music – Page 2 – Mick and Liesel's Antics

Three Concerts and a Nokia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zeb Soanes, Hallé Orchestra conducted by Simon Bell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Changes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snow and ice

When my neighbour passenger woke up (yes, grrr, he managed several hours sleep), he opened the window shutter and the first thing I saw was a range of snow-capped mountains. Liesel looked sheepish when I reminded her that she’d said that all the snow had gone, melted, thawed, disappeared.

We collected our bags and then Jyoti collected us. It was about 6am, light and cold. A mere 2° here in Anchorage, but I thought it was quite refreshing after being cooped up in a packed jetliner for that sleepless five hours.

Thanks, Jyoti, for driving us home, which is, for us, Leslie’s new apartment that she moved into just on five months ago. We soon got into the swing of things, having a coffee from Kaladi Bros just over the road plus a pastry. The view from our room, of course, features snow. Not pristine, freshly fallen snow, but dirty sludge that’s been festering outside since last October.

Despite my best intentions, I couldn’t stay awake for the rest of the day, and indeed, we all had a nap. Followed by a refreshing shower.

I proudly wore a borrowed Harvard sweatshirt for our quick perambulation down to Westchester Lagoon. I didn’t know how to respond when a stranger just said ‘Harvard!’ as he passed by us. I hope I didn’t miss out on something special by not knowing the secret response/password.

There are still patches of ice on the lake, icebergs even.

In the depths of Winter, the ice is so solid, it is a great venue for ice skaters. They even use a Zamboni every few days to provide a clean, smooth surface. Would I skate here? I like the idea, but from experience, the only way I know to stop in a timely manner is to head for the wall of the ice rink. There is no such barrier here, so I guess I’d just keep going until I hit the mountains.

But it’s not all cold stuff here. We saw some signs of Spring.

Fire Island is a great, rustic bakehouse. We paid our first visit here, bought some bread and enjoyed coffee and pastries.

Back at home, I completed the crossword in the local paper, Anchorage Daily News, messed up the Soduko, but I did complete the New York Times crossword for the first time.

This will take some getting used to, I think: the Sun is setting at 10pm right now, that’s three hours later than it did in Honolulu. Plus, the twilight period is much longer. When it’s so light, so late, it’s quite hard getting to sleep.

Our nephews Asa and Gideon played in a football game at West Anchorage High School.

The backdrop of mountains occasionally detracted from the action on the pitch, but what a great setting. Another distraction was the markings for an American Football pitch, which were much more prominent than the yellow lines for soccer. Spoiler alert: I’m not a big football (soccer) fan, but even though West Anchorage (our team) won the match 1-0, given the run of play, I think they should have won by a much higher score.

Unfortunately, the bleachers are still mostly covered in snow, but we did find a dry spot to sit. For the first time, I wore long trousers and I’m glad I did, because after sitting outside in a slight breeze, even I was beinning to feel a little chilly.

Yay, we went shopping at Carrs. Liesel’s shopping list was as long as your arm, and in the end, the trolley (cart) was groaning under the weight of the purchases.

In the evening, Liesel and I visited Jyoti’s son Suvan and his wife Kayla at their place. Six years ago, we just missed attending their wedding because the bureaucracy pertaining to moving house in the UK is a ridiculously long-winded business. It was good to see them, not to mention Suvan’s musical instruments and other technology with which he is composing music and sound effects for a video game. I look forward to playing some on my radio show one day (hint, hint). Who else was there? Jyoti and other pets, Shanti, 16 years old and Basil, much younger. And a cat.

Is there a photograph of Suvan and Kayla? Of course not, that would require me to remember to take pictures of people, not just of things.

When Liesel and Leslie went out to run errands, my mission, which I chose to accept, was to go to Fire Island to buy a baguette. Liesel wasn’t surprised that I had a coffee there, but she was surprised that I didn’t partake of a delicious sweet treat too. Well, I had only just had breakfast. On the way, I did encounter some wildlife.

Yep, the old captions are the best.

And more small signs of Spring.

It had rained overnight, and it was still trying to precipitate now, very half-heartedly. I didn’t want the newly purchased baguette to get too soggy, so I went straight home. Otherwise, I might have enjoyed a longer walk.

The other thing that’s different here in AK is the atmosphere. It’s so dry compared with Hawaii’s humidity, Liesel and I are both experiencing nosebleeds and chapped lips. I’m sure we’ll adapt in the fullness of time, but it’s a bit of a challenge right now.

Build Your Dreams

Liesel and I have walked from Coogee Beach to Bondi a couple of times in the past, a very enjoyable trek it is too. We abandoned plans to repeat this footslog today with Pauline and Andrew, because of time constraints. Plus, due to work commitments, Liesel wouldn’t join us anyway. So, to plan B.

Pauline, Andrew and I caught a bus to Manly: a 167, the one that goes all round the houses, offering views of some of the other beaches through dirty windows. It was also the smelliest bus ride of our trip so far, I think they must have just retrieved it from the musty basement of a museum.

After disembarcation at Queenscliff, we walked along the prom, passing a couple of old friends on the way.

The surf clubs have all moved on, so we could see the full extent of the beach. The sea was calm, but no, we still weren’t tempted into the water. Of course, we had coffee at Three Beans again, and we each consumed a sweet delicacy. Which ruined our appetite for lunch. A cookie, an almond croissant and a muffin, since you ask.

We walked along to Shelly Beach, watching some learner SCUBA divers, some snorkellers and some swimmers.

Swimming from Manly Beach to Shelly Beach (them, not me)

We continued walking beyond Shelly Beach: if we’d continued, we would have reached North Head, but there wasn’t enough time today.

This was a more challenging hike, up the steps, through the woods, up and down and we had a good time. Except when Andrew bashed his head on an overhanging branch while looking down, negotiating the bumpy, undulating path. Pauline and I stopped laughing fairly quickly. In terms of wildlife, nothing bigger than a few spiders in their webs and some butterflies and moths. The bush turkeys build their nests by scooching their feet backwards, and we witnessed this activity today, although we think they were just looking for food.

From our vantage point near the top of the cliff, we had a great view over the Pacific Ocean. A very large cargo ship made, from our point of view, very slow progress along the horizon.

I found some of the steps hard work: inconsistent heights and varying degrees of camber, the steps were just rocks, really. The Sun was hot, but we were in shade much of the time. And then, out of the blue, a few spots of rain.

What’s this, then?

Well, none of us wanted to investigate too closely in case it really was what we suspected: the world’s largest wasps’ nest.

Back at Shelly, I got myself a tomato juice at the Boathouse, after which we moseyed on back to Manly, greeting a few water dragons on the way.

After a shower and a change of clothes, Helen collected the four of us for a trip into Sydney. To a casino. Uh? Yes, we walked through a casino to Fat Noodle where we enjoyed dinner. Brent joined us after work.

There were literally hundreds of machines, modern versions of fruit machines, plus a few tables where you could play cards with real people. I didn’t have a go because I knew it would take too long learn what I was supposed to be doing, never mind gambling for real.

But the main reason we were here this evening was to visit The Lyric Theatre. We all thoroughly enjoyed the production of &Juliet. Yes, what might have happened if Juliet hadn’t died in Shakepeare’s famous play? It was great fun, yet, for reasons beyond my ken, I was nudged a few times to stop singing along to the music, which included songs by Back Steet Boys, Britney, P!nk, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and more.

Mick, Liesel, Andrew, Pauline, Brent and Helen

Meanwhile, back at home, it was Odd Socks Day for World Down Syndrome Day. The grandchildren didn’t need much encouragement.

I’ve had way too many birthdays, and I didn’t really need another one. Yet here we are.

The main present, if I can call it that, was a visit to an Escape Room in Manly. Themed around The Dunny, we did indeed encounter redbacks and other horrors from the Aussie outback. It was a challenging hour, and the last minute seemed to last a little bit longer than sixty seconds, but we did just about escape in time! Thank you for the experience, Jenny and Helen and all,

Liesel bought me a chocolate birthday cake which, spoilers: I didn’t finish until five days later! I was delighted by the collection of cards from family and friends. A couple of puzzles to solve too!

Liesel collected our first rental car of the trip, a BYD car made in China. No doubt the American and UK authorities will be having kittens, because this vehicle will undoubtedly be reporting our movements and conversations to the Chinese Government. BYD: Build Your Dreams. It’s an electric car, with more features than you can ever possibly use.

Birthday lunch was at deVita Trattoria in Manly, tastes of Napoli and everything. Sadly, I couldn’t finish my pizza. It was just too big for me. It wasn’t the background music, naff covers of great songs, that put me off my food!

Liesel went back to Helena for another massage. Helen took me home for a birthday afternoon nap. I had to save myself for the party in the evening.

It wasn’t a party for me. It was a belated 40th birthday party for Rob and Nat, the venue being one of the many breweries in Brookvale. A great band played covers of songs by David Gray, Leonard Cohen and even the Bee Gees. I did notice that Andrew was not shooshed for singing along to a song by The Church.

A different Andrew, Jacqui, Mick, Liesel, Helen

Thanks to Eric for the photo. I was dragged along to be in this portrait from a nice comfortable armchair where I was enjoying one of the many nibbles on offer.

And so another birthday draws to a close. I’ll leave the cards on display for as long as I can. And I shall enjoy the many varieties and flavours of TimTams over the next ~~few~~ couple of ~~weeks~~ days, thanks Helen and Brent!

And we’re off again

With just a few days to go before our epic trip to Australia and beyond, it was time to do all those last-minute jobs. Checking visas, finding passports, seeking out Aussie dollars left over from last time, and, of course, packing. For the first time in many years, even I am travelling with a large case, not just a backpack. So, one of the LMJs was to retrieve that case from the storage facility. We managed to consume most of our fresh fruit and veg before passing on the last few onions and spuds to our neighbour Ravi. The most exciting chore, though, was buying snack food items for Helen and her friends and for my sister Pauline, who’ll be joining us from NZ in a couple of week’s time. Lovely, tasty food items such as Hula Hoops, all flavours, Mini Cheddars, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Galaxy Minstrels, Twirls, Maltesers, Marmite, chocolate Buttons and chewing gum. Mind you, I visited six shops in Northenden before finding plain Hula Hoops.

We collected Martha and William from school. William proudly waved his wrist-band at us: “I bashed my head today” it said. He was alright though. We walked to the playground having said we’d buy them an ice cream in lieu of the normal snack. Upon seeing that the ice cream shack was closed today, William burst into tears. Thank goodness the nearby café sold ice cream and was still open. The children had ice cream, Liesel and I had carrot cake. The café was meant to close at 4pm, but the guy said the place would remain open for longer as it was such a lovely day. And it really was a nice day. Later on, both the children were running around in short sleeves. We said hello to the ducks as we passed by.

At the end of a school day, William especially has loads of energy to burn off. We ran around the playground, some of us faster and for longer than others. He climbed a lot and used the slides and swings. Martha had a good time too, and spent some playing with her friend Katie.

Somebody lost a friend today, let’s hope they’re reunited soon.

One unexpected surprise was seeing this newly married couple posing for pictures in the park. Very elegant and with gorgeous outfits and yes, I did ask permission before taking some pictures. Unexpected surprise? Isn’t that a tautology? Oh well, too late to edit that now.

Congratulations and best wishes to this happy couple

For the second week in a row, we had to return the children home quite early, as we had tickets for another gig in Manchester. This time, we didn’t even consider taking a tram.

After parking up, we looked for somewhere to eat. Lots of options, and the first venue we tried was full: we’d have to wait half an hour. I suggested hijacking a Deliveroo driver, but Liesel vetoed that idea. Eventually we found a pizza place, Noi Quattro, which I think is Italian for Northern Quarter, and that’s funny because it is actually located in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The pizza here is possibly the best we’ve ever had. Highly recommended.

And then on to Gulliver’s, tonight’s venue. Sadly, we had to stand for the whole show, and that’s not something either of us enjoy doing any more. Support was Nathan Ball, who was with Martha last time we saw her, in Bath.

We enjoyed Martha Tilston’s set as usual, but she has such a large repertoire of songs now, she doesn’t always sing our favourites. And while I enjoyed her covering Kate Bush and Portishead, it seemed a wasted opportunity: she could have performed a couple more of her own songs!

The drive home was straightforwrad, thank goodness, straight to bed, and up early for the start of our new adventure.

The taxi was on time, and for the first time, we flew out of Manchester Airport Terminal 2. Check-in and security were no big deal. Singapore Airlines is probably our favourite at the moment. Although we’d forgotten to order vegetarian meals, two of the stewardesses in particular went out of their way to make sure I didn’t go hungry! As I told Liesel, my next wife will probably be a Singapore Airlines air stewardess.

