{ 22 novembre 2005 }
the city of the smiths & the industrial revolution
i am back from england and back from the dead. i was in manchester from 2–9 november, but when i returned home i was really sick with a nasty nasty cold. being sick and having jetlag at the same time is loads of fun. the cold is still lingering a bit, but i’m at least functional again.
as i mentioned a while ago, i planned the trip to manchester to see gorillaz in concert. i figured as long as i was going all that way, i might as well stay in the city for a week. it rained for a good portion of the time i was there, but what else is expected in england in november?
saturday, 5 november was guy fawkes night. on this night people celebrate the failure of the gunpowder plot, in which guy fawkes and his fellow conspirators tried to blow up the houses of parliament while the king was there. the celebrations consist of bonfires on which “guy fawkes” is burned in effigy; there are also loads of fireworks on this night. since manchester is relatively flat, i could see fireworks starting to go off all over the city as soon as the sun was halfway down.
even though i wasn’t in england for remembrance day, practically everyone was showing his or her support by wearing a red poppy. in the states we call 11 november veterans day, but people don’t seem to really observe the holiday here. but in england people on the street, newscasters, sports announcers, etc. were all wearing poppies, which was moving in that they were subtly showing respect for the veterans.
one night i rode the ferris wheel in exchange square. it’s not as big as the london eye, but it was still fun to see the city from high above. however, it was really quite scary when my carriage stopped at the top as gales blew past.
i really liked manchester. it reminded me of pittsburgh in some ways since both cities have a strong industrial past. but i do hope to go back to manchester sometime when it isn’t raining everyday.
posted at 16.25
comments:
Get ready, this is the first of many annoying comments!! I like Manchester. Living in Liverpool I always felt like Liverpool was Springfield and Manchester was Shelbyville. Anyways, I never actually rode the ferris wheel. Do you "ride" a ferris wheel technically?
posted by Sanjiva at 05.27 on 26 novembre 2005