Monday Mural: all aboard for a long haul through winter

Today's Monday Mural is a Kelzo special on Stevenson Square, part of the rolling Outhouse Street Art project.  A vintage bus and a trademark Kelzo dog brighten up a dark night in the city.

The slow post-festive return to normality peaks today with schools and universities and all workers back to the grindstone too. Some of us who struggled into the office last week can fell a little self righteous, but that doesn't dull the pain of a long winter ahead, of work and toil and little warmth. So what's your way of surviving a long hard winter, short of moving to the tropics or California (where the Monday Mural meme is hosted)? 

Mine is probably to try and go to art galleries, cultural events and getting politically active. Tomorrow evening's frack-free Greater Manchester meeting at the Friends' Meeting House, 13 The Polygon, Wellington Road, Eccles, M30 0DS is a good place to start. Or Wednesday's Manchester School of Samba class at Sacred Trinity Church in Salford. Then there's the RNCM Chamber Music Festival (the Art of Bach) starting this Friday (2.15) at the Cathedral, Chetham's and St. Ann's church. 

Hunkering down with the pile of books I received at Christmas is another proven winter winner. I think I now have something for every possible mood I could be in, with a variety of genres: Children's (JP Martin's omnibus of Uncle the elephant books); crime (Edward Marston's 19th century Inspector Colbeck); history; (Norman Davies' Vanished Kingdoms of Europe); politics (Edward Hobsbawm's How to change the world) and music (Hugh Fielder's Pink Floyd behind the wall) for starters...