Helen’s flat has been invaded by a spider. As usual, his name is Boris, in honour of the pet arachnid that was once resident in our bathroom in Chessington. We look forward to meeting the new Boris when we visit Helen real soon now.
Boris in Brookvale
Nearer home, the River Mersey continues to flow fast and high, concealing most of the island.
Mersey
Not surprisingly really because, all together now: “it’s been raining a lot”. Including all day Tuesday when we collected the children from school. We took them to the softplay place, Head Over Heels, where they burnt off many Caolories. I don’t think they’d been out into the playground at school at all today.
It’s not my favourite idea of fun, but William loves hiding in the ball pond. His sister was there with a camera, a trainee paparazza perhaps.
Ball pond
After a snack, we took them home, hoping they’d eat some of the food that we’d prepared for them all. We didn’t all eat together because Jenny and Liam were a bit mouldy, colds, we think. Plus, my chronic cough still won’t quite let go. But the good news is, my recent blood tests and ECG all came back with good results.
Liesel and I joined Sue and nearly twenty others for a walk beginning at Romiley, another place we’ve been close to in the past, but never actually visited. We enjoyed the walk, and I didn’t find the hills too onerous. A bit muddy here and there, and there were two stiles to climb over. The views were pretty good though, and some horses came over to say hello. Well, not literally say hello, but to see if we had any spare apples or carrots, I think.
View towards Manchester
Why the long face?
We followed some bridle paths, and I was amused by the signs warning people not to follow their Sat Nav. Needless to say, us pedestrians had to dive into the bushes for safety as a white van came along the restricted road, only to return a few minutes later.
Romiley Golf Course
It’s always exciting to come across and walk across yet another golf course, and this one was no exception. Here too, we saw some warning signs, telling the golfers to look out for pedestrians.
And it’s even more exciting to see early signs of Spring, a small but welcome splash of colour.
Primula
As if they don’t have enough after-school activities, Martha and William continue to sign up to everything. Football,Spanish, cricket, dance, theatre, Rainbows, Brownies, swimming, the list goes on. This week, William was very proudly investitured (?) into the Beavers, where he’s making friends with people he doesn’t know from school.
William the Beaver
And then there’s the martial arts of course.
William the Ninja
It’s very sad that William now pronounces ‘Ninja’ correctly, it was much more entertaining when he began the word with an ‘m’ sound instead! As we’ll remind him when he’s 18.
The old oak tree looks the same as I step down from the train and there to meet me… no that’s not right. The old, the really, really old oak tree is still clinging on by its fingernails at Dunham Massey.
Old oak tree
Liesel, Sue and I went to this, one of our closest National Trust venues for a Sunday afternoon stroll. It was a very popular place for a walk, everyone and their dog was there. A couple of paths were roped off, presumably to keep us away from the deer, but it wasn’t as muddy as we’d anticipated.
In the olden days, when I was on Facebook, I remember our friend Robyn used to share images of lost gloves seen out in the wild. I was reminded of his unusual obsession/collection when we came across this glove tree.
Glove tree
Every few weeks, the fruit and veg box that we have delivered includes kale. It’s alright, it’s not a favourite, and if it’s cut up into very small shreds, it can be chewed and swallowed in a reasonable amount of time.
Kale
We certainly didn’t expect to see this specimen attempting to escape from the garden at Dunham Massey. As we walked away, I checked over my shoulder to make sure it wasn’t following us.
Snow was threatened and it arrived overnight, making the area look relatively clean. It didn’t last long: in fact, by the time we picked the children up from school, it had already thawed in Northenden, so we couldn’t build a snowman.
Our oak tree
Martha and William used Liesel’s snowing machine, I mean sewing machine, just to stitch some old fragments together. It was fascinating to watch them, and the different ways in which they approach the operation. Martha carefully feeds the material through to be sewn, while William would prefer just to step on the pedal a little harder, and let the machine do all the work.
The disappointment of finding no snow at our place was made up for by the magificent sunset.
Sunset
Our Northenden walk the following day was cold, and there were patches of ice, but otherwise it was a lovely, bright, sunny day, with a hint of apricity.
Tree hiding the Sun
We were once again reminded of the top quality drivers living in or visiting Northenden. I would love to know how fast this guy (it has to be a guy, right?) was driving, on the wrong side of the road, to collide with a lamppost so hard, it ends up nearly horizontal.
Dead lamppost
Aspire Restaurant at Trafford College was the venue for our lunch date with seven friends from out walking group and from the choir. The food is all prepared and served by students: our server, the one with the longest eyelashes, was a mere 16 years old, which surprised us all, she was so professional.
