Christmas Cards ..

It is always a pleasure to receive cards at Christmas time but to be honest after a few days and as they build up in number I soon start to tire of them.

They soon clutter up the house and we never have enough room for them to be displayed - they sag, fall over and end up on the floor. Ben has managed to eat one.

Today most of them got strung up on a piece of string.

Happy Christmas !!

.

Winter Solstice

Tomorrow Thursday 22nd December will be the Winter Solstice and the good news is that from that day the nights will start to shorten and we will have more daylight.

Something good to look forward to ..

.

Ben

Here he is in all his glory - alert and ready to go ..

BEN ....

.

Bad news for local football ..

Both local Manchester teams exit the UEFA Champions League tonight and will now enter the less prestigious Europa League.

United lost in Basel 2-1 against FC Basel and City managed a credible 2-0 win over Bayern Munich but to no avail as Villarreal failed to defeat Napoli who qualified by being second in the group.

No doubt an inquest will follow soon and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

.

Ben

We are now in charge , if that is the correct word , of a eleven month old Border Collie / Kelpie cross by the name of Ben.

We obtained him from a rescue centre in Cumbria and he is meant to be a failed sheep dog.

He seems to be of good disposition but at the moment it is a battle of wills while we all decide who is boss.

I will keep you posted ....

Frigate

Well last night we actually did quite well in a pub quiz - SECOND !!

We've not done as well for some time but this time our team reached the dizzy heights of five members.

The venue the Frigate in Whitefield and no pop music to listen to and no picture round - our sort of pub quiz.

It keeps the mind going - hopefully.

.

Jane Eyre

Wednesday - Orange Wednesday and two tickets for the price of one at the local Odeon Senior Screen - total cost for two £3 - not bad.

The film - Jane Eyre with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska.

What can I say - just that it is a very good film and I really enjoyed myself.

.

Bad football news .. !

Not too good a night for our two local teams in the Champions League.

Napoli defeat Manchester City 2-1 : it looks like City may not qualify for the next round and may have to content themselves with the Europa League.

On their home ground Manchester United can only manage a 2-2 draw with Benfica. So now what ?? They should qualify for the next round, but may only be runners up in the group, and as a consequence meet some top line club and have a ready hard task if they want to proceed in the competition.

.

Good football news ..

Good news for the local football teams this Saturday ..

Manchester City beat Newcastle 3-1 and retain their unbeaten record - United win 1-0 at Swansea.

Last but not least Rochdale climb away from the bottom rungs of League 1 with a 1-0 win over Preston.

Good work....

.

Return

Returned home and now getting back into the routine of Blogging.

I certainly need to get out and take some photographs - the problem is where to photograph that is interesting !!

Output therefore may be less than usual this coming winter - we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

It's a lovely sunny dry day here in Lancashire for a change and the garden awaits some work - pond digging !! Trying to encourage some wildlife into the garden - especially frogs.

.

No more posts for a while ..

No more posts for a while .... foreign parts await .

As I write this, the world is in an economic meltdown and the two Manchester football teams ride high in the the Premier League. I wonder what the next few months will hold?

And which do you consider to be the most important - football or the economy?

.

Hopwood Woods

A pleasant place to walk - Hopwood Woods in Middleton near Rochdale.

.

Thieves Beware

The increased value of copper, lead and other precious metals has led to an increase in thefts of piping and wiring from railways and electric substations.

Trains are now delayed not only by bad weather but the theft of signal equipment - in our area houses are having their lead stolen during the night.

I guess this will carry on until some new cheaper material is invented as a substitute.

.

Teasel

This rather prickly but attractive plant "appeared" in the garden from where I do not know .

It was sometime and a lot of head scratching before I realised it is Teasel.

.

Clitheroe

More photos from a wet and windy Clitheroe on August Bank Holiday weekend.

Lots of bunting ..

Lancashire Cricket Success !!!

Lancashire won the County Championship title for the first time in 77 years with a great win by eight wickets over Somerset.

Well done ......

.

Clitheroe

Clitheroe in Lancashire's Ribble Valley - a pleasant little market town but not on a wet windy August Bank Holiday weekend.

.

It is getting worse ...

Well after a colder than average summer in the UK the best we could hope for would be a pleasant warm and sunny September.

Forget that - it is getting worse ... dark, cold and very wet. More like November !!

No doubt we will be getting frosts soon and then snow ..

Will we ever get a good summer again ??

.

Goodbye to summer ..

I think we can say goodbye to the short summer we had ...

This holiday weekend has been wet and cold and there is no hope of warmer weather on the horizon.

Perhaps an Indian summer in September or October but I doubt it.

.

Football news today ..

Manchester United 8 Arsenal 2

Need I say more ?

Well .... also

Manchester City 5 Tottenham 1

Both teams have unbeaten records this season - not like our local team Rochdale

.

Heaton Park - Rhododendrons

Early morning sun striking the Rhododendrons -

.

Heaton Park

Another corner of the park - always something interesting to view.

.

Heaton Park - Canada Geese

It was some time ago when this photo was taken - these goslings will be somewhat larger now.

.

Heaton Park

The facade to the old Manchester Town Hall - looking rather regal in the morning summer sunlight here in Heaton Park.

.

Remember me ..

A sad but compelling website - http://rememberme.ushmm.org/

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum depicts photographs of the young survivors of World War II who were (in 1945) looking for their families.

The museum is now working to discover what happened to them all these years later.

.

Heaton Park

At last I've managed to load some more photos taken during our rather brief summer - the weather here in the north of England has taken a turn for the worse - more rain and it is getting somewhat colder. Central heating here we come..... just in time for the football season.

