Travels – Mick and Liesel's Antics

Colours

After our tacos, Brent dropped Liesel and me off near our b&b, thank you very much! It had been raining on and off most of the day, and we were delighted to see a rainbow at the end of the day.

I’m sure the apartments in that building, Casa Delmar, will be lovely: Alfresco living finds its ultimate expression as doors slide back to large outdoor terraces, extending your interior space and blurring the lines between inside and out. These are homes with a beautiful feel, designed for an expansive coastal Dee Why lifestyle. It sounds nearly as nice as NortNorthen. Expansive? I’m sure. Expensive too.

You know the song Come On, Eileen, by Dexys Midnight Runners? Well, for the last few days, I’ve been telling Liesel that when we turn the AC off in our room, it plays the first two notes of that song. To prove it, I found it on YouTube. And well, it doesn’t. But it certainly brings that song to mind every time.

We returned to Warringah Mall to do some shopping but Liesel took a detour into the eyelash tinting shop, so I had a coffee in the café opposite, The Best Chocolate Cake in the World. I didn’t have any chocolate cake, though.

It was great fun visiting all the department stores and clothes shops, no, honest, it really was. And every time we visit the ladies’ underwear department, I worry that I’m going to be stuck there for days, not finding my way out, like those priests in Father Ted.

Helen and Keiran joined us for lunch and a bit more shopping. A cuddly giraffe was irresistable, just a small cuddly for Keiran. I say small, but it must be nearly four feet tall. Did I feel daft carrying it through the Mall? Oh yeah.

At the time of writing, he hasn’t been given a name.

Helen dropped us off at the bottom of the hill, so we could cool off in our room for a while, avoiding 31° outside.

We found our way back to Freshwater Brewery by bus and Shanks’s Pony. One thing I’ve noticed is that, because so many cars have tinted windows, it’s sometimes very hard to see whether the driver is waving us pedestrians across the road. So we hesitate and they’re probably thinking, get a move on, you absolute whatever…

It was trivia night, and we were joined by Brent, Jacqui, Nat, Jo, Mike and Nicky. Helen and Keiran stayed at home, it was much cooler there. And our team came third. hooray!

Our original plan was to revisit Narrabeen Lake but the impending rain changed our minds. Instead, Liesel and I visited the big city, Sydney. We caught the ferry from Manly.

The nets here are to keep the sharks out rather than keep people in. But, we heard, a couple of days ago, a pair of sharks managed to break in. There must have been some damage to the nets. So neither of us went in for a swim.

In Sydney, there was very light drizzle, as we walked to the Australian Museum.

Look at the glorious blue sky. Well, not today! And note the 56 external cables wrapped around the body of Sydney Tower to prevent swaying during high winds. Very hard to count from this distance.

The museum was very interesting. We walked a lot but, as usual, that slow sort of walking isn’t energetic enough for my pedometer to count all the steps. So while I probably walked about 40,000 ⃰ steps, it insisted I’d only taken about 3,000 steps.

⃰ slight exaggeration.

Lots of taxidermied animals including crocodiles and snakes. Don’t forget the plesiosaur. Or the creaky staircase that takes you up to the gallery.

And what’s that thing hanging from the ceiling?

Irish Elk skeleton, Megaloceros giganteus

Ireland, Middle Pleistocene to Early Holocene, 780,000-8000 years ago.

Standing about two metres tall, with antlers spanning more than three metres, the Irish Elk was one of the most impressive megafauna of the Pleistocene epoch. Unlike many other megafauna, it survived the Ice Age but became extinct, probably due to habitat loss, around 7700 years ago.

Despite its name, it’s neither an elk nor exclusively Irish – specimens have been found across Europe and in northern Asia and Africa. It is not closely related to any living species, but it is suspected that the animal was the foundation for the folkloric aurochs of German mythology. The bones of this specimen are dark, rather than the usual white, because they were preserved in the peaty bogs of Ireland.

Liesel suggested that its antlers have been put on backwards, but I’m not convinced. What do you think? Answers on a postcard…

The museum was also the venue for a fabulous collection of photographs, some of the best from Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. Nature at its most raw wasn’t very nice to see, although you have to admire the skill of the photographer.

This emu was captured near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It made me want to return to that very special outback town. I was also inspired to start using my real camera again, after relying on my phone’s camera for many years.

The set of sea stacks pictured are a prominent feature of this local spot, sitting perfectly to frame the rising Milky Way arm. This piece was my (Kavan’s) second attempt at shooting here, armed with a few extra years’ worth of experience. I still love this spot, Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand.

I know we’re visitors, but sometimes, other visitors can be annoying. I waited a long, long time to get this picture of a pig. Because another couple spent a long, long time while he took a picture of her while she touched the hog’s nose.

When you rub my nose and make a wish, your donation supports research, education and development at Sydney Hospital. Australia’s first hospital. So says the plaque underneath.

We walked back down to Circular Quay where we enjoyed an Aboriginal gentleman playing his didgeridoo, accompanying the theme tune from the TV series Neighbours.

We walked around by the Opera Hose, admired the groups of people climbing up and over the Harbour Bridge and confirmed again that we don’t need to do that, thank you very much.

On the ferry back to Manly, we overtook the Concordia-class cruise ship Carnival Splendor. I don’t think I’ll ever not be impressed by the size of those things, and the amount of skill needed in their design and construction. I doubt many of the passengers noticed how choppy the water was in the harbour this afternoon. But we on the ferry enjoyed bouncing around a bit.

Meanwhile, 10,560 miles away, guess who deserves a pat on the back?

William earned the Chief Scout’s Bronze
Award, congratulations and well done!

Liesel and I picked up dinner from a Dodgy Indian and we Ubered back to Helen’s. Is that a verb? Yes, it is now. But, no, really, the place is called The Dodgy Indian, in Dee Why. Of course, there was too much food for one meal but Helen and Brent were happy to have seconds the following day. Very nice, though, very tasty.

On going down for breakfast in the morning, we were horrified to see an invasion in the kitchen. What I thought was one of those black bits off the end of a banana was actually a caterpillar. I relocated it to the garden, assuming it had hitched a ride indoors the previous day, on the laundry basket or something. The only other bug I ever saw in this b&b was a small mosquito which I managed to catch. Yes! And then when I opened my hand to inspect it, it flew away again. Oh well.

Helen drove us to Narrabeen for the hike postponed from yesterday. Before walking around the Lagoon, we had coffee and Helen fed Keiran.

Some of the well-made, flat path was familiar, we’d been here a couple of years ago, but I’d forgotten how close much of it was to the main road.

We weren’t alone, we passed by several dog-walkers, plenty of runners and a few other people walking. There were just a few birds in the water, including black swans. We saw one fish jump. But most noticeable on the way around the lagoon was realising that the vegetation was mostly green, with just the odd splash of colour, mainly small, almost alpine flowers.

The bridges were very well built, crossing all the creeks, Deep Creek, Middle Creek, South Creek and Jonathan Creek. I thought I was back in Manchester for a minute when I spotted a red, plastic object, likely a bread basket, in the water. What a shame. Even though it was cloudy and cool, quite a pleasant temperature really, I realised I was a bit sweaty by the time we sat down for lunch in the Tramshed Café.

As you can see, Keiran enjoyed the walk and was pleased to have a nap at the end.

Here be dragons

Knowing that it was going to be another scorcher, I had an early breakfast before walking to Coles in Dee Why Grand. Liesel had sent a shopping list and I had a few bits of my own to get. I found everything I needed and was surprised at how heavy it was, altogether. I just hoped my plastic bag would take the strain for the walk back home.

It’s uphill going back and I was hot and sweaty. So I am eternally grateful to whoever discarded a shopping trolley on the pavement. I looked around surrepticiously, put my shopping in it and pushed it up the road. Let the trolley take the strain.

The trolley belongs to Woolworths and I hope it has since found its way back home. I only left it where I did because I had steps to walk up. And within 24 hours, someone else had indeed made use of it. The circle of life.

After lunch, I met up with Helen and we drove to Manly. We were meeting the other half of the family, Helen’s in-laws. Brent’s parents are Helen and Steve, known as Nana and Pa. His brother and sister-in-law are Liam and Megan. And Keiran’s cousins are Elliot and Ruby. And Ruby in particular was very taken with baby Keiran.

We met up at a bar called Felons, named after the American president and his coterie. I achieved a first today, not by intention. Twice I asked for half a pint of IPA, and twice I was given a full pint. I’ve not drunk two pints of beer in one go for a very long time, and not in the afternoon since about 1975. Still, it was nice to meet the wider family and to chat about Keiran, and maybe the odd other topic.

