What's the largest brick built structure in the UK?

The answer, of course, is the Stockport railway viaduct.

The 27 arches took 21 months and 11,000,000 bricks to build. At the peak of building activity 600 men were employed, and it opened in June 1840.In 1890 is was expanded to allow more line to be laid.

What does this picture tell you? That I need to get a lens hood for this camera. That's what

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Yesterday had an exciting start as I went to buy a new bulb for the cooker hood. #livingthedream

I then headed into Stockport to see if I could summon up some exciting images on a cold and blowy winters day. I parked up at my normal place in Middle Hillgate (not far from the famous Strawberry Studios) and had a wander.

Plenty of Spaces

This is the car park that sits between the viaduct (I went onto the top floor to take the pic at the top of this page) and the A6 by Debenhams. It needed a single car parked down at the end, of a figure, but I quite liked the light falling through the gaps in the concrete.

Seen Better Days

This is, or was, a pub at the side of the A6 near Merseyway and if I remember correctly at one time was called "Ups and Downs", or something similar. The roadway is high related to the building and there is a floor below road level.

Steps

These steps link - I think - Great Underbank with Lower Hillgate in Stockport and one of the things I always try to get an image of. It need figures on the stairs so that the leading lines of the steps take you somewhere.

This final picture is a bit pants, but when you have a strongly lit foreground, with a dark and stormy sky, you have to make an image whether it has merit or not.

Sofa and Caravan

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Gel was delivering one her wildly well received "Life Planning for the Over Fifties" workshops at the Guild so I picked her up when it finished and we went to the cinema. We've had a splurge of film going recently and we've seen The Revenent, The Big Short, (I saw) Hateful Eight, and then last night we went to see Spotlight.

A film about the team at the Boston Globe uncovering the abuse of children by Catholic priests, and the subsequent cover up by the church. Very powerful. Well acted. The second film - The Big Short - in which institutional cover ups play a large part. Perhaps all those "looney" conspiracy theorists might not be so mad after all....
See it.

Friday on my mind

I'm getting back into the swing of a daily blog, the wheels having fallen off a bit over Christmas. The habit I'm trying to ingrain is to write early(ish) in the day describing the events of the full previous day.

That having been said, in thinking about yesterday, I have no idea what I did in the morning beyond sending Pheebs off on her Philosophy retreat in the Lake District.

Whatever I did first thing, and it can't have been very exciting so don't think you're missing anything, the second part of the day kicked off when I picked Gel up from downtown Wilmslow*.

We headed off into Manchester. The initial reason for our trip was voided, but Gel needed to visit some the craft shops in the city centre (Abakhan, Fred Aldous, Affleck's Palace), and I'll always take ANY opportunity to take some pics.

We parked up at Dale Street and wandered towards the Northern Quarter from there. It's a much more interesting route into the city centre than simply following the crowds into, and through, Piccadilly.

We arrived in the middle of the day, so our first act was to find somewhere to eat. This meant our first visit to The Soup Kitchen on Spear Street. I had heard good reports about this place from the same person who told me about "Lord of the Pies" in Stockport so I felt confident in their taste (he's a city fan so his taste isn't faultless). Thanks Matt.

Gel had a big bowl of Spinach and Parsnip soup.

I had a mug of Leek and Potato soup, and an Egg Mayo roll.

Really nice. I think we'll visit there again.

While Gel headed off crafting, I headed off to part of town I haven't really tried out before - the area of Ancoats on the other side of Great Ancoats Street to the city centre. First off I took a selfie in the mirrored windows of the old Express print building.

I then headed back to my favourite place around the Northern Quarter (Thomas Street).

and a footballer in a headscarf in Piccadilly

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In the evening I had a diary clash, so went up to the Guild to set up the DVD/Projector, and introducing the film - Fargo - before whizzing back home to watch the mighty Man U rolling over a hapless Derby County.....Rose tinted specs provided courtesy of LvG plc.

.;lv
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*I was listening to the radio on the morning that it was announced that Glenn Frey of Eagles had passed away. Nicky Campbell was describing that he is reminded of "Take it Easy" every time he's waiting at Piccadilly Station in Manchester and hears announcements for Wilmslow - "Well I'm tanding on a corner in Wilmslow, Arizona / It's such a fine sight to see / It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed / Ford slowin' down to take a look at me".

Ambient 1/ Music for Airports

That's the album that's burbling away in the background as I type this.

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I woke up yesterday morning
Duh duh duh duh-duh.
I didn't have the blues
My woman hadn't done left me.
Duh duh duh duh-duh.

My dog wasn't dead either 

Duh duh duh duh-duh.

And as I opened the curtain I saw Mike, our next-door-but-one neighbour scraping ice off his windscreen (windshield for those of you in the US). This made me wonder whether going for a ride was a sensible thing. It's not the cold, although I'm wild about being cold on me bike, it's the ice. 

