Autobiographical

Alaskans in London

While we were asleep in Chessington, good friends of ours were flying into Heathrow Airport all the way from Anchorage. Una, Phil and Kiran were visiting London for a few days before setting off for Barcelona, where Kiran will be studying for the next six months.

Today’s adventure began with a drive along the wonderful M25 to meet and greet them at the airport. No way could we all fit in our car, even without travellers’ luggage. So Liesel drove with the bags and her Mom to Una’s accommodation in Eltham. Meanwhile, my mission, which I was happy to accept, was to escort the visitors on public transport.

The first experience wasn’t very welcoming: we had to stand most of the way on the Piccadilly line train from Heathrow to Piccadilly Circus. So many people, so many huge cases.

It was a drab day and despite appearances, this really is a colour photo of Eros. It was fun showing visitors the sights and sites of our capital city. We certainly did a lot of walking over the next few days.

Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth has a new display.

Mil Veces un Instante (A thousand times an Instant) by Teresa Margolles

It’s a cuboid constructed from the face casts of 726 trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people from the UK and Mexico, where the artist, Teresa Margolles, comes from.

More details here, at least until a new display comes along!

Our first choice for lunch was the crypt of St Martin in the Fields. But it wasn’t yet open. We went into the church itself, but we left fairly quickly as there was a service taking place. We walked on towards Leicester Square where we enjoyed a light breakfast.

Whitehall was busy and there were no protesters at the gates of Downing Street. Maybe it was too cold. Maybe there’s nothing to protest about, any more.

It was definitely a day to be a tourist. We didn’t join the queue, though, to have our photo taken by a particular telephone box with Big Ben, Elizabeth Tower, in the background.

You can see it was still not yet noon. And it was still too early to check in at the flat, so we made our way to Oxford Circus.

Walking up Regent Street, I pointed out the balcony at BBC Broadcasting House where U2 had performed a few years ago: Phil and Una are big U2 fans. We intruded on a church service taking place in All Souls, just over the road. That’s two. Keep forgetting it’s Sunday. Oops.

There were a couple of shops that Kiran wanted to visit, the sort of shop that I would never normally darken the doors of.

Sorry to say, I found the display of sewing machines here in AllSaints more interesting than the fashions. Although I was nearly tempted to buy a nice, fluffy, warm jumper. Nearly.

We also visited Liberty, a place I don’t think I’ve been inside for half a century. The main reason was to visit the loo, although it was interesting to watch the other shoppers going about their business. And I did compliment the shop assistant who was dressed as a rag doll. Yeah, I know: creepy old man.

Phil and Una were impressed by the Christmas lights in Regent Street, and of course we’d come back to see them illuminated at some point.

While walking down Regent Street, I had to show them Heddon Street, the location of David Bowie’s photoshoot for the cover of his Ziggy Stardust album.

Funny thing is, I don’t think anyone believed me when I told them this was the London Eye. It’s really Lost Echoes by Charlotte Colbert, a new addition to this area, where there are a few Bowie-themed establishments.

More pounding the streets, over to Seven Dials. A long queue at the fish and chip shop deterred us, and Seven Dials Market was very busy too.

Check-in time was 3pm, so we found our way to Eltham by train. Liesel brought the luggage over, and the visitors settled into the flat. Promptly falling asleep. Tired, jet-lagged travellers, all.

Liesel, Leslie and I were staying at a Premier Inn nearby.

After a good night’s sleep, we all met up at the flat, greeted by a flock of noisy green parrakeets.

We planned to go to Greenwich this morning. Train to Lewisham then DLR. Easy. Except it was a fast train and it didn’t stop at Lewisham. Plan B then, go on the Jubilee line from Waterloo. We had a pleasant walk, seeing more of Greenwich than anticpated. And it was good to see the masts of the Cutty Sark over the rooftops, confirming we were heading in the right direction, even if Google Maps was joshing with us, changing its mind about which direction we should be walking in.

We wandered around Greenwich Market, to pass the time, and bought some snacks. After a coffee break, we boarded the boat for our cruise on the Thames. It was hard to know which side to sit, left or right, port or starboard, since both sides of the river have plenty of things to see.

Neither Liesel nor I could remember any of the famous ‘celebs’ who live in these apartments. And of course, they’re well out of our price range.

We were very lucky, though. I’ve only seen Tower Bridge raised twice before, but today was my third time. There was no sign of a tall ship, so I assume it was just a regular test. Perfect timing, though.

Phil and I were the only ones in our group to brave the upper deck, outside in the chilly wind. I did feel sorry for the girl behind the bar. I don’t think any of us passengers bought anything from her. Perhaps the sign saying ‘Cash Only’ didn’t help.

We sailed under more London bridges before docking at Westminster Pier. It was a very smooth voyage. We then walked back along the river, admiring the real London Eye, now wholly visible, not half hidden in very low cloud like it was yesterday.

We walked to the the fish & chip shop, Rock and Sole Plaice, and again, there was quite a long queue. This time, though, we decided to join and wait. Una and Liesel went off to browse another clothes shop, one of Liesel’s favourites, Gudrun Sjoden. I paid a quick visit to Seven Dials Market, thinking I’d get some lunch here since I wasn’t interested in fish & chips. Well, it was full. Queues at every food outlet, no spare tables. I did come across a hero of mine, though:

It looks like a Banksy but I don’t think it is. Eventually, the six of us found ourselves n the basement of Rock and Sole Plaice, and I was pleased to see they had pies on the menu too. Cheese, onion and potato for me. Plus, I introduced our visitors to mushy peas. Unimpressed is the word, I think.

As staunch royalists, of course we had to pay a visit to Buckingham Palace. We walked via Covent Garden Market, Trafalgar Square again, but not under Admiralty Arch which was covered in hoarding, along the Mall where we mingled with thousands of other visitors.

We’d noticed lots of barriers and fences everywhere, probably to be used for crowd control on New Years’ Eve. Leslie was getting tired so she and Liesel returned to our hotel by taxi, tube and train. Phil, Una, Kiran and I walked across Green Park to catch a bus back to Oxford Circus. At last, it was dark enough to fully appreciate the Christmas lights.

Kiran and Una wanted to go shopping so Phil and I went on a pub crawl. When I say ‘pub crawl’, I mean we visited four pubs before finding one that wasn’t too crowded, too noisy, and we even found a couple of seats at the Red Lion. So we had a pint of beer, Sam Smiths bitter in my case, which I don’t think I’ve imbibed for several years. We were entertained by a group of young lads playing darts, hindered by the fact that they couldn’t agree on the exact location of the oche, the throw line. Like the rest of the carpet, it was well-worn.

