Manchester

This morning I travelled to Manchester, where I'll be giving a seminar tomorrow. On the train I prepared slides for a talk I'll give in a couple of weeks, and worked on an article I'm writing for a newsletter.

Although I should have attended an Edinburgh workshop online when I arrived I was excited to be in Manchester and the light was great, so I toured the south of the centre before checking into my hotel. I knew roughly where this was when I booked it, but only when I arrived did I discover that it's on Canal Street, and was excited to see that my room has a view across the street and canal to Sackville Gardens, where I paid homage at the statute of Alan Turing. I then tuned into the workshop. After it finished I went out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant just 50m away! It was interesting - I've eaten the famous bread mades from flour that's been fermented for a week - tasty but unrefined (see extra). Then I Turfed around the Northern Quarter until I got to Vue, where I watched the predictable but well-made "Watcher". Interesting that it had so much dialogue in Romanian but no subtitles. I assumed that it was inconsequential to the plot, and there to increase the sense of alienation experienced by the main character who doesn't understand the language.  However, there was someone near me who laughed a couple of times in response. I've asked my Romanian friend if she's seen it.