Autobiographical – Page 8 – Mick and Liesel's Antics

Not one but two Marthas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Berries and Monsters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Folk and rabbits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Four walks and a crossword

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lisbon back to Northenden

We slept well on our first night in the capital. The air conditioner was great. The shower was one of the best we’ve ever used. So much so, we packed it up and took it home with us.

I think it’s fair to say, we ate too much breakfast. I certainly did, and had to have a nice long rest afterwards. The view from our window was of the street behind the hotel, and nothing wrong with that.

No, this isn’t where we stayed, but we did think about buying a luxury apartment here. This building ceratinly stands out, very vibrant.

After breakfast, we walked to pick up a bus, a Hop On Hop Off bus tour of Lisbon. We didn’t hop off and hop on again, we just stayed seated, for the whole trip around the city.

This park was named after King Edward VII who visited in 1903. The Portuguese monarchy was abolished in 1910. Pure coincidence, of course.

The English commentary on the bus was interesting but I’m still not sure it was a human voice, I strongly suspect it was computer generated, it was trying too hard to enunciate everything much more clearly than a real person would do.

The bridge over the river Tagus that we’d traversed by train was designed by the same folks who designed San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. I tried to get a decent picture from the moving bus: maybe this is where I should have hopped off for a moment.

After the two-hour bus tour, which would have been quicker if there hadn’t been so much other traffic, we went for a walk in the park looking for somewhere to eat lunch. We found a very nice place, where I was asked to take my hat off. So I did. I didn’t want to suffer the same fate as this poor creature.

I can’t tell you how relieved I was when Liesel declined my offer to buy a bottle of old port. She was right though, it was too early in the day to start knocking back the hard stuff.

Yes, we were indeed back in Eddie the 7th Park, with its views over the river. From here, it was a relatively short walk back to our hotel.

Oh wow, a lizard. It was quick, darting from one bush to another across the path, but I was quick too and just about captured it!

And what pretty flowers.

It was beautifully hot and sunny here in Lisbon, but one thing was missing. A swimming pool. We’d dipped our toes in two separate pools so far, and my mind drifted back to this refreshing swim in Caldas da Rainha just a few days ago.

I had to set the alarm for 3.00am. Got up, quick shower, packed, taxi to the airport, through security in no time. Our tickets said Easy Bdg Yes. Easy boarding. All that meant was, we could get to the place where we stood waiting for the bus a bit sooner, the bus that would take us miles across the airport to our plane. After which, it was a free-for-all to get off the bus and board the plane. Good old EasyJet.

The end of a holiday is always an anticlimax, but seeing a sunrise was the most exciting part of the flight.

We escaped from Manchester Airport quickly, a taxi took us home where we sighed. It took ten minutes to unpack and here we are, back to normal.

There is a splash of Autumnal colour in and around Northenden, as I saw on my first walk up to the coffee bar. Well, there was no milk in the house, that’s my excuse. Groceries were delivered later in the day.

Despite the rain, we went out for a walk every day. I realised, if I didn’t go out whenever it was raining this lightly, I’d possibly never see the outside world again!

Given the weather, it wasn’t surprising to see mushrooms growing on our patch of grass slash moss. What was surprising was seeing mushrooms growing in one of our car park spaces.

In the olden days, when you had a Covid jab, you had to sit and wait for fifteen minutes before they let you out. Just in case you felt bad or faint or something. Not now. We both had our latest booster, and the pharmacist didn’t even wait to see that there was no bleeding, never mind sit down and wait for a while. We were dismissed before the needle was discarded.

So we were, unexpectedly, early enough to catch up with and join the regular walkers over in Wythenshawe.

One of the real highlights of the week was seeing Miriam Margolyes on stage in Salford. Many people have recommended her new book, Oh Miriam, especially the audio version.

At The Lowry, she was in conversation with comedian Fern Brady, talking about the book, her life and as normal, she didn’t bother to censor her thoughts.

We were invited to babysit one night while Jenny and Liam went out to escape their children. I mean, to try and escape from an Escape Room while we looked after the children.

Pizza Express in Didsbury was the venue for our evening meal. They were magnificent, they ordered their meals very politely, and, best of all, they ate everything. And they were great company.

At home, we read them stories before bed, and William’s reading is coming along beautifully.

This week’s radio show is full of good advice. “Don’t do that!” Songs that tell you what not to do. But one thing you should do is listen to it here on Mixcloud.

Turtle, trees and tiles

I’m the first to admit that I’m no fashion expert. I would never comment on whatever somebody chooses to wear. But I might laugh to myself at their outfit. A few times in Northenden, we’ve seen what, at first glance, are naked young ladies prowling the streets. They’re not really au naturel of course, but the choice of clothing is flesh-coloured, tight trousers and top. I dare you not to do a double-take when you see such a thing in your peripheral vision. And, if they’re walking along the road in front of you, how hard can it be not to take a picture? Well, very hard. An old bloke papping a young girl from behind, while walking?

