My old mate Yiodis's 51st birthday today. I am writing this up from the notes I made at the time of the tour and this is the first thing I had written on this day.
Yiodis emigrated to Australia over 20 years ago and I haven't seen him since taking him to Heathrow all those years ago. As with everything time moves on quicker each year and before you know it it is two decades since we spoke!
The reason for putting this in is to say that Yiodis contacted me via Facebook just before Christmas and we are now back in contact. This made my Christmas!
Anyway back to today! I am up at 06:00 to work on the brochure before breakfast and our departure at 09:15.
We are off to nearby Manchester for the day. I haven't been to Manchester for a while but luckily Malcolm has arranged a guide for the day, all I have to do is find her!
I set my sat nav up and off we go. The ride into Manchester is easier than expected and soon we are close to Jean, our guide. Twenty minutes later we are still close to Jean but cannot find her! Every time I get close the sat nav tries to send me through a building site! We have a couple of spins around the block before stopping and waiting for Jean to find us! Much easier.
Jean takes us on a very interesting tour of Manchester. It really is a modern city now and expanding all the time with the only downside of the city being all of the construction work going on. She is a Manchester City fan (although works at Man Utd on European nights as a translator!) and takes out to the impressive looking Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City. Not too sure about spending time here and want to put my Chelsea hat on! We drive around the ground and also to the nearby Velodrome which is the headquarters of British cycling. All of these arenas were constructed for the Manchester Commonwealth Games and have left a lasting legacy.
We lunched in Salford, now home to the BBC, and I managed to park close to the Salford Quays shopping centre. I walked into the centre for my lunch and enjoyed a fast food Indian! Nothing wrong with a rapid Ruby!
After lunch Jean took us to Old Trafford, home of Manchester United, and she wanted to stop for photographs. The steward wouldn't let us wait five minutes for this and moved us on. England are playing cricket at the nearby cricket ground and the football ground car parks are being used. It is not busy at the moment and letting us stop for pictures wouldn't have caused any problems, but no, we can't stop.
Jean knows a place on the other side of the ground where we could stop so off we go leaving Mr Jobsworth behind.
We drive to the other side and the road we are on goes to the car park and nowhere else. As we approach the stadium another steward marches up to us and stops the bus and says we can't proceed and must go back. I ask if I can either drive into or reverse into the car park to turn around. No chance! He is clearly not going to let me and I must reverse back up the road.
I really am not happy and try to reason with him but he will not budge. As I'm reversing back I put my finger across the top of my mouth insinuating he is a Hitler! Very childish I know but I can't exactly give him the finger or tell him what I think with a coach load of passengers!
He is not impressed by this gesture either and goes very red in the face and reaches for his pen and notebook! This does make everyone laugh as he was an obnoxious chap just like his mate at the other car park. What a couple of cocks!
I never liked Man Utd before and still don't like them!
The last time I came to Manchester was a few years ago with Wendy for Christmas shopping. Our hotel was close to the centre and one evening we went out for dinner hoping to have a curry but couldn't find an Indian anywhere. I couldn't believe this at the time but settles down to enjoy an Italian instead.
On jean's tour this afternoon we drove down a road called the Curry Mile, a road where every shop is either selling or cooking curry. It is around the corner from where we stayed! We walked the wrong way!
We finally said goodbye to Jean and headed back to the hotel when Malcolm's phone rang. It was Jean and she had left her folder with her notes in on the bus! We weren't turning round in rush hour traffic so she will have to come to the hotel for it.
I enjoyed the tour and thought Jean was a good guide and it is always nice to experience new places and sights.
Back at the hotel I order a room service meal so I can crack on with the brochure. My very imaginative meal is burger and chips! By the time my meal appeared I was tired and hungry and didn't have the energy to complain that they had forgotten the chips!!
Again work late on the brochure and go to bed cream crackered but at least I am nearly there!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment