Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Four

'That which men call virtue is usually no more than a phantom formed by our passions, to which one gives an honest name in order to do with impunity whatever one wishes.'

 (Rouchefoucauld)

This week started pretty slowly to be honest, filled with mundane chores like laundry, getting petrol and dog walking, snore. I did start watching Girls the HBO series with Lena Dunham though, so have now developed an unhealthy obsession with Adam Driver and the character he plays, further cementing my bizarre taste in men. Seriously though, I'd have his babies. 



Things perked up on Thursday when I went out for an evening meal with my parents and sister, to a Chef & Brewer gastropub in Cheadle called The Ashlea. It was really cutely decorated with velvet armchairs and exposed brickwork, which made it feel less 'chainy' than some of the others I have been in. For once I wasn't a designated driver so shared a bottle of white wine with Jasmine, which made me far more tipsy than it should have done. We ordered a few small plates for starters (maple bacon bites, pate, devilled whitebait and chicken and chorizo skewers) and I went with a good ol' hearty steak and ale pie with chips and gravy for a main, which was delish; sometimes you can't beat the classics. 

Friday was the day of my first Bumble date, who I will hereby refer to as T, for no particular reason. We've been chatting for just over a week, keeping it minimal, enjoyable banter. At his suggestion we headed to Twenty Twenty Two in the Northern Quarter for a few drinks and a game of ping pong, points for originality, even if I was shitting myself at never having played except drunk once on holiday. He was on time (we met at 7pm), taller than I expected (he had joked at being 5' 4''...) and legitimately hot (no further comment). He totally beat me at ping pong, but it was an ice breaker and I like to think I was a gracious loser, I did manage to get one shot into his drink too. 

We had a couple of cocktails afterwards (the Rhubarb & Custard Collins was amazing!) whilst chatting for a while, and it was obviously going well enough as we decided to head for some food. We went to Turtle Bay on Oldham Street as it was nearby and seemed nicely busy, and got on the espresso martinis. I suggested we got a selection of the sharing starters as I thought it was a bit more sociable, so we opted for duck rolls, whitebait, garlic and herb flatbread, cheesy jerk fries and bara roti; decent variety and it was all super tasty.

Conversation was surprisingly easy, and with only an hour left before my last train, and seemingly not sick of me yet, T asked the waitress for recommendations of something to do (major bonus for taking initiative). She suggested playing pool at Blackdog Ballroom, and seeing my chance to regain some credit after ping pong, off we went. (Un)fortunately there weren't any free tables until midnight, so we had to amuse ourselves with another cocktail and making out for half an hour in a booth in a darkened corner. If the smug looking emoji were to appear in a post, it would be here.

Yesterday my best friend Lydia who lives in York was down for the weekend, and in the evening we went out with all the girls to the new Bistrot Pierre in Altrincham to celebrate Abi's birthday. We got lots of starters to share, including two baked camemberts, and I had pork medallions with a honey mustard glaze with caramelised apples and Dijon mashed potato, genuinely a really lovely dish - I have been spoilt with cuisine this week! Afterwards we went to House Restaurant in Goose Green, and then Traders Tiki Bar for drinks, although luckily I was slightly more lucid than last week, I remember dancing to the Backstreet Boys and actually getting home this time.

Today once Lydia had left I went for a little wander around Gatley Carr with the dog and my mum, and then T came to mine this evening to watch a film and we had duck and pancakes. I wouldn't normally do a second meeting so soon, but he works a lot, I had nothing else planned, and I wanted to so why the hell not! 

FYI, the music track this week is one I was sent by a PR firm to review for Candid (click to read my latest article out this week) and I am digging it. I have since got hold of some of RYDER's other material, check her out, she's an absolute babe.

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Three

'She wants to engage in chaos because she knows she's a storm trapped in the middle of a calm sea.'

(R. M. Drake)

I feel like I have spent a lot of the last 7 days eating! Luckily since the new year started I have been a bit more motivated in the gym (helped by the below song which I have been playing to DEATH) and have been going three times a week, so I'm not making myself feel too guilty for indulging in some extra fuel. On Monday evening my friend Emily came round and I made us a Thai green curry with egg noodles for tea, it was a good excuse to cook a proper meal as I have been a bit lazy recently. 