She was sitting at the bus stop as I passed her and I wondered, does she know? Would I go out in flesh-coloured outerwear? Only as a dare. Or for charity. But the rest of my wander that day was uneventful.

In the evening, LIesel and I watched a chat online between Mary Beard and David Olusoga. They were talking about Roman Emperors and in particular Mary’s latest book, Emperor of Rome.

Imagine my surprise a few days later when the postman delivered a parcel. It was a copy of this very book. This very weighty tome. It’s so long since I booked tickets for the online event, I’d forgotten I must have ordered the book as well. Something to look forward to when I want something to read and something with which to build up my arm muscles.

On another occasion, I went out for a haircut. I know, there’s not much left, since I only went five minutes ago. Or so it seems. And we felt a bit sad as we walked by the empty shop formerly known as Quirky Misfits.

As we ambled along by the river, a man said to us, ‘there are no birds’. I thought he meant, there are no herons today. Which wouldn’t be a surprise. But no, he was right, there were no birds at all, no ducks on the water, not even any pigeons flying around, and no birdsong from the trees. Weird.

It was our turn to collect the children from school again this week. The first question they usually ask is, where’s the snack? When we remember, we take them a small snack from home. But right now, we’re out of snacks. We’re trying to eat everything before setting off on our trip. So, after a very civilised discussion, we took them to Head Over Heels for a snack, cake, and a couple of hours of running around and climbing and sliding.

We took them to their home for dinner because Liesel and I had a show to go to in the evening. Another pair of tickets purchased a long, long time ago. We went home and changed, then drove into Manchester parking close to the venue, Stoller Hall. The support act was Jack Badcock, and he was very entertaining, good songs and funny stories.

But the main attraction was Eddi Reader. Yes, we saw her last year in a cave, and a few times before that, but she always puts on a good show, and her set is never predictable.

Eddi’s band includes her husband John as well as Boo Hewerdine. Yes, I sang along sotto voce, except when invited to join in, when I turned my volume up to 11. No, not really. She performed Charlie is my Darlin’ and I remembered my old biology teacher, Martin Hyman, while discussing the theory of evolution, breaking into song, singing Charlie is my Darwin.

You don’t think about teachers for ages, and then two memories come along at once. The actor David McCallum sadly died this week. He played Illya Kuryakin in one of my favourite TV programmes at the time, The Man from UNCLE. So, in French lessons at school, whenever Jim Merritt used the phrase ‘il y a’, the class would respond with ‘Kuryakin’.

That’s enough about school, here’s Eddi again.

We had a good night’s sleep ahead of our travels. It didn’t take long to pack in the morning and the taxi arrived on time for our trip to the airport, Terminal 3. Check-in? Easy. Securiy check? No problem. We were through within twenty minutes and had a couple of hours to pass before boarding the plane bound for Porto. This was a first visit to Portugal for both of us.

The flight? Two and a half hours occupied by a puzzle and a good book. Remind me not to buy Ryanair coffee on board though, it tastes of plastic. I had to chew gum to take away the after-taste.

We landed just before a very quick sunset and although in retrospect, we think we bought the wrong type of ticket from the machine, we took the Metro to our place of abode for the next few days, in Porto.

One of the first things we saw out on the street was this tree, nicely swaddled in pink stuff. We saw trees similarly wrapped in many other colours too, and it was a couple of days before we found out what this was all about.

This was the view from out second storey apartment. Maria, our host, showed us all the sites and restaurants and places of interest on the map, but I’m not sure we took much in. I for one focussed on a couple of locations. We’re only here for a couple of days, after all.

We didn’t have anything in for breakfast, so we went for a walk the next morning. We knew Porto was hilly, but I took that to mean, it would undulate, you’d walk up and down in turn, stretching different muscles in turn. But no. On this first walk, we walked down and down and down.

It’s an old city and it will be nice when it’s finished. This building for instance has a decent façade, but not much going on behind.

Many of the buildings look attrcative to us because they’re covered in tiles, all sorts of patterns and colours.

It’s a Catholic country and Porto doesn’t disappoint with the number of churches and chapels.

For example, this chapel is of course quite beautiful in its own right. But the main point of interest is the faded Pillsbury Doughboy on the wall down the road a bit.

Graffiti is the same everywhere, we realise, lots of ugly tags and rude words, but with the occasional work of art. And then there’s this homespun philosophy:

Liesel admired the crochet decorating this staircase. I wonder whether there’a a local equivalent of the WI responsible?