There was no 4G signal here, so I had to send an SMS to Liesel asking her to let Una know where we were. Una and Kiran found us, and while they enjoyed more beer, I set off back to the hotel. On the walk back from the railway station, I admired some local street art.

Well done Year 4 at St Olave’s Prep School

Meanwhile, Phil, Una and Kiran visited Hamley’s and met a very imposing figure.

Back home up north, Jenny and family visited Dunham Massey to see the lights and succeeded in not tripping over the hundreds of miles of cables.

In other news, let us congratulate nephew Robert and his fiancée Cristy on their announcement! Yes, great news from Vancouver. Time to buy a new hat.

Even though Borough Market is one of our favourites in London, we didn’t pay a visit on this occasion. Phil, Una and Kiran did though, along with thousands of other people.

Liesel, Leslie and I visited Waterloo Station to begin our walk along the South Bank. There’s a new installation in the station, designed to acknowledge and celebrate the outstanding contribution and dedication of the Windrush Generation to British history,

The monument symbolises the courage, commitment and resilience of the thousands of men, women and children who travelled to the UK from 1948 to 1971.

It has been created as a permanent place of reflection fostering greater understanding of the Windrush Generation’s talent, hard work and loyalty to Britain, inspiring future generations forever.

Again, we passed by many fences and barriers, plus hoarding that was hiding a lot of building and refurbishment work. These days, you need a ticket to go into London for the New Year’s Eve revelries, but Liesel and I strongly suspected we’d all be in bed well before midnight.

We’d had a hotel breakfast, so at Tate Modern, we just needed a quick snack really. Liesel and I had very different ideas about what to eat:

After crossing the Millenium Bridge towards St Paul’s Cathedral, we easily found the required bus stop.

We’d arranged to meet our Alaskan visitors outside the British Museum, which I thought was less busy than usual: there wasn’t a long queue outside, with people waiting for their bags to be searched.

We all spent time admiring the Parthenon Marbles and reading the story. Who knows? Maybe one day, they will be returned to Greece.

It’s a big Museum and would need many more visits to see everything. Has anyone, ever, done so?

I couldn’t find the mummified worm, but we did see other mummified animals upstairs. There’s only so long one can walk slowly around such places, so a cup of tea and a slice of cake is always welcome afterwards.

Una was so tired, she fell asleep and missed out on joining the rest of us for our most enjoyable evening meal in Bromley’s Aqua Bar and Grill. Afterwards, Liesel, Leslie, Phil, Kiran and I squoze into our small car, but at least we didn’t have to shoe-horn Una into the boot. After dropping them off at the flat, the three of us returned to our hotel to see in the new year. We heard fireworks at midnight, but I for one didn’t bother getting up to look out of the window.

2025 began with us heading for Canary Wharf where we’d planned to have breakfast at Dishoom. Where? Each Dishoom is a love letter to Bombay – its food and its culture, its many varied people, its rich history and its endless eccentricities.

I do like seeing works of art out in the streets, and when I first saw this one, I wondered whether it might be a depiction of a mother and child. But no.

We passed this item as we walked from Canary Wharf Station to the restaurant, where we met up with our visitors. Our waiter was very helpful and friendly and we all enjoyed our meal. Vegan sausage and fried eggs in a naan roll for me. And about three pints of sweet, spicy chai.

Outside, the wind was picking up, and it was beginning to rain a bit. Liesel and her Mom retired to the hotel while the rest of us went over to Kings Cross to visit Harry Potter’s Platform 9¾. The queue for photos was ridiculously long. The queue for the shop wasn’t too bad, so we waited and, again, I didn’t purchase a wand because I just couldn’t decide which one to go for.

We did sample the Fizzing Whizzbees, which according to the packaging, are a delicious snack and everybody’s favourite. Lies.

We caught the tube to Baker Street where we had a quick glance at the statue of Sherlock Holmes in the rain. Then onto St Johns Wood, followed by a ten minute walk to Abbey Road. Phil, in particular, wanted to see the pedestrian crossing featured on the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album.

I think the shop is new, and we spent quite a while looking at the books and records and mementoes on sale here.

And again, I was not equipped to graffiti my name on the wall outside the Abbey Road Studios.

Back at Waterloo Station, we had a coffee before heading over to Covent Garden for afternoon tea. Nobody likes going to Covent Garden tube station, because of the lifts or, alternatively, having to climb nearly 200 stairs. But, because of the rain today, we decided it was worth the effort to stay dry for an extra five minutes.

Of course, we spent some time wandering around the market before meeting up with Liesel and Leslie at the chosen venue, Ladurée, a place we’ve walked by many times in the past.

It was a very relaxed afternoon tea. In fact, for a while, we thought the staff might be a bit too relaxed. Still, we got served in the end and I was fully sated, didn’t need anything for an evening meal.

I think we all agreed it had been fun showing Phil, Una and Kiran around London for a few days, but it was now sadly time to say goodbye. They were off to Barcelona for a few days, and we hope to see them again later in the year. Thank you all for being such good sports and for massively increasing my step count for a few days! Liesel, her Mom and I were staying in London for a little longer.

As it’s the start of 2025, everyone’s talking about their New Years’ Resolutions. I don’t usually make them, I try and adjust my behaviour whenever the thought occurs, throughout the year. But today, I did take
£90 and set fire to it in the hotel car park. It was so much easier to waste money and save time this way, rather than going to a gym, registering, and never going back again afterwards.

Anyway, Happy New Year, ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between.

Southbound

The final WI Committee meeting of the year took place, and according to Liesel, it didn’t turn into a drunken orgy. But whatever happened, it didn’t make the local newspaper.

On Christmas Eve, we treated the car to a wash and brush-up. I think most of the moss and the guano was washed off and the wheel hubs look much better without that layer of rust. I sometimes wonder whether the dirt is holding the vehicle together.

Later on, the family came round for our (new tradional) Christmas Eve potato and leek soup (Liesel’s version), salad and a selection of home-baked cookies: thank you Liesel. After clearing the table, we played the Dreidel Game for Hannukah. Martha and William enjoy the game, even more so when they know that regardless of the outcome, they’ll be going away with a tub of chocolate coins.

We enjoyed another wonderful Northenden sunset, not all the colours of the rainbow, but at least one of them.

Christmas Day, the most wonderful day of the year, according to at least one song. We shared in William and Martha’s excitement when we went round for brunch. Not when they first woke up, though, soon after 3.00am!

