I did wonder when this day would come: it’s time for Didn'tsbury to come to an end. I didn’t intend the project to last more than a year: there are only so many photographs that can be taken, although the stories and whimsical fancies never die away - so please sit back, browse the archive, and pat yourself on the back for joining me and the wife along this extraordinary and unusual journey of the ultimate leafy suburb. Oh and there’s no wife, no Mr Didnot. Just me. We may have met before. I was the one with the camera and the strange imagination. Remember?…

I did wonder when this day would come: it’s time for Didn'tsbury to come to an end.

I didn’t intend the project to last more than a year: there are only so many photographs that can be taken, although the stories and whimsical fancies never die away - so please sit back, browse the archive, and pat yourself on the back for joining me and the wife along this extraordinary and unusual journey of the ultimate leafy suburb.

Oh and there’s no wife, no Mr Didnot. Just me. We may have met before. I was the one with the camera and the strange imagination. Remember?…

I did listen to the stories inside these books in Didsbury Fish Bar: I listened hard. I didn’t think that one day all stories come to an end: that empty feeling when you put down a book, that yearning when someone you love is not there, endings that leave you so alive and yet so numb: it’s all inside… all of it… every last ending is here.

I did listen to the stories inside these books in Didsbury Fish Bar: I listened hard.

I didn’t think that one day all stories come to an end: that empty feeling when you put down a book, that yearning when someone you love is not there, endings that leave you so alive and yet so numb: it’s all inside… all of it… every last ending is here.

I did say hello to Happy Roundface. I didn’t chat for long because the wife dragged me off, muttering something about Mr Malik’s store and needing to buy detergent, although Happy Roundface's views on replacing the Gregorian Calendar with the word ‘flibble’ left me quite enlightened, I can tell you.

I did say hello to Happy Roundface.

I didn’t chat for long because the wife dragged me off, muttering something about Mr Malik’s store and needing to buy detergent, although Happy Roundface's views on replacing the Gregorian Calendar with the word ‘flibble’ left me quite enlightened, I can tell you.

I did try putting up railings on this Didsbury street. I didn’t get the angles right and the mess of spaghetti metal looked more like a girder factory explosion than a safety barrier for pedestrians, so I wore it as a fascinator and won first prize at London Fashion Week (Roadside Millinery Category).

I did try putting up railings on this Didsbury street.

I didn’t get the angles right and the mess of spaghetti metal looked more like a girder factory explosion than a safety barrier for pedestrians, so I wore it as a fascinator and won first prize at London Fashion Week (Roadside Millinery Category).

I did follow the sign for the garage sales. I didn’t leave a stone unturned: I bought everything in the garage from the ladder to the rusty tools to the newly carwashed Renault, every penny spent on knick-knacks crumbling and new.

I did follow the sign for the garage sales.

I didn’t leave a stone unturned: I bought everything in the garage from the ladder to the rusty tools to the newly carwashed Renault, every penny spent on knick-knacks crumbling and new.

I did spend this week preparing for All Hallow’s Eve. I didn’t always understand which festival was which, such as the time the wife chastised me with a frying pan as I bounced my way through a Hallowe'en party dressed as an Easter bunny in a Santa outfit… so maybe this year I should just stick to doing Didn'tsbury.

I did spend this week preparing for All Hallow’s Eve.

I didn’t always understand which festival was which, such as the time the wife chastised me with a frying pan as I bounced my way through a Hallowe'en party dressed as an Easter bunny in a Santa outfit… so maybe this year I should just stick to doing Didn'tsbury.

I did intend to play tennis this week. I didn’t have a competitor: instead, I stood in a cold field in my pants and imagined where the lines would be, and squinted until my brain pretended there was a net, and I swayed and swayed, shivered and swayed, swinging my arms with imaginary rackets, a mangled ball lying on the ground looking at me as an ‘o’ of disappointment.

I did intend to play tennis this week.

I didn’t have a competitor: instead, I stood in a cold field in my pants and imagined where the lines would be, and squinted until my brain pretended there was a net, and I swayed and swayed, shivered and swayed, swinging my arms with imaginary rackets, a mangled ball lying on the ground looking at me as an ‘o’ of disappointment.

I did not play not-Pictionary. I didn’t not succeed so I moved on to not-Monopoly where you do not push not-hats along a board that is not there while not trying not to win not a lot of money and all along not wishing you were not playing the not-Game of Life instead.

I did not play not-Pictionary.

I didn’t not succeed so I moved on to not-Monopoly where you do not push not-hats along a board that is not there while not trying not to win not a lot of money and all along not wishing you were not playing the not-Game of Life instead.

