Northenden – Page 3 – Mick and Liesel's Antics

Soil and oil

It’s always a joy to be invited out for coffee almost as soon as you make an appearance early in the morning. Or even late in the morning. And so it was that Liesel, Leslie and I walked across the road to meet up with Jyoti and her youngest, Gita, in the New Sagaya branch of Kaladi Bros Coffee. Breakfast for me was a bagel, though sadly not a jalapeño bagel, something I’d been looking forward to. Maybe they don’t bake them any more.

Liesel took her Mom for a medical procedure so Jyoti and I went for a walk alongside the lagoon.

Gita sent a mesage from the garden centre, our cue to drive over and join her. As it was such a beautiful day, Gita gave us fifteen minutes to arrive, otherwise she’d leave and go sunbathing…

Jyoti and Gita bought some houseplants, while my job was to find some hooks and a chain with which to hang the hanging basket that Aaron had given Mom for Mothers’ Day. Mothers’ Day in America doesn’t coincide with Mothering Sunday at home.

Jyoti also purchased a bag of Alaska Organic Soil and I had nothing better to do for a minute, so I read the ingredients.

Yes, this soil contains bits of fish, thanks to bears who have enjoyed salmon from the rivers and dropped scraps in the woods.

Back at home, I made myself quite busy while Liesel and Mom were still out. I didn’t find a chain, but I managed to hang the basket on the balcony using a couple of hooks and some bendy wire.

In the living room, there is a large jar of M&Ms. We’ve all dipped into it from time to time. Liesel thought she might be over-indulging and asked me to hide the jar. Well, I thought that seemed a bit harsh on her Mom, so, instead, I put a note inside the jar saying ‘No, Liesel’ illustrated with an angry cartoon face. I hoped this would be deterrent enough.

Sod’s law: it was Mom who came across the note first and, sadly, it made her lose her appetite for M&Ms. For a while, anyway.

Leslie’s surgery had gone well, and I was surprised to see that she had much less dressing on her eye than I did after my own cataract surgery. But, she has to apply eye drops for several days, something I don’t remember having to do.

In the evening, Una took me out for dinner, thank you very much, and we had a lovely chat. We chose Mexican and the portion size on this occasion was only slightly too big for me.

Leslie’s other eye was operated on the following day, again, fully successfully. While she was out, I went for a solo walk. Westmark Anchorage Hotel and Conference Center is nothing special from an architectural point of view but it was nice to see the flags of many nations flying outside. Pedantic old me couldn’t help but notice the Union Flag was flying upside down, popularly thought to be a sign of distress.

I didn’t expect to bump into an old friend, but I did. Star the reindeer has been here for many years, but I don’t know whether or not he’s the original Star.

Rubbish picture, because of the thick layer of dirty glass between us. Still, always good to see some wildlife, sort of.

In Leslie’s apartment block, we all attended the May Spring Fling Happy Hour. This was an opportunity to meet some of the other people who live here. Wine and nibbles were supplied. At first, Leslie wasn’t that keen, so Liesel went by herself to the community area on the top floor of the other block. I must have nodded off, but when I came to, Leslie said whe would attend after all, so we wandered over, through the courtyard.

And it was an even later night than usual when we all went to the airport to welcome Leslie’s Aunt Buzz, who is visiting for a week from her home in Albuquerque. As Liesel remarked, Buzz could be Leslie’s twin, so easy to recognise as she emerged from the secure area. And here was another chance to see some wildlife, sort of.

In fact, there are very many stuffed animals at Anchorage Airport, but I am too intimidated by American Airport rules and officials to risk taking too many pictures.

The other night, we couldn’t see any sand hill cranes. But they are here, and of all places, I was surprised to see them on the front page of the daily newspaper.

That’s today’s Anchorage Daily News, the paper that also prints the challenging New York Times crossword every day. Point Woronzof, that’s where we enjoyed a stroll just a few days ago.

So, in an effort to see some actual, living animals, in the flesh, the now four of us went for a walk on the boardwalk at Potter Marsh. It was cloudy, but otherwise, another ideal day for a walk. The only disappointment here was seeing so much oil on the surface of the water.

But this doesn’t seem to deter plenty of migratory birds from enjoying everything on offer here. We saw many swallows, for example. Most exciting, maybe, was seeing an eagle on his nest, a long way over there. I tried to get a photo by holding up my phone to the binoculars.

I know it’s not a prize-winning photo, but he is a long way off and the binoculars’ lenses showed signs of having been outdoors in harsh conditions for a long time. This little chap was a lot closer.

The green-winged teals were playing chase in the stream: whether the male caught up with and ‘became friends with’ the female, I don’t know.

