Wythenshawe FM – Page 3 – Mick and Liesel's Antics

Bikes, Boxx and a Beatle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(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.

Being on Top

We all like being on top of things, and sometimes it’s easy. Just look at William reach the top of the climbing frame before you’ve even realised he’s no longer standing next to you.

We’d gone over to Bruntwood Park, the playground behind William and Martha’s school, where we met up with the family. One of the reasons for going was that Martha wanted to use the metal detector, one of her Christmas presents. By luck, I had a few coins in my pocket that I was able to ‘plant’ for Martha to find. Seeing the excitement on her face was worth every penny!

Here’s Blossom, one of One Stockport’s frogs, from the Gigantic Leap Frog Art Trail.

In this sort of environment, William nearly always wants to play hide and seek, so we usually do, but he does like to reveal his location before you’ve had a proper chance to seek him out! And the climbing frame was very appealing. Even if Martha can’t tell the bottom from the top.

On Tuesday, we collected the children from school. Back at home, we gave them one final Christmas present each. Late, because William’s didn’t arrive in time for the big day: A Magnetic Magic Cube that can be manipulated into over 70 different shapes. Returning it to the Cube shape is not as easy as it looks. But he does enjoy playing with my (non-magnetic) cube, so we thought he’d appreciate it. Next step, a full-on Rubik’s Cube! Martha likes gems and stones so we thought a small box of such treasures would be interesting. It was. Martha particularly liked placing them on the Lazy Susan and spinning it, thus discovering centrifugal force!

After a lovely dinner, Jenny took the children home and Liesel went off to a WI meeting.

You know it’s the end of the holiday season when Thrive Walks start up again. The very first one of the year was attended by nearly twenty people. It was a nice walk through the woods, not as muddy as we’d anticipated, but it hadn’t rained for at least half an hour, which is unusual, lately.

In other family news, Helen celebrated her birthday in Adelaide with Brent. I liked Adelaide the one time I visited, over 21 years ago: maybe it’s time to go back? I wonder if it’s changed much…

Helen and Brent are on top of things here too, tasting wine, visiting the zoo and having a great time.

On Friday, Liesel and Sue joined the WI walk while I attended the regular Thrive Walk in Wythenshawe. This time, there were just the six of us! After taking a bus back to Northenden, I walked back home via Riverside Park. The river is much lower than even a few days ago, but of course, there is some debris for the council to clear up.

In other family news, Pauline and Andrew enjoyed the kite festival in Christchurch, New Zealand.

And no, they didn’t have one of their own kite: maybe next year? On another occasion, they enjoyed a walk by the estuary and encountered a herd of cormorants.

Well, I think they’re cormorants, but they might be shags. And I really don’t know what the collective noun is for either.

Liesel and I witnessed the children’s first swimming lesson of the year, and it’s always fun to watch. They had an exhausting morning though. Before swimming, they’d both enjoyed a kick-boxing tester session. To complete their triathlon, they cycled all the way from home to both venues and back home again. So you’d think that, come lunchtime, they’d be tired and quite happy to sit still and eat the meal. Not William, oh no. Up and down like a jack-in-the-box, full of energy: he’ll get a job at Duracell one day.

My radio show this week was on the theme of Being On Top. What a coincidence! Bit of a cock-up when Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 broadcast it, though, no news, not my fault, but you can listen to the whole shenanigans right here on Mixcloud.

(10+(9+87)6)5+4321

I was hoping the the cough I’d been suffering from would clear up before Liesel returned from Anchorage. But it didn’t. It persists even now, a week later, although it is much better. It’s not Covid, so you’re not going to catch anything too bad by reading this, if you need any reassurance.

The river was high and flowing fast and at least one local golf course was completely submerged. The greenkeepers were definitely feeling below par.

At home, I could have fed the 5,000, if I knew that many people. Purely from the crumbs I managed to shake out of the toaster. What a messy process that was.

