Friday on my mind

I'm getting back into the swing of a daily blog, the wheels having fallen off a bit over Christmas. The habit I'm trying to ingrain is to write early(ish) in the day describing the events of the full previous day.

That having been said, in thinking about yesterday, I have no idea what I did in the morning beyond sending Pheebs off on her Philosophy retreat in the Lake District.

Whatever I did first thing, and it can't have been very exciting so don't think you're missing anything, the second part of the day kicked off when I picked Gel up from downtown Wilmslow*.

We headed off into Manchester. The initial reason for our trip was voided, but Gel needed to visit some the craft shops in the city centre (Abakhan, Fred Aldous, Affleck's Palace), and I'll always take ANY opportunity to take some pics.

We parked up at Dale Street and wandered towards the Northern Quarter from there. It's a much more interesting route into the city centre than simply following the crowds into, and through, Piccadilly.

We arrived in the middle of the day, so our first act was to find somewhere to eat. This meant our first visit to The Soup Kitchen on Spear Street. I had heard good reports about this place from the same person who told me about "Lord of the Pies" in Stockport so I felt confident in their taste (he's a city fan so his taste isn't faultless). Thanks Matt.

Gel had a big bowl of Spinach and Parsnip soup.

I had a mug of Leek and Potato soup, and an Egg Mayo roll.

Really nice. I think we'll visit there again.

While Gel headed off crafting, I headed off to part of town I haven't really tried out before - the area of Ancoats on the other side of Great Ancoats Street to the city centre. First off I took a selfie in the mirrored windows of the old Express print building.

I then headed back to my favourite place around the Northern Quarter (Thomas Street).

and a footballer in a headscarf in Piccadilly

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In the evening I had a diary clash, so went up to the Guild to set up the DVD/Projector, and introducing the film - Fargo - before whizzing back home to watch the mighty Man U rolling over a hapless Derby County.....Rose tinted specs provided courtesy of LvG plc.

.;lv
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*I was listening to the radio on the morning that it was announced that Glenn Frey of Eagles had passed away. Nicky Campbell was describing that he is reminded of "Take it Easy" every time he's waiting at Piccadilly Station in Manchester and hears announcements for Wilmslow - "Well I'm tanding on a corner in Wilmslow, Arizona / It's such a fine sight to see / It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed / Ford slowin' down to take a look at me".