mickandlieselsantics

Beaches, birds and boats

Liesel and I gatecrashed Helen and Brent’s regular Sunday breakfast date at Little Collins, a lovely little place in Freshwater. Aka Freshie. The meal was great, but even though we’ve come all the way here for some sunshine, we did have to ask for the blind to be brought down to shield us from the Sun. When I say ‘gatecrashed’, don’t worry, we were invited. This is Helen and Brent’s regular Sunday morning, before he goes off to the daily grind.

After Brent left for work, the rest of us drove into Manly. We wandered around the street market for a while, before the main event, the reason we were here: we’d all booked a massage.

Helen and Liesel went to the massage place and I was left to my own devices. Which meant of course, after a break of five years, a return visit to Three Beans Coffee. I enjoyed my coffee and pastry while sitting on a bench, in the shade, by the smaller of Manly’s two beaches.

As the time of my appointment approached, I hoped the recently consumed, large, very tasty, very enjoyable croissant wouldn’t affect my appreciation of the massage. It didn’t. It seems the therapists are allowed to use a lot more force in Australia compared with those at home. I thought I’d come away with bruises all down my backbone, but there is no external evidence of the pain and discomfort I went through. But, I think everything, every muscle, tendon, ligament and bone, that was displaced during the 24 hours sitting on a plane has now been put back where it belongs.

Back at Helen’s we showered off and Helen’s friend Jacqui collected and drove us to a barbecue at Nat and Rob’s house. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and the view from their place is stunning.

View from Nat and Rob’s house towards Sydney

Helen lived with Nat and Rob for a year between moving away from Manly and moving into her own place here in Brookvale. Nat and Rob have two boys, about whom we have heard a lot over the years: Hamish and Sebby. So, what do all these people look like? Where are the photographs, Mick? Again, I failed to take pictures of people. I’ll be getting the sack at this rate.

There was a lot of chat during the afternoon, and to accompany the music, the soundtrack outside was supplied by some crows.

A few of the guests made use of the open-air pool, but Liesel, Helen and I had left our swimwear back at home.

Rumours that the telecope is used to spy on the neighbours are, of course, unfounded. But I did manage to focus on Sydney or Westfield Tower or even Centrepoint Tower as it used to be known. Trying to get a good photo though, with my phone, through the telecope, proved impossible.

We sat outside eating, drinking, chatting until late in the evening. Seb and Hamish went to bed. Brent joined us after work. The incense sticks seemed to do a good job of keeping the mosquitoes away, although Liesel did find a bite on her ankle a couple of days later.

Later on, I felt bad, because while most people had been drinking, Liesel remained sober and was thus able to drive us home in Brent’s car. This left Jacqui to walk home on her own. If I’d been more on the ball, I would have offered to do the right, gallant, thing. Grrr.

I’ll be trying to keep the Antics reasonably up to date, and with this in mind, I sat outside and did some writing in the morning. Liesel is doing some work here on and off, for Amrit too, so we can both keep ourselves busy, in between walks and other activities. While sitting outside, we saw a beautiful blue butterfly fluttering by, but never settling long enough to be photographed. Later research suggest it was probably a blue triangle, and we’ll certainly be on the lookout for more examples. Helen was elsewhere, working.

It was another beautiful day, and we walked back to Westfield Warringah Mall.

Bin chickens! No, that’s not an Aussie expletive, but the name given to the white ibises that wander round, looking for food and redistributing litter from the bins. We saw one on a school playing field and of course, my first response was to take its picture, even though we’ll probably see thousands more in and around Sydney. Quite rightly, Liesel was concerned that a casual observer might think I was taking illicit photos of the students at the school. You have to be so careful these days.

From the Mall, we caught a bus to Manly but we didn’t realise this bus went the long way round, via Freshie, and we recognised some of the locations from our walk a couple of days before.

As we walked by the beach, we shouted words of encouragment at the beautiful young people playing volleyball. We would have joined in, obvs, but we didn’t have our outfits with us.

No, of course we didn’t really shout at anybody, words of encouragement nor anything else. We walked along the path to Shelly Beach, a familar route from years past. It was good to see the water dragons are still thriving and yes, I took a picture at the first opportunity. This one’s quite well camouflaged.

We passed by more dragons on the way back to Manly, some underneath benches on which people sat, totally oblivious to the menace underneath them. Here’s another one, more out in the open.

