October Blog

This is a month when I took fewer photos than I have done for many a month. For one thing, there has been little opportunity to fit in with the rare glimpses of sunshine this October.

The first set of photos comes from our ‘Haven Eagles’ trip on the new Nottingham tram. It was a generally sunny moment as our group got on board. It is a gentle ride from the park and ride to Nottingham. Judging by the number of cars parked it looked like it was achieving the objective of reducing the numbers of vehicles in the city. At the QMC (Hospital) a couple got on and sat opposite us. The man did not seem really happy so we got talking. It seems that a few weeks ago when they were on holiday in Greece he suddenly lost his sight. Today he was returning home from the hospital with his sight fully restored.

The tram took us into the ‘Market Square’ and stopped outside the ‘Joseph Else’ pub. I found out that Joseph else was responsible for the two lions that sit each side of the Council building.

In the pub we found tables and sat to have our beverages. Then some of the group went into the market to appreciate the garden ornaments on sale.

On Saturday we had one of our few walks. This was one of our least successful. There were no blackberries and a dog disturbed us and we went no further in the direction we had been heading.

On Tuesday we set off to Brighton with the objective of helping Joe and Julia pack up ready for their move to Devon. We spent three nights in the Travelodge which was 10 minutes’ walk away from their flat. The lights outside our room at the hotel were so bright that we were unable to sleep. We asked to be moved and got a better view over Preston Park. Unfortunately the toilet was blocked, which they partially succeeded in unblocking. Then we discovered that the duvet cover did not cover the king sizes duvet. We did some manipulating to stop the duvet being in contact with our bodies. When we left we said something to the receptionist. She was very sympathetic, but I did not think that any change was going to be made any time soon. 

During our two days we worked long hours in the flat doing packing and cleaning. We hope that we have made a useful contribution to their move.

I took only two photos. The first was of bubble wrap delivered in a cardboard box and wrapped in bubble wrap. The second was of a vehicle parked on the street. It says on the side 'no job too small'.I personally thought any job would have been ‘too big’.

On the Saturday that we got back we managed a brief walk around the park. But, no photographs.

The next day, after church,we went to our friends, David and Carol’s new home in Ilkeston. Carol had prepared a splendid dinner. They have a spacious house and it is right next to the new railway station that is being built.

The 25^th was Irene’s birthday. Joni and Fiona kindly invited us to dinner. This was an excellent meal, as always. After dinner we enjoyed a couple of board games.

The day of the long awaited visit to Manchester came. After much deliberation I made the decision to go by car. If we had not done so the time in Manchester would have been very much shorter.

 We reached the Travelodge by coming off the M6 and heading north towards the city. The hotel was convenient for the city. There was a free, private car park and a bus stop on the road into the centre.

The first afternoon we used to go in to the city and walk around the gallery. There was a good range of old masters and more contemporary pictures. Many took our eye. 






We continued to explore the city and passed the gallery showing the same pictures painted by Bob Dylan as the ones we saw in Nottingham. Here we found that the man himself was in town. 

Then we got to the city’s Anglican Cathedral. It was getting late and we only had a brief look around. It was not the most exciting one that we have visited.

To end the day we found a pub called ‘The Lost Dene’. This was on Deansgate. The River Dene disappeared as Manchester was being built. The deal was two mains for £10.00 and two sweets for £5.00. It was good basic food, washed down with 2 halves of ‘Hobgoblin’.

By now it was getting into rush hour. We found seats on the crowded bus back. Not being sure where to get off we asked the driver. He passed the stop and dropped us off at the door of the ‘Travelodge’.

Manchester Ship Canal

Media City 

The next day was the big day when we set off to find the main point of the visit; a trip to the Lowry. The 50 bus took us to the terminus in Salford at a place known as ‘Salford Quays’. This was a very much modernised place on the Manchester Ship Canal. Here was ‘Media City’ with the BBC studios sandwiched between the ITV studios. The girl at the inquiry desk told us that it was rare for large boats to come up from Liverpool and go under the lift bridge. I told her that when I went on the canal in the 60s it was very smelly. She seemed surprised at this. On a display upstairs there was a comment to the effect that the ‘Canal used to be smelly with beautiful ships on it but now it is beautiful with no ships on it.’

Towers at one end of the lift bridge

The Lowry

The Lowry gallery was a strange building which I did not think would have pleased the artist. However, it was informative and a good chance to view Lowry’s originals more closely.

We stopped off in the city. Here we found a ‘Greggs’ for lunch. Then we went in search of tourist information. The library was just the place. It was an amazing place. It was a graceful building and very huge. It was very busy with modern internet features inside.

Using the map provided in the city library we made our way to the ‘Peoples Museum’. This specialised in renovating the banners of various trade unions and mapping the rise of democracy in the UK. 

At the 'Peoples Museum, we were told that we should visit ‘John Rylands Library’. Surprisingly, it was not some small bookshop style place. It was a cathedral far grander than many we had seen. There was a magnificent display of books, but the last thing we found was the oldest piece of John's gospel mounted in a sheet of glass. Then we were ordered out. I would not have liked to have spent the night there.

Back to the pub we went and again enjoyed the bargain price meal before catching the 50 back. The crush was worse and it was now raining. We had to fight our way through the wet passengers to the exit.

In the morning the rain/drizzle continued as we made our way, on foot, to the Whitworth gallery. This building was built as a gift to the city, but in 1968 was passed on the University. It is magnificent Victorian architecture at the front with a very modern extension on the back. The main theme was the use of fabric as art. There were some stunning examples. One artist had the strange inspiration to turn the ‘Wikipedia’ entry on the ‘Magna Carta’ into a gallery length piece of embroidery.

Recycled bags

There was still a little time left which we used in the ‘Manchester Museum’. This place was really busy with parents using the very family friendly place on a wet morning in the school holidays.

I found Manchester to be a very friendly place.

Our journey home took us very slowly through a busy Stockport and then we were on the open road over the High Peaks and down into the ‘Derbyshire Dales’. We had a nice lunch in the café in Ashford-in-the Water. The final leg of the journey took us into Sainsbury’s in Matlock to get our needed supplies (apples and milk).

It was back to normal on Thursday. Almost; we had another treat. A group called ‘Super food’ were cooking dinner in the community centre. They use donated food and cook it as a community meal. It was a three course meal with choices. It cost £2.50 adult and £1.00 child. It was delicious.

Friday was quite a normal day which ended with Irene and I running the community centre sequence dance.

Halloween Saturday ended the week by being especially busy. After doing domestic stuff we went off to celebrate Jennifer Woolley's first birthday. It was well attended by family and friends.

Then, having dropped our next door Jenny off we went off to an event at the church. By coincidence the speakers were a couple from Manchester. They spoke about networking to redeem our communities.

We left early to dash over to Paul and Mary at Borrowash to help him connect his laptop to his TV. Paul much enjoyed this and we much enjoyed the meal prepared by Mary.

Returning home we were treated us to a display of fireworks, but fortunately the 'Trick-Or-Treaters' were just leaving our street. Just to make sure I put my 'No Trick or Treats' sign on the door and we had a peaceful end to the day.