University Place

I traveled up to Manchester for a meeting at the University today. This circular building is part of University Place on the Oxford Road.

I was kinda dreading the journey, with the snow and what not, but actually there wasn't much snow and the journey has got much easier than it used to be. You used to have to change at both Bristol and either Newport or Birmingham. Now there's a direct train between Bristol and Manchester, so once you are in your seat it's pretty comfortable.

My meeting was in the Roscoe Building, which holds several large lecture theatres, one of which is currently occupied by students as part of the protests against tuition fee increases and changes to university funding in the UK. Today was another day of organised protests. When I left the building the ground floor was full of students and outside there were about 30 or 40 police vans, mounted policemen and so on. Seemed a bit over the top to me - I couldn't actually see any students doing anything but perhaps any protesters had just been dispersed.

Or perhaps the police in Manchester were at a loose end? ;-)

Addendum: Actually... apologies for the last couple of sentences, particularly the last, which just makes me look like an idiot. Dunno why I wrote that. I had no idea what was going on and therefore wasn't in a position to draw any conclusions.

Addendum 2: Quick update on the cycling... I'm now heading for 5000 miles this year.

Miles to date: 4660.4
Miles to go: 339.6

11 miles per day roughly.