19 IN ORDSALL

wp-15922528709601666947253673066839.jpg

Back to birthdays, as Matt reaches the age immortalised by Paul Hardcastle in 1985.

“19” was about Vietnam; Matt has only to contend with the fine burghers of Ordsall temporarily deprived their Holt pubs.

wp-15922527060311778123568099120211.jpg
Happy Birthday Matt
wp-1592252634403759278165195782019.jpg
Mrs RM forgot the bicarbonate of soda

Mrs RM was busy, probably queueing for Primark, so I took James up to meet his brother in Ordsall Park. 2:55 hours, fastest ever trip to Manchester.

ord

Today was a weird day in M5; sunshine/lightning/hail/downpour/sunshine.

I brought my ray of sunshine and persuaded Matt and Emma out for a birthday walk in the Arndale Quays.

The street art, often the gift from visiting German fans, is splendid.

wp-15922527384198888450909402878826.jpg
Skate Snoopy
wp-15922531637468485210013548917482.jpg
What nice Trafford folk
wp-15922527867927384714944624670899.jpg
Oooh, Dutch art

I’d hoped to take Mrs RM some craft murk back from the Salford Taps like Marble, 7 Brothers and Pomona, but I was too early/late in the week.

Not a lot of pub, open or closed, on the way to the BBC and Corrie. The Hungry Horse across from Matt’s flat has a wonderful tribute to Lowry.

wp-15922527614802516956630712559948.jpg
That’s sarcasm, Maark

But the architecture, wow !

You could be somewhere European, like Bilbao or Glasgow.

wp-1592253035153267762620781812069.jpg
Even impressed the art peasants
wp-15922529991274317251323814904644.jpg
Footbridge to minor non-Manchester football club
wp-15922530624907260706094286560458.jpg
Assumed MI5 HQ

There were a few families out and about evading the Canadian geese by the Blue Peter studios, but no pop-up ice cream or takeaway beer sales to detain you, in sharp contrast to the innovative selling I’ve seen in Cambridge recently.

Even the gnomes of Gnome Island weren’t cashing in.

wp-15922531029023097273302240682322.jpg
Micropub potential

I do like my urban/industrial walks, even without a pub.

wp-15922531460447738940123410290796.jpg
Club venue, apparently

A notable shortage of loos, so I had to take a leak at O*d T******d next to the statue of United legend Clayton Blackmore, thankfully not captured on camera.

Quite how Mrs RM will cope when we pop up again for a picnic on Sunday I dread to think.

20151229_153627
Matt looking enigmatic in Havana

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

16 thoughts on “19 IN ORDSALL”

  1. Hats off to you, committing to the actual 19 candles. I fear we gave up on candle accuracy in this household somewhere around age 8.

    I mean, whoever did that Matchstick Man illustration put a lot of time and skill into it. Seems designed to give children nightmares though, let’s be honest.

    Say what you like about the 80s, a decade in which a synthpop song about the Vietnam war gets on the radio can’t be all bad.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Kentish folk (it was Mrs RM) are sticklers for tradition.

      I’m surprised that Matchstick Man illustration hasn’t received wider ridicule; the Lowry Gallery is exemplary.

      I just played the “19” video, first time in 35 years. Grief, it is tacky, isn’t it ? Was it well know in the States ?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. It got a good bit of airplay back in 85 as I recall, but it certainly is not a song played anywhere these days. Funny how there’s a dividing line between the songs that acquire “oldie” status (Like “Take On Me”, which seems never to have fully gone away) and everything else, which you really have to seek out to ever hear again.

        Like

  2. Always makes me wince when TV news reporters pronounce it “Ord-saul”, when locals, and no doubt yourself, know that it’s “Odsel”.

    Like

    Reply

    2. Confession time Matthew, I spent four years living in the Manchester area and always thought it was “Ord-saul.” Perhaps students can be forgiven as they tend to be drawn from all over the country, rather than just from the local area.

      There are plenty of place names in Kent for news reporters to mis-pronounce, so these types of faux-pas happen the world over.

      I remember asking the check-in clerk at Cleveland airport, on my last flight back from the US, whether I’d need to retrieve my bags at the intermediary airport. “No sir,” he replied, “your bags will go all the way through to London Gatewick!”

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment