Long, Long, Looong

This has possibly been the longest day of 2007 thusfar. And I'm in an office where I don't have to make bullshit conversation with the girl next to me PLUS I have an internet connection. Can you imagine how it usually is in the other offices?!

I've been terrible at blogging since I've been working and I always forget things I'd been meaning to mention. I can recap my weekend in Manchester though.

After work on Friday Laura and I took the Megabus (buckled up) to Manchester. We knew we'd have to book it to the hostel, change, and head out as we weren't supposed to arrive until about 11:00 pm. The driver got lost so we didn't get to the hostel till almost an hour after that. All was good though when it turned out a recommended bar Bluu (not sure if it's the same as the one in Hoxton) was 2 blocks from our place. We got free tequila shots from two greasy Greek guys who we didn't even have to figure out how to ditch when two 40-something year olds weedled their way into the conversation. Not sure why they didn't go for the gold as they obviously approached with an aim but it worked out for us when we said a normal goodbye at the end of the night.

On Saturday we toured the University of Manchester where Laura went to school. We even saw her old room in her 1st year dorm and chatted to the girls in there for a bit. After the reminiscing session we headed back to the center to do a lot of walking around and a bit of shopping. As you can guess, I was in the mood to buy tons but ended up with nothing.

We ate in Chinatown (thanks again for not bringing the prawn crackers out lady!) then went out to Deansgate locks via the tram (trams are fun, yeah!) We went to a couple of trendy bars and then back to the center. We then attepted to get into the Living Room but the bouncer refused as it was past 1:00 am (what the eff?) I asked two other bouncers what was open at that time but due to my delicious accent they let me in. Throughout this whole year and a half I've spent in England, that's the first time my supposed-to-be cute American-though-supposedly-Canadian accent has gotten me anything!! (The Brits get sooo much more attention in the States.)

At the night's end we got what was supposed to be a chicken doner kebab but was actually chicken tandoori with garlic sauce in a pita, eeewww!!!! Crazy notherners.

By the way the bus drivers in Manchester were so nice and helpful! They are 38923469 times better than the ones in London. They should send the TFL employees up there for a manners course.

After a disrupted sleep due to the crazy Norwegians in our room shining a flashlight in my face in the middle of the night, on Sunday we went on the Manchester version of the Eye. It was more like a ferris wheel which went around a few times in a mini capsule. We went to the Trafford Centre in the afternoon and it was so exciting because I felt like I was back in the States in a real mall! Of course it had all the usual high street stores but the inside (and outside) were beautifully designed and the food court looked like a cruise ship (photos to follow in an upcoming post.)

That's the end of my Manchester recap. I dropped some flakes from my chocolate croissant on the floor earlier and then stepped on them by accident. Now I have to scrub the chocolate off, appropriate though considering I look like a maid in my uniform.

Also, I just wanted to say thanks to the woman at Starbucks who served my toasted tuna melt to someone else. I only have a limited amount for time for lunch lady!!

Current Music: The Sound of my Head and Eyes Throbbing (that's not an actual song)