We went for a postprandial perambulation to a nearby playground, passing through the graveyard. Martha rode her bike, William scootered because one of his bicycle tyres was flat. It was a very pleasant afternoon and we burned off about 2% of the calories consumed earlier.

Did I say brunch? It was a huge meal, so much so, that we didn’t need to eat much at home for the rest of the day, just a quick snack. The Christmas Doctor Who was good. We also watched the final ever Gavin & Stacey. We saved Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl for the next day! Hundreds of pages of listings in the Radio Times, and that’s pretty much all it came down to, for us.

On the radio, Wythenshawe FM repearted one of my Christmas shows from a couople of years ago, and on Boom Radio, we heard a 2-special celebrating Kenny Everett’s time on Radio Luxembourg and Capital Radio, on what would have been his 80th birthday. An d I am enjoying the latest, the 82nd, series of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue on Radio 4

Sad to say we didn’t move much at all for the next couple of days. If I were into New Year’s Resolutions, mine would be to definitely go for a walk every single day. But I’m not. I resolve to do that quite frequently, throughout they year, and it never lasts long

Meanwhile, in Christchurch, New Zealand, Pauline and Andrew have signed up for this very special party in the new year.

We’d been looking forward to our end-of-year visit to London for some time. Again, we decided not to book a train, the service is so unreliable. We drove south: the traffic wasn’t too bad.

Once we hit the M6, Liesel didn’t need a lot of help with navigating, and I did my best not to fall asleep. In the back seat, Leslie was counting birds’ nests in the trees and concentrated long enough to reach 100. If she’d been counting sheep instead, she might easily have fallen asleep.

At the services, the sign told us to Drive Thru Starbucks. So we did. We drove thru Starbucks without stopping.

The biggest laugh of course came from Google Maps which warned us that there was unusually heavy traffic on M25. No, mate, that’s not unusual at all.

And of course, when you’re on the M25 and you think your car’s falling apart, it’s just the very loud and presumably very cheap concrete surface you have to drive on in some places.

Our first choice of accommodation was the Premier Inn in Tolworth. But it was fully booked. So we slummed it at Premier Inn, Chessington, next door to the World of Adventures. It was comfortable enough.

We drove into Surbiton where we met up with Helen and Steve at the old place, Allegro’s, for a pizza. After this, Liesel, Leslie and Helen caught the train into London to watch Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre. This play was enjoyed by all, although I did feel a little jealous that I’d missed out when Liesel told me Pearl Mackie was in it: she played Bill Potts in Doctor Who for a very short while.

But I was pleased to be able to enjoy a relaxing massage on this Saturday night, thank you very much. If only I could have fallen asleep straightaway afterwards, rather than having to catch a bus and walk several hundred metres along Leatherhead Road.

I was in a room by myself while Liesel shared with her Mom: this was to be the sleeping arrangement for the next few days. After a nice, but short, sleep, we got up early, packed and checked out. No time today for a delicious Premier Inn breakfast. Things to do, places to go, people to see…

It’s the season

One thing I never do in Anchorage is take a bus somewhere. I did once, on my first visit. I fell asleep and ended up at the airport. So, back home now, we’re again in the habit of taking buses here and there. But this news was a little disconcerting:

Thanks to whoever put this up on social media, it potentially saved me from a very long wait.

The gardeners came and removed all the fallen leaves from the communal car park. We no longer have to slide on or squelch through ankle deep leaf litter to reach our car. That was an exciting day, watching the workers.

We drove over to Cheadle Hulme to watch Martha and William swimming, and again, Martha’s diving was impressive, something I’ve never been able to do

Wythenshawe Radio offered a quick course which I attended, in a training room above the library in Wythenshawe Forum. It felt strange walking through a classroom to get there, but it was a fun couple of hours.

My wife, mother-in-law and I ventured into Manchester, walked through the Christmas Market but didn’t engage. No overpriced Glühwein for us. A quick spot of Christmas shopping but en passant, I couldn’t help but notice the odd typo. Maybe there’s a competition taking place that I’m not aware of.

Manchester has been well decorated and we were impressed by the tree. The photo of Liesel and Leslie in front of it wasn’t very good, so I photoshopped them out.

I visited the pharmacy for my booked Covid jab but they hadn’t yet received the delivery. Another sign that the whole of society is going to the dogs. They did call a few days later though, and I am now fully vaccinated and I feel invincible, cough, cough, splutter.

We didn’t visit the RHSGlow light show at Bridgewater. But Jenny and the family had a simply wonderful time there.

Somewhere else we’re not is Christchurch, New Zealand, a city proud to home my sister Pauline and her other half Andrew. It’s meant to be Summer there, so imagine my delight when Pauline sent photos after a recent, heavy snowstorm. Or maybe it’s hail?

Where else didn’t we go? We didn’t see Paul McCartney in concert at the Arena in Manchester. It may just be old age, but we didn’t really like the venue last time we went. Plus, the last time I saw him perform, at the O2, with Jenny, a few years ago, I thought it was the best Beatles concert I’d ever see and it probably couldn’t be topped. Now, of course, a few days after the event, I wish I’d gone. (Apart from Hey Jude, which would have been my cue to visit the toilets.)

Leslie’s birthday came and on the day, we collected the children from school, brought them home for a spot of craftwork, specifically decorating pine cones that they’d picked up in Formby on a recent visit, after which, we joined Jenny and Liam for a birthday meal.

You can tell William’s a proper little boy. Just look at the state of this:

One major event this week. I have reached the end of the classic Doctor Who series on BBC iPlayer, including the film made in 1996 starring Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor. The film was much better than the final couple of storylines in the TV series. A character made of licorice allsorts and cats riding horses, that’s all you need to know. Now, we’re all looking forward to this year’s special Doctor Who episode on Christmas Day.

In fact, Liesel bought the Christmas special edition of Radio Times. I thought it would be nice to see what’s on the radio over Christmas. This is Radio Times. Radio gets a mention after a mere 250 pages, national, local, BBC, commercial radio, and all the listings squoze into a mere 33 pages. Whinge of the day.

Oh, alright, here’s another one. When you want to unsubscribe from an email that you don’t remember signing up to in the first place, and you have to do several Captchas to prove you’re not a robot and the pictures aren’t clear enough so you go round and round in circles and you end up swearing you’ll never ever do business with that company. Grrr.

One thing I miss about Anchorage is that we no longer have to be on the lookout for bears. Imagine my surprise then when I encountered one here in Northenden.

This will be the final post before the big day. Liesel and I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and lots of good fortune for the new year.

