Wednesday 26th March
Ruth Lyon is the lead singer of Holy Moly & the Crackers, a band we’ve been following since 2017, and a couple of years ago she began performing as a solo artist. Tonight she’s playing in Manchester at a venue I’d never heard of along with a bassist (who also plays drums for Holy Moly), a keyboard player and a drummer. We’re stopping over in town tonight. I never like driving into Manchester, or perhaps, more accurately, I never like parking in Manchester, so we decided to take the train and book in at a hotel. Sadly, this is necessary for concert-goers since the last train home leaves before the concert finishes.
We arrived in Deansgate station around noon and dropped our bags at the hotel before jumping on a tram to go out to Media City. Although Manchester trams were re-instated over 30 years ago, I’ve never been on one before, so this was a new experience for me. The tram ride itself was uneventful, but paying for it was enlightening. ‘Tap and go’ worked very well but since I hadn’t previously used it (and hadn’t read up about it beforehand), I was full of questions, all beginning ‘how…’ or ‘what if…’. Having now successfully negotiated the system, I now have most of my questions answered.
Why Media City? Well, I’ve not been for a while and Geraldine needed to go to one of the Outlet shops there, so it was convenient. What was less convenient was finding somewhere that sold coffee and cake which wasn’t part of an American tax-dodging restaurant chain. I always prefer to support small independent cafes when I can, but there were none in this part of Salford, so Kargo MKT seemed like the next best option for us. This is a huge food hall with outdoor seating and great views boasting nineteen different kitchens from all parts of the globe. The trouble we found was that only one (the bar area) served coffee and the few cakes they had on offer were woeful. So we walked back to Pret A Manger (where we started) and ate there. The coffee was good and the Danish pastry was great and it was warm enough to sit outside overlooking the Blue Peter garden.
To be truthful, there’s not a lot to do at Media City and so we sauntered over the bridge to have a look round the Imperial War Museum. I’ve been here once before on a corporate event and was suitably impressed by the place and today’s trip was just as fascinating. The most poignant part was when all the lights dimmed and the Big Picture Show began. This plays every hour and is an immersive multimedia presentation using surround sound and 360º projected digital moving images and photographs. The presentation at 2pm offered powerful real-life stories of young Ukrainians, told through their own social media posts from the period since the 2022 invasion and captured the reality of what everyday life is like for young Ukrainians caught up in war. Fascinating, shocking and heart-breaking in equal measures. We also saw the ceramic poppies installation which was quite spectacular.
We returned to the hotel to check in before heading out again at 5:30 to find some food. This time, we were more fortunate and had a great meze-style meal in The Real Greek restaurant inside the Corn Exchange. Here we could experience ‘eat outside’ vibes whilst still being under cover. In a very unrepresentative visual survey, this place was the only consistently busy restaurant in the whole place. Deservedly so, in my opinion.
We arrived at The Castle Hotel on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter at 7:25 just before the doors opened for the concert. When we were shown in, I was amazed to see that from the entrance to the stage was only about 35 feet and the room was only as wide as my lounge at home! I’ve been in some small venues before, but nothing like this. The man on the door said that the place was licensed for 80 people, but commented that once full, the place did get a bit hot. Never mind, we were early and thus managed to snag a folding chair which we stationed beside the stage for the standing-only gig. I don’t mind standing, but I like to sit down occasionally if I can. And placing the chair where we did meant that no-one could stand in front of us and spoil the view. (We short folk need to consider this at such events)
After a good support act from Lindsay Munroe we were ready to see Ruth once more. We last saw her in the Fulford Arms in York in 2022 and chatting to people around us before the start, we discovered that they were also at the same gig! The lady we spoke to unfortunately left her phone on during this performance and of course, it went off just as the first song was finishing. Everyone chuckled as she scrambled to turn it off, including Ruth who was sat just four feet away. When she’d done that, the same noise began once again much to everyone surprise, but it turned out to be the keyboard player who’d correctly determined exactly which notes to play to perfectly replicate the sound! He must have perfect pitch.
Back at the hotel when I turned on my phone again I saw that I’d had two missed calls and several messages. It turned out that Tilly (our cat) had been showing signs of illness and the lady on the night shift at the cattery was eager to get hold of us. As it turned out, there wasn’t a problem and we could reassure her that Tilly was fine.
The hotel had a few newspapers in the foyer, one being today’s edition of the New York Times! So we scanned the paper wondering how it came to be there. It seems that the New York Times has an international edition printed in Paris which (for a fee) can be delivered to your door each day. It replaced the International Herald Tribune which closed in 2013. The news stories have an American bias (and the spellings are wrong) but the articles are still very relevant. I won’t be subscribing, however.
Thursday 27th March
Geraldine’s brother lives in Chorlton, about four miles from our hotel and so he cycled in to join us for breakfast. As always, we made a big dent in the hotel’s provisions for breakfast, lingering at our table long after they had stopped serving. It was good to catch up in such a congenial atmosphere.
At 10:45 or so Gee and I continued to act as tourists in the city, doing a bit of shopping before going into the Central Library. This is a beautiful building that I’ve walked past many times but never gone in, which is a shame because it’s marvellous. We spent time admiring the splendid architecture (and the books, of course!) and also enjoyed the temporary exhibition celebrating the lives of the workforce who are presently renovating the Town Hall next door. A leisurely stroll along the Rochdale Canal up to the Castlefield Basin took us nicely up to the time of our train departure and the end of a lovely couple of days.