.

Manchester Riots

The only good news is that we are forecast heavy rain all day tomorrow.

Hopefully it will be a correct forecast for once and drive the yobs inside.

Let's cross our fingers and hope.....

.

House prices

A walk into the local town centre this morning had me in an idle moment looking into the windows of our estate agents and perusing what homes were on offer.

Prices in theory may be stabilising in the UK but in this area of Lancashire they are plunging fast - terrace houses worth £95000 a year ago are being offered at £80000 and less - the same applies to other houses - semi detached once £150000 now selling - if that is the right word - for £120000.

One notices that in the town many houses have been on the market for years - no sign of much market activity.

Where is will all end is uncertain - it would appear that prices could drop even further.

In the UK in recent years our economic boom has been sustained by a constant rise in house prices - not the best way to run an economy . Growth should be sustained by manufacturing and agricultural output not by the manipulation of the housing market and the creation of paper wealth.

That's it - my thoughts of the day.

.

Your paintings ..

I've found an interesting BBC website whose aim is to uncover the nation's art collection.

The aim is to scan 200,000 painting from around the art galleries of the UK and put them on display for the general public - and up to now 63,000 paintings have been scanned.

A very interesting site which you will find at http://www.bbc.co.uk/yourpaintings/ .

As with most BBC sites I think this will only be available if your Internet Service Provider originates in the UK.

Enjoy ...

Wet weekend

Another wet and miserable weekend with rain quite heavy at times - special treat of the day will be a visit to Aldi !!

This photo was taken in our garden during sunnier times.

.

Allotment 24

Many of the roses this year have been damaged by the heavy rain - this one at the allotment has managed to survive and is looking quite good.

.

Allotment 23

The crop of courgettes was very good last year - 2011 has seen a 100% increase in planting so hopefully we'll get a good yield.

.

Allotment 22

Not all is well at the allotment - the onions have rather thick stems - caused by too much nitrogen in the ground I understand. Hopefully they will be OK but not store too well . In our house they will soon be eaten so that should not be a big problem.

The potatoes ( lower picture ) are now being harvested and the good news is - "no slugs this year"

They taste really good - very earthy ...

.

Manchester - China Town

Manchester's very own China Town - looking busy and vibrant.

.

Manchester - Albert Square

A familiar sight in Albert Square - Liverpool and London Assurance - now swallowed up by bigger fish I imagine.

.

Manchester - Tib Lane / Booth Street area

Clouds reflected in the glass fronted building .

.

Manchester - Tib Lane / Booth Street area

Another photo taken around the Tib Lane area.

There was a cafe near here in the 70's - rather dark and dismal - somewhat risqué - entered by a flight of stairs into a cellar. I can not remember the name.

I wonder what happened to it ..

.

De-layered management

Another new phrase for me today - de-layered management - I learn something new every day.

In other words redundancy and job loss ..

Why not say it as it is ?

.

Manchester - Tib Lane / Booth Street area

Modern block amongst the Victorian buildings - not far from the Town Hall

.

Manchester - Albert Square

Manchester's Albert Square - named after Victoria's husband..

.

Manchester Parade

More views from the parade - at this point we got fed up with watching the parade and went to Costa Coffee.

.

Monetize

Today for the first time I came across a word that was somewhat new to me - monetize.

A quick look in the dictionary tells me that this is a verb which means to convert into or express in the form of currency or when used as an adjective can mean adapt to the use of money.

From the 19th cent French monétiser or Latin moneta - money

It would now appear that the financial whizz kids have hijacked this word and it replaces the phrase make money from or something similar.

How the language changes ..

.

Manchester Parade

Who are they ? Your guess is as good as mine.

.

Manchester Parade

Last weekend we went into Manchester to view the Manchester Parade - an event we watched last year and to be quite honest this parade was not as good as 2010.

It lacked something and gave the impression of cheapness .

.

Ordsall Hall Salford

Everything a gentleman needed could be found in the hall.

Your own coat of arms ..

Nice modern fireplace ..

A comfortable bed - so long as you were not too tall.

.

Ordsall Hall Salford

A few more views of this quite attractive hall.

Here looking more like a church !

.

Salford children ..

Where are they now ? What happened to them over the years ?

Faces stare out from the past .

Photos on display at Ordsall Hall.

.

Ordsall Hall - Visiting times

Anyone planning a visit to the Hall should realise that it is closed Saturdays and only open Sunday between 1 and 4 pm

Monday to Friday has opening times between 10am and 4pm.

Enjoy..

ABC Wednesday - W

This week W x 2 - Woodland Walk

Nice sunny morning for a walk in Guardamar Spain - through the trees of the wood and down the walkway.

.

Ordsall Hall Salford

This time ornate ceilings - very impressive..

.

Ordsall Hall Salford

I'm glad I've not got to maintain this roof - very very old and fragile ..

.

Ordsall Hall Salford

The landed gentry always enjoyed a good roast dinner ...

.

Ordsall Hall Salford

Ordsall Hall is now owned by Salford Council - entrance is free - closed on Saturdays.

Google Ordsall Hall for more details.

Recently the Hall was renovated and here we see a formal garden that has been created.

.

Salford - Ordsall Hall

You'll find Ordsall Hall in Salford not far from the Exchange Quay metro station.

With parts 820 years old this Tudor mansion has been in the past a farm, home, church hall and working men's club. The name of the hall first appeared in print in 1177.

For three hundred years it was the home of the Radclyffe family who moved in around 1335.

.