A day out with Izzy

As Izzy works abroad for an aid organisation, she travels light. She tends to acquire things on a 'one in, one out' basis. Frankly, I could do with a bit of that in my life!

But that means that when it comes to Christmas and birthdays, I can't just buy her a present. So this year, my gift to her was dinner at Hawksmoor in Manchester, a restaurant that I know she loves.

As it happened, she was free all of today, and suggested that we spend it together, culminating with the dinner in the evening. Perfect.

So we met up at Mancoco, which is where we used to buy takeaway coffee before going for a walk together during lockdown, and were temporarily discombobulated by their expansion into a second unit. But that didn't stop us enjoying our coffee and millionaire's shortbread.

Then we walked over to Wex, as Izzy wanted to buy a new camera, which she did: a Ricoh, which totally excited her for the rest of the day. And it did take some excellent photos, tbh.

After that, we had lunch at Gorilla, which was very good, and then Izzy got a Covid booster before we went to the Museum Of Science And Industry for their exhibition, 'Turn It Up: The Power Of Music'.

It was pretty good, actually: well-structured and presented. It was very nice to see Delia Derbyshire getting a mention, and I was moved by the instruments designed for less able musicians. (You can buy The Digital Quartet's ep here.)

After that, we met up with Charlie and Hannah at The Briton's Protection for a couple of drinks before we all went to Hawksmoor for cocktails, which was delightful. (They have their illumination just right, i.e. LOW.) And then Izzy and I went through to eat, and that was every bit as good as we both hoped.

Finally, we rounded off the evening with a drink at Hannah's, which is where Izzy is staying. What a marvellous day: I feel very lucky.