On a white board near the entrance to the boardwalk, there was a list of birds spotted by other visitors during today. Our list of sightings is very modest in comparison.

I’m particularly sorry that none of us saw a moose on the wing.

In the afternoon, we started packing.

In the evening, we attended Alexa’s graduation party at her home. We were happy to meet Asa’s girlfriend’s parents and grandmother, who prepared loads of food for us and many other guests.

It was time for me to come home. The original plan was for Liesel to come as well, with Mom, but after the latter’s surgery, she’s not allowed to fly for a month. They’ll both join me at the end of June.

Liesel took me to the airport early. In fact, an hour earlier than necessary due to us misremembering the flight schedule. So I had plenty of time to eat breakfast, have a coffee, admire the dead, stuffed animals again, and read my book. The flight to rainy Seattle was uneventful. No dead animals at Seattle Airport, but there were a couple of buskers entertaining us. I found the vegetarian restaurant that Liesel had told me about, Floret, and I enjoyed my salad and chips. The flight to Reykjavic was uneventful. Well, apart from the fuselage rattling, sounding like industrial strength tinnitus. Plus, the overhead locker was very difficult to open. I think that plane might be due some repairs. I finished one book and started another. And when I tried to, I just could not get to sleep. The flight to Manchester was uneventful, and still, no sleep. All three flights were full so I could not spread ouit, nor have a good, proper stretch.

Jenny was kind enough to pick me up and take me home where I was pleased, after being in transit for about 21 hours, to be able to lie down again.

My luggage arrived just three long, nap-filled, worried days later.

While I was airborne, Liesel managed to get out for a nice hike with Jyoti, Una and Phil.

I’m sorry I missed Asa’s graduation party but by all accounts, it was very enjoyable.

Now, to sleep, to unpack and to start addressing the ‘To do’ list that was compiled while I was away.

Aurora furore

I never thought I’d spend a good half hour watching a woman making a basket, but that’s the way the dice roll these days.

As usual on this fine morning, Leslie went to the local school to play with the Kindergartners. She loves it but isn’t so keen on coming home with green paint on her fingers. ‘But I did wash my hands’, she insists.

Someone had a lovely birthday present.

You have to admire whoever drove this car to the car park while it was wrapped in clingfilm. For a start, how did they get in? Anyway, Happy Birthday, stranger!

After working in the morning (Liesel) and writing (moi), we were now walking to Originale, a delightful Italian restaurant, in beautiful downtown Anchorage. Not only was the food great, they offered small and large portions. Small was big enough for Liesel and me. Best of all, Monica joined us for her lunch break.

Afterwards, we all went to the Museum where, by coincidence, Monica usually spends her working day.

Monica returned to work, while Liesel and I walked around Anchorage Museum.

Trailing by Alia Shahab and Michel Gignac

Inspired by otherworldly light phenomena found in nature, such as bioluminescent plankton and the aurora borealis, Trailing is activated by motion.

Artists Alia Shahab and Michel Gignac created Trailing from thousands of fiberoptic cables affixed to a canopy of wooden hexagons – a shape chosen for its strength and spatial efficiency, as well as its abundance In nature.

As visitors move through the installation, activated strands glow an aqua-green, illuminating a path of motion. Trailing uses over a thousand tiny microcontrollers, which are triggered mechanically by physical movement of the fiberoptic cables. Like many bioluminescent animals that glow blue-green when agitated, the tendrils glow with a rich green light when someone brushes up against the cables. As the swaying slows, the cables fade to dark. For Shahab and Gignac, the flickering and fading light references the ephemeral effects of light found in our oceans and skies and encourages reflection and play between humans and the environment.

The accompanying exhibition of bioluminescent fish was interesting too. Just a couple of weeks ago, our William drew a picture of an angler fish, so it was nice to be able to send him a photo of a real one.

We saw a large container full of plastic baling straps, or strapex, as we used to call it. I remember walking around on that stuff at work, most of the magazines and brochures were bound together with that stuff. One use only before being chucked out. But one lovely lady decided to do something about it.

Hawai’i-based artist Gaye Chan develops projects that create opportunities for exchange outside of market and state control, such as free stores, guerilla gardens, and community meals. Carrying Capacity is a durational project Chan began in 2012, stemming from a chance encounter at a produce distribution company. Chan had gone with the intention of getting a case of overripe tomatoes for pasta sauce when she noticed heaps of baling straps in the loading area. As commodities move across the globe, baling straps like these are found binding box to box, paper to paper, and everything to pallets, which are tucked into containers for shipping. They are used once and then discarded into the waste stream. Unable to simply walk away, Chan gave herself the task of figuring out how to reuse the mountains of plastic straps. After watching countless YouTube videos on basket-making methods from around the world, she developed a basic weaving technique.

