Northenden – Page 2 – Mick and Liesel's Antics

The Mobile Spins

After a busy day yesterday, it was more relaxed today. Liesel and I drove into town, parked up and walked to the Cathedral.

This is one of seven archangels carved in 2005 by José Lucero, a local artist affectionately referred to as Picasso Santero. He created these from the remaining trunks of cottonwood trees that once stood along the river.

Meanwhile, Buzz and Leslie were taking a train from Albuquerque to visit us here in Santa Fe. Meanwhile, Gabe was driving here with Neil. We all met up by the Cathedral, which was too big to fit in the photo.

The Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi

While wandering around the town, we couldn’t help but notice the old Route 66. In 1937, the route changed so is passed through Albuquerque rather then Santa Fe.

But the first port of call was the French Pastry Shop, part of La Fonda on the Plaza Hotel complex. A nice French place with French pastries and other tasty treats. So for lunch, I enjoyed a French baguette with my default, favourite filling, cheese and tomato.

We visited KESHi, The Zuni Collection, where there was plenty of Zuni artwork to look at. The small animals are known as fetishes, but not ‘fetish’ in the way we usually think about!

So far, we haven’t been lucky enough to see any hummingbirds in the wild. This one is made from onyx, with turquoise eyes and some mussel shell for a beak. Mussels and coral are found locally, left over from the time New Mexico was under the ocean, several weeks ago, at least.

After Gabe left us to take Leslie, Neil and Buzz back home to Albuquerque, the rest of us, that is me, Liesel, Rupert and Jyoti, well, we returned to the French pastry place for coffee and dessert. My choice was something called ‘opéra’, layers of sponge with coffee and chocolate and very tasty, merci.

Jyoti found a ring she liked on a stall in the street, and it needed a slight adjustment. The man said he hoped to have it ready by the end of the day. He did, but by then, we’d returned home so we went back the following day to collect it.

We visited a few galleries in Canyon Road, not all 300, that would be a real labour of love. Some say 300, some say 100. I didn’t count.

Amongst our favourites, I think, were the wind-powered mobiles, which are also optical illusions. There are quite a few at Wiford Gallery. Tempting, yes, but far too big to take back to Albuquerque, never mind England.

When we returned home, I took out my new telescope in an effort to capture some landscape pictures. Without realising, I found a cow’s behind.

The same distant hill was viewed though the phone and through the telescope. You can see how good the magnification is.

Unless my detective work fails me, this image shows Cerro Chiflo, located near Taos, a volcanic plug in the Tusas Mountains of New Mexico. Cerro Chiflo’s peak reaches approximately 9,000 feet. The landscape includes piñon and juniper trees, and desert sage.

And of course, I had to have another look at the Sun.

While eating our evening meal, the Sun went down and we had a beautiful sunset, nearly as good as those we see in Northenden.

What was on the menu? Lamb curry for most people, but I believe my potato curry was far superior, thank you very much, Jyoti!

After all this time in NM, I was disappointed that I still wake up every day with a nosebleed. The other side effect of the lack of humidity, and possibly the lower air pressure at this altitude, is that my skin is a lot drier than usual, and my phone doesn’t always recognise my thumb print.

As mentioned before, we returned to town to collect Jyoti’s new ring. We also had breakfast. The green chilli that accompanied my huevos rancheros was perfect, nowhere near as hot as the stew I’d wrestled into submission a couple of days ago. A local delicacy is sopaipillas with honey, but I passed on this occasion. And yes, I am inconsistent with my spelling of chili, chilli and chile, but then so are most New Mexicans.

We visited the New Mexico Museum of Art, in a building that could have been transplanted from a pueblo. The main exhibit on right now is Eugenie Shonnard: Breaking the Mold. She was a locally acclaimed sculptor, being a pivotal figure for the history of art and sculpture in the Southwest, widely recognized during her own time for her contributions to the visual arts, yet largely overlooked in recent decades.

Chest of Drawers by Eugenie Shonnard, ca 1931

“Marsden Hartley traveled widely, taking in the people, cities, and culture of places like New York, Berlin, Paris, Bermuda, and Santa Fe. During his travels, Hartley frequently wrote letters to friends and family about his experiences. In the early twentieth century, writing a letter meant picking up a pen or pencil, or even sitting down at a typewriter, such as the one in front of you. Take a sheet of paper from the top drawer of the desk and write a letter about a place or experience you would like to share. Feel free to take your letter and send it to someone or leave it in the tray to share with other museum visitors.”

How could I turn down such an invitation? Well, it’s been a few years since I last bashed out a missive on a typewriter and I’d forgotten how loud they are. The clicketty clacketty noise I made reverberated all around the rooms, there was no way I could be stealthy. If you want to read what I wrote, you’ll have to pay a visit: I left my sheet of paper there, typos and all.

There were plenty of items out in the courtyard too, including frescoes.

Voice in the Sky by William Shuster, 1934

Here are some lovely people in front of the sculpture Abstraction by Georgia O’Keeffe.

Next stop, Iconik Coffee Roasters for some iconic coffee followed by a quick visit to Beastly Books.

Something scary with an animatronic werewolf behind

What a great shop for lovers of science fiction and fantasy. (We could do with any kind of bookshop in Northenden, thought grumpy old Mick.)

Liesel and I visited the library and sat down for a while. After meeting the others, we dined at The Shed, a Mexican restaurant not too far from The Plaza. I’d been a bit worried that I’d struggle to find vegetarian food in New Mexico, but so far, there’s always been something for me. Tonight, a Tamale Plate: green chile vegetarian (green chile, onion and corn) tamales, served with beans and Spanish rice, a side of red or green chile, and garnished with lettuce & tomato. Again, relatively mild green chile, it didn’t blow my head off.

Stones and Jones

As I think I mentioned last time, I was delighted to receive so much chocolate for my birthday. But amidst all the excitement, of course there’s a reminder of why our great nation is often referred to as ‘Rip-off Britain’. There’s even a TV programme with that title. I opened a box containing a large bar of chocolate, I couldn’t wait to sink my fangs into it. Very nice, very tasty, but also, very small. A lovely cardboard box containing a plastic tray holding a bar of chocolate much smaller than the depiction on the outside packaging.

Yes, I’ve eaten some, but look how much smaller the actual bar is, compared with the picture. And the plastic tray, lovely and sturdy as it may be, is no good for anything else apart from recycling.

Haha, and you thought that by passing my three-score year and ten, I wouldn’t be whingeing nearly as much! You’ll be lucky.

So, let’s look up and not down. Nothenden is becoming more colourful as time goes on. Cherry blossom, magnolias, daffodils, even more blue skies. And when the northerly wind stops, it can even feel quite warm.

