(no title)

A few pairs

For some people, the second day of the new year began with a long Uber ride across London to the airport. Farewell, Una, Phil and Kiran, it’s been a gas!

For Liesel, Leslie and me, it began with a leisurely hotel breakfast. And again we recalled the time when Liesel’s Dad, Klaus, was staying at a Premier Inn some years ago. At breakfast, he was asked how many sausages he wanted. “Oh, six please.” Or eight. Depends who’s telling the story.

We parked up at Mottingham Station and caught the train to Waterloo. While my wife and her mother were in Boots, I enjoyed listening to today’s busker.

Let’s hope her partner’s surgery goes well. We returned to Gudrun Sjoden as Liesel needed to return one of the items purchased a few days ago. While she and Mom browsed and tried on everything, I went for a walk, passing by some familiar shops, such as Forbidden Planet and Mildred’s. I did see an urban fox, something we’d missed so far in London. The sad thing is, it was dead, stuffed and in a shop window.

I walked as far as the National Portrait Gallery café where I sat underneath Audrey Hepburn’s bum while wolfing down a sandwich and a coffee.

While I was wandering around the gallery, admiring some portraits, Liesel and Leslie arrived for their lunch too.

Our late afternoon and evening were very lazy and the next day, it was time to go west.

Liesel’s cousin Andi and her husband Steve live in Richmond, and we’d planned to stay with them for a few nights. It wasn’t really on the way, but we visited Ightham Mote in Kent, another National Trust property. It was, as they say, a crisp but sunny day, the more remarkable because today was the first time this Winter we’d had to scrape ice off the car.

We had a nice, leisurely walk around the grounds. There is a moat and I still don’t know what a ‘Mote’ is in this context. According to Wikipedia, the architectural writer John Newman describes Ightham Mote as “the most complete small medieval manor house in the county”.

A member of staff advised us to look out for the mice and we did see a few on our wander.

My sympathies are with the gardeners. I had a 30+ year battle with bindweed in Chessington and I am convinced that after the nuclear apocalypse, it will be the last surviving species along with the cockroaches.

In the courtyard, we found a large 19th century dog kennel. There was no large 19th century dog, though, so I asked Liesel to give an idea of scale.

The house itself was interesting, lots of old stuff of course, and some humorous cartoons on the wall, such as the snooker player who might be a Champion, if there were a Championship.

The drive along the M25 wasn’t too bad and we arrived in Richmond just as the Sun was setting. Not long after, we saw the Moon and Saturn.

The other fascinating celestial object bright enough to see in twilight? Well, it turned out to be an aeroplane on its descent to Heathrow Airport. We found Andi and Steve’s house easily enough and it was good to see them again after all this time.

Steve was in charge of breakfast and he made a wonderful omelette for us. That set me up nicely for my trip across London, thank you very much. I can’t believe I’ve known Marie now for 35 years: we worked together at Kingston University. She lives in Orpington and if she hadn’t had prior engagements, I could have seen her while we were staying in nearby Eltham! D’oh!

On the way, I stopped off at the Southbank Centre for a coffee and to see what was going on.

Fred Tschida’s spinning, glowing work is recreated at a technically ambitious scale. In this work, two parallel rings of brilliant orange-red neon – the natural colour emitted by the gas when high-voltage electricity passes through it – rotate at a slower speed of 15 rpm to produce the illusion, when photographed with a long exposure, of a giant glowing orb. So says the blurb. But it wasn’t rotating at 15 rpm when I was there. And I couldn’t find anyone to wind it up. So, to be contrary, I just took a still shot.

I walked over the Jubilee bridge and caught the train to Orpington from Charing Cross. This was followed by a bus ride and a bit of a walk, during which I very nearly missed a very important alleyway.

It was lovely to see Marie again, and to meet her Mum for the first time. Marie very kindly fed me as if I were a goose being fattened up for Christmas! Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of my host.

Before returning to Richmond, I thought I’d pay a quick visit to Battersea Power Station. Not to visit the new shopping centre, there are shopping centres all over the place. No, I wanted to see the sign outside the underground station that says ‘Battersea Power Station Station’.

You can only imagine the waves of disappointment and dismay that engulfed me when I realised I’d been hoaxed.

Meanwhile, Liesel, Leslie, Andi and Steve had had a good, if slightly damp, day at RHS Wisley Gardens, just off the A3.

