21 January 2020

Bright sunny day. Cold. Went out in the van to do some shopping. The marina is a huge improvement to our town. Still working on my book. The editing is hard work!

20 January 2020

Cold night and frost again. Making bread and a walk beside the Weaver in the sun. Still battling with my book.

19 January 2020

It turned much colder. We had a frost last night and today there is thick mist. Bad day for photos as I was pretty busy and couldn't find a really good picture of the fog. I should have just taken one anyway. Here's a photo of the village mural I took yesterday.

18 January 2020

Another largely sunny day. The village I live in is home the quite a large flock of Jackdaws. They used to nest in our chimney and ended up blocking it. The guys who cleared the blockage removed about six bin liners full of twigs.

Jackdaws, Hartford Road.

17 January 2020

Quiet day. Coolish but not really cold. Battling with my book. Although it's mostly written sorting the posts is proving much more difficult than I anticipated.

The good news is that my Winter onions and garlic (pictured) are coming up.

15 January 2020

Lovely bright sunny Winters day which was good because I had to cycle to work at the food bank which is about two miles from where I live. Here's a photo of my trusty steed. I've had it for 25 years and it's still going strong although it weighs a ton compared to modern mountain bikes.

14 January 2020

It didn't stay dry for very long! Rain today and lots of it. Heavy in spells. Here's the evidence:

13 January 2020

Monday. After the almost ceaseless rain of the past four months, it has been a bit dryer and a bit warmer but not much. The latest news on the climate crisis is grim. Apparently, the sea is warming rapidly. Today was grey but fairly dry. Off for supplies again and took a photo of the War Memorial in the village.

12 January 2020

Sunday. After a very wet Autumn and Winter its been fairly dry for the past couple of weeks. Cold but nowhere near freezing.  Spent some time looking at and sorting old family photos of my parents and grandparents.

Ethel and James Thorp

Nana Thomas and me.

My parents' wedding. L-R: James Thorp, Ethel Thorp, Mavis Thorp, Geoffrey Thorp, Annie Thomas.

11 January 2020

A good day out in Manchester with my old friend Peter. Weather was mildish and I even managed to get a moderately newish Nothern Rail train instead of the ancient Pacer.  Even though the seats were new there isn't enough leg room between them!

We visited the Northern Quarter and a couple of our favourite pubs including The Castle and Crown and Kettle.

The Castle

There are lots of good murals in the NQ

Mackie Mayors

Crown and Kettle

10 January 2020

Beautiful sunny Winters day. Not too cold. Good to know that it's getting lighter every evening. I went for a walk by the Weaver and across the field that I've avoided for over a month because it's been so wet the field was flooded only to find that the farmer had cut the maize and driven over it in something which looked like it was a tank. The footpath was pretty much obliterated. 

Good the see the horses in the paddock. I've never seen a Pheasant though I heard one today and also the distant sound of shooting. I haven't seen a Heron by the river in ages.

Eaton Lane

Spot the footpath

Vale Royal Locks

River Weaver aqueduct. The main line to Liverpool.

9 January 2020

Dullish day. I walked down to the local shops to get some supplies and couldn't resist a pic of the Bulls Head. It is on London Road and used to be a coaching inn.

8 January 2020

My New Years' resolution is to cut down the alcohol and lose weight. I've lost half a stone in the last couple of months. No alcohol Monday to Thursday. I've embraced alcohol-free beer which has become much improved lately. I can recommend these two.

7 January 2020

A massive improvement this year with one of the best Xmas presents ever! Some really nice warm slippers. I've always suffered from cold feet and these are great! Small things can make a big difference!

6 January 2020

Working on my book and it's almost finished! I say that but the writing is almost finished it's going to take me quite a while to edit it. Still, I'm feeling good about it 😀. It's based on my blog called Capitalism Creates Poverty and you can find it here.