Trafford College behind a tree
The prices are very reasonable too, and the limited menu must make it easier for everyone involved.
After the satisfying meal, we needed to have a bit of a walk, so we went over to Quarry Bank Mill. We were surprised to see that there was still some snow on the ground here. Maybe it’s a alightly higher altitude than Northenden, or more snow was dumped there in the first place.
Deer tree
Although there are no deer at this National Trust property, if you look closely, you can see a deer’s head in this tree. A tree that we’re no longer allowed to walk by closely because it might fall over at any moment!
It was fun to follow in the footsteps of Jack Frost too.
Footsteps
It was another sunny but cold day, and I only wish the sight of the bright blue sky compensated for the fact that there was a cold wind blowing.
Robin
The robin looks very well, but again I had to apologise for not having any spare mealworm in my pocket.
That night, while Liesel was out with the WI, I noticed that the Moon was bright, and that Jupiter was close to it, like a tiny teardrop. I spent too long trying to take a picture, but I just couldn’t get the right combination of settings on the phone’s camera.
The pond in Painswick Park was frozen over again, apart from the area around the fountain. And that’s where the geese and the other birds had gathered. A lot of the path around the pond was also covered in ice: in fact, I think I felt more slippery ice patches on this path and this short walk than I’ve felt anywhere during the whole of this Wintery cold spell.
I stayed at home while Liesel went on a walk with a group in Chelford, near Alderley Edge. Despite the rain, they all enjoyed the walk, which was over 8 miles in length, a couple of miles longer than advertised.
The theme for my Wythenshawe Radio show this week was Similes. Like diamonds in the sky, free as a bird and love being like a red, red rose or like oxygen, depending on which song you believe. Catch up here.
We all like being on top of things, and sometimes it’s easy. Just look at William reach the top of the climbing frame before you’ve even realised he’s no longer standing next to you.
William the conqueror
We’d gone over to Bruntwood Park, the playground behind William and Martha’s school, where we met up with the family. One of the reasons for going was that Martha wanted to use the metal detector, one of her Christmas presents. By luck, I had a few coins in my pocket that I was able to ‘plant’ for Martha to find. Seeing the excitement on her face was worth every penny!
Detectorists in the sand-pit
Blossom Frog
Here’s Blossom, one of One Stockport’s frogs, from the Gigantic Leap Frog Art Trail.
In this sort of environment, William nearly always wants to play hide and seek, so we usually do, but he does like to reveal his location before you’ve had a proper chance to seek him out! And the climbing frame was very appealing. Even if Martha can’t tell the bottom from the top.
Martha upside down
On Tuesday, we collected the children from school. Back at home, we gave them one final Christmas present each. Late, because William’s didn’t arrive in time for the big day: A Magnetic Magic Cube that can be manipulated into over 70 different shapes. Returning it to the Cube shape is not as easy as it looks. But he does enjoy playing with my (non-magnetic) cube, so we thought he’d appreciate it. Next step, a full-on Rubik’s Cube! Martha likes gems and stones so we thought a small box of such treasures would be interesting. It was. Martha particularly liked placing them on the Lazy Susan and spinning it, thus discovering centrifugal force!
William the Cube-bender
After a lovely dinner, Jenny took the children home and Liesel went off to a WI meeting.
You know it’s the end of the holiday season when Thrive Walks start up again. The very first one of the year was attended by nearly twenty people. It was a nice walk through the woods, not as muddy as we’d anticipated, but it hadn’t rained for at least half an hour, which is unusual, lately.
In other family news, Helen celebrated her birthday in Adelaide with Brent. I liked Adelaide the one time I visited, over 21 years ago: maybe it’s time to go back? I wonder if it’s changed much…
Helen and Brent at a vineyard
Helen and Brent are on top of things here too, tasting wine, visiting the zoo and having a great time.
On Friday, Liesel and Sue joined the WI walk while I attended the regular Thrive Walk in Wythenshawe. This time, there were just the six of us! After taking a bus back to Northenden, I walked back home via Riverside Park. The river is much lower than even a few days ago, but of course, there is some debris for the council to clear up.
Weir on the River Mersey
In other family news, Pauline and Andrew enjoyed the kite festival in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Kites
And no, they didn’t have one of their own kite: maybe next year? On another occasion, they enjoyed a walk by the estuary and encountered a herd of cormorants.
Cormorants
Well, I think they’re cormorants, but they might be shags. And I really don’t know what the collective noun is for either.
Liesel and I witnessed the children’s first swimming lesson of the year, and it’s always fun to watch. They had an exhausting morning though. Before swimming, they’d both enjoyed a kick-boxing tester session. To complete their triathlon, they cycled all the way from home to both venues and back home again. So you’d think that, come lunchtime, they’d be tired and quite happy to sit still and eat the meal. Not William, oh no. Up and down like a jack-in-the-box, full of energy: he’ll get a job at Duracell one day.