Both of us had aisle seats and unoccupied seats next to us. My near neighbour was flying to Brisbane and then taking a cruise up to Cairns. I thought, we should do that one day too.

For a 13-hour long flight, it wasn’t too bad. I managed to watch three whole films, two for the first time: Oppenheimer and Barbie, both being on my ‘list’ since realeased last Summer. The third was Chocolat which I don’t think I’ve seen since it was released 24 years ago, and the book itself is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. I thought I’d watch it again because right now, I’m reading another novel by Joanne Harris, Gentlemen and Players, and I thought, well, I’ve seen it before, so if I do nod off, it won’t matter so much. Reader, I stayed awake.

Watching the flight progress, I was quite excited when we flew the length of Malaysia, past some of the places we’d visited a few years ago…

In totally unrelated news, it seems I am practically related to JRR Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. How so? Well, before we left England, and before our subscription to the service expired, we watched the biopic Tolkien on Disney+. In this film, John Roland Reuel Tolkien’s wife Edith was played by Lily Collins. She is the daughter of Phil Collins, the musician. I was born at Mount Alvernia Hospital in Guildford, and so was Lily Collins. How do we know? Because at the time, Sarah was working at Mount Alvernia Hospital, and she told us that Phil Collins’ wife was having a baby there. That baby must have been Lily. Possibly born in the maternity ward where I first saw the light of day a few decades earlier. And she ‘married’ the renowned author. I can’t work out how many tenuous degrees of separation are involved here.

Bikes, Boxx and a Beatle

It was a nice surprise being invited to babysit one night, when Jenny and Liam visited an Escape Room. I had to reassure Martha and William that of course, Mummy and Daddy would be home later but at the back of my mind was: suppose they don’t manage to escape from the Escape Room? Spoiler: they did.

William in particular wanted to stay up until midnight, so I’m grateful that he can’t quite tell the time yet: midnight arrived at about 7.30pm.

Martha’s been learning about the state of the planet at school, and in addition to a bedtime story, she told me about plastics in the sea, and microplastics, and how they get into the food chain. Good night, sleep well!

While they should have been winding down, it was necessary to perform some acrobatics on their beds. Run and jump. Martha had to jump onto William’s bed though, she couldn’t quite manage the height of her own, bunk, bed.

I joined Kyle and the Wythenshawe Star Gazers one more time, but again, it was too cloudy to see anything interesting in the sky. The Moon tried to peek through and I attempted to capture it.

I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned it at all, but we’ve had a lot of rain recently. The ground is totally saturated, so even the (rare) shortest of downpours now results in huge puddles. They make for interesting, challenging walks around the neighbourhood.

Some of the other walkers were talking about wearing wellington boots, or waders, and who knows, sometime in the future, we might have to wear life jackets on these organised walks.

Some bad news now. Even though it was raining (what a surprise) I took the car in to be washed and valeted. It all went well until the guy hoovered up our National Trust car parking sticker from the window. Now that’s a powerful vacuum cleaner!

And so my hundred years of solitude came to an end. I collected Liesel from the airport and managed to drive straight home, without missing a turning and going home via Chester or Edinburgh.

Anchorage is still colder than here but the snow is beginning to thaw. Somehow they have more hours of daylight than we do in the UK at the moment.

Liesel had 24 hours to get over the jet lag before we went cycling. Not actual cycling, but we went to Manchester Velodrome to watch a session of the National Track Cycling Championships. We met up with the family there, and after being ejected from the seats we’d wrongly occupied, we had a good time.

The cyclists hurtled towards us down the back straight for about four hours, in various races, sprint, pursuit, keirin, scratch race and a very exciting women’s points race: overall, a much longer session than anticipated. Martha and William were really good though, and they went home suitably decorated.

We look forward to seeing some of today’s winners, champions all, as their careers progress. Look out for Lauren Bell, Jenny Holl, Hayden Norris and Sam Fisher in particular. It was fun to see Jody Cundy in action again, and the children were pleased to see him too: they know him from Strictly Come Dancing.

As I said, the session was longer than we expected, so we decided to dine out in the evening. Wagamamas, since you ask. The sky was obscured by clouds but again, the Moon peeked through, albeit shattered.

