Dear Diary...
This is my diary. How things are. Or something. Please note that the diary is archived month by month, so feel free to click the links for the archives (which now will go back five years maximum):
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Sunday 14th June - Cheshire Chilling
The Love In My Heart had a well deserved lie in as she had had a long week at work, and in addition Brian the cat had been a little naughty and hogged the pillow a lot during sleeping time. I did note that he had used the litter tray, so I cleaned that up for The Love and then settled in to BBC Two for a bit. The Scotland versus Haiti game was on at 2am this morning and I was no way going to be staying up for that, when I could watch the full game on Sunday morning and ignore the results and the news beforehand. I thought that made more sense, and could have a coffee and chill watching the game.
As it turned out, the game was a tight and tense one. Scotland had taken the lead through a deflected shot from John McGinn, which I sort of suspected might happen as he has a habit of turning up for these big games. As the game went on, Haiti started to believe more that they could get a result and it was a case of shattered nerves for Scotland the later it went, and they hung on for a 1-0 win. Crucially, the three points for the win might go a long way to help them to try and get to the next stage, but with Morocco and Brazil to come, that might be somewhat tasty!
After a nice breakfast, we got ourselves ready for heading out for the afternoon. We thought it'd be nice to head out to Wilmslow, as there is a home shop called Homebird which The Love really likes. We normally go to the Cheadle Hulme one but thought it may be sensible for a change to try one of the other places. The Love did have a gift voucher for there that she got for her birthday, and so we wanted to try and make use of that and get something nice. We headed out along the A34 and then turned off just before Wilmslow centre, and headed along Water Lane to the car park.
Once parked, we walked along Water Lane to Homebird, and there were plenty of lovely things in there as ever. The Love did get some nice ideas for the front room, and so in the end managed to get something lovely that would spruce up the front room - in fact three things. The main item she got was a coffee table lamp, with a green stalk and a nice base, and a good shade to go with it too. She also liked the A3 sized cocktail pictures which were very art deco styled, and two of those will look nice too. The excellent thing was that her voucher covered all of these purchases, so handy to get it all effectively for free!
After a nice walk around the centre of Wilmslow, we headed off to Cheadle Hulme and decided to do lunch at the John Millington, which is not far from Homebird and indeed the station. We've been in there before for a drink but thought it would be worth trying the food out. And we were so glad that we did. I had the risotto with prawns, scallops and chorizo, and that was stunning. It just was lovely and earthy and just felt filling too. The Love had the bacon steak and that was really nice, a posher version of the gammon steak but still with egg and pineapple and chips. That looked gorgeous too. Add to that an outside table and some nice drinks, and all felt rather lovely to be fair.
I did feel rather sad heading off homewards later on the train, but we had had a lovely time and it is days like this when I know I am just so lucky to have someone special - we just chattered all afternoon, and it was nice to relax with drinks too. As I was on board a packed train on the way back, I just had the iPod on with some tunes and it was good to kick back with some new headphones doing the job well, and blasting out the likes of Orbital's excellent Where Is It Going (make that tune of the day as it just sounds ace when travelling at speed too) and having a good end to the weekend.
Saturday 13th June - Cat Cat!
I got up early this morning and was all changed and ready to head off, as it was back up to Manchester for the weekend and to see The Love In My Heart for the weekend. It had been a long week of work and so was ready for a relaxed and enjoyable weekend to be honest with you. I think as well that I just felt the need to take it easy before I know things will ramp up prior to one of our big events that will be happening on the next couple of weeks or so. It was nice to be able to get to Euston without any issues and be ready for the 0813 departure to Manchester Piccadilly. Bar a minor delay, all was well.
The Love In My Heart came to collect me, and it was off back to her place where we'd have a bacon sandwich for a later breakfast and have Brian the cat come to have some fussing and cuddles. He was even lay on the sofa reaching over and then looked all adorable as I felt it was time to play ball, and he bounced the ball back with his paws effortlessly, and had a great time doing that for a little while. I have to admit that was just such good fun, and always nice to please him, so that made me happy.