Brent arrived from working in Sydney, thus ending the first week in his exciting new job.

We’ve walked past the Ivanhoe Hotel in Manly many times over the years, but I think this was the first time I’ve been inside. The ten of us sat at a long table for dinner. I had my default, salad and chips, but even this I found to be too much, man. Very nice chips, it was a shame to leave them, but stomach said ‘no’.

We haven’t had an airport drama for a while. So here’s one. Liesel is joining me here in Aus for the last week of my trip. She flew from Anchorage to Portland, then to Honolulu. For some reason, she was in danger of missing her connecting flight from Honolulu to Sydney. The crew were aware and obviously did what they could to hold up the next flight. They did, and Liesel ran through Honolulu Airport, in the wake of two persons in wheelchairs heading for the same flight. Which was held for them. But we wonder whether it would have been held if the wheelchair users had not been first-class passengers?

Anyway, I monitored the flight as it set off, didn’t hear anything from Liesel so I was 99% sure she was on board.

Now that I could relax a bit, it was time to extract myself from the pit and get on with things.

First stop, breakfast, and I enjoyed the best fried egg roll I’ve had since the days of Unique in Chessington. Just what this relieved old body needed.

Then a return visit to the library for more writing. And other people were sitting at my table! What an outrage. It’s funny to see students studying with two or three screens in front of them. In the olden days, it would of course have been a pile of books with many bookmarks. But it was nice to see the art of hand-writing hasn’t totally been forgotten by the younger generation.

While writing, I realised that what this library needs is a char lady to come round with a tea trolley every so often. I just fancied a cup of tea and a biscuit.

I skimmed through the newspaper, Sydney Morning Herald and while a lot of it wasn’t good news, it was interesting to read about events and news other than Trump, Epstein, Mandelson, Starmer. And a really good, in-depth article about AI, far more detailed than anything I’ve seen in the UK.

And then I found the puzzle page. I was on form: I completed the cryptic crossword, the quick crossword and a sudoku. I left that page open for others to admire.

Yes, of course there is photographic evidence of my achievement!

After what was by now a late lunch, I went for a wander around Stony Range Regional Botanic Garden, which is just over the road from where I’m staying, but with a busy 6, 7, 8 or 9-lane highway in between, it’s not easy to just nip over the road.

I saw butterflies, yes, plural, and heard the chirrups of many insects. I was expecting to see brush turkeys and/or their nests, but not on this ocacsion.

Having failed to get a decent picture of a butterfly, it just wouldn’t sit still, I sat down on one of the many benches, listening to the insects successfully drowning out the sounds of the traffic.

Then I felt something noshing on my laig. My ankles were being devoured by tiny ants, so that precipitated my hasty departure from the garden. Cue several days of trying hard not to scratch my ankles.

Meanwhile, Helen, Brent and Keiran visited the family again in Bondi. After a fun visit, they set off for the airport to collect Liesel and her luggage. This was now a full car, and is the reason I didn’t also visit Bondi.

They brought Liesel straight back to our b&b where she had a shower straightaway and went straight to bed and straight to sleep.

And I think we both had a reasonably good night’s sleep, despite not having slept together for quite a while, and we’re not used to each other’s nocturnal noises nor habits.

We met Helen and family for breakfast back at SeaSprout, which also has very nice coffee.

Back at Helen’s, food was prepared for the afternoon’s barbecue. And of course it’s raining. All this way, and Liesel is greeted not with hot sunshine, but with rain.

Lindfield is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney and this is where Dan and Helen now live, more emigrés from Manly. It was about a half-hour drive, in the end.

Most of the afternoon was taken up watching the children’s antics. As well as Fern and Asher, we were joined by Nat and Rob and their two boys, Hamish and Seb. Fern was fully aware that ‘boys will be boys’ and mostly kept out of their way. As she said, they put the ‘boys’ into ‘boisterous’. Well, someone said it.

I think magnetic Minecraft blocks are meant for building, a real-life version of the much loved videogame, Minecraft. But these boys were a bit more destructive, magneticly sticking the small blocks together to make larger blocks, and then watching the construction explode as it hits the floor. The box in which these blocks are stored is labelled TNT.

I’m not saying Keiran was wide-eyed and legless, but he definitely wasn’t standing up 😉

Thanks very much to everyone for contributing some delicious food. Just a shame that the weather kept us inside.

After breakfast, Liesel and I walked over to Helen’s. I read some of my book while Helen and Keiran caught up on some sleep. We then drove to the Mall where Helen and Liesel were both surprised that I bought a sandwich from Subway. They both had something more exotic!

And then it was time to feed Keiran and of course, the best venue for this was the library.

At one point, Liesel and I had thought about going to the cinema but in the end, that idea evaporated like early morning dew. A short walk in the evening took us down the road to a nice little place for our dinner. Again, my meal was too big.

We rose slightly earlier the next day, we had places to be, things to do and people to see. After breakfast, we took our time crossing the busy intersection, the site of NSW’s 1000th set of traffic lights, and caught the 199 bus into Manly.

As we’d arrived quicker than expected for our massages, we had a coffee in the shop next door. While in there, Liesel spotted Helene, our masseuse, leaving the car park. Helene spotted Liesel too and said, “see you soon”. How great to be remembered and recognised after all this time. Helene’s probably seen hundreds of clients but Liesel’s seen a very few different massageurs.

Liesel was seen first, so I went to do my thing in Manly Library. It’s only a short distance down the road from the massage parlour, but of course, I walked round the long way (the wrong way?). Just to get some steps in.

My massage was wonderful, but boy, does she have strong thumbs and fingers. “When are you flying home?” she asked. “Sunday.” “Oh, plenty of time to recover, then.” I need time to recover? I fully expected to wake up covered in bruises the following day, but actually, I felt fine. I knew I’d been worked on, but in a good way.

While we were in Manly, Helen took Keiran for another Baby Sensory session. This week, they were celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Manly beach was more crowded than we’ve seen it so far, and plenty of people were in the water.

We walked along the very busy path to Shelly Beach, and between the dragons and the turkeys, it was almost a wildlife safari.

And because the modern fashion is for very teeny weeny bikini bottoms, I had to apologise to Liesel, because it’s very difficult not to look when walking along with some young girl’s arse is in your line of sight. ‘Must get some peaches on the way home.’

Brush turkey and a very half-hearted nest

You know you’re in a civilised place when you don’t have to look too far for a water fountain. And we did need a lot of water today.

Yes, we saw other birds and other, smaller lizards on our wander, but the dragons and turkeys were by far the most interesting.

We joined the queue and enjoyed lunch at Norma’s Deli. It’s a popular venue, but I’m pretty sure we’ve managed to walk by it many times before, without entering its portal. And, for dessert, we visited the gelato place. And for dinner in the evening, it being Taco Tuesday, we returned to Freshie Mex for tacos. It was cool sitting outside and a friend of Helen’s, Kat, dropped by for a quick chat. It’s a small world, isn’t it! Except when you have to fly halfway round it…

More boats and birds

After a lovely chat with Liesel, who’s still in sub-zero Anchorage, I returned to Manly where I enjoyed coffee and a chunky choc chip cookie for breakfast.

Pauline and I met at Three Beans again for coffee and toast and Helen joined us after her appointment. It was a wee bit cooler today and quite windy. Nevertheless, we persevered: Helen fed Keiran and then drove us up to North Head.

There is now virtually no sign of the fires that took place in 2020 and we enjoyed a wander around the headland, gazing out to sea, enjoying the cooling breeze. Well, I was. Pauline would have been wearing a fur coat if one were available. She looked around for a kangaroo to skin, but no such luck. Instead, she just wrapped herself in one of Keiran’s blankets.

Back at the Mall, we had smoothies at Girdlers. Pauline went back home with Helen while I got a few more steps in before returning to my b&b to nap, read and write.

Brent has a new job and is in Melbourne for a few days on some sort of induction course.

And tonight’s dinner was Indian, at Shandar Tandoori, very nice food and not too hot and spicy. It was a windy night.

Helen again picked me up from the car park at Officeworks. While waiting, I came across a plaque commemorating the traffic lights at this busy crossroads, Pittwater Road, Harbord Road and Warringah Road. What’s so special about these lights? They were the 1000th to be commissioned in New South Wales, back in 1974.

It reminded me of when Sarah, 2-year old Jenny and I visited Alice Springs. The locals were still celebrating the fairly recent installation of their very first set of traffic lights!

