After a few hours of packing and throwing things out of my house I needed some air. After walking around town for a while I found myself at the junction of Whitworth Street and Oxford Road. Now normally there’s nothing interesting here. However, today I had an urge to do something I’ve never done. Walk along the canal down to Castlefield. Actually there was no planned end to the walk, could have been as far as Salford Quays.

When I got to Castlefield there was a narrowboat using the lock. So I stood for a while watching it rise some 10 feet to the next section of the canal. That was the point I decided I had walked enough and should rush home before the next black cloud opened from the skys of Manchester.

For our final evening together in England, for probably 12 months, we chose to try something new. The choice was Luso on Bridge Street. It’s new Portuguese style restaurant, on the site of a French restaurant that closed overnight. The food is excellent, as is the new “Potterybarn” look inside. I’d highly recommend the place, especially a good “date place”.
TIP: The house champagne is very good.

I’m starting to get a few people reading the site. However, many people only tell me comments about the postings when I see them. This leads me to think that most people don’t know they can post comments here. You will first need to register here (This is needed to stop the spammers from posting p0rn comments). Then you can click on a story to see others comments or add your own.

Well I’ve started to pack for the move. With the date finally set its all go.

The real problem isn’t the packing up of stuff (there’s people coming to do that). It’s deciding what I’m going to leave or take. There’s 4 basic categories; Take, Throw away, Sell or Leave with parents. “Throw away” is currently winning!

This weekend, as part of the Sky Festival, the A1 Grand Prix cars were racing through the streets of Manchester. Racing is probably the wrong word, it was an exhibition event with lots of tire burning.

The event was mainly a promotional event for Sky’s coverage of the upcoming season of A1 Grand Prix. It was still quite impressive to hear the engine noise bouncing off the buildings lining Deansgate.
As you might expect, the British car couldn’t take part in the 2nd of 3 runs as it had technical problems.

Now this didn’t start well…with a terrible hangover from Friday still beating me around the head I lay on the sofa waiting for Dave and Rich to arrive.
The plan was to have a BBQ in the garden which was just about possible, despite the heavens best efforts.

To start with we headed to Mojo, a nice little cocktail bar. Only problem with this place is it’s expensive and empty early on. So we headed in the direction of Deansgate Locks. Now I’ve never been to Atlas Bar, which from the outside looks like a small place. However, when you get inside it is massive, including a 3 level deck at the back complete with plants and sunshade. We really liked this place, it was like being on holiday.
The Atlas we headed across the road to Revolution. Revolution is a tried and trusted good night out. Tonight didn’t disappoint. We were unnecessarily tempted in with a flyer for free shots (only available at the downstairs bar). More beer kept flowing and then bottles of beer as the 3 of us hit the dance floor.
A stumbling walk home in the rain gave us a bit of an appetite, so out with the remaining sausages. There’s not much more satisfying than a sausage sandwich at 3am

This weekend turned out to be a little on the boozy side. On Friday I met up with my former work colleagues from Transitive at Knott Bar. After many beers and a shot we moved on to BaaBar for shots. We purchased the entire bar (about 48 drinks) in one go. This was probably not the best idea.

After that, Magners and the some Becks.
Then Saturday…

For our anniversary, Nikki and I stayed down in Cambria, CA. Staying in a lovely hotel on Moonstone Beach called Moonstone Landing. It was one of the best hotels I’ve stayed in for a long time. Located right on the beach it was amazing.

Well to the point…I’d arranged for us to visit Hearst Castle the following day. Now this really was an amazing place. Build by the rich Hearst family as a kinda retreat. Located 5 miles from the main road and consisting of many building, each elaborately furnished with antique panels and art from Europe.

Full set of photos are here.
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