The wildlife wasn’t wholly reptilian on this jaunt. We encountered our first brush turkey of this trip too. It had to be shot.

Shot photographically, I mean.

Back in town, we purchased a snack which we consumed on a bench looking out to sea, watching the swimmers and surfers having a great time. Then came the announcement. At home, bluebottles are harmless, if annoying, flies that come into your house and then can’t find their way out again. Here, bluebottles are nasty, common visitors to Sydney’s beaches. Also known as Pacific man-of-war, we usually think of them as jellyfish that can sting. The public address system told us that several had been sighted close to the beach and that it would be a good idea to leave the water. Some people heeded the warning, but many didn’t.

Liesel had an ice cream and I had a mint choc chip milk shake before catching the bus back to Brookvale.

A couple of fellow passengers were very obviously out of their gourds on chemicals, harmless enough, but the girl was very talkative and she was eccentrically adorned in the head department. Like a new Steig Larsson novel, almost.

It wasn’t planned this way, but Helen arrived from work in perfect time to pick us up from the bus stop.

Brent works on Saturdays and Sundays so his weekend is Monday and Tuesday. On his day off, he drove us all to Long Reef for a very pleasant walk around the headland. I can’t remember who first noticed the pelicans on top of a lamppost.

Further along the path, we watched a young paraglider take off. No long, fast run-up like you always used to see, just a short, sedate walk to the edge and there he was, gone. Liesel and I didn’t need to say anything out loud, our respective looks said that that was something we don’t need to try, thanks very much.

Actually, it does look fun, but I’m sure if I had a go, I’d forget how to use the controls and then crash into a bush, like the one time I rode a moped.

The other day, I failed to take a picture of the blue triangle. Today, I successfully captured possibly its earlier metamorphic self: a very hairy, spiky and slower-moving caterpillar.

The path was well-made, it was a very comfortable walk. Brent spotted a native in the bushes.

We didn’t actually see him poke his little blue tongue out, so this might be another misidentification.

Dee Why beach looks very attractive in the distance, and I’m sure we’ll pay a visit one day.

Dee Why beach with the back of Helen and a tantalising first glimpse of Brent

At the coffee shop, I surprised everyone by having a mango juice instead of my default, hot, beverage.

Today Liesel and I had our first Aussie pies of the trip. Helen, Brent and I chose pies with a spicy Mexican bean filling, absolutely delicious, and Liesel opted for a spinach and feta cheese filling. Not sure it was feta though.

We’d had enough sunshine and fresh air, so in the afternoon, we treated ourselves to a movie. Bob Marley: One Love was very interesting, but we agreed that the ending was very sudden. One of the main attractions, was the air-conditioned cinema! The woman in front of left after about half an hour, maybe she was expecting a Bob Marley concert. The four of us were the last to leave having watched some of the credits.

Hoyts, the cinema, is in the shopping mall. After Helen and Brent went home, Liesel and I went shopping. Or, to put it another way, after a coffee, Liesel went shopping and I just mooched about.

As shopping centres go, this is quite a pleasant one. I just wonder what it’s like if it’s ever as crowded as Manchester’s Arndale Centre, for instance?

In the evening, we visited the Harbord Hotel, known locally as the Harbord Hilton. Not because we were slumming it for the night, but so that we could join Helen and Brent’s team for the Pub Quiz, aka Trivia. We were joined by Jacqui, who we met a few nights ago, and by Jo, another friend. Team name? Norfolk ‘n’ Chance featuring Blue Meanies. Liesel and I are the Blue Meanies, since we’re both big fans of the Beatles. Right, Liesel? Oh and no, I still didn’t take pictures of our new friends.

We enjoyed the quiz, in fact we did quite well considering other teams had up to 15 members!

Brookvale!

Singapore Changi Airport is, I think, our favourite airport, on planet Earth, at least. We only had a couple of hours to pass between flights to enjoy the quiet atmosphere, helped a lot by the carpeted floor. We missed out on the butterfly farm and the koi pond this time, but I’m sure we’ll visit those attractions on another occasion.

The other thing I like is that the airport authorities here haven’t felt the need to cram the space with ‘retail opportunities’. You can walk quite a long way along wide, spacious passages without seeing a shop, not even a coffee bar.

The only downside is that the cigarette smoke doesn’t know to confine itself to the designated smoking areas.

The second flight wasn’t as comfortable as the first: more crowded and hotter. Plus, my neighbour smelled really bad. Again, the crew acquired some decent veggie food for me. So, five stars for Singapore Airlines.

