. . . . Ricks Extra Long Summer . . . .: Fergie doll, Beckham hair,crazy kids, ten pin bowling and the worlds greatest penny falls.

Did you know that if the weather is hot, sunny and not windy at all, then there is actually very little or no weather at all?! The sunshine and heat come from the sun, obviously and arent being affected by any clouds or rain or wind which actually make up the majority weather part of the actual weather equation. If there arent any of these constituent parts around, then the sun just shines and everyone says 'What beautiful weather we are having!'..in my opinion that bollocks, what they should say is 'There isnt any weather about today...awesome! You probably wonder why Im going on about this - well its because we are having a right mixed bag at the moment - one minute there is weather everywhere - wind, rain and clouds all rushing about and banging into each other making water fall to the ground and getting the ducks all excited. The next minute all the weather has gone away and we are left with the sun, millions of miles away poking its happy yellow face into the windows and making me squint as I watch another episode of 'homes Under the Hammer'.
So thats been the story for the last week or so - weather, no weather, lots of weather, a little bit of weather, shed loads of weather..etc. etc. etc

In other news, my neck and back are improving fast - The nerve is still bruised and is causing pain in my arm, but not as bad as it was and sometimes (like the weather) it goes away altogether! The physio has been great and I recommend her to anyone in Urmston with aches and pains.

Buffy is settling in nicely. She has a new set up with her office, using a couple of boxes and borrowing Chris's computer keyboard, her own back seems to be less aggravated than when she was stood up to work and she seems happy to be here - despite the huge amounts of weather!

She has also now attended twp games at 'The Theatre of Dreams', or as its also known 'Old Trafford', the home of United. We went to our first game at the weekend - a home premier league game versus Crystal Palace. The game was a 2-0 win for United, but to be honest it wasnt a great game in itself.
The second game was last night - on my birthday - and it was much better. A 4-2 Champions league win against Bayer Leverkusen. We went with Chris, walking to the ground whilst enjoying a massive Chippy dinner and stopping for a couple of beers along the way - then a couple more at the pub before heading home after the match. A great night out.

Buff and Chris inside....

Me and Buff outside!

Buffy has also been pointing out a few things she has noticed about living over here in little old England. Much like when I arrived in Winnipeg, there are lots of things that I see as normality and she see quite differently....

Firstly, the roads are quite different. There have been a few times when Buffy has pointed out that in Canada the roads outside the city are long, straight and only have traffic going one way - The traffic traveling in the other direction is more often than not on a separate piece of road about 50 metres to one side. So when Buffy sees a straight bit of road over here she is shocked to see vehicles coming towards her. If you add to that the fact that the roads are quite obviously thinner with a lot more traffic, you can see why some North Americans find it difficult to drive in England! Over here we also park everywhere and anywhere we can - on the pavement, facing any direction. In Canada you park on the road facing the direction of travel, so Buffy thinks it is weird to just lob your car anywhere you like.

One thing she pointed out that I never noticed is the amount of Stained Glass windows in normal houses. Nearly every house in the local area has some kind of nice decorative stained glass panes in the doors and porch windows. Its really nice that she spotted this and told me because it makes the houses look a lot nicer and gives them a personality apart from each other because as Buffy also spotted - all the houses look the same. Nearly every house in an area is the same as the ones to the side and opposite. Thats quite different from Canada where all the houses are individually planned, built and decorated. I suppose it goes back to when the estates were built between the wars and again in the 60's and 70's.

Simple but pretty stained glass windows.

Just across the road!

Another thing with the houses is that we put our houses much closer to the road, with very little front garden space, but have bigger more private back gardens. In Canada there is a lot more space in the front of houses - mostly sitting a long way back from the roads.

and some more!

Cars everywhere and small front gardens - Our street!

One of the first things Buffy pointed out was the first day we were here. We passed a van advertising 'Wigwam Wagons', a company specialising in camping holidays and rental vans that you sleep in. I didnt think about it, but Buffy pointed out the totally non -pc picture of a red indian and his wigwam (incorrect name of a native american or canadian dwelling). It made me giggle to think that we didnt think it was offensive but I know it wouldnt be allowed in the U.S or Canada.

Anyway, thats enough of that for today - its been a long time since my last blog update and a lot has happened. 'Taz', the dog is getting fitter - me and Buffy have been taking him out a lot for runs and teh weight is dropping off him! We have now been to Old Trafford 3 times - twice for matches and once for a tour around the ground with Chris, Abbie, Joe and Peter on this weekend for Chris' birthday. A really good afternoon spent adventuring around the bowels of one of the most famous stadiums in the world, including a look around the dressing room where the team prepares for a game.

Outside again!!

Inside by the pitch!

Peter messing about...

Fergie was there!

So was Gary Neville!

Buffy likes David De Gea!

The kids in the changing room...

and of the changing room

Get Young off!!!

Ruuuuun!!!

Ruuuuuuuunnnn!!

Want to try on some Beckham hair?

The girls trying on United hats!

We have also been to two quiz nights and two open mic nights at 'The Urmston' pub. Both fun nights but the quiz is mental - you play wit a phone or tablet and the quiz master sends you questions over wifi and you press the screen on your device to answer. Its completely mad and loads of fun - although its also really easy to drink a little too much as well.

My shoulder continues to bother me, but is getting much better finally. I did my first real run this morning and it actually felt better after the run than it did before. A vast improvement from 3 weeks ago when I got no more than 200 metres before turning for home in agony.

We also went to my old school which had an open day. It was really interesting to see the new school rooms that have been built around the old classrooms which are still there 25 years after I left! The windows in teh old classrooms are still scruffy and not that secure, whilst the new rooms have lovely double glazing. The old bannister we used to slide down is still there below what wa sthe geography room and I even met and chatted with an old teacher - Mrs Bradley, who remembered me from all those years ago. A lovely but slightly surreal couple of hours out!

Sliding down the old school bannister!!

This weekend was Chris' birthday weekend and it was really good - the kids all enjoyed it a lot with an evening spent bowling an playing in the amusement arcade at the Trafford Centre - especially one particular machine which kept throwing money out at us.We also had a lovely big roast dinner on the Sunday afternoon, cooked by Chris, before some birthday cake as we watched the football on TV - a great weekend apart from the result.