They also had a late lunch at The Anchor, Pyrford Lock. No homity pie on this occasion though. So I think it’s fair to say, none of us needed a full evening meal.

It snowed in Manchester and we’d missed it, oh well, never mind, but our grandchildren enjoyed the experience.

‘Twas damp the day we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum but we thought we’d stay dry as we walked along the tunnel from South Ken tube station to the museum. But the tunnel was closed, so we had to walk outside, in the drizzle.

We admired the tapestries from the Mughal empire, the detail is incredible.

Twill-weave cotton and linen mixture, embroidered with silk thread in chain stitch. Gujarat, for the western market. About 1725-50.

Export embroideries of this kind were based on contemporary chintz patterns, with designs being sent by the Dutch and English East India Companies to both the Coromandel Coast in South-East India for chintzes and Gujarat in the North-West for embroideries. No, of course I didn’t commit that to memory.

‘Laughing Matters’ is a display of comedy objects and artefacts from the last 200 years. A lot of the items wouldn’t be accepted as entertainment today and I probably shouldn’t have laughed at some of them: how did they get away with that, even in the 1960s, 1970s?

We had a look at the jewellery too. I couldn’t quite capture the coloured glints from the diamonds.

If this were a shop, of course I would have bought this tiara for my beloved, but it was a museum exhibit, so I couldn’t. Oh well, never mind.

This tiara, from 1903, of graduated flaming hearts and C-scrolls was inspired by a vision of France before the Revolution. Louis Cartier encouraged his designers to sketch 18th-century ironwork and architectural ornament in Paris and Versailles, and to study engraved jewellery designs.

Consuelo, Duchess of Manchester, was a prominent American heiress who married into the British nobility in 1876. The Duke of Portland recorded that she ‘took Society completely by storm by her beauty, wit and vivacity and it was soon at her very pretty feet’.

France; Cartier, Paris, with diamonds supplied by the Duchess of Manchester Gold and silver with diamonds; the C-scroll at each end is set with paste (glass). No, I didn’t memorise this info either.

I was very pleased to see Edward Scissorhand’s hand, though, mostly because if you’d asked me where it was, I doubt I would have guessed the V&A.

Back in Richmond, we walked down the road to The Prince’s Head pub for our evening meal. This is the pub featured in the popular TV series Ted Lasso. While the carnivores had roast meat or fish and chips, I enjoyed my roasted vegetable and feta pithivier. No, I’ve never seen that word before, either, but it’s just a posh French word for a puff pastry pie. The staff get their entertainment from listening to us customers struggling to pronounce le mot. The meal was delicious, though

We left Richmond early(-ish), hoping to beat the traffic home, this being the end of the Christmas and New Year holiday period, when we thought most people would be returning home. In the end, the drive wasn’t too bad.

It didn’t take too long to get back into our normal routine at home. Apart from, we did experience some cold and some snow. The temperature hovered around freezing for a couple of days, and it was a bit icy.

We did go into Manchester for an art show. What better way to mark what would have been David Bowie’s 77th birthday than by seeing fellow artist David Hockney at work? Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) was the name of the show at Factory International.

David Hockney himself took us on a personal journey through sixty years of his art in this vibrant immersive exhibition. With huge state-of-the-art projections and a revolutionary sound system, Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) let us experience the world through David Hockney’s eyes. We saw his work from LA to Yorkshire, and up to the present day in Normandy. The show was an incredible opportunity to get to know one of the great popular geniuses of the art world, still experimenting with new technology to create beauty and wonder. We watched Hockney experiment with perspective, use photography as a way of ‘drawing with a camera’, capture the passing of time in his polaroid collages and the joy of sSpring on his iPad – and he showed us why only paint can properly convey the hugeness of the Grand Canyon. The specially composed score by Nico Muhly was fantastic too, not intrusive at all.

Liesel and Leslie in a Hockney landscape

And finally, one more time: Happy New Year! I stole this fascinating piece of mathematical trivia from someone on the internet: merci beaucoups!

Alaskans in London

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

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

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

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

Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth has a new display.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well done Year 4 at St Olave’s Prep School

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Southbound

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s the season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And back again

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

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

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

Thanks again to Jodi for the picture.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Strolling

Liesel and I went into the office where I observed a new sport taking place on the skating rink in the park over the road.

Skating while pushing a buggy will be a Winter Olympics sport at some point, I’m sure. Maybe not as spectacular as Extreme Ironing, but it’s nice to be an observer right at the start.