Eleven years and over a thousand baskets later, Chan continues to extend the life of this waste’ material through making and skill-sharing. She says, “I think I’m coming at this material not only to get it out of the waste stream, but to ask why we end up with all this junk in the first place. The obvious answer is the dysfunctional global capitalist system of moving goods around, and the residue that gets left in the wake of commerce. I use this material in a very tangible way, but each strap embodies the broader systems of violence and exploitation.”

Today, an estimated 90 percent of the world’s goods are transported by sea. In 2020, about 1.85 billion metric tons of cargo were shipped globally, up from some 0.1 billion metric tons just 40 years earlier in 1980. It follows that baling straps are found in abundance almost anywhere in the world, including remote Alaska villages as well as in Chan’s home in Hawaii. The Alaska iteration of Carrying Capacity partners Chan and her students over Zoom with basket makers and novices in the Anchorage area to learn, experiment, and create baskets together.

And it was Gaye Chan who engaged me for half hour, making a basket from the waste material.

As usual, we left the Museum having seen some good stuff, but a bit stiff from the slow walking. We said we’d visit again next week.

On the walk home, we happened to pass JC Penney, one of America’s largest department store chains. ‘Ooh, let’s get our hair cut’, suggested Liesel. I pointed out that I still had barely any hair since my last haircut. But, yes I had a trim and a nice chat with the Korean hairdresser. Liesel had a more significant cut, maybe two inches off.

In the evening, we went over to Jyoti’s and met up with Jim and Diana, visiting from Talkeetna. It was good to see them, and I even remembered to do this:

Yes, an actual photo of people we’ve spent time with!

After enjoying Jyoti’s Indian food, Liesel and I went off to watch another fooball game featuring Asa and Gideon. It was a one-sided match, their team, West Anchorage High School, leading 8-0 at halftime. I think the second eleven played in the second half. The good news is, the snow has all gone now from the stands. But there is still plenty of snow on the mountains in the distance.

And even though the clouds here look menacing, they caused us no problems. Except that the sky was 100% cloud covered all night. Plus, the Sun doesn’t set until 10.30. So while Alaska would normally be a fantastic, far north place from which to view the Aurora Borealis, the viewing conditions here and now were less than optimal.

So you can imagine how miffed I was after we returned home from the game, only to be bombarded, inundated and showered with pictures of the Northern Lights taken everywhere else. Especially from England. Even from Northenden.

I’m sorry to say I don’t know who took this picture of the Northenden Heron with its unusual backdrop, but if it was you, please let me know and I’ll add an acknowledgement.

Photos from Kent, West Sussex, Surrey are all just as spectacular. The Sun was very active, and responsible for the Aurora, but I wish it could have waited a few more days.

Yep, ‘Miffed’ is the word!

I tried not to mope over brunch the following morning, nobody needs to hear that much whingeing, not Liesel, Jyoti, Jim, Diana nor Una, no need to ruin their appetites. Ooh, I took another picture of people.

But my presence of mind didn’t last long. Liesel and I met up with Catherine and Hans at Point Woronzof Park, for a walk overlooking the Knik Arm, a narrow branch of the Cook Inlet, and, basically ‘behind’ the airport. We heard a few jets but otherwise, it was pleasantly quiet. We shared the path with many cyclists and a few runners. But did I take a picture of our friends? Nope.

Again, we noticed how many branches, boughs and limbs had fallen off trees this Winter, unable to bear the weight of so much snow and ice, that’s the theory.

As we were leaving the park, we noticed a few cars parked up ahead, and then we realised why. There were a couple of moose by the fence. Liesel wasn’t bothered, but I still think it’s exciting to see wildlife in the wild. And, apparently, so do some other locals.

Liesel has been telling me for a long time how good the TV series Ted Lasso is. I should watch it. Highly recommended. Except, it’s on the Apple+ TV service, which we haven’t subscribed to. Until now. We have three months free on the platform, thanks to Leslie buying a new Apple iPhone recently. So, Liesel set it up at home, and the first thing we did was to start watching Ted Lasso. I quite enjoyed it. Another episode? Oh, go on then. And so it went. All day. I think we watched 6 episodes that first day. I checked in the mirror, but my eyes hadn’t yet gone square.

It’s High School Graduation season, that’s the main reason we’re here at this particular time. Neha is graduating, and she and her family invited us to join them to celebrate at Sushi Ya, a popular Japanese restaurant. Limited vegetarian options, but what I had was very nice. And it was great to see Neha again after all these years.

