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Life and other stuff

dawn patrol

15/10/2017

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Many years ago, we attended a “Dawn Flight” experience at the WWT reserve at Martin Mere to experience the spectacle of the wintering flock of Pink Footed Geese leaving their roosting grounds for the day. It was a frosty foggy January morning and freezing cold – sadly that is about as much as I personally remember about it – dark, cold, very noisy and did I say cold – it was really, really cold!  As time passes memories fade, so last year I decided we would have another go but missed the dates completely. Fast forward to October 2017, and (as I had been much better organised this year and bought the tickets early!) off we set at 6am to try the whole experience again. My first surprise of the day was just how dark it was at 6am and how long it stayed dark. Second surprise was the weather – mid October and at 6am it was already a balmy 18 degrees and not raining! Walking through the grounds of Martin Mere to the Ron Barker Hide was almost like being in the Blair Witch project – very dark, rustling noises in the trees and the occasional sound of gunshot in the distance – unnerving to say the least!
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Thanks to our very knowledgeable warden, we discovered there were approximately 15,000 pink footed geese currently sat on the mere outside the hide. There were also considerable amounts of newly arrived Whooper Swans.  These swans were so new to the mere that the wardens had not yet determined whether they had just finished their migration from Iceland or whether they were local feeders who had re-established themselves. Could we tell whether they were lethargic? The difference would become apparent if they did not take off and chose to stay on the mere to rest from their migratory flight
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The hide had split into photographers and birdwatchers upstairs and people who had come to enjoy the spectacle and learn from the warden downstairs. During the next hour we were treated to a Kingfisher perched close to the hide, three Marsh Harriers cruising the mere probably looking for breakfast and the awesome sight and sound of the Whooper Swans leaving for the day.  The geese were quite happy to sit there with just occasional groups being spooked by gunshots and predators. Oddly during the first hour there were more geese arriving than leaving. Just after 8am we were advised that it was breakfast time and we needed to set off for the walk to the restaurant. The geese were all disappointingly still resolutely sat on the mere, so after discussions as to the latest we could all leave and how unusual it was for them to still be there (I am used to ups and downs and unpredictability of  wildlife watching now!) we were given another 10 minutes. Sadly, towards the end of this time the geese had still not moved – was it due to the balmy weather? It was a very pleasant morning now the sun had put in an appearance. People began to pack away their cameras and telescopes when suddenly – as is always the case when people are looking the other way – there was a resounding sound of flapping wings and 15,000 pink footed geese took to the air.
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It is hard to explain the sheer spectacle of what you see and what you hear. It truly is one of nature’s greatest spectacles and like a lot of these amazing sights something that you can do on your own doorstep wherever you are. If you’ve ever sat at home on a Sunday night and been awed by some of the nature documentaries – you can experience similar types of things right here in the UK – you just need to do a bit of research. It cost us £15 to take part in the Martin Mere experience which included a delicious freshly cooked full English breakfast to finish. Just the small matter of 800 photographs to sort through now!
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the piano man

14/10/2017

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The week has been uneventful due to the abundance of germs but was brightened considerably by the announcement of Billy Joel performing in the city next June and very conveniently just before my birthday! This was closely followed by The Foo Fighters declaring they would also be coming to celebrate my birthday - performing at the Etihad the same week. how kind but two concerts in one week – are we up to that? We will try!

Despite being poles apart Dave Grohl and Billy Joel are very similar in their approach to live music – obviously, both being extremely talented helps but their interaction with the crowds and the ‘show’ they put on makes their concerts unmissable. We are a family of eclectic music lovers – we love the music not any specific genre and watching performers live is the ultimate treat. Time to enter the stressful world of purchasing tickets.

The first time I saw Billy Joel I was aged 18 or 19 and had to travel to Birmingham NEC – I successfully did that on a work night – probably wouldn’t even consider it now! Back then you had to telephone for tickets or even more shocking go to the venue or a ticker seller to purchase! Who remembers Piccadilly Records and the giant sheet of paper they would pull out with the available seats on! Once you had purchased your seats they coloured them in!  How times have changed. Now you sit nervously at your device watching the clock tick down to on sale time. If the website doesn’t crash on release then you pick your seats trying to work out what sort of a view that will be - If you don’t like the tickets they offer you go to the back of the queue – only 5 minutes to complete this section – what’s the password for my card verification…. hard to believe we ever manage to get any!

Once had a holding page for the Royal Albert Hall which informed me I was 4638 in the queue! Two hours later and I managed to get us tickets so maybe don’t give up! Course the joy of managing to get some tickets is then slightly dissipated as you see £8 added on for admin followed by £2.95 for postage or even if you have then emailed. How can it possibly cost £2.95 to email tickets for you to print yourself? Still its pay up or give up so hopefully we will be successful and fingers crossed for a musical June. 

​Viv
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in front of the q

14/10/2017

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Being of a certain age its sometimes hard to tell if I have a temperature from a current bout of coughing and sneezing or it is indeed one of those "moments". But it has been a tiring and sickly week. Working every day – a cold is certainly not grounds for any time off – with the evenings spent slumped on a chair or very early to bed. Thank goodness for the new Sky Q allowing me to browse hundreds of channels until it’s time to sleep (being particularly indecisive I’m not sure I fully watch anything - I’m like a cat distracted by a ball of wool – ooh what’s on the next channel….).

