A musical interlude

If you had wondered why there have been no posts for several days, the reason is that Olga and I have been away. That is not information I want to broadcast in advance. But I'm back now and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Actually it won't as I am not doing WSPR at the moment. I'm running Faros and monitoring the IBP beacons. Unfortunately this is an activity that does not result in publishable output unless you run it 24 hours a day 7 days a week. My only suitable antenna is the multiband dipole. I can't spare that 24/7 unless I never go on the air to make contacts so much as I'd like to restore the beacon reception reports I can't.

The reason for my absence was that Olga and I went for a long weekend city break in Manchester. It was the first time we have been away since I became ill with the brain tumour. So it was good to be back resuming a normal life.

We went to three concerts at the Royal Northern College of Music, including the finals of the RNCM piano competition. We enjoyed them very much. I envy people who live in Manchester because the city has a full and lively cultural life. Between the RNCM, the Bridgewater Hall and the Lowry in Salford you could go to concerts every day of the week! Greater Manchester is home for several colleges and universities so there is a big student population and it is uplifting to see so many young people about. Here in Cockermouth we do have the Lake District but someone I know was not wide of the mark when he described it as "a cemetery with lights."

We stayed at Roomzzz Aparthotel right in the centre of Manchester and we liked it very much. We had a studio apartment which was very, ahem, roomy with a huge bed and a double walk-in shower plus a kitchen with all mod cons including a dishwasher. There was a wide screen TV which was also the display for an in-room Apple Mac so I needn't have bothered taking my Android Tablet. We thoroughly recommend this hotel and will certainly stay there again the next time we visit.