This is our Christmas tree, beautifully and expertly decorated by Liesel. But, a Christmas tree made of wood? What a ridiculous idea!

And back again

And so, it came to pass, our final full day in Anchorage. And what an exciting day it was, too. The US Postal Service offer a service in which your mail is scanned, and they send you an image of what to expect. This way, when we’re in England, we can tell someone which of Leslie’s items to open and which bills to pay. Liesel took her Mom to the Post Office to show ID and set this up. They both had their hair cut before going into the office for one final session of work.

Meanwhile, this morgenmuffel emptied the bins, sorted out the newly dried laundry, did some writing and packed the bulk of my stuff. My reward was to watch the last couple of episodes of Our Universe on TV. It’s narrated by Morgan Freeman and while being interesting, some of the links made between life on Earth and the history of the universe were a bit tenuous, I thought!

In the evening, to celebrate Asa’s birthday, we joined him, Gideon, Aaron and Jodi for our final meal out. Happy birthday, Asa!

Thanks again to Jodi for the picture.

We rose at 3am. Yes, there is such a time. Aaron kindly drove us to the airport before going back to bed.

Anchorage to Seattle to Reykjavic to Manchester. Three flights, no major issues although again, the three of us were separated in the cabin.

At one airport, we sat beside a vending machine selling accessories for iPhones etc. I said to Liesel that if I ever needed a floggle toggle for my phone, I too would wait until I was in an airport and could buy it from a machine. Liesel didn’t know what a floggle toggle was, and all I could think of was, it’s a thingy, a wossname, a wotsit. But where does ‘floggle toggle’ come from? I was surprised to see it’s from the old radio series The Navy Lark, which I listened to on Sunday lunchtimes in the 1960s.

Sitting in Seattle’s South terminal was a strange experience, having been in the frozen north for so long. The Sun was streaming in, and I for one was looking for a seat in the shade.

From the plane itself, I was able to do some sightseeing. The sky was perfectly clear.

On this long flight, I did have three seats to myself and was able to catch a couple of hours of sleep.

Having the window seat, I was able to take pictures of the Aurora Borealis. The best photo includes Orion, which I am very pleased with.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, from a few rows behind, Liesel was also taking pictures of the Aurora.

Even though it was -7° when we landed at Keflavik International Airport, Iceland, I was glad to walk to the bus in my shirt sleeves, it had been ridiculously hot during the flight and the little ventilators couldn’t cope. We always enjoy the bus ride in Iceland from aeroplane to terminal.

One day, we’ll probably spend more time in Iceland, but the worst, burnt, bitterest coffee ever, here today, wasn’t a good selling point.

Flight number three took us straight into sunrise before arriving at Manchester.

And what a wonderful sight this was, B&Q Stockport, a shop that we’ve managed to avoid during our time living in Manchester.

Typical Manc weather welcomed us, a bit dull, a bit grey, but so much warmer than Anchorage had been. Glad to be home. Helen reported that she’s not faring much better down under. From the local paper: NSW weather: Wet and drab start to summer for NSW. There is no end in sight from the damaging storms and heavy rain that lashed Sydney over the weekend, with more forecast for the first week of summer.

And now we’re back to normal, slowly adapting to our new time zone, but never quite having enough sleep.

We joined a couple of walks this week, and I went into Manchester to donate another armful. Having listened to the phone conversation from the girl sitting next to me on the bus home, I’m glad I didn’t make the effort to visit the Christmas Market in Manchester. It sounds hectic, far too many people, some items far too expensive.

Best of all, haha, is that I am able to continue watching the old, classic Doctor Who series on BBC iPlayer. But I am aware that I have reached the point where I gave up on it the first time round, because it was becoming stupid. In modern parlance, it jumped the shark. But I shall persevere…

It snow joke

It took us an hour to wind our way along the queue to the check-in desk. Behind us were just as many more people. Going through Security was no problem, even if we were sent to Security A rather than Security B to start with. The Security A man maintained his patience as he sent us and every other misdirected passenger to Security B.

Before embarking on our first flight to Keflavik, Iceland, we dined on a sandwich from, er, Pret. Kevlavik provided us with a slice of pizza and we made use of the single toilet, which doesn’t seem enough for so many thousands of passengers passing through each day.

I read my book on the flight and I was delighted to see a place mentioned that I was familar with. My Dad’s Uncle Charlie, who I visited a few times, passed away in St Joseph’s Hospice on Mare Street in Hackney in 1978. The character in the book was in this hospice at about the same time. And, by the way, I can thoroughly recommend Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo. I look forward to watching the TV adaptation when we return to the UK.

The second, longer flight took us to Seattle. We were separated again and I had a window seat, boxed in by two inhabitants of Seattle. The guy next to me said that his mother had called to tell him that the Northern Lights would be visible tonight. Well, from the bowels of Seattle-Tacoma Airport, we saw nothing.

I don’t think we expected to find someone’s laundry drying in the airport, but it was very colourful.

And finally, Seattle to Anchorage. The three of us ended up in the exit row, with more leg room. So that’s a bonus. But glad we didn’t have to do anything in an emergency.

From the airport, we took a taxi home, to Leslie’s apartment. After being empty since April, of course it required a spot of airing. And boy, was it good to be horizontal for the first time in well over 24 hours.

I was expecting see the streets of Anchorage paved with snow, but no, they were clear. It was cold though, just above freezing, as we walked to the bank and to Fire Island for a sandwich and a coffee. Nor were the mountains completely covered in snow, as I expected.

Delaney Park was a bit soggy underfoot. but so far, no signs of frost or frozen puddles. Yes, I’ve been anticipating the most unpleasant of weather conditions here but after 18 hours in Anchorage, I can confirm, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. The forecast though, that’s a different kettle of salmon.

Aaron and his family came over in the evening. I was unable to stay awake, so I went to bed really early. I heard the visitors arrive but I was soon in the land of nod.

Leslie’s car hasn’t been used for 6 months, since she left to join us in Australia, so of course the battery was dead. After one failed attempt, we managed to charge the battery and we went for a drive to Leslie’s hairdresser.

More exciting though was a visit to Carrs supermarket. We nearly fell over the pile of pumpkins inside the door. Yes, Halloween’s not far away.