On the way to Sydney, I watched one complete film, Dune, and maybe half of another, Meg 2, during which I nodded off, but, to be honest, I don’t think I missed much.

Helen picked us up from the airport, it was lovely to see her, after having had not much sleep for 24 hours. This was our first visit to her (not so new, now) apartment in Brookvale. Needless to say, we didn’t do much before going to bed. We didn’t have the best night’s sleep ever, of course, but it was nice being horizontal. We couldn’t help but notice how much warmer it is here than at home. Funny, that…

Meanwhile, back at home, Martha and William were celebrating World Book Day. Meet Hermione Grainger and Mr Fox:

Helen was woken up by a kookaburra, but I didn’t hear it, so I must have slept for some of the night.

We drove to Manly passing by some familiar but mostly unfamiliar sites. And I did manage to take my first wildlife photo of this trip.

Maybe not the most exciting creature, I know, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

The plan was to have brunch with Helen’s lovely friend Bambi and her gorgeous baby Gypsy. We met at The Pantry, on the sea front, where we have eaten before but not for about five years.

Sun, sea, sand and blue skies, what else could you ask for? Well, in my case, a veggie breakfast. It was a joy to meet Bambi after all this time, Helen’s told us so much about her, and I think most of it is true.

So, what does she look like? I’m sure we’ll be taking pictures of grown-ups over the next few weeks, but yes, of course I took pictures of Gypsy!

The next port of call was the shopping mall. Liesel bought a pair of sandals, having thrown the old ones away. And I bought my first Aussie coffee on this trip, from Café Léluna. Very nice, very tasty.

Back at Helen’s place, it was nice and quiet, apart from a few exotic birds. I hope to be able to identify them at some point. Either there’s a very talented blackbird around, or maybe a mynah, or someone really did set off a car alarm.

In the evening, Helen’s partner, Brent joined us for dinner. It was the first time we’d met, of course, and he seems like a very nice young man! So what does he look like then? Well, you’ll have to wait to find out.

Because I have now disappeared from the UK for a while, my final Wythenshawe Radio show for the time being had the theme of Disappearance. You can listen here. You don’t have to, of course, but… FOMO?

Helen was working all day Saturday, so Liesel and I went for a walk. We planned to visit Freshwater Beach. Well, the first thing we noticed was, how hilly it is around here! Another stark reminder of how flat Northenden and Wythenshawe are. Again, we resolved to go for walks further afield at home, try and conquer some of those Peaks. Just to say, I struggled on some of the slopes.

I don’t know if Google Maps just likes to play jokes, or I’m still half asleep, but at one point we turned right when we should have turned left. We never did make it to the beach. But we did come across Freshwater Brewing Co where we enjoyed a coffee and a muffin (Liesel) and a huge almond croissant (Mick). It seemed a shame to miss out on the beach, but we decided to cut our losses and head back to the shopping mall again. We knew that, from there, we could walk home. And there’s plenty of time to visit all the various beaches around here.

Yes we did and sorry we didn’t visit this establishment

It’s late Summer, early Autumn here, although it feels like mid-Summer to us rain-drenched miserable Brits! Some of the flowers here are beautiful of course, with lots of bougainvillea all over the place.

We found our way home, taking our time. Even though this was meant to be a quick, gentle, introductory stroll, we walked over four and a half miles, so it was good to stop and have a lie down.

Well, I haven’t so far taken pictures of Helen’s friends and partners (apart from Gypsy) but I did capture some more wildlife.

This little chap was visiting Helen’s patio and of course, I couldn’t approach too closely.

I thought I’d take a look at the night sky. Such a dark sky, despite being close to the big city, Sydney. We’re hoping for more dark skies later on, and after a bit of experimenting, I took this picture.

I was very pleased it came out so well. The only accessory to the phone I used was a chair , on which I had to place the phone, pointing in the right direction. I set the timer so there would be no vibration at all.

And a jolly good night’s sleep was had by all.

And we’re off again

With just a few days to go before our epic trip to Australia and beyond, it was time to do all those last-minute jobs. Checking visas, finding passports, seeking out Aussie dollars left over from last time, and, of course, packing. For the first time in many years, even I am travelling with a large case, not just a backpack. So, one of the LMJs was to retrieve that case from the storage facility. We managed to consume most of our fresh fruit and veg before passing on the last few onions and spuds to our neighbour Ravi. The most exciting chore, though, was buying snack food items for Helen and her friends and for my sister Pauline, who’ll be joining us from NZ in a couple of week’s time. Lovely, tasty food items such as Hula Hoops, all flavours, Mini Cheddars, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Galaxy Minstrels, Twirls, Maltesers, Marmite, chocolate Buttons and chewing gum. Mind you, I visited six shops in Northenden before finding plain Hula Hoops.

