesel’s snowing machine, I mean sewing machine, just to stitch some old fragments together. It was fascinating to watch them, and the different ways in which they approach the operation. Martha carefully feeds the material through to be sewn, while William would prefer just to step on the pedal a little harder, and let the machine do all the work.

The disappointment of finding no snow at our place was made up for by the magificent sunset.

Our Northenden walk the following day was cold, and there were patches of ice, but otherwise it was a lovely, bright, sunny day, with a hint of apricity.

We were once again reminded of the top quality drivers living in or visiting Northenden. I would love to know how fast this guy (it has to be a guy, right?) was driving, on the wrong side of the road, to collide with a lamppost so hard, it ends up nearly horizontal.

Aspire Restaurant at Trafford College was the venue for our lunch date with seven friends from out walking group and from the choir. The food is all prepared and served by students: our server, the one with the longest eyelashes, was a mere 16 years old, which surprised us all, she was so professional.

The prices are very reasonable too, and the limited menu must make it easier for everyone involved.

After the satisfying meal, we needed to have a bit of a walk, so we went over to Quarry Bank Mill. We were surprised to see that there was still some snow on the ground here. Maybe it’s a alightly higher altitude than Northenden, or more snow was dumped there in the first place.

Although there are no deer at this National Trust property, if you look closely, you can see a deer’s head in this tree. A tree that we’re no longer allowed to walk by closely because it might fall over at any moment!

It was fun to follow in the footsteps of Jack Frost too.

It was another sunny but cold day, and I only wish the sight of the bright blue sky compensated for the fact that there was a cold wind blowing.

The robin looks very well, but again I had to apologise for not having any spare mealworm in my pocket.

That night, while Liesel was out with the WI, I noticed that the Moon was bright, and that Jupiter was close to it, like a tiny teardrop. I spent too long trying to take a picture, but I just couldn’t get the right combination of settings on the phone’s camera.

The pond in Painswick Park was frozen over again, apart from the area around the fountain. And that’s where the geese and the other birds had gathered. A lot of the path around the pond was also covered in ice: in fact, I think I felt more slippery ice patches on this path and this short walk than I’ve felt anywhere during the whole of this Wintery cold spell.

I stayed at home while Liesel went on a walk with a group in Chelford, near Alderley Edge. Despite the rain, they all enjoyed the walk, which was over 8 miles in length, a couple of miles longer than advertised.

The theme for my Wythenshawe Radio show this week was Similes. Like diamonds in the sky, free as a bird and love being like a red, red rose or like oxygen, depending on which song you believe. Catch up here.

Being on Top

We all like being on top of things, and sometimes it’s easy. Just look at William reach the top of the climbing frame before you’ve even realised he’s no longer standing next to you.

We’d gone over to Bruntwood Park, the playground behind William and Martha’s school, where we met up with the family. One of the reasons for going was that Martha wanted to use the metal detector, one of her Christmas presents. By luck, I had a few coins in my pocket that I was able to ‘plant’ for Martha to find. Seeing the excitement on her face was worth every penny!

Here’s Blossom, one of One Stockport’s frogs, from the Gigantic Leap Frog Art Trail.

In this sort of environment, William nearly always wants to play hide and seek, so we usually do, but he does like to reveal his location before you’ve had a proper chance to seek him out! And the climbing frame was very appealing. Even if Martha can’t tell the bottom from the top.

On Tuesday, we collected the children from school. Back at home, we gave them one final Christmas present each. Late, because William’s didn’t arrive in time for the big day: A Magnetic Magic Cube that can be manipulated into over 70 different shapes. Returning it to the Cube shape is not as easy as it looks. But he does enjoy playing with my (non-magnetic) cube, so we thought he’d appreciate it. Next step, a full-on Rubik’s Cube! Martha likes gems and stones so we thought a small box of such treasures would be interesting. It was. Martha particularly liked placing them on the Lazy Susan and spinning it, thus discovering centrifugal force!

After a lovely dinner, Jenny took the children home and Liesel went off to a WI meeting.

You know it’s the end of the holiday season when Thrive Walks start up again. The very first one of the year was attended by nearly twenty people. It was a nice walk through the woods, not as muddy as we’d anticipated, but it hadn’t rained for at least half an hour, which is unusual, lately.

