Being in the centre of Manchester is very handy. If you can’t walk somewhere then free buses circle round the centre, eventually getting you to where you want to be. We hopped on one at Deansgate which took us to the Northern Quarter. Here is the arty side of Manchester. The streets were full, shops interesting, numerous bars and quality graffiti decorates the streets.

I was wanting some more fabric and wool as I’m about to send my first creations off to my friend in Hebden Bridge. So first port of call was another Abakhan for a few bits.

Next was Fred Aldous, I’d been looking for wool shops around Manchester and this shop popped up in the google search. How have I never been here before? This is the sort of shop I could live in, they sell all sorts. Papers, sketch books, plasticine, model making styrene, wool, paints, clay, models to make (including a narrowboat with bike on it’s roof), string, glue, all sorts. They also seem to collect old photo booths. Even though they had soo much stuff I wanted, including paints with my name on them, I managed to walk out of the door having spent no money what so ever, however feeling slightly drunk from the experience.

The Arndale was next to hunt for a mop and some more door mats. We like the mats that we bought from Wilko in Sheffield and I want another couple so that I can tailor them to our steps. On wet days at the moment we have newspapers on each tread to help protect the wood. A mat cut to size would look so much better and with a rubber backing wouldn’t move about. Sadly we couldn’t find any or a suitable new mop either.

Walking back towards Deansgate we cut under the Royal Exchange into St Ann’s Square, this is where people left flowers after the Arena Bombing in May. The doors to St Ann’s Church invited us in, I’ve walked past many times but never had a look inside. Consecrated in 1712 the church was built with funds from Lady Ann Bland and it was Manchester’s second church. In the 1880’s the interior was remodelled by Alfred Waterhouse the architect for the Town Hall. A very fine looking building it is with it’s circling balcony and organ up high. The church survived the bombing raids of WW2, but in 1996 the IRA bomb caused the upstairs windows to be blown in on one side and out on the other. The organ was off site at the time being rebuilt otherwise this would have sustained damage too.

It now being late afternoon we headed to the Great Northern Railway Companys Goods Warehouse to go to the flicks. We’d considered booking tickets on line, but this would have cost extra, so chanced it and luckily there was plenty of space for us, a hole row. We’d come to see Victoria and Abdul. Judy Dench playing Queen Victoria for the second time (Mrs Brown was the first). The octogenarian queen lonely, bored, exhausted, the only highlight in her life profiteroles at banquets, is presented with a coin from India. Abdul breaks with royal etiquette, smiles at the queen and kisses her feet. From then on a friendship blooms and he becomes part of the royal household, brightening up the Queens days. Mick didn’t realise that Prince Bertie was played by Eddie Izzard, he must have stopped running his marathons and taken to eating doughnuts to gain the weight for the part.