On Thursday I met up for lunch in Manchester with my university friend Amanda, who has scored an incredible job opportunity and so moved to Paris this weekend to start on Monday! I got some vouchers for Zizzi for Christmas so thought it was a great chance to use them to celebrate. We went to the Piccadilly Gardens restaurant, and shared the mushroom Brindisi for starter, which is: 'Creamy mushrooms & smoked mozzarella oven baked on our dough, then finished with chopped parsley, grated riserva, crispy sage & smoked garlic oil.' For main I had Gressingham duck which was served with lentil ragu, mash and broccoli in a Chianti and rosemary sauce. It was all flippin' tasty, and even better when it's free!

I had a very chilled Friday night in watching a few episodes of Westworld, which I have nearly managed to blitz in a week, love it. Yesterday I met up with Emily again, this time with our friends Laura and Ellie; together with Em's sister Sarah we are all bridesmaids for her when she gets married in May. We went for cake and prosecco at Sugar Junction in Altrincham, the second branch to open after the success of its sister cafe in the Northern Quarter. Ellie and I shared a cake trio (pic top-bottom: raspberry and lemon sponge, chocolate orange sponge and black forest gateaux) AND a scone with jam and cream, washed down with a couple of bottles of fizz. It has a great selection of reasonably priced food and cocktails, so is the perfect location for a girly get together, but it does get busy at weekends and is walk-in only except for special occasions.

From a civilised afternoon the night wore on to a rather messy evening! After we had eaten we went to Altrincham Market for a few more drinks (and shared a surprisingly yummy broccoli, chilli oil and parmesan pizza) and then after escorting Laura into a taxi home at 7.30pm, onto Apres Wine Bar where, you guessed it, I started on the margaritas! Emily got a lift home from Smeed her fiance at around 10.30pm, and Ellie and I, joined by our friend Bob, headed to Traders Tiki Bar, where they serve strong Zombies and stronger headaches. I made it back to my parents where I was staying at 2am, where I realised I had left my keys inside, so had to bang on the door until I was let in; nearly 12 hours of drinking has left me rather worse for wear today!

This evening, since I had sufficiently recovered due to copious amounts of mac 'n' cheese, I attempted to go to the cinema with my friend Benn to watch Split, the new James McAvoy psychological thriller. We got there to be told it was completely sold out, and when we tried to go bowling instead (which is next door) the next free lane wasn't available until 10pm, so we turned around and drove back home. Pretty much sums up my Sunday!

Bumble update: a few matches, chatting to a couple of potentials, and one date on the cards...

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Two

'We cross our bridges as we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and the presumption that once our eyes watered.'

(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard)

This week has been a reminder of how incredible my friends and family are. Despite (luckily) feeling positive about the whole breakup situation, it always helps knowing you've got a massive posse of people who totally have your back (love you!). On Monday I de-exed the flat, by swapping pictures in frames over, extraditing anything of his into the spare room, and of course crucially removing the Facebook status. I thought it might have made me feel a bit weird doing it all straight away, but I actually found it really cathartic, and was so much more relaxed when I could sit down at the end of the night and feel like it was solely my flat again. My friend Natasha came for a coffee that afternoon before I did the school run, so I filled her in on the gossip, I feel like it's one of those situations I'm going to want to have a tape recorder to play to people soon so I don't get bored of saying the same things over and over!

On Wednesday my sister Jasmine and I went into Altrincham for some lunch. We were intending checking out the Con Club that has recently opened, but the menu was geared more for a big evening meal, so we kept it simple and went to the cafe at M&S instead. On Friday evening I worked late as my bosses were in London, so I took Aum (the little boy I am a nanny for) to Pizza Express for dinner. I sampled a Soho 65 Romana pizza, but my server suggested I add mixed Italian meat to it (it is usually a veggie option), which was the best decision ever, I thoroughly recommend!

 Due to my late finish I indulged in a lie in yesterday morning, or as late as I could before the dog insisted I take her out. That afternoon was Aum's birthday party at Manchester Climbing Centre, which is amazing! It is inside an old church in Gorton and has facilities for bouldering, and more traditional climbing with a belay system; seeing everyone having a go made me want to give it a try - it's now on the To-Do list.

