Manc and Didsbury

Michelle had class all day today, so I figured I'd strike it out on my own. Got out relatively early at about 9. Hopped the bus out to the Arndale. Unfortunately, everything opens at 10am, so I walked around the Arndale for a bit. I stopped at EAT, a cafe in the mall. I ordered a Benedict Muffin with a small coffee. Coffee over here is a bit stronger. It is more of a shot of espresso in some water to the same volume. I stepped out of the line to get my coffee and some vegetarian guy behind me almost got my muffin. He looked fairly upset, but he wasn't getting my muffin!

I walked around with my coffee until 10am, scoping potential shops for some comfortable pants to sleep in. I stupidly forgot my uber-cool pickle pajama pants. H&M? Wouldn't be caught dead selling pajamas. Noticed most of the stores were fashion-y type stores that probably wouldn't be selling anything close to pajamas. I went to a sports store downstairs where I found a nice pair of Lonsdale sweatpants. I left the Arndale after that and started to explore the heart of Manchester city.

I basically went with the algorithm: go straight in one direction for several blocks, then turn right, then right again, and then continue until you are one block from where you started. Choose new straight direction, repeat. This worked fairly well, and I found several neat little shops. Record stores, even a board game store. This was interesting. A small anime, board game store in Manchester. I forget their name, but they sure had a good stock of board games. Pretty much every Carcassone expansion, Catan expansion, and several good Rio Grande games. Still trying to find out what may be here that I can't get in the states.

Hopped the bus out, and texted Michelle for lunch during her afternoon gap. We went to a Chinese buffet that was well past Manchester Metropolitan. Like most Chinese buffets in the states, was ok. Left Michelle off at her lecture hall, and then went to Manchester's Computer Science department! They had a very nice exhibit on their contributions to computer science, various types of storage inventions, research on large databases, and some interesting hardware from their developments.

I wanted to explore the opposite end of Oxford/Wilmslow Road, so I hopped a bus past Owens Park. The bus stopped short of my goal, somewhere near a hospital in Withington, so I hoofed it for a bit and took some pictures. I walked part way into Didsbury, and caught another. I got to the end where I found a HUGE bowling center and cinema complex. There is also a Tesco there, which I went inside. It is another grocery store chain, with pretty much the same stuff that the Sainsbury's had. I walked around and took some more pictures of the surrounding area, and then took the bus back. Michelle was coming home within ten minutes of me, so I just took a nap.

After I got up, we were crazy hungry so we went to the Battered Cod for fish and chips. Please note, that the fish part of fish and chips really is shaped like a fish. We ordered two large cod, with a pile of chips. Oh, and fizzy Vimto. A delicious juice drink kind of thing. When we came back we checked the TV, and watched "The Woman Who Lost 30 Stone". After all that we went to bed.

EDIT: Blogger appears to not let me upload more images here, I'll see what the deal is.