mickandlieselsantics

Pia bites

This week was enjoyed despite, or maybe because of, Storm Pia. Winds of over 70mph around much of the country. Mostly caused by trees waving their naked branches in the air, if I can believe my eyes. Extensive damage was caused in the Northenden area.

Several bins had been blown over. At least, near where we live, the bins were empty by the time Pia struck. But just a few streets away, bin contents were dispersed, strewn and blowing across the road, making the refuse collectors’ jobs that much harder.

It wasn’t much fun walking in the strong winds, but at least it was mild. Even in the deepest woods, you could feel and hear the gales as they went about their business, infiltrating into every gap.

On one road near us, a tree was blown over and, fortunately for the residents, it just blocked the road rather than destroying a house.

One thing we’ve noticed this year is that far fewer houses have been decorated with lights and other Christmas ornaments. Even the house over the road that’s always had a big display has nothing this year. I hope this is for econonic reasons rather than illness, sad though that would be, too.

I walked over to the final Makers’ Market at Didsbury. Everybody was there. Every stall had a queue. I didn’t even buy a coffee. And, sadly, I didn’t buy anything to eat either. Nor any of the craftwork that was on offer. I don’t know why I went, really, but it was good exercise.

Meanwhile, Liesel is still in Anchorage. Mom is settling well into the new apartment now and Monica went round and kindly and professionally hung several pictures on the wall.

It’s been unusually mild here, despite Storm Pia, and it’s much colder in Anchorage. And there are tonnes of snow. Liesel took advantage of the opportunity and went skiing for the first time in many years. She had a good time in Talkeetna for a couple of days, with Jyoti and Diana and Jim. Apparently, skiing is just like riding a bike, you never forget. Best of all, Liesel didn’t fall over at all.

As a follow-up to last week’s GP appointment, I had to return to the surgery to see a nurse. And for the first time ever, at any GP surgery, there was nobody else in the waiting room when I got there. It was really hard deciding where to sit. Usually, I choose a seat that’s as far away from all the other coughing, sneezing, wheezing patients as possible.

Rare sighting of an empty GP surgery waiting room

It’s the last week of the school term and I think the wind was getting to William too. I don’t think he deliberately set out to start a new fashion trend, but maybe he has the right idea when it comes to headwear.

Well, the wind’s died down a bit but when it rains, it still sounds like someone’s throwing buckets of water at the windows. Under such conditions, I find it too easy to not go out, but stay in and do something useful. Or something fun. The annual shredding of the paper has begun. Something else to tick off the long, long to-do list.

After the Winter Solstice, the amount of daylight will slowly increase day by day, and that always lifts the spirits. But then, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be plunged into a really cold spell, which of course does the exact opposite.

This week’s Wythenshawe Radio show consists of two hours of (mostly) Christmas songs. It’s a safe zone for players and aficionados of #Whamageddon. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard Wham’s song Last Christmas, but I guess it’s good news that after 39 years, it’s finally number 1 in the charts! Anyway, as I was saying, my Christmas Show: you can listen to it here.

Liesel and I would like wish all our readers a wonderful, Merry Christmas, and all the very best for 2024. And isn’t it good to know this will be the last Christmas with a nasty Tory government for a long, long time.

Shopping and Walking

Earlier in the year, our plans included visiting Whitby this weekend, and seeing Eliza Carthy in concert. While there, we’d try and meet up with a couple of old friends again for a coffee. In the end, the gig was sold out, so we abandoned those plans. We will get to Whitby one day, but not quite yet. On the other hand, what luck, not being able to buy tickets. Liesel’s in Alaska and she would have missed the show anyway. And who knows whether I would have made the effort to go all the way over there by myself. Or I would have had to beg, steal or borrow a +1 again. Anyway, we’ll catch up with you again sometime, Yvonne and Ian!

Christmas stamps this year have a little QR code attached. What a waste of resources. You have to download the Royal Mail app to read the code. And what do you get? The same old Shaun the Sheep film that was put up on Day One as a placeholder for more useful information. Yes, I downloaded the app, tried it, and rapidly deleted it. So now, you don’t have to bother.

The three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials are still available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ in the rest of the world. Well, I enjoyed them. I’m also enjoying the old, classic series from the 1960s. It’s funny how some stories are still in my head, such as the Sensorites, and the Daleks invading Earth in 2164, and the Zarbi, but I had no recollection of the Doctor and his companions spending time in Rome in the time of Nero.

Do you know what? I think this Zarbi, a giant ant, is really a man in a suit. The costume was so much more convincing when I was about 9 years old and the old black and whote TV set wasn’t such high definition.

I enjoyed a nice walk starting at Sale Water Park with about twenty other folks. The path was very muddy in places: one day, I’ll scrape the excess mud off my trousers and return it. One very large puddle spanned the path, and who knows how deep it was in the middle. So we diverted through the trees.

We passed by another place new to me: Chorltonville. Never heard of it before. There was some profound graffiti on a tall building.

I’d like to think that if I went to the effort of reaching those heights, my daubs would be a bit more interesting. On the other hand, some of the graffiti at ground level was comprised of so many layers of paint, it was beginning to flake and fall away from the wall.

For a while, we walked along the Bridgewater Canal and passed by quite a few houseboats. My friend Kerry will be living on a houseboat next year, and I wonder whether she and her family will find their way to this location?

Last year, we bought a new ‘smart’ Samsung television set. On a return visit to John Lewis a couple of weeks ago, Liesel purchased a Samsung soundbar because the sound quality from the TV itself isn’t that good. How do you connect the two? Either a cable or via Bluetooth. Well, the TV is too old (or too cheap?) to have Bluetooth, so it would have to be a Digital Audio cable. Or an Optical cable, depending on which user guide you believe. So I drove back to John Lewis to acquire such a thing.

I explained the predicament to the assistant, and he told me the soundbar doesn’t come with a cable. I know that, I said, that’s why I’ve come to buy one. Oh, we don’t sell them, he said, looking down his nose, but you can get one from Argos next door. Very helpful, thank you; but I think John Lewis are missing a trick there. Anyway, I got the right cable, connected everything up and it works perfectly. It’ll be a nice surprise for Liesel when she gets back.

Which reminds me, what has she been up to over there in Anchorage? Packing up several boxes of stuff from her Mom’s house and moving to the new apartment. Liesel and Leslie spent one night at a luxury hotel before moving day.

