Out and about on a Friday. Boots. Gossip. Nature.

 I went out quite early this morning so that I could take Phil’s boot to the cobbler in the market. The sole has annoyingly detached itself from the upper! This problem has occurred with another pair of boots and our market hall cobbler has sorted it. I was going to Manchester to meet some friends and so set off a little ahead of schedule to visit the cobbler. He took one look at the boot, shook his head and told me it was beyond repair. How very annoying! 

I did consider just throwing the boot in the nearest bin but, after all, it wasn’t my boot so I phoned home. After some umming and ahing Phil decided he would try to superglue the boot himself, on the principle of “waste not want not”. And so I wandered around Manchester with a boot in a bag! So it goes. 

My friends sat in Waterstone’s cafe, our regular meeting place, and reminisced about the time when we all worked together, swapping stories of scandals concerning certain members of staff. It’s amazing the stories that come out years later!

Eventually, as it was a fine day we decided to walk to Manchester’s Northern Quarter to an Italian restaurant we had enjoyed in the past. On previous occasions we have chosen a restaurant closer to our meeting place to avoid getting wet. But today the sun shone. Manchester was showing itself off! All of us can remember when the Northern Quarter was a scruffy place with second book shops, now it’s a very trendy place. 

When we arrived at our destination, Noi Quattro, we found it was closed until 5.00. So we did that very French thing of wandering around assessing the possibilities before deciding where to eat. It was probably quite appropriate as three of us have been French teachers in the past. We ended up in another Italian place, whose name escapes me completely. 

Some time after I arrived home, Phil and I decided to go for a stroll round the village - correction: a brisk walk round the village, much better for general fitness! Now that the days are growing longer, especially as we seem to be having some sunshine, it is very pleasant to walk out in the late afternoon / early evening. We saw lambs frolicking, “pinkbells” - the pink version of bluebells, lots of blossom, some good reflections, and zooming in on the view of the millpond, our old friend the heron. 

There should be photos of all of those things but i seem to have messed up the process of adding photos today. I’ll put them in tomorrow’s post. 

Life goes on. Stay sate and well, everyone!