Part the fourth—Manchester
Jul. 16th, 2004 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistAndrew and I went to the post office and the bank yesterday morning, and then caught a bus to the city centre. It was one of the double-decker ones, which I'd never ridden before, so I was glad to see the bottom layer was filled with people when we got on. The bus started moving again as we climbed the tiny staircase, and by the time I got to the top it was stopping again, so the jolt made my arm hit the railing you're supposed to hang on to, but I decided it was a small price to pay, because I was enjoying myself.
Like on the airplane, I felt that I was acting like a little kid, being excited about something that everyone else ignored as a mere mode of transportation. (But then, I'm like that even in cars here, now that I think about it. Sure I'm used to cars, but here they're all little and fast and driving on the wrong side of the road ... plus I'm so rarely in a car now that I sort of forget what it's like, and since it's happened so little--and since, when it does, it's usually us getting a ride to or from Andrew's parents' house, and his dad's a crazy fun driver--I haven't quite gotten used to even that here.)
Out the windows I saw streets lined with shops ranging from the familiar sort of thing like newsagents to places with signs in Arabic letters.
Andrew has told me the story of someone who came to Manchester from ... someplace else (I want to say London but that might be because London is his candidate for Origin of All Bad Things (That Aren't American, Anyway) but I'm not sure about that part ... ) and noted that people in Manchester say thanks to the bus driver when they get off the bus. Andrew does this, and I always smile to hear it. My impression isn't based on vast amounts of people I've met, but interactions like this have gotten me thinking that the people are friendly here, and I like that.
We were going to Piccadilly to meet![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
commonswings, an LJ friend of Andrew's who had a couple hours in Manchester between train rides. We had a Coke and went to some record shops. They were fun to listen to, and I got to see some places I hadn't before (and some other places that I knew about but didn't know were in those places).
We'd planned to go to the science museum, because I'd mentioned I like the science museums I've been to and because it's free and we like free entertainment. But Andrew wasn't feeling well and didn't really want to walk that far, so we went to another museum because it was closer. Andrew hadn't been there before, since it's just about Manchester and he already knows about Manchester.
In fact, as we were walking somewhere (I can't remember where exactly; we walked a lot), he said again that Manchester is 'the only proper place to live.' I asked him why he thought that and he said, 'Because it's the best!' That's about as far as the conversation usually gets, but this time I asked him why he thinks that. He said it's big enough to have stuff to do, has interesting people thanks to immigrants and tons of students, it has more live music than anywhere in the country except London, it's not London, it is in the UK which has its problems but is better than most places, and the places that it's not better than are also places that don't speak English. I think I'm missing some, and I'm sure I'm not saying them as eloquently as he did, but I can't remember how they sounded and consider myself lucky to remember what they were.
Whatever they were they told me more about Manchester than the museum, which was silly. It looked like someone had spent a lot of money on architecture and design and none so far on actual content. But there was a documentary being shown about the connections between music in Manchester and Detroit, which actually made it worth the price of admission (which is nothing).
But all we really wanted to do was kill some time betweencommonswings leaving and our next errand, which was to go to the box office of the place Brian Wilson is playing next week and buy tickets. It was only about a ten-minute walk, but by this point it was raining enough to soak us. At one point a bus happened to hit a puddle just as it sped by and drenched us. It was almost funny, since by then we were almost wet enough not to notice any more.
Andrew pointed out the BBC studios, reminding me that the first couple seasons of Red Dwarf were made there--the show was moved to London after a few years, and stopped being so funny then; naturally Andrew sees this as indicative of the badness of London.
We got on the metro with no tickets, a random act of anarchy (well, not random, it coincided nicely with the fact that we have no money after the Brian Wilson tickets were bought) that made me feel a little better.
There's still more to say about Manchester--it's more than our one little day could encompass--but that's okay. I've told you what I know, but I only know a little. I'm still figuring out the rest.
Like on the airplane, I felt that I was acting like a little kid, being excited about something that everyone else ignored as a mere mode of transportation. (But then, I'm like that even in cars here, now that I think about it. Sure I'm used to cars, but here they're all little and fast and driving on the wrong side of the road ... plus I'm so rarely in a car now that I sort of forget what it's like, and since it's happened so little--and since, when it does, it's usually us getting a ride to or from Andrew's parents' house, and his dad's a crazy fun driver--I haven't quite gotten used to even that here.)
Out the windows I saw streets lined with shops ranging from the familiar sort of thing like newsagents to places with signs in Arabic letters.
Andrew has told me the story of someone who came to Manchester from ... someplace else (I want to say London but that might be because London is his candidate for Origin of All Bad Things (That Aren't American, Anyway) but I'm not sure about that part ... ) and noted that people in Manchester say thanks to the bus driver when they get off the bus. Andrew does this, and I always smile to hear it. My impression isn't based on vast amounts of people I've met, but interactions like this have gotten me thinking that the people are friendly here, and I like that.
We were going to Piccadilly to meet
commonswings, an LJ friend of Andrew's who had a couple hours in Manchester between train rides. We had a Coke and went to some record shops. They were fun to listen to, and I got to see some places I hadn't before (and some other places that I knew about but didn't know were in those places).We'd planned to go to the science museum, because I'd mentioned I like the science museums I've been to and because it's free and we like free entertainment. But Andrew wasn't feeling well and didn't really want to walk that far, so we went to another museum because it was closer. Andrew hadn't been there before, since it's just about Manchester and he already knows about Manchester.
In fact, as we were walking somewhere (I can't remember where exactly; we walked a lot), he said again that Manchester is 'the only proper place to live.' I asked him why he thought that and he said, 'Because it's the best!' That's about as far as the conversation usually gets, but this time I asked him why he thinks that. He said it's big enough to have stuff to do, has interesting people thanks to immigrants and tons of students, it has more live music than anywhere in the country except London, it's not London, it is in the UK which has its problems but is better than most places, and the places that it's not better than are also places that don't speak English. I think I'm missing some, and I'm sure I'm not saying them as eloquently as he did, but I can't remember how they sounded and consider myself lucky to remember what they were.
Whatever they were they told me more about Manchester than the museum, which was silly. It looked like someone had spent a lot of money on architecture and design and none so far on actual content. But there was a documentary being shown about the connections between music in Manchester and Detroit, which actually made it worth the price of admission (which is nothing).
But all we really wanted to do was kill some time between
commonswings leaving and our next errand, which was to go to the box office of the place Brian Wilson is playing next week and buy tickets. It was only about a ten-minute walk, but by this point it was raining enough to soak us. At one point a bus happened to hit a puddle just as it sped by and drenched us. It was almost funny, since by then we were almost wet enough not to notice any more. Andrew pointed out the BBC studios, reminding me that the first couple seasons of Red Dwarf were made there--the show was moved to London after a few years, and stopped being so funny then; naturally Andrew sees this as indicative of the badness of London.
We got on the metro with no tickets, a random act of anarchy (well, not random, it coincided nicely with the fact that we have no money after the Brian Wilson tickets were bought) that made me feel a little better.
There's still more to say about Manchester--it's more than our one little day could encompass--but that's okay. I've told you what I know, but I only know a little. I'm still figuring out the rest.
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BBC
Date: 2004-07-16 03:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-16 04:09 pm (UTC)Sounds exactly like what a Hobbit would say. Then look askance at another Hobbit, who lives a whopping two hills over, claiming that only "strange folk" come from two hills away. [GRIN]
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 01:38 am (UTC)Seriously, though, the whole island is the size of my home state but it has so much personality. In-jokes might not make sense to people on the other side of town. The accents of people who live a few miles apart can be noticably different. There are historical reasons for this, I know, but I still find it interesting and fun. I like the sense of identity I see in the people here.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-16 09:36 pm (UTC)Besides, Toronto is the best place to live.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 03:57 am (UTC)I don't have any experience of bus transport in That London, having only been there a handful of times, and always having taken the tube if I needed to get anywhere, but when I was at university one of my Damn-Southerner friends (see, I'm not prejudiced. I wouldn't let one marry my sister though.) told me that the biggest shock for him when he came here had been that people say thanks to the driver, and that they don't in London. I assumed that was true because he had no reason to lie and because it fits in with my other observations of That London. But then again That London is a big place - no doubt parts are more polite than other parts.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 08:14 am (UTC)In London there are still a few routes that use the Routemaster busses.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 09:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 02:22 pm (UTC)I hope to get to go there someday, yes. I would very much like to see you guys, and I imagine some day there will be a convincing reason to drag Andrew to London. It's impressive that people I don't know that well have actually talked about the possibility of meeting me. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 02:27 pm (UTC)