In Manchester/ The pleasures of drinking

Today was Dan's first day at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music. I'm not sure they've taken 'distance to travel' into account when creating the timetable and he needs to be there for 08:45 on a Saturday morning. As this is his first day, we travelled down together in the car, setting off just before seven. 

Despite the early start, he was on good form, especially once we'd stopped for a coffee at Forton Services, and we arrived in Manchester a little before eight-thirty. We parked up near the Deaf Institute and I walked across with him. I wasn't sure whether he'd want me to come in, and I'm not sure he knew, either, but as we reached the door he said "You coming?" so we went in together and I stayed with him for as long as it took to reach the registration desk, at which point he was clearly happy and I gave him a hug and said I'd see him later.

I'd arranged to meet Hannah for breakfast and she had suggested a place called Alabama, which opened at nine. I walked across and arrived a little before then and joined a short queue of four or five people. The doors opened promptly and I found a nice little table for two and got my book out. When I looked up a quarter of an hour later, the place was full!

Breakfast was great, which was no surprise given how popular the place was, and after that, Hannah and I walked back to the RNCM. My foray inside earlier on had alerted me to a new parents meeting at half past ten, which is exactly the sort of thing I don't enjoy. I'm not going to be neggy about it but let's just say my reservations were well founded. 

Hannah had waited for me, though, and we walked back across to Piccadilly and she took me on a little walk she'd planned, up through Piccadilly Village and along the canal. It was beautiful! Plus it was a lovely sunny day, which you can't always count on in Manchester. I think she was very happy showing off her adopted home and I enjoyed both the walk and her company. (Today's photo is her at the end of a foot tunnel alongside part of the canal.)

At half-twelve she dropped me off at Wing Yip, which is a huge Chinese supermarket, and which has a huge restaurant called Glamorous tucked around the back. I was meeting Simon for lunch here at his suggestion and it was a great choice. It was packed and had the vibe of the restaurants I remember from growing up in Hong Kong. (Simon also spent some time living there, albeit when he was a bit older, and I was impressed by his casual deployment of Cantonese.)

It's always interesting chatting to Simon not least because while we are very similar in many respects, we differ just enough on some topics (hello, Jeremy Corbyn!) to make for some engrossing debates. Today I told him about my experiences with the sedative this week and this curious experience of not being quite myself. 

I should point out at this stage that Simon has pretty much stopped drinking this year, as have a couple of other people whom I admire. And as we chatted about that, with reference to my sedative experience, he said that what he missed about drinking was the fact that a couple of drinks could take you to a place where you were a slightly different version of yourself.

I found this such an interesting insight! Of the various books I've read and conversations I've had, this aspect has been missing. Forget the whole is alcohol enjoyable or just cultural argument (as per 'This Naked Mind') or how can it be both a relaxant and stimulant etc, here was the bit I was missing: the fact that sometimes it's nice to be that person who's had a couple of glasses of wine. That said, my major challenge - i.e. moderation - remains in this scenario where temperance is not the answer I'm looking for. 

After lunch, which was excellent, we walked over for a coffee with another friend of Simon's and to chat about his Not Quite Light festival, before I walked back to Deaf for a lime and soda, and to meet up with Dan and Hannah. The little fella was on a (natural) high after his day at RNCM, the details of which emerged over the course of the drive home. 

This is one of my few pieces of wisdom acquired from having had so many children; they aren't necessarily keen to tell you about their day or a particular experience on demand but give them enough time and space and they will actually tell you as much as you could possibly want to know! (And car journeys are excellent for this.)

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-7.7 kgs Alarming weight gain! I hope Steve's right.
Reading: 'Are We Still Rolling?' by Phill Brown