We’d only found a few euros at home, so we thought we should get some out of a machine. The nearest ATM was half a mile from our location when we trusted our fate to Google Maps. We both extracted some cash, to confirm that both our cards would indeed work. And after this point, we saw an ATM everywhere we looked. On one street, there were four shops in a row, each with a cash machine outside.

Similarly, we didn’t come across a tourist information office. Until we did, and then there were three different ones all located on one particular corner.

There’s a big market, all under cover, where we could have bought any amount of fish and meat, fruit and cheese. I’ve never seen so many cans of sardines. I’ve never seen so many different brands of tins of sardines. In the end, we just had coffee and what turned out to be a very squishy cake. Which made my hands sticky. So I went into the facility to wash them. As I was standing by the sink, giving them a good scrub, the cleaner shouted at me, I’m guessing, to go away. I thought it was because she was about to clean that set of wash basins. But no, it turns out I was in the ladies’. Oh well.

On the top floor of the market, there is this model of the whole structure, which is built on several levels. We entered from street level on the ground floor, and left from the third floor, also at that point, at street level.

As we were walking along minding our own business. I was approached by a young man with a clipboard. ‘Do you speak English?’ he asked. ‘Nein,’ I replied, putting a defensive hand up. He apologised and moved on. I’m not a fan of chuggers at home, never mind in strange cities.

We had a sit down in St Anthony’s Church, and we both lit a candle for our lost, loved ones.

As we wandered around, I was keeping count of the buskers. Until I lost count, there were so many of them. Two were playing guitars, one had a barrel organ and what appeared to be a trained pigeon dancing. We saw one singer and one saxophone player.

And on the whole, we were still walking down and down, towards the river Doura. And here we were entertained by three performers in a row. A guitar version of Coldplay’s Paradise, someone singing Elton John’s Your Song and the last guy was singing George Michael’s Careless Whisper. And there were plenty more buskers where they came from. A very musical city indeed.

We crossed the river on Ponte Luis I, and there was a guy walking along the top. We wondered whether he was going to jump in, but I suspect he just gets his kicks from watching tourists looking and pointing at him, wondering whether he’s going to jump in the river or not!

Lunch was meh, nothing special, but I had my first Portuguese beer. The views of the city, to the north of the river especially, were stunning. It is a very pretty city.

And just look at that sky! Proper sky blue. I never knew I wanted to see a turtle made out of old car tyres, until I actually saw one.

And then we took the teleferico, the gondola, to save walking up the hill.

It was a beautiful day and we were just about done walking, so we knew we couldn’t, on this occasion, hang around to see the Sun set. So we took the metro back home again.

Siesta time. I’m not sure whether I completely nodded off, but I was surprised to be woken by my phone. It was David, my brother, who by some strange coincidence lives in Portugal. And, yes, we’ll be visiting him very soon.

Time for another quick walk to a local supermarket to buy some food for dinner tonight. Cheese sandwiches and crisps, how does that sound? Suitably Portuguese? I was fascinated to see that the local authorities employed Yayoi Kusama to design the local car parking facilities.

A very nice man in the supermarket helped Liesel use the bread slicing machine. He might hang around all the time, waiting for clueless visitors. But how nice, that they trust customers to slice their own bread like that.

We walked and metroed back home again. What a wonderful first whole day in Porto, we feel well exercised. The only downer was seeing news that ‘our’ tree has been vandalised and cut down. Sycamore Gap will never be the same again. And to think we were lucky enough to visit it just four months ago.

We’re in a quiet area in Porto, we’ve just heard a couple of dogs, and the cleaners outside, but it is really quiet. So we were delighted to be serenaded by a soprano practicing her scales somewhere along the road. Liesel wouldn’t let me go out on the balcony to harmonise.

Our second and final full day started with a sort of croissant and a slice of bread accompanied by a cup of tea with no milk. We didn’t want to buy too much stuff that we’d have to lug around Portugal.

Again, when we left our accommodation, we turned right to walk downhill. Well, it’s a 50-50 chance!

We didn’t go into Clérigos Church and Tower. On another occasion, I might want to climb the tower, but not today. I was following one of my GPs’ advice: pace yourself. No need to feel uncomfortably short of breath in a strange place.

We heard the bells tell us when it was ten o’clock and part of me wondered what was the significance? Well, just a few minutes later, my phone reminded me that tickets were now on sale for Seth Lakeman in February. So I bought a couple of tickets. And the whole process was straightforward, just a bit disappointed that we never had the chance to select our own seats. And the usual whige about being charged extra for electronic tickets.

We found a fountain and Liesel thought it was a good place for a selfie. The Fonte dos Leões, the Fountain of Lions, recycles its water and is lit up at night.

Here is another Catholic Church, and the picture is composed of tiles, each hand painted and fired and, phew, glued on the wall in the right place. That would have taken some planning.

We encountered more buskers today of course. One young lady was playing slide guitar and I kept expecting her to segue into Dire Straits’ Private Investigations, but she just carried on doing her own stuff. We can’t throw money at all of these street entertainers of course, but she was the first of two today. The other one was this guy dancing with a life-size doll.

He had some good moves and she just followed him around, the expression on her face not changing at all.

Liesel had read something about freak, deformed trees in Porto. We found them in the park, Jardim da Cordoaria.

I think they’re London Plane trees, but it does depend who you believe. They’re certainly different to the plane trees in actual London. They may have been cut back and regrown, or they may be affected by fungus, there are many stories. Also in this park, you can see a set of sculptures featuring jolly gentlemen being daft. So of course, I had to join them.

This turns out to have been the final work by sculptor Juan Muñoz who died in 2001. Thanks for the laughs, Juan.

We carried on walking and when looking west, thought, wouldn’t it be nice to see the Sun set? Yes, but it’s a bit hazy in that direction. Well, all the better for a nice red sunset!

We came across this graffiti, whch turns out to be world famous. After a ridiculous amount of time on Google, it seems that it just means ‘Tagging is not dead’. Well, some of us wish tagging were dead, and the space left for other artwork.

We passed this statue a couple of times. It depicts a local bishop from about a hundred years ago. He’s very angular, isn’t he? But what really caught my eye was the fact that he’s wearing spectacles.

I had a strange synaesthetic experience today. Usually, my synaesthesia is confined to ‘seeing’ flashes of colour when I hear a sudden crash or bang. But today, when I first saw this pattern of paving stones…

… I immediately ‘heard’ the sound of fireworks going off, phweee… very strange. Also, I wasn’t feeling tired nor stressed at this point, which is when I am normally suscepible to such phenomena.

Time for a coffee and cake? Of course. We sat inside to avoid the coach party and the smoker that arrived and sat outside as we were queueing. It was nice to sit down for a while. And the coffee was so good, I had a second, which is also very unusual for me.

Liesel had some work to do, so we decided to return to base. A short walk and a short metro ride and another short walk later, here we are. When we disembarked at Marquês, we spent some time looking at the colourfully wrapped trees and other displays of colour. It’s all part of an art installation called Chromatic Emotions – Porto ’23.

I do like this one, and it’s only enhanced of course by some supermodel photo-bombing.

Back in doors, Liesel worked while I wrote, we had some lunch, listened to some bloke called Mick the Knife on the radio and then played some other music.

Yes, this week’s show was Friends and Friendship and you can catch it here, if you missed it by accident when it was broadcast on Wythenshawe Radio.

Quadrupeds and quadriceps

I was still in bed when Liesel left to have coffee with her WI buddies. The good news is, I was out of bed when she returned a few hours later. I could have stayed in my pit much longer, listening to podcasts.

We very rarely go into Manchester on a Saturday but it was time for a Treasure Hunt.

“For years and years Manchester has been under the spell of the wicked
witch Abby Cadabra, who put the city under a curse of perpetual rainfall.
Fortunately, the world-famous adventurer Hugo First located a map and
book of clues that could reveal the location of the magic spell book. But
Hugo ran a mile (and more!) when he learnt of the perils that lay in front of
him.”

We had to locate the treasure, which is a Spell Book, and presumably cast a spell to lift the curse, and imbue Manchester with everlasting sunshine. Well, by the time we reached the end of the hunt, we were just happy to have located the treasure although as you’ll see, we weren’t all satisfied. But that’s a lot later on.

Liesel and I took the bus into the city centre and were greeted outside the Central Library by protestors against the murderous régime in Iran. We waited inside for our fellow treasure seekers to arrive.

Jenny and family came by train and tram, which might have been as exciting as it gets for the children. But no, there was much more to come. We followed the clues, which took us to parts of Manchester that we’d never seen before. Martha and William were very good at spotting things such as gargoyles, and Martha expecially enjoyed solving the mostly word-based puzzles.

William was very energetic but sometimes, the urge to have a quick break was just too much.

This bridge, over the River Irwell marks the boundary between Manchester and Salford so of course, we had to get a picture of someone with a leg in each city.

So here’s Martha replicating an old picture of her mother straddling the border between England and Wales many, many years ago.

I’d forgotten that Manchester is a Nuclear Free City until we came across this sculpture featuring some very dirty doves.

It was a lovely day for a walk around the city, we really should spend more time just mooching around aimlessly. Like we used to do in London, of course.

Eventually, we solved the final clue, and so by elimination, we know where the treasure is. William asked where the chocolate was. I agreed: I think there should have been an actual, real prize at the end, but there wasn’t. Just the joy of knowing we cracked the code. And enjoyed a walk in the process.

We found a nice place for coffee and cake before making or way home, the children and their parents on a very crowded tram.

