Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
Christmas:
you're done and dusted! Let's take a look at the week ahead,
including new year celebrations.
Sales
in Manchester and the Intu Trafford Centre have been in full swing
since 6am on Boxing day, including these sad bastards queuing up in
the rain. I was in a state of drunken REM at the time. Some good deals listed
in the article though.
For
new year itself, most people have their plans set. If you're at a
loose end, Meetup might just save you.
If
you're in the Prestwich end, Vicki's Social Nights have a buffet
going down. Get on that!
If
you want a Northern Quarter New Year, then Have an Absolutely Shite
NYE with Manchester Social Scene. Their name, not mine. Cheesy music in The Abel Heywood pub and heading on to The Ruby Lounge. Certainly not my thing; 77
people seem to think it'll be a good one though!
If
you're into soul and motown, join Manchester Social Group. They're
heading to the Irish World Heritage Centre for a night of golden
oldies.
Saturday:
Garage group The Artful Dodger perform at
Static nightclub on Lloyd St. Remember
Rewind and Moving Too Fast? Great tunes, great times. If you fancy
joining me the meetup event is
here.
There are still club tickets.
Mad
Friday: the last Friday before Christmas is notorious for huge
numbers of revelers, large amounts of alcohol consumed and usually a
spot of violence. My Christmas leave certainly started with the first
two.
I
joined folks from Manchester Social Group for
my night out. Started with a few drinks in Albert's Schloss. Immense queues to both get
in and get served. The bar reached capacity early on in the evening.
There was a bloke in there who looked like the guy off Eraserhead. It
turned out he was a big-time David Lynch fan and his outrageous hairstyle
was a conscious nod to the movie.
We
moved on to local celeb hangout LIV for
Bamboo, their Friday event. It took a
while to pick up but before long it was stuffed. I've got a video of
a toy train stuffed with Moet and sparklers being brought to a
mystery big spender. Youtube isn't working for some reason, so here's
the vid on Facebook.
Couldn't
resist a pic with lovely promo dancer Sam.
A
great night. Other venues perhaps weren't as enjoyable. I took a
stroll after leaving. The Mad Friday scenes were more traditional:
ambulances racing across the city, paramedics tending to a bloody and
bandaged man on John Dalton St, a police van outside RnB club
Suede.
Saturday:
another Manchester Social Group night
out, this time starting in The Lawn Club and moving on to nearby
Suburbia. Both great venues although
the latter's music was a little cheesy for me.
It's
well worth getting involved in the Meetup group if you want to see
some more of the city and meet new people.
My
target audience is a little narrow with this post, but hey, a lot of
my hits come from Facebook and from people who are local to me, i.e.
Oldham. Manchester is 8 miles away from the centre of Oldham, so on a
Saturday night with the wrong taxi firm you could be paying over £30
to get home. No need.
I've
asked around and I've found a winner. Cartax Radio Cars, based in Lees, east
of Oldham and hence a little further out from the city, will pick you
up from the Northern Quarter and take you home to Oldham for a very
reasonable £20. Compare this to Uber and you'll be paying an extra
£10 if the Saturday night surcharge is applied.
Unless
anyone has any better suggestions?
Also,
what about other towns around Manchester? What are your
recommendations for taxi firms to take you back to, say, Stockport?
Or Bolton?
I
met up with Writers Connect
for the first time in AAAAAGES on Sunday. The feedback group meets in
Nexus Art Cafe on Dale St, and it's a
really handy meetup for advice on fiction and poetry. We start the
meeting with a writing exercise to warm the creative engines and get
into the swing of writing. Last week we tried a new exercise.
We
each started with a blank sheet of paper and a theme. Our theme was
“football”. The person who suggested this idea (not me,
obviously) was the only actual football fan at the table. Oh well. We
each wrote for one minute exactly, then regardless of where we were
up to we stopped writing on the dot. We then passed the sheet to the
next person. We had a few moments to read what was already written,
and then we had a fresh minute to continue the story where the
previous person left off. This continued until we had contributed to
each story.
