The Passing of Summer

Manchester Town Hall Entrance

Scene from an Inner courtyard

Wonderful  Gothic Architecture

Stained glass windows on the main staircase

 

30^th October 2013

September was a weird mixture of hot and really cold days. We are now told that the polar  ice-cap is not melting but regenerating how confusing is that, it seems that Global Warming continues to be a rather controversial topic.

The trees are just starting to change colour, I love the autumn it has so much texture and colour and the sun low in the heavens compliments this change.    My apple trees have once again provided much work,picking, peeling, blanching and freezing buckets full of apples I can do it with my eyes shut. It is a chore but well worth the effort when I can enjoy and share my apple pies all year round with family and friends.

Met up with members of Bolton Speaking Club for our Pre-Season Dinner, we broke for the summer in April and here we are back on track eager to start again.  I have been busy preparing for this Monday's meeting when I will be Topics Chairman for the evening having the responsibility to provide varied topics for our members to respond to with a three minute impromptu speech.

It will be National Poetry Day on the 3^rd October when the Libraries around Bolton display original poems by local Poets. This year the theme was 'Water', so my poem is about rain.

The Cloudburst


Dark clouds gather, the sky heralds rain.
Rumbling distant thunder is a warning.
Soon the heavy droplets fall,
As people flee as if in imminent danger
From the deafening drumming of the deluge,
Within minutes on car roof and pavement.
  Torrential rain, thunderclouds and lightening
Fill the darkened sky.

Torrents roar down the streets, 
Flash floods fill doorways, alleys and courtyards.
Bins topple over, their contents sail away
Into full flowing gutters
Gridlocked, with the volume of debris.
 Washed away to be deposited who knows where.
Traffic slows, stalls then stops, highways block,
Everyone watches and waits.

An eerie silence descends
As the sun breaks through the darkness.
Car engines fire up, brakes checked
They hesitantly moved forward in convoy.
People hiding appear from nowhere
To hurry home, wet to the core.
The town washed clean,
Comes back to life, to carry on as before.

Val Cook 2010

Went along to the Cinema to see Helen Mirran in “The Audience”. It's becoming popular to have live feeds from London Theatres and Events, of Plays, Opera, Ballet and Concerts. Helen portrayed the Queen in audience with many of her Prime Ministers during their four year term of office. They met at the Palace for one hour on the same day every week to discuss Parliamentary topics. It was far from boring,was amusing and entertaining in fact the the time flew by and you really felt you where in a theatre watching a stage play, rather a unique experience..

The Audience

Sunday I travelled with my friend Betty into Manchester on the train. Unfortunately there was a Football Match between rivals Manchester City & Manchester United, so the train was packed. We had booked a tour of Manchester Town Hall, a uniqueNeo-Gothic Victorian building,designed by Architect Afred Waterhouse built in 1868-1877. The interior is amazing often used as backdrop to many period films such as Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter. It was quite demanding as there where many steps to negotiate,the highlight of the tour was the great hall that had paintings on the plaster around the walls,by Ford Madox Brown of the Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood,fantastic....
I love P.R.B. paintings.   Throughout the building, ceilings,walls and staircases are
unbelievable, colourfully tiled and sculptured with huge stained glass windows, no expense spared....I was enthralled. 

Manchester Townhall   

I have been renewing my Passport, the documentation was immense, reading through all the instructions gave me a headache. They requested two very specific passport photos which had to be verified because the one in my old passport looked nothing like me, as I am now. I am getting too long in the tooth to be filling in long complexed government documents like these. Anyway its in the post now, I hope its accepted and my new passport is on its way.

  Three of Ford Madox Brown's Paintings in Manchester Town Hall

Arrival of the Flemish Weavers to Manchester in AD 1383

John Kay inventor of the Flying Shuttle in Manchester AD 1733 

Jon Kay is being Wrapped in a sheet to be spirited away as angry mob

storm workshop

Bradshaws Defence of Manchester in AD 1679