The new apartment is great, very warm, despite the temperature outside at one point being -2°F, that’s a ridiculous -18.8888889°C, cold enough to freeze your nasal hair. No, I don’t think I’m missing much there. That, plus twelve inches of snow one night, on top of the existing waist-deep stuff. And five hours of half-hearted daylight each day. Brrr. The Anchorage Tourist Board rejected my job application for some reason.

You have to be quick or you miss it, but we had a couple of decent sunsets this week.

I was late for the Friday walk because I had a big problem. I couldn’t find my hat. I had to wear my number two hat. I even asked in Costa in case I’d left it there the previous day. But no. I probably left it on the bus then. Oh well. In Wythenshawe, I was walking past the market stalls, and my eyes lit upon a cozy looking beanie hat. It was a neutral grey colour, with a bobble, and cost a fiver. Which meant that, yes, it’s 100% polyester. Well, it did the job, it kept my ears warm. But later, I was relieved to find my old hat. I had put in in my bag while at the shops. The new grey one has been relegated to the bottom of the basket, for emergencies.

On the radio show this week, I played two hours of songs with titles that are one word repeated, such as Hello Hello, Pamela Pamela, Sugar Sugar, Rebel Rebel. You can listen to it right here on Mixcloud.

A Vicar and Aladdin

For some reason, whenever I drop Liesel off at the airport, my sense of direction goes with her, and my drive home is two or three times further than it needs to be. Why do I keep missing turnings? Anyway, that happened again this week. Liesel flew back to Anchorage to help her Mom with the packing. They had four days to pack up everything that was going with Mom to her new apartment on the other side of town.

The day before she left though was exciting. Not only did we have the children to look after, after school, but in the morning, we both had appointments with the same GP. He hadn’t realised we were connected, ‘but not that many people have connections with Alaska, I suppose’.

It was William’s turn to suggest an after-school activity, and he said he wanted to make sushi again. So that’s what we did. Martha also constructed a couple of Christmas trees but the, shhh, secret Christmas project has been put on hold until next year!

Meanwhile, what was William up to? He asked me not to say. But one thing he did was to play with my phone again, taking many photos of me and Liesel, using the Snapchat filters that come free with the camera app.

The sushi was good fun too, and because Liam didn’t come for the worst of all possible reasons, work commitments, the children made some to take home for him.

Liesel was extremely busy in the kitchen all that day, really, baking cookies, apple and pear crumble and cheese straws. I helped by keeping out of the way.

I joined a walking group in Gatley and the one lesson I took from that was, never rely on a 370/371 bus. I was ten minutes late arriving for the walk, but it’s such an infrequent service, the previous service would have had meant potentially loitering in Gatley for over half an hour. This bus was late, yes, but the other guy had been waiting 45 minutes. The previous service never even turned up, so I suppose I should be pleased I didn’t try to catch that one.

The walk took us through Gatley Carrs, to the fringes of Northenden, Hollyhedge Park and back. I recognised some of the places, but some were new to me. And it was a very muddy, leafy, mulchy and puddly walk. So glad I didn’t wear my Sunday best trousers.

After an hour or so, it started raining. By the time we’d finished the squelchy wander, it was quite torrential. I just missed a bus home, assuming it turned up of course, so to pass the time, I enjoyed a coffee at Armenique, which is top rated, according to Google Maps, and is the best coffee in town, according to the owner, according to the blackboard outside.

I arrived at the bus stop about 4.05 for the 4.14 bus. The subsequent bus was due at 4.53. By 5.15, neither had arrived. During that time, two other ‘passengers’ had called someone for a lift. About 5.00, I tried to book an Uber, but the app wasn’t working for a reason that made no sense. One young lad called his Mum to explain why was would be late home, and she obviously didn’t believe him, because he asked me to have a word with her. At this point, I’d been waiting for an hour. I wasn’t going to walk home in that torrential rain but by 5.15, it had eased off and I plodded home in the dark. Gourmet cheese on toast for dinner since I didn’t have a lot of time before going out again.

I was never a fan of The Vicar of Dibley when it was on TV, too many lazy jokes just based on mentioning the name of a well-known personality. But we’d bought tickets for a production by the Northenden Players Theatre Club and tonight was the night. Well, Liesel missed it of course, so my +1 for the night was Anne, one of the regular Thrive Manchester walkers.

The performers did a great job of portraying the characters, even I recognised them from the old TV show, and while some of the dialogue was funny, I still found myself cringing at the name-dropping, Prince Edward, haha, Kylie Minogue, hohoho, Madonna, yawn.

Top marks to whoever designed and built the set too, which included a revolving stage, not bad at all in such a small space.

The leaf blowers arrived, of course they did, while I was on the phone to Liesel. But this time, they did blow the leaves into nice piles which they then took away! They didn’t just blow the leaves into the bushes like they did last time.

My second show of the week was over in Cheadle Hulme: a school production of Aladdin, starring Martha and William. I sung along to myself, and I only wish the magic carpet had really been magic so that we could see it from the seats nearer the back of the hall!

Manchester was given a yellow warning for wind. And, boy was it windy. My quick walk was curtailed, and plans to travel a bit further afield bit the dust. I sat at home listening to the wind howling and the rain hurling itself at the windows. It almost disguised the fact that the soundtrack to one episode of Doctor Who on TV was incredibly distorted, as if the tape had been stretched. Very funny, and I’ll probably remember that now whenever I see a drama or documentary about the French Revolution!

The radio show this week was about Painting. You can listen to it here on Mixcloud.

Techno, heck, no

Cold but sunny seems to be the way forward. I wear a sunhat usually, but when it turns chilly, I replace that with a beanie hat to cover my ears. Cold ears are bad enough, but if cold wind blows into the lugs, I turn into a raging Hulk. But the trouble with a beanie hat is, there is no brim. So, while I welcome the Sun, I’m aware of squinting at it as I wander about, especially as it’s also lower in the sky at this time of year. So what I need is a hat that keeps my ears warm and also has a brim. So I’m hoping someone gets me a deerstalker for Christmas.

Our friend Sue joined Liesel and and me and we walked along the river to Didsbury. It was crunchy under foot, but a very pleasant walk.

