Palatine Road

My good friend and erstwhile bandmate, John, was up from London, today, to collect his son from uni. As he is staying overnight, it was an excellent opportunity for us to get out for the evening, starting with a couple of beers at The Gas Lamp, before we moved on for a bite to eat at One Plus.

The restaurant is one of those slightly unconventional set ups with a conveyor belt full of plates from which you choose and then cook the contents in the broth of your choice, which is sat on a hot plate in front of you. I normally avoid places like this like the plague but actually I rather enjoyed it.

And to follow that, John had bought us tickets to see an act from the deep history of Factory Records, who were playing at Basement. The band is called Section 25, and two of the original band were performing this evening. To be honest, they were a little underwhelming, which, to be honest, we had 100% anticipated. 

But they were only on for forty-five minutes, after which we popped next door to the Lass O'Gowrie, a favourite haunt on John's from the days when he was a student at Manchester Uni. 

And you might wonder why today's photo is apparently unrelated to any of this. Well...

The first Factory Records offices were at 86 Palatine Road in Didsbury, which the Minx and I drove along today as we took her newly refurbished car out for a spin. 

Incidentally, I was interested by the etymology of 'palatine' (from Wikipedia):

A palatine is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

The word "palatine" evolved from the Latin word palatinus, asserting a connection to the Palatine Hill, where the house of the Roman emperor was situated since Augustus (hence "palace").