Note:
it helps if you use A4 paper and not a spiral-bound notebook, as with
the latter different contributors use different sheets of paper and
sides of paper. With A4 you're unlikely to get to the bottom of the
page.
After
writing we tried to read out the whole story, but other people's
handwriting (usually mine) was hard to read for some of the group. We
suspected in hindsight it would be easier to pass the sheets around
in the same order in which we wrote on them as we read them out, so
we would only read out what we ourselves had written.
Here's
my finished story. I've emboldened alternate parts so you can see
where the next writer took over the narrative:
Richard
hates football. But once every four years, his bitter hatred of men
kicking each other in the shin and crying about it subsided. At every
World Cup, Richard joined in the charade, that England moment when
Paul Gascoigne cried at the World Cup in the 90s changed football
forever. The English women that hated football fell in love with
football just because a Geordie man cried. The footballers never cry
now. Maybe if they don't get enough money in their new contract or
modelling deal that would push them to tears but not
the actual game.
Richard
never cried at football, just watched his friends sob. Didn't see the
drama.
Football's
an industry, it's actually got boring
Even
though crowds and takings are soaring
Ditch
Sky TV and your season pass
Live
your life with a little more class
Richard
used to sit there, next to his two friends, and close his eyes, and
try to think of something more interesting, like cheese, or rivers, or
sausages, or tadpoles, or in fact anything that
And there the timer ran out and the
page had made its way back to the first person to write on it. So. A
little haphazard, asking four non-football fans to write about
football.
There are five other stories like this
that we produced during the exercise. I'll try and source them!
I'm tempted to try this again using
sheets of A4 and a random topic that doesn't require much knowledge,
like, I dunno, fruit. Or something. Carpets. Whatever.
Author
Dave Haslam is signing copies of his new book Life After Dark, a
history of the British nightclub
scene.
If you're a writer I'd love for you to guest-blog this. Hit me up.
Wednesday
If
you're a Wordpress user, meet fellow bloggers using the platform at
Manchester Wordpress User Group's monthly meetup.
It's their Christmas party, so leave the car at home! Join them at
Madlab on Edge St in the Northern Quarter.
Thursday
If
you're a film fan, you'll be more than aware of the new Star Wars
film being touted as the big hit this Christmas. I'm looking forward
to it, admittedly. I've found an impressive deal on the Manchester Evening News' site. If you're not in work on a Thursday, or can book
it off, and fancy watching the film and chowing down on some Almost
Famous burger, then make a move quickly: this offer's gonna be
snapped up. Midnight screening, anyone?
Friday
Anyone
fancy some ales and cocktails?
Font bar is the perfect place, just off
Oxford Rd next to the train station, and Young Professionals in
Manchester may be the ideal group. You won't know unless you try, of
course...
Saturday
You're
probably more than aware that there's a new Star Wars film coming
out. If you fancy watching it and meeting new people at the same
time, (obviously before and after the film) check out Manchester Film Fans. They're meeting in the afternoon.
If
you're out a little later, join me and Manchester Social Group for
some drinks in Spinningfields.
We're starting in The Alchemist for
some inventive cocktails, after which we'll probably head into The Avenue for more posh drinks.
Sunday
A
book signing at Nexus Art Cafe with
Karen Little. More events happening at Nexus as the month progresses.
I
don't just want to reproduce content online- if I can find events
happening that are not listed elsewhere, I'll put them here. If you
see anything you think I should include, particularly if it's not
online yet, tweet me the text or a
pic please!
Las
Vegas with Trevor McDonald begins on ITV tonight. If it's anything
like Mafia with Trevor McDonald, which aired some months ago, it'll
be superb. Sir Trevor McDonald's investigations into these shady
worlds are always tremendous viewing.
Tuesday:
I have found something that may help if you're affected by PTSD (Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder). Impact PTSD and DPD Support Group
provides assistance for depression, emotional trauma and PTSD and
survivors of abuse. It's held at Norden Old Library on Edenfield Rd
in Rochdale.