There have recently been discussions in the house about moving away from Sky but the draw of Game of Thrones and Walking Dead have always stopped us. Imagine our delight when Sky informed us that we had been designated as a "Sky Black" customer having been with them for 24 years (where has that gone?) and to reward our loyalty (and heaps of dosh from our subscriptions) by offering us two great deals on Sky fibre and Sky Q. Being techy geeks we signed up straight away. Not noticed too much difference yet with the fibre (though Chris says uploading photos is very much quicker) but the Q box is a revelation.

We can record 6 programmes at once and watch a 7 – amazing (have we got time to ever watch them though – not sure, but we can store whole series and make plans to spend an evening binge watching!) Programmes recorded downstairs can be watched upstairs - very useful this week and most excitingly the remote control has a tracker so it will never be lost again!  Combined with Netflix and our Amazon Prime subscriptions, bought to support the kids when at Uni, it is hard to believe we could ever watch everything that interests us. The Netflix "to-watch list" is lengthy and oh the stress when you see one of your favourite programmes is restarting next week and you are still on episode 2 of the last series!

If only being a "Sky Black" customer gave you access to a time machine.

​Viv & Chris
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love liverpool

8/10/2017

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Despite one of us being of a strong ‘scouse’ descent and having spent a vast majority of her younger days in Liverpool visiting family, shopping etc it is somewhere we rarely visit now. Chris’ job is in city centre Manchester and our son now lives there, so when we reach the East Lancs Road we almost always turn left. Taking part in the Poppy Walk during June 17, made us realise just how much of Liverpool we hadn’t seen for many years and in Chris' case not at all. It was time to remedy that.

Using trusty Secret Escapes, we had booked into the Richmond Hotel (free bottle of Prosecco!) for the night, and after taking the 40 minute train to Lime Street and checking in we spent two days wandering around the streets and buildings of Liverpool. Despite the weather forecast promising torrential rain (again) we were blessed with sunshine and almost warmth. We paid a visit to both of the Cathedrals – buildings we have travelled past many a time but never ventured into. Both stunning architectural creations and very different. The Catholic Cathedral known locally as ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’ was bathed in red and blue lighting effects inside – modern and breathtaking and all natural , created by the sunshine coming through the fantastic stained glass. It was hard to take a bad photo inside – every step presented another photo opportunity – it was also a really good test of my very early development with ISO and shutter settings (not all successful!). In complete contrast the Anglican Cathedral is a towering traditional Cathedral reminiscent of Harry Potter films. Unusually there were no chairs in the main building which made the sheer size of it seem even more impressive.  Not unexpectedly this took us almost all day and probably two full memory cards of photographs.

We dined at Albert Dock in Revolución de Cuba which came highly recommended by our daughter Lucy. Salsa band (occasional dodgy cover – Ed Sheeran?!?) exciting tapas style food which was delicious, great service and the only complaint was the sun was in our eyes! We watched the sunset over the River Mersey and again took photo after photo of sunsets, ferries, the Pier Head fairground and even Billy Fury (occasionally mistaken for Elvis by some people who had no glasses on) – it was a truly memorable day.

We finished off the second day with a 10k walk down the Mersey through the cruise terminal and beyond before heading home with our trusty Two Together railcard. It was such a wonderful weekend we will definitely be going back.

Viv
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mum's 80th

8/10/2017

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We fully appreciate how fortunate a family we are having all our parents still with us. September 17 was a milestone birthday for my Mum who has now reached the grand age of 80 although she looks and definitely acts much younger! Despite being (in our daughters words!) a ‘socially awkward’ family, we decided to throw our party- hating Mum not one but two parties (but definitely not surprise ones!). Thanks to our favourite butcher Graham (Taylor’s Butchers, Derby House) we celebrated her actual birthday with Graham’s battered chicken goujons and all the trimmings – if you’re from Wigan that means barm cakes to make your butties! We produced our ‘decade’ boxes which had taken weeks of planning and arguments (and money) and contained presents to reflect the different aspects of her life from childhood to being a Nan. We celebrated in the rain with sparklers – continuing the Northern spirit of carrying on in all measures of torrential rain – and are pleased to report that she had a great time! Phew! It was touch and go particularly when Lucy’s lovely German Shepherd Navi took too much of an interest in the Airedale puppy cuddly toy!
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​For our second treat we gathered our most special people together and shared picnic tables at the Paddock Restaurant in Wrightington. A delicious version of an afternoon tea containing mugs of soup, buckets of fish and chips (battered courgettes for the veggies) chicken ceasar salads and some yummy cakes. We finished off with a very special birthday cake made by the extremely talented Debbie Binder who is second to none for producing exquisite sugarcraft figures (frighteningly lifelike – the journey home from Debbie’s with Mum’s sugar head peering at me through the box was very unsettling). Candles, two renditions of Happy Birthday, lots of hugs and kisses and photos and Mum had had a lovely time. 
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​Viv
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Seeing what Develops