William invited us to watch him the following day at his football coaching session, so we did. It was fun watching him and the other Little Kickers learning their skills. Or should that be skillz with a zed?

When she thought nobody was watching, Martha went behind the curtain to practice her netball skillz.

After the session, we walked into Cheadle for a late breakfast slash brunch slash lunch. A very versatile place is Brezo, which I was surprised to see only has one zed. Between us, we ate a pizza, cheeseburger and chips, eggs on muffins, tapas and something chickeny.

This week, we started booking up for our next big trip. After taking far too long to work out some sort of itinerery, we went online to book a flight, looking for the cheapest, quickest, best airline, do we stop over half way or not, how much luggage allowance do we need, where do we want to sit on the plane, a million and one decisions. Done! Except that we’d booked a month earlier than we’d planned. And it costs an arm and a leg to change your booking. Once she stopped laughing at our ineptitude, Helen said she’d be happy to see us earlier than originally planned, phew, so we’ll be off to Australia in March, woohoo! To err is human, to really mess things up, get a computer!

It wasn’t the most exciting event of the week, but I missed the Wednesday walk to attend a meeting with the management company for our block of flats, oops, apartments. There was just me and Carole from the estate agent. I spent the rest of the day editing my radio show: it always takes much longer when I have a chat with someone else, a special guest.

It’s that time of year again, we both received our flu shots. And we’ve booked our next Covid jabs. I’ve met a couple of people recently who have had both vaccines at the same time, one in each arm.

Thursday’s walk was good, although Liesel missed it, prefering to be pummeled by the physio. After coffee and a snack, fellow walker Sue and I took a bus to Heald Green. Liesel met up with us and a huge group of people for a walk arranged by WalkADay. It total, there were 26 of us on this 3.9 mile walk between Heald Green and Styal.

The sky turned grey, dark grey, it looked ominous. And Heald Green itself must be at the end of a Manchester Airport runway, because the planes came in very low, very fast and very loud, you could almost see the freckles on the noses of the faces of the passengers in the window seats.

The route took us along a very narrow path, so we had to walk in single file. The path had nettles on both sides, so it was hard to avoid all of them. At the end of the day though, I was delighted by how few stings I had, just a couple of mild itches.

The route also took us through Nixon’s Farm, a place we’d driven by several times, but we’d never bothered to visit. There’s a farm shop and butchers and a pet food store. But one day, we’ll definitely visit the Moody Cows Tea Room.

There was nothing special about seeing a field full of sheep. But seeing a few donkeys in a field was quite exciting. Then a brown thing started to run towards the fence. Funny looking donkey? No, it was one of three or four alpacas, coming over to say hello or, more likely, steal some food.

Standing next to the donkeys, I realised that relatively speaking, alpacas have very small heads.Almost like a child’s picture of an animal, but not drawn to scale.

There were no hills so the walk wasn’t at all onerous. But there were some obstacles. Such as the puddle (pond?) that covered the whole path. We couldn’t go around it, we couldn’t jump over it. Oh no, we had to walk through it. Well, this was a good test for my new shoes which I thought might have a leak. But no, my feet stayed bone dry all day.

Elsewhere, the path was quite muddy, thick, gooey, oozey, squelchy mud. Yes, my new shoes were now caked in mud. What I needed was a nice big puddle in which to give them a quick rinse.

There were at least seven stiles to negotiate too. Well, with 26 of us queueing to climb over, nobody got left behind. I was by no means the oldest participant, and when I saw how mobility challenged some of them were, I realised that, despite my many whinges, I am quite fit. The one thing I will complain about is the intermittent stabbing pain I feel in just one spot in my right quadriceps. In fact, a few nights earlier, I woke up with the sensation of someone stabbing it with a thick knitting needle.

We walked around the fringes of Styal Golf Club, looking out for low-flying balls, and finally returned to our start point.

Liesel and I both joined the regular walk on Friday, and it was nice to see a couple of herons in Painswick Park. At least one of which was psychic. As soon as I even thought about getting my phone out, even though it was way over there on the other side of the lake, it walked behind a bush, purely to stop me from getting a picture. But I captured the other one, hah!

It took most of the afternoon to book some train and bus tickets for our upcoming visit to Portugal. If you’re reading this David and Glen, Catherine and Hans, we’re coming to see you!

And as I hinted earlier, this week I had a guest on my radio show. Do you remember Zha Olu who has appeared a couple of times at Boxx2Boxx? Well, she very kindly gave me some time and her thoughts this week. The theme of the show is Flying. You can hear it here on Mixcloud.

Soup, sand and sunshine

And breathe. It took a couple of days for Liesel and me to recover our composure after those few busy days. So we relaxed. Liesel went for a haircut. I waited in for the groceries. This is our usual, default level of excitement.