We collected Martha and William from school. William proudly waved his wrist-band at us: “I bashed my head today” it said. He was alright though. We walked to the playground having said we’d buy them an ice cream in lieu of the normal snack. Upon seeing that the ice cream shack was closed today, William burst into tears. Thank goodness the nearby café sold ice cream and was still open. The children had ice cream, Liesel and I had carrot cake. The café was meant to close at 4pm, but the guy said the place would remain open for longer as it was such a lovely day. And it really was a nice day. Later on, both the children were running around in short sleeves. We said hello to the ducks as we passed by.

At the end of a school day, William especially has loads of energy to burn off. We ran around the playground, some of us faster and for longer than others. He climbed a lot and used the slides and swings. Martha had a good time too, and spent some playing with her friend Katie.

Somebody lost a friend today, let’s hope they’re reunited soon.

One unexpected surprise was seeing this newly married couple posing for pictures in the park. Very elegant and with gorgeous outfits and yes, I did ask permission before taking some pictures. Unexpected surprise? Isn’t that a tautology? Oh well, too late to edit that now.

Congratulations and best wishes to this happy couple

For the second week in a row, we had to return the children home quite early, as we had tickets for another gig in Manchester. This time, we didn’t even consider taking a tram.

After parking up, we looked for somewhere to eat. Lots of options, and the first venue we tried was full: we’d have to wait half an hour. I suggested hijacking a Deliveroo driver, but Liesel vetoed that idea. Eventually we found a pizza place, Noi Quattro, which I think is Italian for Northern Quarter, and that’s funny because it is actually located in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The pizza here is possibly the best we’ve ever had. Highly recommended.

And then on to Gulliver’s, tonight’s venue. Sadly, we had to stand for the whole show, and that’s not something either of us enjoy doing any more. Support was Nathan Ball, who was with Martha last time we saw her, in Bath.

We enjoyed Martha Tilston’s set as usual, but she has such a large repertoire of songs now, she doesn’t always sing our favourites. And while I enjoyed her covering Kate Bush and Portishead, it seemed a wasted opportunity: she could have performed a couple more of her own songs!

The drive home was straightforwrad, thank goodness, straight to bed, and up early for the start of our new adventure.

The taxi was on time, and for the first time, we flew out of Manchester Airport Terminal 2. Check-in and security were no big deal. Singapore Airlines is probably our favourite at the moment. Although we’d forgotten to order vegetarian meals, two of the stewardesses in particular went out of their way to make sure I didn’t go hungry! As I told Liesel, my next wife will probably be a Singapore Airlines air stewardess.

Both of us had aisle seats and unoccupied seats next to us. My near neighbour was flying to Brisbane and then taking a cruise up to Cairns. I thought, we should do that one day too.

For a 13-hour long flight, it wasn’t too bad. I managed to watch three whole films, two for the first time: Oppenheimer and Barbie, both being on my ‘list’ since realeased last Summer. The third was Chocolat which I don’t think I’ve seen since it was released 24 years ago, and the book itself is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. I thought I’d watch it again because right now, I’m reading another novel by Joanne Harris, Gentlemen and Players, and I thought, well, I’ve seen it before, so if I do nod off, it won’t matter so much. Reader, I stayed awake.

Watching the flight progress, I was quite excited when we flew the length of Malaysia, past some of the places we’d visited a few years ago…

In totally unrelated news, it seems I am practically related to JRR Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. How so? Well, before we left England, and before our subscription to the service expired, we watched the biopic Tolkien on Disney+. In this film, John Roland Reuel Tolkien’s wife Edith was played by Lily Collins. She is the daughter of Phil Collins, the musician. I was born at Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford, and so was Lily Collins. How do we know? Because at the time, Sarah was working at Mount Alvernia Hospital, and she told us that Phil Collins’ wife was having a baby there. That baby must have been Lily. Possibly born in the maternity ward where I first saw the light of day a few decades earlier. And she ‘married’ the renowned author. I can’t work out how many tenuous degrees of separation are involved here.

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.