I already have a fear about sliding about on painted road markings, and throwing ice into the mix does not make me feel comfortable. However, a more detailed survey of the environ showed that there didn't appear to be ice on the road, so I changed into my gear and prepared to go. 

The decking was VERY slippy, so I was quite pleased that I'd adopted a cautious approach to leaving the house, else I'd have been on me bum within a foot of exiting the back door.

Once I got out it was a lovely winter morning. Clear, sunny, cool and not too much wind, although, once again, what there was came into my face for the first 2/3rds of the route. 

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A quick shower and a bowl of porridge and I was off for my first engagement of the day. Coffee with Neill and Mark. Mark's not had a good time over recent months - if you know Mark you'll know what I mean, if you don't, it's not important. This was a good chance to catch up.

As you'd expect with three middle aged men, there was a lot of bollocks talked, and that was splendid. There was a little bit of advice and empathy knocking about too, but mostly bollocks.

We've planned to meet up again in two weeks and talk more bollocks. Yay!

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Boo was miffed that I only put a picture of Poussey in the other day, and since I have to put at least one pic in blog each day, I can fix that oversight now.

Blood, gore, and the n-word

Yes, it's a Quentin Tarantino film.

Kurt Russell as John "The Hangman" Ruth.

Yesterday I took up Andy's invitation for a chaps night at the flicks, and we went to see "Hateful Eight", the new offering from QT.

There was a time when I got it into my head that QT wasn't actually any good, and that it was style over substance. Last night I sat in a cinema for 3 hours and 7 minutes, for a film principally set in a single room, which had a pretty consistent pace throughout (no cars chases, no dropping photon torpedoes into ventilation shafts), and I was glued to it. There's no way that could be the case if all he was good for was style over substance. I have to say this was a magnificent piece of film making.

Would I watch it again? Probably not. But then that's true of Momento and Usual Suspects. To my mind they're fantastic films, but ones you can only see once.

In typical QT style there were liberal amounts of blood and gore, some of which had the audience laughing out loud at the sheer volume and audacity of it. There was also - and I want to use a word that is greater than 'liberal' here but can't think of one - liberal use of the n-word. Neither of these things were gratuitous, even if its use .

The major female character in the film takes a bit of a beating, but that too seems in keeping with the story. She ain't a nice person.

The performances were great, even Tim Roth's posh Englishman didn't grate as much as I thought it would. Had any of the performances not been up to it, then the film as a whole couldn't have sustained my interest.

I would suggest you go see it at the cinema, for two reasons. The first being that it's a long film, and there can be too many distractions at home which may draw you away. The second reason is that QT filmed this in 70mm Panavision, and is designed to be seen BIG. Even though it's filmed inside, the bigness of it really works well. You may have a HUGE tv at home, but there's nothing like the shared experience in front of a giant projected image.

Go see it.

Phantom Ride II

A few weeks ago I posed a question about bike rides undertaken without starting ones monitor app, and whether they existed or not. Thankfully the responses I got were "of course they do".

Well I've finally migrated over onto my new iPhone, after a bit of faffing about with 3, and yesterday went out for my first iPhone 6 ride. I started my app, and stopped it when I got back, so the ride is recorded. However, it didn't ask whether or not I wanted to show off share the stats on FaceBook, so it's a semi-Phantom ride.

The ride itself was ok, in that I didn't feel weak or tired, but the wind was strong all the way into Knutsford and across to Ollerton. This meant that I was cycling into a headwind for the first 2/3rds of the ride.

The upside, of course, is that on the stretch down the A34 Alderly by-pass I flew. That's a great piece of tarmac to do it on too.

I've added a short bit to the end of my ride to take it to just over 20 miles, and this means my times are a bit longer. The route takes me through downtown Wilmslow where I am usually stopped at the traffic lights, so the time is extended even more.

This is only really a pain if I'm in a hurry (which isn't usually the case) but what it does do is extend my"thinking time". When I'm out on my bike I find it a great opportunity to let my mind wander. I'm concentrating on the route, the prevailing weather, the traffic, and so there's plenty of space to let my subconscious get to work. I don't think about things in a structured way, but I can feel it just trundling away in the background.

I often compile lists of things I need to do, or should write about in the blog, but find that I don't always retain the lists in full. A few months ago when it was National Poetry Day, I decided that I'd try to compile a blog in verse. Realising that I had this tendency to have great sparks of genius (ahem) and then forget them, every time I came up with a theme or thought of (what I though was) a clever rhyme I stopped and recorded the thoughts on the voice memo app on the phone.

Perhaps I need to ride with headphones on (not listening because that's dangerous) and ask Siri to record my thoughts as I whizz along.