Sue and Liesel joined the regular WI group in the Metroplolitan while I sat all alone, on my own, at a separate table, with my solitary cup of coffee while solving a puzzle on the phone. I could have walked the six feet over to the bar to order another cup of coffee, but no. I scanned the QR code on the table, downloaded the app, and ordered a coffee online. And a couple of minutes later, a nice young lady brought it over for me. Isn’t technology great?

Isn’t technology awful? We have a smart TV and the sound quality isn’t that good. So Liesel purchased a soundbar to go with it. Both items are made by Samsung so it should be easy to connect the two, right? Wrong. Even though it’s quite new, our TV set isn’t modern enough to have Bluetooth. Bluetooth is apparently the best way to connect to the soundbar. It didn’t come with a cable, of course. And trying to discern what sort of cable we need has proved very difficult. I can see why some people transition into technophobes.

But we did have a good time at William’s 6th birthday party. Lots of food, balloons, presents, family and, best of all, cake.

In other exciting news, Martha and her class dressed up as stone age men and women for a day.

I accompanied Liesel to Altrincham for her hospital appointment. And we paid a visit to Hobbycraft. I think we were inside for twenty minutes at the most. But in that time, the nasty, sub-karaoke versions of Christmas songs drove me nuts. I’m so glad I never had to work in a place like that.

I think a lot of people have a background project on the go, known as ‘sorting out the photos’. Well, when I started that a few years ago, I noticed some omissions. I wondered whether the missing pictures had been erroneously included with the boxes of stuff we left with Jenny when we moved house over five years ago. This week, I spent time looking through some boxes. Sadly, I didn’t find the photos I was looking for. Happily, I did find the portrait made by 3½-year old Jenny of her then brand new baby sister, Helen.

The cold continues and the pond in Painswick Park was frozen over. I think the geese and the moorhens were taken by surprise, or maybe they just enjoyed skating.

But look, the sky is a beautiful blue, the Sun was bright, and I still didn’t have a brim on my hat.

While I was walking around Wythenshawe amongst a group of nine, Liesel was walking with her WI group from Sale Water Park to and around Chorlton Water Park and back again.

Staying with the WI, they enjoyed a Bunco session. I was unfamiliar with the game, so I looked it up, and decided it was a game of pure chance. I even had an argument with Chat-GPT about what strategies could possibly be used. It claims you can roll the dice more or less vigorously depending on what numbers you want. I don’t think it’s as intelligent as it claims. But it was all good fun, a nice social occasion, and that’s all that matters, really.

Liesel has decided to go home to Anchorage for a few weeks to help her Mom navigate the stressful process of moving house. Mom is moving to a smaller place, an apartment nearer the city centre. I think we’ll all be glad to see the back of the steep drive at the old house. Recently, both a car and a Mom have slid down the icy drive. I’m not joining Liesel on this occasion, for a number of reasons, none of which is that I want to watch more classic Doctor Who on TV. Honest.

Martha and William have swimming lessons every Saturday morning and we have been to watch them on a few occasions. Not this week though. Instead, we picked them up straight afterwards, drove to Didsbury, took a tram into Manchester and walked to The Stoller Hall for a concert. To keep William occupied on the tram ride, I let him play with my phone.

Yes, he enjoyed the ‘Fun’ options within the camera app, with some ridiculous filters. But he did lose interest in my phone when he found out that it doesn’t have any games on it, just a few puzzles.

We’d come to see Peter and the Wolf performed by students from Chetham’s School of Music. The narrator was Carla Henry who did a great job for the best part of an hour, considering probably half of the audience was young children. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I did sneak one of the orchestra. Before they turned up.

Last time I heard Peter and the Wolf performed live was when Sarah and I took young Jenny and Helen to London’s South Bank. The narrator on that occasion was Johnny Morris, yes, him from Animal Magic and Tales from the Riverbank.

After the show, we wrapped up in our coats and hats and gloves again and visited the world famous Christmas Market in Manchester. As did everybody else. The place was heaving. Martha and William homed in on the stall selling sweeties.

We found this bee from the old Bee in the City trail, right beside the cathedral.

I’m sure there was a lot of fun stuff on sale, but my main focus was on not losing too many of our grandchildren. But they were very good, holding our hands when required.

We spent some time in Waterstones, where we also had a coffee and a babyccino. When we left the shop, it was just beginning to snow, which William and Martha loved, catching snowflakes on their tongues.

The children were tired, well we all were, so we took them to Gusto for our evening meal before returning them to their parents. And so the week ended as cold as it begun.

Speaking of Cold, that was the time of this week’s radio show. I also spoke to singer songwriter Chris Tavener earlier in the week and this chat was the main part of the show this week. If you missed it on Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 and DAB, you can listen here on Mixcloud. In fact, the Mixcloud edit is longer than the original broadcast, so if you did hear it broadcast live, you should listen again for all the extra songs!

Earlier in the week, while doing something important on the computer, I was distracted by Excel. I wanted to see which musical artists I have played most often on the radio show over the last three and a bit years. I knew who would come out on top. But to produce the top ten or twenty from a spreadsheet listing all 5000+ track that I’ve played wasn’t straightforward. I spent far too long coaxing Excel to achieve this, learning new functions that will all be useful, I’m sure. Actually, they probably won’t. Anyway, here are the top 100 most played artists in order. Yes, 100, since I went to all that trouble!

David Bowie
Beatles
Mary Hopkin
Jessica Lee Morgan
Bee Gees
Paul McCartney
Tasmin Archer
Nina Simone
Dolly Parton
Elton John
Eddi Reader
Kirsty MacColl
Neil Diamond
Elbow
Bic Runga
Queen
Martha Tilston
Ella Fitzgerald
Abba
Pink Floyd
Prince
Carpenters
Elvis Presley
Jim Reeves
Frank Sinatra
Denise Johnson
Simon and Garfunkel
John Lennon
Erin McKeown
Rolling Stones
Kate Bush
Hollies
Blur
Kinks
Alice Cooper
Oasis
O’Hooley and Tidow
Who
Dusty Springfield
Rosanne Cash
Madonna
Duran Duran
Van Morrison
Joni Mitchell
Sam Brown
Julia Violinista
Frankie Archer
Johnny Cash
Paul Simon
Snow Patrol
Beach Boys
Doves
Seth Lakeman
REM
Lulu
Sheryl Crow
Sinead O’Connor
Killers
Inspiral Carpets
Cara Dillon
Catatonia
Bjork
Unthanks
Monkees
Fleetwood Mac
10cc
T Rex
Taylor Swift
Paul McCartney and Wings
Gordon Lightfoot
James Taylor
Nana Mouskouri
ELO
Crowded House
Stevie Wonder
Tom Hingley
Spizzenergi
George Harrison
Lou Reed
Steely Dan
Duffy
Billy Joel
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Louis Armstrong
Amy Winehouse
Mick Ronson
Iona Fyfe
Tom Robinson
Clash
Harry Nilsson
Petula Clark
Andy Stewart
Lily Allen
Slim Dusty
Terra Naomi
Glen Campbell
Lee Ann Womack
Nat King Cole
Tori Amos
Minnie Riperton
Kylie Minogue
Tom Jones
Elvis Costello
Cat Stevens
Deep Blue