Forsythia (nice to see you, to see you, nice)

In local news, progress is being made to repair the weir. I wonder if it will be finished in time for the annual Northenden Boat Race, at the end of August?

We went into Manchester for a lunchtime concert. As we walked down the road behind the prestigious Midland Hotel, we couldn’t help but admire their enterprising thinking by providing tents on the pavement for their less affluent customers.

The concert itself was most enjoyable: a performance by the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Band. They played three pieces by unknown (to us) composers. I especially liked Flight by Mario Burki, which included a thunderstorm halfway through as we ‘flew’ across the desert.

Afterwards, we had lunch in Society, just along the road a bit. I was tempted, but did not choose ‘Big Mick Fries’.

We packed for a weekend away, just a couple of small bags, you’d think, but we took a tonne of food with us. We were meeting Jenny and family in a cottage on the Isle of Anglesey, Ynys Môn.

As we crossed the border into Wales, we saw our first red dragon. Soon after, we noticed some pink elephants. We watched as a herd of cows walked across the bridge over the road in front of us. And then, an old lady pussycat on the back of a bus that is the venue for afternoon teas. When we drove closer to the sea, we noticed a few white horses, it was that windy.

Mainly though, animal life consisted of sheep with many, many newly born lambs gambolling in the fields.

The drive was mostly uneventful, just a 5-minute hailstorm that was loud and a bit scary, coming on as suddenly as it did, but we were absolutely delighted by how stunning the views were, all the way through the Welsh mainland.

After a bit of a fight with the GPS, and Google Maps thinking there are two Ship Inns close together and close to our final destination, we parked up at our lovely new home in Red Wharf Bay.

The view from the living space in this house was pretty good too. We could have sat there and looked out over the bay for the whole weekend.

Jenny, Liam, Martha and William set off straight from school and arrived a couple of hours after us.

It’s an upside down house, in that three of the four bedrooms are downstairs, while the living room and kitchen are upstairs. Very disorienting yet exciting from the children’s point of view.

In the evening, we walked up to the Tavern on the Bay for dinner. We were happy to pass by some fairies in the bushes.

I think we agreed that our house was a much nicer place to stay than in one of the seemingly hundreds of caravans, all made out of ticky-tacky and they all looked just the same.

By the time we’d finished eating, it was dark, so the walk back home was a wee bit challenging. Torn between needing a few more street lights so we could see where we were walking, and wanting fewer artifical lights so that we could better see the night sky. I was very proud of Martha for spotting Orion’s Belt, and of William who realised he couldn’t see the Orion Nebula because of the light pollution. Still, we got home without anyone falling in a ditch.

After a good night’s kip, and after a jolly good breakfast, including Coco Pops, we all went for a walk a bit further along the coast, starting near Moelfre. The cold wind came back, and was determined to find its way into my very sensitive lugholes. Other than that though, we had a good time. And yes, William probably walked and ran twice as far as anyone else.

All the while, I was looking to see the partially eclipsed Sun, but with the clouds that thick, it was hard enough to even see where the Sun was. Folks in other parts of the country got some great photos. Oh well.

We walked by a couple of small shingle beaches, where Martha, Liam and I had a go at skimming stones. I got nowhere near my personal best of 14 skips. Selsey, since you ask, in the mid 1990s.

The other interesting beach at Moelfre is covered in cairns or stacks of stones. My effort was just about knee high, but there were some very tall stacks here.

In places, the path was quite rugged, but we all managed, including Leslie who was walking with her stick. Martha and William lapped it up: they’re a pair of mountain goats, after all.

After a big lunch, we went over the road to the ‘beach’: the tide was out again. It was still windy, an ideal day to fly kites. I stayed out with them for a few minutes but that wind was too strong for me so I went back inside. It was also too much for the kites, just blowing them inside out, so no lift and they kept crashing to the ground. A little bit disappointing, really.

Liesel and Leslie watched the activity from the comfort of the nicely heated living room: whoever decided to install large windows here is a hero.

In the evening, we dined at The Boathouse, a much shorter walk. The menu didn’t really sell the meat to me. ‘This morning, this lamb was playing in a filed, now, it’s sitting on your plate.’ No star-gazing this evening though, due to the clouds.

Back indoors, we played games. Martha is fascinated by Backgammon. Then we all played a game called GoGoGo!, the party game, in which over several rounds of different activities, we compete to win three crowns. William deliberately picked a yoga pose that involved balance skills, knowing that his Grandad would be wobbling all over the place. Still, it was all great fun.

A huge breakfast comprising of waffles and fruit and Liesel’s family chilli eggs was a good way to start the day, before a much longer walk than yesterday. So glad the wind had died down. We thought the children would be impressed by the place with the longest name in the UK, even if none of us could pronounce it correctly.

We continued our drive to the west side of the island, and set off on a hike through Newborough Forest. Somehow this felt like a proper forest, moreso than the woods back home. Tall trees, silence and the possibility of seeing red squirrels. If we saw any at all, they were disguised as ravens.

Some of the paths and tracks were covered in thousands of seashells, making a nice crunchy sound but providing us with a nice dry surface. I kept thinking how nice it was to be out of the cold wind, today.

Eventually, we found our way to the beach, and I for one was surprised to see so many people here, in quite an isolated place. We walked along the beach and up and down the dunes as far as the lighthouse, Goleudy Tŵr Mawr.

Martha picked up several shells from the beach, with which she plans to decorate a picture frame back home. Liam spent a long time opening an oyster shell, but sadly, there was no pearl inside.

William is happiest away from terra firma. Any opportunity to climb, he’ll take it. If you glance away for a couple of seconds, he’ll be waving at us from the top of a rock formation on the beach.

Although it’s a bit scary to watch hime someties, I really hope he doesn’t lose his sense of adventure.

Surprisingly, there were some ponies up near the lighthouse. One of them approached Martha and William, presumably looking for some grub, but it soon lost interest and wandered off.

We walked back along the beach to the car park. But with brilliant foresight, Liam and Jenny brought kites for the children to fly. And once the kites were launched, the string unravelled to its fullest extent, they remained in flight for the whole length of the beach as we walked along. A much more successful kite-flying day than yesterday, when the wind had just been, ironically, far too strong.

In the evening, Jenny and Liam packed, we all ate dinner and there was time for one more game of GoGoGo! No acrobatics for me this time. It was sad to see the family depart, but I know we all had a great time.

In the morning, Liesel, Leslie and I packed for our departure: we had to check out by 10am. As requested, we left the house as tidy as possible, and we even left the tide all the way out, just as it was when we’d first arrived.

The drive home was uneventful, no problems with traffic, we just stopped for coffee once, arrived home, unpacked, and… time to relax.

Interesting question of the week: if there is no letter J in the Welsh alphabet, how come Jones is the most common surname?

