A canal walk

Watching the "birth of the industrial revolution" at the Olympic Opening Ceremony had a particular resonance with me. After work, I walked along the Ashton canal from Beswick to Ancoats and into town. A lot of history is in that walk. A few mills still stand on their banks but are either derelict or are used for something else. A few men and boys fish on the bank, most looking sad into the dark still waters. It's East Manchester, a pretty tough area. I'm a wee bit nervous carrying my fancy camera as most people walking on the canal here look quite scary. Some say hello but most stare towards the ground with sad eyes. There's not many jobs around here as most of the factories are closed. In a taxi a wee while back the driver pointed to a flattened site and said that 5000 people used to be employed in a factory there. There are countless similar sites in this area of Manchester.

As I come up to Ancoats, there are many new flats and some in converted mills. I could just about afford a small 2 bedroom one here. It gets a bit posher in Picadilly where lots of media and office types are walking....not nearly as scary as 5 minutes back along the canal. Enough for there to be a chasm between the haves and have nots! I'll happily take this walk again with George Osborne if he fancies a short trip up from Tatton.

Photos from my walk are here.

Sheesh! That was serious. After such a walk, I needed a coffee and had a bloody wonderful espresso at North Tea. Wayne nailed the house blend! It cheered me up. A few NTP pics here.