I was hoping the the cough I’d been suffering from would clear up before Liesel returned from Anchorage. But it didn’t. It persists even now, a week later, although it is much better. It’s not Covid, so you’re not going to catch anything too bad by reading this, if you need any reassurance.
The river was high and flowing fast and at least one local golf course was completely submerged. The greenkeepers were definitely feeling below par.
River Mersey
At home, I could have fed the 5,000, if I knew that many people. Purely from the crumbs I managed to shake out of the toaster. What a messy process that was.
Liesel’s flight landed early at Manchester Airport, and I parked the car nice and early too. The grey Manchester murk was very welcoming, although Liesel did admit that it was much warmer here than in Anchorage.
Both of our sleeping patterns were less than ideal this week. Liesel’s jet-lag didn’t help, but then, neither did my nocturnal coughing fits.
Knowing I had to get up early to go the the airport, I had an early night in bed. Compare with our grandchildren who were both very excited to stay up until midnight to welcome in the New Year: Martha told us several times that they didn’t get to bed until ten to one!
Welcome 2024
It was a bit of a wrench dragging my carcass out of bed early on a second occasion, I must admit. But it was worth it. Liesel and I travelled into Manchester by tram and we met the family in the foyer of Aviva Studios in good time. We’d all come to see Lost and Found, the magical stage show of Oliver Jeffers’ story, adapted by renowned children’s TV and theatre producer Will Brenton. We also enjoyed original music composed by Gruff Rhys, guitarist and vocalist from Super Furry Animals.
What would you do if a lost penguin rocked up at your front door? You’d help him by taking him home to the South Pole, right? That’s what the boy in the story did, too. At one point, his boat was breached on a sandbank, so a volunteer from the audience was invited to help. William’s arm was up faster than a Tory minister giving a lucrative contract to a BFF.
On stage, Liam tried and failed to push the boat, but young William showed us how it was done.
William pushing the boat
He was very pleased with himself. It was a very good, entertaining show, Martha and William both enjoyed it.
We ate lunch at Albert’s Shed, which isn’t a shed, but a restaurant built on the site of a shed once owned by a popular local man, named Albert.
Manchester with its head in the clouds
The excessive rain recently also affected the local canal network. Lock 92 on Rochdale Canal, in Castlefield, was overflowing copiously.
Overflowing lock
From our flat, we can see when the car has misted up inside, even though there’s nobody breathing in it. We’re both upstairs and unless someone’s squatting in our vehicle, why would it steam up like that? Well, Liesel went out one day and sent me a message: The car was misted up inside because the rear window was cracked. How did that happen? Did I slam the back door too hard onto a suitcase or something? Had someone driven into the back of the car? How big a crack, I hadn’t noticed?
But no, Liesel didn’t mean the glass was damaged. What she meant was that of the rear windows was very slightly opened, letting cold air in. It’s easy to blame the children, they often wind down the rear windows, but we usually check afterwards and close them. So, even after all these years, Liesel and I can still have linguistic misunderstandings. Separated by a common language, as they say. Cracked ≠ cracked open!
I would like to describe our lovely, long, Winter walks in Northenden and beyond, but the new year has begun in a much more sedentary manner than we would normally enjoy. In other words, we’ve pretty much stayed indoors.
In the radio show this week, on the occasion of what would have been David’s 77th birthday, I played two hours of songs by people who have worked with or who have been associated with him. Happy birthday David! Celebrate with David here.
The good news is, there are now over 100 Mick’s Music Mix shows on Mixcloud, so you can spend over eight days listening, without interruption, without sleep, without food, at the end of which you might not feel very well but at least you will have achieved something.
Not much happened in Northenden this week. Unless, that is, you count the weather. More wind and more rain, leading to a swollen River Mersey. This week, we welcomed Storm Gerrit. But as it’s now the end of the year, there’ll be some photos of the extended family.
Liesel and Leslie
Yes, Anchorage is still knee-deep in snow and yes, it looks pretty, but if the temperature is about 0°F, or -17°C, I’m sorry but I just don’t want to be there. Brrr!
Meanwhile, in Australia, Helen is spending Christmas with Brent and his family up north, Brisbane, a city that I have visited twice so far, but never really seen, because it’s been a mad dash to get to the airport!
Helen and Brent
I borrowed the picture from Helen’s Instagram (you don’t mind, do you, Helen?).