It’s funny how we can book tickets for events really far in advance, and then they all arrive together. Like buses. Two days after the cycling, we went to see Seth Lakeman in concert, in Manchester.

It was our turn to collect the children from school and this time, we took them to a bookshop, with the idea of buying a book each. And what a lovely shop it is too. If you’re in the area, drop in at Simply Books, Bramhall, fantastic ambience with friendly and helpful staff.

Martha and William chose their books, after which we took them to Gusto for a pizza.

After dropping the children back home, we thought we’d go into the big city by tram. Huh. Given the local traffic conditions, it would take us nearly as long to drive to our chosen tram stop as it would to drive all the way into Manchester. Ridiculous, but that’s what we did: drove into Manchester. It was worth it though. Seth always puts on a good show, and this one was celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his second solo album Kitty Jay, and the first half of the show was devoted to that set of songs. Did we sing along? No, not as much as usual. Did we dance? Again, not so much, at least not until he told us to get up. But I was fidgetting in my seat quite a lot, not necessarily in time with the music, but trying to find a comfortable position to ease the discomfort of my sciatica. Still, mustn’t grumble, eh!

No disrespect to the rest of the terrific band, but those pictures are, as my Chemistry teacher used to say, nbg.

It’s cold. There, I said it. I even said it out loud this week, it did feel cold outside. But the Spring flowers aren’t deterred, they’ll always cheer us up.

After the Thrive walk, we visited Boxx 2 Boxx for a coffee as usual. I didn’t realise at the time, that we would become part of the Instagram marketing campaign for this little coffee shop.

I enjoyed what will be my last Thrive walks for a while, despite it being cold. The Sun came out briefly, yet it’s still cold out. It’s not my birthday for a few weeks, but Jenny and Helen had plans for me. Liesel and I had to keep March 1st free but until we arrived at the venue, The Plaza in Stockport, I didn’t know what we were going to see.

I think the last time I saw a stage show about the Beatles was with Sarah in 1975 or so, a superb production called John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert. Barbara Dickson performed all the songs on that memorable occasion.

Tonight though, Daniel Taylor told us George Harrison’s story, and performed the songs. The band was good, and after the show, I felt I should go back and listen to George’s albums again. They played a couple of songs from The Travelling Wilburys too. Some folks believe that to be the greatest ever supergroup: George, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.

Thank you Helen and Jenny for the early birthday present! Did I sing along? Sotto voce, yes. I can recommend Something about George if you’re at all interested in the so-called quiet Beatle.

Speaking of George Harrison, he famously gave his ukulele to Sam Brown, who now conducts ukulele lessons in Oxfordshire. Well, that’s too far for Martha to travel, but so far, she is enjoying learning the instrument. She already has a couple of chords in her repertoire.

Since the last proper post here, I have sent two Wythenshawe FM radio shows out into the universe. The themes of the shows are Doctors and Wales, respectively. Set aside 4 hours for some marvellous music.

I don’t often write about the books I’m reading, but I do have to recommentd one that I have just finished. I’ve been a fan of Kerry Hudson since she came to Manchester Literature Festival a few years ago to talk about her then new book Lowborn. Well, the follow-up to that has recently been published. Newborn is just as personal, honest and moving as its predecessor and you can’t help but wish Kerry and her family all the best for the future. Highly recommended.

Techno, heck, no

Cold but sunny seems to be the way forward. I wear a sunhat usually, but when it turns chilly, I replace that with a beanie hat to cover my ears. Cold ears are bad enough, but if cold wind blows into the lugs, I turn into a raging Hulk. But the trouble with a beanie hat is, there is no brim. So, while I welcome the Sun, I’m aware of squinting at it as I wander about, especially as it’s also lower in the sky at this time of year. So what I need is a hat that keeps my ears warm and also has a brim. So I’m hoping someone gets me a deerstalker for Christmas.

Our friend Sue joined Liesel and and me and we walked along the river to Didsbury. It was crunchy under foot, but a very pleasant walk.

Sue and Liesel joined the regular WI group in the Metroplolitan while I sat all alone, on my own, at a separate table, with my solitary cup of coffee while solving a puzzle on the phone. I could have walked the six feet over to the bar to order another cup of coffee, but no. I scanned the QR code on the table, downloaded the app, and ordered a coffee online. And a couple of minutes later, a nice young lady brought it over for me. Isn’t technology great?