It was good to meet her grandparents again too, who, I discovered, have been married for 57 years.

The Graduation ceremony took place on the first really warm and sunny Spring afternoon of the year, not at their school, but in the University of Alaska basketball stadium. Also known as the Alaska Airlines Center.

The place was heaving with graduates, their families and friends.

We had a few speeches, and the stars of the whole show came in while the orchestra played Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March number 1, on repeat.

I wanted to video Asa’s part in the ceremony, and I practiced with his girlfriend Alexa, whose surname falls earlier in the alphabet. But, too far away with my phone camera.

So out of 360 graduates, we were interested in just three, Asa, Alexa and Neha.

It was a bit of a scramble to leave the building and outside, everyone wanted photos, and bouquets and leis galore were given out.

The clouds opver the mountains looked menacing once more, but we were bathed in warm sunshine.

After dining at Bear Tooth, Liesel and I drove over to Jyoti’s where we went for a walk close to Sand Lake. Nice blue skies and fluffy clouds. No moose nor bears. In fact, not many birds either.

I thought maybe we’d see the sand hill cranes out on the mud flats, but again, no. We heard some, but couldn’t see them. Too well camouflaged, I reckon. A pair of binoculars would have helped, of course.

Back home, let’s watch one episode of Ted Lasso before bed. Oh alright then. Halfway through, we realised we must have missed something. We checked. Yep. For some reason, it had jumped to episode 9, we’d missed episodes 7 and 8. This is Apple+ TV. Why did it miss out two episodes? I hope their mobile telephones are a bit more robust than that…

And yes, it’s nearly midnight and still light, so even if the Sun were still active, and interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field, I don’t think we would have seen the Aurora from here. Oh well, good night.

Books, Bats and Bikes

As part of my regular wanders around Northenden, I sometimes check up on the little library in Riverside Park. I really didn’t think it would work this well, but it is great to see it being used. It’s full of books, adults’ and children’s.

I keep meaning to fix the door locking mechanism, but I need to remember to carry tools with me, a sonic screwdriver or something.

Speaking of which: I have reached the episode of Doctor Who that brought me nearly to tears when I was a young 14-year old. The one in which companion Zoe Heriot left the series, and was returned to a point just before she set off on her travels with the Doctor. The Time Lords erased her memory of these adventures, and I found that incredibly sad.

I’d forgotten that this episode was also the last one with the second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton who was replaced by Jon Pertwee. It was also the last one in black and white. The third Doctor’s stories were shown in colour, but of course, I didn’t know that, it was a couple of years before we had a colour TV at home!

I don’t spend all my time watching classic Doctor Who, honest. I’ve also been catching up on Planet Earth 3, something that Liesel doesn’t really get on with, especially when the animals catch and eat each other, although there’s not a lot of that.

There was time for my own adventures too. When I give blood, every few months in Manchester, I go by bus. I’d rather not drive because, if I were to feel faint after the session (although this has never happened) I would be unable to drive home.

So I went out and stood by the bus stop. I was surprised and delighted to see a new litter bin there. There’s always been one on the other side of the road, but not by this particular bus stop.

Sod’s law dictates that whichever bus I’m waiting for, one travelling in the opposite, wrong direction will appear first. And so it was today. I thought it was strange that the sign on that bus said it was was going to Manchester Piccadilly. Weird, I thought. But as it pulled away from the bus stop, I suddenly realised: I was waiting on the wrong side of the road. I should have caught that bus. What a prat.

Now, of course, I’m concerned that I’m going to be late for my appointment. But I wasn’t. I gave my name at precisely 2 o’clock. Not on the list. They only take platelets on a Monday, not full blood. Monday? I thought it was Tuesday. So, rather than being late, I was a day early. What a plonker.

As I said to someone, I’m glad I wasn’t trying to donate my brain, nobody would want that particular organ today, it really wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

Twenty-four hours later, I successfully donated, enjoyed a small packet of Bourbons and a small packet of digestives and was about to grab some custard creams when the nurse took the trolley away.

Still, it was good to see the first signs of Spring on the local village green: crocuses and snowdrops here, and a couple of daffodils elsewhere.

I was sad to learn of the death of Christopher Priest. He was one of my favourite science fiction writers in the 1970s and ’80s. I met him once, when he came to our Science Fiction Society meeting when I was at Queen Elizabeth College, so nearly 50 years ago. He was a top bloke, very generous with his time. I still treasure the email he sent me after I got in touch wih him after he wrote an obituary for Harry Harrison. Who, by coincidence, was another guest speaker at our SFSoc all those years ago.

