Manchester United progress ...

Last night Manchester United progressed  to the last eight of the European Football Champions League.

Three goals from Robin van Persie saw them beat Olympiakos of Greece 3-0 and go through to the next stage of the competition.

Much to the relief of their many fans….

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The Miners

The miners of Ashton - long gone .. 

River Tame

River Tame at Ashton as it flows past the the Portland Basin

Portland Basin Museum

More pics from the museum - a butter churn, something ?? and a printing press.

No prizes for guessing the something - I've no idea..

Portland Basin

Just a few examples of the recreated scenes to be found in the museum at the Portland Basin

The chippy, church , pub and outside lav… memories ….

Ashton-under-Lyne - Portland Basin

A warm and sunny Sunday morning so a trip out on the Metro to Ashton and the Portland Basin Heritage Centre.

Well worth the effort - a pleasant morning was had.

The Portland Basin is the meeting place of the Ashton Canal and the Peak Forest Canal .

The museum displays the history of Ashton and it's industry and development. Shops,churches,houses and pubs have been recreated inside the museum- a trip down memory lane !!!

Here are a few snaps -

Allotment

A few sunny days and we have at last summoned up courage to start work on the allotment .

Not too bad a condition - some wet patches for which I have dug a shallow ditch in order to attempt to drain the water away.

Hopefully we'll be able to plant out our potatoes and onions early next month.

Jigsaw puzzles / Ravensburger - "The Farrier" "Happy Days Blackpool"

Recently we've taken to doing jigsaw puzzles - this hobby has accelerated over the last few months and we are now up to 1000 piece puzzles - quite an achievement for us.

As a child I really did not have the patience for them - now older and perhaps not wiser I have more perseverance .

Here are two recently completed - both by Ravensburger  - 

The Farrier - 1000 pieces this was hard and took us some time 

Happy Days Blackpool - was also 1000 pieces and some what easier.

FIFA World Cup

100 days to go before the start of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

No other comments !!

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Is Spring here ?

After a very mild but wet winter has Spring arrived ? 

Plants and bulbs are very forward for the time of the year - here are a few pics from the garden -

Capital One Cup

Manchester City FC have this afternoon won the Capital One Cup at Wembley - much to the satisfaction of at least 50% of Manchester's population.

After a sluggish start they beat Sunderland 3-1 with goals from Toure, Nasri and Navas.

This is their first silverware of the current season and hopefully there will be more to come.

Well done……..

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