Isn’t technology awful? We have a smart TV and the sound quality isn’t that good. So Liesel purchased a soundbar to go with it. Both items are made by Samsung so it should be easy to connect the two, right? Wrong. Even though it’s quite new, our TV set isn’t modern enough to have Bluetooth. Bluetooth is apparently the best way to connect to the soundbar. It didn’t come with a cable, of course. And trying to discern what sort of cable we need has proved very difficult. I can see why some people transition into technophobes.

But we did have a good time at William’s 6th birthday party. Lots of food, balloons, presents, family and, best of all, cake.

In other exciting news, Martha and her class dressed up as stone age men and women for a day.

I accompanied Liesel to Altrincham for her hospital appointment. And we paid a visit to Hobbycraft. I think we were inside for twenty minutes at the most. But in that time, the nasty, sub-karaoke versions of Christmas songs drove me nuts. I’m so glad I never had to work in a place like that.

I think a lot of people have a background project on the go, known as ‘sorting out the photos’. Well, when I started that a few years ago, I noticed some omissions. I wondered whether the missing pictures had been erroneously included with the boxes of stuff we left with Jenny when we moved house over five years ago. This week, I spent time looking through some boxes. Sadly, I didn’t find the photos I was looking for. Happily, I did find the portrait made by 3½-year old Jenny of her then brand new baby sister, Helen.

The cold continues and the pond in Painswick Park was frozen over. I think the geese and the moorhens were taken by surprise, or maybe they just enjoyed skating.

But look, the sky is a beautiful blue, the Sun was bright, and I still didn’t have a brim on my hat.

While I was walking around Wythenshawe amongst a group of nine, Liesel was walking with her WI group from Sale Water Park to and around Chorlton Water Park and back again.

Staying with the WI, they enjoyed a Bunco session. I was unfamiliar with the game, so I looked it up, and decided it was a game of pure chance. I even had an argument with Chat-GPT about what strategies could possibly be used. It claims you can roll the dice more or less vigorously depending on what numbers you want. I don’t think it’s as intelligent as it claims. But it was all good fun, a nice social occasion, and that’s all that matters, really.

Liesel has decided to go home to Anchorage for a few weeks to help her Mom navigate the stressful process of moving house. Mom is moving to a smaller place, an apartment nearer the city centre. I think we’ll all be glad to see the back of the steep drive at the old house. Recently, both a car and a Mom have slid down the icy drive. I’m not joining Liesel on this occasion, for a number of reasons, none of which is that I want to watch more classic Doctor Who on TV. Honest.

Martha and William have swimming lessons every Saturday morning and we have been to watch them on a few occasions. Not this week though. Instead, we picked them up straight afterwards, drove to Didsbury, took a tram into Manchester and walked to The Stoller Hall for a concert. To keep William occupied on the tram ride, I let him play with my phone.

Yes, he enjoyed the ‘Fun’ options within the camera app, with some ridiculous filters. But he did lose interest in my phone when he found out that it doesn’t have any games on it, just a few puzzles.

We’d come to see Peter and the Wolf performed by students from Chetham’s School of Music. The narrator was Carla Henry who did a great job for the best part of an hour, considering probably half of the audience was young children. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I did sneak one of the orchestra. Before they turned up.

Last time I heard Peter and the Wolf performed live was when Sarah and I took young Jenny and Helen to London’s South Bank. The narrator on that occasion was Johnny Morris, yes, him from Animal Magic and Tales from the Riverbank.

After the show, we wrapped up in our coats and hats and gloves again and visited the world famous Christmas Market in Manchester. As did everybody else. The place was heaving. Martha and William homed in on the stall selling sweeties.

We found this bee from the old Bee in the City trail, right beside the cathedral.

I’m sure there was a lot of fun stuff on sale, but my main focus was on not losing too many of our grandchildren. But they were very good, holding our hands when required.

We spent some time in Waterstones, where we also had a coffee and a babyccino. When we left the shop, it was just beginning to snow, which William and Martha loved, catching snowflakes on their tongues.

The children were tired, well we all were, so we took them to Gusto for our evening meal before returning them to their parents. And so the week ended as cold as it begun.

