Pilgrimage

Ended my gloriously sunny day in Manchester by walking through the gay village, spotting Sackville Park and remembering that it has a statue of Turing. So, I paid my respects - and will use this picture of him in my lecture slide on his relatively unknown contribution to numerical linear algebra.

Earlier I'd seen United draw 1-1 with Stoke: a somewhat frustrating experience since we were totally dominant, with only the Stoke keeper and some wayward striking preventing a rout. It would have been perfect if Ibrahimovic had scored a winner since I've been reading his biography this weekend and it was a thrill to see one of the legends of world football actually play.

After the game I wandered around the photogenic Salford Quays and then the Northern Quarter, where I found a wonderful book and trivia shop but wasn't cool enough to go into the vintage clothing stores and record shops. Even after a disappointing result, it's great to be in Manchester on a match day since there's a (generally unspoken) sense of shared experience with all those who are also showing their colours.

Unfortunately I couldn't connect my camera to my phone, so it's a phone blip of Turing rather than Salford Quays or Manchester's wonderful combination of Victorian and post-industrial architecture, or snaps of "little and large" aka Ibrahimovic and Mata [extra]. Train leaves in 35 minutes.