Reading Chris’s obits, I discovered that he was born in Cheadle and attended Cheadle Hulme School, a mere stone’s throw from where Jenny and the family now live.

Wythenshawe Star Gazers provide opportunities to use other people’s equipment to view the night sky. I went along this week, despite the 99% cloud cover, and we were able to just about see Jupiter through a telescope, not in any detail though thanks to the more local clouds.

Plan B is to have a talk indoors, and Kyle spoke to us about the planets. Dave was there with some great photos that he’d taken, despite living so close to the airport with its bright lights.

Let me blow my own trumpet and say that the leek and potato soup I had this week was the best I’ve made in a very long time. So glad it lasted two days.

Jenny and Liam went out for a meal with friends Matt and Amy, and I was delighted to be asked to look after Martha and William. We played a couple of games, Uno and Furious but best of all, we watched a few episodes of Bluey on TV. Don’t tell Mummy and Daddy, but they stayed up a little bit later than they were meant to, shhh!

I don’t want to know what Martha was doing to this poor old teddy.

It was, as always, fun to watch the children swimming too. Martha had been kick boxing earlier while William was playing football. I can only imagine the complexities of the speadsheet that helps their parents coordinate all the children’s activities. I joined the family for lunch after which, we spent some time in a park in Gatley.

For the first time in many years, I played tennis. Five minutes of that exercise was enough for this short-of-breath old fart. William and Martha had cycled to the park, and they proceeded to ride around the skateboard park too.

What else did they bring apart from bikes and tennis racquets? Well, the remote controlled car and cricket bats, of course. In the end, we didn’t play cricket. but it was a full-on afternoon. Thankfully, the car stayed in one piece despite William’s efforts on the skateboard park. And, it was a surprisingly warm afternoon, hence Martha’s decision to remove her coat.

The car survived, OK, but the radio show this week was about Breaking Things, breaking up, breaking down, breaking out. You can pass or waste two hours by listening here.

(Mis)adventures

As always, Liesel set off in good time for her physio appointment. Usually, she’ll go for a short walk before the session. Left to my own devices at home, I continued work on this week’s radio show. Imagine my surprise then when, fifteen minutes later, Liesel phoned to tell me that the car wouldn’t start. At first, I couldn’t believe she’d even been trying for that long. But no. She’d been waylaid by our neighbour Ravi, and they’d been chatting all that time.

The first thing was to make sure Liesel didn’t miss her appointment, so thank goodness for Uber. Which I had to book because Liesel doesn’t have the app. Next, make use of our breakdown cover. But, it turns out, the car’s not covered for breaking down at home. The paperwork says it’s included, but then, in very small print, in a lighter colour, it says this is an optional extra. Well, I thought we’d opted for this extra but apparently not.

Anyway, the car just needed a jump start and it’s been alright ever since. So what happened? I think I must have nudge the internal light by mistake, and it stayed on all night, draining the battery.

A couple of days later, Liesel was due to fly over to Anchorage to stay with her Mom for a few weeks. The first hint of trouble was when she told me she was flying out of Heathrow. In my early morning stupor, I thought she meant we had to drive to Heathrow to catch her first flight. The booked route was Manchester to Reykjavik to Seattle to Anchorage, three flights in all. But the message Liesel receieved was that the first leg had changed, so: Manchester to Heathrow to Seattle to Anchorage. Why? The weather in Iceland was so atrocious, all flights in and out were cancelled.

But then Liesel read her emails. There were several from Iceland Air. The first one said her flight was cancelled. The second said that she had been re-booked onto British Airways, to Heathrow. The third said that her original flight to Reykjavic had been postponed to later in the afternoon. Confused? Liesel was. I was. Ambigious at best. When Liesel called the helpline, she was answered straightaway and a very helpful assistant confirmed that yes, she would be travelling via Heathrow.

I can confirm that after dropping Liesel off at the airport, everything went pretty smoothly and she arrived in Anchorage tired, relieved and on time.

A few days later, I needed to drive somewhere, and I was expecting to find the car again covered in dust from the Sahara, as predicted. But no. Instead in a localised avian conspiracy, the birds have been using our vehicle for target practice.

Apparently baking a potato in the air fryer is quicker and cheaper than baking it in the oven. Well, it worked out beautifully last time. This week? It took flippin’ ages. It had a nice crispy jacket, that was the best bit of the whole tuber, but the very centre still wasn’t cooked properly after what felt like 24 hours. I was hungry by the time I ate (most of) it. I think it’s fair to say, there is a knack to using these new-fangled contraptions which I have yet to fully acquire.

But it wasn’t all distasters this week, oh no. Some things worked out quite well. For instance, I joined Jenny, Liam and the children for a walk at Quarry Bank Mill.