I was enjoying Crypt by Alice Roberts, about disease and death in the medieval period. So imagine my surprise, nay, my shock when, at 75%, the next page was the Epilogue. Followed by acknowledgements, references and a very comprehensive index. In fact, so comprehensive, I looked to see if my own name was in it. So 25% of the book took me just a couple of minutes to flick through. I can recommend it as a fascinating read, but remember, it ends properly at 75%!

After my usual bowl of cereal at the b&b, I walked up the road in Dee Why to meet Helen. While sitting on a bench, I was thoroughly entertained. There was a bird repeatedly whistling the first line of ‘Happy birthday to you’. And from the library itself, the children were singing some well-known songs including ‘The Hokey Cokey.’

I met Helen and Keiran after their Baby Sensory session and we (!) drove up the road to collect Pauline from her accommodation. Hers was a shorter visit than mine, and today was her last in Aus on this trip.

But, more exciting than any of this, was, I received a message from WordPress, the hosts of this mickandlieselsantics stuff. It’s our 8 year anniversary, woohoo! So much nonsense. ‘Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging.’ Oh, alright then.

Goodbye Auntie Pauline, see you next time

After a cup of tea at Helen’s, while Keiran slept, Pauline and I caught the bus to Manly. Thanks for the lift down the road, Helen! I’d forgotten that Pauline’s case has a wheel missing: that’s why when I tried to help pull it, I kept walking around in circles.

In Manly, of course, it’s funny how we both fancied something as simple as toast and jam (me) or toast and peanut butter (she). One more visit to Three Beans then, where there was no accidental spillage today but we did get to know the Danish barista who’s here in Aus for a year on a work visa, didn’t like Melbourne because it was too cold and is planning to travel more. A great Dane enjoying her own adventure.

Perfect timing at the wharf, we caught the ferry with just a couple of minutes to spare. Strangely, the voyage today was more bumpy than a few days ago when there was a storm brewing.

Docked in the harbour was a huge cruise ship, Cardinal Adventure. Look at the size of it compared with Sydney Harbour Bridge:

2,600 passengers being served by 1,100 crew members. Later on in the day, I watched it depart, one tugboat at the stern, one at the bow. Well, that looks like a job I could do, guiding 109,000 tonnes of metal through Sydney Harbour.

I accompanied Pauline to the train station. My mission, which I chose to accept, was to make sure she caught the correct train, the one going to the airport. It was a hasty farewell, no idea when we’ll meet again, or where.

I walked around Circular Quay, towards and past Sydney Opera House. It’s a busy place and I lost count of how many different languages I heard spoken.

My goal was to reach Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, over there on the far headland. But the weather beat me, I’m sorry to say. Still, I made a couple of new friends in the Botanic Gardens.

Yes, it must have rained at some point, but I was oblivious to it.

I’d forgotten how many stairs there are at the Opera House. Up and down ~~like a whor-~~ like a yoyo, still, it’s all good exercise. And however often I see it, I am really impressed by the architecture, so different to anything else.

Any other bird sightings? Well, yes. Seagulls. And then back in Manly, these two beauties:

Little Penguin with a message for smokers

It has to be said, though, that since I’ve been here in Aus, I have seen very few smokers and vapers, so much more pleasant and civilised than in Manchester. (Whinge of the day?)

I returned to Dee Why library to write some more in what is now the ninth year of this thing. I definitely didn’t go inside just to try and stay cool, oh no. And in the evening, I met up with Helen and Keiran and friends Nat, Jacqui, Jo, Mike and Nicky for Trivia at Freshwater Brewing Company.

It was a fun quiz, general knowledge, and our team, Norfolk ‘n’ Chance, scored 25 out of 30. Not bad, we were in the top half of the league table, beaten by a few other teams. So here’s a quiz question: in this picture, Jacqui is aiming what at Keiran? (a) A hairdryer, (b) a fan or (c) a handheld speed camera? Answers on a postcard…

Almost as soon as Pauline had arrived, last week, she mentioned that there were a couple of books by Simon Winchester that she’d like to read, but couldn’t find anywhere. I helped her track them down online and she ordered them. The seller wouldn’t post to New Zealand, so they were addressed to Helen’s place here in Brookvale. Fingers crossed they’d arrive before Pauline departed.

Well, of course they didn’t. They were delivered the day after she left. My mission, which I chose to accept, was to send them on to my sister in Christchurch. So early in the morning, I walked down to the Post Office, bought an envelope, packed the books, and queued to pay. Juliet looked at me with pity. I’d failed to fill in the customs slip. Only it’s not a customs slip. You have to scan the QR code and fill in an online form. Not the best user experience ever. Under ‘Description’, I entered the word ‘Books’ instead of ‘Book’. That confused it. And the phone number field wasn’t long enough for my UK number, so I had to give it Helen’s Aussie number. So Helen will get the tracking info. Thank goodness Juliet was so patient with this befuddled pommie bastard, still redesigning the user interface in my head.

I was, however, able to enter my own email address, and it didn’t surprise me when a couple of days later, I received a message from the Aussie Post Office asking about my experience. Well, where do I start?
I met Helen in the Mall for lunch. She chose sushi, I had a Subway sandwich.

Keiran looking forward to the shopping expedition

Helen had some shopping to do, and I accompanied her. In Myer, I couldn’t resist testing out the furniture. Unbeknownst, I was caught on candid camera.

Actually, Keiran was in a pretty good mood and I was more than happy to have cuddles.

After Helen went home, I thought I’d visit the Library in the Mall, it would be nice and cool in there, right? And I could read my book for a while, right? Well, no. Disappointingly, it was hot and humid in there too, not relaxing at all. That didn’t deter the students already there, but it did deter me. So I bought myself dinner, ate it alfresco and returned to my b&b.

Buses, boats and birds

My sister and I agreed to meet at my long-time favourite coffee shop in Manly, Three Beans. I like Manly, it’s full of bright, young, fit and healthy people, so of course, I feel right at home.

It’s a 199 bus to Manly from my b&b and I have to cross a very busy crossroads to get to the bus stop. If I see the 199 approaching, and I have several lanes of traffic to cross, I’m not sure of the traffic lights’ pattern, so I have to wait at 4 or 5 crossings. One time, yes I missed the bus. The next time, the lights were in my favour, the 199 was held up by red lights.

Helen and Keiran joined us just after I’d knocked over Pauline’s berry crush smoothie. Pinky prurply gloop covered the table, the floor, my feet and of course, the provided napkins were nowhere near good enough to mop up the mess. The assistant tried very hard not to laugh at this useless old fart. Will my embarrassment deter me from visiting this establishment again? Nope.

We walked over to the wharf and east Manly Cove beach. Maybe too hot and sunny for Keiran whose sleeping and feeding routines are not entirely predictable nor reliable! So, leaving Helen and Keiran behind, Pauline and I set off for a longer stroll in the sunshine.

A few folks were on the beach, but neither Pauline nor I were tempted. Despite copious amounts of SPF 50, I for one would feel too exposed for too long.

Some new gym equipment has been installed so I had a go at a couple of the exercises. Easy. I reckon twenty seconds is plenty, for a first time, including fifteen chair lifts (I don’t know the names of the various workout techniques so while I can envisage what I did, I can’t name it with any certainty.)

We tried to have a chat with a brush turkey but he wasn’t interested, gobble gobble.

At Little Manly beach, the sign says: “There are severe penalties for taking, attempting to take, harming, possessing, interfering with, buying or selling White’s Seahorse or for damaging their habitat without the appropriate approvals.”

Appropriate approvals? From whom? Either it’s a protected area or it isn’t. Save our seahorses!

Pauline and I had a debate about this incredibly tall pine tree growing in someone’s back garden.

I maintain it’s a real tree, wood, with the crown growing naturally at the top. Pauline thinks it’s concrete or metal. Next time we visit, we’ll take some kind of testing kit.

After meeting up with Helen again, we went for lunch. The sushi train was fun to watch, while trying to grab something appealing without knocking other plates off. It was also interesting to see the cooks make up the sushi, so much faster and more efficient than our efforts at home, when we seem to spend a lot of time removing sticky rice from our fingers.

We wandered along the Corso to the main Manly beach. The sea was much calmer today and a few people were swimming or surfing.

We decided not to walk along towards Shelly Beach, the path was exposed to the hot Sun with minimal, if any, shade. So, sorry, eastern water dragons, you’ll have to wait until next time to see us.

Back in my room, I did some writing. Actual hand-writing. For the first time in ages, I thought I’d send some postcards.

