Wary Biker

Monday

#mondaymemories

It doesn’t look the weather for outdoor sketching but wind, rain and driving hail don’t put me off as I head to The Walton Arms pub near Walton Gardens for the latest Sketching Club outing.

Unsurprisingly, there is no one else around but sketching isn’t a team game. I’ve got my sharpened pencil. I’ve got my sketch pad, a flask of coffee and the warmth of my car. No one else needs me. 

Quite what the Higher Walton residents think as I slowly cruise up and down looking for a subject… I opt to draw some attractive Alms Houses on Old Chester Road.

After an hour of inclement weather I spot our group leader driving slowly past before finding his own spot parked at an angle in the road across a gigantic puddle opposite Ye Olde Post Office. I give him a shock as I tap on his window. He informs me that a third member is hiding under a tree down the road. Yes, sketching is the closest I’ll get to extreme sport.

Another of my cricketing heroes has died. Derek Underwood was one of my favourite and best imitations as I bowled the worn tennis ball time after time on the back street in Settle. Both being left handed I could get close to replicating his action. Unfortunately I didn’t have the amount of sawdust needed, or available friends, to recreate his famous rout of the Aussies.

Tuesday

I’m back at the Brewery Tap ‘Words on Mic’ and this evening we are without regular compère Rick, the Urban Poet, but the show still goes on. There is the usual eclectic mix of material. I choose a selection of poems from the new collection…

Wednesday

…Speaking of which, after some to-ing and fro-ing over design details I finally approve the cover of the new book which is coming out next month.

Thursday

I take the register at the Monthly Meeting of the u3a before listening to two members of the Blood Bikes Charity who provide a rapid response across the North West with clinical products. Members yearning for the days of ‘Easy Rider’ are able to climb aboard a machine which, according to our guest speaker, has ’26 buttons that can all be reached by a four year-old’.

He wisely keeps the key in his pocket to avoid a high-powered bike-shaped hole appearing in the wall of the Thelwall Village Hall.

Friday

From high-power to gentle. It’s back to Lymm Dam this morning for the latest Wellbeing Birdwatching stroll. Eighteen members pitch up outside the Church Green pub, binoculars at the ready. Spotting the grebe’s nest in the reeds with a single egg catching the light is an early candidate for the Trill Champagne Moment although the attentions of a marauding Moorhen are worrying. We then spend a few minutes trying to establish whether turtles have been spotted lying on the water’s edge in the distance. They aren’t giving much away and could be rocks but after eighteen lots of binoculars have been trained on them and various theories brought up Pete, leader for the day, wanders back and nails enough evidence on his camera.

The sighting triggers a discussion of the sixties pop group of the same name, biggest hit ‘Happy Together’ in 1966. That just about sums up our group.

Saturday

We head to the Favourite Garden Centre for our free monthly cup of coffee. We dwell for a while in the garden furniture section, aware that our own new set of table and four chairs is currently stuck in the Suez Canal. Less Said the better.

After ten years in the third level of English football Fleetwood Town have been relegated, despite winning today. It’s been quite a journey from North West Counties football just twenty years ago. Since 2014 we have played former Premier League clubs and FA Cup winners. We have played at stadiums that hold more people than live in Fleetwood and created our own bit of history, being the victims of the first ever VAR decision. A great story.