Manc for a night!
So today was the big day--the day when I finally got to go to Manchester. First thing I have to say is that Manchester is an amazing city--very big and incredibly nice. I repeat fucking amazing. Not just because of the huge city centre (which included but was not limited to waterfountains, trams and music venues), but because of the vibe it gave out. Ryan gave me a personal tour of the city centre and I was so close to regretting coming to Newcastle instead of Manchester, but in the end it was a good choice, because of reasons I won't expand on here. But, had I visited both cities before choosing and had to make a decision based on the way they looked (and reputation as well) I would've gone for Manchester. I'm pretty sure I would've fit right in.
So well, there are things I'm sure happened and things which I'm not to sure of (and things that happened but I don't know how...). I don't remember too many things, but I can't write down all the ones I do because the entry would go on forever.
What I do remember for sure is the way there. It took us about 3 hours and a half to get there. We went by countless towns and cities, one of which was Halifax. That's right, the real Halifax, not that shit in Canada (lol, only joking, Rod). On the way we watched Team America (if you haven't watched it you must, it's a class film especially if you want to mock Americans). Not much happened on the bus (on the way there), people just kept a low profile and just laughed at the film or listened to their music. There were some times when it did get a bit eventful, like the time when we just started chanting one of the guys names (Wedge) just for the hell of it and when the two sides of the bus had a light race. For those of you who haven't heard about light races, basically you see what side can turn all their lights on the quickest and in an ordered way. For example, if the lights are all off, you start at the back and you turn the first light on, then the second, then the third and so on. Once the lit lights reach the front, they reverse in the opposite way. Whoever wins the race gets the bragging rights. Harder to explain than to do...
Prior to the light races, everyone wanted the lights turned off so they could either watch the film or sleep, but there were a couple of people who wouldn't turn them off (presumably they were asleep) so they got big boos until they did. When a person turned a light off they got a cheer. So, in order to fuck with the concept I decide to turn mine on. I get a boo. The next logical move would be to turn it off so that I could get a cheer, but I decided that as usual I would go against the system and do the unpredictable thing. So I turned Ryan's light on. There was confusion on the bus, and I got a combination of booing and laughter (and one cheer, I think).
We did stop once on the way to Manchester but I'm not sure where. Well, I don't think anybody knew where, but then I don't think they gave a fuck. Ryan was starving and I was a bit hungry, so the logical move was to get some food. I saw a Burger King advert when we were entering the place, but once inside there was no sign of the "Kong my Whopper" place. It makes me wonder. Then one of the lads has a fit because he can't find Burger King either, so we embark on a journey to find the damned place. Ryan decides to follow as he'd rather not eat at KFC. So we see that we have to cross the footbridge. Interesting. So we follow a dark path that could've taken us to a serial killer and we find the footbridge. We run across it and as expected Burger King's there. Victory. But wait, we see some of the guys coming back with crisps and chocolates and that kind of stuff. Burger King is closed. The guy the led us has a mini panic atack and decides to go check it out for himself. About 20 seconds go by and he hasn't come back, so I figure it might be closed and these guys are just retarded. But no, then a distant but clear "nooooooooooooo!!!" is heard. Yep, closed. We wait for him to come back so we can all walk back together and the first thing he says is "they wouldn't open it for me, the bastards" which gave me the idea that if we all riot outside we might get some service. But it probably won't be worth the trouble, as they probably weren't serving burgers at that time. By the time we make it back it's time to leave, so we all get on the bus hungry.
After that we were back on our way to Manchester. I can't say anything wacky happened from that time until when we were at the club (although I do recall a chugging competition that I lost miserably, but that's not something I want to remember). The club (Jilly's) was truly amazing. Five rooms, one for every different taste in music. I personally stayed in the rock/metal portion of the room, where I did many things I don't remember and probably even more that I'll be ashamed of if I do. I just remember that my drink of choice was the Newcastle Brown Ale, just for some Geordie pride. And well, like I said, I don't remember exactly what went on in the club, I just know that my body really hurts and that it was fun as hell. Some really good music as well as me losing my glasses for a while and some stumbling and lots of yelling...
