My 60th Year 😃

Yet another trip to Manchester, and this time it was to the Royal Exchange Theatre to see the iconic Manchester based play, Shelagh Delayney’s “A Taste of Honey”. Knowing that it was on, I felt a deep emotional pull to head over to Manchester, my roots - something that seems to be happening quite a lot at the moment 😃 Its really interesting that at this point in life, I’m increasingly feeling an emotional tug to connect with my earlier life. Going to the Royal Exchange Theatre was always a treat as I was growing up - I remember that feeling of connecting with culture, with all the buzz and excitement that went with it. So stepping back inside the theatre now brought back such a huge array of memories and emotions 😃 The play is a sharply observed portrait of working class life in Salford in the late 1950s. It tells the story of  Jo, a young teenager living with her promiscuous mother Helen, moving around from one rented apartment to another as very limited funds dwindled even furt...

Back in January we headed over to Manchester to go and see the highly acclaimed musical Hamilton. We giggled as we booked it, realising that we were now eligible for “Senior” tickets at the theatre 🤣 Being 60, and attending a weekday matinee seems to have its advantages 🤣 Having gone down a storm in the London west end, the musical was performing in Manchester for a couple of months, and according to the reviews, one not to be missed 😃 Hamilton tells the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an Immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and helped shape the very foundations of the America as we know it today. The musical score blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway - the story of America then as told by America now.  The Palace Theatre is beautiful, despite it being in need of a bit of TLC 😃 It felt quite strange arriving at the theatre mid afternoon on a Wednesday - something we wou...

Having the privilege of more time now to pursue things of interest, attending a greater range of cultural events was high up on my list. Cultural events could of course take many forms, and pairing this with my political interests was a dream! So was extremely excited to see the newly announced book tour of James O’Brien “How they broke Britain “ Being a huge fan of James OB, and catching up with his daily phone in radio show as much as I can, I was really keen to actually hear him interviewed live and hear more of his thoughts on our current political chaos. For anyone unfamiliar with James OB, he is (now) a rather centre / left journalist / broadcaster, with a social conscience, who hosts an extremely popular radio phone in show on LBC 5 mornings a week - and quite entertainingly, he seems to have the biggest brain of anyone I have ever come across 🤣 By that I really mean his immense ability to hold, remember and string together facts and diverse pieces of information, present a coh...

For the past few years we have been saying that we would like to visit and explore parts of southern Scotland - but the draw of the mountainous north west has always won! Many people we know rave about southern Scotland’s Dumfries and Galloway region, and often suggest it might be somewhere we would enjoy 😉  Dave was also keen to try out some of the MTB tracks at the 7stanes bike parks in the region, so this area was very definitely on our radar 🤣 So having spent the new year in Cumbria we decided to take the opportunity to head north of the border for a few days of exploration in early January. First stop was Dalbeattie, and one of the 7stanes bike parks. (Stane is the Scots word for stone, so each of the 7 bike parks has a unique stone with legendary history) Also took advantage of the option to park overnight there - an experiment they are trialling with campervans over the winter 👍 Despite there being a lovely Green route for me to potter around on, unfortunately there was a...

How delighted we were to be invited to spend new year with our dear friends Marie & Declan at their lovely coastal house in Skinburness (Cumbria). Sitting on the Solway coast, fresh sea air and the company of lovely friends was definitely what we needed, and a wonderful way to welcome in the new year 🤣  To kick off the festivities we had planned a meal out at their local Tapas restaurant- The Bank - on Saturday 30th. Run by a British family who had previously lived in Spain - this definitely sounded promising 😃 The food was delicious, with some of the dishes being somewhat different to the standard Tapas you often get in restaurants - so we were all very happy with our selection 😃   Good friends ❤️ Spicy chicken Mushrooms baked in manchego  Prawns and chorizo in a spicy sauce Good friends ❤️ Despite the not so great weather, we decided on New Year’s Eve day to head out into the hills, and hopefully bag another couple of wainwrights 🤣 So after a lovely breakfast co...