While Liesel was sweating over a hot PC, I went for a shorter walk than planned, because, yes, it was cold, but the wind made it really unpleasant outside. I could feel my desiccated skin flaking off. I took respite in the library with a coffee. The homeless man rolled his own, put it in his mouth but didn’t get as far as lighting up, thank goodness.

Happy birthday Gideon! We went round to his house to celebrate and it was good to catch up with some folks I haven’t seen for a long time.

Here he is, slicing the cake that he baked himself, I think. Thanks, Jodi, for the photo!

Opportunities for a walk around the track in the Dome are now limited: our remaining time here in Anchorage is short. We did a few laps plus I spent a whole five minutes on the bike, on the hardest saddle known to humanity.

After Jyoti picked up her newly repaired car, she took me shopping at Carrs (hooray, my favourite occupation) and I realised how modern this place is. By the entrance are two vending machines. One will cut keys for you, fair enough, and on the other one, you can buy ₿itcoin. Of course, I should have bought one of those things ten or fifteen years ago, they’ve increased in value so much.

Jyoti kindly gave me lunch at her place, tyvm. I introduced her to the latest series of Doctor Who, which she seems to be enjoying. The only problem was, neither of us could work out how to bring up the subtitles on Disney+.

After driving me most of the way, I bought a coffee from New Sagaya to take home. I walked over the road in slight drizzle which, within half an hour, had turned to snow. Oh, no, not more snow… But it didn’t last long.

Since we’re leaving the apartment soon, it’s time to unsubscribe from some services. My mission, which I accepted, was to cancel some of the TV services. You should be able to just click on a button that says ‘Cancel Subscription’, right?

One service that we signed up to to watch just one football game just once, we have to unsubscribe via a different site, which I don’t have the login detials for. So I’ve passed the buck to Aaron.

Apple+ TV provided the worst nightmare. You have to go to the website. The website was locked for security reasons. To unlock, I had to have Leslie’s phone number. Luckily, Leslie had left her phone at home while she went to work with Liesel. Ah, but Leslie’s phone didn’t recognise my face, of course. Luckily, I know the passcode. I unlocked whatever it was that was locked. Then I had to sign in again. Then I had to receive a code on her phone and type it in on the website on my phone. Then, I was granted access to the golden ‘Cancel Subscription’ button. Which worked. I screenshot the confirmation because, for some reason, I have zero faith in this whole ridiculous system.

By comparison, Netflix was a breeze. The website did complain that my browser was out of date (a lie) but I had access to another one. Cancel, you say? Of course, sorry to see you go. Easy, straightforward.

One more session at the Dome, but I didn’t bother with the bike this time. Jyoti again drove me home, she’s a star. I had coffee, she had chai. Meanwhile, Leslie went over to friend Shyla’s place to help prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. All the local turkeys were looking worried.

Black Friday and if it weren’t for the zillion TV adverts and posters and fliers, social media posts and Leslie’s junk mail brochures, I don’t think I would have noticed. We visited the Museum again, this time for Crafted in Alaska, to browse through a curated selection of handmade treasures, from jewelry and textile art to pottery and printed designs at the Museum’s annual holiday craft event.

There are some very talented craftsmen and women around the state and there’s a a lot of support for this Thanksgiving weekend event. Wandering round the Museum, I learned that we were a mere 1,998 miles from the North Pole.

And, while I’ve been taking pictures of unusual, special car number plates for a long time, I didn’t realise that if I’d ripped off and saved tha actual plates, I could have had a display in a Museum. Like this chap did:

The music, very gentle music, was provided by Denise Martin on hammered dulcimer and, on guitar, Jim Kerr. He’s done very well since leaving Simple Minds.

Having not used the car for a whole day, it surprised us when it didn’t start. Again, the battery is totally dead. So again, we asked Monica if we could borrow hers for just one more day. While waiting in the foyer for Monica and Gregg to pick us up, I thought, I haven’t taken a selfie for a while. So here it is.

We enjoyed dinner at My Shawarma where even I used my hands to eat the vegetable injera, and, several hours and washes later, I can still smell the spices on my fingers. If they ever need a tune for an advert, I know just to song to murder: My Sharona by The Knack.

Phil was with us too, while Una was in California, and he led the way to 907 Alehouse and Grill for some musical entertainment.

The band, I Like Robots, plays popular songs from the ’80s and I was surprised to see people actually dancing. I was even more surprised when Monica, Jyoti and especially Liesel ran onto the dancefloor! I stayed behind to, er, look after the coats, yeah, that’s it.