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Why is is that the moment I've finished cleaning the cat litter, one of them pops in to use it straight away? #boothistime

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During the summer, for the last twenty years or so I've played softball in the Manchester Softball League. One of the many people I've played with over the last few years is Meha who, it turns out, is a very talented artist.

Last night we visited the Manchester Creative Studio in the Northern Quarter for a preview of a wonderful piece of public art from Meha. She was asked to create one her Manchester skyscapes for the foyer area. She also had a number of her other works on display too.

Considering you can't normally stop me whipping my camera out, I am at a loss to explain why I didn't take any pics last night.

I love creativity, and when you see it so well done by someone you know, it means that little bit more. I don't like this work simply because it's by someone I know. I like this because it's great.

Visit Meha's Etsy store and see if there's something you might like --> Meha's Etsy Store.

It was nice to see Zoe, Kara, Keeley and Becci (who is a blog reader - thank you) too.

Grump

Yesterday morning I had to take Poussey back for her Post-op check up number one (there's another one scheduled for next Monday). I can see how his is important in some cases, but both her and Boo have been right as rain ever since they cam back home. She's not been fussing with her stitches and has been full of beans since she got back. Well after 24 hours of being back, I think it's fair to say she was a bit woozy for the first day.

However, it was a mighty wrestle to get her in the cat carrier. Squealing, forcing her way out, and running away under the bed. She then howled all the way there, and all the way back.

Gel said that when I left the house Boo was very concerned that she'd gone. Very confused. When she got back there was a bit of hissing. Whether it was that he was pissed that she'd gone without him, or that she smelled a bit of the vets we'll never know. He's not saying.

Before we got Boo and Poussey the cat  timeline was (in reverse order of decline) Pouncer Elizabeth Crawford, Apple Griffiths and Mac Griffiths. Mac, or Maccie (Macky? Mackie?) as we preferred to call him, was a completely white cat and as gormless as they come. Incredibly good natured, but without thought passing through that cranium. When I was a kid we lived in Nairobi and had another cat, Willy, and my recollection of him was that he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic too.

It's always dangerous to project the emotions and memories of old pets onto new ones, but I can't help think that Boo seems to be the next in a long line of thoroughly nice, but dim, cats. I'm the common denominator here. I wonder if that's something I should be concerned about....

Anyway, I'm always happy to put pictures of the cats in my blog, on the slightest pretext. Look at him. The lights are on, but no one is home....

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The midday portion of the day yesterday was taken up with a delivery of another sort. Just before Christmas there was an accident in our house in which a glass of pineapple juice was spilled onto a laptop. Not an unusual incident across this great nation of ours.

I reported the accident to our (new) insurance company and, when requested, sent the device off for analysis - repair or replace? This was before Christmas and we are only just close to a conclusion.

The insurance company employ a third party to look after "tech" things and this company reported back that the laptop hadn't been used since 18th Sept. This confused the hell out of me since the laptop belongs to Pheebs and I know full well that she'd been using it all the time up until the accident. Had there been a problem before then, she'd have come straight to me. Can you imagine a teenager not using a laptop for three months?

What I did know was that the last time I'd logged on was in mid-late September when I upgraded the RAM to 16Gb, so I could see where the mistake was being made as I'd provided my login details to allow them to access the machine.

After much to-ing and fro-ing with me (bearing in mind I've been using Apple products for nearly 25 years, and I work in IT, so I had plenty of advice to offer) the third party decided they couldn't find any evidence and returned the laptop to me.

Yesterday I took the laptop to an Apple Authorised Reseller in Media City called Jigsaw24 and within a couple of hours provided me with a report showing the computer had been used up until the accident.

Let's see how the insurance company respond to this.

If you have an Apple product, or want to buy one, I'd happily recommend Jigsaw24. They are based in a building called The Greenhouse near Booths. It's a building full of small office spaces designed for startup companies. More beardy blokes in check shirts than you can shake a stick at.

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Very exciting edition of University Challenge yesterday. Watch it on catch up and see two teams, both with an average age of 19, battling mightily.

Saturday night's alright for fighting

Friday, Gel and I went to an afternoon screening of The Big Short. The story of how some investors in the US realised the property market was just about to fall into an abyss, and went about trying to benefit from it (while at the same time realising what the impact on real people would be). To 'short' something is to bet that it will fall in value rather than rise. Great performances, good witty and informative script, terrible indictment of Wall Street.

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I found myself completely free on Saturday, so had a think about how I would spend my time.....photographically speaking, of course.

I had to pick up a parcel from near Handforth, so had an idea I'd simply press on from there and take some street shots in Stockport. But then Gel had the most fantastic suggestion. Why not faff around outside Old Trafford before their home game versus Southampton.

I first went to Old Trafford in 1972 or 73, I don't remember precisely. I do, however, have a very strong memory of walking up the concrete steps inside K stand (the Scoreboard End) and seeing this vibrant green sward, and huge stadium, opening up before my eyes. It was sunny and the grass was very green, so I guess that it must have been at the start of the 1972, or 1973 season. I do remember - a different occasion, another early attendance at OT - which was the last game that Bobby Charlton played at Old Trafford (Wikipedia tells me that was 28th April 1973). What I can't fix is whether the "sward" game was before or after it.

The 1974-75 season was the one they spent in the old 2nd Division, and the one that we started to go regularly to games. Over the next 30 years I went to almost all home games, so I was pretty familiar with the stadium and how to get there. But what we never did was wander around taking in the atmos. With the exception of some of the early games where we went in as the  turnstiles opened, we generally went there and back home in the most efficient way possible. No time faffing round the outside. So Saturday was in some ways familiar, and yet a little new.

The ground and surrounding area has changed significantly since my first visit. Larger capacity, no standing areas any more, more open spaces around the ground (with opportunities to sell food and souvenirs). I guess when I first started going there the Old Trafford area still had quite a bit of business still being undertaken. The Munich memorial has been moved from near the directors entrance, to the front of the ground.

I'm jumping ahead....to get to the ground I parked up in Stretford and took the tram one stop to Old Trafford (home of LCCC).

Now when I was a lad, the station outside OT (LCCC) was called Warwick Road, and you walked along Warwick Road to get to OT (MUFC).  We even sang a song that ended "Walking down the Warwick Road......to see Matt Busby's aces". Now the tram stop is called Old Trafford, and to get to the footy ground you walk along Brian Statham Way, Warwick Road AND Sir Matt Busby Way. All the same road.

So I wandered along towards the ground taking  few shots of the unofficial souvenir sellers along the route.

On arriving at the ground, I then circled it a few times looking for interesting shots, and struggled mightily. Settling, mostly on pictures of the many many unofficial souvenir sellers.

Why would you by a scarf with your opponents name on it? 

I knew that the area that once had the entrance to the Stretford Paddock (where I stood for a few seasons) is where the players entrance now is, so I thought I might hang about to see what's what. When I first went there the crowds were thin and the stewards told me that the team coaches would be arriving in an hour and a half. I wasn't prepared to stand that long on the off chance of a shot so I ambled round a bit more. By the time I came back the crown had swelled reducing my chances of a shot to zero, given that the coaches drew right up to the stand and the players dash straight in.

I did know that once the team coaches have dropped off their load, then you do get the occasional injured player wandering past, so I came back after the coaches and the barriers had been moved in. In the 20 minutes I was there only Michael Carrick came by.

Bit of a crap shot.

I had a chat with a photographer with MUTV at the front of the ground (a West Ham fan) and decided to call it a day, and headed back towards the tram

On my way back up Sir Matt Busby way, a Southampton fan cheerily greeted a policewoman who formed part of the cordon as you approach Old Trafford:

Him: "Aye up love, you ok?"
Her: "Yes thank. You?"
Him: "Just come for three points"

And I thought, "Oh yeah. Suuuuuure." You'd have thought I'd know better by now. Another dull performance, and this time not even a point to show for it.

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After a poor afternoon, from both a photographic and football perspective, I cheered myself up by watching a film about a load of people dying (or losing fingers and toes) on Mt Everest (Everest, Jason Clarke and Jake Gyllenhall) . It was quite good.

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Sunday was another quiet day. We had bought a splendid crackling covered pork joint from Costco as Caitlin and Andy were coming over. I wanted to have a proper go at making proper crunchy crackling. It worked beautifully, and added to the "Jamie Roast Potatoes" method for doing the spuds, made for a fine repast....though I say it myself.

Pheebs was out shooting her latest video with her friends in Manchester, so keep an eye out for that when it hits the streets.

Post op

Well, I fretted and fretted until the vet confirmed that they were both out of surgery and were fine. Phew.

We went up to pick them up at 4pm (having dropped them off just before 9am). The nurse said what nice cats they were, and that they were doing well but would be a bit woozy for maybe 24 hours.

They both looked a little pathetic in the carrier, and when we got home they were slow to emerge. Poussey has a shaved bit on her flank, Boo is just a little lighter around the rear end. Lighter in weight, you get me?

She has been a little more restrained in her return to the house. He, on the other hand, has been thundering around like nothing has happened.

Doesn't look unduly traumatised, does he?

She's taking it a bit easier. Note the shaved patch on her side.

She needs to go back for a Post-Op check up on Monday, as hers was a proper operation. We just need to keep an eye on them for a few days.

Then we need to think about the process of letting them go out. Now THATs proper scary.

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If you aren't a FaceBook friend then you might have missed out on me posting a stunning piece of work by Pheebs.

It's part of her A-Level Art development. Fineliner on paper. She's pretty proud of it, and with good reason. I'm proud of her too.

