Saturday 22 October 2016

The City Life


My last post eulogised about the English countryside. I think it’s only fair to do the same for my adopted home city of Manchester.

Manchester is in the north west of England, not far from the Welsh border, about 35 miles east of Liverpool, 90 miles north of Birmingham and 200 miles north west of London.

I have lived in Manchester since 1984, that’s around 60% of my life. I was also born in a large town called Walsall, near to Birmingham, the second largest city in England, spending 18 years of my life there, before spending 3 years living in another magnificent city, one that you might have heard of called Liverpool, the birthplace of the Beatles and countless other bands.

What I mean is that city life has been good to me over the years and I simply love the vibe in all of them.

I often visit London too, as I have friends who live there and it is a short two hour high speed train journey away (I wouldn’t drive as that would take hours). In fact I’m heading that way next month for another university reunion.

Living in Manchester is fantastic, for the choice of restaurants and pubs in the city, as well as being served by the busiest airport outside London, a mere fifteen minute taxi ride from my house. It means that I can get away and enjoy travelling to foreign places should I so desire. There are hospitals nearby as well as sporting arenas. Manchester is home to two of the biggest Premiership football teams in the world, Manchester City and, the richest and most famous club, Manchester United. As well as football, there is a famous old cricket ground which is a venue for test cricket, as well as other sporting disciplines like rugby (both league and union).

We have the National Cycling Centre for those who like to ride their bikes at speed on a big circular track as well as speedway.

The city also contains lots of theatres and venues for one of my main passions – music. I have seen every one of my favourite bands in the city either in the enormous arena or one of the many other smaller venues around the city. 

We even have a Hard Rock Café.

I could go on, but instead, I thought I would share some photos of Manchester, plus one or two from London and Liverpool, in particular to give any foreign readers a taste of what it’s like to live in an English city.

I hope you like them.

Beetham Tower - the tallest building in the city

New and old Manchester together

Manchester Town Hall

New and old Manchester - I love Manchester

View from Beetham Tower

Another view from Beetham Tower

Yet another view from Beetham Tower

The Final view from Beetham Tower

The Liver Building, Liverpool as seen from the famous Ferry Across the Mersey

John Lennon statue outside the Cavern Club/Pub

You may recognise this bridge in London

Had I been alive in Henry VIII's time I might have ended up here waiting to have my head separated from my body



9 comments:

joeh said...

We have no "old" buildings in the US, and as soon as one starts to show a little age we knock it down!

Dale Brown said...

Great pics. Looks like an interesting place to visit.

Elephant's Child said...

Thank you. Yes, the city life you showed has beauty and charm.
I prefer to visit them rather than live in them though. My city is small, and some day I will move back to the country. By the sea for preference.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Joeh,

I'm sure you have some old buildings (I've seen some of them) - only nowhere near as old as ours.

:o)

Cheers

PM

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Big D,

You should pop up North! We're a friendly bunch and Manchester is fantastic.

:o)

Cheers

PM

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi EC,

I'd love to live by the sea. We're not too far away in Manchester but if I were to live in Liverpool, I'd be a lot closer.

:o)

Cheers

PM

River said...

It's a very nice looking city. I love the old buildngs, but the newer ones are nice too, unlike some of our monstrosities.
I'm currently reading a book about Henry VIII, as told by his sixth wife, about court life and the goings on there.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi River,

We have a plethora of old buildings in the UK!

Henry VIII is one of the most interesting and infamous kings in our history - effectively a dictator!

Thank goodness we don't have anything like that any more.

:o)

Cheers

PM

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