Despite his best efforts, William didn’t fall down any muddy slopes, nor fall into the river. If he had, I was quite prepared to take pictures while Daddy rescued him. It’s great that he’s so adventurous, but if I were still in the habit, I would have been biting my nails.

Martha wasn’t averse to performing her own stunts either.

It was a very pleasant walk, along paths that we don’t visit very often. There’s a small beach by the river, which Martha studied in detail, looking for interesting stones.

Here’s a novel idea. Coffee cups that you can reuse. Yes, at National Trust Quarry Bank Mill, they’re experimenting with reuseable takeaway cups. I don’t know why this has never been thought of before. I suppose they just don’t want us walking around with china mugs of coffee.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, my sister Pauline, and Andrew, had a lovely day in the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch. Late Summer is so colourful.

We collected the children from school and brought them to our place where, unusually, we watched TV. Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave. We all enjoyed it and I felt a bit sad that William and Martha wouldn’t get some of the gags because they don’t have all the cultural references that we old farts do. Indian food tonight: dahl and saag paneer with rice, yogurt and grated, spiced up carrot. Liam and Jenny joined us, and there was far too much food. After Liesel left for Alaska, I ate Indian leftovers for two days!

For a few days earlier in the week, we enjoyed listening to the chainsaw outside, over there somewhere. They were cutting down a tree, and I was worried that it was this beauty.

But, phew, no it wasn’t. It looks a bit bare right now.

The victim was the next tree, a bit further down the road. It was growing just a few feet away from a telegraph pole, so it was probably a harder job than usual to cut down, because of all the phone lines. But it’s always sad to see a tree murdered in this way.

I enjoyed a few walks in Northenden and Wythenshawe, in a group or by myself. In fact, on one of the organised walks, there were just the two of us so we agreed to shorten the route: it was probably quite muddy in the woods, yeah, that was the reason…

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been completing another one of those giant crosswords from Teazel, 1284 clues solved in 8 hours and 19 minutes. Quite an achievement, right? But I did take issue with one clue: To provide with complete dress, full equipment, etc (3,3). Easy I thought, but it wouldn’t accept any of my answers ‘_I_/O_T’ – obviously ‘something out’, right? The answer was ‘Rig Out’. I’d tried ‘Fit out’ and ‘Kit out’ to no avail, but I think they’re all acceptable solutions to the clue. Still, it didn’t affect my enjoyment too much.

Speaking of enjoyment, I am continuing to watch the old Doctor Who series from the 1960s. I’m so glad I didn’t have such a critical mind as a young child. The wobbly sets, the acting to camera, the naff pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo dialogue, all a given. What I’ve now noticed though is how often a character changes outfit halfway through a scene, when there’s no realistic way they could have changed.

And while I’m thinking about TV, the second series of ITV’s Trigger Point has started. Embarrassed to say, I binge-watched all 6 episodes over two days. Vicky McClure playing the main character will I’m sure win awards for her performance. But there are more ‘bloody hell, I didn’t see that coming’ moments in this series than anything I’ve seen for a long time. Highly recommended if you like a thriller, a bit of suspense and some surprises.

Here’s another picture from Grandad’s boasting photo album.

This is the children’s latest activity: kick boxing. They both enjoy it, but I personally don’t get the appeal of kicking boxes around.

How is Liesel getting on over there in Narnia then? Narnia business! Well, it’s apparently warming up: the temperature was up to -23°C a couple of days ago… not my cup of tea at all. I accept that it looks pretty, especially the frost.

I mentioned the radio show earlier. I usually start preparing it on Monday, with a view to uploading by Wednesday evening. Sometimes the editing is dead easy, straightforward, the timings work out nicely. Other times, it takes ages to adjust things by a few seconds. Liesel has commented in the past that occasionally I spent far too long on the toilet. Well, this week I spent way too long on the Toilet Humour show, for that was the theme. You can listen to two hours of songs, some obliquely, related to or about toilets here on Mixcloud, if by any chance, you missed hearing it on Wythenshawe Radio on Friday afternoon; where were you?

Trees

The old oak tree looks the same as I step down from the train and there to meet me… no that’s not right. The old, the really, really old oak tree is still clinging on by its fingernails at Dunham Massey.

Liesel, Sue and I went to this, one of our closest National Trust venues for a Sunday afternoon stroll. It was a very popular place for a walk, everyone and their dog was there. A couple of paths were roped off, presumably to keep us away from the deer, but it wasn’t as muddy as we’d anticipated.

In the olden days, when I was on Facebook, I remember our friend Robyn used to share images of lost gloves seen out in the wild. I was reminded of his unusual obsession/collection when we came across this glove tree.