And I have seen 36 of those acts live on stage over the years, wow!

Being 8 again

I think it was Friday night, so not a school night, but when I heard that President Kennedy had been killed, I felt sad. He seemed such a nice man. Mum was out at work and Dad let me stay up a bit later than usual to watch Tonight on TV, hosted by a very serious Cliff Michelmore.

But more importantly, my Saturday afternoons would never be the same again. One of my favourite TV programmes was Garry Halliday, which followed the sports show Grandstand. Its eponymous hero was a commercial pilot and I particularly remember the radar screen displaying the same moving blobs every week. Sadly, only one episode remains in the BBC archives, so I’ll never know if that’s a real memory.

Anyway, Garry Halliday was replaced by a new show, a science fiction series called Doctor Who. I took against it straightaway of course, because it wasn’t Garry Halliday.

This week is Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary and I am not alone in being extremely fond of it now. The BBC have really pushed the boat out. The first Dalek story has been colourised. 800 episodes from the classic series have been uploaded to the iPlayer and I have been watching some of these old stories this week. At the time, I didn’t notice the theatrical style of acting, nor the fluffed lines, nor the cheap, wobbly sets. 8-year old me just lapped it up each week and couldn’t wait for the next episode. Binge-watching several episodes at a time would have been as futuristic a concept then as some of the storylines were.

The first episode was shown as news of the assassination was still fresh in people’s minds. In fact, the BBC repeated the first episode the following week, prior to showing episode 2. The new show was intriguing, different, and eventually exciting, rivetting and, over time, it became one of my all-time favourites. I feel a strange sense of loyalty to it, despite it being absolutely ridiculous at times. I did give up watching completely at one point, when the alien characters were basically Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts.

In our house, the TV was a rental, Pay-As-You-View set. We had to feed it with sixpenny coins, 6d per hour, to keep it going. Sod’s Law meant that the TV would die halfway through Doctor Who most weeks. Somehow, I don’t remember it running out of juice earlier in the afternoon, during Grandstand, halfway through a horse race on which my Dad had placed a bet. So we’d all scrabble around looking for sixpences. Then we’d have to go and knock on Pam and Ralph’s next door and ask if they had the right coins. Then we’d feed the TV meter having missed five minutes of the show, wondering what had happened to the Dctor and his companions.

On some occasions, Dad had resorted to using a small butter knife to extract coins from the drawer at the bottom of the meter so that we could feed the beast. The cash, by the way, was used to pay the TV rental when the man came round each month.

So who is my favourite Doctor? The current one is the answer. I was sad when Patrick Troughton took over from William Hartnell, even if the latter was a bit grumpy. But I soon got to like the new incarnation. Equally, I felt bereft when Jon Pertwee regenerated into Doctor No 3 when Troughton left the show.

Today, in 2023, I can say I’ve enjoyed watching Jodie Whittaker as Doctor No 13 and as I write, I’m looking forward to seeing the 60th anniversary specials with the return of David Tennant.

But we haven’t only been watching TV this week, oh no. Over the years, other than visiting Lyme Park, we haven’t spent a lot of time in Disley. So we joined a group of about twenty for a lovely walk in the area, on a beautiful day. We met outside a pub, most of the group arriving by bus. As we walked up the main street, I don’t know why I was surprised to see a lovely vista so quickly.

We followed the River Goyt for a while, so it was a fairly flat route. But there were hills, and much later on, I struggled walking up one in particular, which was steep and long and I was short of breath and again walking fewer and fewer steps before having to stop for a few minutes. I feel I want the doctor to get out his pipe cleaners and give my blood vessels a good old scrape. This was a very supportive group though, and I didn’t feel I was holding anybody up.

I didn’t even know there was a Marina at New Mills, but we passed by it on, I think, the Peak Forest Canal.

The Millennium Walkway was very pleasant, away from the mud and the fast flowing water, and I wondered just how long has it been there?

I also wondered what the time was as we passed by Bruce’s Clock in Strines. The clock struck 2 but what a feeble little chime. I suspect someone who lives locally has secretly installed mufflers.

Some placenames are just tongue twisters, and Hagg Bank Lane is one such, very hard to say out loud. Or is that just me? But you have to admire whoever this tree hugger is.

Time for another concert, in Manchester. We eschewed public transport on this Sunday night because we wanted to be able to get home afterwards in a reasonable amount of time. Frankie Archer always puts on a good show, and this was the third time we’ve seen her this year. Since appearing on my radio show earlier in the year, she’s been on Later with Jools on TV and on Mark Radcliffe’s Folk Show on Radio 2. She’s going places. (Listen here until 30 November)

Electro-folk is the name given to her style of music, and as well as playing the fiddle, she has a whole raft of other equipment on stage, samplers and synths and miles and miles of different coloured cables.

Most of her songs are traditional folk songs, albeit with a tweak here and there. No spoilers, but women tend not to come out on top.

Doctor Who and Frankie Archer, all very exciting. But the main event this week was William celebrating his 6th birthday. He had a ‘brilliant’ day, and he went to school on his brand new scooter. Happy birthday, William, and we look forward to celebrating and partying with you very soon.

Liesel and I joined another event in Benchill, organised by Thrive Manchester and Factory International. Gwen the photographer took us and a few others out for a quick walk to the local park where we took photos using proper cameras rather than our phones. It was interesting thinking about apertures and focal lengths and exposure times again, after using nothing but a phone camera for the last five years.