After having breakfast at Hideout Dee Why, I walked up the road to Dee Why library, a quiet place in which to write, with the keyboard this time. A lovely Chinese couple approached and gestured as if to ask whether it was alright to share the table. Go ahead, I said, with a smile.

The lady started getting out a bundle of papers, including passports and I just carried on doing my thing. A library assistant approached and told them, “no, no, he’s over there”. They got up, apologised and went over there, presumably to speak to the real JP.

After a spot of shopping at Aldi, I know how to have a good time, I went over to Helen’s where I was greeted by a little chap outside the front door.

By the time I’d found the keys, he’d disappeared, I assume, into the bushes. But no. He’d slipped under the door, so he was now sitting still in the hallway, wishing he were a chameleon.

After tacos for dinner, we all enjoyed watching more wildlife in the garden. The orange spider wasp was chasing its own dinner, a spider, possibly a huntsman, but ignoring the tiny ants that would have been an easier catch, I would have thought.

Then, as we were leaving the premises, we saw this little beauty:

I told it not to go into Helen’s garden, there are foul beasties in the undergrowth.

As Pauline and I walked down the road to catch the bus back to our respective pads, we heard an awful screeching racket. Cockatoos, they look great, but their call would never appear on a mixtape of relaxing birdsong.

They were singing in the wires, so loud, that a couple of residents came out to see what the noise was all about.

The following morning, there were warnings of smoke drifting down from bush fires on the mid north coast of NSW. I didn’t detect any, but the city itself, Sydney woke to a thick blanket of haze.

I met Pauline for coffee on a return visit to the Hideout. A ten minute walk for me, a bus ride for my sister.

We passed this beauty as we walked again to Dee Why beach, the trunk smooth as Keiran’s bottom. It brought to mind the iconic twin, ghost gums on Larapinta Drive near Alice Springs. Sadly, those trees were destroyed by arsonists in 2013 in the middle of a restoration programme, following some dieback. These ghost gums were regarded by the Arrernte people as living spirits, so this act of vandalism hit the community hard. I have memories of touching, but not hugging, one of them in 2002.

Further down the road, we ingested the great smell of frangipani, or plumeria. Almost pungent in its potency, I was surprised I didn’t have a sneezing fit.

The hibiscus flowers were very bright, you could believe they had internal back lighting.

Today was the day of the annual Fun Run or Sun Run from Dee Why to Manly. It takes place very early in the morning, so we didn’t see any of the action. And we certainly didn’t participate. By the time we were up and about, all the road closures had finished.

After coffee at the beach, Pauline and I set off for Curl Curl. We caught the 166 bus most of the way, got off a couple of stops early, then enjoyed walking along the boardwalk on Curl Curl beach.

As we walked by McKillop Park on Freshwater headland, I thought, that looks like a strange and interesting sculpture, so I looked it up.

It was created by First Nations artist and creative director Nicole Monks and her design studio, mili mili. It is a tribute to the historical significance of signal fires, which were lit on headlands by Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years. The artwork is an architectural place-maker that marks the beginning of the Northern Beaches Coast Walk. It provides a space for reflection, shared storytelling, and enjoying panoramic ocean views.

And yes, the ocean views were stunning, but a life on the ocean wave was not for us. We tried to have a chat with a cormorant but he was more interested in preening himself.

There were a couple of surfers in the water, but we also came across one up here on the headland.

This statue commemorates Duke Kahanamoku’s historic surfing demonstration at Freshwater Beach headland in December 1914. The Hawaiian Olympic champion swimmer is widely regarded as the “Father of Modern Surfing” and his visit ignited Australia’s passion for the sport. Next time I’m here, I’ll try and remember to walk around to see the front of the statue!

We found Harbord Diggers, a return visit for us, and we met Helen, Brent and Keiran for lunch. We sat at the same table as last time, and Keiran was really engaged with the texture of and the lighting and shadows on the wall behind us.

Knowing from experience that veggie burger and chips here was too much of a challenge, I opted for a tofu poke bowl today. Poky? Again, there was too much food and I couldn’t finish it, despite the many different, tasty flavours.

We were entertained by a delightful singer. I didn’t catch her name but I believe she’s a local, northern beaches artist.

Helen and Brent gave us a lift to the Mall. Then Pauline went back to her place and a bit later, I returned to mine for a late, welcome, afternoon nap.

In the morning, I could smell hot pine, similar to that in a steamy sauna, but it wasn’t unpleasant or acrid, like the anticipated smoke.

We all met at the Mall and caught a B-line bus into Sydney. Not to be confused with the Bee Network in Manchester, of course.

From Wynyard, we walked down the hill to Darling Harbour. Docked on the other side of the harbour is a replica of Captain Cook’s tallship, HMB Endeavour, outside the National Maritime Museum.

But our destination today was the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. The worst part of the slow meander through the venue is that I’m not walking fast enough for all my steps to be counted by my pedometer. Tens of thousands of steps, no doubt, all lost to the ether, or something.

Keiran slept and fed and I think he enjoyed the lights and the different colours, not to mention the hundreds of other strangers.

There were also octopuses, rays, sharks and of course many, many different tropical fish. The dugong was taken in as a young orphan, cared for and then released into its natural habitat. After a short while, it had lost 25% of its body weight, so they brought it back into captivity where it seems to be thriving now.

Given the curved glass and the subdued lighting, it was quite difficult to take good pictures, but that didn’t prevent us all from trying. Here is an example of some wildlife from one of the tunnels.

Brent, Helen, Keiran, a stranger and some fish

For some reason, this penguin’s stance brought to mind the old Elton John song, I’m Still Standing, and I can’t work out the link between the two, even after several days.

We dined at Helm, just over the way from the aquarium, and on this occasion, I ate just the right, satisfying amount of very nice food.

A thunderstorm was forecast for later in the afternoon. While Brent and Helen took the bus back to Waringah Mall, where they’d parked the car, Pauline and I opted to return by ferry and bus. Both ferry rides, from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay, and from Circular Quay to Manly, were very smooth. The sky was grey and it was cooling down, so it felt as though a storm was on its way.

From the ferry, we noticed a few groups of people climbing up Sydney Harbour Bridge and I thought, never say never, but I’m unlikely to do that, and probably not when there’s a storm a-coming.

I got off the bus just as it started raining but it’s only a 2-minute walk from the bus stop to my b&b. After a long chat with Ann, my host, I retired for a long, late nap. There were a couple of thunderclaps, but mainly, it just rumbled in the distance, we didn’t even have the excitement of seeing any lightning.

If everything technical worked correctly back at home this weekend, you might have heard my show on Wythenshawe Radio, WFM, with the theme: Songs from the Land Down Under, featuring many Aussie artists, some familiar and some new (to me) thanks to Brent and Helen’s input. You can catch the show here… and I hope you jolly well enjoy it!

Family and other wildlife

Well obviously, I’m not used to the Sun rising as early as it does, here in NSW, but I was up with the lark, or the mynah, and went downstairs for breakfast. Brent very kindly drove to the airport to pick up my sister Pauline and I walked over to the apartment to visit them.

We ate lunch outside, in the shade of course. I think it’s fair to say that, on the whole, Keiran was the centre of attention.

For dinner, we went to Harbord Diggers. My veg burger and chips were great, but there was so much food, I coudn’t finish. I thought I was in America or something.

Six local soldiers (Diggers) returned from the poppy fields of France after World War I and later sat on Freshwater Beach where they discussed creating a place that they could remember their mates, join those who protected Australian shores and support each other and the community they lived in. This was the genesis of Harbord Diggers and these original Diggers are now honoured by the six poppies proudly on display in this memorial artwork by artist Jade Oakley.

Each poppy is balanced on a hidden hook, so that when the southerly blows in off the sea, the sculptures bob and dance like poppies in a field. The flickering light of the concealed flames within each poppy are a reminder of the eternal flame, and the poppies appear to ‘grow’ from the reflective pond.

The glowing perforated brass background represents the sea and the sand of Freshwater Beach.

Pauline and I arranged to meet the following morning after breakfast to go for a walk. She’s staying a bit further afield and walked to my b&b. She is having problems with her Google maps and lack of 4G so she approached my b&b from the ‘wrong’ direction, which was awkward as I’d set off to meet her.

For a brief moment, when I saw this item, and despite the sunshine, I thought I was back in Manchester.

I guess someone wanted to get rid of this old bike when they replaced it with one of those big, chunky electric ones. Of which, we’ve seen very many around here, being ridden on the pavements, at speed, by very young people in some cases. With bare feet.