Our nephew Gideon has been playing American football recently, and tonight was the final of the Alaska High School Division 1 championship. None of us were that keen on driving out to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley to watch the game: instead we watched it from the comfort of the apartment. It took a while, but I downloaded the relevant app to the much larger than ours TV, subscribed, and tuned in at the right time for kick-off. Or whatever it’s called in this sport. A funny old staccato game is American football so that what starts off as four 12-minute quarters ends up taking nearly three hours to play. Gideon took three punts, kicks during the game, without which his team, West High, would have had a much worse defeat against Dimond High. This was the first American football game I’ve watched from start to finish. The commentary was good but what a shame there was only one camera. Also, we couldn’t hear the half-time entertainment, which was very disappointing. But what did come across was how windy it was there. The referee would place the ball on the ground and, before one of the players could kick it, it would be blown away.

At least on this TV channel, we weren’t bombarded with innumberable, shouty, negative election adverts.

One of my favourite DJs announced his retirement a few weeks ago. I was determined to listen to the final edition of Johnnie Walker’s Sound of the Seventies, which is broadcast at 3pm on a Sunday. Nine hours difference between Anchorage and home so that makes it, er… And this was the weekend that British Summer TIme ended, the clocks went back an hour, adding even more complexity to the calculation.

Anyway, at 7am on Sunday, I tuned in and enjoyed the very moving show. Johnnie’s final link was heartfelt and the last song was Judy Collins’ version of Amazing Grace. Lovely way to go. But then some crass jingle crashed in and ruined the moment.

We drove over to Point Woronzof Park where we’d arranged to meet Catherine and Hans. We’ve all walked on this path before. The car told us it was 27°F outside, below freezing. On this occasion, there were patches of ice in places.

The trail begins right near the airport and as the planes take off, you feel you could reach up and caress them.

Looking over the water, another picture postcard, snow-covered mountain range.

You can see how crisp and clear it was today, but, because I’d put on so many more layers of clothing than I’m used to, by the time we returned to our vehicles, I was sweating. But it was good to catch up with Catherine and Hans again after all this time.

After studying this picture with or without a magnifying glass, you may be wondering why Leslie’s chin is bruised. Well, f’narr, f’narr, you should see the other chap… But actually, a few days ago, after our very first walk, just before we arrived home, she face-planted on the sidewalk. Sandwich went one way, coffee the other and slam, straight down. It took a while to work out where the blood was coming from, nose and/or mouth, but mostly, she was just glad that no teeth were broken. Nor glasses. I can only imagine how much more lethal Anchorage becomes when the snow arrives.

Which it did the very next day. I looked out all of the windows, and there was no escaping it.

Knowing the snow was imminent, we’d been over to Amrit’s office the previous afternoon to pick up a pile of folders so that Liesel can work at home. So, there was no real need to venture out today, apart from a very short walk, over the road to the New Sagaya City Market. I like the crunch of new snow, but I feel I’ve had enough for now. It continued snowing most of the day and overnight and it was several inches deep the next morning.

Next day, I watched a guy over the road with his (by American standards) small truck and his DIY snow plough. He was clearing the snow from the road in front of his house. I say ‘clearing’, but what he was doing was pushing snow into piles in the middle of the road, and then parking his truck on the relatively clear space. I know, I know: who’s the real weirdo, him for doing that pointless task, or me for watching for so long?

Having avoided going out in the car for a couple of days, we’d waited for the main roads at least to be ploughed, oops, plowed, and we again drove to Carrs for the big shop of the week.

Already there are big piles of snow at the side of some roads. Gravel has been spread around the supermarket car park, so the ground isn’t as slippery as it looks. I still find it a bit disconcerting that from a fairly normal place like this, you can see the beauty of the mountains way over there in the distance.

But the most surprising thing is that we haven’t yet seen a single snowman. I thought there’d be a few around now, at the start of Winter. The novelty of all this snow might wear off eventually, I know, but how disappointing. If you’re wondering why I don’t go out and build one myself, I’ll just say: In these shoes? I need a new pair of boots that can protect my feet from snow that is too deep for my trainers.

And so to Halloween. We bought some treats in case we were visited by Trick or Treaters, but nobody came by. So we’ll just have to eat those peanut M&Ms ourselves. Oh well. It didn’t stop snowing all day, but in the afternoon, we did wander over the road and you should have seen the witch that served our coffee.

So what have we been up to while stuck indoors? Liesel’s been working hard. I’ve been reading a lot and doing (attempting) plenty of puzzles. I did complete the New York Times crossword one day and I was looking forward to the following day’s, but thanks to some administrative anomaly, Leslie’s subscription to the Anchorage Daily News was limited to Wednesday and Sunday. D’oh! Leslie’s been reading books and is as despairing about the weather as I am. She does have a Netflix account though, and I’ve been watching 3 Body Problem, a science fiction series released in March. I’d enjoyed reading the trilogy a few years ago and at that point, I think it was the best SF story I’d read for a long, long time. The TV series is pretty good too. So far. We also have Apple+ TV here, so I’ve managed to catch up with and finish watching Ted Lasso, as recommended by Liesel and many other folks.

It was good to see Aaron who came over, and Asa who visited twice, once bearing coffee and shortbread and once bearing chai which he brewed up for us.

And so to November. The snow finally stopped. We knew we were being treated to something special: this turned out to be the snowiest Halloween on record for Anchorage.

Not sure if this link will work outside the USA, apologies if not.

Of course, pristine, white snow doesn’t last long. Just the next day, I had to walk through slush to get to the shop over the road.

Meanwhile, back in relatively tropical England, Martha marked the day as a Times Table Rock Star.

Well done Martha!

Miles and Masks

Usually when we drive over to Sale Water Park, it’s to catch the tram into Manchester. This time we were joining an organised walk. We arrived in good time, as did a few others. The one person who didn’t make it was the leader, thanks to problems on the tram network. So the rest of us improvised, walked along the river to Chorlton Water Park for a nice stroll around the smaller body of water.

While the others continued their walk, Liesel, Leslie and I walked back along the river and had a well-deserved rest in the pub, Jackson’s Boat. I enjoyed my half of bitter shandy. The cheese and onion crisps were far too salty, but we persevered and finished the packet.

The drive to Lyme Park was long and slow. Everyone else was out for a drive on this beautiful sunny day too. We’d arranged to meet Jenny, Liam and the kiddoes for a walk here too. But only after coffee and scones and a fraught walk to the café from the car park. Fraught? Mainly because Martha and William were running down to and jumping through and across the stream. Neither of them fell in or fell over, so I would have lost that five bob bet if I’d been able to place it.

Plans to go for a longer walk around the grounds were shelved. Instead, we visited the children’s playground where we adults had plenty of exercise following the children around from swings to roundabouts to slides.