Every few weeks, the fruit and veg box that we have delivered includes kale. It’s alright, it’s not a favourite, and if it’s cut up into very small shreds, it can be chewed and swallowed in a reasonable amount of time.

We certainly didn’t expect to see this specimen attempting to escape from the garden at Dunham Massey. As we walked away, I checked over my shoulder to make sure it wasn’t following us.

Snow was threatened and it arrived overnight, making the area look relatively clean. It didn’t last long: in fact, by the time we picked the children up from school, it had already thawed in Northenden, so we couldn’t build a snowman.

Martha and William used Liesel’s snowing machine, I mean sewing machine, just to stitch some old fragments together. It was fascinating to watch them, and the different ways in which they approach the operation. Martha carefully feeds the material through to be sewn, while William would prefer just to step on the pedal a little harder, and let the machine do all the work.

The disappointment of finding no snow at our place was made up for by the magificent sunset.

Our Northenden walk the following day was cold, and there were patches of ice, but otherwise it was a lovely, bright, sunny day, with a hint of apricity.

We were once again reminded of the top quality drivers living in or visiting Northenden. I would love to know how fast this guy (it has to be a guy, right?) was driving, on the wrong side of the road, to collide with a lamppost so hard, it ends up nearly horizontal.

Aspire Restaurant at Trafford College was the venue for our lunch date with seven friends from out walking group and from the choir. The food is all prepared and served by students: our server, the one with the longest eyelashes, was a mere 16 years old, which surprised us all, she was so professional.

The prices are very reasonable too, and the limited menu must make it easier for everyone involved.

After the satisfying meal, we needed to have a bit of a walk, so we went over to Quarry Bank Mill. We were surprised to see that there was still some snow on the ground here. Maybe it’s a alightly higher altitude than Northenden, or more snow was dumped there in the first place.

Although there are no deer at this National Trust property, if you look closely, you can see a deer’s head in this tree. A tree that we’re no longer allowed to walk by closely because it might fall over at any moment!

It was fun to follow in the footsteps of Jack Frost too.

It was another sunny but cold day, and I only wish the sight of the bright blue sky compensated for the fact that there was a cold wind blowing.

The robin looks very well, but again I had to apologise for not having any spare mealworm in my pocket.

That night, while Liesel was out with the WI, I noticed that the Moon was bright, and that Jupiter was close to it, like a tiny teardrop. I spent too long trying to take a picture, but I just couldn’t get the right combination of settings on the phone’s camera.

The pond in Painswick Park was frozen over again, apart from the area around the fountain. And that’s where the geese and the other birds had gathered. A lot of the path around the pond was also covered in ice: in fact, I think I felt more slippery ice patches on this path and this short walk than I’ve felt anywhere during the whole of this Wintery cold spell.

I stayed at home while Liesel went on a walk with a group in Chelford, near Alderley Edge. Despite the rain, they all enjoyed the walk, which was over 8 miles in length, a couple of miles longer than advertised.

The theme for my Wythenshawe Radio show this week was Similes. Like diamonds in the sky, free as a bird and love being like a red, red rose or like oxygen, depending on which song you believe. Catch up here.

Pia bites

This week was enjoyed despite, or maybe because of, Storm Pia. Winds of over 70mph around much of the country. Mostly caused by trees waving their naked branches in the air, if I can believe my eyes. Extensive damage was caused in the Northenden area.

Several bins had been blown over. At least, near where we live, the bins were empty by the time Pia struck. But just a few streets away, bin contents were dispersed, strewn and blowing across the road, making the refuse collectors’ jobs that much harder.

It wasn’t much fun walking in the strong winds, but at least it was mild. Even in the deepest woods, you could feel and hear the gales as they went about their business, infiltrating into every gap.

On one road near us, a tree was blown over and, fortunately for the residents, it just blocked the road rather than destroying a house.

One thing we’ve noticed this year is that far fewer houses have been decorated with lights and other Christmas ornaments. Even the house over the road that’s always had a big display has nothing this year. I hope this is for econonic reasons rather than illness, sad though that would be, too.

I walked over to the final Makers’ Market at Didsbury. Everybody was there. Every stall had a queue. I didn’t even buy a coffee. And, sadly, I didn’t buy anything to eat either. Nor any of the craftwork that was on offer. I don’t know why I went, really, but it was good exercise.

Meanwhile, Liesel is still in Anchorage. Mom is settling well into the new apartment now and Monica went round and kindly and professionally hung several pictures on the wall.