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The observant amongst you will have noticed a lack of "what my ride was like" posts recently. That's because I haven't been on any since just before my chemo last week.

It's been quite cold, and I've had a numb foot. Peripheral neuropathy, which is a side effect of the chemo, and I was warned may occur. That and a bit extra tiredness have put me off. But today, I went out and had a ride. It's a little warmer, but this morning was blowy and half way round the heavens opened. Wet as a wet thing when I got back, but felt great having got out there and done it. Feel very superior.

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iPhone 6S. Just before Christmas marked the 25th anniversary of my return (after only 4 or 5 months away) to TSB (then LTSB, now LBG) and to mark that occasion they gave me £250 to spend. That's nice.

As it happens it coincided nicely with my Vodafone contract ending so I put the money to a sim-free handset and got a PAYG 3 Mobile sim. No more two year contracts. I'm a very light phone user these days, and if I find PAYG doesn't work there are always plenty of monthly contracts I can step into.

Perhaps I should have turned my back on technology like this guy. Left his job in Downing Street to move to California and start up a company, hasn't owned a phone (smart of otherwise) since 2012.

How much is that doggie in the window?

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had a confluence of events which normally would be nice spread across a week, but instead I had to fit into one rather long and tiring day. If that sounds like a moan, and that I'm ungrateful, then please forgive me, it isn't meant sound like that. I'm blessed that people are looking out for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself (tinged with a bit of sadness).

Why sadness? Well, first thing in the morning I headed off into the throbbing metropolis that is Manchester to meet up with a friend G. G works for the same organisation as I, but is leaving next month. This normally wouldn't be an issue, other than he is moving back to his home city of New York.

I first met G when he came to our office in Manchester to give a presentation. I really warmed to his open and friendly style of presenting, and so at the end of the talk I went up to introduce myself and offer an opinion about the topic under discussion. We immediately clicked and talked about stuff other than work and ever since we've had a professional and personal relationship.

And now he's deserting me, and just because he wants to go back home and be with his wife. How selfish!   :0))

We had a good walk around the city centre and I showed off a few of our gems - the Northern Quarter (we had a nice coffee in North Tea Power), the Royal Exchange, the Town Hall, the Peveril of the Peak, and we had our final coffee before parting at Home.

Of course, we may not meet again in person, but thanks to this clever interwebs thing, we'll keep in touch.

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After we parted I headed off to my next engagement by a slighty indirect route. I was plenty early and I thought I might see if there a couple of pics to be had on the way. In the Northern Quarter I came across this mighty beast strutting its stuff in a shop window.

I wanted to get a shot from "straight on" but of course this was tricky without reflecting myself in the window, so I settled for this less than pleasing 'angled' view.

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Media City, Salford

Imperial War Museum North, Salford

My second event of the day was courtesy of Caitlin who works on the production staff for BBC Radio Drama in Salford. I was invited in to studio to watch while a play was being recorded. They also needed some bodies to provide a "crowd" so I was making my dramatic debut.

The play they were (are, because it's continuing today) recording is called "Trial by Laughter" and was written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, and the writers were in the studio. One of the reasons they were there is to help with the editing, in that the slot available for the play to be broadcast is 60 minutes and if the total amount of time taken to record all the scenes was greater that 60 minutes they needed to indicate what could be cut. If the time was less that 60 minutes then they needed to write some more to fill the time...

As it happens they are going to have to cut something. As a very poor editor of my own (photographic) work, I envy them that task. I think, however, they have done this before so I shouldn't worry.

Radio plays are recorded out of sequence - unless there are compelling reasons not to. This play will take two days to record, and if they can ensure that actors can do there bit in one of those days the recording order is tailed to accommodate that. It saves money if you can pay an actor for only one days work rather than two.

This also means that the actors are picking up different parts of the play in random order, and having to work out where they are in the emotional flow and 'emote' accordingly. This play is a comedy and so in this case I suspect it was a little bit easier, but I image if the play is dramatic, with the emotions building to a climax, that this presents quite a challenge.

The recording is done in a studio which consists of a performance space with microphones and curtains and other devices for controlling the sound in that space, and a control room which there are two banks of desks. The first bank, closest to the window which allows the control room staff to watch the performance (along with some remote cameras), is the mixing desk. The second desk, at the back of the control room, is where the writers (Nick and Ian), producer (Gary), Production staff (Caitlin), and hangers on (me) sit.

In some ways the process worked as I'd imagined, only a bit more so. There was a great feeling of camaraderie and collaboration. It really felt like a great team effort. The performances were great. The actors get the script beforehand, but only have one read through before committing the work to tape.

Recording the crowd scenes was fun if a little daunting for me as a rookie. We had to titter, laugh, guffaw, stamp, cheer, express surprise, distaste, and, the hardest, we had to "listen intently" for two minutes. I became very self conscious towards the end of the two minutes.