But of course I took a few pictures with my phone as well. We returned to the Community Centre as it was beginning to get dark outside and the sky begged to be photographed.

This was Our Earth Week, as celebrated by Wythenshawe Radio and many other community radio stations around the country. It’s part of the lead-up to COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in UAE in a few days time. My own little show can be heard right here if, by chance, you missed it on WFM 97.2.

Not one but two Marthas

We would have preferred to travel by train to Bath but the fare quoted was ridiculous. £200 from Manchester to Bath and back? We recently travelled the length of Portugal for about a third of that price in total. ‘Move to Portugal, then,’ I hear you cry. Don’t think it hasn’t occurred to us.

Anyway, the drive, mainly on motorways was fairly uneventful. Apart from when, halfway along the M5, Google Maps told us to turn right onto Primrose Road or something. Uh? We ignored it and a quick glance revealed that the app thought we’d fallen asleep and gone off piste.

Our friend Sarah took the train from Exeter, from where the fare was nowhere near as prohibitive. We met up at our accommodation for the night, a Travelodge. Not our first choice, but everything else was booked up: we wondered whether there was some other event taking place in Bath this weekend. But we saw no evidence of such a thing.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the Avon and around the city centre. Liesel and I have visited Bath a few times now, and it really is a cute little town. The heron was a bit bedraggled, but he was happy to pose for me.

The Autumn colours compensated for the slightly gloomy day. We eventually found the Chapel Arts Centre, the venue for the concert we’d come to Bath for. Guess who?

Underneath, to the side and down the stairs, there’s a small, vegan coffee shop. Plant.Eat.Licious. Well, it would be rude not to visit, right? So we did. And the coffee was fabulous.

We found our way to Pulteney Bridge, the one with all the shops on. It still amazes and amuses me that you can be walking along the road and not even be aware that the River Avon is flowing underneath. The famous weir nearby wasn’t as picturesque as it usually is, I think because after so much rain, there was just too much water flowing over it.

We walked, wandered, dined and walked back to the Arts Centre. It looks different in the dark.

And we were about 10th in the queue too. Not that it made any difference, because we had a table reserved for the three of us. We always like to watch the support act and we’ve never been disappointed. Nathan Ball sang for us for about half an hour and I’m sure I’ll play his music on my show very soon.

It was unusual to have a folk singer accompanied by beer glasses clinking and ice being extracted from the bucket, but we were sitting at the back of the auditorium, fairly close to the bar. One thing was missing though: the ker-ching of a cash register drawer being opened and closed. That’s what happens when most payments are made by card, electronically.

Martha Tilston was made very welcome by everybody and she performed many of our favourite songs plus a few ones from her latest album, one that we’re not so familiar with, yet. She was accompanied by Beth singing and Matt on mandolin and bass. And I thought the acoustics were great, a perfect balance between voice and instrument.

After the show, we had a short walk back to our beds. I always look up in the hope of seeing stars, but I rarely do from a light polluted city centre.

We walked a bit more the following day. Some of the city was cordoned off to allow for the Remembrance Sunday Parade. Bells from the Abbey rang out. The old phone boxes have been put to a good use. There was one with a defibrillator, one with an ATM, one is a garden and another used to tell us about The Royal Crescent.

I know, there’s one missing, sorry about that. Anyway, of course we walked up to The Royal Crescent, probably the most famous crescent in the world. Built 1767-1775, it’s one of the finest examples of 18th century architecture in England, designed by John Wood the Younger. We passed a few people wearing medals, a few in uniform and, later on, a whole troop of young people in their ATC uniforms. And I remembered, I never did get to join the Air Training Corps in Guildford when I applied. Oh well, their loss. They’ve had over 50 years to call me up.

We also visited the Botanical Gardens with its wide variety of trees, some in their Autumn colours.

We passed the confluence of the Kennet and Avon Canal, by Lock 7, with the River Avon and I wondered how our friend Kerry is getting on living on the narrowboat with her family.

Breakfast. Well, we tried two or three places before finding one that would let us in, sit down, and eat. Yes, Bath was very busy, everyone was having breakfast out. We bade farewell to Sarah and enoyed our drive back home. Well, apart from a hold-up on the M6 (isn’t it always the M6?) caused by one car breaking down, in the overtaking lane, on a long stretch where there is no hard shoulder. Smart motorway my arse. And when we arrived at home, we went straight to bed.

Storm Debi didn’t really cause much damage, but it was very windy one day. I was sitting there, minding my own business, when I heard a crash against the window. When I looked up, all I saw was the branch of the oak tree waving in the wind. I couldn’t believe that it was now so long, that it reached our window. That would mean the tree needs some surgery. But then as I was having all those negative, worrying thoughts, I saw the broomhead hitting the window. Yes, it was the window cleaner trying to clean our second floor windows from the ground, using a very long pole, pumping water up to the brush head.

It was our turn to collect the children from school this week. Yes, it’s been a while, and of course, the first question out of William’s mouth was, ‘What is our snack?’ Well, Oma had taken time out today to bake some shortbread with choc chips. Very nice.

Martha and William sewed up Christmas ornaments. I videoed Martha as she concentrated hard, but William requested not to be filmed.

But an hour later, after Jenny and Liam had arrived and we’d enjoyed our sweetcorn soup, William was quite happy to be filmed while reciting the Christmas song he’ll soon be performing at school.

We visited Aviva Studios for a walk along the canals, and into Salford. It was a short, leisurely walk, and it was disappointing that so few of us turned up for it.

I’d not seen the building from across the canal before, and it does look very… different. Knowing how big the spaces are inside, I began to wonder whether there is some Tardis technology involved. We had coffee and sandwiches while listening to music inside.

This was all part of The Welcome, a week-long series of events to welcome this new venue to Manchester, and to welcome us to it.

Liesel and I then paid a visit to Waterstones. It’s the largest bookshop in the north of England, apparently, and it certainly felt like it. All those tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of books, and we only bought one. I did note some books that I’d like to read one day. And I do wonder why I keep the old, long list of recommendations when I know I’ll never catch up on the backlog. After dining at Thaikhun, which is a great, punny name for a resturant, we returned to Aviva Studios to visit the circus.

