Half of my weekend

Last weekend was the UA meet. UA, for those who don't know, is a BBS that I hang around on, and often the place from where I get the strange links I may send you in IM conversations ;-)

Friday night (after an exciting* after-work trip - I'll write more about that in a few days) we met in the Bull's Head (next to the station) and awaited people to arrive in dribs and drabs.

On Saturday I was working, but the meet was in the Kro Bar a few minutes from work, so I was able to pop in briefly for lunch. Naturally people were still there when I had finished work, so I returned. Each mmet (or each year - I forget) we have a series of Oscars - awards for user-nominated categories. I didn't get one this time around, not even for the amount of crude and crass links that I inflict on the users. I shall have to try harder ;-)

Around 9pm we wandered off to Rusholme for a curry and slighly alarmed the door staff of one place when about 20 of us turned up. I'd dearly like to learn how to cook a decent curry as I so enjoy the food.

Earlier in the week I'd arranged to go for drinks in Grand Central for a pre-clubbing social. Got there around 10 and saw a load of familiar faces. Shortly before we left I see my ex house mate Helen. This put me on a high for the rest of the evening. Since she moved out I'd kind of lost contact with her, which disappoints me, but we had arranged to meet on Monday (yesterday, at the time of writing), and I'll update about then shortly.

In the club... Poptastic in my mind has gone seriously down hill. It's still overfilled, though admittedly wasn't as bad as it has been in the past, but my main gripe is that the music policy has changed such that it's no longer in tune with my taste. I saw a couple of old friends there though, and they recommended Rock Kitchen, so I'll be trying there instead.

On Sunday I didn't get out of bed until midday or so, but that turned out to be convenient because the pub we met at (The Footage and Firkin - an old cinema) didn't open until late. For lunch I had a scream burger. (Cow, pig, bread, cheese. Yum)

Later in the afternoon I went to a BBQ where I continued to eat burgers :-) Total count by the end of the day was, I think, 6. There were a lot of people I'd not met before, but I'm becoming better at meeting large groups of new people so I didn't recluse. The evening finished around midnihgt and then I got lift home.

Yesterday

Working Saturday usually means that I have Monday off work. As with the rest of the weekend, Manchester was blessed with lovely weather. Around midday I headed into town and met Russell, who's someone I lived with in halls in my final year at uni. We spent a good few hours in town, had a bite to each and updated each other about mutual friends.

The main thing I dislike about uni is that people so often leave to go back to their home cities, and it's so easy to lose touch. Similarly, some of my younger friends here in Manchester have since started uni and disappear for months on end. It's a part of life, I guess; the transience of friendships, but it's a sad realisation nonetheless.

Later in the afternoon Helen joined us, and Russell got the train home. When we were living together, and particularly in the academic year prior, we were very close. The landlord put the house on the market so we had to move out and kind of lost touch. At times I found this very hard; I missed her lots.

We spent the day sitting in Picadilly gardens, wandering around town and in her flat. It was a lovely evening, and after a couple of hours everything felt as it did last year. Such a lovely end to a wonderful weekend.

This time I endeavour not to leave it as many months before meeting up again.

Hmm. Seems I caught the sun too. Not enough to tan, but there's a pinkish tint to my arms and neck.