Manchester

  • I’ve been a member of a number of clubs in my life. Chess club, book club, netball club, Never has my enthusiasm been so strong, my interest piqued so much, my commitment been so absolute than for this particular club I’m proud to be a member of. That of course is Fizz Club, as brought

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  • I’ve been commuting since I was 12 years old, getting the bus to school, 2.9miles away (that 0.1 is very important given that it disqualified me from the free bus pass that the elusive and illustrious 3 mile commute brought you). Buses gave way to trains once starting uni and then work, and I seriously

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  • It’s a rare day I pick up when my phone rings. It’s a hell freezes over day I call someone else. I’m not a monster, a social pariah, arrogance personified. I guess you could call me the ultimate screener. But it’s not through a sense of selecting who I want to talk to. It’s more

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  • Dear old Rabbi Burns Chivas Regal celebrated Burns Night at Paul Smith on Cathedral Street this year. Whisky never tasted so stylish…

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  • The Whiskey Jar is fast becoming a veritable feast of live music giggery. The latest artist to announce their upcoming headline appearance is Manchester’s own singer/songwriter, Jess Kemp. (Trust A Fox Photography) Following on from a successful 2017 which included appearances at Kendal Calling and the Bluedot Festival, Jess says, “Last year absolutely blew my

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  • The highs, the lows and the love that stemmed. Beautiful Manchester. .

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  • Brought up by cricket-loving parents. I can boast that I was there at the infamous Headingley Test in 1981. I was barely stringing a sentence together given my young years what’s new? (Good one, me. Who just wrote that too. About me) … but I was there. And so with that grounding, I had no

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  • The Manchester Metrolink. It has its knockers but I’m a fan and think, in general, it’s pretty good. Pretty good doesn’t include when it terminates early at Timperley or Navigation Road (Alty commuters, right?). But as a service, it mostly works. Whilst crowding and cancellations can drive you to the brink at times (or not, if

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  • Sunday, Bloody Sunday.  You wake up in the morning, you’ve got to read all the papers, the kids are running around, you’ve got to mow the lawn, wash the car, and you think  Sunday. Bloody Sunday With a few adjustments to the woes listed by Alan Partridge , I often do think the same. They’re

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  • It was on a balmy night in Manchester when Brasserie Abode threw open its doors, banged on its bongos and welcomed Manchester into its loving, refurbished arms. If the recently rebranded bar and restaurant is anything like its welcome party, us mancs (born and honorary) are in for a treat. Last Thursday I got a

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  •  ❤️ Manchester

    It will take a long, long time to heal but the despair and heartbreak has been equally matched by the love and kindness I’ve seen on the streets of Manchester this week. I ❤️ MCR.

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  • When I was young, I had two major concerns about getting older: I wouldn’t be allowed to wear my hair in a ponytail anymore; and  What would I do about coffee mornings – I hated coffee and indeed tea. What world I was living in where the latter was a real worry, I don’t know.

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  • Against an apt backdrop of much controversy and mirth, Eric Cantona brought his Evening with… show to The Lowry Theatre this week.  Prior to taking my red husband (in football supporting terms, you understand, his blood pressure is normal) last night (Thurs 23 February) for his Valentine’s treat, we were treated to a cacophony (about

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  • Manchester, you’re killing me man, you’re killing me. Your 50% off food this, and 50% off food that…well it’s February now so…deal with that. Manchester. Like a cliche, a glorious cliche, I was battling all the 50% off restaurant shenanigans as I resolved away, this January, and opted for the rare and untapped resolution that

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  • Yes, I did that in the title. It’s tenuous but almost could have been brilliant. Running through my veins is champagne – or at least it would if only I could. Another passion is Italy whose prosecco  has in recent years probably tripled the sale of flutes and quadrupled the use of the phrase Fizz

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  • The clock tower and red neon is synonymous with sweeping camera shots of Manchester. It used to be, anyway. Whistling Beetham Tower has taken over. And soon, its sister. Its massive sister. In fact red neon adorned buildings used to be the thing. My old employer and first love Granada TV and its lettering used

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  • February 2015, around the same time I arrived fashionably late to the party that was the iconic television drama Mad Men, I arrived early to this bar. Very early. After aimlessly circling a building in pursuit of this exciting new establishment I’d been reading about, some more googling led me to realise I was about 3

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  • It’s 2pm and I’m sat in a coffee shop, writing about the etiquette of working in a coffee shop. The more I worry, the more I write about the worry, the longer I spend here, the more I worry. The circle of strife. This wasn’t my original intention. I was going to blog about Foundation

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  • I’m often outraged by things. It’s my favourite go to emotion. Question Time – outraged, Making a Murderer – outraged, someone getting on the bus and passively aggressively closing a window without thought of whether already present passengers were happily enjoying the cold relief it was bringing – outraged. When I heard that the Cornerhouse

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