Free ..........

My day started in Stockport. I arrived earlier than I had expected (I thought the traffic would be heavier), so I had some .......

.... free time (this is the weakest link). So I walked from the town hall exploring a bit of the nearby town centre. I haven't walked around here for years, and like many other centres it is clearly suffering. Which is a real shame as it could be fantastic. I liked this terrace.

The extra is a much better link to Mono Monday. I came across a sculpture, which turned out to be Richard Cobden. I've had to google a bit to establish what his link was with Stockport - he seems to have been a radical MP there in 1841. He was of course (with John Bright) the huge advocate of Free Trade, led the anti-corn law league, and fought for the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty which led to better trade links with France. 

What he would have made of Brexit is anybody's guess, although I suspect he wouldn't have approved. I've heard that a website connecting people in this country to opportunities abroad had 700,000 hits over the weekend. Maybe EU and other foreign citizens here, maybe British people wanting to move readily whilst they are Free to do so. Obama Care is implemented in months, and the USA will need an additional 100,000 health workers.