Mahinda’s Little World

So, where was I? Oh yes. Friday…

Friday

Guess what? I was off to the beer festival again, having taken the afternoon off. Again.

This time, Wee Dave was coming over from Grimsby way for the weekend - he was due to get to Piccadilly around 4pm, upon which time I’d collect him and we’d head off for beer festival fun.

Unfortunately, he’d had a bit of a nightmare getting his car fixed, and ended up running pretty late. By the time I collected him and got back to the fest, it must have been close to 8pm. We collected Katy and Rick on the way too – they’d booked themselves into a hotel for the night.

The MADwalkers were there, so I had the pleasure of saying hello to Steph, Mary, Mark and the rest. I was kept fairly busy on “Fletch’s Mighty Erection” though, so couldn’t chat much.

As with most of the days, I bumped into quite a few people I knew. I think it was on the Friday that I happened to spot Kirsty, who’s the ex-girlfriend of one of my ex-housemates. Lovely girl, so it was nice to see her again. It really is a great ego-boost, being able to go into an event like that and it being unusual to <em>not</em> bump into anyone you know.

I’m having a lot of trouble remembering what we did on Friday night…it must have involved Dave, Katy and Rick, and perhaps Emma too. Actually, I remember Emma getting into the house just after (or was it just before) Dave and I.

GOT IT!

Adam worked the fest that night, too, and he headed off with Dave, Katy and Rick to go drinking with some mates. They all ended up in ScuBar, which is where I joined them. It wasn’t very good, really - a bit of an anticlimax to what had been an enjoyable evening. Some of the others contemplated the idea of curry, which I wasn’t really up for…and Rick was clearly close to passing out! In the end, Katy and Rick went back to their hotel via a kebab shop, while Dave, Ads, Raman and I shared a taxi home.

Saturday

Probably stirred in my sleep and mumbled something uncomplimentary, as Emma rose from her mattress and headed to the beer festival. I got up sometime later to find Dave downstairs with a cup of tea. This is Dave’s natural state, of course.

I wandered around the house like an extra from Shaun of the Dead, getting ready at a rate of very few knots, until a bit after midday. I think. Dave, Housemate Lynda, Hans (one of Lynda’s friends) and I headed into town, meeting Katy and Rick at Piccadilly. I then led them to the Marhaba, one of Manchester’s many curry cafés. That particular gem is one of the many that offers rice ‘n’ three*, and is within a stone’s throw of the Arndale Centre – it’s surprising that more people haven’t discovered it. The others were pretty impressed.

* Rice and three ladles of various curries – whatever’s there on the day – served from a school cafeteria style counter. Varies in cost between £3.50 and £4.50 or so, depending on venue and the curries concerned.

Nicely fed, we went our separate ways – Lynda and Hans to do some shopping, and the rest of us back to the fest. I joined the (national) CAMRA Young Members Group for their social, i.e. working one of the bars at the festival. This turned out to be a total takeover of Fletch’s bar, as there were LOADS of us!

Rick and Katy disappeared off shortly, and we were joined by Housemate Andrew. I took the odd break to go and speak to Dave, who was standing on his own – Andrew had disappeared, and was nowhere to be found. Eventually I did find him – he was in the downstairs bar area, sitting on a chair, right in the middle of it all, alone but for his glass, with a big grin on his face. And they say that the Irish are unfairly stereotyped!

Housemate Lynda and her PhD mates came along, and definitely enjoyed the drinking experience – something new for the likes of Hans (Danish, I think) and Amadeo (Italian).

I’ll write more in Part III…when I get round to it!