Going out out

There was a lot of discussion online about how long January was this year. It did seem to go on a bit, didn’t it? Yet here we are now in February and wondering where did January go? One whole aisle in our local Tesco has been taken over by Easter eggs. Soon we’ll be counting down to Christmas again.

Liesel and Leslie enjoy their frequent get-togethers with the WI, for a coffee, in a variety of venues in Didsbury. We all go out for a walk every day. Well, that’s the ideal but there are some days when we don’t quite manage. We’ll keep ourselves entertained at home with TV, radio, books, puzzles, crochet, cooking, eating, washing up, looking out of the windows to see what the neighbours are up to, whingeing about the weather and bemoaming the state of the world.

I felt a little bit sad when I had to relinquish my old driving licence and replace it with a new one. I am approaching a certain age. So I need a new licence. I’m still not sure why: there was no test, I just had to confirm that I can still see where I’m going most of the time.

On the other hand, I didn’t feel sad when I deactivated my 𝕏 account. More a sense of relief and, of course, there’s not much else I can do to get back at Elon Musk. There are a few folks and groups there that I’ll miss, but I’ll catch up with them on another social media site one day. A few days later, Liesel followed suit.

There has been a lot of helicopter noise recently. They’re shoring up the bank of the river Mersey where it collapsed following all the rain last month. The weir should be repaired soon too, hopefully in time for this year’s Northenden Boat Race.

There are some early signs of Spring. A few crocuses are peeking out but more prominent are the snowdrops. So far, at least. Maybe I’m cynical but my memory is that it often gets colder in February and the frosts kill off the early blooms, so they have to start again.

Storm Éowyn did its worst in our local woods. At least a couple of trees succumbed to the gale-force winds, toppled over and blocked the path. A nice, unexpected challenge on what is usually a straightforward, flat, uneventful stroll.

Liesel often says she’d love to wear a purple hi-visibility vest and at last, the opportunity presented itself. Her WI group went litter picking in Didsbury and they provided the perfect uniform.

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, we ventured into Manchester for a concert. But before that, we dined in the Indian Tiffin Room. We’ve always liked this place but we hadn’t been for ages.

We watched the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Roderick Cox performing a relatively new piece, The Insects Become Magnetic, composed by Christopher Cerrone. This was followed by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21 and Tchaikowsky’s 4th Symphony, both of which I hummed along to, a bit.

The best day of the week of course was when we brought our grandchildren home from school and got them to sweep our chimney. No, hang on, that’s not right. They made dreamcatchers and we were all impressed with their skill and imagination.

Martha’s is very nearly complete and William’s just needs a few more adornments.

Northenden sometimes treats us to a pretty sunset and we had a couple this week. Such a shame that the foreground is comprised of neighbouring houses rather than rolling hills or fields or something a bit more easy on the eye.

Time for another visit to Bridgewater Hall, this time for a lunchtime violin recital. Music for solo violin is never going to be amongst our favourite musical genres, but Kryštof Kohout is a very talented player. With my eyes closed, it was hard to believe that all that music and those sounds were being produced by one instrument. No humming along on this occasion, as I was unfamiliar with the tunes. And the bonus was, he played a traditional Czech folk song.

The saying is that we do things differently in Manchester. It’s wonderful that the city is being developed, with all those tall glass and steel structures, right? Well, not everyone agrees.

I, for one, would like to see some green spaces in the city centre.

I can’t remember the last time we went out to an event two days in a row, but we did this week. We really enjoyed the comedy night at our local Northenden Social Club.

Charlie Lewis, Harriet Dyer, Ryan Kenny and Rob Rouse

All were a little bit rude, a little bit naughty, but all very funny. I made my one pint of beer last until the first interval.

For the first time in a very long time, I made it out to all three of the Thrive wellbeing walks, negotiating muddy paths through the woods, dodging fallen trees, and rewarding myself with a coffee or a hot chocolate afterwards.

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!

Miles and Masks

Usually when we drive over to Sale Water Park, it’s to catch the tram into Manchester. This time we were joining an organised walk. We arrived in good time, as did a few others. The one person who didn’t make it was the leader, thanks to problems on the tram network. So the rest of us improvised, walked along the river to Chorlton Water Park for a nice stroll around the smaller body of water.

While the others continued their walk, Liesel, Leslie and I walked back along the river and had a well-deserved rest in the pub, Jackson’s Boat. I enjoyed my half of bitter shandy. The cheese and onion crisps were far too salty, but we persevered and finished the packet.

The drive to Lyme Park was long and slow. Everyone else was out for a drive on this beautiful sunny day too. We’d arranged to meet Jenny, Liam and the kiddoes for a walk here too. But only after coffee and scones and a fraught walk to the café from the car park. Fraught? Mainly because Martha and William were running down to and jumping through and across the stream. Neither of them fell in or fell over, so I would have lost that five bob bet if I’d been able to place it.

Plans to go for a longer walk around the grounds were shelved. Instead, we visited the children’s playground where we adults had plenty of exercise following the children around from swings to roundabouts to slides.

We didn’t see any deer at Lyme Park on this occasion, but our desire to see big, scary monsters was satisfied at home a couple of days later.

Yes, this huge spider appeared in our bathroom, in the middle of the night. I watched him walk around the room a couple of times, worried that he’d fit through the gap under the door and invade our bedroom. Poor old thing exited via the window during a torrential downpour, but I knew Liesel would be pleased.

Sometimes I find Noel Coward a bit twee, but sometimes he’s very funny. The three of us met up with Sue from the Thrive walks and we went to see Hay Fever at the local Northenden Theatre. This amateur group put on a very good performance, and there were some funny lines in the play. But as I said at the time, none of the characters were particularly likeable. Which can only mean it was well written and well acted.

As well as there being loads of spiders around (some indoors) and lots of cobwebs outside, it also seems to be fungus season. We’ve had mushrooms growing on the grass in our communal car park. They appear overnight and disappear just as quickly. The ones pictured are growing around the base of a tree that we pass on the walk from Martha and William’s house to their school. Martha noticed that there were at least two different kinds of mushroom here, too. She also knew that it probably wasn’t safe to eat any of them.

From school, we took them to the exciting shopping centre that is Wythenshawe, the so-called Civic. While they browsed in the craft shop, I wandered over to the pharmacy to pick up some meds. They couldn’t give me everything, so I said I’d return in a couple of days. Which I did.

Back at our home, William and Martha enjoyed decorating their masks so it was very difficult to tell them apart afterwards… no, not really.

I was discumgalligumfricated when Liesel sent me a photo marking the occasion of our car coming of age.