Well, not a circus in the conventional sense, this was Afrique en Cirque presented by Kalabanté Productions. We were lost in colourful costumes and scenery, as daring acrobats performed gravity-defying moves and dancers took us on a journey through Guinea – all to the sounds of live Afrojazz and traditional West African instruments, from percussion to kora. I could have listened to the kora all night, such a beautiful sound.

The acrobats were astounding, so agile and strong. There was a bit of juggling too and one flexible guy who seemingly didn’t have any bones in his body at all. We couldn’t watch his contortions in full, we just couldn’t work out what he was doing. How did he put that leg there? Where’s his head?

It was a terrific show and I’d recommend seeing them at some point, but we watched what was to be the final performance here in Manchester on this occasion.

I attended an interesting meeting with about thirty other Wythenshawe Radio volunteers. Refreshments were taken, including my first mince pies of the year.

Even though we’re now on DAB, there are no immediate plans to change the name from Wythenshawe Radio, WFM 97.2. My show this week was Greens. Don’t forget your greens. Two hours of songs featuring the colour green and other greens. You can listen to Mick’s Mossy Music Mix right here.

Not much

Well that was a quick week with not much going on. After many years, I had my chipped tooth repaired. And a couple of days later, I donated another armful of blood. My back recovered slowly: I think this was the worst, longest-lasting back problem since I stopped working. Towards the end of the week, I went out for a couple of walks, but nothing too strenuous.

Liesel went out or a walk with Sue, to Chorlton Water Park, with a view to leading a group here at some point. She doesn’t often take pictures, but she got a couple of crackers today.

It seems that herons allow Liesel to get closer than I’m able to: maybe it’s something I said.

It was a very nice walk, maybe just a bit muddy in places.

Remember, remember, it’s now November, so of course that means that since before Halloween, there have been fireworks going off most nights. I don’t want to turn into a grumpy old man (too late, says Liesel) but I’m pretty sure fireworks are much louder and more unpleasant than they used to be. I totally failed to capture any of the displays through the window, but if you’re interested, I have a set of photos of the bright night-time sky, glorious in its greyness.

Autumn draws on and when the Sun’s out, the seasonal colours really do show up beautifully. I think this is the prettiest tree in Northenden right now.

As I took this picture, a lady at the bus stop commented on how pretty it was, too.

Someone got in touch on Instagram, a total stranger, but an interesting character. I wondered what sort of scam it was, so I kept myself entertained for half an hour chatting with her (or him, of course). Turns out, my ancestors have been talking to her, and she can help me unlock whatever it is that’s caused me to be held back. I had to light a candle, burn some sage and get a bowl of water. I was in bed at the time, and I wasn’t getting up for that sort of nonsense. So I used AI, specifically Dall-E to generate a ‘photo’ of my candle and bowl of water.

My Goddess, yes, that is how she described herself, complimented me on my set-up. Then asked for $50 for a reading and did I have Paypal. Good night, Goddess. I put my phone on to charge and started reading my book instead.

Liesel and Sue went for a nice walk at Alderley Edge too, another one I had to miss. Don’t worry, I kept myself busy on the computer.

The horses came over to see whether Liesel had any spare wellington boots. It’s nice to make friends when you’re out walking in the muddy Autumn countryside.

Meanwhile, I saw the first Christmas tree of the year, over there in Wythenshawe. Did it make me feel festive? No, not really.

I’m sure it will be delightful when it’s decorated. But look at the sky. This week, it’s been raining a lot, and the blue sky was a rare sight. But I shouldn’t really complain about the weather here when it’s so much worse in Anchorage. When our friend Una opened the garage door, she was met with a wall of snow, eighteen inches deep. I’ll never understand why Alaskans don’t hibernate. Polar bears have got the right idea.

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow

Brrr.

You can warm yourself up by listening to Mick’s Music Mix: the theme this week is Alliteration, what a wonderful way to wind up the week.

Berries and Monsters

Liesel and I went our separate ways on Saturday morning. I went for a short walk near home and visited the bread shop in Didsbury. Even though the queue was out of the door and round the corner, I waited patiently because the almond croissants here are delicious.

Meanwhile, Liesel went into Manchester where she encountered some monsters. Scary stuff. (Said the monsters when they saw Liesel 😉 )

Liesel joined a group of people for a long walk starting in Mills Hill near Oldham, a part of the world that we’d never visited before. And what a nice walk it was, with a friend and a lot of strangers.

We did go out for a few walks together though this week, we weren’t really trying to avoid each other.

Burnage Rugby Football Club car park was flooded. There is a massive drainage issue here.

But this was the meeting point for a walk along the Mersey towards Stockport and back. Along the river, so it was flat, no undulations to speak of. The Autumn colours are pretty but the sign for Heaton Mersey Bleach Works seemed a lot less romantic. We stopped for a break within sight of the Stockport Pyramid, something we’ve not seen for a few years, although we had driven by it on many occasions.

The return walk was maybe a bit more leisurely: it’s funny how you notice different things. And have time to take more photos.

One day, maybe, we’ll walk the whole of the Trans Pennine Trail, but meanwhile, seeing short segments from time to time will have to do.

Back at the rugby club, we had a cup of coffee and some of Gwyneth’s delicious cake.

The walk from Poynton to Bramhall was good too, and not only because we had to catch a train. It was a cloudy day, but the threatened rain didn’t materialise.

I didn’t even know there was a lake at Poynton, but there is, and we all went skinny dipping.

No, we didn’t, that would have been a cold, horrible experience. Similarly, none of us were brave enough to cross the stream on these stepping stones.

In the evening, I was one of just a few special people who attended an event organised by Thrive Manchester and Factory International. It was a discussion about AI, taking its cue from the film The Matrix and the show we saw last week, Free Your Mind. In the process, pictures were generated of Jeremy Corbyn riding an elephant and the Pope smoking a joint. That’s what AI was invented for.

As I walked to and from the venue, I passed by several Trick or Treaters, some in really creative outfits. Further afield of course, Martha and William dressed up scarily too.

And then back at home, I enjoyed Jessica Lee Morgan and Christian Thomas poerform some spooky songs online.

I think we’ve been to Formby at least once every year since we’ve lived up north. But not this year, until now. It was another Walkaday walk, and involved more train rides, after a drive to Southport.

