A weekend in the North West

 

This year, we decided that, instead of Christmas presents, we would take a couple of short trips away together.  The Boy chose a few days in the Cotswolds for his trip (you can read about it here), while I made the admittedly strange choice of the North West for mine.  Strange, because my dad has lived in Manchester for the past twenty years, so I visit often.  Stranger, because I also briefly lived in the city in 2001, before coming back to Leicester to finish my degree.  But I've always felt like it's a place I want to spend more time in, and what better city to be a tourist than one you already know your way around?  I'd also found an exhibition at Tate Liverpool that I really wanted to see and when we realised how frequent and fast the trains between the two cities were, my choice of weekend away was cemented.

The broad theme of the weekend was alternative and left wing culture; we spent most of our time in Manchester hanging out in the Northern Quarter, epicentre of the city's indie and alternative scene, while in Liverpool we went off the beaten track to find a great veggie cafe/bar/'creative hub' (Mello Mello on Slater Street - much recommended for tasty food and lots of boardgames to while away a Sunday afternoon).  Meanwhile, we visited the Art Turning Left exhibition at Tate Liverpool, which examines how art has been influenced and shaped by left wing values, and The People's History Museum in Manchester, immersing ourselves in the history of socialist movements and trade unions in the UK.

In the Northern Quarter we discovered craft superstore Fred Aldous; truly, my life was not complete until I found this place.  I could have bought half the store, but limited myself to just a couple of things.  Top of the list to buy from their online shop is this collection of redesigned modernist rock posters by Mike Joyce. 

The Boy also delighted in the discovery of V Revolution, a vegan diner/food shop and punk record store at the end of Oldham Street, where he feasted on fast food.  I couldn't quite stomach a burger-based breakfast, so we also visited Blue Daisy Cafe, which has a wide range of veggie and vegan options, for amazing French toast (me) and fruit (him: I think he was trying to mitigate the burger). 

I enjoyed introducing The Boy to my old haunts in Manchester, like the Night & Day Cafe (a fab place to grab a drink and see both local and national up-and-coming musicians - please sign their Change.org petition as they are currently threatened with closure) and the four storey indoor market Afflecks Palace.  As a weirdo hippy indie chick in the 90s, Afflecks was a haven for me; a place to buy knock-off band t-shirts and rainbow tie-dye laces for my Doc Marten boots.  I was heartened to see that it hasn't changed all that much in the past twenty years, and I was much taken with the loos (see below), because I favour juvenile humour.