Liesel’s flight landed early at Manchester Airport, and I parked the car nice and early too. The grey Manchester murk was very welcoming, although Liesel did admit that it was much warmer here than in Anchorage.

Both of our sleeping patterns were less than ideal this week. Liesel’s jet-lag didn’t help, but then, neither did my nocturnal coughing fits.

Knowing I had to get up early to go the the airport, I had an early night in bed. Compare with our grandchildren who were both very excited to stay up until midnight to welcome in the New Year: Martha told us several times that they didn’t get to bed until ten to one!

It was a bit of a wrench dragging my carcass out of bed early on a second occasion, I must admit. But it was worth it. Liesel and I travelled into Manchester by tram and we met the family in the foyer of Aviva Studios in good time. We’d all come to see Lost and Found, the magical stage show of Oliver Jeffers’ story, adapted by renowned children’s TV and theatre producer Will Brenton. We also enjoyed original music composed by Gruff Rhys, guitarist and vocalist from Super Furry Animals.

What would you do if a lost penguin rocked up at your front door? You’d help him by taking him home to the South Pole, right? That’s what the boy in the story did, too. At one point, his boat was breached on a sandbank, so a volunteer from the audience was invited to help. William’s arm was up faster than a Tory minister giving a lucrative contract to a BFF.

On stage, Liam tried and failed to push the boat, but young William showed us how it was done.

He was very pleased with himself. It was a very good, entertaining show, Martha and William both enjoyed it.

We ate lunch at Albert’s Shed, which isn’t a shed, but a restaurant built on the site of a shed once owned by a popular local man, named Albert.

The excessive rain recently also affected the local canal network. Lock 92 on Rochdale Canal, in Castlefield, was overflowing copiously.

From our flat, we can see when the car has misted up inside, even though there’s nobody breathing in it. We’re both upstairs and unless someone’s squatting in our vehicle, why would it steam up like that? Well, Liesel went out one day and sent me a message: The car was misted up inside because the rear window was cracked. How did that happen? Did I slam the back door too hard onto a suitcase or something? Had someone driven into the back of the car? How big a crack, I hadn’t noticed?

But no, Liesel didn’t mean the glass was damaged. What she meant was that of the rear windows was very slightly opened, letting cold air in. It’s easy to blame the children, they often wind down the rear windows, but we usually check afterwards and close them. So, even after all these years, Liesel and I can still have linguistic misunderstandings. Separated by a common language, as they say. Cracked ≠ cracked open!

I would like to describe our lovely, long, Winter walks in Northenden and beyond, but the new year has begun in a much more sedentary manner than we would normally enjoy. In other words, we’ve pretty much stayed indoors.

In the radio show this week, on the occasion of what would have been David’s 77th birthday, I played two hours of songs by people who have worked with or who have been associated with him. Happy birthday David! Celebrate with David here.

The good news is, there are now over 100 Mick’s Music Mix shows on Mixcloud, so you can spend over eight days listening, without interruption, without sleep, without food, at the end of which you might not feel very well but at least you will have achieved something.

Betwixtmas

Not much happened in Northenden this week. Unless, that is, you count the weather. More wind and more rain, leading to a swollen River Mersey. This week, we welcomed Storm Gerrit. But as it’s now the end of the year, there’ll be some photos of the extended family.

Yes, Anchorage is still knee-deep in snow and yes, it looks pretty, but if the temperature is about 0°F, or -17°C, I’m sorry but I just don’t want to be there. Brrr!

Meanwhile, in Australia, Helen is spending Christmas with Brent and his family up north, Brisbane, a city that I have visited twice so far, but never really seen, because it’s been a mad dash to get to the airport!

I borrowed the picture from Helen’s Instagram (you don’t mind, do you, Helen?).

I spent Christmas Day afternoon over in Cheadle Hulme, with Martha and William, oh, and their Mummy and Daddy, and their other grandparents, Nana and Papa, Una and Alan. The children’s piles of presents were very neat, and when both of them were building Lego on the floor, I made sure to sit very still to keep my feet nice and safe.