We headed off to see Little Miss E and Little Miss O, as their Mum had invited us over to see them, have some coffee and some light lunch, and then also spend time with them. As it transpired, Little Miss E had got this construction set of Hello Kitty, but it appeared that when we opened the bags of the mock Lego-like bricks and shapes, we did realise that there was one bag missing from the box - so not sure if it the box had been opened before and the bag went missing. We did try to build what we could, but it was soon obvious that some of the parts we needed were in that missing bag.
However, after a light lunch, there were plenty of chances to have some fun, including me reading a couple of books with Little Miss O, and she also looked out of the window, pointing towards two doors down from their house, and going "cat cat!". Little Miss E explained that there is a cat called Dexter who sometimes pops round their back garden and is quite adorable, so it was most likely him being around the front. It was nice to know, and plenty of games and play time as well as some more reading, and did feel quite sad when we set off later, as they had been lovely.
We stopped off in Manchester city centre later on, and after managing to get a parking space in Ancoats, we went over to Seven Bro7ers Beerhouse, where I had a really nice cherry sour beer, which did the job. They did have the coverage from Queens Club and the tennis there, so that was nice in the background. We then headed over to Jane Eyre, and they had a hazy ale from the Verdant brewery in Cornwall, and so that was all lovely to have and enjoy too. It definitely felt like a nice afternoon, and we had some lovely food in the evening before resting and relaxing with some telly together. Tune of the day is Cool For Cats by Squeeze, kind of apt really considering Brian the cat was hogging Mummy's pillow!
Sunday 7th June - Hello Heidi!
It was a nice relaxing lie in for myself and The Love In My Heart after a nice day yesterday. Brian the cat was of course hogging Mummy's pillow and doing what he could to wake her up, and we did have a nice day out planned today. We were meeting up with two of our friends who just so now happen to have a canine companion, which they got in the last couple of months. Now that the dog had been effectively trained enough and seems comfortable around people, we thought it would be good to go somewhere dog friendly so we could all have a good time together. And by all accounts, this one's quite placcid and not jumpy, so we shall see.
The Love and I got ourselves ready and The Love looked lovely in her dress, and we headed for the tram to head to the city centre before all the people were heading out of the Hot Wheels morning event, which would make the trams busier. It did not take us long before we headed out of Piccadilly Gardens, and over to Thomas Street where we headed into Terrace (our usual haunt there these days since Fierce Beer closed down) and got ourselves a booth table ready, with me having the Kirkstall Radler, which was super refreshing and nice, and well worth it.
Our friends arrived with their dog, Heidi, and to be fair, she was adorable. They had her in a little yellow rain jacket to keep any rain off, and being a dachshund, she was all comfortable and relaxed, and sat with us having plenty of fusses and cuddles all round as we had a drink and catch up. It is always a good vibe in Terrace anyway with some cool tunes, so that made us all feel relaxed and ready to enjoy a meal together. Before long it was over to The Social NQ (formerly Smithfield Social) where thankfully they still do Sunday roasts which are champion on a Sunday.
It was nice to be able to sit close to the back and have the big window with light. All the staff loved Heidi to bits and all wanted a fuss of her, which was nice - as they all did ask first and were all polite too. I did go for the Guinness Zero in there as I thought it'd be good to have something low and no alcohol after a few beers yeserday, and three of us went for the special of the gammon, whilst our friend went for the cauliflower steak. The roast came out and it was rather nice all round - the gammon was lovely as were the potatoes, and the Yorkshire pudding was massive. The vibe was all good and we certainly enjoyed our time in there.
It was back to Terrace later and first off we used their outdoor courtyard area, which is hidden on the inside if you know where to look. It was raining but the table we were on had an awning to keep all five of us dry (Heidi was snuggled up on the lap of one our friends!) and all was well. In fact later on I even had the London Black porter from Anspach and Hobday as a final one to end the day well. We had lots of great chatter and naturally Heidi was getting tons of attention - and to be fair, she is adorable! In fact the theme to the 1980s TV adaptation is tune of the day for that reason.