This was where we caught the train to Formby. From where we walked to Freshfields, and then took the return train to Southport. The walking route took us to the beach, along the beach, over the dunes and through some woods where we hoped, but failed, to see red squirrels.

Whenever I go to the seaside, I still find it exciting to see the sea for the first time. Coming out of the woods though also exposed us to seemingly gale force winds. Storm Ciarán was battering the south of the country and the Channel Islands, but it was also very windy here.

The wind turbines were spinning a lost faster than usual, and we watched a couple of tankers fighting the ocean waves.

Fortunately, we walked along the beach from south to north, with the wind at our backs. The tide was high, the sea was rough. So we all went skinny dipping. No, of course we didn’t. Nobody would be daft enough to go in the sea today, surely? Well…

The grass was holding the dunes in place, mostly, but there are a couple of bald patches that I don’t recall seeing before.

It was still windy when we stopped for our lunch break and while Liesel and some others remained standing to eat their picnics, I and a few others decided to sit under the boardwalk by the lifeguard’s station. That was a big mistake on my part. Yes, I ate in relative calm but there were longer term side effects.

I managed to get a grain of sand in my eye, right at the last minute, just was we turned off the beach, out of the wind, to walk over the dunes and into the woods known as Squirrel Walk. I tried to rinse out the object, but the public toilet that we found didn’t have proper wash basins nor mirrors. All I could do was try not to rub too much.

After catching a train back to Southport, the drive back home was long. It was dark, we passed a couple of accidents, there was a lot of ‘rush hour’ traffic. And when I got out of the car at home, I realised my back was in a bad way. Probably from crouching and contorting under that boardwalk, just to shelter from the wind for a few minutes. I think that was the hardest, longest walk up the stairs since we moved here. Despite that, I had a shower, trying to rinse what felt like half the beach out of my eye. It didn’t work. All I could do was go to bed, lie down, close my eyes and feel sorry for myself.

Next day, my eye felt better but my back was still not right. Once I find a comfortable position, I just want to stay there forever. And even though I know that, probably, going for a walk will be good for me, I didn’t leave the flat for the rest of the week. Liesel went out for a couple of walks though.

Some good news though: Wythenshawe Radio is now broadcast on DAB across south Manchester, Stockport, Tameside and parts of Cheshire and the High Peak. So if you’re in those areas, and you have a fairly modern DAB radio, not old like ours, please tune in!

The theme for my show this week was Occupations. If you missed it, you can catch up here on Mixcloud.

Folk and rabbits

We were still recovering from our night out when we embarked on a second night out in a row. New Century Hall was the venue, a new one for us. Rather than drive into the city centre, we thought we’d go by tram. It’s only a five minute walk from Victoria Station, what could possibly go wrong? Well, the same old thing, setting off from the station in totally the wrong direction to start with. Still, we found the place, parked ourselves and prepared for a couple of hours of superb entertainment.

First up, Frankie Archer, the electro folk artist from Northumberland, whom we saw earlier in the year. Her songs are haunting and she makes good use of tech in her performance.

Her first EP Never So Red comes out next week so place your orders now!

By coincidence, she appeared on TV later in the evening, on the prestigious Later With Jools Holland, available on the iPlayer if you would like to see Frankie in action.

Let me blow my own trumpet by saying that I was the host for her first radio interview a little while ago!

She was supporting The Breath, a folk duo comprising Stuart McCallum (former guitarist of The Cinematic Orchestra) and Irish singer Ríoghnach Connolly who is now based in Manchester. We’ve been wanting to see her perform live since we saw her online a couple of times during the lockdowns. Great voice, very expressive and she’s dead funny too. Their new album Land Of My Other is terrific, and while you’re online, you might as well order that too.

The only thing we didn’t like about the venue was, the seats were hard plastic and everyone’s bum went numb. But the music was lovely.

Back in Victoria Station, we saw another Manchester Bee to add to our collection. I think that’s four so far, no idea how many there are in total.

Liesel’s appointments with the physio have now moved to Mondays. As she walked home after today’s session, she sent a text asking me to meet her at The Mess Café, so that made me leave the house and go for a quick walk. And the coffee there is really good. On the way, I found evidence of more crap driving in Northenden. Somebody must have hit this tree with a 10-ton truck at 100mph if it was knocked over so far, that it needed cutting down. What a shame.

The occupants of those houses must be relieved that the tree didn’t topple over completely.

Earlier in the year, Frankie Archer ran a little contest on Twitter and I was the lucky winner. The prize was, she would write a song for me. Well, it’s arrived. Liesel’s Tune, for that is its name, is very catchy. We both love it. It’s a bit of an earworm. Thank you very much, Frankie!

We walked the usual walks in Northenden and Wythenshawe. But a surprise treat was looking after the children one morning. Martha made granola, and took a lot of it home. William completed a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle with a little help, but he was proud of his accomplishment.

Martha was playing with my phone and found the Shaun the Sheep film Farmageddon on BBC iPlayer. She wanted to watch it, so we did, not on the phone but on TV. That’s the second time I’ve seen it recently, and it is great fun, taking the mick out of so many iconic science fiction films.

The day could have been ruined by a visit to the dentist, but it was alright, the hygienist did her stuff, an unpleasant experience and I realised that what I need is jaws like snakes have, with stretchable tendons so that I can open my mouth as wide as I think the hygienist wants me to!

I saw Liesel with Sue on Northenden Bridge. They were off to join a walk in Fletcher Moss Gardens. I didn’t know how I’d feel after the dentist, so I didn’t commit ahead of time, but I now knew I could catch them up.

Storm Babet brought lots of rain to us, and the evidence is still all around us. Lots of puddles and the river is flowing high and fast. There is debris on the island, so if you need a new project, there’s a bicycle there that probably needs a bit of TLC…

But the path by the river was (duh!) wet and muddy and slippery so I couldn’t really walk fast enough to catch up. It wasn’t until we were turning on to the path to Fletcher Moss that they realised I was right behind them. This was a Walkaday Walk and its route? From Fletcher Moss to Northenden and back again.

It was quite a large group that walked to Northenden at which point I ducked out. Liesel and Sue walked back to Fletcher Moss and back again to Northenden. That was a long day for them!

Another show in Manchester beckoned. Free Your Mind runs for one more week and is selling out fast, so be quick!