We didn’t see any deer at Lyme Park on this occasion, but our desire to see big, scary monsters was satisfied at home a couple of days later.

Yes, this huge spider appeared in our bathroom, in the middle of the night. I watched him walk around the room a couple of times, worried that he’d fit through the gap under the door and invade our bedroom. Poor old thing exited via the window during a torrential downpour, but I knew Liesel would be pleased.

Sometimes I find Noel Coward a bit twee, but sometimes he’s very funny. The three of us met up with Sue from the Thrive walks and we went to see Hay Fever at the local Northenden Theatre. This amateur group put on a very good performance, and there were some funny lines in the play. But as I said at the time, none of the characters were particularly likeable. Which can only mean it was well written and well acted.

As well as there being loads of spiders around (some indoors) and lots of cobwebs outside, it also seems to be fungus season. We’ve had mushrooms growing on the grass in our communal car park. They appear overnight and disappear just as quickly. The ones pictured are growing around the base of a tree that we pass on the walk from Martha and William’s house to their school. Martha noticed that there were at least two different kinds of mushroom here, too. She also knew that it probably wasn’t safe to eat any of them.

From school, we took them to the exciting shopping centre that is Wythenshawe, the so-called Civic. While they browsed in the craft shop, I wandered over to the pharmacy to pick up some meds. They couldn’t give me everything, so I said I’d return in a couple of days. Which I did.

Back at our home, William and Martha enjoyed decorating their masks so it was very difficult to tell them apart afterwards… no, not really.

I was discumgalligumfricated when Liesel sent me a photo marking the occasion of our car coming of age.

I was hoping to be a passenger as the odometer changed from 99999 to 100000 but instead, I found myself at home while Liesel was driving home from her physio appointment. I’ll just have to wait for 200,000 now. Still, who’d have thought our old but faithful jalopy would make it four times around the planet?

I had a bit of fun with the newly installed Google Assistant on my phone. I think all these so-called Artificial Intelligence things should be treated with a large pinch of salt. By the way, I didn’t ask for it, it just appeared during the latest software update.

The aurora borealis has been visible a couple of times this week but not from our apartment. The combination of bright lights in our communal car park and a big tree blocking out much of the sky means that we don’t stand a chance of seeing any fascinating celestial phenomena in a northerly direction. But we did have a couple of pretty sunsets though, better in real life than these photos of course.

But I’m pleased to say the aurora was captured by our friends over there in Wythenshawe.

Thanks to Wythenshawe Star Gazers.

Back on terra firma, Northenden and Wythenshawe haven’t changed much since last week. Although someone and their bad driving have rearranged the street furniture just along the road from where we live.

And finally… a big welcome to baby Foxy, lots of love to you, sister Gypsy and Mum and Dad Bambi and Brett from all of us here in the old country.

Three Concerts and a Nokia

On a typical day, I drag myself out of bed much later than everyone else. I can get up early if I have to, if something exciting is occurring, but usually, I wake up, listen to a podcast or two and drift off again.

Liesel goes out for more walks than I manage, at the moment. Once, she joined a group as far away as Greenfield, the other side of Oldham. No, I’d not heard of it before, either.

The technical challenge of the week was to clear all my personal data from my old Nokia phone. Restore to factory settings. It wasn’t difficult, once the phone was charged up.

It says it’s deleting data. And it did indeed take a few minutes. A quick check however revealed that all my photos, all my music, all my contacts were still stored on the phone.

Later on, I showed Martha this old phone, claiming it was my new one. She laughed: somehow she recognised it as an old Victorian artefact. She and William were round at ours, making flowers from felt, amongst other activities.

After a pretty disappointing Summer, Autumn isn’t looking much better. The wind and the rain are definitely winning. So much wind, that many trees have been uprooted in this area. And so much rain, there are floods in some parts of the country.

We came across this branch on our walk near Kenworthy Lane Woods. Leslie was with me and a fairly large group, while Liesel was being treated by her physiotherapist. It was nice to see a little bit of colour too. Some leaves are turning red, yellow or brown, the shades of Autumn, but even that seems to be a slow process this year.

A few weeks ago, I played tracks from Tom Hingley’s new album The Grand Mal on my radio show, as Album of the Week. Imagine my surprise therefore when he announced a show in Manchester to officially launch the album. I went along to offer my support, at the small but perfectly formed venue that is The Castle Hotel.

Support was provided by Harrison Rimmer whose set was longer than most support acts.

Tom and his band played through the whole album, but nothing else, not his older songs and nothing from the Inspiral Carpets. It was good to see him again, it’s been a while. His wife Kelly was there too, but I didn’t speak to her this time.

Less than twenty-four hours later, we were all back in Manchester for another concert. This time, we went to the Bridgewater Hall to see the Hallé Orchestra playing Top of the Classics.

Before the show, we had to eat. Our first choice of eaterie could let us have a table, but we wouldn’t be able to order food for 45 minutes. So we went over the road to HOME, where for the second time ever, I had a margherita and a margarita together.

The show was brilliant, Leslie enjoyed it too, tapping her feet and clapping along to some well-known classics and a couple of lesser-known tunes. Apparently, my humming along was a little louder than I realised.

Zeb Soanes, Hallé Orchestra conducted by Simon Bell

The narrator was Zeb Soanes who I remember from reading the Shipping Forecast for many years on Radio 4. He now presents a show on Classic FM. And if we thought the conductor was exuberant, he had nothing on the first violinist. I think he must have had ants in his pants.

So, two late nights in a row in Manchester, something my old carcass isn’t really used to any more.

So of course, I went out again just a few days later. I bought tickets for Tom Robinson way back in February. And for a while, I thought we’d miss the show because we’d be in Alaska. Luckily (?!) I became ill and we had to postpone the trip. Tom and the band peformed songs from the very first two Tom Robinson Band albums, Power in the Darkness and TRB2. This was a return visit for me to Band on the Wall. Last time, there were seats. This time, they expected 450 of us mainly old blokes to stand for three hours. I went upstairs and found a seat. I was further away from the stage, so the photos aren’t that good, but at least I was sitting down!

Tonight’s support act was someone from Nottingham, Rob Green, who Tom got to know via his BBC Introducing show on 6 Music. He was very good, funny and entertaining.

Tom was genuinely delighted to see so many people here, some of us younger than his 74 years of age. He says there are three things he doesn’t like about getting old. He has to print out some of the lyrics. Then he has to wear glasses so he can read the lyrics. And, er…

I took a taxi home and arrived before I would have reached the bus station if I’d chosen to walk there. But I’m ahead of myself. Three gigs in six days is quite an achievement.

