This post was supposed to go out on Friday. As I was getting ready to post yesterday’s stuff, I realised that this post was still sitting there in “drafts”, not posted at all. Maybe I’m just getting a bit stupid or maybe I’ve just been running around too much over the last week. So, anyway, here it is, slightly amended:
I went to Manchester again on Friday, this time hoping that I had correctly located the new venue for my hairdresser. All good. They were in rather a state of chaos. Nobody knew where anything was, they were short of equipment, they had no juniors to give the menial tasks to, but they seemed happy enough with their new arrangements.
It transpires that the previous salon owner had gone bankrupt, finally told everyone at the start of this week that he was closing down, and then on the day when the salon actually closed scuttled away in a great hurry without paying some of the staff! Those who were planning to set themselves up as a new salon commandeered as much equipment and supplies as they could carry, basically almost anything that was not screwed to the floor or plumbed in, before the bailiffs came and took control! Wild times! They were all rather over-excited! But my hair was successfully cut and coloured and styled to my satisfaction.
(Oddly enough, as I went home I received a text message from the bankrupt salon, which I can confirm is all closed up, having walked past it, telling me they were sorry I had missed an appointment today! Very strange!)
City centre Manchester was pretty chaotic on the whole. With the Christmas markets in full swing, there seems to be a huge festival of consumption taking place. Everywhere there were people eating hot dogs and wraps and all kinds of portable food. The air was filled with the aroma of mulled wine. And there were stalls piled high with assorted sweets (unwrapped) and piles of fudge (various flavours, also unwrapped), leading me to wonder about the levels of hygiene there.
I had various errands to do in Manchester after I left the hairdresser’s. Rain was forecast for later so I was in a hurry to complete them as quickly as possible. When I went into the last shop on my list the weather was still fine. When I emerged it had started raining. In fact, it had started sleeting. There were definitely snowflakes mingled with the raindrops. My newly styled hair went under my beret, my hood went up. It was like being back at school again! And I took a short cut through Marks and Spencer and Selfridges to get to the tram stop without getting wet.
Having arrived at my tram stop, I discovered the stop was closed. There was a noisy demonstration which had made its way from St Peter’s Square, I think, along Cross Street and was now chanting in Exchange Square, outside the entrance to the Arndale Centre. It turned out they were demanding human rights for Roma people. Human rights for everyone, I should think!
The Bee Network, previously known asTransport for Greater Manchester apologised for the inconvenience and informed us that passengers wanting to travel on the Rochdale to East Didsbury line should make their way to Victoria station. Which I duly did.
I considered stopping off at Oldham Central tram stop to go to Sainsbury’s for a couple of items but by then it was dark and the rain was still falling … but no snow. So I decided we could manage without extra olives and bread and stayed on the tram to the next stop, Oldham Mumps. Getting off the tram I saw that there was a bus to Delph waiting at the stop … at the other side of the interchange! I was not really dressed for running but I did my best. Fortunately the driver was a considerate soul who had seen me scuttling and had chosen to wait for me. It is not often that you get off the tram from Manchester and straight onto the bus to Delph! Later he let a group of young boys travel without paying, rather than making them walk in the cold and wet! A good man!
All’s well that ends well! Tomorrow is another day … one that promises more rain and some strong winds! So it goes!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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