City break

Well, that last one was a bit of surprise. I'm so glad so many people liked it. Thank you for the love.

Not many hours after that I took myself off to Manchester. My relationship with Manchester is not straightforward. I didn't have a hugely happy three years here as a student in the mid-70s, then 14 years later I was part of a team specifying a large new office building in Hulme - at that time being 'regenerated' - and trying to persuade hundreds of people to relocate here from London. I travelled here quite a bit and wrote articles about the attractions of living in different parts of Greater Manchester but failed to persuade myself to move here. But my next job within the organisation was as deputy to someone based in Manchester so I came here a lot. Somewhat later I had reason to visit Bolton from time to time.

So I've seen Manchester evolve into a city that appeals to me much more than it did 45 years ago.

And here I am again, discovering with Secondborn that the Northern Quarter is definitely the place for an outlandish (and delicious) lunch, showing her Manchester Art Gallery (and its abysmal signage), meeting Firstborn at Piccadilly Station (and dumping his luggage at our downmarket hotel), going back to the Northern Quarter for more food then, all of us exhausted for different reasons, collapsing into bed far earlier than any of us is used to.