Anyone who knows me will tell you how fiercely I adore Manchester...
I grew up in a village about 20 miles outside and Manchester was my Mecca. Saturday afternoons were spent traipsing around Afflecks Palace, buying ridiculously baggy jeans from Grin, beads from The Bead Shop and stifling giggles while looking at the strange rubber clothes and other paraphernalia in that weird shop on the first floor. Then we'd buy a bit of vintage adidas or a pair of cords or two and get our picture taken by one of those machines that produced little stickers (taking care to stick one of them to the machine, to make our mark), all finished off with a cheese sandwich and a drink in the cafe on the top floor. Happy days.
Of all the cities I've been to, Manchester is still my favourite. Sometimes though, when daily life takes over, and you're in a hurry, you don't take notice of your surroundings. You don't look up. You don't look to the side. You can miss a lot of hidden gems. Like this little violin playing dude and Queen V...
If there's one thing I love almost as much as my fair city, it's a well executed bit o' graffiti. Over the years I've collected a wealth of photographs from all over the world. New York, Berlin, Barcelona, Krakow. I even did my A Level Art project on graffiti. It was called "Wall Painting: From Prehistoric to Present Day" and I loved every minute of doing it. Even now, if I spot a bit of brightly decorated wall, I have to whip my camera out and record it. I had a bit of time to kill on Sunday afternoon so I spent an hour or so wandering around the Northern Quarter and taking photographs.
The Metrolink: A Manchester institution. You've not lived until you've been caught ticketless and been forced to bat your eyelashes at the barabaric ticket inspectors, in an attempt to stave off a £20 fine.
Every once in a while it's really rather nice to just stop and look around. There's so much colour in amongst the grey concrete, if you just take the time to seek it out and appreciate it.