I was hoping to be a passenger as the odometer changed from 99999 to 100000 but instead, I found myself at home while Liesel was driving home from her physio appointment. I’ll just have to wait for 200,000 now. Still, who’d have thought our old but faithful jalopy would make it four times around the planet?

I had a bit of fun with the newly installed Google Assistant on my phone. I think all these so-called Artificial Intelligence things should be treated with a large pinch of salt. By the way, I didn’t ask for it, it just appeared during the latest software update.

The aurora borealis has been visible a couple of times this week but not from our apartment. The combination of bright lights in our communal car park and a big tree blocking out much of the sky means that we don’t stand a chance of seeing any fascinating celestial phenomena in a northerly direction. But we did have a couple of pretty sunsets though, better in real life than these photos of course.

But I’m pleased to say the aurora was captured by our friends over there in Wythenshawe.

Thanks to Wythenshawe Star Gazers.

Back on terra firma, Northenden and Wythenshawe haven’t changed much since last week. Although someone and their bad driving have rearranged the street furniture just along the road from where we live.

And finally… a big welcome to baby Foxy, lots of love to you, sister Gypsy and Mum and Dad Bambi and Brett from all of us here in the old country.

Socks and tiles

Several thousand words omitted describing Mick’s medical emergency and its aftermath. More medical appointmets in a week than there are atoms in a water molecule. The worst thing is, training for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics has been on hold, so there’s some catching up to do.

But slowly, slowly, Mick climbed back through the treacle to a more resonable, stable landscape. Just in time too. Writing in the third person because it all seems like it was happening to somebody else, over there, and I was merely an observer.

Some lovely friends from Germany paid a quick visit to Manchester and we three, Mick, Liesel and Leslie, enjoyed entertaining them for a few days. I last met Fe a couple of years ago in Anchorage, but this was the first time I’d met her mother, Gabi, and her 10-month old daughter Charlotte.

We caught a bus into the city and Charlotte kept us entertained on board.

Our first destination was The Whitworth Gallery. Liesel and I have been before but it was fun to act as guides for our guests. As if we knew what we were talking about! Charlotte wasn’t bothered by the artwork, but she did like to move around a lot.

The exhibition of Carnival pictures was alright but I think we were all too busy talking and catching up on family news, I didn’t take many pictures. I was feeling much better, but still nowhere near 100%.

In fact, after lunch in the café, I went home for a nap while our visitors wandered around some other Manchester sights and sites.

The weir in Northenden is broken, no idea how that happened, but it means that the annual Northenden Boat Race was cancelled.

To be honest, I needed a nap at home too, but in the evening, we all met up for a meal in Albert’s, a restaurant just along the road from Fe and Gabi’s b&b: what are the chances? Lovely, sociable Charlotte made friends with everyone, including the serving staff. She can just about walk, as long as she holds on to one or two grown-up fingers, and she and I circumnavigated the restaurant a couple of times.

We all returned to Manchester for another full day of sightseeing.

Our guests admired the architecture of the Midland Hotel, and all I could think of was the very small cup of coffee I had in there once when I visited with my other mother-in-law, many years ago. And, we were reminded that Manchester Pride is imminent.

I think they could have made this statue of Abraham Lincoln even taller if they’d given him his stovepipe hat. John Rylands Library is always good to wander round, look at the books, and the architecture. Liesel and I joined an organised tour a while ago, but they no longer run these. Someone asked, did the building used to be a church? No, but it was designed to resemble a church. And it was good to see thet we weren’t the only overseas visitors today.

We continued our tour of the city at the Museum of Science and Industry. Disappointing that the loom wasn’t in operation today due to lack of volunteers. On the other hand, it’s quite a noisy machine and maybe a bit too loud for Charlotte’s little lugs.

But Charlotte did enjoy time in the soft play area, even while being a bit discombobulated being pushed round and round in an oversize cotton reel.

We paid a visit to nearby Castlefield Viaduct too. Gabi and I climbed the stairs, and that was almost too much for me, on this occasion. Fe and Liesel pushed the buggy the long way round since the lift is still out of commission.

The various gardens on the viaduct are a wee bit unkempt right now, maybe the volunteer gardeners have been enjoying a nice, lazy Summer. Still, it was interesting to see and hear Gabi’s take on some of the plants, I wondered whether she was a herbalist (a witch?) in a previous life.

Royal Mail offer a very different service in Manchester, as we discovered on our walk back to our bus stop.

Fe and Gabi’s visit came to a sudden end. We paid a return visit to Albert’s for a farewell meal, thank you very much, after which we wandered back to their b&b for a quick glass of wine. It was quite late in the evening, but Charlotte showed no sign of needing to go to sleep.

Meanwhile, what’s Helen been up to? We saw her briefly when she arrived from Aus, but since then she and Brent have been on an extensive tour of the UK and Ireland. Lake District with Jenny and the family. Edinburgh for the Festival Fringe, Ireland for a wedding, Brighton to visit Amy and then to Kingston for a meal at Riverside Vegetaria, celebrating its 35th anniversary.

I came into our living room and saw this apparition. Don’t worry, it’s only William. You can tell by the odd socks on his odd feet.

When we were at the Museum of Science and Technology, we saw there’s a room full of old video games, and we thought Martha and William might both enjoy this. They both play games on parents’ phones, after all. The adventure started with a tram ride into Manchester and I met up with everyone at the Museum. Why didn’t I travel in with them? Sod’s Law, innit. The last few weeks, our Ocado delivery has arrived at about 9.30, or even earlier. Today, because we’d planned to go out, he didn’t arrive until an hour later. Of course he didn’t.

Anyway, while I was excited to come across a working BBC Microcomputer, I was very disappointed that I couldn’t remember enough to help Martha write a BBC Basic program.

I like this photo because we have a very similar one featuring young Jenny programming my own, original BBC micro.

While she and William were playing with Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon, I did manage to insert a single line of code which I hope later visitors will appreciate.

The children spent a few more hours at the museum, playing these video games but also exploring the exploration area, causing earthquakes, studying viscosity, playing with magnets and much more. But William delighted us by persevering and building a Soma cube from seven differently shaped pieces.

And then Martha and I played a game of Jenga with some very sticky tiles. The tower was precarious and guess who made the final, fatal move?

I had the first of the week’s three medical appointmets in the aftrernoon so, after lunch, I departed, leaving Liesel and Leslie in charge.

And here’s little Martha relaxing in the cotton spool recently vacated by little Charlotte.

A couple more medical appointments later in the week that encouraged me to walk in places I’ve not wandered before. I like a bit of street art but I just wish the artist would arrange things so that I could get a decent photo of the whole thing without having to clamber up a drainpipe and balance precariously on someobody’s wall. So this picture is a bit distorted.