I confess, I did sing along a bit and tap at least one of my feet while they played songs from Pet Shop Boys, Prince, Paul Simon and many more.

Even though we got to bed later than usual, this librocubicularist managed to read a few pages before visiting the land of nod. One thing I’ve noticed is that we never hear the sound of birdsong from this apartment. I know, if they’ve got any sense, they’ll all have migrated south, but it’s still an eerie silence sometimes.

Big Things

We returned to the Bear Tooth for an evening meal with Liesel’s brother Aaron and his family. On this occasion, I chose a pizza but it was too big for my dainty stomach and I couldn’t finish it. By various logistical manoeuvres, we eventually returned to Cath and Hans’s place for one final night. Alas, not a full night’s sleep for Liesel: she got up at 4am in order to drive back across the big city and take Buzz to the airport for her return trip home to Albuquerque. During the night, the temperature had dropped to -15°C so I was quite happy to stay under the covers for a few more hours.

Meanwhile, newlyweds Helen and Brent were slurping their way through the newly released film Wicked. Liesel, her Mom and I saw the stage version in London, with the original Broadway cast, a mere 19 years ago. Feeling old.

After the airport run, Liesel and her Mom collected me and we enjoyed a big breakfast at Southside Grill. Liesel’s choice was reindeer and cheese skillet with eggs. I meant to go and check up on our near neighbour, Star, later on, but I forgot. We did learn something new about American cuisine, though. Eggs ‘over easy’ means you get runny egg white. If you want solid whites with slightly runny yolk, you ask for ‘over medium’. My meal kept me going for the rest of the day: no need for lunch nor dinner.

After watching our first TV rubbish in a week, Liesel went to work in the office, taking Mom with her. And while I didn’t go and visit Star, I did go for a long walk to visit some more wildlife, even though I really, really, really craved a nap. It was -9° with no wind. Footwear is so much better nowadays: even though it was cold out, my feet didn’t turn into blocks of ice like they used to when I was a child. My exposed face was the most uncomfortably chilly.

I had crampons on my shoes too, and the noise they made as I walked on ice was very strange. Crunch, crunch, crunch as usual, but in places, a squeak or a slight echo gave the impression that the ice was hollow underneath. At the right pace, there was occasionally an almost continuous roar coming from my footsteps. Great sound effects. Where the pavement was ice-free, my crampons sounded like I was wearing several pairs of high-heels.

My destination was a dead, beached whale that had made the news a few days ago. I know, sad that it had died, but still an interesting thing to see as a visitor: we don’t get much washed up sealife in the Mersey.

I walked by Jupiter, the biggest planet, another stop on the citywide Planet Walk, and I smiled at the uncharacteristic snow-covered Jovian north pole.

I didn’t know how close I’d get to the object of interest, so I started taking photos as soon as I saw the crowd on the frozen mud flats.

Mud flats and, way over there, whale watchers

I was in two minds about whether to walk on the mud flats. I wouldn’t in Summer, too risky with quicksands and, I suppose, quickmuds.

But, ‘do something scary every day’, as a friend once said. I figured that if I were to fall through the ice, someone from the fairly large crowd would come to my rescue once they’d stopped laughing.

It was icy, and bumpy, and I felt better prepared for the adventure than many others whose shoes and boots appeared to have no grip at all.

As I approached the whale, its odour became more obvious. Being this cold, the body wasn’t decomposing very fast. I’m sure it will smell stronger before the next really high tide takes the corpse away.

The deceased juvenile fin whale is 47 feet in length. Fin whales are the second largest cetacean after the blue whale. Their name comes from the relatively small dorsal fin.

A lady with zero grip on her sheepskin boots asked me to help her across the ice. In the end, I helped Valerie walk all the way back to her car.

The biologists have taken some large samples away to determine the cause of death. There are no signs of a collision with a boat, so it’s probably natural.

Much of the baleen seems to have disappeared: I suspect people other than native Alaskans have, illegally, taken it as a souvenir.

You can tell by how dark my glasses are that the Sun was very bright, and very low down, so it was hard to avoid looking towards it.

After dropping Valerie off at her vehicle, I quickly debated with myself whether or not to walk across the ice-covered lagoon. I decided not to on the grounds that I’ve already done something scary today, but also, at the edge of the lagoon, there was water, actual liquid water, running out from underneath the ice, and I thought that maybe it’s not as solid as it looks, even if there are plenty of other people out there skating and even practicing their ice hockey skills.

