The Flâneur's Flannel

Of all the people that have featured in my blip most to date, Noah probably takes the biscuit - just ahead of fishing buddy Kempy, and then Useful Dave. Family wise, there are also a few distant shots of MrsB, and then the odd reluctant portrait of J and my mum.

I hadn't intended Noah hogging the limelight again, but then hey, he did bring me the unexpected present of an bottle of Grappa alla Liquirizia (pictured) all the way back from his trip last weekend to see the Venice Architecture Biennial. I'm easily bought, but then we knew that already. This shot was taken inside Noah's Salford studio, where we met to discuss our artist short-listing for the Isle of Man. First off though, Noah ran through the entire itinerary of his Venice exploration. I grinned and bore it - lucky devil.

The significance for the Grappa by the way is because on my only ever 2-day visit to Venice, I consumed 12 Grappa on the first night (free drinks offered after the meal that no one else in our party-of-six could stomach); went to bed at 1:30; was up by 5:30 next day to experience the pre-tourist excitement of the Rialto Market setting up; followed by 2 double espressos before breakfast; The hot sun then came up and so it was, my day and visit was effectively over by noon on my first and only full day. All I could think of after when laid up, was Donald Sutherland in the film Don't Look Now, as he foresees his own floating funeral cortège go by.

Anyway, Noah was very proud of his new Italian T-Shirt, but also his newly-grown and Bradley Wiggins-style sideburns (there is a slight resemblance now, come to mention it). The sideburns it seems are for his forthcoming role as a city tour guide and dandy in Manchester, dressed up as a 19th century Flâner (a term coming from the French verb flâner "to stroll"). I am reliably informed by his nibs, that Flâneurism is about being "a passionate spectator" and deriving pleasure from voyeuristically watching city life unfold.

Noah's tour is called Canvas and concerns exploring the art and architecture of The Northern Quarter. Part of a bigger programme of tours called The Flâneurs' Guide to The Northern Quarter, it is part of a Manchester Weekender creative tourist programme curated by another artist and friend of Noah's called Michael Trainor.

Postscript: The Flâneurs Strolling tours, take place in Manchester on Sunday 14 October, and offer a choice between: Noah's 'Canvas' tour; 'Tribes' (people watching); 'Money' (the commercial, social and cultural conditions that made the Northern Quarter what it is today); and 'Soundscape' (an audio-based sensory tour). Each tour ends with sherry and cake. Sadly, Noah's Canvas tour is already sold-out.