Again we travelled into the city by tram. The show takes its inspiration from the film The Matrix so it was fun to see the platforms at Deansgate station newly decorated in this way.

We enjoyed a pleasant walk to the venue, Aviva Studios. I’m glad we were early enough to see the white rabbits in the foyer. And people walking on batteries.

Walking on batteries? Yes, cylinders resembling large Duracell batteries, rolling on the floor while someone walks on top. A circus skill that I never really tried.

Our seats were at the back of the Circle, so we had to climb about 3,000 stairs to get there. Vertiginous I think is the word. But we had a good view of the stage which is all that matters, really.

The perfomance began with Alan Turing talking about the potential of computers. Followed by lots of music and dance and light sabres and a strange Maypole dance. At the interval, things were still going on. Neo appeared in various guises. More photo opps, although Liesel wasn’t too keen on posing.

The second half of the show was in a different space, with a very wide stage, and a very wide TV screen above. More dancing, special effects and drama that we watched while standing up, unfortunately: not enough seating for everyone. No photos allowed, but I grabbed the curtain call, don’t tell anybody.

We now want to see the film again, because I’m sure some of the music and dance and effects and features come from The Matrix, but we don’t know how!

An unexpected bonus was getting seats on the tram home.Well, as close to home as the tram network goes, Sale Water Park, where our car was one of the last half dozen parked in the Park and Ride car park.

Four walks and a crossword

Dunham Massey is one of the three National Trust properties closest to us here in Northenden. One day, we will visit the actual house, but not this time. Our habit is to wander through the garden and then go for a longer walk around the deer park.

The garden was busier than usual, but then we don’t usually visit on a Saturday. They’re fighting a losing battle against the rabbits who still find a way into the garden somehow… I’m sure absolutely everybody closes the gates properly every time.

As ever, I stand to be corrected, I don’t really know the names of these plants, but I do like a splash of colour.

We were a bit late but we successfully caught up with a guided walk hosted by Tony. He took us to parts of the park that we’d never visited before. His commentary was informative and funny, but he did have a few issues with NT management and some of their decisions. Such as closing the mill to the public except for one day a week. Many volunteers hadn’t returned after the pandemic, so that doesn’t help.

I mentioned colour, and you had to be quick to see it, but the very tip of a rainbow appeared above the trees, over there.

It didn’t last long, and it didn’t mean that it had recently rained here, nor was it going to, at least not until we were driving home later on.

One of the original occupants, the Earl of Warrington maybe, based the design of the grounds on the gardens at Versailles. Well, I can see that. Not all of the paths have been paved though. One, Langham Grove, leads to an obelisk which was erected in 1714 by the 2nd Earl of Warrington in memory of his mother.

At one point, I was told off for walking in the area fenced off as the Deer Sanctuary. Fair enough, but the alternative would have been walking through what could have been knee-deep mud. Plus, the only deer we saw wasn’t in the Sanctuary anyway! And then later, we saw a stag lying down way over there.

The coffee and walnut cake was about the best I’ve ever had. Sadly, it was the last slice so I couldn’t even have seconds.

Wythenshawe Park is the nearest green space to where we live. Northenden Village Green is a mere postage stamp in comparison. We joined an organised walk here on another dry day, with I think about twenty-five other people. On this occasion, we didn’t see anything new to us in the park, but it was a very slow walk. Plus, we stopped every few minutes.

So I don’t think we’ll be joining this particular group again. Oh, except that one of the ladies had brought cake. Very nice cake, and plenty of it.

It was our turn to look after the children this week one day, after school. The craft activity and food preparation were combined on this occasion. We asked Martha what she wanted for supper and she replied ‘sushi’. So, for the first time ever, Martha, William and I made sushi. It was fiddly but fun and I’m sure next time, we’ll handle the sticky rice better.

Jenny and Liam came round too to join us for our sushi supper. Followed by dessert: a pineapple, not a €28 one fresh from the Azores, just a normal one from Ocado, and a pomegranate that we’d brought home from Portugal. Martha peeled and prepared the latter: she’s been a pomegranate fan since she was a baby. Well, nearly.

Liesel went out to a WI Craft Group meeting and I managed to tidy up and do all the washing up in less than an hour! Who knew making and eating sushi would require the use of so much kitchenware?!

My other major achievement this week was completing the largest crossword I’ve ever seen. I solved 1,322 clues in less than thirteen hours. (On and off, over several days, I don’t think anyone could complete the challenge in one sitting.) They even sent me a certificate, which I shall frame… no I won’t.

Good luck to you if you’re going to have a go!

The regular Thrive Manchester walks were all cancelled this week, but that didn’t stop some of us from turning up anyway and going for a walk through the woods. The crunchy Autumn leaves hide a multitude of sins, especially muddy puddles. My new shoes no longer look brand new.

We did join a Walkaday walk too this week, starting and ending in Parrs Wood. Or East Didsbury if your prefer. It took us along the river Mersey, a very nicely paved path, not like the rocky road between Northenden and Simon’s Bridge. The only wildlife we saw were a few horses. Not that wild I suppose. Someone had beaten us to the blackberries too, so that was disappointing.

Mersey Vale Nature Park was very pleasant. On another day, I’m sure I would have picked some apples in the orchard, but I didn’t want to have to lug them all the way back home today!

We were looking out for herons of course, and saw a few ducks, but the most exotic bird was this cormorant way over there in the middle of the river.

So far this week, we’ve been walking a lot and that’s good of course. But we did go out to a show which was also very good. We didn’t expect a musical, but that’s what it was. Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! was first performed in Edinburgh but we saw the show at HOME in Manchester. A fine evening’s entertainment.

And by luck, this venue is just a stone’s throw from The Indian Tiffin Room. This was a favourite restaurant of ours but we haven’t been since before the pandemic lockdowns. Last time, we couldn’t get in because we hadn’t booked a table. Liesel booked a table this time, no need to make that mistake again! So we watched the play with very full stomachs, very nice, very tasty! One of the starters was ITR Sweetcorn Fry, new to the menu, apparently. It was very enjoyable and we tried to work out what was in the mix. I caught myself saying ‘It’s got pomegranate in it, innit!’

A couple of weeks ago, Helen sent us bingo cards from The Freshwater Beach House Bingo Bangers game. I decided the songs listed on these bingo cards could become a fantastic radio show. And so it came to pass. You can listen right here.