What I do remember, though, was that the girl I was after kept hitting on Ryan (like the other night)... and by hitting I don't mean just a few words here and there, but she was pounding him. He, of course, didn't reciprocate as he's got a girlfriend (and she was actually in the same city that day, so he couldn't do anything) but she still kept pounding and pounding even harder. There's nothing worse than the girl you like hitting on your mate, but hey, what are you going to do? I just took off for a while because I couldn't take it--I just went to talk to some other people and to insult the guy that led us to Burger King. Anyway, Ryan tried to use my escape as an excuse to escape, because he seemed to be trying to follow me. Of course, she followed as well so it was uncomfortable as hell, to say the least. But well, eventually he managed to shrug her off and that's when we went for the Manchester city centre tour. He almost took me to the university so that I could see what I missed out on, but it was very dark and it was quite a long walk away, so a city centre tour seemed more appropriate.
By the time the night was over, I was exhausted and drunk. I was a tad annoyed as well, but the night had been too good to give any importance to that, so that was in the back of my mind. Drunk and exhausted is an understatement, because as soon as I got on the bus I went to sleep and I only woke up once we were in Newcastle. A few seconds after I opened my eyes they were closed by a flash. Then another one. What the hell? They were taking pictures of me! Fucking hell, well, whatever, I got some pictures taken of me last trip when I slept on the way back. So well, then I have to walk home from the uni at 6 in the morning, and it's fucking freezing so I manage to walk the walk in about 5 mins (yep, this time I did speed up, don't know how) and well, as soon as I got into my flat I had to go for a piss, so I do. On the way out of the bathroom I catch something odd on the mirror, so I go back and look. My face was all scribbled on with black marker, the fuckers! No wonder they were taking pictures... but well, I really didn't give a shit at that point in time, so I just headed into my room and crashed.
So in conclusion, my night at Manchester was amazing, and the main reason why I know that is because I don't remember much of what happened while I was there. That's always a good sign (a good sign of an alcohol problem, maybe?). I just know one thing now, though, and that's that I'll definitely be going to Manchester in Easter, there's no way that I won't go. There's loads of potential for a great break there and I know that that time around I won't end up with black marker all over my face.
So well, there are things I'm sure happened and things which I'm not to sure of (and things that happened but I don't know how...). I don't remember too many things, but I can't write down all the ones I do because the entry would go on forever.
What I do remember for sure is the way there. It took us about 3 hours and a half to get there. We went by countless towns and cities, one of which was Halifax. That's right, the real Halifax, not that shit in Canada (lol, only joking, Rod). On the way we watched Team America (if you haven't watched it you must, it's a class film especially if you want to mock Americans). Not much happened on the bus (on the way there), people just kept a low profile and just laughed at the film or listened to their music. There were some times when it did get a bit eventful, like the time when we just started chanting one of the guys names (Wedge) just for the hell of it and when the two sides of the bus had a light race. For those of you who haven't heard about light races, basically you see what side can turn all their lights on the quickest and in an ordered way. For example, if the lights are all off, you start at the back and you turn the first light on, then the second, then the third and so on. Once the lit lights reach the front, they reverse in the opposite way. Whoever wins the race gets the bragging rights. Harder to explain than to do...
Prior to the light races, everyone wanted the lights turned off so they could either watch the film or sleep, but there were a couple of people who wouldn't turn them off (presumably they were asleep) so they got big boos until they did. When a person turned a light off they got a cheer. So, in order to fuck with the concept I decide to turn mine on. I get a boo. The next logical move would be to turn it off so that I could get a cheer, but I decided that as usual I would go against the system and do the unpredictable thing. So I turned Ryan's light on. There was confusion on the bus, and I got a combination of booing and laughter (and one cheer, I think).
