Well I've finally got the right hand side navigation menu on my Urmston Manchester website up to date - why is it that everything to do with IT takes far longer than you think it will?

Now I can try and catch up with uploading new pictures of Urmston, Flixton, Davhulme, Stretford and Salford Quays which I'm now well behind with.

Sunday I took some time out for some fresh air and a chance to take some new pictures for my other website Boland Blog Free Images.com - as it turns out I got a lot more than just fresh air - a whole pile of rain and hail... Ouch..!

I went out walking with one of the local walking clubs based in sale.

We went to The Roaches & Hen Cloud in Derbyshire's Peak District.

When we got to the summit of the Roaches I was fortunate enough to get a break in the weather just long enough to catch the clouds scuttling across the tops.

If you've ever thought of joining a walking club the Sale Walking & Activity Group meet up practically every weekend of the year usually on a Sunday.

Between April and end of summer there are also Wednesday evening walks that are also well attended.

Walkers meet up at the Brooklands Metrolink Station car park and divvy up the transport which is handy, if like me you don't own a car or don't care to drive.

In the meantime I need to crash on with my Urmston Manchester.com website

This is a video that I put together using photos that I took on New Years Day this year in the couple of hours before sunset.

My sister Cathy emigrated to Canada a long time ago - 1967 to be exact - anyway both she and her husband of 40+ years are coming to Manchester for a holiday in May of this year.

I know for a fact that Cathy hates flying which is one of the reasons why she has been back home so little. They are staying in a hotel/apartment in Manchester City centre - not my choice for sure - especially as they are used to driving on the wrong side of the road (come on let's have it right :-) ).

Anyway while working on my Urmston Manchester.com website yesterday I came across a page of info that may be of use to lots of people locally as well as visitors to our shores.

My thinking was that as the decision of where to stay had already been made i.e. City Centre, then they should really take advantage of the superb metro/train service that will be available to them.

I'm sure that commuters who use the Metrolink service already will know much of this, but for people like myself who only use it now and again I'm sure it has some value.

To cut to the chase, the page that I found has some really useful links. 

You can for example download maps of every single Metrolink Tram Station including all the surrounding streets, should you need them, plus there are details about special fares and facilities for car and bike parking etc.

I wont duplicate all the details here but if you are interested in the Metrolink for some special travel project that you have coming up then I hope you find it useful.

You can find my Metro/info page at http://www.urmstonmanchester.com/Stretford-Tram-Station.html

As I mentioned already, Cathy is not a great flier so I suspect this could be her last visit home.

None of us are getting younger and, my, how the time flies.

Keeping with the North American theme - Ya'll have a nice day now!

 

Making some fairly major changes to my Urmston Manchester website insofar as I'm introducing a second menu on the right hand side of the page.

The original navigation menu on the left hand side gives a monthly breakdown of the current year January through to eventually December but I wanted picture searchers to be able to find what they wanted as quickly as possible so the right hand menu is being separated into segments like pubs, churches, landmarks etc.

I get so frustrated with some websites that are difficult to navigate that I want to make Urmston Manchester easy to use and of course the bigger it gets then the more important an issue it becomes.

Yesterday I published a page about the Essoldo Cinema on Chester Road, Stretford.

I found a really interesting video taken inside the Essoldo in 1995 which I embedded onto the page.

For anyone local to the area it is quite fascinating Essoldo Cinema 1995

Hi People

Just a quick note to say that last week I took some really nice shots down at Irlam Locks. I worked at the Manchester Ship Canal Company for nearly 13 years so I found it very interesting if not a little sad.

Anyway I arrived just before sunset and it was an absolutely beautiful evening. I will be publishing a lot of these pictures on my Urmston Manchester web site in the coming weeks.

While I was there it brought back memories of an old school chum Brian Hillier who was sadly killed in the Bob's Lane Ferry disaster of 1970. Poor Brian was only 18 years old and had his whole life to look forward to.

Yesterday I went to the Classic Car Show held at the Event City across from the Trafford Centre. I believe it was only its second year but it was phenomenal. Funny thing is I'm not really a car fan as such (don't even own one any more) but these babies are a work of art and you cannot help but appreciate the skill and engineering know how that goes into producing such beautiful cars.

Hi

Well I know I said that time flies but this is ridiculous.... my last posting on this blog was about the passing of my dear friend Babs which was posted on

Thursday, October 18, 2007 ....

errr... can that really be over 4 years ago?

This is just a quick post to re-open the Urmston Scene blog and to tell you about a web site I am currently working on that is mainly pictorial in nature and is of course related to Urmston, Flixton, Davyhulme, Stretford and the Salford Quays.

The pictures are free for anyone to download and use for whatever purpose they would like and are of a decent file size. A reference to my site would be great if you do happen to use them but I'm not making it a compulsory condition.

I included Salford Quays almost as an after-though, only because I worked at the Dock Office during the 1970's.

I thought about the thousands of other people who used to work on or around the busy docklands during that time and before and realised that they might be interested too.

It's strange isn't it, what memories bubble to the surface once you start work on a project.... turns out that I have more memories of Salford Docks than I thought I had.

Anyway my plan is to report here regularly from now on with updates of the new Urmston site.

You can find it at www.urmstonmanchester.com

The camera that I was using at the start of www.urmstonmanchester.com actually jammed about 3 weeks ago while I was taking some photos of the wonderful 7 sisters copper beech tree in the gardens of Flixton House so I have had to buy a new camera to continue my project.

The original camera was a Nikon D40 which had given me stirling service for nearly 4 years.

I have replaced it with a Nikon D300s.

It has more buttons than you could shake a stick at, so I'm struggling at the moment ,trying to to get accustomed to using it.

The new pictures of the Seven Sisters copper beech tree will be uploaded in the next day or two but in case you're wondering seven sisters who? You can find them on the above links.

Many thanks

Which Way To Heaven?

Time flies when you're having fun. Well that may well be, but in case you hadn't noticed, it flies when you're not having fun too.

A few weeks ago I learned that a very good friend of mine, whom I hadn't seen for many years, had inexplicably died. I say inexplicably because Barbara was a larger than life character who as far as I knew had no intention of dying.....ever...!

My ex wife (of 10 years) and I felt compelled to attend her funeral service together. We remembered Barbara in her prime and although unsaid between us, I think we both felt that Barbara would remember us as a couple. Looking down from wherever she might be, we felt she would be happy to see us, honouring her life's memory as the Mike and Betty of old.

Her son in law and 'favourite' nephew read eulogies to her memory.

Barbara was a 'Get up and go girl' they said she liked nothing better than to hold court and take the centre stage. Want a good healthy argument over a few beers and a fag ....Barbara would take on all comers....young or old....male or female....she'd slay 'em all!

However her Achilles heel, and she'd never admit it, was her total lack of sense of direction. As the eulogy speakers said, she would set off for Blackpool and hit Morecombe....Grimsby would become Scarborough....London....well heaven knows where she'd end up!

Family and friends would get calls at all hours of the day or night. From Lands End to John o Groats....'It's Babs' she would say....'I seem to have got a little bit lost'

As the speaker said, and to be fair I can't remember which one it was, Barbara is now in a better place, in the bosom of her family and friends that preceded her to the other side.

That is of course provided she didn't lose her way.

She might have ended down there.