Touring The North West (contd)

The Lowry Salford Quays

MediaCityUK

As part of our continuing 'tour'of the North West of England we went to Manchester this week. I enjoy our occasional visits to Manchester for the Christmas Fayres and the excellent shopping, but this time we thought that we would do the 'touristy' thing and visit The Lowry Salford Quays

Like many docks in this country, containerization sounded the deathnell to the docklands in Manchester. It was no longer viable to ship goods up the Manchester Ship Canal to the heart of the city and the docks became a wasteland. With no brick warehouses to convert into trendy appartments and bars, Manchester City Council quickly realised that they would have to be forward thinking in their plans to regenerate the Salford Quays area. They called on the private sector to get involved with the regenration and building of the dockside apparments and in 2000 The Lowry was opened. It is a fine theatre in an iconic building and it set the stage for the future of the area which is now home to the Imperial War Museum of the North an exceptionally large Outlet Mall and the Media City which when it is completed in 2011 should house 5 departments of the BBC bringing 1500 jobs to the area.

We had a fine old time, after an al-fresco breakfast of warm croissant and coffee we strolled around the mall picking up a bargain or two before setting off across the bridge to the Imperial War Museum.

The only trouble with being a tourist in term time is the school parties. Now usually I don't mind being sorounded by kids following the 'trail' around museums and galleries and I even had a giggle the other week at the Tate when two young school boys were having a debate on whether or not the person who was staring intently at a picture next to them was a man or a woman. They were convinced that the person with eyeshadow and hair down to their bum was a girl but I felt that the five o'clock shadow and prominant adams apple rather gave the game away, but I digrees. KIds as a rule see things that us old folk often miss and it can be a joy to look at some exhibits through their eyes which haven't had the time to get as jaded as ours have. Unfortunately the buggers who where visiting the Prisoner of War exhibition at the IWM were just a pain in the bum and I for one didn't appreciate their constant whistling of the theme tune from The Great Escape, little sods.

Yesterday we had a 'memory lane' trip. When Mum and Dad were staying in their caravan in Formby, we often drove over to see them via Lydiate. It isn't the most direct route for us but it is the prettiest, especially at this time of the year when the sunflowers are just coming into their own and the road side flower stall is selling freshly cut flowers from their own fields. I used to love buying armfulls of sunflowers to share with Mum,and as a little homage to those days we stocked up on beautiful local grown vegetables at the Church View Farm Shop before spending a small fortune at the flower stall. Our house is now bursting with sunflowers and sweet william and we are going to feast on lots of fresh veg with our lamb for dinner tonight - I love summer-time!