And yes, I must be feeling a little bit better, more myself, but nowhere near 100%, because I let Liesel persuade me to join her and Leslie on the regular Friday morning Thrive walk in Wythenshawe. It was alright although I was aware of walking more slowly than I usually do. I was glad to take a load off in Costa afterwards.

Yes, I can see the irony in me feeling a bit down at the moment thanks to a, hopefully temporary, impairment in my abilities, while, at the same time, watching and admiring the Paralympians on TV living with, coping with and even overcoming their permanent disabilities. They are amazing.

Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter

After our expedition to Wales, it took a couple of days for us to recover from the jetlag. And to find our land legs following the three nights kipping on the water bed.

It was a beautiful Summer’s day when we picked the children up from school, the final time this term. We brought them home, where, as requested, we once again spent time making sushi. Martha and William also constructed some delightful models with sticky Wikki Stix.

Jenny joined us and we all fought the sticky rice that sticks to everything rather then the roasted seaweed sushi nori that it’s supposed to stick to. Well, that’s my experience. Wet your fingers before manpulating the rice, then, they said. That just means I have a bowl of water with rice grains floating around. The children managed OK, their worst crime maybe overloading the nori with too many other ingredients.

The streets of Northenden and Wythenshawe are flat, I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned that before, and that’s why we found the hills in Wales more challenging, but more interesting. Nothing much has changed here, except the signpost in Royle Green Road has been driven into again.

Good job there weren’t any children around at the time.

One of my most exciting activities this week was deleting my stuff from Liesel’s laptop. She’ll be investing in a new one soon, and there’s no need to transfer over any of my nonsense, er, I mean valuable data. So I backed it all up even though I’ll probably never look at any of it again, and removed it. I was unable to delete my user account though, which would have made things tidier for Liesel.

The three of us went over to Dunham Massey where we replaced our usual National Trust grounds wander with an enjoyable, longer walk in the neighbourhood, through the woods, beside the canal and back to the NT property, via the back entrance.

We followed the Bridgewater Canal and carefully made way for the many runners and cyclists and other groups of promenaders who steadfastly refused to accommodate us by breaking their three-in-a-row formation. Yeah, we’ll just jump into the bushes and let you amble on by, don’t worry about us… yes, very tempted to accidently push them in the water.

We feasted on three or four blackberries and a few raspberries, but hundreds of other walkers had been there before us, so even if we’d thought to bring along a container, I don’t think we would have filled it with wild berries.

A few people were on the water enjoying their time in a narrow boat. Of course, we waved from the bridge.

As I was leaning on the bridge parapet, I felt several pings, stings on my hand, and when I looked down, I noticed it was being eaten by ants. Dozens of ants poring out through the mortar and making a meal of my skin. Apologies to those I brushed off in haste that ended up in the water.

We walked through a golf course where there was a tournament taking place, so we took advantage and, from the stall close to the 7th hole, we bought some refreshments for ourselves.

A narrow path proved to be treacherous for a bit, when the nettles, brambles, holly and thistles all conspired to overgrow the path, attacking our legs despite our best efforts to avoid nature’s own weaponry.

One of the highlights of course was seeing a wide variety of dogshit. Some freshly laid in the middle of the path, some carefully picked up in a plastic bag and hung in a bush or on the barbed wire fence. You have to admire the gall of dog walkers serenely vaping and looking away into the distance, away from the mutt, pretending not to notice that it’s taking a dump.

We sat down for a minute opposite St Marks Church, Dunham Massey. I admired the flowers growing there, and the bonus cones not quite concealed.

The loop took us back to the back entrance of the National Trust and after a walk along the long Charcoal Drive, we decided to have a late lunch. The restaurant’s upstairs, but downstairs smelt of old, hot, wet dog, a fetid stench I’ve not experienced since I was a postman.

In more pleasant news, here are Martha and William on the last day of term.

We watched the children swimming and then joined the family at their home for a welcome coffee and lovely cheese and tomato sandwich. As it was Manchester Day in Manchester, I took myself off to Manchester by bus. It didn’t take me as far as I’d planned, a car crash was being cleared up in Oxford Road.

It was a busy city, all sorts of people were there either celebrating or protesting, street food vendors, Morris dancers, a saxophone player, a group of drummers, Ukrainians, acrobats, a few hen parties, skate boarders, singers and a couple of drag queens celebrating Manchester Gay. As the promoters said, it was a big, fun day of games, music, performances, dancing, food, sunshine, sports, and lots of big smiles.

I was sorry to have missed the snail race but I did catch up with them, eventually.

In our old garden in Chessington, sometimes we’d erect poles up which we grew a splendid harvest of beans or peas. Well, if I’d seen this person climbing up our beanpoles and doing acrobatics, I would’ve said, “Oi, no!” in an Angry Frank style.

To get away from the crowds, I wandered over the bridge into Salford, and then back over another bridge towards Aviva Studios, home of Factory International. The outside area has temporarily been turned into a skateboard park, which was fun to watch, but of course, I found myself in the middle of another large crowd here.

The last Sunday of each calendar month sees the famous Makers’ Market at Didsbury. The three of us walked over there, enjoying what, at last, is proper, warm, Summery weather. We passed many people on the path by the river, which was hard to see in places because the weeds, especially the Himalayan balsam, was very overgrown.

The market itself was busy, and, being warm, I opted for a cold drink rather then hot coffee. Rum punch, since you ask, but I don’t think there was any alcohol involved! On the walk back home, we saw a really unusual sight.

Two people in a small boat drifting down the Mersey: we never see boats on this stretch of the river. Maybe they were going all the way to Liverpool?

I drove over to Heald Green to meet with a representative from our luxury apartment’s management company. I was also tasked with buying falafels for dinner. I found some in the end, that was a relief. I also went over to Simply Books in Bramhall to spend the book token that Pauline and Andrew gave me for my birthday, all those months ago, when we were in Australia. Three new novels to enjoy once I’ve finished one or two of the books I’m already in the middle of.

I do like extended birthday celebrations.

The official Thrive walks were not taking place this week, but that didn’t prevent Leslie and me from joining three others at Boxx2Boxx to walk through the woods. Liesel was otherwise engaged. For the second time recently, I left the flat without my phone. I couldn’t believe how often I reached for it, to take a photo, to look something up, to see what the time was, to show somebody a particular picture.

Liesel went for a walk with the other group, WalkaDay, a return trip to Romiley. I stayed at home with Leslie watching the Olympics. Ah, the Olympics.

We’d watched the Opening Ceremony on the Friday night, and even though it went on a bit, it was quite enjoyable. The weather in Paris was atrocious, I think it rained harder and harder as time went on.