Saturday 6th June - Albert's Alright
It was an early rise for me after a long week at work, and with a fair amount of the preparation done for the two big events we've got on this month at work, especially the big one which really does mean a lot to everyone and needs maximum effort in, it was good to be able to head up and out and get to Euston in time for the 0813 train to Manchester Piccadilly to see The Love In My Heart. We had some nice plans for the weekend despite the weather not maybe being fully what we wanted it to be, but were going to make the most of them regardless. We had a brolly and coats to keep us dry if needed, so nothing was going to stop us!
I got into Manchester Piccadilly and with the Hot Wheels shows being on at Co-Op Live, I didn't want The Love to get stuck in any traffic that would be heading there to and from the city centre, so it was a much easier trip on the tram instead and over to The Loive's place. She had had a nice lie in and of course Brian the cat was wanting plenty of fussing, attention and maybe some Dreamies too. He did let me stroke him and give him cuddles, and played ball with me later on, so he was definitely in a good mood all things considered. He had even gone out in a little bit of rain earlier before realising his fur was getting wet and so made an escape back indoors!
After The Love's sister came over for a chatter and a catch up, The Love got herself changed and ready, and looked very nice in a new top, we headed off for the tram. At this time of year, and something we stumbled upon a few years back, The Albert Club in West Didsbury has their annual festival, which is also a beer festival. They get lots of local beers on, food, and also some music too whether that be DJs or performances as well. It's usually very good and last year dates clashed, but this year it all fell into place and with us being out with friends tomorrow, we thought a leisurely trip over was a sensible idea - and with Burton Road tram stop not being too far away, easier to do that and have what we liked!
We got to the Albert Club and paid the £5 each for non-members for the day, and you got a wristband - so I guess you could head out and back in later on if you wanted, or for example if you wanted food elsewhere and then came back in. As it was, the beer tent was well stocked and had lovely cask ales on and some good keg beers, there was also a Brooklyn Brewery van selling their beers, and two food stalls with the likes of Jamaican patties, loaded fries, and a pizza oven doing fresh pizzas. That was all good, as was the beer selection. On the far side of the bowling green and club house, there was also a pop up van which had gins and also aperol spritz, so The Love had that I had a very nice local cask ale, Irk Street Pale from Blackjack. That was very nice indeed.
We got a good spot close to the gin van and by the bowling green, with a table and chairs for us two only. The vibe was chilled out, as was the tunes, which had an intriguing mix of 80s and 90s all segued together really well. I have to say though that being a diehard Mancunian, obviously having anything from a local band would get due recognition and so having the likes of New Order was always going to be a winner. However. tune of the day simply had to be a song that had been in my head all day - Breakout by Swing Out Sister. Not least as Andy and Corinne officially tied the knot at the back end of last week!
We did have a couple of more drinks and despite there being a slight downpour, with The Love's brolly keeping us dry underneath, all was well. The Love had the Poretti lager which was nice enough, and I tried out two more local ales including the From Above by Track. In fact at the bar there was someone who was asking about gluten free beers and I remember From Above being one, so recommended it highly. Always nice to have a good chatter about beers but also because I know a couple of friends who need gluten free too, I do keep an eye on anything decent, and will try it myself to see what I think. And yes, it was as good as ever too.
After a few drinks The Love and I walked back to The Metropolitan in the centre of West Didsbury, and decided to have some food in there. They did also have a nice Saltaire ale in there so that was me sorted, and I had this nice pizza whilst The Love went for the fish and chips. Both were very nice and did the job of keeping us well fed before we then headed back on the tram via the city centre to The Love's place, and then relaxing with Brian the cat and watching some telly. Overall then a nice chilled out Saturday, and more of those is always appreciated let me tell you!