I did like the machine out on the ice, a caterpillar tracked snow plough and I thought, I should get something like that to better negotiate the potholes of Northenden and Gatley.

Over in the old country, we’re sorry to have missed William’s 7th birthday, but we did have a quick video chat with him as we were just going to bed and he’d just got up for school.

Happy birthday William. And what did we do to celebrate the occasion? Well, we binge-watched a TV series Dark Winds, which takes place in the Navajo nation. I think we can all recommend it, although I’m not likely to read the 27 books on which the series is based. The only exercise today was a quick walk over the road to do some shopping.

Liesel’s doing a lot of work right now in the office: I wish I could help in some way, but my legal experience is limited to watching one session of a Superior Court case recently..

After another breakfast out, this time at Jackie’s Place, where, by the way, I only got two eggs ‘over medium’, remember, instead of the three I’d had at Southside, Liesel took me next door to Play It Again Sports. I don’t know who Bob is but I had a feeling that he deserved a damn good whacking, as the song says.

But, apparently we’re not allowed to thump him. What a great sports shop though. If only I were interested in skiing, skating, playing ice hockey, football, soccer, working out, weight-lifting or lacrosse. I could have bought specialised gloves for many different sports, even for different positions in some sports. And then there are so many different socks available. I might have had a go at the unicycle I spied in the corner but (a) it was chained to the fire extinguisher and (b) I still can’t ride a unicycle.

Another day, another dollar. While Liesel was in the office, Jyoti took me on a tour of Anchorage. Well, kinda. First stop was Chugach Mountain Roasters, the coffee shop where Suvan, Jyoti’s son, works. The coffee was so nice, I had a second cup, thanks very much, Suvan.

Next, we visited Natural Pantry for some natural food items. What a strange place. At home, we buy aloe vera gel in nice plastic bottles. Here, it’s all natural. And what big leaves they are.

I was very happy to see this sign though, an employer actually looking after their staff. So Jyoti and I returned all our cannabis and hemp based products to the relevant shelves.

We paid a quick visit to SK, Jyoti’s boyfriend’s daughter, on the occasion of her birthday, after which, I was dropped off at the office.

In the evening, Liesel, Leslie and I went round to Monica’s house for a lovely meal. A huge pork joint was the main attraction, while my falafels were a close second. Jyoti, Una and Phil joined us too and it was good to see Gregg again and especially Neha, back home from Washington DC where she is studying.

For whatver reason, we’d decided previously that we wouldn’t make a trip to Talkeetna on this occasion. For which I am very grateful. This is how cold it was there.

So, as you might have anticipated, I ended this post with another whinge about the climate here.

Sunrise, Sunset

By the time I woke up, Liesel had already gone back to check up on Mom and Buzz and to take them shopping. I had a very peaceful day in Cath and Hans’s house, looking out over the city and Turnagain Arm, admiring the mountains, reading and writing.

Later in the afternoon, I watched the fog ‘rolling in from the sea’, and the catchy lyric took me by surprise by continuing, ‘My desire is always to be here’, and I thought, no, it really isn’t. I know, fresh snow is great, the mountains are beautiful, but no, I really couldn’t live here.

We had a very nice, colourful dinner, thank you Cath and Hans, but again, the vegetarian sausages here just aren’t very nice. Always worth trying something new, I know, but always so disappointing.

The atmosphere here is so dry. I’ve not suffered from cracked lips like some people have, and my nose no longer bleeds as much when I sneeze but we have experienced a new phenomenon here in this house: static electric shocks whenever we turn a light on or off, or just touch some surfaces.

The temperature difference between indoors and outside is huge. It takes a while to pile on the extra layers for the outdoors world. But on this day, I was glad that I had also put on my kevlar vest because on our return visit to The Dome, we witnessed some athletes throwing javelins.

We again walked several laps of the track and then Jyoti was kind enough to drive me, Leslie and Buzz to the Anchorage Museum while Liesel went to work.

The paintings by native artists really do show the beauty of the place, and they sometimes go to great lengths to produce their work.

Mountain views, 1947, by George Browne (1914-1958, American)

George Browne created over twenty-three oil paintings on location while climbing Denali in 1947, He summited the 20,320-feet peak as a member of the Bradford Washburn-led scientific expedition.

