24 September 2018

Monday. It's sunny but coldish again. Back to TWT in Liverpool. I spend the day at the Black-E which is conveniently close to one of my favourite pubs - The Dispensary - and manage to fit in a couple of crafty pints. Forgot my mobile phone which meant my picture taking options were limited.

First up is Feel the Bern: four socialist activists from the USA talking about Bernie Sanders and the growth of radical politics in the USA. The chair is Bashkar Sunkara the editor of Jacobin. Star speaker for me is Lee Carter, the only socialist member of the Virginia House of Delegates, who was radicalised after an accident at work. Great session and worth the trip to Liverpool.

Then to Explaining the Economy from the Left with Anne Pettifor and Faiza Shaheen from CLASS. This session didn't work very well for me and having to queue for half an hour beforehand didn't help.

Finally, I went to the main space for a reading about Clem Atlee's life with Paul Mason and Owen Jones. It was very good but I had to leave early to get my train. All in all a day well spent.

The bad news for my trip to Liverpool is that the poor quality of these photos has made me realise I'm going to have to my Canon next time I attend an event like this.

Feel the Bern

I love Liverpool

Economy from the left

The Dispensary

Clem Atlee reading

23 September 2018

Quiet day. I feel knackered. Must be all the excitement from yesterday. The weather is better sunny but coldish. Couldn't be bothered to cut the lawn but my obsession with my wonderful plant continues.

22 September 2018

Saturday and I'm off to Liverpool for The World Transformed - a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference. First stop is Hinterlands on Mann Street which takes a bit of finding if you don't know it. I go to Building Community Wealth in our Towns and Cities which features Matthew Brown the Leader of Preston Council which has pioneered community wealth (in the UK at least). There's a very interesting speaker from the USA called Ted Howard which is ahead of the UK on this in many respects. I meet and shake hands with Chunky Mark, one of several left activists I met that day.

Next session is Britain's New Far Right with Ash Shakar and Richard Burgon. Then I move on to the Black E for the Tribune Relaunch with David Harvey (great to see him), Owen Jones, Ronan Burtenshaw and Grace Blakeley (IPPR).

Unfortunately, the photos show the limitation of my small pocket video camera which takes good photos and videos unless there's a high contrast 😞

Hinterlands

Building Community Wealth

Britains New Far Right

Tribune Relaunch

21 September 2018

Mixed day. Some rain, still strong winds. Managed to upload a video of the wind (click on it twice to view - best full screen). Another day indoors 😐

No, no I'm not obsessed honest! Just amazed at the number of Openreach vans we have parked across the street - almost every day.

20 September 2018

Same as yesterday. Strong winds and heavy rain. I spent almost all day indoors, not going any further than the bin. Ended up watching telly - rare for me - an old episode of Vera.

Taken with an iPad on full zoom

19 September 2018

Weather becoming more unsettled. We are about the get the tail end of a hurricane called Storm Ali - 60-70 mph winds predicted. Heavy rain started last night but It wasn't too bad when I went to the foodbank. The afternoon was a washout.

Tried to capture the trees bending in the wind. You can see the fir in the middle is bending.

18 September 2018

Sunshine and showers but generally bright. Quiet day and went for a walk down to the shops. Planning our next trip - to the Lakes - and booking sites.

Our street

Sunshine on the road

17 September 2018

September seems to be flying by. More fruits of my labour in this photo.

16 September 2018

Much better day weatherwise. Ended up quite sunny and I went for a walk by the Weaver at about 5pm. Earlier I'd been shopping and tried to get a picture of Sir John Deans college but it's so obscured by boundary trees that it was quite an effort. Johnny Deans is very popular and students come here from as far away as Manchester to study A levels.

Sir John Deans

Evening walk - Eaton Lane

River Weaver

15 September 2018

Drier day and warmer. Went for a mooch around Knutsford and couldn't resist a pint in the Bells of Peover.

Tricky getting this shot in a narrow street busy with pedestrians and moving cars

The Bells is gradually disappearing behind this Wisteria.

14 September 2018

We've had quite a lot of rain which is good for the lawn. Bits of shopping today and a much-needed haircut by my favourite hairdresser. Loads of boring stuff to do which I hate - tax van, fill out a form, cancel an appointment, make another appointment.cancel yet another appointment - the list goes on and feels very tedious 😠

Local library shows the town's links with ICI

13 September 2018

Time feels like its racing by at the moment we're already halfway through September as we hurtle to what looks like Brexit doom. At least I'll be OK for chillies. There are loads in the greenhouse - very good too!

Have mowed and seeded the front lawn so now I need some rain.

12 September 2018

Off to work again at the foodbank in the morning. In the afternoon I rattled through a series of email queries at the CA because they were all essentially the same - 'what benefits am I entitled to'.

CA posters

11 September 2018

Cool but fairly dry and sunny. Spent a short while surveying the wreckage of my front lawn which was almost killed off by the summer drought. Now I have to put the repair plan into action. The back lawn has recovered.

10 September 2018

Our holiday already feels like it was ages ago. Had a quiet day and realising I need to get some more exercise and sort out the garden. Really impressed with how this has come on and the first time it has flowered.

9 September 2018

Weather a bit brighter than yesterday. We took Carol on a tour of local garden centres, the best of which is a Marbury in an old walled garden. The other garden centre is OK but like may these days is part of a chain - no individuality.

In the evening we took Carol to Altrincham to stay with her friends Jean and John and had a lovely meal with them.

At the garden centre

8 September 2018

A cool day with intermittent rain - some of it heavy. Went out to the Lion Saltworks in Marston and was very impressed. I can recommend it. A good time was had by all. If you want to know more about the photos, go and see for yourself. In the evening we went for an Italian.

7 September 2018

Long, gruelling return journey from Brockenhurst with Carol. Took about five and a half hours. The first thing we noticed was that it seemed about 5 degrees colder brrrrr. Time to unpack the van.

6 September 2018

Cloudy and cooler. We also had a little rain on the trip to Exbury Gardens. Not an inspiring day for photos.

5 September 2018

Another lovely hot sunny day and a trip the Buckler's Hard and walk to Beaulieu followed up by a family meal in the Huntsman. It was so hot I couldn't go in the exhibition. Really good day.

Bucklers Hard

The creek

Donkeys in Beaulieu

4 September 2018

We had a trip to the beach at Barton on Sea and had lunch in the Beachcomber Cafe which I can recommend. Susie and I had a very good Brie and Cranberry sandwich, David had fish and chips. Loads of Starlings were lurking nearby waiting for some crumbs from the table. The beach is great and I can recommend that too!

Lots of Starlings at the Beachcomber Cafe

At the Beachcomber Cafe

Barton-on-Sea beach

The 'dreaded' footpath to Brockenhurst

3 September 2018

Today Susie's brother David came to join us. We went for a twelve-mile walk through the forest up to Lyndhurst and back.

Lyndhurst - plagued by traffic

Susie in the Fox and Hounds

David in the Fox and Hounds

New Forest horse

End of walk drink at the Huntsman, Brockenhurst

2 September 2018

Today we walked into Brockenhurst. It's about a mile and a half on a very good path which frustratingly takes a longer route than is necessary. Had Sunday lunch with my Stepmother Carol and her sister Susan - a very nice bit of Lamb followed by New Forest ice cream with berries.

Hot and sunny at Black Knowl

Sunset at Black Knowl - about 8pm

1 September 2018

Autumn. Today we headed off for our four-hour drive to the New Forest staying at Black Knowl in Brockenhurst. We were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived to find that it was warm and sunny! The site has very good facilities but they pack 'em on!

Setting up camp