But eventually, meet we did, and Pauline and I walked to a coffee shop (how did you guess?) called Barrel One Coffee Roasters. We stayed in the shade as much as possible, it was a very hot day, I saw it up to 34° but I saw 40° mentioned elsewhere. Nice coffee but I do feel bad for the folks working in a place like this on such a hot day.

As noon approached, we walked along the road to Bucketty’s Brewing Co. This was the venue for Family Bingo. We met Helen’s friends Helen and Dan, with their children Fern and Asher. Helen, Brent and Keiran arrived a few minutes later and we got the drinks in for out mammoth bingo session. The caller didn’t use any of the familiar terminology: clicketty click 66, two fat ducks 22 or any of those.

An hour of fun and I won nothing. Brent won a model aeroplane kit, as did Asher who couldn’t wait to get home before constructing his.

Pauline and I walked over to Warringah Mall for some shopping before catching the 193 back to Helen and Brent’s. This is the one that takes us round the corner and up the hill so we can walk down the steps. Who wants to walk up that hill on the hottest day ever?

On Australia Day, I walked to Dee Why Beach where I met Pauline at the Chill Bar for a coffee. A cold coffee. In fact, a very welcome coffee milkshake. The beach was very busy, it being a public holiday, but the sea was still a bit rough.

We thought about walking to Curl Curl Beach but my aching carcass very soon said ‘no’. A combination of an irritating cough, insufficient sleep and the ever present threat of shortness-of-breath, I suspect. So, feeling a bit manky, I thought it best to stay away from Keiran today.

Excitingly, we did spot a pair of kookaburras, or as they appear in my hastily taken photo, a pair of white blobs sitting on the fence.

I tested negative for Covid, RSV and two types of flu, which was a great relief. Cough sweets and cough syrup help momentarily, but what I really need is a scratchy toilet brush down the back of my throat. (I’d wash it first, don’t worry.) But the pharmacist was very helpful.

And the barista didn’t mind me at all, sitting at the back of the café, performing my rapid antigen tests.

As I walked to the pharmacy, I’d noticed some honking and tooting and beeping from the traffic, but I took no notice. I found out later that one of those toots was from Helen who was taking Keiran to his first Baby Sensory class.

Pauline and I met the family at Freshie Mex for tacos. I was satisfied with two, but Brent’s a growing lad, he consumed at least four.

Warriewood Wetlands is a bus ride away. I met Pauline there for a very pleasant wander through the woods and the wetlands. We think we followed most of the tracks within its 26 acres but it did feel strange as we exited a couple of times to find ourselves in a residential area.

The first point of interest was a noxious smell. I looked at my sister accusingly, but she denied all wrong-doing. Maybe it’s the stagnant water, we thought. But then Pauline looked up. Bats. Dozens, scores of fruit bats, or flying foxes, just hanging around up in the trees.

It’s a great place for wildlife, nothing too exotic though. We saw lizards and at least one very big butterfly. We heard more birds singing than we actually saw. Some dusky moorhens were teaching their chicks how to find food.

A sign warned us that this was a snake habitat, so I stomped along for a bit, until I forgot.

We didn’t expect to see ibises in one of the areas, but the biggest surprise was seeing a spoonbill. He was very shy and like a lot of bitds, he knew when someone was about to take his picture, and he flew off into the wild blue yonder.

There were also a couple of swamphens, although Pauline knows them as Pūkeko in New Zealand.

There’s a small shopping centre here too, so we popped in for a coffee. Small? As Pauline said at the time, it was like the Tardis, so much bigger on the inside. So we had coffee and I visited KMart to buy some shirts. I don’t think I’ve bought myself shirts since 1992 or something, but a couple of my older ones have suddenly ‘shrunk in the wash’.

I really enjoyed my afternoon nap today and was hoping this cough would soon go away.

Return Down Under

One more day in England, then: a busy day packed with packing, unpacking and repacking. So far, I’ve only remembered one item that I left behind by mistake, so that’s not too bad. I made a quick trip to say hi and goodbye to Jenny with a few perishables and then attempted a short night’s sleep.

I rose at 5am for the first time in ages. I’d like to say it felt good, but nah. The taxi was punctual and I soon found myself at Manchester Airport. I’d checked in online yesterday, so I thought I could just go up to the machine and print out my own luggage tags. Not Etihad, not yet, they don’t have the software. So I joined the check-in queue with all the other riffraff. After a while, we special people, those with boarding passes, were taken aside to a much shorter queue.

It was ridiculously hot in the airport. So I took my coat off and added it to my case just in time before it was weighted, tagged and sent to oblivion behind the desk. In fact, I sent a message to the family that I was sweating like a drugs mule. Someone said I probably shouldn’t say that sort of thing if I were going to America.

But no, I’m off to Australia to visit Helen, Brent and Keiran.

Security was easy: all electronics and liquids could be left in the bags. All I had to do was empty my pockets and take my belt off before posing for the full body scanner.

Did I mention the airport was exceedingly hot? At the first opportunity, I replaced my jeans with a pair of shorts. I was beginning to feel like a real Aussie.

I survived the chemical assault that is the perfume counters in the duty free shop, other than the obligatory sneezing fit.

Two flights later, I landed at Sydney Airport. On the first flight, to Abu Dhabi, I was next to a large and very fidgetty young man. My main thought was ‘ew, he keeps touching me’.

The transfer at Abu Dhabi was easy, just a walk from one gate to another. It took a while to find a coffee shop but it was a very nice beverage. Which I had to finish quickly as boarding started ten minutes earlier than publicised.

On the second leg, I was next to a 10- or 11-year old boy and his mum. Later on in the flight, he fell asleep and rotated so that his head was on his mum’s lap and his feet were on mine. For some reason, I didn’t mind this so much. Weird eh? When, later, his mum took off her eye mask and saw what had happened, she apologised.

I was given four veggie meals altogether: pasta, pasta, pizza, pasta. I have changed my menu choice for the return flights, for something, if not more tasty, then certainly more varied.

I finished reading one book and the whole of another during the flights. I can recommend Erased by Christopher Coates, a nice easy read, but there are definitely a few plot holes! I watched no films nor TV, just had a look at the map every now and then to monitor progress. We flew over Colombo and this is probably as close as I’ll ever be to visiting Sri Lanka.

Formalities at Sydney Airport were straighforward and I was greeted by Helen, Brent and lovely little Keiran! As it was quite late in the day and I’d been awake for over 24 hours, they drove me to my Airbnb in Dee Why, thank you very much, and I met my host, Ann. I’d chosen this place as it was the closest I could find to Helen’s apartment. A welcome shower was followed by a reasonable, but too short, night’s sleep.

In the morning, I walked down the road to meet Helen and Brent. While waiting, I noticed the not unpleasant scent of jasmine. It seemed an odd contrast with the roar of the traffic passing by.

I found out later it’s not proper jasmine, it’s a Murraya paniculata, commonly known as orange jasmine or mock orange. Very nice scent, although I failed to pick up its notes of citrus.

We drove over to Freshwater for breakfast at SeaSprout, which I’d visited on a previous trip. Given the state of my throat, I surprised them by choosing an apple and ginger juice rather than tea or coffee. Yeah, I picked up a cough on the flight (I think) and put it down to allergies.

But where’s Keiran, I hear you ask?

We went to Aldi where I got some bits for my place. Then I hit the wall, and went back for a nap.

I walked down to Dee Why Beach, enjoying the sunshine and the warmth, after what has been a dreary few weeks at home.

There were a few people on the beach despite the sign saying it was closed. But what the sign means is, don’t go in the water. This follows four recent shark attacks here and in Manly, caused by run-offs from the recent floods. Little fish eat the tasty effluent. Bigger fish eat the smaller fish. Sharks detect a feast nearer to shore. There was no danger of me venturing into the Pacific Ocean on this occasion, in any case, it was just too rough.

The Chill Bar beckoned and I had a coffee before walking over to Helen’s place where we enjoyed Brent’s stir fry, thank you very much.

Still with a niggling cough and a bit jet-lagged, the walk back to my b&b seemed to take a lot more than ten minutes. But here comes the weekend!

Exciting times

What an exciting week that was. The gardeners turned up and instead of just blowing the leaves around like they usually do, they actually collected them up and took them away. A lovely pile of compost for someone.

After losing that much weight, I can hear the old oak tree breathing a sigh of relief and stretching its limbs.

