Swan

The weather does not seem to have bothered this fellow - takes all the rain in his/her stride.

River Irk - Damaged Bank

The recent flood water has damaged the bank of the River Irk here at Alkrington Woods, Middleton

Alkrington Woods - Fallen Trees

During the rather wet winter that we have this year many trees in the woods have decided to upend themselves.

The root systems seem to be very shallow considering the size of the tree and closer inspection reveals the soil to be somewhat sandy - not good for anchoring tree roots ...

Wet weather ...

Wet weather is on the way across the Atlantic and is due to hit Northern England around Tuesday Wednesday .

8 inches is due to fall so I guess we can expect more flooding.

This weekend has been very mild for the time of the year - around 50f.


Back to the boots and over trousers .... Dogs still need walking !!!

Spin + Deutschland83

Currently we are well served on UK TV with foreign language films and very popular they are - an ever increasing number of people are viewing them...


Friday night 9pm More 4 is showing the French political drama  Spin starring Nathalie Baye as presidential hopeful Anne Visage. Lots of intrigue and romance (sex).


Deutschland83 is shown Sunday nights at 9pm on Channel 4 and is a cold war thriller set in West and East Germany.
Jonas Nay plays Moritz Stamm / Martin Rauch a Stasi agent who has infiltrated the West German army. His control Lenora Rauch is played by Maria  Schrader.


Both programmes highly recommended ..

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War and Peace

If you want some really good viewing then watch Drama of the Week , BBC1 Sunday night at nine o'clock.

This new version of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy has us sitting on the edge of our seats - the best programme of the week. Some would say it is not true to the book and is "sexed up" and "racy" but as I have not read the book I can not comment on that...

Stars Paul Dano as Pierre and Lily James as Natasha.

A story of love and war, the invasion of Russia by Napoleon and the lives of the aristocracy and wealthy elite.

Really good...

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