8/10/2017

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Emma Davies – A Year with my camera

Surprisingly, recently I have actually felt the need to learn about the different things my camera can do. Chris is great, but maybe not the best at teaching as he is completely in the ‘zone’ and fully immersed in any task he is doing – I’m like the annoying five year old tugging at his arm for attention! In order to remedy this I have signed up for the free email photography course run by Emma Davies – A Year with my Camera. It started in September and as usual I am already 2 weeks behind so have now bought the accompanying workbook to ensure I keep up! Two lessons in and I am now somewhat of an expert (!) in aperture and managed to obtain the correct results with my f2.8 setting – large aperture – small depth of field – blurry background – I was really impressed! Lesson 1 was a revelation – who knew the tricks your camera was up to! It looks like it is going to be a great tool to help me improve and as so many people who are doing the course feel the need to share all of their attempts it is a big help in assessing how you are actually doing. Check Instagram for the #ayearwithmycamera hashtag (although you won’t find any of mine!)

​Viv.
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Capturing the cathedral

8/10/2017

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Photography is a love we have both shared for many years to differing degrees. Chris has always been a methodical user of cameras spending hours researching techniques and tools to help him produce quality images. He knows his camera inside out – ISO’s, apertures….. on the other hand I have always followed the look through the lens, press and hope for the best technique! This is reflected in our work as Chris is able to capture images worthy of hanging on your wall and I do a great selfie! I love photographing people and buildings and generally worn out, untidy urban things whilst Chris loves landscapes and sunsets and anything that flys! We are a perfect team as often I see the shot and Chris takes the perfect capture of it and he is always there to help me when my camera doesn’t do exactly what I want it too!

We are not professional photographers – we don’t seek to sell our pictures and neither do we enter competitions with them. It’s a shared hobby which takes us out at the weekends away from the stresses and pressures of work. Fresh air, time together and lovely memories captured (plus google photos in meltdown and a need for a new external hard drive!)

On one of our ‘photoshoots’ earlier in the year we visited, for the first time (which is appalling considering the amount of time we spend in Manchester!) Manchester Cathedral and noticed they had a photography competition running ‘Capture the Cathedral’.
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For the first time Chris decided to have a go with some of the photos he had taken that day. He couldn’t have been more excited and I couldn’t have been prouder when two of his images were shortlisted for the award.
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As a family we attended the ceremony at the Cathedral to announce the winners and although Chris was unsuccessful (this time!) we were all very proud to see his two images displayed alongside the other shortlisted entries. Like any art, photography is very subjective and I have to say I didn’t agree with the overall winning entry for multiple reasons, but my personal highlight of the evening was the winner of the Cathedral at Night category– Let there be Light and Lasers by Becky Ryding, who had taken her entry at a concert held in the cathedral. The delight on her face to be named runner up was completely infectious and her excitement was a joy. A very worthy winner.
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To have two entries shortlisted out of over 300 initial photographs is a real honour and Chris was proud to be a part of such a talented group of people. I am quite sure we will both be having a go next year!

​Viv

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Going Batty

8/10/2017

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It almost feels like we have had a personal connection to the development and continued transformation of the Bat Out of Hell Musical. Having our own theatre insider, we have been very privileged to share in the early days of a brand new musical from first rehearsals to world premiere. It has been a fascinating journey culminating in us taking a trip down to London in the summer to watch the London performance in its last week. Via our mole, who was one of the first people to see the Manchester performance whilst it was still in rehearsals, we have shared the journey of the show and been fascinated to discover what it takes to put on such a large scale production.

We first saw the show at the Opera House in Manchester during March 2017. Neither of us were over familiar with the music of Jim Steinman and Meatloaf, but by the time we left the auditorium we were both hooked.  We have sat in the audience of many a musical production and enjoyed the performance, but never have we attended a theatrical show where the minute we left we couldn’t wait to see it again.

We now have all of the music (sadly it’s on 2 CD’s in show order - thanks Adam!) They have accompanied us on many a long journey during summer 2017 and we are now one of those annoying families who could probably loudly sing a long to the whole show!

The decision to attend the show in London was made for two reasons – one as it was in a much bigger venue and we were curious to see how this would impact the performance and secondly as we had heard that there had been some considerable changes.

We are very lucky to live within a 10 minute drive of the West Coast mainline so London is just a 2 hour, usually uneventful, train ride. Combined with the exceptionally good value tickets via our Two Together railcard it makes for a relatively cheap day out. We arrived late morning, took a leisurely lunch at our favourite American BBQ restaurant Bodeans, where we grabbed the last table (must remember next time to book!) and then attended the afternoon matinee.
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The show did not disappoint, the sun shone, our food was delicious and it was good to spend time with our city living son.  London in a day can be tiring but there’s always time for a train nap on the way home!

​Viv
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  • Home
  • Features & Snippets
    • Features >
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    • Snippets
    • Out and About >
      • Travels >
        • North Coast 500 August 2016
        • North Coast 500 - view from the passenger seat
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