Speaking of Cold, that was the time of this week’s radio show. I also spoke to singer songwriter Chris Tavener earlier in the week and this chat was the main part of the show this week. If you missed it on Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 and DAB, you can listen here on Mixcloud. In fact, the Mixcloud edit is longer than the original broadcast, so if you did hear it broadcast live, you should listen again for all the extra songs!

Earlier in the week, while doing something important on the computer, I was distracted by Excel. I wanted to see which musical artists I have played most often on the radio show over the last three and a bit years. I knew who would come out on top. But to produce the top ten or twenty from a spreadsheet listing all 5000+ track that I’ve played wasn’t straightforward. I spent far too long coaxing Excel to achieve this, learning new functions that will all be useful, I’m sure. Actually, they probably won’t. Anyway, here are the top 100 most played artists in order. Yes, 100, since I went to all that trouble!

David Bowie
Beatles
Mary Hopkin
Jessica Lee Morgan
Bee Gees
Paul McCartney
Tasmin Archer
Nina Simone
Dolly Parton
Elton John
Eddi Reader
Kirsty MacColl
Neil Diamond
Elbow
Bic Runga
Queen
Martha Tilston
Ella Fitzgerald
Abba
Pink Floyd
Prince
Carpenters
Elvis Presley
Jim Reeves
Frank Sinatra
Denise Johnson
Simon and Garfunkel
John Lennon
Erin McKeown
Rolling Stones
Kate Bush
Hollies
Blur
Kinks
Alice Cooper
Oasis
O’Hooley and Tidow
Who
Dusty Springfield
Rosanne Cash
Madonna
Duran Duran
Van Morrison
Joni Mitchell
Sam Brown
Julia Violinista
Frankie Archer
Johnny Cash
Paul Simon
Snow Patrol
Beach Boys
Doves
Seth Lakeman
REM
Lulu
Sheryl Crow
Sinead O’Connor
Killers
Inspiral Carpets
Cara Dillon
Catatonia
Bjork
Unthanks
Monkees
Fleetwood Mac
10cc
T Rex
Taylor Swift
Paul McCartney and Wings
Gordon Lightfoot
James Taylor
Nana Mouskouri
ELO
Crowded House
Stevie Wonder
Tom Hingley
Spizzenergi
George Harrison
Lou Reed
Steely Dan
Duffy
Billy Joel
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Louis Armstrong
Amy Winehouse
Mick Ronson
Iona Fyfe
Tom Robinson
Clash
Harry Nilsson
Petula Clark
Andy Stewart
Lily Allen
Slim Dusty
Terra Naomi
Glen Campbell
Lee Ann Womack
Nat King Cole
Tori Amos
Minnie Riperton
Kylie Minogue
Tom Jones
Elvis Costello
Cat Stevens
Deep Blue

And I have seen 36 of those acts live on stage over the years, wow!

Being 8 again

I think it was Friday night, so not a school night, but when I heard that President Kennedy had been killed, I felt sad. He seemed such a nice man. Mum was out at work and Dad let me stay up a bit later than usual to watch Tonight on TV, hosted by a very serious Cliff Michelmore.

But more importantly, my Saturday afternoons would never be the same again. One of my favourite TV programmes was Garry Halliday, which followed the sports show Grandstand. Its eponymous hero was a commercial pilot and I particularly remember the radar screen displaying the same moving blobs every week. Sadly, only one episode remains in the BBC archives, so I’ll never know if that’s a real memory.

Anyway, Garry Halliday was replaced by a new show, a science fiction series called Doctor Who. I took against it straightaway of course, because it wasn’t Garry Halliday.

This week is Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary and I am not alone in being extremely fond of it now. The BBC have really pushed the boat out. The first Dalek story has been colourised. 800 episodes from the classic series have been uploaded to the iPlayer and I have been watching some of these old stories this week. At the time, I didn’t notice the theatrical style of acting, nor the fluffed lines, nor the cheap, wobbly sets. 8-year old me just lapped it up each week and couldn’t wait for the next episode. Binge-watching several episodes at a time would have been as futuristic a concept then as some of the storylines were.

The first episode was shown as news of the assassination was still fresh in people’s minds. In fact, the BBC repeated the first episode the following week, prior to showing episode 2. The new show was intriguing, different, and eventually exciting, rivetting and, over time, it became one of my all-time favourites. I feel a strange sense of loyalty to it, despite it being absolutely ridiculous at times. I did give up watching completely at one point, when the alien characters were basically Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts.