Sadly we don’t have tickets for any of the events, so we’ll have to watch it on TV. Sorry to say I agreed with many comments on 𝕏 complaining about the BBC’s coverage. Because they didn’t get the full rights, they’re only allowed to show two live events at a time, on broadcast TV and online. So what do they do instead? Show hours and hours of pundits in the studio talking about the sports we’re not seeing. Or building up a competitor by giving us their ‘journey’ and thus jinxing them.

Anyway, at Liesel’s bidding, I signed up to Discovery+ for a month so we can see more action on Eurosport. And I think that was a very good and worthwhile investment.

You have to admire the skills on display, and all the atheletes and competitors deserve much kudos for their dedication to their sport and the discipline required to do all that training. And they make things look so easy. How often did I say, ‘I could do that…’ while watching their performances?

I decided I’d like to take part in the Olympics one day. Not so keen on Los Angeles, so I’m saving myself for Brisbane 2032. So I have eight years to find something to be good at.

Swimming? I’m not a very strong swimmer, and having seen the successful medal winners this week, I realise I just have the wrong body shape. And I’m not very fast either. When my old friend Peter took 14 strokes to swim a width of the Kingfisher pool in Kingston, it took me 40 strokes. And I don’t think you get medals for taking the most strokes to cover a given distance. I’d be worried too if the atmosphere in the area were electric: electricity and water don’t mix.

Show jumping? No way José. I haven’t been on top of a horse for 63 years and I have no intention of changing this state of affairs. It was at Epsom racecourse, possibly on Derby Day that year. I was put on top of this huge stallion and I remember being told to hold on to its mane, which I thought would hurt the poor beast. I looked down on my parents a long way below, wishing to be lifted off. Do I want the horse to walk a bit? No flipping way, thank you, thought this traumatised 6-year old. The idea of sitting on such a huge animal is bad enough. While it moves? Terrifying. Jumping and actually leaving terra firma? I have sweaty palms just typing this.

Gymnastics? My only experience here, apart from messing about at school, bounding over the vaulting horse, was when I first lived in London. In those days, on crowded tube trains, you would hold onto the overhead hanging straps. On less busy journeys, I sometimes pulled myself up on two of these straps and did a complete somersault. I always landed on my feet and my arms soon recovered from being pulled out of their sockets. So, with a bit more practice, I might be alright at this.

Skateboarding? Again, probably not. I had a go on a skateboard once, thinking it can’t be that different to roller skating. It was. One, two, three scoots, then I went flying one way while the skateboard zoomed off in the opposite direction.

BMX Freestyle? Well I do like cycling, but I have never been able to ride no-handed and I can only just do a bunny hop on a good day. Again, I think the thought of leaving solid ground is just too scary.

Badminton? Ooh that’s a good one. I did play when I was at school and even when I worked at Thomas Cook in Peterborough. It’s a nice, gentle game. Except having watched it this week, I realise that my colleagues and I were only playing at quarter speed. Plus, while playing doubles, my most significant memory is that of the noise that rackets make when they clash. I think my team mate and I weren’t always properly coordinated.

Surfing? Well, as I said, I’m not a very strong swimmer. But in any case, this isn’t for me. Once on a beach in Hawaii, I turned my back on the ocean. Suddenly, I was being tumbled and buffetted in and out of the water, an experience as close to being inside a washing machine as I ever need to live through. My sinuses had a good clear out, but the Pacific continued to pour from my nose for several days afterwards.

Trampolining? Again, the only experience I have is from school. I didn’t mind the jumping up and down bit, and I did manage a couple of pikes and other simple tricks. But my main fear was getting my fingers caught in the springs holding the bed tight. Imagine my shock and horror when a few years later, while watching trampolining on TV, probably the Olympics, I noticed the springs were covered with a nice thick pad. If my school trampolines had had such padding, I might well have become a champion in due course. Except, even if I was any good at the complex tricks, triple twists with a double backflip and all that, I would never remember what order to do them in.

Cycling? Well, I can ride a long way maybe, but I can’t go fast, I can’t race. And I shouldn’t be pedalling in affairs that don’t concern me.

Commentating? I’m not sure I could keep a straight face if, for instance, I were to say that a kayaker was tight on the downstream sausage. And if I said that he had a silver medal in his pocket and then, in the next breath, that he had a silver medal around his neck, I think I’d just hand the microphone over to someone more competent.

Hmm, that all sounds so negative doesn’t it? ‘Do something scary every day’ is something I try to live by, as well as, ‘I’ll try anything once’. But give me a minute, and I’ll come up with some good excuses…

Plus, if I were to win an Olympic medal, regardless of colour, I wouldn’t want to have to bite it for the photographers, I’d be worried about breaking my teeth.

One thing I was good at for one Summer term was the 110-yard hurdles. This was in my first year at secondary school. The following year, the hurdles were raised by two inches, but I certainly wasn’t. So I was now unable to get my leg over.

I’ll keep an eye on the events for the next few days, there must be something I can train up for. But, listening to the various commentators, I’m not sure I could manage to do what they say I should, whatever the sport. Just doing my thing, hitting the ball or something, somehow I have to ‘Send a message to the crowd’. I’d have to ‘Put down markers’, whatever that means. Naturally, I’d like to win a medal, not just ‘claim a medal’, a phrase that has always annoyed me. Plus, I don’t have a sob story to tell that they can put out as my ‘journey’ accompanied by melancholic piano music.

Still, I have a few years to sort my issues out and do a bit of training. And I am now saving up for tickets to Brisbane.

Another ongoing project of mine is to watch all of the old, classic Doctor Who series on BBC iPlayer. Well, I’ve got to the point where my least favourite companion has just died, left the series. A young boy called Adric: I didn’t like him in 1981 and I didn’t like him this time round either. To paraphrase an expression used by David Tennant’s first incarnation as the Doctor, Adric was an annoying ‘tiny, whiney thing’. However much I might whinge about things, I’ll never be as irritating as him. Glad to see the back of him. Good riddance to bad rubbish, as we used to say. Even if the dinosaurs all died out as a side-effect of his demise.

Meanwhile, in real life, our grandchildren are enjoying a week in Menorca, soaking up the Sun and soaking in the sea.

Liesel’s been working hard this week, and her laptop fan is determined to break the sound barrier. The sooner she acquires a new machine, the quieter!

Allez allez allez

I don’t like spiders and snakes
And that ain’t what it takes to love me
Like I wanna be loved by you.

Well, that’s how the song goes and, actually, personally, I don’t mind spiders and snakes. And neither does William. He went away on Beaver camp and received a Certificate of Achievement in recognition of his amazing animal-handling skills. Yep: he wore a snake like a scarf.

We are very proud of our grandson!

The Tour de France continues to entertain and enthrall us, especially on the day when they had to ride on fourteen stretches of gravel. The megatonnes of dust reduced visibility, and at the end of the day, we had to give our TV set a really good wipe.