If
you fancy a few power ballads on a Friday night, you're not alone.
Join 60 other like-minded folk at Manchester Social Scene's Christmas Special
at The O2 Ritz. They're starting in
nearby Gorilla. It must be a good
group if it's that popular.
What
is a Christmas Ceili? It's a social event with Scottish or Irish folk
music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling.
Particularly, a Yuletide-themed one. Friday sees one such event
happen in Fallowfield with Manchester Social Scene in aid of locally
based, Ugandan-focused charities.
Live music is provide by
Albireo.
Get
your Santa / Mrs Santa outfits at the ready: There will be a stampede
of Santas- a flurry of Father Christmases- in Manchester on Saturday
for the Charity Santa Claus City Centre Bar Crawl. Raising
money for MS, the crawl starts at the rowing club at Salford quays,
then goes into Manchester via Metrolink. It looks hilarious. Somebody
please guest-blog this for me!
If you're a UFC fan
you'll already know that the long-anticipated Aldo V McGregor
featherweight match is FINALLY going ahead after a painful delay
(Aldo's broken rib). This is happening Saturday night at 3am. I need
to find a good Manchester venue for boxing and UFC. Suggestions?
I won't be able to
watch it though as I'm at feedback group Writers Connect the
next day and I need to be fresh for it. If you fancy some creative
writing exercises and giving / receiving feedback on stories and
poems, check us out in Nexus from
1pm. If advice on writing is something you're after I strongly
recommend giving these meetings a shot.
I
got there about 2 hours early and there was already a queue. It was a
very quick sign-and-photo session, but in the 10 seconds or so I had,
he seemed like a decent bloke. The situation was not as tense as it appears between me, him and his bodyguard!
Yesterday
was the final day of NaNoWriMo, or
National Novel Writing Month. As mentioned
I have been dabbling with a screenplay that I wrote in 2005. I did
this instead of writing a novel from scratch. I still believe the
script has potential, but in order for it to be the best it can be I
need feedback. In fact, I quickly found that I couldn't move forward
with the project without advice. My plan was to revise the synopsis
(which I did), then show it to feedback group Writers Connect. The meeting
I managed to get to was cancelled, though, so I'm still waiting for a
chance to show it to other people. After this, I'll use the feedback
to adjust the synopsis and the manuscript itself, then bring in said
manuscript in thousand-word chunks to see what the group make of it.
I
may have another go at website Scribophile,
a fiction critique website. I've just had a look after being away
from the site for a couple of years. There is a screenplay subheading
but there's no work currently waiting to be reviewed here, so if I
entered my synopsis or screenplay segments they may not get that much
attention. Anyone know of any good screenplay review websites? One
site I was planning to use seems to have shut down its feedback
section: Trigger Street Productions no
longer have their “Labs” section for advice. I never even got
around to using it.
Are
there any other screenplay resources I should check out?
On
Wednesday the Socially Awkward group are
visiting Barking Tales, a night of comedy with a mental health theme held at Zombie Shack on New Wakefield St.
If that sounds controversial, it probably is- but rest assured, the
comedians themselves all have- or have experience of- mental health
issues. The organiser describes the environment as “a very small
step in helping to reduce the stigma that still surrounds mental
health and shows that there is funny to be had in such topics.”
I'd
be really interested in reading about this. Fancy attending the event
and getting involved? Drop me an email. matthewtuckey@hotmail.com
Saturday:
Olympic Gold medalist and Tour De France champion Sir Bradley Wiggins will be dropping into
Waterstones Deansgate to sign
copies of his new book My Hour. Signing starts at 12pm. Might be a
good idea to get there early.
By
all means email if you want your event here for free.
Monday:
house music producers The Freemasons favourited my tweet, which was
actually about the fraternal organisation of the same name. I must see them DJ one
day.