What an exciting week that was. I ventured into Manchester one evening to see Margaret Atwood speaking about her latest book, Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts. She told some funny stories and was very engaging. But I found the acoustics at the Opera House a bit disappointing. From where I was sitting near the back of the stalls, the reverberating audience laughter drowned out a lot of the dialogue from the stage.

This was the least worst of the two pictures I took. I was too intimidated by the ushers walking around with their ‘No Photography, No Videography’ signs.

Oh, and the other disappointment is that the books weren’t signed by the author.

Manchester is gearing up for Christmas, and I’m sure I’ll visit the Christmas markets sometime.

Thanks to recent solar activity, the aurora has been visible from Anchorage.

The southern version was visible from Manly, NSW, but Helen didn’t witness the event, having other things on her mind.

Storm Claudia brought strong winds and torrential rain this week. So loud, and of course, no chance of us seeing any aurorae through those clouds.

Under normal circumstance, you would expect tomatoes to be bigger than grapes. This week, I enjoyed these freaks of nature.

What an exciting week it was on TV too. A few weeks ago, Channel 4 put up a few select episodes of Brookside, the only soap that Sarah and I watched regularly. I’ve just found out that STV are showing (possibly) every Brookside episode, uploading five new ones every week.

Good to see these two together again:

It was an exciting week for young Martha too. She swam one mile, non-stop, and is rightly proud of her achievement and the certificate she received.

But of course the big news this week, the most exciting event, is the arrival of Keiran Michael. Helen and Brent have been blessed with this gorgeous little chap.

My heart is overflowing with joy for you all! For a moment, after seeing you on the video call, I thought about hopping on a plane straightaway to come over to see you all those miles away in Australia. Totally impractical of course. So, welcome to Keiran, our third grandchild! We look forward to seeing you in a couple of months time. Lots of love to you all.

I’m sure Keiran is looking forward to hearing his Grandad’s WFM radio show. The latest is on the theme of Water, for Our Earth Week which coincides with COP30. Listen here on Mixcloud.

Humungous fungus

Liesel took Holly to Whittier and on this occasion, the weather was kind enough to make a boat trip worthwhile. And they all had a great time out on the ocean waves, watching orcas breach and glaciers calve. I can only imagine the smell of the sealions as they (mostly) outswam the predators.

Meanwhile, here in sunny England, I enjoyed a walk with Jenny, Liam, Martha and William over the border in Derbyshire. The car park in Crowden was nearly full, but we squoze in easily.

The path followed Torside and Rhodeswood Reservoirs. Yes, reservoirs that haven’t (yet) been sold off by the privatised water companies. William was pleased to make friends with the smallest frog in the world. They met when William enjoyed the first of several bush wees. (He’ll be pleased to read that when he’s a bit older.)

Martha was equally impressed by the very bright toadstools.

We didn’t run up any of the higher hills, not on this occasion. No, we just appreciated the leisurely walk on a well-worn, slightly undulating path. However many steps we grown-ups took (17,500 in my case), I’m pretty sure the children ran twice as far.

I have visions of Liesel rolling her eyes when she sees this photo:

The temptation to bend a tall structure in this manner is irresistable. On the other hand, the view was very English.

Rhodeswood Reservoir with Suffolk sheep and a pylon

Only as we were on the home straight, did I see a sign confirming that we were on the Pennine Way. That’s another item on the bucket list, to walk the whole length of the iconic route.

This week, I felt I was fighting technology a lot. My main fight was with Microsoft. I’ve had a Schrödinger’s account for a while. It won’t let me log in because there’s no such account. Yet when I try to create a new account, it tells me there already is one.

This week, my Microsoft Office stopped working. They were unable to verify my licence. Go online to verify, it said. I’m already online, I replied, I can’t get any more online than I am, no matter how much you nag. In the process, my Word and Excel were disabled. I could view existing documents but I couldn’t edit them nor create new ones.

I got to a place where I could enter the Product Key, and it told me that Key had already been used. Yeah. By me. Three years ago.

There is no way to speak to a human at Microsoft. There is a phone number, but when you call it, the automated voice just says to go to the website.

When you go to the website, you go round and round in circles. I had to enter fifteen one-time codes, and my password several times, getting nowhere fast. In the end, I decided to delete the account. It asks 101 questions before you get to actually get to that point: mostly about features that I didn’t even know existed, that I’ve never used, and I won’t miss at all. And then, the account’s not actually removed for 60 days, ‘in case you change your mind’.

Then, if you open (in my case) Word or Excel, that is taken as to mean I want to cancel my request to delete the account. To avoid opening one of those by mistake, I uninstalled all the software.

A couple of days later, I received a marketing email from Microsoft. I don’t need that either, so I’ll unsubscribe. Easy, I thought. To unsubscribe, yes, I have to sign in. If I do that, then my request to delete the account will be cancelled.

The whole set-up is just nasty. Amongst all the big tech companies, I used to think Microsoft was one of the, if not ‘good’ guys, then one of the least worst. Oh well.

I’m now using getting used to Libre Office. It does 90% of what Microsoft Office does, it’s free and open source. So, a big razzberry to Microsoft.

On a lighter note, literally, Una sent some gorgeous photos of the Northern Lights from Anchorage.

Just as glorious, of course, is Northenden’s tiny village green, embracing the season.

Another technology fail. Booking flights to a holiday destination used to be fun, something to look forward to. Now, it’s soul-destroying, it just feels like you’re fighting the system all the time.

I’m visiting Helen in Australia at the end of January. After several days faffing about, trying to find a cheaper flight, it was time to pick a flight and book it.

After successfully entering all the details of my booking, double- and triple-checking (recalling Liesel’s faux pas last time, when we got tickets for March instead of April, oops, but never mind), Etihad declined my credit card, despite me confirming it was genuine via the bank’s app. I called the bank, there was no reason for my card to be declined, they said, the problem must be at their end.

I looked up Etihad Customer Support and being a bit flustered, I clicked on the first link that came up. Connect to our partner for a refundable £1 to get help. Cheeky bastards, I thought. When I did, I saw they want £1 then £24 a month subscription. At this point, I realised this was a con. So, back to the bank who strongly recommended cancelling my card and reissuing. This was a bit disappointing and annoying, and yes, inconvenient, but it was the right thing to do. Some rogue company might have my credit card details.

I still had to pay for my flights, of course: I don’t know whether the booking disappears after a set amount of time. So, I used my other card. This is one that I’ve been running down for a long time. I’ve not used it now for several months, and I’d planned to cancel it in due course. Again, to verify the card, I had to go to this bank’s app to say it was genuine. The payment went through.

So, I’ve decided to keep this second credit card, for just such an eventuality, an emergency, even if I don’t use it on a regular basis.

On my ‘main’ card, the one that was incorrectly declined, there are a couple of subscriptions so I’ll have to go in and change those, once the replacement card turns up.

Also, a reminder to myself, even if the heading in a big typeface says ‘Etihad Customer Care’, check the actual link before clicking on it.

I didn’t spend all week fuming in front of my laptop. I did go out a couple of times for some fresh air, some shopping and, oh alright, a coffee. I had a flu jab and a covid jab, one in each arm, to spread the load of the 5G microchips being injected into my body. But best of all, I went out to a gig.

I saw Frankie Archer at Low Four Studio in Deansgate, Manchester.

Yes I’ve been busy preparing shows for Wythenshawe Radio, after a break of very nearly a year. It took a while to recall how to use some of the software and, inevitably, new ‘features’ have been introduced that I’m not interested in. That’s progress, apparently!

The venue was intimate, and the audience enjoyed the support act, Satnam Galsian. She sang songs in Punjabi and in English, and played her own shruti box, a bellows that provides a drone to accompany the vocals.

Frankie Archer herself bounced onto stage and performed several ‘dark’ songs, promising to sing some more upbeat ones in the second half. When playing her fiddle, dancing around the stage, you can tell she’s really enjoying herself. And I don’t know how she can keep on top of all her equipment, samplers, keyboards, pedals and other gadgets.

The Demon features in the video for her latest single, The Demon Lover.

If you would like to hear more from Frankie, listen to my latest radio show, now up on Mixcloud. As well as Frankie, there are some great songs which (sometimes inadvertently) namecheck other bands or singers.

Feeds and Weeds

I’ve heard of Hatcher Pass, but today was my first trip there. We drove towards Willow, a city that once very nearly became the state capital. My ears popped as we drove up into the mountains. Our specific destination was Independence Mine State Historical Park. Gold mining here was once a big operation, and we enjoyed walking around the site, always keeping an eye out in case someone had dropped a gold nugget or something.

The landscape looked a bit Scottish, although the tundra vegatation here is totally different.