We picked up Martha and William from school on our new regular day, Tuesday. At home, Martha crafted this creature from beads and pipecleaners:

At Marha’s request, Liesel made a cauldron of corn soup, which we all enjoyed. Liam and Jenny joined us too, and the best news is: no leftovers! It’s funny how things change though. Martha no longer likes garlic bread. It wasn’t so long ago that she and William would have gone ten 3-minute rounds for the last slice.

Liesel went for a walk in Heaton Chapel but I was quite happy to stay behind and pursue my own interests. Which included watching a crummy film on TV called Superintelligence. There are some good one-liners but if you too fancy spending a couple of hours counting holes in plot-lines, go for it!

And so it’s that time of year again. Liesel’s birthday. We joined the gang for the regular walk in Wythenshawe in the morning, and even though it’s late in the year, we’re still seeing chicks in the pond.

In the afternoon, we drove to the seaside. We realised we hadn’t been all year, and this might be our last opportunity, with half decent weather. Formby is our usual destination, but today we went slightly further afield, all the way to St Anne’s.

We’d left the sunshine behind in Manchester, it was overcast here but still warm. And, remarkably, no wind.

The tide was miles out, we felt sure that, if we’d wanted to, we could walk all the way to the Isle of Man. So no chance of a paddle in the sea, but we had a very pleasant walk along the promenade. We stopped for fish and chips, well, pie and chips in my case, to fully appreciate the seaside atmosphere. Seagulls hovered and squawked, but we and our chips were never in any real danger.

The pier is 90% amusements and the thing that always amuses me about the word ‘amusements’ is that it has the word ‘semen’ contained within. Sadly, we had no cash on us, not even any notes that we could have exchanged for coins in the very helpful change machine. So we couldn’t play any of the games. Also, maybe I’m just getting old, but some of the games look way too complicated. You could spend a fortune just learning what to do, never mind actually trying to win anything. Very noisy it was in that arcade.

We continued our promenade until we reached the sand dunes, then walked back along the beach. We noticed there were very few shells, certainly none worth bringing home for crafting purposes.

In contrast with Formby, it was good to see so many litter bins. Plus, a place to leave and borrow buckets and spades. Well done, Fylde Council.

On the drive back home, we stopped for a comfort break and a coffee, noting that, strange as it may sound, it really did become sunnier as we approached Manchester. If it weren’t such a fanciful idea, you could almost start to believe the climate is changing.

The radio show this week was, shhh!, Secrets. You can listen here.

All the adjectives

The musical alarm dragged me away from my exciting dream. I can’t remember what it was about, but I do feel sad to have left it behind. The reason for this inconvenience? We’d planned a quick trip to London. And I mean quick. It was a hectic 36 hours in the sense that we did a lot, but we never felt rushed. Oh, except now, getting up soon after 5am. Time enough for breakfast before the taxi took us to Manchester Coach Station. Yes, we took a leisurely five and a bit hours to reach London’s Victoria Coach Station by National Express.

The journey was uneventful on the whole: I was occupied by podcasts, a book and a nap. Two highlights though. As the coach pulled into Norton Canes Services on the M6 toll, we saw some deer and I just about caught one.

The driver didn’t bother slowing down so we could get better pictures, but I guess his bladder was on the same wavelength as mine.

The other memorable moment was as we proceeded down Park Lane in London. We heard cannon fire from Hyde Park, we guessed, to mark the first anniversary of the Queen’s death. Actually, the 41-gun salute in Hyde Park was more to mark the accession of King Charles to the British crown.

It was a beautiful, sunny day and we were travelling light, just one bag each. After sitting on the coach for so long, we had to walk for a bit. We set our controls for Trafalgar Square.

The gardeners have been busy around Victoria Monument but interestingly, very few people were outside Buckingham Palace. I thought there might be thousands of mourners marking the occasion.

The Mall was empty and I, again, reminded Liesel that I had ridden my bike here: crikey, that was 9 years ago now, that Prudential 100-mile ride around the Surrey countryside and streets of London. Just days after the devastating Hurricane Bertha.

Trafalgar Square is so much better now the pigeons have left, although a couple were still looking around hoping for some free food. Many years ago, of course, my sister and I would love feeding the birds, but it’s a much more pleasant environment now.

Round the corner then to the recently re-opened National Portrait Gallery, where we met Andi and Steve. They’re in the process of moving house in Richmond, so good luck with that!

The café was full so we went over the road. St Martin’s crypt was about to close, so we ended up having drinks behind St Martin’s, in the courtyard.

We caught up and chatted for a while and after we said our farewells, Liesel and I visited an exhibition of photographs taken by Paul McCartney during the early days of the Beatles. They’re not all of the best quality, some are out of focus, but the story they tell is fascinating.