In addition to his climbing gear and food, Browne carried canvases, brushes, paint and an easel. He packed the wet paintings in a plywood box designed to separate the boards in order to avoid damage in transit. At 11,000 feet, temperatures reached 20-below zero Fahrenheit, and the paint froze. Some of the paintings have patches missing while others remain unfinished – a testament to snowstorms that had obscured his view.

I wonder if he was as tired as I felt after walking up all those stairs in the Museum just to see these paintings?

On the way back home, we stopped off at Fire Island again, as Jyoti needed some bread. I went into the neighbouring beer shop and took a while deciding on which can of beer to buy. I selected a bar of chocolate too. The assistant rang everything up. Then he asked me for my Id. Well, of course I didn’t have any Id on me, just on my phone, but that wasn’t good enough. ‘Without Id, I’m sorry, I can’t complete this transaction.’ Oh well. So I went home, beerless, dejected and pleased that I look young enough to pass as a 25-year old.

In the evening, we were talking about how you can’t really get lost in Anchorage. And I was thinking, I’ve managed to get lost in this one single house of yours, it’s so big!

Yes, I have played a couple of Christmas songs on my show during the Summer, because they matched that week’s theme. I did not expect to hear Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You on the radio as early as November 15th. But I did. In fact, there is a radio station that plays nothing but Christmas music at the moment. I gave it a song and a half in the car, then we reverted to NPR.

Do something scary every day, somebody said to me once. Today’s scary thing was sitting in the car while Liesel drove us down the hill and into the city, over fresh snow that had been falling most of the night, so deep, you couldn’t see the road markings. In fact, at times, you couldn’t see where the road was. More folks were on the roads as we approached the city centre.

First we stopped to pick up Buzz and Leslie. Then to Jyoti’s house where Liesel’s Dad’s old Mitsubishi Eclipse from 1995 has been parked up for several months. Its battery was successfully charged overnight and Liesel drove the vehicle to its next resting place, Una’s garage. Jyoti drove the three of us up to Una’s too.

We were here for brunch to celebrate Pam’s birthday, and this was the first time on this visit that I’d seen Pam and Owen. Also, Gregg was here, without Monica who’s in Washington DC visiting their daughter Neha whose birthday was this week too. Like a huge game of chess isn’t it?

Brunch was fun, and loud at times! Then we took Jyoti home. Then we took Buzz and Leslie home. Then Liesel took us two for a coffee and to buy some house shoes from the very emporium where I bought mine a couple of weeks ago. Then we returned to Cath and Hans’s house. I’d just been ferried around in a car all day, sat, ate, chatted, nothing too onerous, but I was absolutely shattered.

After a gorgeous dinner, thanks again Cath, someone mentioned the C-word. And lo, in four corners of the room did appear a host of shiny Christmas trees.

And, of course, they are American-sized trees.

I slept, on and off, for nearly twelve hours, before getting up for breakfast. Liesel had gone out for her regular massage and then to work.

Sunset.

The mountain to the left is the volcanic Mt Saint Augustine, 200 miles away to the south east. It marks the start of the peninsula that leads to the Aleutian chain of islands.

The sunsets are long and pretty. Sunrise is also very pretty: I was dragged out of bed to see the early morning alpenglow on the mountains, and to see Denali, 200 miles to the north. It is the highest mountain in north America, and to think, in theory, from its summit, you could see into this house. If you could be bothered lugging up a powerful enough telecope. But folks have done dafter things than that, as we saw yeserday at the Museum.

It blows my mind that from this house, we can see the Alaskan mountain range, spanning a total length of 400 miles. And if that doesn’t prove the Earth is flat, I don’t know what will.

On the way to pick up Leslie and Buzz, I saw my first wild moose of this trip, running along with us, on the other side of the crash barrier.

A return visit to The Dome for more circuits of the athletics track and a quick go on the exercise bike. One which, I think, has the most uncomfortable saddle in the world.

Next stop: the pedicurist where Liesel, her Mom and I had our feet gently serviced by the grandparents of two delightful little children who were playing in the shop. We all complained, just a little, when we walked outside into air so cold, it had very nearly solidified. -13°C, apparently, but with wind chill, it felt like -23°C.

After this assault on the senses, we had a huge lunch at the Bear Tooth Theaterpub. Huge. I even had a pint of beer and a dessert. Well, because the portions were so big, both Liesel and I took half of our desserts home to enjoy later. An afternoon nap crept up on me while I was listening to a podcast.