In other family news, Helen celebrated her birthday in Adelaide with Brent. I liked Adelaide the one time I visited, over 21 years ago: maybe it’s time to go back? I wonder if it’s changed much…

Helen and Brent are on top of things here too, tasting wine, visiting the zoo and having a great time.

On Friday, Liesel and Sue joined the WI walk while I attended the regular Thrive Walk in Wythenshawe. This time, there were just the six of us! After taking a bus back to Northenden, I walked back home via Riverside Park. The river is much lower than even a few days ago, but of course, there is some debris for the council to clear up.

In other family news, Pauline and Andrew enjoyed the kite festival in Christchurch, New Zealand.

And no, they didn’t have one of their own kite: maybe next year? On another occasion, they enjoyed a walk by the estuary and encountered a herd of cormorants.

Well, I think they’re cormorants, but they might be shags. And I really don’t know what the collective noun is for either.

Liesel and I witnessed the children’s first swimming lesson of the year, and it’s always fun to watch. They had an exhausting morning though. Before swimming, they’d both enjoyed a kick-boxing tester session. To complete their triathlon, they cycled all the way from home to both venues and back home again. So you’d think that, come lunchtime, they’d be tired and quite happy to sit still and eat the meal. Not William, oh no. Up and down like a jack-in-the-box, full of energy: he’ll get a job at Duracell one day.

My radio show this week was on the theme of Being On Top. What a coincidence! Bit of a cock-up when Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 broadcast it, though, no news, not my fault, but you can listen to the whole shenanigans right here on Mixcloud.

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I was hoping the the cough I’d been suffering from would clear up before Liesel returned from Anchorage. But it didn’t. It persists even now, a week later, although it is much better. It’s not Covid, so you’re not going to catch anything too bad by reading this, if you need any reassurance.

The river was high and flowing fast and at least one local golf course was completely submerged. The greenkeepers were definitely feeling below par.

At home, I could have fed the 5,000, if I knew that many people. Purely from the crumbs I managed to shake out of the toaster. What a messy process that was.

Liesel’s flight landed early at Manchester Airport, and I parked the car nice and early too. The grey Manchester murk was very welcoming, although Liesel did admit that it was much warmer here than in Anchorage.

Both of our sleeping patterns were less than ideal this week. Liesel’s jet-lag didn’t help, but then, neither did my nocturnal coughing fits.

Knowing I had to get up early to go the the airport, I had an early night in bed. Compare with our grandchildren who were both very excited to stay up until midnight to welcome in the New Year: Martha told us several times that they didn’t get to bed until ten to one!

It was a bit of a wrench dragging my carcass out of bed early on a second occasion, I must admit. But it was worth it. Liesel and I travelled into Manchester by tram and we met the family in the foyer of Aviva Studios in good time. We’d all come to see Lost and Found, the magical stage show of Oliver Jeffers’ story, adapted by renowned children’s TV and theatre producer Will Brenton. We also enjoyed original music composed by Gruff Rhys, guitarist and vocalist from Super Furry Animals.

What would you do if a lost penguin rocked up at your front door? You’d help him by taking him home to the South Pole, right? That’s what the boy in the story did, too. At one point, his boat was breached on a sandbank, so a volunteer from the audience was invited to help. William’s arm was up faster than a Tory minister giving a lucrative contract to a BFF.

On stage, Liam tried and failed to push the boat, but young William showed us how it was done.

He was very pleased with himself. It was a very good, entertaining show, Martha and William both enjoyed it.

We ate lunch at Albert’s Shed, which isn’t a shed, but a restaurant built on the site of a shed once owned by a popular local man, named Albert.

The excessive rain recently also affected the local canal network. Lock 92 on Rochdale Canal, in Castlefield, was overflowing copiously.

From our flat, we can see when the car has misted up inside, even though there’s nobody breathing in it. We’re both upstairs and unless someone’s squatting in our vehicle, why would it steam up like that? Well, Liesel went out one day and sent me a message: The car was misted up inside because the rear window was cracked. How did that happen? Did I slam the back door too hard onto a suitcase or something? Had someone driven into the back of the car? How big a crack, I hadn’t noticed?

But no, Liesel didn’t mean the glass was damaged. What she meant was that of the rear windows was very slightly opened, letting cold air in. It’s easy to blame the children, they often wind down the rear windows, but we usually check afterwards and close them. So, even after all these years, Liesel and I can still have linguistic misunderstandings. Separated by a common language, as they say. Cracked ≠ cracked open!