The play will be broadcast on Saturday 27th Jan, on Radio 4 in the afternoon (2:30 - 3:30 I think). Have a listen it's very funny and brings to life and important but little know man - William Hone.

--

After recording had finished for the day, I went for my final appointment. A curry with some chaps from work at The Tiffin Rooms in Cheadle. It was really nice to catch up with the guys and the food was sublime. Thanks MS, AM, KB, BB, and DO'S for a splendid end to a long and interesting day.

--

Tomorrow the cats go off to be neutered/speyed and I caught up with them to find out what they thought....

"I'm having me what cut off?"

"Revenge is a dish best served cold..."

Different characters, eh?

Walking in the snow

On Saturday evening, while sitting in front of the TV (watching a documentary about Wilco Johnson), I lifted the blind in the living room to see a sight I've been waiting for all winter. I made sure all my camera batteries were charged, and planted the idea of a morning walk in the head of my beloved.

Come the following morning, and a look outside was a bit of a curate's egg. There had been some overnight, but not a great deal, and it looked very much like it was melting.....

We wrapped up and set off anyway, as a good walk is a good walk whatever the weather. We headed off into the countryside and had a really good walk, watching a kestrel hunting for a while, and trying to work out whether the footprints in the snow were of animals of interest.

There is a path that runs down the side of the peat bogs and it has a view which I've used before. It has a lead-in line and really benefits from a figure for your eye to rest on. Thankfully, it is a regular route for dog walkers, so I didn't have to shoo Gel off to act as a model.

As you can see the snow was a bit paltry.

We took a different path to the one we'd normally use, and ended up having had a nice circular walk.

Here is Gel, all wrapped up against the cold.

A little over 10,000 steps.

Cold cold ground

Here's a quick grab shot I took on the way home from Derbyshire the other day.

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This morning was bright and cold, so we decided that to wander out to Wilmslow's very own Artisan Market. I love being out in the cold when it's like this.

Of course we had to support the stall holders....Cheese, pie, quiche. and pastry were purchased. Nom nom nom

Then this afternoon we went to the Curzon cinema in Knutsford to see Leonardo DiCaprio getting a good seeing to by a bear in The Revenent. I like Leonardo, and I loved the directors last film - Birdman - so it was an easy decision. As the film has only just hit the cinema screens in this country, I don't want to tell you too much about the film. However,  would say that it definitely gets the thumbs up, and the 2 1/2 hours flies by. Go see it.

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Looks like the winter is trying to finally get going.

I'm not convinced. We need more snow, or cold, or both.

Ding ding ding

Yesterday was the last chemo of the six originally prescribed. There is a large silver 'fire bell' just by the door of the treatment centre, and people leaving after their last treatment are encouraged to give it three hearty rings. So I did.

When I have my chemo, as regular readers know, the night before consists of little, or no, sleep. This was the case again this time around, so I knew I was going to to be dosing myself with Night Nurse and needed to keep busy during the day, in case I fell asleep and my rhythms were disturbed. Overnight there were reports of 'wintry weather' so I wondered if it was worth trying to find some photogenic winteryness.

I headed off from Manchester up the A6 hoping that Lyme Park might be under a dusting.....no luck. That was disappointing and I had pre-visualised The Cage surrounded by a lovely blanket of crisp snow. Red deer building snowdeers and throwing snowballs (I have an active imagination).

I pressed on heading towards Buxton, and as I reached Whaley Bridge I saw the tops of the hills were covered with a light dusting of icing sugar. Bingo! I pushed on to the edge of the Derbyshire Dales to a place called Sparrowpit, which is small and famous for an incredible hairpin bend in the road which scares the bejaysus out of you the first time you encounter it - especially if you are coming from the east.

I find in these situations that as soon as I stumble across even a vaguely photographic opportunity I pounce on it with the theory that if I pass up this (first) opportunity - however scrawny - I might miss out. So I parked up at Sparrowpit and took a picture of a snow tree.

Not the greatest picture by any means, but at least I had one under my belt. A little further up the road was a small copse bounded by a dry stone wall, which made for a weird composition which even with a bit of cropping in photoshop still doesn't look quite right.

I liked the snow blown on to the outer edges of the tree trunks and branches. I probably need to lose a bit more foreground.

I took a few more shots of a broken down old barn, but they didn't really work, so I headed off to get some dinner. I chose to move on about three miles from Sparrowpit to a small truckstop called The Yonderman Cafe, where I'd had brekkie on a previous scouting mission.

What surprised me a little is that about a mile and half on from Sparrowpit, the snow just disappeared. Green rolling hills and stone walls and not a drop of snow. Some snow was evident on the far hills but nothing in between. A little oasis of snowlessness.

Anyway, at the cafe I had a splendid repast.

Steak and onion pie, chips, peas and gravy. Northern boys just love gravy.

