29 November to 7 December - Diary Update

De Quincey Park on a sunny day

29 November

A Princess came for lunch.

1 December

The Dixie Beats came to Eagley Jazz Club, performing in front of an audience of 100 who had just enjoyed an excellent Christmas dinner.

Magnificent hampers for the raffle

A guest vocalist performed 'When I'm 64' for his partner (wife?) who was enjoying her 64th birthday

 

After the raffle

2 December

This is the first time that we've noticed parakeets in the garden. They were on the washing line by the feeder before being pictured on a tree next door.

I enjoyed a walk through Wythenshawe Park, then across the Mersey and through Fletcher Moss Park to collect my car that had been lent to Sarah.

Wythenshawe Park

Simon's Bridge - look carefully and you'll see that the Mersey was quite full

A typical view in Fletcher Moss Park

4 December

A Christmas Dinner menu at the Aspire restaurant, with Paul and Jeanette.

We always start with a cocktail here, then we share a bottle of wine

Click on the image to see it properly
In addition to the above, the £25 meal includes bread on arrival
and coffee and chocolates after the dessert

The salmon starter featured a huge portion of smoked salmon

Pan fried seabass fillet (mine - delicious)

Roast rump of lamb - others enjoyed a large and very tasty portion of lamb

Chocolate Macaron

Lemon scented creme brulee

Raspberry Frangipane tart

5 December

Back to De Quincey Park.

A visit to Wythenshawe Park's courtyard tearoom saw me meeting up with Fechin and Keith, two of the other 'Oldies' who try to meet up every month. Much of the hour was spent reminiscing about my backpacking in the Pyrenees. Happy Days.

6 December

En route to Sue's family Christmas meal in Hinckley, a rendezvous with Mick and Gayle at Sence Valley Forest Park parkrun. Sue and Mick had a chatty 5km run in under 33 minutes, and Gayle and I did the same in under 40 minutes. Here we are at the start.

It was great to catch up, and enjoy the pleasant woodland through which the undulating run passes.

The full results are here.

7 December

The Tatton Yule Yomp, which for a change wasn't cancelled! Sue and I were joined by Paul, Greg and Jan. Sue's number was concealed, so there are no official photos of her, but here are four of us near the start.

I stayed back to start slowly, and when the others moved forward they found Jan, another parkrunner friend.

I took a few pictures before and shortly after the start (before everyone got too far ahead)

The official pictures (download for free) show four of us at the finish.

Martin

Jan

Greg (6291) [No comment!]

Grandad Paul, the Elf

Jeanette had kindly stayed at home and supplied post race coffee and bacon butties.

Here are our results. We were lucky in that the rain stayed away. The others did really well but I took it very gently, as is my wont these days. It's good just to take part, and I was happy to speed up to a 1 hour pace at the end.

A quick turnaround at home was followed by a visit to Sale Conservative Club to enjoy a Christmas themed performance by Hootin' Annies Big Band, where my son Mike is the current guitarist. He seems to have been promoted to a place where we can see him, his usual place having been usurped by a Christmas tree.

Dave is a resident vocalist, and he did well. A lady called Jo also performed excellently, and the two of them sang a lovely duet. 

And that just about brings the diary up to date.