HALF A DOZEN
Manchester 29th July 2005
Squarrites up for it were:
Richee, Byrne the bolt from the blue, Beardee,
Yup, Keithee and Granpop Billee.
It had been touch and go whether Beardee was going
all morning following the hurricanes and torrential rain that had been thrown
at us, but as usual Yup predicted it would brighten up…. And it did.
We
caught the train at 1pm; a late train evidently but who’s counting. 40 minutes or so up the line and eagle eyed
Yup spotted an Indian as we glided past Macclesfield; another squarree to be
added to the list for next year.
This was to be ‘Bolt from the Blue’s’ organised
doo, so we initially listened to his suggestions and made our way in the sun to
Edwards’s, which he’d read about somewhere.
5 out of 10 for trying, which is 5 more than the Silver Bear’s attempt
at the xmas quiz last year! We glanced
inside the doors to see music machines, flashing one-armed bandits and young
whippersnappers, and instantly gave it a miss, and taking no further
suggestions from the Bolt.
There was no young student Michael guiding us
round this time so Yup’s map came out to the rescue. The reading glasses were donned and hung, and we continued on to
the 1st decent pub of the day, the Bridge. We entered through the back door where some youths were hanging
around, much to Beardee’s dismay.
Cautiousness turned to glee though when we entered the pub and realised
it was to be a good un, more so though for Beardee as only John Smiths was
available… the ales had run out.
Sandwiches and chips were ordered, washed down
with a couple of pints of either Guinness, John Smiths or lager. Swiftly we moved on to the Crown and Anchor
to quaff a decent array of Holts ale.
Sitting in the sun we attracted a number of beggars attempting to sell
us tapes of Helen Shapiro, Matt Munro, or who ever, which they’d obviously
nicked or been given by somebody without taste. Bill bought three. As we
gazed around, people watching, Richee admitted that he’d now taken over more
areas in his job and was now working in all ST areas except ST1; what a pity!
We moved onto Uncle Toms Chop House, or Thomas’s
Chop Bar, where we sunbathed and waited for Beardee, who had ventured off alone
in search of a coffee and a spot of shopping??
Uncle Tom’s sister bar, which we tried, across the
road, was heaving so we retraced our steps to the pub just round the corner
from the Crown and anchor. There were
in fact 2 pubs joined together here but we made a bad choice and ended up at
the one serving Boddingtons, ugh. We’ll
know for next time. If only Beardee had
told us about these pubs earlier! The
setting would have been perfect.
2 taxis were hailed to get to Rusholme in search
of the recommended Prince Naseems. The
Royal Naz was the nearest we came to so we tried that one instead. Not the best choice unfortunately. The pappodoms were served in an instant
though along with house wines.
Beardee’s curry was ‘off’
allegedly. The head waiter went
to extreme lengths in explaining how it may have been affected by spices during
cooking and even bought out some examples of fresh meat on a tray to back up
his explanation. Not swayed, Beardee
left his curry.
We taxied back to Canal Street for a gay stroll
before taking the train back to Stoke, and waving goodbye to Keithee who
slipped onto the Sandbach train with some young men.
Yuppers