In our house, the TV was a rental, Pay-As-You-View set. We had to feed it with sixpenny coins, 6d per hour, to keep it going. Sod’s Law meant that the TV would die halfway through Doctor Who most weeks. Somehow, I don’t remember it running out of juice earlier in the afternoon, during Grandstand, halfway through a horse race on which my Dad had placed a bet. So we’d all scrabble around looking for sixpences. Then we’d have to go and knock on Pam and Ralph’s next door and ask if they had the right coins. Then we’d feed the TV meter having missed five minutes of the show, wondering what had happened to the Dctor and his companions.

On some occasions, Dad had resorted to using a small butter knife to extract coins from the drawer at the bottom of the meter so that we could feed the beast. The cash, by the way, was used to pay the TV rental when the man came round each month.

So who is my favourite Doctor? The current one is the answer. I was sad when Patrick Troughton took over from William Hartnell, even if the latter was a bit grumpy. But I soon got to like the new incarnation. Equally, I felt bereft when Jon Pertwee regenerated into Doctor No 3 when Troughton left the show.

Today, in 2023, I can say I’ve enjoyed watching Jodie Whittaker as Doctor No 13 and as I write, I’m looking forward to seeing the 60th anniversary specials with the return of David Tennant.

But we haven’t only been watching TV this week, oh no. Over the years, other than visiting Lyme Park, we haven’t spent a lot of time in Disley. So we joined a group of about twenty for a lovely walk in the area, on a beautiful day. We met outside a pub, most of the group arriving by bus. As we walked up the main street, I don’t know why I was surprised to see a lovely vista so quickly.

We followed the River Goyt for a while, so it was a fairly flat route. But there were hills, and much later on, I struggled walking up one in particular, which was steep and long and I was short of breath and again walking fewer and fewer steps before having to stop for a few minutes. I feel I want the doctor to get out his pipe cleaners and give my blood vessels a good old scrape. This was a very supportive group though, and I didn’t feel I was holding anybody up.

I didn’t even know there was a Marina at New Mills, but we passed by it on, I think, the Peak Forest Canal.

The Millennium Walkway was very pleasant, away from the mud and the fast flowing water, and I wondered just how long has it been there?

I also wondered what the time was as we passed by Bruce’s Clock in Strines. The clock struck 2 but what a feeble little chime. I suspect someone who lives locally has secretly installed mufflers.

Some placenames are just tongue twisters, and Hagg Bank Lane is one such, very hard to say out loud. Or is that just me? But you have to admire whoever this tree hugger is.

Time for another concert, in Manchester. We eschewed public transport on this Sunday night because we wanted to be able to get home afterwards in a reasonable amount of time. Frankie Archer always puts on a good show, and this was the third time we’ve seen her this year. Since appearing on my radio show earlier in the year, she’s been on Later with Jools on TV and on Mark Radcliffe’s Folk Show on Radio 2. She’s going places. (Listen here until 30 November)

Electro-folk is the name given to her style of music, and as well as playing the fiddle, she has a whole raft of other equipment on stage, samplers and synths and miles and miles of different coloured cables.

Most of her songs are traditional folk songs, albeit with a tweak here and there. No spoilers, but women tend not to come out on top.

Doctor Who and Frankie Archer, all very exciting. But the main event this week was William celebrating his 6th birthday. He had a ‘brilliant’ day, and he went to school on his brand new scooter. Happy birthday, William, and we look forward to celebrating and partying with you very soon.

Liesel and I joined another event in Benchill, organised by Thrive Manchester and Factory International. Gwen the photographer took us and a few others out for a quick walk to the local park where we took photos using proper cameras rather than our phones. It was interesting thinking about apertures and focal lengths and exposure times again, after using nothing but a phone camera for the last five years.

But of course I took a few pictures with my phone as well. We returned to the Community Centre as it was beginning to get dark outside and the sky begged to be photographed.

This was Our Earth Week, as celebrated by Wythenshawe Radio and many other community radio stations around the country. It’s part of the lead-up to COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in UAE in a few days time. My own little show can be heard right here if, by chance, you missed it on WFM 97.2.

Not one but two Marthas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Folk and rabbits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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