Using QR codes and an app, you can listen to Sir Paul as he talks about some of the pictures, the people and the events.

Of all the people depicted in these photos, I’ve only met one: David Jacobs. So that’s a claim to fame. I have seen Jane Asher on stage too, in Peterborough, about 40 years ago.

Some of Paul’s notebooks are here too, including hand-written lyrics of the songs that we now all know so well.

The contrast between the early black and white pictures and the later colour ones is remarkable. I had the perfect picture in mind, but the attendant didn’t want to be included in my photo. Still, we had a nice chat about the old days in Camden and beyond.

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64, Eyes of the Storm is running here until 1st October, but I’m sure the collection will be shown elsewhere.

It was hard to avoid this portrait of the King before setting off on foot again. Down Whitehall, past the fortress that is now Downing Street, although there were no protestors today. Nor protestors.

As we passed Westminster Abbey, Liesel noticed how bright, how white it was. Don’t tell me it was given a good clean for the coronation?

We decided to check into our hotel and discard most of our stuff. Liesel had cleverly booked a place within easy walking distance of Victoria Coach Station, so we could make a quick getaway in the morning.

Our walk took us via Eaton Square, Sloane Square, King’s Road all the way to The Pheasantry, a Pizza Express. We were shown to our table and enjoyed our pizzas.

A long time ago, I’d booked tickets for Saturday afternoon in Manchester. Later on, Jessica Lee Morgan announced that after this year, she wouldn’t be doing any more gigs. I felt we had to see her one more time, so I bought tickets for this show. This is why our trip to London was so frenetic this time.

We met a couple of people we knew in the audience, hello again Sue, hello again, Alan!

The show was of course brilliant. ‘Those Were The Days’ it was called, in which Jessica and Christian, just the two of them this time, played songs written by or given life by female singers and songwriters.

Even though Liesel and I were sitting under the cold air ducts, the only time I really got goosebumps was when Jessica sang Ocean Song, my favourite track from her Ma’s album Earth Song, Ocean Song. Stunning.

When playing the piano, Jess apologised for turning her back to us, so I said ‘it’s nice to see yer back’.

After the interval, Jessica emerged having changed outfit, and performed Janis Joplin’s Mercedes Benz a cappella while walking amongst the audience.

After the show which we throughly enjoyed, we took a bus back to our abode and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow, as the cliché goes.

The bad news is, thet even though it was well within reach of our seats, I forgot to pick up the set list.

We got up not quite as early, walked to the coach station, and boarded with a breakfast from Prêt and enjoyed the journey back to Manchester.

We had an afternoon show to go to, and we debated whether or not we’d have time to go home first. In the end, no. We arrived in Manchester and caught a bus most of our way to the venue.

What a strange looking building! Contact is in Oxford Road, close to the University, and this was our first visit. We ordered a smoothie but, due to a shortage of ingredients, we had to resort to enjoying our beverage after the show. I wonder who got to go shopping?

Arlo Parks came to prominence just a few years ago as a young singer-songwriter. Today, whe was here to have a chat with Liv Little (I really hope her middle initial is ‘A’!) and to read from her newly published book of poetry, The Magic Border.

As is often the case, I didn’t get much of the poetry, it needs more study maybe, but I enjoyed her use of language.

Afterwards, we enjoyed our freshly made smoothies while watching the very long queue of people waiting for their books to be signed.

I met Arlo, she signed the book, and even recorded a little announcement for my radio show which was very kind. She’s a lovely, friendly little soul and I’m sure she’ll be a big star soon. And not just because she’s gonna be a regular on my show…

So, that was a hectic fun-packed 36 hours, and in the evening, we slumped in front of the penultimate state of the Tour of Britain bike race.

What’s better than two show in two days? Well, three shows in three days, of course.

Laughterama is Manchester’s biggest comedy festival. It might be the only one, I suppose, but that’s what their website says. I bought the tickets ages ago, and it was just rotten luck that all these things came up this weekend.

We drove into Manchester and parked about a five minute walk from the venue, Castlefield Bowl. We’ve been close to this site on many occasions, but didn’t realise there was this amphitheatre. The weather forecasts conflicted, and it did rain a few times, just light drizzle really, nothing too bad. But that didn’t dampen our mood. Especially after filling up with nachos. Other street food was available.

The show was hosted by Suzi Ruffell and she, and the other four were absolutely brilliant, very funny.

Ardal O’Hanlon reminded us that he used to be Father Dougal and he went to great lengths to demonstrate that he, Ardal, was not as stupid as Dougal. He, Sukisa, Dana and Suzi walked up and down the stage a bit, but they did stand still sometimes, hence the reasonable photos. Russell Kane on the other hand, well, he ran up and down the stage, he performed all his own stunts, all while talking and telling jokes and interrupting himself and making valid points about today’s society. That’s my excuse for not achieving such a clear, focussed photo of him. This is the least worst, and possibly, the most interesting.

