Heather came back from NYC on Wednesday with tales of great adventure and culinary delights. She had a good conference and met some nice colleagues. The jetlag wasn't too bad, but she certainly had many hours of REM-time sleep. I just dreamt about olives.
The first bit below is actually old. This is a video I made wayyyyy back in January on a bus ride through our old 'hood of Chorlton. It's not the most exciting, but I added a good song and it gives a nice view of where we were living (and it was sunny!).
We had a nice weekend just hanging around Manny. Both of us found it strange how it feels like our home now. When we returned from our journeys last week we felt a sense of relief being back in our space and around our tiny furniture, which isn't actually ours. We also decided this weekend to do no errands or shopping. Fantastic!
We started off on Saturday by hitting the Nexus Art Cafe for a quick sandwich. Delicious and cheap. Heather's was quite a bit better than mine (cranberry, bacon, and brie vs. feta, olives, spinach, and hummus) but it was nice space. They are open on the weekends from 11pm til 6am---what would the Lords of Vancouver licencing think of that? The horror.
I think this is the back end of city hall. Heather liked the bridge.
We walked over to the Museum of Science and Technology (MOSI) in Castlefield. It, like the Art Gallery, cost quite a bit to get in (free!!). It is a large museum covering five old warehouses. Overall, I enjoyed it, but there were a number of exhibits that were 'kid' only---and there were a lot of kids there. But, if you weaved your way through the bunch you got a real sense of the history of Manny. That history is, of course, that it was dirty. One display had a quote from some visitor to Manchester at the start of the 19th century. It said, "Manchester excels at filthiness."
The MOSI sure lets you imagine how dirty it was- the one exhibit we particularly liked was the re-constructed turn of the century sewer system.
They even had rat actors!
There was also a room of looms with still functioning machines. They turned them on and told really horrible stories of children, as young as five, getting sucked into the rafters and losing limbs and getting half of their scalps ripped off. Thank goodness for the Royal Commission enacting the 'No Under Nine' Act of 1833.
I asked one of the staff how they felt about working in a place surrounded by such a grim history. She didn't reply to me. Must be hard on them.
Here is one of the looms. I think it was making ManU and Chelsea scarves.
I enjoyed the gigantic engines too. There was a whole room of them pumping away.
Afterwards we went for a pint at The Britons Protection, a fantastic old-school pub. It felt like we were just having a drink in our living room (except with a fireplace). Very cosy.
On Sunday we took the bus out to the New Smithfield Market. It's the wholesale warehouse for all of the fresh produce, fish, and meat for the restaurants in the city. On Sundays they have a big 'car boot' sale where everyone brings their crap and tries to pawn it off on the unknowing. We thought it would be fun, but little did we know just how enjoyable it would be.
The 'car boot' sale was lame. It was professional 'junkers' selling junk. I did see a cool beer mirror that I wanted, but I would be sad that I couldn't transport it back to Canada so I didn't buy it. If you were in the market for jogging pants though, it was the place for you! All of the produce stalls were closed down and taken over by more junk sellers---old vacuums, mobile cases, eyeglasses--all crap.
We walked through the whole thing, then heard this guy yelling and a bunch of people gathered around a big truck. It was like a mini semi-truck that was open on the side and it was full of meat. This guy had a microphone and was yelling out and grabbing blocks of meat like there was no tomorrow. It was a meat auction!!!!
We watched for a bit while they sold four legs of lamb for a 10'er and a bunch of lamb chops for a 5'er, then got in the fray for some peppered steaks. The video isn't that great, but man was it ever fun and did we get a deal! All that for a 10 pounds! Was he born to be an auctioneer with a name like Tony Mallet?
We walked around the market a bit more and just couldn't help but go back to the meat man. We went back for chicken and ended up with 24 top sirloin steaks for a 20'er. It's really good meat too! We ended up with 36 steaks for 30 pounds.
Soooo much fun. I want to go back and get more meat, but now we are set for the next four months. If anyone wants to come over for a steak, you are invited!!
We ended the weekend with a yummy Japanese dinner out with our friend Felicia. Our number one missed luxury about Vancouver is Japanese food and sushi. No doubt.
Blast-er from the Past-er
A big hole. Hey, who doesn't love asbestos?
Mallorqui Cats!
Yes, still no new Manny cats, but these beauties should suffice.
I'll call her Sleeping Beauty.
Hmmmm....Maybe Jungle Jim? Yup.
Off to London this weekend. Sooooo excited! Later!
CC
Excellent. I have 2 comments in regards to your video posts (which are impressive...)
ReplyDelete(1) during the bus video, I was quite surprised to see a Manny-jogger
(2) Did Tony Mallet just plop some meat into Heather's grocery bag? Did he wrap it up in anything or was it just a bag o'meat?
Have fun in London, don't eat the lamb, it will make you tired.
S
It was a jogger! There are a few of them here--all bundled up, smoking and drinking as they run. And yes, Tony just threw a bunch of meat into a grocery bag. I'm surprised he didn't sell out earlier......
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