Who won that stage? I can’t remember, I’m just pleased that they all finished without feeling the need to cough their lungs up.

We were invited to babysit while Liam and Jenny socialised with friends much later than originally planned. Its still a fun challenge putting the children to bed at a reasonable time while letting them believe they’ve stayed up later than usual.

It’s that time of year again: my annual visit to the optician for a checkup. Everything’s OK, and I was able to see the wonderful mural round the corner. I don’t mean I could see round the corner, it was located round the corner from the optician’s in Didsbury and that’s where I saw it.

A family member who shall remain nameless asked if I was the ‘Man who slipped in puddle of Baileys on way to BA flight could get £4m.’ No, not this time. But I am planning such an ‘accident’ for my next visit to an airport since investing in the National Lottery seems to be a waste of time. And money.

We looked after the children again a couple of days later, picking them up from school and taking them to the nearby park. On the way, we crossed a bridge over a small stream, and William had to demonstrate just how waterproof his shoes are.

We had an ice cream and lots of fun in the playground before taking them home. William’s other achievement was running around the whole of the BMX course. If only that were an Olympic event in its own right.

The regular walks were back on this week, Wednesday’s attracting over twenty people. The drinks are now sponsored by a local firm of solicitors and I was interviewed by one of their reps, asking about the benefits of these walks. And then on Thursday, there were just the three of us. Still, nothing wrong with a bit of light exercise in what passes for fresh air around here!

Liesel joined a couple of organised walks without me, one to Alderley Edge which was much longer than anticipated and one for ‘ladies only’ to Fletcher Moss Gardens. Yes, ‘ladies only’ but they stull let Liesel in.

In local news, there is a big pothole in Gatley and a few nights ago, we managed to not avoid it. One tyre punctured so it was replaced as was a second because its tread was well worn. I don’t think we can claim back from the local council, but whenever I visit this garage, I always enjoy having a quick chat with the fishies.

Take a bow

Half a century ago, whenever we went for a walk in the countryside, we’d count the number of species of butterfly observed out in the wild. Today, we’re lucky if we see more than one or two single specimens on a given jaunt. So imagine my delight when I saw loads of butterflies all in one place.

Alright, maybe this is cheating. Still, it brightened up the day a little.

I went for a job interview.

“Do you have experience as a barista?”

“Yes, of course, loads,” I lied.

“Can you make toasties and paninis?”

“Yes, I have plenty of experience in that field.”

“And how do you get on serving members of the public?”

“Oh, I’m very friendly and efficient, and I have a good eye for detail.”

“That’s all good to hear. And how are your knot tying skills?”

“Knot tying?”

“Yes.”

“Why would I need to tie knots?”

“We have a drawer full of short pieces of string from the second world war, handed down from grandparents to parents and now on to us. After all these years, those pieces of string are finally being put to good use.”

“OK.”

“When we wrap out cutlery in a napkin, we tie the whole thing up with a piece of string.”

“Oh, sounds good to me. Will a reef knot do?”

“That sounds perfect.”

And so it came to pass that someone (not really me, obviously) now has the job of lashing up knives and forks inside a paper napkin with surplus WW2 string.

I think it adds to the experience of having a snack at this particular café, especially for someone like me who has only just cut their finger nails, thereby adding to the challenge of untying a short length of old cord.

By the way, the flapjack was pretty good too.

Meanwhile, in Alaska, Liesel and friends spent a couple of days in Hope. Lots of hiking took place and, I suspect, plenty of chatting and laughing.

Bench, featuring Monica, Jyoti and Liesel

Anchorage is somewhere over there, on the other side of the water.

On a previous occasion, we all visited Hope in the family motor home. Klaus was driving and, just outside Hope, the van broke down. It turned out to be a fault with the motherboard: there was no way to override the computer that controls the vehicle. Luckily, Liesel and I had our tandem with us, so we cycled the final few miles into town, while Klaus waited for a mechanic, not easy out in the middle of nowhere.

On this occasion, Liesel and friends experienced no such trauma and they had a high old time in their rustic accommodation.

I went over to Cheadle Hulme to watch the children swimming, after which, I sat in their garden playing and enjoying the sunshine. Martha and William were looking forward to a visit to the local toyshop to buy some weaponry.

I told Martha that the rubber suckers at the end of the arrow are not only safer, but they’re so you can stick the arrows to your Daddy’s forehead.

After a period of very unSummerlike weather (yes, I just invented a word), the Sun came out and the temperature increased. Some might attribute this improvement to Liesel and her Mom bringing better weather with them from Anchorage. It was a relief to see them both emerge into Manchester Airport which, just 48 hours earlier, had had to cancel several flights due to a power cut. I was also pleased to see that their luggage, unlike mine, had not taken a short vacation on its own. The rest of the day was spent trying to stay awake.

We didn’t see much wildlife this week, except on TV, where we spent a short amount of time in Kenya.

That elephant was motionless for a couple of minutes, I was beginning to think it might be a cardboard cutout, but it did eventually wake up, twitch and wander off. Sadly, the woods and parks of Northenden and Wythenshawe are not inhabited by such exotic creatures. On Wednesday, more people joined the regular walk than usual, about 20 of us altogether, including a couple of folks new to me. So it’s a good job Boxx2Boxx have moved to bigger premises, we’d never have all got into the old site at the same time! I did however take pictures of some local flora, thinking, this’ll do.

And this week’s radio show was Give and Take, songs about giving time and love and taking me out drinking and that look off your face, or something. You can listen here, as always.

First World Problems

While it’s great to be home, it’s always an anticlimax after being away in exotic locations for a while. Being tired and/or jet-lagged doesn’t help of course, so I was very sensitive to anything slightly amiss. I was definitely discombobulated after watching the carousel go round and round, delivering luggage to fellow passengers, and then, suddenly, the conveyor belt stopped. About eight of us looked at each other in disbelief, wondering where our bags were. Nothing for it but to report the missing items. This we did on awkward, vertically mounted, touch screens. Yes, it’s great that we can report missing bags at all, but in the heat of the moment, when you’re feeling tired and a bit fed up, having to try two or three times to enter every single response was so dispiriting. Anyway, I’ll never know where my case spent three days before it was delivered to my home address. The good news is, there was nothing missing, the bottles of wine were in tact. The Jumpy’s and crackers, for William and for Jenny respectively were slightly crushed, that’s all. Still, first world problems, eh?

The flat seemed to be in good nick, I just opened the windows to let in some fresh air. The two shrivelled black things in the kitchen? Well, I think we just forgot to pack the last two bananas before we set off. Oh well. At least the place wasn’t full of fruit flies, I think we were quite lucky there.

