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Published: March 31st 2009
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March - four weekends and four trips … hey, something sounds familiar there …
Keeping with tradition, I spent my weekends *in* Manchester, mostly not actually in Manchester!
Biggest excitement of the month was my first flight since the start of January with a three day trip to Finland’s capital of Helsinki. Main attraction for me was a concert by Antony and the Johnsons, an amazing band (well singer) who I have obsessed over for a few years now.
The concert was truly amazing and Helsinki itself was definitely worth the visit - very similar to Oslo, lots of lovely buildings, super expensive (Aussie $13 for beer, $15 for my compulsory morning latte and pulla pastry) and damn cold.
A special treat were the harbour areas that were partly or fully covered in ice. Given that others were walking across the iced-over water, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to likewise and ‘walk on water’!
I also made a weekend trip to Glasgow to catch up with my friends Anthony and Iain and to celebrate turning 32 (eek!). It was a fun, but fairly relaxed weekend with a few gallery visits, a museum looksie (the great Hunterian)
and the lovely botanical gardens.
Earlier in the month I also took a day trip with my flatmates to see a Panoptican in the Rosendale region - this Panoptican resembled a UFO and was super cool. Along the way we did a sculpture trail and caught a steam train (our ticket collector was from Melbourne!).
The month ended with a trip down to London to catch up with my Toronto friends Greg and David. We had dinner at a double-decker bus converted into a vegan restaurant - a novel concept backed up by some delicious food. We also checked out some cool clubs and had a great night.
The next day I caught up with some of the ex-Mallesons crowd (Michele Dean, Kelly O’Rourke and Vaughan and Lucy, of course) to watch the annual Oxford v Cambridge boat race (Oxford won). More effort than it was worth but still fun to say I’ve ‘been there, done that’.
Other than that its just been work, a few gigs (the fun Swedes Peter Bjorn & John, pre-school pop of The Boy Least Likely, the weird Med Diamler and the lovely Horse Feathers, the fun pop and great vocals
of Fanfarlo and a special gig by Liam Frost with a surprise appearance by my Vancouver travel buddy, Sadie, on vocals) , a little too much drinking, not enough exercise and a ride in an ambulance (I’m fine but Chris from work dislocated his knee playing the highly dangerous sport of … table tennis!).
My time in the UK is rapidly coming to an end. This week I will sadly have to farewell the Horwich Farrelly crew, my Manchester friends including my flatmates and then I head to Leeds (to catch comedian Ross Noble), spend two days in Amsterdam, make a quick return to London, then I have two days in Paris, head back to London for the Easter weekend before going to Brussels for a couple of days and then finally I have five days in Budapest, make a quick return to London and then on 21 April I make my return flight to Canada.
Needless to say, it will be a busy three weeks!
Hope everyone is well.
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