It's just not cricket...

Well of course it's not! It's the 5th of April in Manchester after the wettest February and March on record. With more heavy rain falling last night it was always going to take something of a miracle for there to be any play on the first day of the Championship opener between Lancashire and Surrey, and sadly all the miracles must have been used up over Easter weekend!

I hung around at the Old Trafford ground until shortly before 1pm, when the umpires delivered their verdict that no play would be possible. At something of a loss as to what to do this afternoon I took myself off on the Metrolink  in the direction of Salford Quays and Media City, in hindsight this was a poor choice for someone in a slightly sour mood on an indifferent day. I'm prepared to concede that my lack of local knowledge may have led me to miss the best bits, but on the whole I found the area to be depressingly soulless, something which in my view it shares with London Docklands/Canary Wharf.

Which bring us to the one literally bright spot of my day and the subject of the blip. You can read all about "Through No4" here, as well as seeing some better photos of it. It was pure dumb luck that the sun shone through just as I took this shot of the inside of the piece to really set off the colours.

Tomorrows forecast is on the whole much better, but that comes with the caveat of 50-60 mile an hour winds in the afternoon, which may make for challenging playing and watching conditions at the cricket!