Why I like living in Manchester...

We went out to see Hamlet at the Royal Exchange Theatre last night. The production is long, we left the theatre at 11. And it wasn't that they were dragging it out. It's just a very long play. And this production was spell binding with Maxine Peake being on top form. Tickets are sold out but if you can get one it's well worth it. It's not a lot of laughs of course. As my companion said at the end...."Well that didn't turn out well, did it?"

Manchester was busy, Tuesday seems to be the new Saturday in Manchester these days. I love that we live in such a vibrant cosmopolitan city. It felt like being in one of the great European cities which I guess we have turned in to but, living in Manchester, we are the last to notice it.

There were 100s of well dressed Italians in town for the Roma game against Manchester City. And it was the Manchester Student Takeover where all the new and returning students come into the city to explore. The shops were open late and, if you were a student, discounts were to be had. There were fashion stalls in St Ann's Square and mobile DJs were pumping out club music in the streets. There was food and it was warm, even at 11 it was 17C.

The streets were full of slightly wide eyed new students in the big city for the first time and wondering whether it was quite for them. If they get through the first few weeks they will be fine but some can't hack it and scuttle back to their remote villages in deepest Devon or the Welsh mountains before Christmas.

And on Cross Street I came across these two beauties....