Ain't No Roman Wall High Enough

Chester might have the most complete city walls in all of Britain, but when the Romans constructed them they sure as heck weren't counting on an invasion by thirsty, sun-loving Scousers (Liverpudlians). Then again, neither were we.

Our first overnight excursion from Didsbury took us through rural Cheshire to this former Roman fortress (known as Deva Victrix), close to the Welsh border. It is very much a tourist town nowadays, a fact we naively brushed aside given that we had arrived on a bank holiday long weekend. Our trip coincided with a burst of English sunshine that sparked locals and visitors alike into a manic, irrational contest for the nearest outdoor table on the banks of the River Dee - seemingly to guzzle lager and bask like albino seals. I was terrified; the photo shows me rapidly searching our guidebook for clues to avoiding crowds of sunburnt Brits.

When we eventually escaped the riverside masses, I quite enjoyed our tour of the city's attractions. We wandered along sections of the wall and through a historic cobbled shopping district called 'The Rows', watched re-creations of Roman patrols and marvelled at the Chester Cathedral (see below). Just don't ask me to go back there on a public holiday...

Didsbury's Tribute to Peter Cundall

The flier we'd received in our mailbox said the day's planting activity was to commence at 10am. Curious to see the 'Didsbury Lanes Association' in action, Kel and I wandered the streets near our place around 11am one Sunday morning. We rounded a corner and there they were in all their glory: a handful of 50- and 60-something ladies wielding pot plants and wheelbarrows whilst barking orders to an odd assortment of small children, attentive mothers and several men who seemed pretty unsure about their role in the whole thing. If Peter Cundall was still doing his thing on the ABC's Gardening Australia show, he would have undoubtedly described the scene as "bloomin' marvellous".

In an unlikely twist, when doing some research for this post I discovered Mr Cundall is, in fact, a former Mancunian (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cundall for his bio). And yes, I confess I do not have a life and actually devote time 'researching' for my blog...

We said g'day to all and sundry, the ladies sized us up, and within minutes Kellie and I were given hanging baskets and a set of directions. Happy planting! According to Anton, the current president of the Lanes Association, Manchester City Council supplies the soil, seedlings and various paraphernalia. Volunteers (like us) do the 'donkey work' of planting and watering...and hey presto, you have a floral mardi gras in the making. See picture at left of a donkey about to be put to work.

We met loads of people on the day, with Kellie befriending a retired primary school teacher named Sylvie. We dropped in just last night to say hello and ended up leaving 3 1/2 hours (and 3 bottles of red wine) later. She practically pushed us out the door with a trio of rainbow trout that her husband Mike had caught plus a Bill Bryson novel for me to read. The generosity of people in the North really can be astounding - although having an Australian accent certainly helps.