Culcha'
Time for another short data dump. Since a good portion of my life is now being quite well chronicled by stsquad, it feels a bit like cheap duplication if I write about it too. However, for the record, I had a really interesting time in , where I met the CEO of the Percy Hedley foundation, and met some of the most seriously disabled people I've ever encountered. One, called David, particularly touched me - he was totally wheelchair-bound, couldn't go to the loo by himself, and was only barely understandable when speaking. He's a paralympic medallist (beanbag throwing). When I asked him what activities he did in the daytime, he said he didn't have much time for that - he's an outreach volunteer, and spends a lot of his time working with people like him, with cerebral palsy, who live in the community and need more support and friendship than they currently recieve. I haven't felt so small in a long time.
I also had a splendid weekend in
I was privileged to be invited to TJs birthday celebration - we saw Coward's "The Vortex" at the Royal Exchange. The theatre is every bit as fun as I expected it to be, having been built entirely freestanding within the old exchange - a marvelous corinthian-columned extravaganza. This play really suited the round setting, simply opulent 1920's deco black and white spiral patterns and ghastly furniture simply everywhere. As with most of his stuff, everyone is simply beastly to each other in a frightfully funny manner, and all end up utterly miserable - rather like Jeeves and Wooster after the watershed and in Hell.
On Saturday we went to Rivington Pike and wandered. Liverpool castle was closed, but we did roam all the way up to the "Wizard's tower", and I was able to get a little exercise, though I paid for it later when my knee totally stiffened up. The idea of building not one folly, but a full set of incomplete ruins over such a large area is truly decadent, and I am very much looking forward to going again. As an aside, the trip was made even more exciting by the fact that I was allowed to drive stsquad's car for the first time, now that I'm on his insurance. He tried very hard to mask his fear, and even unclenched his teeth for several seconds on the motorway! We did have a free and frank conversation later about safety distances and whether they apply when you're switching lanes if the cars in the lane you're pulling into are already too close.
We also ventured out on the Manchester evening bus system to join wibblefish and gothadh for pre-Sin City drinks. Met some seriously nice people, who we'll hopefully be seeing again at Whitby (my virgin visit to the eponymous goth festival - must buy black trousers!). The bus was, of course, late but the scary thing was the bus stop, populated by seriously poorly barely teenaged kids, some of whom were clearly off their faces and some of whom were practically falling into the roads. It was rather sad to see such young things being so clearly unloved.
Nuff said
I also had a splendid weekend in
I was privileged to be invited to TJs birthday celebration - we saw Coward's "The Vortex" at the Royal Exchange. The theatre is every bit as fun as I expected it to be, having been built entirely freestanding within the old exchange - a marvelous corinthian-columned extravaganza. This play really suited the round setting, simply opulent 1920's deco black and white spiral patterns and ghastly furniture simply everywhere. As with most of his stuff, everyone is simply beastly to each other in a frightfully funny manner, and all end up utterly miserable - rather like Jeeves and Wooster after the watershed and in Hell.
On Saturday we went to Rivington Pike and wandered. Liverpool castle was closed, but we did roam all the way up to the "Wizard's tower", and I was able to get a little exercise, though I paid for it later when my knee totally stiffened up. The idea of building not one folly, but a full set of incomplete ruins over such a large area is truly decadent, and I am very much looking forward to going again. As an aside, the trip was made even more exciting by the fact that I was allowed to drive stsquad's car for the first time, now that I'm on his insurance. He tried very hard to mask his fear, and even unclenched his teeth for several seconds on the motorway! We did have a free and frank conversation later about safety distances and whether they apply when you're switching lanes if the cars in the lane you're pulling into are already too close.
We also ventured out on the Manchester evening bus system to join wibblefish and gothadh for pre-Sin City drinks. Met some seriously nice people, who we'll hopefully be seeing again at Whitby (my virgin visit to the eponymous goth festival - must buy black trousers!). The bus was, of course, late but the scary thing was the bus stop, populated by seriously poorly barely teenaged kids, some of whom were clearly off their faces and some of whom were practically falling into the roads. It was rather sad to see such young things being so clearly unloved.
Nuff said