A big surprise was to see a wedding party: they’ll have some fabulous pictures of the bride and groom with a gorgeous backdrop.

Some of the old buildings are in need of some TLC. Visitors are warned to stay on the path.

We walked up a few of the tracks and it was quite exciting to be here in the moutians. A couple of years ago, I might have been tempted to run up the slopes like a gazelle, but those days are gone, I fear. In Winter, the area is a popular ski resort. The amount of gold found in the rocks and minerals seems to be very small, it takes a lot of hard work to extract it, but 30,000 people thought it was worth the effort.

And as if the buildings being in a state of disrepair wasn’t bad enough, it’s a good job we weren’t planning to catch this train back to Anchorage.

On the drive home, we stopped at a place purporting to offer The Best Ice Cream in the World. It wasn’t. It was OK, and the scoop was American huge, nothing special, really. It began to rain before we arrived home, but our spirits weren’t dampened.

In the morning, Liesel went out on a mission, which meant that Leslie and I walked into the big city. The streets being on a grid network meant that we couldn’t really lose our way, but neither could we completely avoid the traffic.

Even though Autumn is knocking at the door, some of the flower beds in the parks are still very colourful. As is much of the street art. The murals in particular are delightful.

We met Monica in Midnight Sun for lunch and Liesel joined us a few minutes later. We spent some time across the road in the Museum. Dogs are very popular in Alaska so it’s no surprise that there is a Dog Show in the museum, a collection of photos and other exhibits celebrating dogs. Obviously, this exhibition is located in Patricia B Wolf Family Galleries.

On the drive home, we passed a wall adorned with some up to date graffiti, with slogans such as: Human Rights Matter; ICE – Due Process Only; Make billionaires pay taxes again; War Criminals not welcome in Alaska [Putin met Trump here recently]; We did not vote for Project 2025; No human being is illegal; Слава Україні!; No Christian Nationalism; Make America free again; Alaska is not for sale. Yes, it’s a very big wall.

Leslie once again joined Aaron to watch a football game. So Liesel and I had a rare date night. Our first thought was to dine at the Ethiopian restaurant. The car park was empty, and I tried the door, but no, it was definitely closed. Not even a notice on the door. Oh well, off to a Nepalese/Indian place instead. It was called Everest. Of course. The food was very tasty, not too hot and spicy, and, we think, prepared with a lot less ghee than they use in British Indian restaurants. We took the leftovers home in a box. Several boxes in fact.

Rather than go straight home, we thought it would be nice to visit Potters Marsh for a crepuscular walk. There were plenty of other visitors this evening too, and we managed to walk the full length of the boardwalk.

There were fewer birds than we expected, but for me, the most exciting one was the bald eagle sitting in a tree about a mile away. We made good use of the binoculars supplied by the local authority.

Again, I looked at the people carrying 2-feet long zoom lenses with a touch of envy.

Liesel joined Una for a jewellery making class over the road from the Museum. Leslie spent more time with Aaron. Don’t worry, I had things to do. I walked back to the Museum as I wanted to visit the Cold War to the Cosmos exhibition which we hadn’t had time for yesterday.

There are three magpies outside the Museum: they reminded me of the three magpies that live in the oak tree at home.

The Cold War displays were fascinating. I didn’t know, for instance, that America’s nuclear bomb tests weren’t confined to New Mexico and some south Pacific islands. They also bombed a small Alaskan island.

There was a lot of information about the cold war, early warning systems, and the cosmos, but also about climate change.

Lots of information. To me, some of the graphics were too detailed and I’m sure a lot of people would have just walked on by, I know I nearly did.

Later on, we joined Monica and Gregg for dinner at Pho Gia Đình Vietnamese Restaurant. I think Gregg is still adjusting to being retired. Well, me too, after nearly ten years.

Liesel hasn’t visited Thunder Bird Falls since she was a teenager, and that was a long, long time ago. We had a lovely walk there, even if the initial long and steep incline from the car park was a bit daunting. The smell of Autumn was in the air, nothing bad, just the normal seasonal decay. Which, unfortunately for me, brings back memories of cross-country running at school.

We passed lots of dog walkers and interestingly, every single dog was on a lead, as the signs requested. But it was a very pleasant hike and at the end of the track, we admired the waterfall while chatting to a couple from South America.

Nearby is Eklutna Lake, the main source of fresh water for Anchorage. The lake was too big to walk around, so we just wandered down to look at it. We didn’t even skim any stones on this occasion. The sign said ‘No camping, no fires’ so I can only surmise that the smoke we detected came from the official campsite nearby.

One thing we didn’t need to see on the way home, as we overtook another vehicle, was the moose’s head with a huge rack. It was accompanied by a chainsaw on board a Yamaha Viking Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) being transported on a trailer.

I spent much of the morning packing, and of course I was bound to leave something behind, it would just be a surprise in a few days time to find out what it was.

I also took pictures of all of Liesel’s parents’ records, maybe a new feature of my radio show will be ‘A track from my wife’s Mom and Dad’s record collection’ but with a more succinct name. These records were mostly from Liesel’s childhood, though, lots of Disney and children’s stories.

Liesel, Leslie and I walked to a popular restaurant, Fletchers, where we joined Una and Phil for a most enjoyable lunch. Afterwards, I paid a quick visit to a gift shop and on the way home, I stopped off at Fire Island for a coffee. Yes, I deliberately took a long-cut home.

Uh? Why take a picture of a hotel that we’re not even staying at? Well, the combination of a clear sky and slightly tinted windows gives out a lovely electric blue reflection.

I’ve mentioned it before but I do like the Anchorage Light Speed Planet Walk. Today I saw the Sun, and I passed by Mercury, Venus and Earth, walking at the speed of light. And at that speed, it would take 5½ hours to reach Pluto, so I decided to leave the rest of the Solar System for another occasion.

Aaron and Jodi joined us for dinner, and I said a quick hello to Gideon, who’d been out playing football again.

Well, that time arrived at last. Rain set in as we set off for the airport. I was heading back to sunny England, while Liesel stayed in Anchorage with her Mom. As always, I was unduly anxious about the airport experience, but this time, straight through security and lots of time just to hang around. Even moreso with my slightly delayed flight.

In Frankfurt, I enjoyed the bus ride from plane to gate. And I enjoyed the train ride to my departure gate, having taken a wrong turn somewhere and leaving the secure area. Again, the extra security measures here were blamed on the US government although why they’d be interested in us when we’re flying the UK, I have no idea.

Welcome home, me. Miserable outside. But I was greeted with a box of vegetables outside the door, thanks to Groobarb and Liesel. A few days ensued, adjusting to the new timezone, sleeping, unpacking, short walks, nothing too taxing. As usual, I have a long to-do list and I’m sure it will be even longer next week.

Bugs and bigger beasts

Liesel and I returned to her Mom’s apartment, which was just as warm as it always is, even without the heating being turned on.

After a bit of a rest, I was still jetlagged and bedazzled, but happy to join Liesel as we drove over to a friend’s house. Along with many other people, we’d been invited to a Henna Party, something us blokes wouldn’t normally attend, but this was an opportunity for everyone to meet and get to know Rupert a little better: that’s Jyoti’s fiancé Rupert.

The two bottles of Pimm’s that I’d successfully brought over were enjoyed by many of us at the party, mixed with lemonade and with plenty of fruit added.

Thanks to Melanie and Dave for hosting the party, there was an overwhelming number of people here, some of whom I have met before, including some to whom I couldn’t immediately put a name.

Many of the ladies had henna applied to their hands, in complex patterns, but as I’d been up for over 24 hours, Liesel dragged us away home before her hands could be decorated. Boy, I had a good night’s sleep!

My first full day back in Alaska was relaxed. So relaxed, we even went for a pedicure. The cheese-grater got a good workout on my heels, thank you very much. We paid a short visit to Amrit’s office to quickly address an administrative matter. The view of the mountains was unusual. Then I realised: there was no snow. Last time I saw this vista, people were speed skating on the ice that covered the park just over the road.

We lunched at Bear Tooth, mainly because Liesel’s first choice, the newly opened Eye Tooth, wasn’t open today

Later on, we visited Jyoti’s place for dinner. About 20 people came over, some from Anchorage, some from Talkeetna and a couple of folks from much further afield.

Jyoti’s dhal was as delicious as ever and I’m sure the carnivores enjoyed their chicken. Someone suggested going out for a quick walk, so we did. A very short walk, just to the bluff overlooking Turnagain Arm.