The bad news is that one of our pictures fell off the wall. Command Tape by 3M isn’t as strong and reliable as we would like. The good news is that, this time, neither the frame nor the glass were damaged. How annoying, though. It’s bad enough pictures falling off the wall, but then you can see just how dusty the wall itself is. First world problems, eh?

My first few days at home I spent trying to stay awake and adapt to the new timezone. I nodded off several times in front of the TV or while listening to the radio or a podcast or even attempting a puzzle.

After two months away, Northenden is now much more green and lush, some say overgrown. Some folks were having fun, messing about in the river.

I think those two were trying to shift an object from the weir. Very brave, considering what United Utilities have been dumping in our natural waterways recently.

After a couple of days, I thought I’d drive to the shops. Car said ‘no’. The battery was totally dead. I called on Liam who has a gadget, a gizmo, a device that would jump start the car. It got going, but I never managed to drive far enough to charge the battery enough to start the car next time. It may be the case that the battery needs replacing, of course. After a couple of jump starts, thanks to Liam, I bought my own jump start box, which we’ll keep in the boot of the car, just in case. Still, first world problems, eh?

I’ve been watching the old, classic Doctor Who series on BBC iPlayer for a while. I’ve just reached the Tom Baker era. I enjoyed the show at the time, but binge-watching it now just highlights how repetitive the storylines are. And compared with today’s modern, glossy incarnation with Ncuti Gatwa, the special effects are just laughable. ‘It is of its time, of course.’ But while the iPlayer is a great resource, it’s not perfect. There is no option to tell it, for instance, that you are not and will never be interested in a certain show so please stop suggesting it. Plus, every two or three days it apologises because the ‘Continue to watch…’ option is not available. Well, that’s no good is it? Why? This is the cue for me to eat more biscuits while searching for what I want. Still, first world problems, eh?

During my first week back, I didn’t make it to any of the regular Thrive Manchester walks, I was either asleep or just waking up. And then it was half-term, so these walks were cancelled. I’ll catch up with them soon.

Because the car wasn’t cooperating, my plans to go for more interesting walks further afield at National Trust properties were shelved. I tried not to wear the pavements out in Northenden but I wandered round and round, never meeting anyone I know. While we were away, Boxx2Boxx café has moved along the road to bigger premises, and I paid my first visit. It’s now over the road from Tesco, so I went shopping there. I usually go to the Co-op which is a bit further away from home, but on this occasion, well, I couldn’t be bothered. I needed a nap. I was beginning to think I was suffering from narcolepsy, not just jet-lag. First world problems, eh?

In other local news, some of those empty shops on Palatine Road are now occupied, hooray! One is a barber (because there aren’t enough barbers and hairdressers in Northenden) and one is a charity shop (because there aren’t enough… you get the picture).

There I was one afternoon doing a puzzle when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. The flat has been invaded by a spider. He’s a lovely specimen and I hope he survives outside. Our very own Boris.

In another attempt to get the car started, I went over to Jenny and Liam’s. I was thrown in the deep end. Did I want to take the children swimming? Well, yes of course, as long as they can show me where to go. We walked to the pool where they both have lessons every week, and as always, I am amazed at their skills in the water, both so much more competent and confident than I am.

Yes, after swimming, William did dry and brush his own hair. He has style.

The car limped to Sainsbury’s in Cheadle Hulme and I really enjoyed walking up and down the aisles of the very large supermarket. Honest, yes, I increased my step count a lot that day. Here’s a conundrum. I probably should go for a really long drive to charge the battery. But if I do that, I’ll need to stop somewhere to re-fuel. But if I do that, the car might not start again and then I’ll be stuck in a service station, blocking the way for other customers. Yes, I did have Liam’s jump starting device on board, but I’d be worried about sparks if I try to jump start at a petrol station, I don’t want to blow the place up. First world problems, huh!

Anyway, I was pleased to see that this shop, Sainsbury’s, will accept my old, used batteries for recycling, as well as gold and silver (!), currency, electronics and stamps. Well, I have a bag of stamps to donate but I suspect if I had any spare precious metals, I’d probably be selling them.

So, as I write, the car is at the garage for its MOT and they’ll check the battery too. Fingers crossed, after today, I’ll be able to go out, start the car and be on my way.

Jenny and Liam invited me over for a barbecue, and we had a very pleasant, fun afternoon in the garden. Martha and William had helped skewer the kebabs, all veggies, no meat.

Liam brought out his juggling clubs, and yes, he’ll be running away to the circus any day now. You’ll see. I had a go myself, but my juggling skills are very rusty. Maybe I should have been practising more during the last twenty or thirty years!

A couple of days later, I celebrated Jenny’s birthday by going to the blood shop, as she called it when she was little, for another blood donation session. And not just for the tea and biscuits. Earlier in the day, I’d witnessed Martha roller-skating around the house. I found that a little scary.

And so far, I haven’t mentioned the weather since I got home. Well, we’ve had a bit of sunshine and a lot of rain. I can’t wait until proper Summer kicks in and I can go out without a raincoat. I don’t mind getting a bit wet, but I don’t need my shirt to be so waterlogged, I can wring it out. I know, first world problems, right?

I mentioned the circus a little earlier. Well, they might not be going there, but the family are all off to Disneyworld for a little holiday. Yes, of course I offered to carry their bags or something, but no. In order to facilitate uninterrupted packing, I took Martha and Wiliam to the nearby playground where I heard ‘Grandad, look at this’ and ‘Grandad, watch me’ about four and a half thousand times. Great fun! So much energy. William said, after a while, that we should go home because it felt like rain. It did indeed try, but there were only about six raindrops on this occasion.

I’m not saying my grandchildren are noisy or antisocial or anything, but soon after we arrived, the only other family there left. Maybe it was is something I said?!

Well, Spring has worked wonders for Northenden, bring out the good and the bad. Firstly, in some hedges, the bindweed really is taking over. I lost a thirty year battle with this indestructible weed in our garden in Chessington, and it still brings back nasty memories of time I’ll never get back. First world problems, yep.

Of course, not all weeds are nasty. They’re just things growing in the wrong place. I’m not a fan of footpaths that are overgrown, but I can’t really complain about these poppies.

This week, I prepared and recorded a radio show for Wythenshawe Radio, WFM 97.2, online and now on DAB! I marked the occasion of my return home, plus there’s a track from a newly released album. You don’t want to miss this one, it’s here on Mixcloud. My show is now broadcast at the exciting brand new time of 10 o’clock on Wednesday morning, with a repeat on Saturday at 6pm.

Meanwhile, Liesel and Mom are still in Anchorage, still going for walks, still watching the snow slowly disappear from the mountains.

Oh, just before I publish, news just in: Angie from the garage called: yes, the car battery is dead, D E D, dead, it’s not holding charge at all.