Mahinda’s Little World

It’s Saturday afternoon, and I’m hung over.

The Friday night was spent drinking in Font, then drinking more in SubSpace, where we were joined (coincidentally) by Housemate Helen and her workmates. Was quite a drunken night.

So, it’s Saturday afternoon, and I really can’t remember what I did. Think I did a spot of shopping in Withington, and packed for the holiday.

5pm or so. Pick Dave up from Piccadilly, and pop into the Marhaba (on Back Piccadilly) for a cheap-and-tasty curry. This is one of Manchester’s curry cafés, which are perhaps best explained in this excellent article. In short, they’re great. FACT.

Anyway, once fed, we head back to my place, get sorted, and it’s back into town for Natalie’s birthday meal in Lime. It gets a bit messy, with lots of cancellations and stuff, but eventually we eat. Dave and I share a meze, due to earlier pigging out. The curry was half the price but about twice as tasty.

We all head downstairs to the clubby bit, rather cunningly monikered ‘SubLime’. It was empty, and the music was rubbish. Well, to an RnB fan it might have been quite good, but I’m definitely not an RnB fan. It slowly filled up, and I amused myself by chatting to Housemate Linda, ex-Housemate Al, Laura and Edel (an absolutely lovely mate of Natalie’s, from Sligo), not to mention Dave and the birthday girl herself.

It’s at this point that communications revealed that ex-Housemate Patricia, who was also celebrating her birthday, had ended up in the inimitable Jabez. Nice. We weighed things up, and Linda, Dave and I hopped in a cab south.

Got to Jabez, found the girls, and much drunken dancing was done. The place may have its knockers (fnarr), but it’s always a fun cheesy night out.

Linda, Dave and I ended up back at our place around 3am. Sleep ensued.

Chance Encounters

No night out in Manc is complete without me bumping into people I know.

First up is the barman from Hardy’s Well. I have no idea what his name is, but he’s been serving us post-hockey drinks for years. I turn around in Lime, and he’s waving at me from behind the bar. Turns out that he works there as well. Later, in SubLime, he adopts a hurt expression and says accusingly “You didn’t tell me you were leaving”. I was suitably freaked out. Think DeNiro in Cape Fear.

Second was Lisa, who I bumped into while in the coat queue at Jabez. One of the many Didsbury hockey types who was out that evening (including one who used to be on my Hulme Hall hockey team), but she’s worthy of mention because I keep seeing her at various (albeit hockey-related) functions, and she’s always seemed familiar. I found out why last Sunday, when returning from the sailing trip - it’s because she lives on my road! Small world, especially considering that our street only has about 22 houses.