Our Christmas meal was at a local Indian restaurant. For a long time, we had the place to ourselves, but other parties did roll up eventually. The food was lovely, and there was so much of it! All we needed was Liesel to help eat it.

On Boxing Day, I visited Una and Alan at their house for a more traditional Christmas dinner. Turkey for the carnivores and nut roast for us veggies. Una worked very hard, I reckon she must have started prepping all that food in about October. Thanks very much for having us! Not only us, but their other grandchildren, Annabel and Emily, and their Mum and Dad, Andrea and Paul. Eleven of us altogether, and again, Liesel was missed.

The children had all taken over some of their presents. But I must admit, I did find it funny that William also spent so much time trying on some of his Papa’s old clothes!

Martha enjoyed making some potions, and we enjoyed watching videos of her observing the chemical reactions.

How the heck this visitor stayed clinging onto the window in the gale is beyond me. He managed to photobomb an otherwise pretty sunset. This might have been the night when I hardly slept at all: both the wind and the rain were so loud. It turns out that just a few miles away in Stalybridge, a tornado had damaged over 100 properties. Blimey.

One of my walks this week was terminated early because of a sudden downpour. And at least one person called me a wimp for not venturing out in such torrential rain. If I want to get that wet, I’ll have a warm shower at home, thanks, whether I need it or not!

Preparing this week’s radio show was a bittersweet experience. I wanted to remember and celebrate the many great musicians and singer-songwriters who died in 2023, some ridiculously young. Wythenshawe Radio WFM 97.2 played a two-hour version of the show, but you can hear very nearly three hours of Mick’s Memorial Music Mix Mixcloud.

I haven’t had a major fight with technology for a while, but I did this week. Liesel is a big fan of our air fryer, which also has a pressure cooker. I’ve used the air fryer to ‘cook’ things, but I don’t know, it doesn’t seem as real as cooking in the oven or something. But this week, I thought I’d make leek and potato soup in the pressure cooker. All went well, except, when it was finished, the machine displayed the message ‘Do not open the lid’. I didn’t want to open the lid prematurely and scald myself with highly pressurised steam, so I waited. And waited. And waited. Until I realised, it would have been faster to boil up the concoction in a proper saucepan on the hob, like I usually do. Eventually, I donned my protective gear and opened the lid. Barely a fizz of released steam. The soup was OK but I think it would have been better if I were granted access to it a little earlier. It was good enough to have again the following day, so I don’t know why I’m complaining, really. Actually, yes I do: it’s potentially dangerous to display misleading messages which you can get used to ignoring. There you go, one final moan for 2023.

2023, that went fast. A year in which I walked about 1677 miles, not the best ever. And I read about 31 books. Which is alright, but that number is dwarfed by my list of books to read one, recommendations from friends and family.

Happy New Year to family, freinds and strangers, I hope 2024 brings you lots of love, laughter, joy, peace and sunshine.

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.

Techno, heck, no

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not one but two Marthas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Berries and Monsters

Liesel and I went our separate ways on Saturday morning. I went for a short walk near home and visited the bread shop in Didsbury. Even though the queue was out of the door and round the corner, I waited patiently because the almond croissants here are delicious.

Meanwhile, Liesel went into Manchester where she encountered some monsters. Scary stuff. (Said the monsters when they saw Liesel 😉 )

Liesel joined a group of people for a long walk starting in Mills Hill near Oldham, a part of the world that we’d never visited before. And what a nice walk it was, with a friend and a lot of strangers.

We did go out for a few walks together though this week, we weren’t really trying to avoid each other.

Burnage Rugby Football Club car park was flooded. There is a massive drainage issue here.

But this was the meeting point for a walk along the Mersey towards Stockport and back. Along the river, so it was flat, no undulations to speak of. The Autumn colours are pretty but the sign for Heaton Mersey Bleach Works seemed a lot less romantic. We stopped for a break within sight of the Stockport Pyramid, something we’ve not seen for a few years, although we had driven by it on many occasions.