I spent Christmas Day afternoon over in Cheadle Hulme, with Martha and William, oh, and their Mummy and Daddy, and their other grandparents, Nana and Papa, Una and Alan. The children’s piles of presents were very neat, and when both of them were building Lego on the floor, I made sure to sit very still to keep my feet nice and safe.
William and Lego
Martha and Lego
Our Christmas meal was at a local Indian restaurant. For a long time, we had the place to ourselves, but other parties did roll up eventually. The food was lovely, and there was so much of it! All we needed was Liesel to help eat it.
Liam, Jenny, Martha and William
On Boxing Day, I visited Una and Alan at their house for a more traditional Christmas dinner. Turkey for the carnivores and nut roast for us veggies. Una worked very hard, I reckon she must have started prepping all that food in about October. Thanks very much for having us! Not only us, but their other grandchildren, Annabel and Emily, and their Mum and Dad, Andrea and Paul. Eleven of us altogether, and again, Liesel was missed.
Martha, William, Annabel and Emily
The children had all taken over some of their presents. But I must admit, I did find it funny that William also spent so much time trying on some of his Papa’s old clothes!
William the model
Martha enjoyed making some potions, and we enjoyed watching videos of her observing the chemical reactions.
Martha the scientist
Beastie
How the heck this visitor stayed clinging onto the window in the gale is beyond me. He managed to photobomb an otherwise pretty sunset. This might have been the night when I hardly slept at all: both the wind and the rain were so loud. It turns out that just a few miles away in Stalybridge, a tornado had damaged over 100 properties. Blimey.
One of my walks this week was terminated early because of a sudden downpour. And at least one person called me a wimp for not venturing out in such torrential rain. If I want to get that wet, I’ll have a warm shower at home, thanks, whether I need it or not!
Preparing this week’s radio show was a bittersweet experience. I wanted to remember and celebrate the many great musicians and singer-songwriters who died in 2023, some ridiculously young. Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 played a two-hour version of the show, but you can hear very nearly three hours of Mick’s Memorial Music Mix Mixcloud.
I haven’t had a major fight with technology for a while, but I did this week. Liesel is a big fan of our air fryer, which also has a pressure cooker. I’ve used the air fryer to ‘cook’ things, but I don’t know, it doesn’t seem as real as cooking in the oven or something. But this week, I thought I’d make leek and potato soup in the pressure cooker. All went well, except, when it was finished, the machine displayed the message ‘Do not open the lid’. I didn’t want to open the lid prematurely and scald myself with highly pressurised steam, so I waited. And waited. And waited. Until I realised, it would have been faster to boil up the concoction in a proper saucepan on the hob, like I usually do. Eventually, I donned my protective gear and opened the lid. Barely a fizz of released steam. The soup was OK but I think it would have been better if I were granted access to it a little earlier. It was good enough to have again the following day, so I don’t know why I’m complaining, really. Actually, yes I do: it’s potentially dangerous to display misleading messages which you can get used to ignoring. There you go, one final moan for 2023.
2023, that went fast. A year in which I walked about 1677 miles, not the best ever. And I read about 31 books. Which is alright, but that number is dwarfed by my list of books to read one, recommendations from friends and family.
Happy New Year to family, freinds and strangers, I hope 2024 brings you lots of love, laughter, joy, peace and sunshine.
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.
Utter devastation
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.
Hordes
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.
Liesel, Mom and Gita and lots of food
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.
Diana and Liesel
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.
William and Martha
Not the River Mersey
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.
Spooky sunset
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.
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.
Zarbi on b&w TV
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.
Death
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.
Dead graffiti
Beside Chorlton Brook
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?
Houseboats on the canal
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.
Northenden sunset
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.
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’.
Benchill
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!
Martha’s trees
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.
William’s photos
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.
Gatley Hill
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.
Theatre set
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!
Aladdin with Martha and William
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!
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.
Glowing leaves
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?
A touch of frost
Common snowberry
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.
William with Mummy and cake
In other exciting news, Martha and her class dressed up as stone age men and women for a day.
Martha the stone age woman
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.
Helen, by Jenny
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.
Frozen pond
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.
William self-portrait
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.
The Orchestra (nearly)
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.
The Love Bee by Nisha Grover
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.
Snow in the city
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!
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.
November 1963 Radio Times
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.
The Peaks
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.
Green and pleasant
I didn’t even know there was a Marina at New Mills, but we passed by it on, I think, the Peak Forest Canal.
New Mills Marina
Queen’s Bridge, New Mills
The Millennium Walkway
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.
Bruce’s Clock
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.
You need hands
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.
Putting the electro into folk
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.
Frankie Archer
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.
William and Martha
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.
Selfie of the day
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.
Late afternoon
Hooray! IYKYK
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.
Mick and Liesel's Antics 