Tuesday
night's #bloghour trending topic
is a weekly online discussion organised by the UK Blog Awards. Each week the awards team
asks a series of questions relating to the art of blogging, and
whoever chooses to join in with the hashtag can contribute
suggestions and answers. It's a great way of garnering advice and
digitally “meeting” other bloggers. At the end of each Bloghour,
the awards team will ask for suggestions for questions to be asked
the following week. On Tuesday just gone, my question was included in
the discussion.
Q5. How do you search down
the best stories and content for your blog? via @matthewtuckey#BlogHour
If
you follow the link and see the tweet on Twitter, below it you'll see
some of the answers and suggestions. People find their stories in a
multitude of ways: talking to knowledgeable friends, working with
talented creatives around the world, checking other websites like
PinterestInstagram,
Bloglovin,
Klout and
Stumbleupon,
personal experience, requests, and a general sense of intuition:
keeping your eyes peeled, one tweeter suggested, will allow the
stories will come to you.
Once
my question was put out to the trending topic my notifications went
wild. It was a lot of info to digest but the feedback has been
brilliant and there's loads for me to mull over and digest. If you're
into blogging, tune in to #bloghour on Twitter, 9pm GMT on Tuesdays.
Anyone
remember season 15 of Celebrity Big Brother? The one before last?
Remember Cami Li, the Puerto Rican
model finishing in in 8th
place? She favourited my tweet (which was actually her tweet) about
Lady Colin Campbell, who is
currently in the Australian jungle starring in I'm a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here.
Thursday:
Manchester readers will be familiar with local radio station Key 103.
Each morning they play the Top 10 at 10, from a mystery year. That
day the year was 2003, when I was working in Brannigans, so I texted
in and told them. They read it out! Woop woop. It's the small things.
Friday
night: I met with Manchester Social Group for their monthly Meetup. Slug and Lettuce on Albert Square was apparently- and unsurprisingly-
heaving, as it was right next to the Christmas Markets. (I was on my
way in when the group decided this.) For the last few years these
stalls have been so busy that they aren't even fun to visit any more.
So we switched to the Deansgate branch, which reopened last weekend
after a refurb. It's smart and tidy inside but the music was too loud
for a bar of its type- it's more of a catch-up-with-your-mates place
than a showoff place, or we all felt it should be. I still like it
though. A good meetup too; a good chance to meet other members of the
group and bandy about a few ideas for upcoming events.
Celebrities, fights, booze: no, it's not a jungle-based reality TV show, it's what's happening right here in Manchester this week.
If
you're new to Young Professionals in Manchester, or you haven't even
heard of them til now, well, you're just in time. Tomorrow night is a
night for newbies at Bluu in the Northern Quarter. A few relaxed
drinks and conversation awaits. It's already very
popular.
Celebrity
chef and Celebrity Juice contestant Gino D'Acampo also has a new book out.
He'll be signing in WH Smith Selfridges (no, I didn't know one was
inside the other either) in The Intu Trafford Centre from 1pm on Thursday.
Great
British Bake-off presenter Sue Perkins
is signing her book Spectacles: a Memoir on Friday. Get down to
WHSmith in the Arndale at 12:30pm to meet
her. Also, if you fancy writing it up and guest-posting here, get in touch.
Join
me Friday night for Manchester Social Group's monthly
meetup.
We're gonna be at Albert Square's Slug and Lettuce from 7:30. It's a chance to
meet the members in a smart but relaxed environment that's to the
tastes off the majority.
Saturday
night: join Manchester Creatives
on their trip to bohemian Bavarian beer house Albert's Schloss. It's a great bar and not
what you'd expect. A bizarre mix of Alpine drinking hut, 19th-century
church and 70s-era disco hall, Albert's is a unique and weirdly
wonderful venue.
Also
on Saturday night is heavyweight boxing bout Wladimir Klitschko Vs Tyson Fury. Prediction: Fury will not last
more than 5 rounds. He's all bravado and his displays of confidence
are there to convince mostly himself. Also, I know it's not a beauty
contest but compare the physiques of the two fighters. That matters.
