retiredmartin

December 2024. Manchester.

A lot of rushing back and forward at the moment, with an overnighter in Manchester vis Sheffield to check the boiler, check the post, and see City win for the first time in many, many months. It’s hard supporting the little teams, I can tell you.

“Fancy a curry, Dad” texts Matt. Having two children who still want to meet their boomer dad is the thing that makes me most happy.

Despite living a minute’s walk away, they’d never been to Cafe Marhaba, possibly because it’s in this street.

The beef curry is as authentic as it gets outside Bratfud, but I ought to do Rice & 3 next time.

The dozen new Greater Manchester Guide entries are spread all over the region, and I’ve only just time for a lone tick in Whalley Range, an indefinable suburb just east of the student quarter.

Oh good, a club

Sort of. A vast social club (like a scruffy Antic, I note),

with modern beers,

an eclectic programme of activities,

and a threat overhanging its future.

A threat just that week averted. Hoorah !

Red Willow Breakfast Stout is cool and chewy (NBSS 3.5+), and yet more vindication for the GBG.

An hour later I’m at the Etihad, magnificent in the Mancunian rain, about to resist the lure of Asahi Dry,

even at under a fiver a pint.