There were a few sandhill cranes down on the mudflats, hard to spot from this distance. Then from a distance, we saw a small flock of them take off and entertain us with a flypast.

Even more exciting was the sight of a couple of bald eagles in flight.

Someone remarked on how lucky it was that the cat that had been lurking nearby had now gone back indoors. It would have been a nice snack for the eagle.

Liesel drove us home around sunset, so it was interesting to see the Alpenglow on the distant Chugach Mountains, even without snow to reflect much light.

The first long(-ish) walk of this visit took place early(-ish) in the morning. We wandered down to Westchester Lagoon, Liesel setting the goal of turning around at the second bridge. Some people were paddle-boarding and kayaking in the lagoon, and after a while, we finally found the family of swans that Liesel had told us about. The cygnets are pretty much fully grown, but their plumage is still baby grey.

A few colourful flowers brightened the place up, and we noticed that some of the trees’ leaves have begun to change colour: Autumn is just around the corner.

Common toadflax or butter-and-eggs or brideweed

We walked slowly back home, and Liesel drew my attention to some skis in a most unusual place.

She said that round the corner, there was a stick library. I asked why someone would want to borrow a stick? She said that people don’t but dogs do.

Which makes perfect sense in a city where there are approximately 17 dogs per capita. I don’t know if that figure’s correct, but I extrapolated from the number of people we saw today compared with the number of dogs.

I was able to have a bit of a nap in the afternoon, before the main event of this visit.

Anchorage Museum was a great venue for a wedding ceremony, and this is where Jyoti and Rupert celebrated their nuptials.

Liesel, Leslie and I were amongst the first to arrive. We met some of the same people that we’d seen over the last two nights, at Melanie’s and at Jyoti’s.

It was nice to be reacquainted with Theresa, our companion when we walked Hadrian’s Wall a couple of years ago, and to meet her daughter Neela for the first time.

It’s a sign of the times, I suppose, that I was very conscious of not saying something that could be misconstrued. All the ladies were telling each other how wonderful, how gorgeous they were looking, all dressed up beautifully for the occasion. Several times, I too thought “You look nice”, but in this post-#MeToo age, I felt uncomfortable vocalising this, especially to the younger members of the fairer sex. What a shame. But they could all have come from the pages of a fashion magazine.

The food was plentiful, charcuterie, vegetarian samosas, lamb & turkey kabobs, tandoori chicken, potato chips, chocolate and enough cupcakes to sink a battleship.

The marriage ceremony was beautifully conducted by Una, who you may remember, joined Liesel and me in unholy matrimony all those years ago.

It was then time to party with nice mix of western and Indian music. I wandered around a bit, greeting people and even climbing the stairs for a better view of the proceeedings.

I’m glad I hadn’t eaten too much when the time came to make my mark on the dancefloor. I managed not to tread on anybody’s foot, so I’d call that a success.

People started drifting away, and the hosts were packing up as Liesel, Leslie and I left. Later, we found out that the bride and groom and several guests had moved on to another venue to continue their debauchery well into the night.

After all that excercise, I had a really good night’s sleep, even if the dreams were a little weird.

After dropping her Mom off at Aaron’s house, Liesel drove me for a massage. Debbie’s been around for a long time but this was the first time I’d met her. Her massage was fantastic, very relaxing, and highly recommended. And it was booked well before I decided to show off my moves on the dance floor last night.

Liesel had also planned a date with Catherine and Hans, and we drove up to their house for lunch. Cath had baked quiches for us which we enoyed, while watching the weather. The plan was to go for a walk, but it looked decidedly murky out there.

Cook Inlet viewed from Cath and Hans’s house

And yes, it did start raining, so our planned walk was delayed and eventually cancelled. Still, we had a good chat about this and that. They’re now off to Switzerland, but I forgot to tell them that I’d seen some skis up a tree, if they needed some.

Dinner was planned for Phở Lena but this venue was closed. Plan B then was So Thai, and that’s where we met up with Aaron, Jodi and Mom for a very nice pad thai.

No, we weren’t magically teleported to Guildford, Surrey, England: this is just one of the photos Pauline sent me from our old hometown.

After leaving the Thai restaurant, Jodi and Liesel visited the shop next door, Enlighten Alaska. The sign on the door said ‘No pets allowed’, so I didn’t go in.

At Alaska Botanical Gardens, the ticket clerk assured us that there had been no bear sightings recently, but we did notice a large ursine deposit by the boundary fence.

The gardens are very well presented and we enjoyed a very pleasant walk.

Although we’d come for a walk and to enjoy the flowers and other plants, we were also impressed by some of the sculptures.

Tempting, but we didn’t want to spend a few thousand dollars on a collection of rusty bicycle wheels pretending to be a tree.

There’s a pair of large magpies here, made from local willow, alder and birch branches.

Night and Day, by The Myth Makers, Doona Dodson and Andy Moerlein

Look closely and you’ll see a little Liesel and Leslie, just for scale.

We decided to follow the extra mile long trail, and we were joined by a young lady from Colombia, now teaching here in Anchorage. She said she was scared to walk any further by herself, as she was a bit scared. She apologised for her bad English, but there was nothing wrong with it. Plusl, our collective Spanish was no good. Dos cervezas, por favor.

We saw more evidence of approaching Fall, or Autumn.

Vibrant fall foliage of Mapleleaf Viburnum

We noticed as we wandered around that there were no birds singing. And apart from a few bees, there were very few insects. I did spot this well camouflaged little chap.

The separate Herb Garden was interesting too. The biggest herb growing here was rhubarb, but this is pretty:

A quick errand took us to Monica’s house after which we returned home for dinner and to watch some ~~cra…~~ thing on TV.

There must be something in the air or the water here, because I had more weird dreams. After breakfast, we left the city, visiting Portage, famous for its glacier which has now receded a mile and a half since Liesel was born. Not that I’m blaming Liesel, but we got nowhere near it. And it was on this drive that I saw the first snow of my trip. Just a few patches on the mountains across Turnagain Arm, but it all counts.

Of course, a few spots snow aren’t as interesting as the glacier which we saw from a distance.

We haven’t visited Whittier since that time many years ago when we joined Cath and Hans on their boat. The tunnel is longer than I remembered, two and a half miles, and just one lane, so vehicle convoys enter the tunnel in alternating directions every half hour. We were lucky in both directions, we didn’t have to wait too long at all.

The first thing we noticed as we emerged into Whittier was how much lower the clouds were on this side of the mountains.

We decided the visibility was too poor, there was no point in joining a boat trip today. But how lucky were we to see a train about to go through the tunnel.

We didn’t spend a lot of time here, just admiring the calm sea and its mineral rich colour, which doesn’t really show well in photos. This is when I wish I were a painter instead.

More sightseeing on the way back, of course.

Byron Peak and Byron Glacier in Portage Valley, Alaska, as seen from Portage Lake

We even stopped off at Williwaw Salmon Viewing area where we did indeed view some very sluggish salmon trying to make their way up the narrow stream.

This was as close as we got to seeing any wildlife. Not even a moose by the roadside.

Back in Anchorage, we had a late lunch at South, a popular restaurant. While Liesel and Leslie had proper, big, American meals, I was quite satisfied with my Cauliflower Tacos (v, gf): cornmeal crust, sofrito, roasted poblano, avocado, cilantro, flour tortillas. All washed down with a long refreshing gin and tonic based beverage.

The two moms sitting near us with their young children left enough food on the floor to feed the 5,000. I believe a reasonable tip was left for the staff!

We thought it would be a nice day out to visit Alaska Zoo. I remember the first time I was taken, many years ago, in the depths of Winter. It was so cold that day, even the Siberian tigers didn’t emerge from their dens. Today was pleasantly mild, but I think the Siberian tigers must have moved on to that great celestial zoo with much bigger plains on which to roam.

The thing that struck us today was just how much fencing and chicken wire and mesh there is. Plus how much plastic there is in the animals’ pens. The place seemed a bit worn out, shabby even, compared with, say, Chester Zoo. It needs a bit of a touch up, some new signs, some fresh paint. And they really should think about replacing all that tight mesh. But despite this handicap, I did get a few good photos.

I took some pictures through the mesh, believing that I could use an AI tool to ‘remove’ the cage elements from the image. No luck there. I’ll try again when AI has grown up a bit.

Two hours at the zoo was plenty, and back in town, we had a late lunch at New Sagaya, Midtown Market branch, not the one just over the road from Leslie’s apartment.

The good news is that on this visit to Anchorage, my nose hasn’t been bleeding nearly as much as it usually does, for which I am very grateful.