That evening Natasha and my other friend Abi came to mine for some pre-drinks and a night out in Alderley Edge, where they have recently opened a branch of The Alchemist bar. We headed there for about 10.30pm, and it was busy - we waited forever for a drink which wasn't a great start, but a quick celeb spot of Misse from Housewives of Cheshire and Jake Hall from TOWIE kept us entertained; they weren't the freshest shall we say! 

It seemed to die down just after midnight, so we moved on to The Bubble Room, which was playing some great tunes for a dance (including the track above which I am loving at the moment, despite not being an Ed Sheeran fan), and I started on the margarita cocktails. We ended the night in The Botanist, where after some Dutch courage I asked one of the (seemingly surprised) bartenders who had been serving me all night for his number, and succeeded - always a boost to know I still have some skills after it seeming forever since I last dated! We won't dwell on the fact that after a few texts when I got home it was ascertained that he was 22; but still, I'm officially back out there!

Today I was pretty tired and hungover so delayed a trip to Ikea with Mum to another day as I really couldn't deal with the crowds and effort, and we just had a little mooch around TK Maxx and HomeSense nearby instead. I got home and Despicable Me 2 was on, which was great easy viewing, and I took another single step and joined Bumble, which is apparently the new Tinder. Purely for research purposes of course... watch this space!

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week One

'It's only been a moment. It's only been a lifetime. 

But tonight you're a stranger, or some silhouette.'

(Silhouette - Aquilo)

So new year, fresh start; and that is exactly the position I feel in as I write this post having now been relationship status: single for all of three hours... end of an era yet beginning of a new ride.

Perfect opportunity to get back on the blogging bandwagon which I have fallen off basically since the relationship started in Feb 2015. With my undiagnosed yet definitely apparent OCD in full force though, I do have notes for every week since I stopped writing, so the dream is to catch up, alongside documenting the future from here on out. 

So ignoring the huge breakup elephant in the room, (which no doubt will be touched upon here and there though without any 'intention' of poor taste) this week has been pretty bloody good. Back at work on Tuesday, yet still basking in the post- Christmas rays of chocolate and socialising and heavily listening to an album from one of my favourite bands in recent times, Aquilo.

Monday's Bank Hol was spent exploring Macclesfield Forest, an area previously unventured to which has been on the To-Do list basically since summer when we got Ferryn (the dog). A number of walking routes can be taken around the location, and there are mountain bike trails for any andrenaline junkies out there to partake in. It took about half an hour to drive there from near the airport, nice easy journey, and they have a cute little log cabin type shack that does hot drinks and homemade cakes (and oatcakes for any lovers of the midland delicacy). Ferryn was in her element and if it knackers her out for a few hours then everyone's smiling.

The rest of the week was fairly quiet, the early work starts took their toll for a few days and most evenings were spent slumped in front of the telly, the most exertion being a game of Scrabble on Friday. In usual style I lost, and reflected on why I even did an English degree when it clearly really is good for nothing.

Saturday I moseyed off to Newcastle to visit some of my university friends. Most of us live around Manchester so I escape trekking 90% of the time, so I have been long overdue a roadtrip. I drove and took along my mate Joe who had travelled up from London, took us about three hours so not horrendous, though the 50mph limits on the motorway kill me every time.

It was a casual affair, we got pizza and then headed out later on to a few bars for some drinks, starting in Alvinos, a casual retro place with a funky cocktail menu separated into spirits and made to look like an old school Argos catalogue - the Jammy Hendricks was top notch.

Second we headed to Pleased To Meet You which is a gin bar with an industrial feel about it, all copper exposed pipes and artisan style tiling. I swerved away from the gin for once and had a couple of glasses of the Riesling white wine, which was a little pricey at £9 a glass (albeit a large one) but is one of my favourites so I didn't mind the splurge, helped along by the fact we were doing rounds.

The final stop of the night was a good old fashioned club - Digital. It adhers with tradition in that it was extortionate to get in (£8), played remixed chart music that meant the dancefloor was jam packed, and drinks were ridiculously cheap (a round for 6 was £13.80).

After a hearty full English this morning courtesy of our host Brian, Joe and I made the long journey back to Manchester, with a pit stop at Wilmslow station for him to catch his train home to the big smoke. I landed chez Sophia at 5.30pm, giving just enough time to be dumped and left by 6pm - points for promptness!