We did stop once on the way to Manchester but I'm not sure where. Well, I don't think anybody knew where, but then I don't think they gave a fuck. Ryan was starving and I was a bit hungry, so the logical move was to get some food. I saw a Burger King advert when we were entering the place, but once inside there was no sign of the "Kong my Whopper" place. It makes me wonder. Then one of the lads has a fit because he can't find Burger King either, so we embark on a journey to find the damned place. Ryan decides to follow as he'd rather not eat at KFC. So we see that we have to cross the footbridge. Interesting. So we follow a dark path that could've taken us to a serial killer and we find the footbridge. We run across it and as expected Burger King's there. Victory. But wait, we see some of the guys coming back with crisps and chocolates and that kind of stuff. Burger King is closed. The guy the led us has a mini panic atack and decides to go check it out for himself. About 20 seconds go by and he hasn't come back, so I figure it might be closed and these guys are just retarded. But no, then a distant but clear "nooooooooooooo!!!" is heard. Yep, closed. We wait for him to come back so we can all walk back together and the first thing he says is "they wouldn't open it for me, the bastards" which gave me the idea that if we all riot outside we might get some service. But it probably won't be worth the trouble, as they probably weren't serving burgers at that time. By the time we make it back it's time to leave, so we all get on the bus hungry.
After that we were back on our way to Manchester. I can't say anything wacky happened from that time until when we were at the club (although I do recall a chugging competition that I lost miserably, but that's not something I want to remember). The club (Jilly's) was truly amazing. Five rooms, one for every different taste in music. I personally stayed in the rock/metal portion of the room, where I did many things I don't remember and probably even more that I'll be ashamed of if I do. I just remember that my drink of choice was the Newcastle Brown Ale, just for some Geordie pride. And well, like I said, I don't remember exactly what went on in the club, I just know that my body really hurts and that it was fun as hell. Some really good music as well as me losing my glasses for a while and some stumbling and lots of yelling...
What I do remember, though, was that the girl I was after kept hitting on Ryan (like the other night)... and by hitting I don't mean just a few words here and there, but she was pounding him. He, of course, didn't reciprocate as he's got a girlfriend (and she was actually in the same city that day, so he couldn't do anything) but she still kept pounding and pounding even harder. There's nothing worse than the girl you like hitting on your mate, but hey, what are you going to do? I just took off for a while because I couldn't take it--I just went to talk to some other people and to insult the guy that led us to Burger King. Anyway, Ryan tried to use my escape as an excuse to escape, because he seemed to be trying to follow me. Of course, she followed as well so it was uncomfortable as hell, to say the least. But well, eventually he managed to shrug her off and that's when we went for the Manchester city centre tour. He almost took me to the university so that I could see what I missed out on, but it was very dark and it was quite a long walk away, so a city centre tour seemed more appropriate.
By the time the night was over, I was exhausted and drunk. I was a tad annoyed as well, but the night had been too good to give any importance to that, so that was in the back of my mind. Drunk and exhausted is an understatement, because as soon as I got on the bus I went to sleep and I only woke up once we were in Newcastle. A few seconds after I opened my eyes they were closed by a flash. Then another one. What the hell? They were taking pictures of me! Fucking hell, well, whatever, I got some pictures taken of me last trip when I slept on the way back. So well, then I have to walk home from the uni at 6 in the morning, and it's fucking freezing so I manage to walk the walk in about 5 mins (yep, this time I did speed up, don't know how) and well, as soon as I got into my flat I had to go for a piss, so I do. On the way out of the bathroom I catch something odd on the mirror, so I go back and look. My face was all scribbled on with black marker, the fuckers! No wonder they were taking pictures... but well, I really didn't give a shit at that point in time, so I just headed into my room and crashed.
So in conclusion, my night at Manchester was amazing, and the main reason why I know that is because I don't remember much of what happened while I was there. That's always a good sign (a good sign of an alcohol problem, maybe?). I just know one thing now, though, and that's that I'll definitely be going to Manchester in Easter, there's no way that I won't go. There's loads of potential for a great break there and I know that that time around I won't end up with black marker all over my face.
posted by Jimmie | 2:12 AM
1 Comments:
dude, i just watched that same movie too... the ironies of life.
and hey, how about making ryan do you a little favors??
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