Sunset, and the house next door revelled in its own alpenglow.

After the next prolonged sunrise, I watched the Moon as it crossed the sky, on a higher trajectory than the Sun currently follows, so I knew there was no danger of an eclipse this month. And, sadly, looking at forecasts for the Aurora, we might be unlucky in that department too.

Helen and Brent’s Antics

Top billing this time goes to my lovely daughter Helen and her new husband Brent. Yes, Helen and Brent were married on Monday 11th in a Registry Office in Sydney. Congratulations and lots of love to you both.

It was still Sunday here in Anchorage as we could only imagine what was happening down under. It was a rainy day as they took the water taxi over Sydney Harbour to the big city.

The happy couple here are dancing to Wannabe, The ceremony was a small affair, just the celebrant and a couple of witnesses. H&B did kidnap an elderly couple though, one of whom used to be a wedding photographer. So there are plenty of photos to look through.

Meanwhile, back here in Anchorage, the vacuum cleaner battery gave up the ghost after half the apartment had been given a good seeing to. Liesel enjoyed her now weekly massage and brought us back some very nice coffee from Kaladi. Asa and Gideon came over and took their Oma away for a while, so Liesel and I went for walk down to the lagoon. The Sun was low. Hmm, actually, from here, the Sun is always low in the sky, but we did go out late, and it was approaching sunset.

There were a few people skating out on the ice, but I had no intention of testing out the thickness of the ice. Especially as, just a couple of hundred yards away, the water was flowing quite hard and fast.

The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is 11 miles long and we walked a very small section of it. Being Sunday, there were plenty of cyclists too. There’s a machine that counts cyclists as they go by. At the time we passed by, it claimed there had been 39 cyclists today, and 311 so far this month, which doesn’t seem every many, compared with the number of cyclists we witnessed on our relatively short visit. This compares with 5732 cyclists last month and a total of about 125,000 this year.

A passer-by commented on how glorious the alpenglow was, as the sun disappeared behind some clouds, and yes, the mountains did look pinkly beuatiful.

Walking around outside with cleats on my shoes was safer than sliding around on the ice, but it’s very loud, you couldn’t creep up on anybody. Plus, the noise kept the bears away, we didn’t see a single one. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

As requested, I put up some spice racks on the wall in the pantry, and organised the jars of spices alphabetically. Who knew there were so many Cs: cumin, chives, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, chili, chocolate, cheese, chalk, cats, confetti and so many more.

And now for some SRN. I noticed the Alaska’s News Source report on the opening of the Equity Center in downtown Anchorage featured a very special guest: me.

That’s another small contribution to my fifteen minutes of fame

When we first arrived here in Anchorage, Liesel suggested I grow a beard, so that I’d look more Alaskan, and fit in. Well, I’ve given it three weeks and I decided, nah, it’s not for me. My beardy days are long gone. And after seeing it on TV, albeit fairly local TV, that decision was confirmed, so I was, this week, briefly, clean-shaven.

I spent one whole day on my own as Liesel took Leslie into the office again. I entertained myself with loadsa puzzles, loadsa podcasts and radio shows. I did venture out for a fairly short walk, crunch, crunch, crunch up the road to Fire Island, our favourite bakery here, in what I think was the coldest day here so far, -8°C, brrr. I watched an episode of Planet Earth II on TV, something that Liesel can’t enjoy because the animals keep chasing, catching and eating each other. But it’s interesting, and sometimes, I wish I had the job of writing the subtitles.

Liesel took her Mom back to the Sleep Center for the results of her monitored overnight stay last weekend. Leslie’s sleep isn’t great, but now we know there’s a specific problem that can be addressed.

And 24 hours later, down to -10°C, a mere 14°F. Time for a change of venue. After a rotten night’s lack of sleep, I rose early to wash and change the bed clothes.

More exciting and interesting than the domestic chores was a visit to The Dome, an oasis in a Winter city, providing an all-weather training and fitness facility for everybody from serious competitive athletes to casual walkers. With a world-class turf and a 411-meter track, The Dome has room for all kinds of sports. Liesel, Leslie and I met Jyoti there, and we had a nice, long walk, inside, in relative warmth, round and round the athletics track.

There were some other, younger people, jogging or running fast. I’m proud to say that even though we weren’t walking especially fast, we did manage to overtake a few people. Sadly, these folks were all in charge of a walking frame or walking sticks. I am more proud of the nearly 200-metre long run (jog?) which left me nicely out of breath, not the horrible being short-of-breath for no real reason.