This week, we took the children to Let Loose, another soft play space over in Hazel Grove. Liesel and Leslie had another WI meeting to attend in the evening, so no family meal at home. Today was the first of October, but Let Loose was already decorated and set up for Halloween.

We had a snack here too before taking the children home.

I glanced at the never-ending To-Do list and picked something out at random. I remember a nice, warm day in May, 1968, when we at school were all escorted out on to the sports field. The professional photographer was here to take a picture of the whole school. The photo is over a metre long. Of course, it was never framed and instead, it’s been stored, rolled up, bashed and battered in a box, for over half a century. I decided it was time to pass it onto the school’s own archivist. But not before I took pictures of the aged old photo.

What I found sad was that I spent at least five years of my life with these foks and now, I can only name about five or six of them. I wonder whatever happened to my old scool buddies?

I think there must have been something in the air in Wythenshawe on the day we wandered around the pond in Painswick Park. Maybe there are now some tasty morsels in the water. Most of the geese, at some point, stuck their derrières in the air for that perfect photo opportunity.

Arguably the Craftwork of the Week award goes to Liesel for her beautiful and functional Mug Cosy.

After I submitted revised repeats for a few weeks, I managed to cobble together a brand new show this week for Wythenshawe Radio, WFM 97.2. Having been to so many concerts recently, the theme of the show was Concerts. Concerts and Gigs! You can listen to it right here, if you need something on in the background for a couple of hours.

Chan Chan

The drive to Quarry Bank Mill was exciting, in the rain, trying to reach that precise temperature in the car where humans aren’t too cold but the windows aren’t fogging up. Holding our collective breath worked for a while but wasn’t sustainable for the whole trip. Because of the precipitation, we walked the quick way down to the restaurant. Jenny, Martha and William joined us for coffee and cake. We were celebrating Liesel’s birthday. Imagine our disappointment when we saw that the choice of cakes was very limited today. Imagine my excitement when the staff brought out a whole, new lemon drizzle cake. Liam was elsewhere, hiking, possibly in the rain, maybe not.

The children always like to have a look in the gift shop and today was no exception. Martha was intrigued by the small weaving loom being demonstrated.

Normally, we’d have a bit of a longer walk around the grounds, but not today.

Another medical procedure for me but you don’t need to know about folks rummaging around in my junkyard. The medics did give me a nice cup of coffee afterwards and as many biscuits as I wanted.

And I visited the dental hygienist where I answered the same old questions with the same old details about my oral hygiene. Later in the day, we drove over to Bruntwood Park, parked up, and walked to the school to pick up the children. Snacks in the playground are no longer acceptable, but we did promise them an ice cream in the park. It was a lovely, sunny day, a bonus after some rubbish weather recently. William and I played hide and seek for a while: I felt bad about not being able to run after him, especially given how much energy he was burning off, fuelled by an ice cream.

Martha’s friend Eliza was in the park too, and they spent a lot of time together, swinging, and sliding and even climbing.

We took the children home a bit earlier than planned after William bashed a tooth in the slide. It was a loose tooth, and he felt that it had been pushed back into its socket. He was alright later after some parental TLC. No meal with the fam tonight, as Liesel and Leslie went off to a WI meeting, leaving me to enjoy a couple of episodes of Doctor Who.

This was the week of the full Harvest Supermoon. The Moon’s closer to the Earth than usual, so it looks bigger. There was also a partial lunar eclipse. Unusually, that night, the sky was clear, so I thought I’d get up in the night and see what all the fuss was about. I was awake at 2am , at which point, the eclipse was just beginning. It would be at its maximum at 3.44am. I’ll be awake again by then, I often am. Nope, not tonight. When I came to, it was after 5 o’clock. I’d missed the whole blimmin’ thing. I enjoyed seeing other people’s photos online, but I would prefer to have witnessed the sight of a rare blood-red half of the Moon myself.

Some really sad news this week. Greens Restaurant in Sale has announced its imminent closure. I’m so glad Helen, Brent and I had lunch there recently, and I feel bad that Liesel and I never quite got round to making a booking.

We had a few uninvited guests this week, all named Boris and all quickly evacuated through the window after posing for a photograph. The first was a small specimen having a kip on my computer keyboard. The others were two of the biggest spiders we’ve ever seen in this flat, or in fact, anywhere I’ve lived.

At least the cranefly was polite enough to stay outside. And I’m so glad I’m no longer a postman, having to walk face first through hundreds of newly constructed webs every morning. Did I ever mention, spiders’ webs taste of metal?

Another day, another walk, this time down by the river where at least a couple of people were messing about in their boats. We haven’t seen the resident heron for a long time, but if he’s disappeared, I’m surprised we haven’t seen a new one. The new sign by the children’s playground is quite intriguing.

I just wonder what prompted this. Who was daft enough to eat the berries, leaves and plants here? Part of me hoped it wasn’t the small children just having a good play, but the boys over there, significantly older than 9, playing football.

Liesel went on a walk with another group while Leslie and I joined the Thrive walk in Wythenshawe. For a while, we thought there’d only be a few of us but suddenly, many more people appeared out of nowhere. The paths in the woods are now, at the end of Summer, quite overgrown, and again, I said to myself, I should carry around some secateurs to cut back the worst of the nettles and brambles.

One busy evening, all three of us attended meetings, but not the same one. Thanks to the rubbish bus service in these parts, I arrived late for the meeting of Wythenshawe Radio volunteers. But I was rewarded afterwards by the sight of a wonderful Wythenshawe sunset, as seen from the bus station. So romantic.

Liesel and her Mom attended the WI Knitting group meeting. I’m not sure how much knitting, nor even crochet, takes place.

Changes

Helen and Brent returned from Wales having not tried a single Welsh cake. Can you believe it? We all met up in Yara, a restaurant in Cheadle that I’d not been to before. It was not only our opportunity to say farewell to the travellers, but an early birthday celebration for Liesel. Helen and Brent were scheduled to fly home the following morning, Sunday, while Liesel, Leslie and I were scheduled to fly to Alaska on Wednesday. The children had made a card for their Oma, which was displayed on the table for a short while. I think this must be how the servers knew it was Liesel’s birthday, so having all decided we were too full for dessert, they sang Happy Birthday while bringing over a huge slice of chocolate cake which saw Liesel’s eyes almost pop out on stalks.

It didn’t last long, though: it would have been very rude for the rest of us not to help Liesel consume the confection. The waiters had several extra forks to wash up afterwards.

