Change

Many years ago, and documented somewhere in this blog, the Minx took a one-day course in bookbinding. It was, I think, at the Printworks in Salford, which was where we parked up. And while she went to study a new skill, I headed off into Manchester to mooch about.

I remember quite clearly walking along a road through a load of wasteland before finally reaching civilisation somewhere around the old Salford Cinema on the corner of Chapel Street and Trinity Way.

When we subsequently moved to Salford, I was always slightly perplexed as to just where I'd walked; I couldn't tally the area I now lived in with my memory of that waste ground. And then, a few months ago, the Minx sent me a photo she'd found on Instagram, showing that road I'd walked along and how, now, that wasteland was all apartment blocks.

I don't know why I was surprised. Walking through Salford as it follows the Irwell around the northern parts of Manchester, one is constantly passing new building works. Today's photo is of a building that has been steadily evolving upwards, just north of our office.

But all these beginnings usually have an ending in their recent past. Just along Chapel Street from our office, a new development has been held up while archaeologists examine the foundations of old buildings that have been uncovered. And it's not only structures that rise and fall.

After work this evening, the Minx and I had a couple of drinks at the King's Arms and then decided we'd eat at Lo Scoglio, just along the road. Well, I've never seen the place so busy, and we only just managed to get a table. But appearances can indeed be deceptive, and as we were finishing our meal, the owner, Marat, came over with a couple of drinks for us and said he had some bad news.

Tonight was the penultimate night of Lo Scoglio, he said, he just couldn't make the business work. It was so sad after all the work he has put into the place. We both felt really bad for him. But, indomitable fellow that he is, he assured us that he'd be back, and I believed him. He has that tenacity that you often see in small business owners, not just a drive to succeed but an unwillingness to admit defeat.