I did enjoy the arrival of autumn as the takeaway wrappers rained from the skies. I didn’t think too much about the coming spring when the detritus of cartons and branded bags laid greasy roots deep into the ground then sprouted up as bright, colourful burgers and milkshakes, their fatty blossoms dripping joyfully onto passers-by.

I did enjoy the arrival of autumn as the takeaway wrappers rained from the skies.

I didn’t think too much about the coming spring when the detritus of cartons and branded bags laid greasy roots deep into the ground then sprouted up as bright, colourful burgers and milkshakes, their fatty blossoms dripping joyfully onto passers-by.

Didn'tsbury was proud to be part of blankpages’ era-ending 47th edition. blankpages is produced by emerging artist promoter Blank Media Collective and in every edition, they get a blogger to recommend another blogger who then recommends another, and so on. A hat tip from There’s Lead In My Pencil in the previous edition meant Didn'tsbury was the next - and last - in the chain. blankpages will now be relaunched, but before then, read the piece by Didn'tsbury grump-in-chief Mr Didnot: PDF link here. It’s on page 52 just after the photo of a big hill.

Didn'tsbury was proud to be part of blankpages’ era-ending 47th edition.

blankpages is produced by emerging artist promoter Blank Media Collective and in every edition, they get a blogger to recommend another blogger who then recommends another, and so on. A hat tip from There’s Lead In My Pencil in the previous edition meant Didn'tsbury was the next - and last - in the chain.

blankpages will now be relaunched, but before then, read the piece by Didn'tsbury grump-in-chief Mr Didnot: PDF link here. It’s on page 52 just after the photo of a big hill.

I did let our Blog North Awards commendation go to our head this week. I didn’t object as the wife, who has NVQs in model-making and advanced plastics, built a colossal pyrex bust of my head for the back garden after discovering new legislation that says no-one needs planning permission anymore for anything, especially not huge Didn'tsbury heads.

I did let our Blog North Awards commendation go to our head this week.

I didn’t object as the wife, who has NVQs in model-making and advanced plastics, built a colossal pyrex bust of my head for the back garden after discovering new legislation that says no-one needs planning permission anymore for anything, especially not huge Didn'tsbury heads.

I did coat Didsbury in mud this week, starting with this wall. I didn’t go lightly as I smeared the cupcakes in And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon, as I caked the Tuesday pub quiz guy in the Railway, as I turned Plucky the Giant Chicken into gloopy brown, and as I put the “oo!” into Dhoop Shack with the cold of the mud, all dark, all glistening, all beautiful.

I did coat Didsbury in mud this week, starting with this wall.

I didn’t go lightly as I smeared the cupcakes in And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon, as I caked the Tuesday pub quiz guy in the Railway, as I turned Plucky the Giant Chicken into gloopy brown, and as I put the “oo!” into Dhoop Shack with the cold of the mud, all dark, all glistening, all beautiful.

I did play Cinderella to the invisible man when I found his glove in Didsbury this week. I didn’t consider that the invisible man was wearing it, lying prostrate on the floor after a heavy night on invisible booze; I picked up the surprisingly heavy glove as I trilled with excitement about finding my invisible Prince Charming, and I tried the glove on, unknowingly with my hand in his… and that’s when I started to disapp–

I did play Cinderella to the invisible man when I found his glove in Didsbury this week.

I didn’t consider that the invisible man was wearing it, lying prostrate on the floor after a heavy night on invisible booze; I picked up the surprisingly heavy glove as I trilled with excitement about finding my invisible Prince Charming, and I tried the glove on, unknowingly with my hand in his… and that’s when I started to disapp–

I did attend the open day in the lanky yellow house. I didn’t eat from the lanky yellow buffet with lanky yellow sausage rolls and lanky yellow crackers and cheese, and I didn’t speak to the lanky yellow people as they swilled lanky yellow glasses and boasted about their lanky yellow children learning lanky yellow clarinets, for I am short and purple and notoriously shy.

I did attend the open day in the lanky yellow house.

I didn’t eat from the lanky yellow buffet with lanky yellow sausage rolls and lanky yellow crackers and cheese, and I didn’t speak to the lanky yellow people as they swilled lanky yellow glasses and boasted about their lanky yellow children learning lanky yellow clarinets, for I am short and purple and notoriously shy.

I did get caught in the rain this week. I didn’t dry out for ages, so I gave in to my fate and moved my Didn'tsbury blogging laptop to the fish tank and so this week of Didsbury delights came surrounded by bubbling water, plastic castles and slightly concerned goldfish.

I did get caught in the rain this week.

I didn’t dry out for ages, so I gave in to my fate and moved my Didn'tsbury blogging laptop to the fish tank and so this week of Didsbury delights came surrounded by bubbling water, plastic castles and slightly concerned goldfish.