When Helen and Brent were not quite half way back to Sydney, Liesel, Leslie and I ventured into Manchester for a gig. I’ve wanted to see Camille O’Sullivan for a long time, and I booked tickets as soon as the show was announced, back in January. I didn’t know then that Leslie would be with us, so a couple of days earlier, I went online hastily to purchase a third ticket.

We parked easily, close to the venue, Band on the Wall, just a five minute walk in the drizzle. Best of all, there were seats. Not like the last time we’d been to this venue and witnessed a fight between other, drunk, audience members, but that’s another story.

The stage was well decorated with various characters and I thought, that’s about right for Camille, yes.

The show was very good, she performed a lot of songs by Shane McGowan and told us stories abouit him and Sinéad O’Connor. We remembered Jacques Brel (Amsterdam), Kirsty MacColl (In These Shoes) and David Bowie (Where are we now? and Quicksand), and I sang along to their songs sotto voce.

At one point, Camille channeled Grace Jones, dancing with a hula hoop.

I noticed that I wasn’t the oldest person in the audience. I don’t think Liesel’s Mom was the oldest either. I could see now why they’d put seats out for all the seniors.

Feargal the accompanyist was really good too, playing keyboards and joining in with a couple of duets, including Sinéad and Shane’s Haunted and, of course, a part of Fairytale of New York. The audience joined in too, quietly.

More medical madness: after a telephone consultation, I made more appointments for next week, grrr. As a result, we’ve decided to postpone our trip to Alaska for a few weeks. I think this decision has relieved both Liesel and myself of a tonne of anxiety. Phew!

The highlight of the week was collecting Martha and William from school, and bringing them home to indulge in a variety of crafts. William is enjoying helping Oma with the 1000-piece Pokémon jigsaw puzzle. He knows all the characters and their characteristics. Liesel just knows there are pink ones and yellow ones…

Meanwhile, I helped Martha make a multi-coloured pom-pom but of course, I didn’t get a photo of the finished item, which is now pride of place in Martha’s bedroom. Or maybe tossed into the back of a drawer.

Jenny and Liam joined us for dinner, Indian food, very flavourful and not too hot and spicy, of course.

On another, sunny but cool day, we walked over to Northenden Community Library which is now located in St Wilfrid’s Church Hall, so just 15 minutes away as the crow waddles. Did we walk that extra little bit down the road to the coffee shop? Nope. Straight home for a restorative sit-down and breather.

I dropped Leslie and Liesel off in Didsbury so they could join a walk with the WI. I then drove over to Wythenshawe with a view to joining the regular Thrive walk. In the end, the distance I walked was minimal. I feel much better on the whole, yes, but my stamina, my oomph, is still not there. If I were a toy, a few AAA batteries would sort me out.

I look forward to the day when my daily step count is once again in five figures. Here’s a tip: never, ever, ever get ill.

Magic moments

Congratulations again to Helen and Brent! Not quite married but we had a lovely day celebrating their impending union. They are having a series of parties all around the world to accommodate friends and family in several continents. Slight exaggeration there.

Dressed in white, Helen illuminated The Ivy in Manchester where thirteen of us met for a fantastic, long lunch. It was lovely to see our former hairdresser and Helen’s friend Tracey and her family after their six-hour drive from Somerset.

The food was great, the company was marvellous, the service fantastic, all the staff were very attentive and friendly. Oh hang on, this isn’t Trip Adviser is it?

Martha and William enjoyed building their own ice cream sundaes. Well, they enjoyed gorging on the various components.

Later on, we all met up at Jenny’s for a party with more friends and family. Magician Matt and Amy were there: we’d not met since Jenny and Liam’s wedding two years ago.

It was a gorgeous day to sit around in the garden, drinking, chatting and ‘plane spotting.

The more formal part of the day was Martha and William acting as joint celebrants, conducting their own marriage ceremony, and a very good job they did too.

Despite appearances, the certificate was not signed on the desk in a mobile phone and cuddly toy shop.

Even after a huge meal at The Ivy, we still found time and space to enjoy the various snacks, thanks to Jenny, Liesel and Una. Yes, for the first time in quite a while, I felt that I’d eaten too much.

Evening entertainment was provided by Matt whose warm-up act was Martha. She managed a conjuring trick perfectly.

Matt got Helen and Brent to choose numbers from an apparently random set on a board. When added up, the total was, as predicted by Matt, 111,124. Which, by coincidence, we believe to be the chosen date for the actual wedding, 11/11/24. Spooky.

Many of us suggested questions to ask Helen and Brent. They sat back to back, each holding one shoe of their own and of of their partner’s. The questions were answered by each raising the shoe belonging to whoever they each believed satisfied the question best. And yes, we were still sitting outside well after dark.

A good night’s sleep was had by all, I’m sure.

After breakfast, Martha and William came over. We looked after them for a few hours while Jenny, Liam, Helen and Brent spent some time together. We picked some litter… no… We picked a lot of litter while walking from our place to the playground in Riverside Park. In the end, we left two full bags to be collected by the contractors. Still, it was a nice day for litter-picking, and the children had fun in the playground too.

Fun, yes, but exhausting. Poor old William!

The walk home via a coffee shop was uneventful, until it very suddenly got dark, started to spit and then, whoosh, a torrential downpour soaked us. How we laughed!

It was lovely to meet up with Helen and Brent for lunch before they continued their tour of the UK and Ireland. I took a bus to Greens, Sale, the first time I’d been there. The food as always was great, but I did have to take some excess patatas bravas home for Liesel!

Martha and William returned to school and Helen and Brent drove off to Snowdonia for a few days to complete thir British adventure.

I’m still having all but daily medical appointments, consultations, examinations, check-ups, but you know, mustn’t grumble.

Liesel and I had a night out. Laughterama in Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl. Outside. And I’m so glad I wore a long-sleeved shirt, a coat and long trousers, as it did get quite cold and windy towards the end of the evening. All five comedians were very funny. One in particular was very rude, and we learned the BSL sign for a word that we’ll never use in real life.

Jen Brister, Stephen Bailey, Janine Harouni, Rhys James and Dara Ó Briain

Dara commented that he likes Manchester because of all the theatres, especially the ones with roofs…

I went for a walk on what must have been one of the hottest days of this Summer, although I didn’t realise that when I set off. I visited a few shops. Liesel and her Mom have been out a few times with the WI ladies for coffee. And we’ve been watching far too much TV: la Vuelta, the Paralympics and the Tour of Britain (Men) started this week too. I checked, but my eyes haven’t gone square like my Mum said they would.