Outside, back in the cold, the sky was clear and we noticed glints of ice in the air, very pretty but hard to photograph. I had more success with the halo around the Sun, even if it was only partial from our perspective.

In the afternoon, Leslie’s sister Buzz arrived from her nice, warm home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was in for a shock! Liesel and I therefore moved out for a week so that she can use our bed, and there won’t be four of us adults fighting over the one bathroom.

Catherine and Hans live on the other side of the city, up the hill, and the view from their house is gorgeous.

The view from Cath and Hans’s house at night

We chatted for a long time before going to bed. In the middle of the night, the very bright full Moon illuminated our room, almost bright enough to read by.

While I was writing this post I looked something up on the internet and this message was splatted on my screen.

Of course, I clicked on the link to fix it and hkh afew fkehhcn rkjshfh
                    kiurnv,fvlk
                             klgjsl sdlkjs ..
                     ?<<,//.gd/g…… unghh..%(&%£..
                 jh&%&98.
                               …
                                  ..

Scissors

It was fun to chat with William and Martha briefly before their bedtime. Another opportunity for me to mess up my mental timezone calculations and get it wrong! I showed them the snow, and William set me a challenge of building a snowman before his birthday. Something else to add to the to-do list.

We visited a pharmacy to get our flu and covid jabs. I’ve had my flu one at home already, so I just need covid. I know how to have a good time. After waiting for a few minutes, the pharmacist said we couldn’t be processed right now because we hadn’t booked ahead of time. Oh well. So much for the sign saying ‘Walk-ins welcome’. Liesel took her Mom into the office and they obtained their inoculations later on, straight in, done. I’m still a covid shot down.

But while they were in the office, Liesel working and Leslie reading, I was having more fun walking by the lagoon, which is frozen. It looks fairly solid but I wasn’t about to walk out over the frozen water.

While walking on the path, I was overtaken by a few cyclists whose bikes had very fat tyres, and by one guy on skis.

No, I was not tempted to ask him if I could have a go. I tried skiing once, way back in ’06, and that activity is not for me. My backside doesn’t have enough padding.

The Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail is about four miles long altogether, and I probably saw about one mile on this occasion. I then had to walk home up some very slight inclines, and the old shortness-of-breath issue came back. Not helped, I’m sure, by the fact that I was wearing more than twice as much clothing as I usually do: all that extra weight!

You can come across some random items anywhere, but I thought this beacon was a bit out of place. It’s at sea level, and when lit, you wouldn’t see the flames from very far away.

No, of course it’s not a bonfire beacon, it’s a frisbee golf basket, so, Liam, if you’re reading this, feel free to polish up your disc and come on over!

Podcasts and radio shows kept me company for the rest of the afternoon, until Liesel and Leslie returned home.

The Alaska Black Caucus (ABC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organisation dedicated to championing the lives of Black people and other marginalised groups. For five years they’ve been campaigning and raising funds for a new HQ in Anchorage. Today was the day the Equity Center opened with a Ribbon Cutting ceremony.

While Liesel was back at work in the office, Jyoti came over and she, Leslie and I walked into town to witness the event. I asked someone where the bathroom was. Down there, she said, but it’s not finished yet. There is still quite a lot of work to do in the building which, from the outside, is pretty nondescript.

Celeste with her big ribbon-cutting scissors

We listened to a few speeches but left before Senator Lisa Murkowski spoke. Nothing personal, we just had other things to do. She did smile at me though, so that’s nice.

Yes, I wasn’t quick enough to capture her face-on. Next time.

Because their bathroom was not yet functional, on the way home, we visited the 5th Avenue Mall. We had a coffee in the shop called Cake, styled as cAKe, since we’re in Alaska. I went for a wander to address my biological needs which were eventually satisfied.

I tried to find a pair of scissors and that mission was a total failure. I concluded that it’s easier to buy weapons in Anchorage than it is scissors. So I bought a gun and shot my toenails off instead.

I walked home carrying a newly-bought carrot cake for Jyoti, and, no, I didn’t drop it, but as we turned one corner, a gust of wind blew the lid open and that could have been a disaster.

In the evening, we went over to Jyoti’s for dinner. We celebrated her son Suvan’s birthday with cakes and we celebrated Diwali with fireworks.

And so we come to November 10th, or as it is known in Australia, November 11th, they’re always a day ahead. A very auspicious moment…