I would like to describe our lovely, long, Winter walks in Northenden and beyond, but the new year has begun in a much more sedentary manner than we would normally enjoy. In other words, we’ve pretty much stayed indoors.

In the radio show this week, on the occasion of what would have been David’s 77th birthday, I played two hours of songs by people who have worked with or who have been associated with him. Happy birthday David! Celebrate with David here.

The good news is, there are now over 100 Mick’s Music Mix shows on Mixcloud, so you can spend over eight days listening, without interruption, without sleep, without food, at the end of which you might not feel very well but at least you will have achieved something.

Betwixtmas

Not much happened in Northenden this week. Unless, that is, you count the weather. More wind and more rain, leading to a swollen River Mersey. This week, we welcomed Storm Gerrit. But as it’s now the end of the year, there’ll be some photos of the extended family.

Yes, Anchorage is still knee-deep in snow and yes, it looks pretty, but if the temperature is about 0°F, or -17°C, I’m sorry but I just don’t want to be there. Brrr!

Meanwhile, in Australia, Helen is spending Christmas with Brent and his family up north, Brisbane, a city that I have visited twice so far, but never really seen, because it’s been a mad dash to get to the airport!

I borrowed the picture from Helen’s Instagram (you don’t mind, do you, Helen?).

I spent Christmas Day afternoon over in Cheadle Hulme, with Martha and William, oh, and their Mummy and Daddy, and their other grandparents, Nana and Papa, Una and Alan. The children’s piles of presents were very neat, and when both of them were building Lego on the floor, I made sure to sit very still to keep my feet nice and safe.

Our Christmas meal was at a local Indian restaurant. For a long time, we had the place to ourselves, but other parties did roll up eventually. The food was lovely, and there was so much of it! All we needed was Liesel to help eat it.

On Boxing Day, I visited Una and Alan at their house for a more traditional Christmas dinner. Turkey for the carnivores and nut roast for us veggies. Una worked very hard, I reckon she must have started prepping all that food in about October. Thanks very much for having us! Not only us, but their other grandchildren, Annabel and Emily, and their Mum and Dad, Andrea and Paul. Eleven of us altogether, and again, Liesel was missed.

The children had all taken over some of their presents. But I must admit, I did find it funny that William also spent so much time trying on some of his Papa’s old clothes!

Martha enjoyed making some potions, and we enjoyed watching videos of her observing the chemical reactions.

How the heck this visitor stayed clinging onto the window in the gale is beyond me. He managed to photobomb an otherwise pretty sunset. This might have been the night when I hardly slept at all: both the wind and the rain were so loud. It turns out that just a few miles away in Stalybridge, a tornado had damaged over 100 properties. Blimey.

One of my walks this week was terminated early because of a sudden downpour. And at least one person called me a wimp for not venturing out in such torrential rain. If I want to get that wet, I’ll have a warm shower at home, thanks, whether I need it or not!

Preparing this week’s radio show was a bittersweet experience. I wanted to remember and celebrate the many great musicians and singer-songwriters who died in 2023, some ridiculously young. Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 played a two-hour version of the show, but you can hear very nearly three hours of Mick’s Memorial Music Mix Mixcloud.

I haven’t had a major fight with technology for a while, but I did this week. Liesel is a big fan of our air fryer, which also has a pressure cooker. I’ve used the air fryer to ‘cook’ things, but I don’t know, it doesn’t seem as real as cooking in the oven or something. But this week, I thought I’d make leek and potato soup in the pressure cooker. All went well, except, when it was finished, the machine displayed the message ‘Do not open the lid’. I didn’t want to open the lid prematurely and scald myself with highly pressurised steam, so I waited. And waited. And waited. Until I realised, it would have been faster to boil up the concoction in a proper saucepan on the hob, like I usually do. Eventually, I donned my protective gear and opened the lid. Barely a fizz of released steam. The soup was OK but I think it would have been better if I were granted access to it a little earlier. It was good enough to have again the following day, so I don’t know why I’m complaining, really. Actually, yes I do: it’s potentially dangerous to display misleading messages which you can get used to ignoring. There you go, one final moan for 2023.

2023, that went fast. A year in which I walked about 1677 miles, not the best ever. And I read about 31 books. Which is alright, but that number is dwarfed by my list of books to read one, recommendations from friends and family.

Happy New Year to family, freinds and strangers, I hope 2024 brings you lots of love, laughter, joy, peace and sunshine.