I don’t know how much energy he used, but they should wire him up to the national grid. Very funny. In fact, we’d recommend you see any of these folks live on stage if you get the chance.

The only thing we didn’t like was the seating. The stackable chairs were too small and way too close to each other. You didn’t have to be overweight to be squished between your neighbours, and in our case, one of those neighbours was a complete stranger.

Later on, whilst wasting time browsing Instagram, I came across this image.

So, that was another fun day, and in the evening, we slumped in front of the final stage of the Tour of Britain bike race. The winner was Wout van Aert, one of the favourites, and that last day, in the mountains of south Wales looked really hard.

That concludes our exciting, hectic, frenetic and frenzied but incredibly exciting and fun weekend. All the adjectives.

So listen out for Arlo’s small message on my show later this week (the theme is Secrets, so tell everyone), link to follow. And, if you missed them, here are links to the shows where Jessica Lee Morgan and Dan Tiernan joined me in the studio. In the studio! I was in the spare room, and we spoke remotely!

Bath, bridge and backpack

The children returned to school during what turned out to be one of the hottest weeks of Summer. Even though, meteorlogically speaking, it is now Autumn. William and Martha both look very smart in their uniforms, but mainly, Martha is very proud of her new backpack.

I did ask how long she was going away for, but apparently this is just for one 6-hour day at school. It puts my old school satchel, and later on, briefcase, into perspective.

Meanwhile, half a world away, Helen has been getting to know baby Gypsy.

Bambi and Brett are very lucky to have such a wonderful auntie (and babysitter) in their orbit, and I’m sure, if Helen has anything to do with it, young Gypsy will be well pampered!

We haven’t had to pay a cheque into a bank for a long time, but Liesel’s had one gathering dust for a few months now. The nearest branch of our bank is now in Sale, so we had no choice but to drive there.

We didn’t spend much time there as we were en route to Plumley. This was a place I don’t think I’d heard of before last week. So, when someone on a walk mentioned it, I looked up Plomley. Yes, I was thinking of the man who devised Desert Island Discs, Roy. Needless to say, I couldn’t find it. Plumley, however, was the venue for a group walk this week. We parked up in the railway station car park and waited for everyone else to arrive by train. And yes, the train was late, leaving us time to explore the station.

The walk was circular, about four miles in length, and very enjoyable, as long as you dodged the nettles. We passed by Holford Hall, but couldn’t actually see it through the trees… maybe that’s another day out sometime.

The half the blackberries were sweet and juicy and half sour. Yes, I ate two, one of each. At about the halfway point, we stopped for a snack. Some of our number sat on the old, rusty gas pipes that the sign told us not to climb on.

Where the path was really overgrown, with long grass and everything, I was very conscious of every tickle. I really didn’t want to be attacked by a tick. Well, I didn’t want to be bitten by anything at all, like I was last week. Especially as some of those bites are still quite itchy. Yes, I could wear proper leg coverings, but on the whole, I am much more comfortable wearing shorts. And, with legs as good as mine, why should I conceal them?

Some signs are meant to be ignored, right? It was a real struggle to get over this bridge, with several barriers, bollards, fences, all to be negotiated, moved or climbed over. I let some of the others go first, just to make sure the bridge could bear the weight of pedestrians.

We bade farewell to our fellow travellers at the station, and returned home, dropping our friend Sue off at the fire station where we’d found her earlier on.

It was a glorious, hot, sunny week, so it felt wrong to be stuck inside. We went outside for a stroll each day but then indoors, Liesel had some work to do, and I continued prepping radio shows and yes, sorting out the photos.

One morning, we went out and were horrified at how dirty the car was. And so were all the others in the neighbourhood. Overnight, it had rained, and several tonnes of Saharan sand were deposited on the streets of Northenden.

Because of the heat and humidity, the walk today was shorter than usual. And in one of the parks, we saw evidence of gun crime in Wythenshawe.

We collected the children from school and brought them home. The best entertainment we could offer on such a warm day was to play in the bath. And as if to prove they’re growing up, they asked to get in the bath separately.

And, playing in the bath was fun to watch. It’s amazing what stories you can invent with a set of stackable beakers and a few dinosaurs.

After dinner, we took them home, and hope they had a good night’s sleep before non-uniform Friday at school. There were to be bouncy castles too, postponed from the end of last term, because it was just too wet.

Back at home, we started packing for our upcoming weekend adventure.

The radio show this week featured songs with titles that are also the names of TV programmes or films, especially when the two are not connected. Tributes to TV shows such as Top of the Pops and Ready Steady Go are amongst the highlights. If you missed the initial broadcast on Wythenshawe Radio, you can catch up here on Mixcloud.