It’s been unusually mild here, despite Storm Pia, and it’s much colder in Anchorage. And there are tonnes of snow. Liesel took advantage of the opportunity and went skiing for the first time in many years. She had a good time in Talkeetna for a couple of days, with Jyoti and Diana and Jim. Apparently, skiing is just like riding a bike, you never forget. Best of all, Liesel didn’t fall over at all.

As a follow-up to last week’s GP appointment, I had to return to the surgery to see a nurse. And for the first time ever, at any GP surgery, there was nobody else in the waiting room when I got there. It was really hard deciding where to sit. Usually, I choose a seat that’s as far away from all the other coughing, sneezing, wheezing patients as possible.

Rare sighting of an empty GP surgery waiting room

It’s the last week of the school term and I think the wind was getting to William too. I don’t think he deliberately set out to start a new fashion trend, but maybe he has the right idea when it comes to headwear.

Well, the wind’s died down a bit but when it rains, it still sounds like someone’s throwing buckets of water at the windows. Under such conditions, I find it too easy to not go out, but stay in and do something useful. Or something fun. The annual shredding of the paper has begun. Something else to tick off the long, long to-do list.

After the Winter Solstice, the amount of daylight will slowly increase day by day, and that always lifts the spirits. But then, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be plunged into a really cold spell, which of course does the exact opposite.

This week’s Wythenshawe Radio show consists of two hours of (mostly) Christmas songs. It’s a safe zone for players and aficionados of #Whamageddon. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard Wham’s song Last Christmas, but I guess it’s good news that after 39 years, it’s finally number 1 in the charts! Anyway, as I was saying, my Christmas Show: you can listen to it here.

Liesel and I would like wish all our readers a wonderful, Merry Christmas, and all the very best for 2024. And isn’t it good to know this will be the last Christmas with a nasty Tory government for a long, long time.

Not much

Well that was a quick week with not much going on. After many years, I had my chipped tooth repaired. And a couple of days later, I donated another armful of blood. My back recovered slowly: I think this was the worst, longest-lasting back problem since I stopped working. Towards the end of the week, I went out for a couple of walks, but nothing too strenuous.

Liesel went out or a walk with Sue, to Chorlton Water Park, with a view to leading a group here at some point. She doesn’t often take pictures, but she got a couple of crackers today.

It seems that herons allow Liesel to get closer than I’m able to: maybe it’s something I said.

It was a very nice walk, maybe just a bit muddy in places.

Remember, remember, it’s now November, so of course that means that since before Halloween, there have been fireworks going off most nights. I don’t want to turn into a grumpy old man (too late, says Liesel) but I’m pretty sure fireworks are much louder and more unpleasant than they used to be. I totally failed to capture any of the displays through the window, but if you’re interested, I have a set of photos of the bright night-time sky, glorious in its greyness.

Autumn draws on and when the Sun’s out, the seasonal colours really do show up beautifully. I think this is the prettiest tree in Northenden right now.

As I took this picture, a lady at the bus stop commented on how pretty it was, too.

Someone got in touch on Instagram, a total stranger, but an interesting character. I wondered what sort of scam it was, so I kept myself entertained for half an hour chatting with her (or him, of course). Turns out, my ancestors have been talking to her, and she can help me unlock whatever it is that’s caused me to be held back. I had to light a candle, burn some sage and get a bowl of water. I was in bed at the time, and I wasn’t getting up for that sort of nonsense. So I used AI, specifically Dall-E to generate a ‘photo’ of my candle and bowl of water.

My Goddess, yes, that is how she described herself, complimented me on my set-up. Then asked for $50 for a reading and did I have Paypal. Good night, Goddess. I put my phone on to charge and started reading my book instead.

Liesel and Sue went for a nice walk at Alderley Edge too, another one I had to miss. Don’t worry, I kept myself busy on the computer.

The horses came over to see whether Liesel had any spare wellington boots. It’s nice to make friends when you’re out walking in the muddy Autumn countryside.

Meanwhile, I saw the first Christmas tree of the year, over there in Wythenshawe. Did it make me feel festive? No, not really.

I’m sure it will be delightful when it’s decorated. But look at the sky. This week, it’s been raining a lot, and the blue sky was a rare sight. But I shouldn’t really complain about the weather here when it’s so much worse in Anchorage. When our friend Una opened the garage door, she was met with a wall of snow, eighteen inches deep. I’ll never understand why Alaskans don’t hibernate. Polar bears have got the right idea.

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow

Brrr.

You can warm yourself up by listening to Mick’s Music Mix: the theme this week is Alliteration, what a wonderful way to wind up the week.

Four walks and a crossword

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lisbon back to Northenden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And what pretty flowers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turtle, trees and tiles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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