Snowdrops ....

It may be minus 3 C. and snow lies on the ground but these snowdrops have managed to make an appearance.

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Swans

Photos taken at Alkrington Woods Middleton

A cold morning in Springfield Park

Some views from the park - across to Rochdale and the Pennines and Knowl Moor with the wind turbines.


Cold day but we were lucky with the snow - not much of the stuff....

Alkrington Woods

A few more photos from our walk around Alkrington Woods

Sunday Walk - Alkrington Woods

A cold but dry sunny Sunday morning and away we went for a walk around Alkrington Woods.

Here are just some of the photos we managed to take.

FA Cup - 3rd Round

FA Cup

Well both Manchester teams won their qualifying games today but it was a struggle for both of them - leaving it very late in the day to score goals !!!

United beat Yeovil 2-0 and City beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1.

Let's hope that standards improve  for the next round.

Saturday saw local team Rochdale beat Nottingham Forrest 1-0 - well done!!!

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Wet Wet Wet

We've certainly had our share of wet weather this week. The countryside is waterlogged and rivers in full spate. 

The forecast for Christmas week is perhaps snow and colder temperatures but there is no sign of that yet.

The non stop rain continues - and to be honest - the last thing I want is snow - hate the stuff !!!

I need to visit our allotment and find out if the land is under water . Not that there is much I can do about that ...

We'll soon find out if there is to be a change in the weather.

Manchester City - Champions League

Manchester City Football Club have reached the last 16 of the Champions League and again find that for the second consecutive year that they will meet Barcelona.

Last season they lost 4-1 on aggregate - 2-0 at the Etihad and 2-1 over at the Nou Camp.

Matches to be played 24th February and 18th March

City are confident they'll do better this time and will reach the last 8 !!!

Good Luck ....

Disaster ...

Community Shield

Arsenal 3 Manchester City 0

What more can be said ??

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Summer

Well summer has gone this weekend and been replaced by winter .  Rain rain rain windy and cold …

What happened to autumn ?

Can not imagine seeing any hot weather again this year !! Not in the UK anyway.

That's life.

The Beatles Story

You'll find these fellows around the Beatles Story Exhibition on the Pier Head Liverpool.

Liverpool Festival Gardens

The International Garden Festival took place in 1984 and attracted  3.8 million visitors .The park was created from industrial wasteland and the idea was to help Liverpool regenerate itself.

After years of neglect volunteers are now trying to regenerate the site.For details visit www.liverpoolfestivalgardens.com

A lovely spot - quiet and peaceful unlike my last visit in 1984 with all the crowds  and attractions.

River Mersey from Otterspool

The River Mersey from Otterspool looking over to the Wirral and I assume Birkenhead.

The promenade at Otterspool is another pleasant place to walk in a summer's evening

Freshfield Formby - Sand dunes and woods

Back to photographs of Merseyside - here we have the nature reserve at Freshfield. The woods lead onto the sand dunes and the coast.A really pleasant area to walk and picnic but can be very busy at weekends with lots of cars searching for parking space.

Here you'll find that rare creature the red squirrel .

USA Football Tour

Both Manchester teams have got off to a good start in their pre-season tour of the USA.

Manchester City beat Sporting Kansas City 4-1 and Manchester United beat Los Angeles Galaxy 7-0.

Over the next week their opponents will include Liverpool, Real Madrid and the best of Italy. We'll await the results with trepidation !!!

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