Manchester UK for the Weekend

Holiday time is in short supply but my good friend Mark finally had some time as he just finished teaching. So I booked a quick flight out to Manchester as after almost 10 years Mark and I will get to again share in an adventure.

Mark and I met while traveling around Europe & Africa and then later we traveled around Canada and the United States. So many stories about what we got up to will make the blog in the coming months while others will only live in our memories.

This most recent adventure was not as wild, no seatbelts were stolen, no firearms were used but we did have at least one mad scientist moment and some other classical things that only happen to us.

While Mark doesn’t exactly live in Manchester it was a 30 minute train ride to his city of Stockport. The first adventure in the weekend came at the train station at the airport as when I put in a 20 pound note into the ticketing machine I thought I just hit the jackpot in Vegas. As unknown to me the train ticket was less then a pound, but the machine only gives out coin change and those 1 pound coins are heavy. So I was standing in front of this ticketing machine as it spit out 19 large coins which landed 6 inches below into a metal tray. So in my usual fashion I raised my hands and proclaimed I won! Yes I still have a bit of Vegas in me and even more immaturity.

I won’t go into all the fun we had over the weekend, but I did manage to get some really great t-shirts as I had no idea the British were big A-Team and Atari fans. I also picked up a really unique STIG shirt, something for the racing boys to enjoy.

Mark and I also did some culture things. First we hit the Stockport museum, which after we went through are rethinking the “hands on” aspect of the museum. How was I to know that the boxes on the wall where not secured to the wall, or that the fake vegetables where not meant to be actually used. This museum also made me realize how old I have become as they had a exhibition about the toys from the past.

Sadly for my kid at heart many of the toys on display were ones that I used, it breaks my heart to think kids these days are looking at my toys in a museum and saying “dad you used to play with that”. One toy that I had completely forgotten about was the Action Player, which was a movie in your pocket. You had little cartages that held a movie that were inserted into a battery operated player, come to think about it, this was the first portable movie player.

The second thing we did was visit the bomb shelters and for this trip Mark’s girlfriend joined us. I have to say I don’t think I have been into a bomb shelters before and while these were interesting they didn’t have the Doctor Evil touches I was expecting. No big red destruct buttons and no concrete or steal at all, as this bomb shelters where dug out of the sandstone. At the bomb shelters I behaved myself other then not knowing the men’s washroom wasn’t actually a washroom.

I do recommend checking out the museum and the bomb shelters, but if you can time it the first week in the month the bomb shelters have an in-depth tour, that you need hard hats and headlamps for as they lead you deep into the bomb shelters, which I think would really be something fun for the kids or kids at heart like me.

Mark and I also managed some time to go and see Bruno, a true English classic. Ok its not a classic nor does it have much to do with England other then “Bruno” being from England. It was an interesting movie, enough that I’ll pickup the DVD when it comes out as it came make you laugh, but it’s not for everyone. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the line “I am so straight that in my house I bricked up the back door”.

I’m on the flight back home, not so looking forward to the rest of the week but it does lead into the weekend and this weekend as most I really looking forward to. Plus its now only 3 weeks away till my trip back “home” to Asia.