Blogs from Castlefield, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom, Europe

The Final Count Down This is my 1st blog! Just a test really....It is less than three weeks until our departure and plenty of things to organise! We are having a get together on Friday the 26th of September - initially meeting in Kro2. Would love to see as many people as possible. So Lets hope this works. Talk to you soon Astrid x ... read more

Its Friday! Not that the days mean much to an unemployed bum like me but I’m sure y’all glad it’s the weekend. Friday also means coffee day, might try a Starbucks today, as much as I hate the whole corporate coffee chain thing I’m dying for a decent cuppa. Went for a run yesterday sad I know but it felt great going for my first run in almost 3 weeks. Didn’t really know where to run to so just kept going, mostly along the road, ended up in Salford Quays which is sort of like the Claisebrook area of East Perth but with a million more apartment buildings and cool attractions like the Lowry gallery, outlet shops and the Imperial War Museum. Also ended up outside the Man U stadium (yeah sorry Adam, but I’m ... read more

A couple of days have passed so time for another update … Went and saw Norwegian singer/songwriter called Sondre Lechre on Friday night. Sondre’s previous CD, Duper Sessions, was full of brilliant jazzy style songs, very Frank Sinatra/Harry Connick Jnr style. Not normally my cup of tea (a bit too adult contemporary for my liking) but it’s well worth the purchase if anyone wants some cool music for dinner parties etc. Rose - do you remember that I gave you a burnt copy of this (see I said it was old people music! - sorry couldn’t resist). Oh and Claire M - control yourself but Sondre toured with Elvis Costello last year! Sondre and band put on a great show, full of energy, amazing vocals, great guitar work and the band seemed to really enjoy ... read more

First update for a couple of days, haven’t really had much to say I’m afraid. Have spent most of my time searching the net for share accommodation. My laptop battery only last about 2 hours and its amazing how fast 2 hours goes when on the net. That said, I do get distracted with other emails (not to mention any names, KELLY!), checking out band sites, doing a bit of job hunting and the like. Once my battery is flat, I plop myself in front of the tele at the hostel whilst my lappy recharges. Then its back to surfing the net. To further complicate things I don’t have a net account so I need to leach access (perfectly legal I tells you …). Luckily there are a few places within close walking distance that ... read more

Sorry for the lack of updates, its not that I've been partying non stop and haven't had the chance to get online, its just that I've not had much to report. I'm still searching for a room to share. I managed to have a look at one unit yesterday, nice place but a bit expensive and a little too far out of town (actually in Salford but only 20 mins walk from the city). The owner is an ex lawyer (am I ever going to escape the law???) now clerking for a local Barrister. There are still a few promising places I'm hoping to be able to check out soon so X fingers for a breakthrough soon. Been walking around the city looking ay shops and sussing out any job vacancies, not a huge amount going ... read more

Here are some pics of Manchester take today - as you can see it is a bright sunny day .... not! oooh and anothr fav thing about Man/UK - they sell Kit Kat Chunky Peanuts - my favouritest chocolate ever and one that was discontinued in Australia last year ... I've had one a day so far :-)and they are only 42p! oh and ive started watching crap pommy soaps including emerdale ad holyoakes, and i thought neighbours was crap! sheesh thee people cant act and the storylines are lame (oh i've been watching a bit of neighbours too *grin*) life's tuff being unemployed... read more

Just arrived into Manchester, felt like it took forever getting here, can't complain too much about the fligts (Swiss Air was better than Cathay Pacific though). Although tempted to crash, as its only midday I will soldier on and head into town to buy a few necessities and start looking for a job and somewhere to live. Oh and if you want to know when I've updated my blog, there should be a subscribe button somewhere which will email you when I make a new post. Bye for now P... read more

Unfortunately not staying there, but Erika offers a darn good substitute lodging... with great views of said Hilton! Ever since I've heard about Cloud 23, the bar on the 23rd floor of the Hilton, I've wanted to go (despite some of the poor reviews I've seen online). Reputed to be crowded (queues, rather than inside!), expensive and with poor service, we walked straight in, got a table, and were asked if we wanted to order within 2 minutes (we weren't - there's many cocktails to choose from, 23 unique to this bar), and our drink arrived pretty quickly. Some great views to take in (including the cutout in the floor straight down to street! Nice drinks, nice views, nice company - what more could you ask for!! Walking back through the Canal Basin, some lovely snow ... read more