I had intended to visit the small village of Litton, which is about a mile from the cafe where I had sussed out some locations a few months ago, but I could see this was going to be fruitless as there weren't no snow. So I headed back towards Sparrowpit and turned off on the road to Wheston which was another location I'd scoped last year.

I parked up, put me wellies on and headed off up the hill. The temperature gauge on the car told me it was about 1 degree but with the windchill it felt much colder. Nice as the sun was out, but definitely cold.

I found my way to a rather nice lone tree and had a go at taking a few shots, balanced precariously on a dry stone wall to get the whole thing in. I also used, for the first time, my red filter (this is something we monochrome photographers need to use as we can't do clever stuff in photoshop with a pure mono image).

Quite pleased with that, but feel perhaps I need to get a bit more of the stile in the foreground in the shot. That's going to require a bit more precarious dry stone wall balancing.

There were some more places I could try close by, but I decided to head off to see what the snow was like near Castleton. Rather spookily, as I drove close to the Blue John mines an article on Radio 4 started talking about.....the Blue John mines. Eeek!

And the answer to the snow question was, "quite nice". It was drifting in the high wind too. I quite like this image of Mam Tor with the big sky and the side of the hill bathed in sunlight. I also like that if you peer closely, you can see people climbing up the ridge towards the trig point on the summit.

I checked out another couple of locations for future opportunities and then headed back home on the road to Chapel-en-le-Frith, where I came across this little valley with a farm in it. I found a place to park up, and took a few more shots. The light wasn't perfect, and it was a pain to find a good place to get a decent composition (I tried getting the lane to the farm as a lead-in but it didn't work) but I quite like this one. Maybe a bit more off the sky....

I returned home, had some nice warm house, some home made chicken soup and, at the end of the evening, some Night Nurse and a FANTASTIC nights kip.

T-i-r-e-d

Coming live from the Oak Road Treatment Centre. Don't touch that dial. It's MC Swifty with the usual mix of modern classics, and old favourites......

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After missing a day or two of blog, it always seems easier to simply run through the exciting events in chronological order.

Tuesday I did my regular bike ride, which the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed is now set at 20 miles. I've added a little bit on so it seems a bit more honest when I refer to a "20 mike bike ride". Rounding up 18.6 miles to 20 isn't really a sin, but I've removed any doubt that I've been cheating you all these months.

After months of saying how mild it's been, the winter really has started to arrive. For the first time I felt quite cold at the end of my ride. I wear some knackered old Merrill slip on trainers for the rides. The soles are coming off, and my feet are starting to get very cold as it's windy and plenty of standing water to get them wet straight from the get go.

The wind - and Anne I know you're, or were, interested - was fresh and more importantly a headwind on the last few miles....grrr. Not nice.

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The rest of the day I spent very quietly. I think the treatment have been catching up with me more that I realised, and so I deliberately took it easy. A stroll into Wilmslow to pick up the paper, a cup of coffee, and a new beanie hat. Since I shaved my hair off, I've been more aware of the cold and have been using two beanies - the favourite one of which was bought by my dear mother - but have contrived to lose them both.  :0(

Late afternoon saw me meeting with the WGPS ladies group. When they became aware that I was off work having this treatment, they were very kind in inviting into their fortnightly meetings. I was really touched to be made an honorary woman every other Tuesday.

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Tuesday evening I sat in front of the TV and watched Utd at Newcastle. I had been offered a ticket by an old friend JMM who as a Toon season ticket holder was desperate not to go. The thought of a long drive followed by a dull game between two poor teams didn't appeal. For the same reason, I declined.

However, it was a rather exciting game. Utd were much improved, and looked like they knew what they were doing in attack, but were still very vulnerable in defence. I think we should have won - Lingard and Fellaini missing stone cold chances, and the equaliser taking a wicked deflection. 

Can't say I'm looking forward to our visit to Anfield at the weekend. 

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Wednesday morning saw Gel and I saunter off to Salford. Gel had to return a present to the Lowry gift shop, so we made a bit of a day of it. After swapping the present, we bought tickets to see Richard Herring at the Lowry in Feb (we tried for Rob Delaney tickets too, but he's sold out), and then went over to the Imperial War Museum North where we had a really interesting talk as part of their activities leading up to Holocaust Memorial Day. This is on Wed 27th Jan, and was the date that Auschwitz was liberated in 1945. 

Little tidbit of info. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin was close to being finished, when it was realised that the company contracted to provide the anti-graffiti paint, had a subsidiary that had provide the Zyklon-B gas used in the gas chambers. It was argued that to delay the completion would be costly and that "it would be impossible to exclude all German companies involved in the Nazi crimes, because — as Thierse put it — "the past intrudes into our society"". 

Lea Rosh (a german television journalist, publicist, entrepreneur and political activist), advocated excluding Degussa, replied that "Zyklon B is obviously the limit."

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the detail quoted above).

Wednesday night is photo club night. We had a good speaker showing us her pictures from a festival in the Camargue, and her successful MPAGB application.

Then home for several hours of not sleeping.......Gregory Isaacs had the right idea for tonight...Night Nurse.

No pics pics of mine on todays blog as I haven't downloaded them off the camera. You'll have to wait.

But, can't have a blog without any pics, so here'a a random one of Tom Waits. if you're a regular reader Tom, can you tour here soon please?

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Between 1968 and 1972 I lived in Nairobi, Kenya. Slightly cut off from the 'real' world. I don't mean to be unkind, or to sound ungrateful, but we were away from home, and the social and cultural influences of it.

When we came back, I had a kind of year zero, from which many - not all - cultural and social reference points started. When we came back, the Prime Minister was Mr Heath, the leader of the opposition was Mr Wilson. The Archers was on the radio, along Jack de Manio, and Roy Plomley. Nationwide was on TV, as was Top of the Pops. Newspapers were dirty, black and white, and used to wrap fish and chips. Apart from the Football Pink and Financial Times which were pink.

This is how it was, and I never really considered it might change. I probably never really though too hard about that (or anything else). But then in 1974 there was a seismic change. Suddenly Mr Wilson was PM and Mr Heath leader of the opposition.

Rather strangely, this was the first occasion I recall there being a big change in the status quo. Since then everything has changed. There are some things that have remained in one way of another, but one consistent element left us today.

Over the last 40 years since coming home, David Bowie has been there. I remember seeing Space Oddity on Top of the Pops in the 70's, when Live Aid was on in the 80's , so was he. In the 1990's I saw him at Maine Road (putting aside my natural emnity towards the blue side of Manchester to attend), and so on.

Nobody managed to maintain the fresh innovative and cool vibe, and for so long. He was cool by not 'trying' to be cool, but simply by being interested in the world and pursuing anything that interested him. He always seemed young, he always seemed relevant.

What will we do now? The world really does seem an emptier place without him.

Alty

When I was a young man, the Trafford Centre didn't exist, and Manchester city centre wasn't as attractive a place as it is now. There were places that had attractions (almost) as good as Manchester, but had the added advantage that they were closer, and had free car parking.

One of those places was Altrincham. With the advent of the Trafford Centre, and the resurrection of Manchester City centre in the aftermath of the bomb, Altrincham has suffered. A walk down the main (pedestrianised) drag in recent years showed a lot of empty shop units. Perhaps this is true of many town centres these days.

Gel and I went there yesterday for a trip out. The bus station / tram station has had a fairly substantial facelift, but what surprised me is that Rackhams - the local department store - is still going. The main Post Office has moved out of its own building, and is now part of WH Smith. It is open until 5:30 on a Saturday, which is something I guess they couldn't cater for in the old building.

The main drag has been renovated a bit up at the Rackham's end, but the big change is Altrincham market. It was like being in Spitalfields. More acres of beard, and tweedy jackets, that you can shake a stick at. There are two sections. The Market Hall building:

This is now a large eatery. Big wooden tables across the centre of the space, and trendy food outlets around the perimeter. We didn't eat there this time, but are planning a trip one Sunday.

The other section is the covered market:

Where are number of interesting stalls - butchers, bread, jewellery, knitted works (a woman with three foot long and two inch thick needles), vintage clothes, photographs etc - and more tasty looking food outlets.

If you've not been, then I'd recommend a visit. It's a nice treat, and it's nice to see a town centre having a recovery from what looked like a terminal decline.

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Watched Utd v Sheffield U last night.......oh dear. It doesn't seem to getting any better.....although the optimist in me thinks that at least they've strung a couple of wins together now......

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GLORIOUS morning for a ride this morning. And I remembered to switch my app on so it's a real ride, not a phantom one.

If you are nerdy enough to check out my times, and I suspect that I'm in a group of one in that regard, then you'll see that today's time was significantly longer than usual. That's because I helped a lady find a house on the first half of the route, and stopped for a chat with my friend CH near the end.

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There haven't been nearly enough cat pictures on the blog recently.

It's getting to that time when Boo and Poussey are going to have to visit the vets to be speyed /neutered. The vet will 'chip' them while they are asleep. And then we can let them out. Yikes. Will they ever come back?

For the last week or so, they've been allowed out at night, and, on the whole, they've been very well behaved. A bit of foot chasing the night before last wasn't appreciated, but other than that they've been fine. Occasionally I've woken in the night and found Boo very comfortable stretched out between Gel and I, and both of them have had a night or two up on top of the wardrobe.

Good cats.

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Last chemo this week. Taste buds still goosed, and I've had a numb big toe on my left foot for a few days too. I'll be glad when this is all done.