“Manchester changed the world’s politics: from vegetarianism to feminism to trade unionism to communism, every upstart notion that ever got ideas above its station, every snotty street-fighter of a radical philosophy, was fostered brawling in Manchester’s streets, mills, pubs, churches and debating halls.” Stuart Maconie

So last weekend me and my best friend spent the day mooching around Manchester for two reasons one was brunch at The Ivy (keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow’s blog post because The ivy’s loos will knock your socks off, not a sentence I ever thought I would write!). The other reason was to see the giant Chinese new year pig, remember its the little things. I knew that seeing a giant paper mache pig would add to my happiness! Spoiler I was totally right, you can’t imagine the excitement of a 34-year-old woman faced with an enormous pig! (and there wasn’t a tinder date in sight) What I didn’t account for was the pure joy seeing an inflammable dragon would give me! So not the tasteful affair I imagined Chinese new year in Manchester to be nor a big as I imagined. But apparently, it was all enough to make me jump for joy! Or at least jump to photobomb Aimies picture. Can we also take a moment to appreciate Aimie and her practice when it comes to me, Instagram and this blog.?! She deserves a bloody medal,  I can only imagine the sheer number of times I have embarrassed the hell out of her in pursuit of “the picture”. Come to think of it, all my friends, how do I even have friends?!? So you know how we all have mad love for the women we meet in pub loos on a Saturday night, I think that same crazy love should be shown for friends, family and strangers who we bother constantly to take pictures of us for the gram! I hope these people go on to have a rich happy life!

Even writing this post, not that there is actually much of a post seeing Arnold (my new affectionate name for the pig) has put a massive smile on my face. Maybe just having giant paper mache animals around cities will become a thing?! Not to mention the whole day with Aimie was wonderful, I spoke yesterday about friendship and trying to be a better friend (yes, its something I need to work at. I am happy to admit that it doesn’t come easily to me. That doesn’t make me a bad person, just a person). Aimie has friendship nailed, I am not sure if I ever told you guys about our friendship, in case I haven’t here it is. I worked at the same hospital as Aimie a couple of years ago and on Saturdays, we would occasionally pick up extra shifts in the same department. I had a string of bad dates and had just met Alex, we laughed about our online dating horror stories together and in general, just chatted. A few months in of still only the Saturday shifts and texts, I fractured my skull ice skating and was admitted to hospital. Now until this happens to you, you don’t realise how alone or helpless you are, so imagine I am admitted to a ward and I have nothing except the clothes on my back and no one I wanted to bother with it. Aimie bless her was on annual leave and text me to ask about my date the night before (where I fractured my skull). As soon as I explained my situation she jumped into friendship mode and came to the hospital with PJS, toothbrush, deodorant, sweets. Everything I could possibly need for a hospital stay and she has been my best friend ever since, whether she likes it or not! This is how I measure myself on the friendship scale, I aim to be as kind as she is. What would Aimie do??

Back to Manchester, I went super sentimental then!

“Players gonna play play play”

For sure one of my favourite things about Manchester is that you can’t turn a corner without discovering a piece of art you have never seen before. Whether it is a giant pig, neon sign or a piece of graffiti, there is always something new ready to be discovered. I spend so much of my time in the northern quarter looking for new street art that I forget that there is so much more to the city centre then a few blocks! It doesn’t matter where I visit, whether a busy city, a village in Wales or near the Cornwall coast seeing a piece of art in the street makes me happy, someone has spent the time to create something that is almost always beautiful in its own way or has something to say for its self. We spend so much time looking for the perfect picture, creating the perfect home or scrolling on our phones that it literally sometimes takes a 15ft pink pig to make us stop. There is very little colour in cities really, I mean as a percentage there is very little because I don’t know about you but I haven’t seen many businesses knocking up bright pink sky scrappers (although they bloody should, could you imagine a skyline that looked like a rainbow!)

We popped into the museum of science and industry, we literally popped in. I realise that it’s free to enter but seriously the museum needs some TLC (it kills me to say that).

Not the most flattering angle but most certainly a real smile 🙂

And because one picture of Arnold is obviously not enough, see the two of us! Trying to look my best for him but freezing my little b cup titties off I tried to get a good picture and the woman to the right of the picture was so practice with me.

So just to make my point clear all cities should have giant paper mache animals scattered around, just in case you didn’t get that from this post. In all honesty, this post wasn’t really about anything other than I wanted to share some pictures of my weekend. I do feel like this diary is more a diary of my life rather than useful information and it amazes me just how many of you actually read it like it blows my mind. So thank you and thank you for sticking with this post until the end it means the world to me!