So my office space / guest room is now pretty much finished! I put down some laminate flooring last weekend, and I’d bought the sofa bed a few months ago, and it’s been stored downstairs in its box until Lee popped over last Tuesday morning to help me get it up the stairs and into the room. I’ve still got to put some trim down where the flooring meets the skirting boards, plus get some shelves to put into one of the alcoves to store my camera kit.
My office / guest room.
Office work area.
The main impetus that got me to finish the room is that mum came up to visit last week – her first time since Covid – and I wanted to make sure she had somewhere decent to sleep! She came up to stay for a few days at the end of 2019, but that time I had to put a dust sheet down over a really trashed carpet, along with a blow-up bed that had a very slow puncture!
One of the jobs she came to help me with was to clean up my loft so I could put some boxes up there, and also give me a hand sorting stuff out. There was a lot of slate dust that had built up in the loft over the years, so she brought her vacuum cleaner up with her (which is more powerful than the one I’ve got) to get rid of the worst of it, and then the rest was hit with cloths and water!
On Thursday, we took a break from the house stuff and went into Manchester on the tram from West Didsbury. We got off at Exchange Square and went in some of the shops there, and headed across town towards Castlefield, and on the way, passed the John Rylands library, so decided to take a look inside.
Mum in the Reading Room of the John Ryland’s Library.
I’ve lived in Greater Manchester for 22 years now, and have passed the building many, many times, but never known what’s inside… but I can now say that it’s pretty stunning! We explored the building, taking in the ‘Designing Dante’ exhibition, and ended up in the main Reading Room, which felt like something out of Harry Potter!
We then went to Dukes 92 in Castlefield for a sit down and a drink, and after a brief look around the canal basin, got a tram back home (although since it was now late afternoon, it was pretty cramped and we had to stand for most of the journey).
Mum at Dukes 92 in Castlefield.
Mum went back home on Saturday afternoon, but in the morning we did my River Mersey walk, and we grabbed some lunch at the garden centre between Parrs Wood and Cheadle, before taking a look around around the Makers Market on Cheadle Green, and then heading home via Abney Hall Park.
Mum by the River Mersey.
Also, in addition to all this, I also went to a gig last week! On Tuesday evening, Blossoms had a film premiere and live album show to launch ‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’ at the Stockport Plaza. They started by showing a 40 minute film that they’d made based on the album – but halfway through it, the fire alarms went off and everyone was evacuated onto the street! (Exactly the same thing happened there at thebandwithnoname final gig I was working on back in 2010, when the haze set off the alarms and we all had to leave the building!)
Blossoms album launch at the Stockport Plaza.
After getting back in, we got to see the rest of the film, and then the band came out and performed all the songs from the album in order, and then did an encore of some of the stuff from previous records. A really great night, only marred by the fact I missed my stop to get off the bus coming home, so ended up having to walk back a bit further than I’d planned, having to double back on myself!
Setlist:
Ribbon Around The Bomb
The Writer’s Theme
Ode to NYC
Ribbon Around the Bomb
The Sulking Poet
Born Wild
The Writer
Everything About You
Care For
Cinerama Holy Days
Edith Machinist
Visions
The Last Chapter
Encore:
Your Girlfriend
If You Think This Is Real Life
Oh No (I Think I’m in Love)
Honey Sweet
There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)
Charlemagne
Blossoms album launch at the Stockport Plaza.