The return walk was maybe a bit more leisurely: it’s funny how you notice different things. And have time to take more photos.

One day, maybe, we’ll walk the whole of the Trans Pennine Trail, but meanwhile, seeing short segments from time to time will have to do.

Back at the rugby club, we had a cup of coffee and some of Gwyneth’s delicious cake.

The walk from Poynton to Bramhall was good too, and not only because we had to catch a train. It was a cloudy day, but the threatened rain didn’t materialise.

I didn’t even know there was a lake at Poynton, but there is, and we all went skinny dipping.

No, we didn’t, that would have been a cold, horrible experience. Similarly, none of us were brave enough to cross the stream on these stepping stones.

In the evening, I was one of just a few special people who attended an event organised by Thrive Manchester and Factory International. It was a discussion about AI, taking its cue from the film The Matrix and the show we saw last week, Free Your Mind. In the process, pictures were generated of Jeremy Corbyn riding an elephant and the Pope smoking a joint. That’s what AI was invented for.

As I walked to and from the venue, I passed by several Trick or Treaters, some in really creative outfits. Further afield of course, Martha and William dressed up scarily too.

And then back at home, I enjoyed Jessica Lee Morgan and Christian Thomas poerform some spooky songs online.

I think we’ve been to Formby at least once every year since we’ve lived up north. But not this year, until now. It was another Walkaday walk, and involved more train rides, after a drive to Southport.

This was where we caught the train to Formby. From where we walked to Freshfields, and then took the return train to Southport. The walking route took us to the beach, along the beach, over the dunes and through some woods where we hoped, but failed, to see red squirrels.

Whenever I go to the seaside, I still find it exciting to see the sea for the first time. Coming out of the woods though also exposed us to seemingly gale force winds. Storm Ciarán was battering the south of the country and the Channel Islands, but it was also very windy here.

The wind turbines were spinning a lost faster than usual, and we watched a couple of tankers fighting the ocean waves.

Fortunately, we walked along the beach from south to north, with the wind at our backs. The tide was high, the sea was rough. So we all went skinny dipping. No, of course we didn’t. Nobody would be daft enough to go in the sea today, surely? Well…

The grass was holding the dunes in place, mostly, but there are a couple of bald patches that I don’t recall seeing before.

It was still windy when we stopped for our lunch break and while Liesel and some others remained standing to eat their picnics, I and a few others decided to sit under the boardwalk by the lifeguard’s station. That was a big mistake on my part. Yes, I ate in relative calm but there were longer term side effects.

I managed to get a grain of sand in my eye, right at the last minute, just was we turned off the beach, out of the wind, to walk over the dunes and into the woods known as Squirrel Walk. I tried to rinse out the object, but the public toilet that we found didn’t have proper wash basins nor mirrors. All I could do was try not to rub too much.

After catching a train back to Southport, the drive back home was long. It was dark, we passed a couple of accidents, there was a lot of ‘rush hour’ traffic. And when I got out of the car at home, I realised my back was in a bad way. Probably from crouching and contorting under that boardwalk, just to shelter from the wind for a few minutes. I think that was the hardest, longest walk up the stairs since we moved here. Despite that, I had a shower, trying to rinse what felt like half the beach out of my eye. It didn’t work. All I could do was go to bed, lie down, close my eyes and feel sorry for myself.

Next day, my eye felt better but my back was still not right. Once I find a comfortable position, I just want to stay there forever. And even though I know that, probably, going for a walk will be good for me, I didn’t leave the flat for the rest of the week. Liesel went out for a couple of walks though.

Some good news though: Wythenshawe Radio is now broadcast on DAB across south Manchester, Stockport, Tameside and parts of Cheshire and the High Peak. So if you’re in those areas, and you have a fairly modern DAB radio, not old like ours, please tune in!

The theme for my show this week was Occupations. If you missed it, you can catch up here on Mixcloud.