Manchester

Yet another departure date – hopefully the last, now flying from Gatwick 15 Sept so it mercifully still fits in with my leaving party and timetable of jobs to do.

A weekend in Manchester to see daughter Rebecca’s new house – well, not so new – rather old and crumbly, needing a load of work to bring it and its garden back to an attractive living condition. With her studies, work, cycle circus and other activities she will find it a strain but she’s always had so much energy I’m sure she will have it smart by the time I get back. We walked to Salford Quays to see the Imperial war museum – a much more impressive building than I had expected but leaving a feeling that the exhibition had been engineered into the spaces created by architect Liebskind rather than the other way round. A cycle trip then (I’m certainly not as fit as I should be!) to a Caribbean festival in a nearby park with smoke rising from the food stalls and loud music from either side of the crowded, sunlit field – so many happy people, and races all enjoying the event.

Back in Bridgwater the final preparations for my trip – studying organisational structures, local politics, sustainability and the language – should get down to actual phrases and sentences beyond just the words I’ve been working on. All a bit daunting but it seems now that we (myself and two other blokes) will have a couple of days to recover from the 40 hour journey before group training in the language and the local culture in Madang

Party invites now nearly all out so fingers crossed that the event goes well given my disparate band of friends from the old folk’s club, artists, chess players, politicos, neighbours and family.
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Imperial War Museum






Bec and Kat


























Chess at the Engine Room