Fury isn't even in fighting shape and never has been. I put up this event but it hasn't been announced yet. Anyone fancy it? Where's a good
place to watch it?
Last
night I went out to watch local boxer Anthony Crolla make a second attempt to become
the WBA lightweight champion. I'd set up this
meetup
and asked people for advice on which venue from which to see the
fight. I got one RSVP who suggested The Green, a sports bar in the Northern
Quarter with simulated golf range and large screens for watching
sports. I phoned them to check they were showing it and got the affirmative. Okay.
I
headed into town early but the traffic around Ancoats and the
Northern Quarter was absolutely horrific. The chances of turning
right to get down to the CIS building were minimal. Absolute
gridlock. The Crolla fight took place in the Manchester Arena, so it's possible that the traffic
was related to that.
I
should really have got out earlier to watch the under-card fights from
the start. I got in half way into the first of the two before the
main fight: couple of wars between two tough fighters respectively.
The first of these fights had no commentary, just the video feed with
The Green's own trance soundtrack. I found my meetup member: a cool
guy and a boxing fan. The atmosphere in The Green was a little
grating, though: there was a lot of Burberry checks, gold medallions
and the odd baseball cap. Not many people were into the boxing, and
my instincts were telling me there might be a bit of trouble.
Eventually
the Crolla Perez fight began, with both fighters showing class and resilience. The
bar started to empty out. Last orders were called not long after the
fight began, which seemed a bit weird. I thought, they're not really
going to:
Yes,
the manager came out and turned off the TV in the fourth fucking
round. Not long after this there was a little argument between a few
young customers and the door staff.
We
left The Green and had a wonder down through Piccadilly Gardens
towards Deansgate. By the time we got to
Sawyers, Crolla had already won in
the 5th with a heavy bodyshot.
Well.
I'm writing this to encourage you to boycott The Green. I had phoned
them prior to the night to check they were showing the fight and they
confirmed they were. I dunno, I thought it was self-explanatory that
I meant “are you showing the whole fight?”
I
saw some boxing in Norwegian Blue
in the Printworks some time ago, but that's not much less chavvier
and they haven't tweeted about last night's fights. Where's good to
watch boxing in Manchester?
I
visited Germany in 1994 for a family holiday, and also to practice
the language which I'd done pretty well in during my first year of
school. A conversation with my parents brought back a few memories
from being 12 years old. We settled the caravan in Nideggen, at the
edge of the Eifel National Park, and got a warm welcome from the
Dutch man who ran the campsite. He was fond of British. My mum, dad
and sister and I got into some rock climbing out near the Ruhr river,
which was the same river hit by Allied forces in World War II, and
one of rivers featured in The Dam Busters movie. On a trip into town
we came across a meeting for owners of TRs, with a number of the
vintage sports cars lining the car parks.
It
was the first time we saw people paying for plastic bags in shops, or
people taking their own (something most British supermarkets have
introduced in the last few months).
Most
of our pictures are on slides, so there isn't a great deal to show.
But while out there I picked up a couple of beer mats from a pub or
cafe, which I've just dug out of my parents' loft. Are there any
vintage beer mat specialists out there? I prepared these for an art
project a few months later.
'The
art of beer! These are some beer mats I collected from Germany
(Summer 1994). It's not exactly art but it's German, and I collect
beer mats. They are quite special to me. There is some art on the
back of “REISSDORF KOLSCH” beermats.'
Free cheese in Didsbury tomorrow night. Sounds
weird, but hey, I didn't set up this meetup. If cheese is your thing,
and South Manchester isn't too much of a trek, take a look. A word of
warning- Traffic around that end is not the only thing likely to be
congested.
On
Thursday the After Works Drinks gang
are out on Salford Quays. Hugely popular group. Be part of it!
I
have a dare for you this Friday: try speed dating. If you're not
going to stay with your partner 'til you die, then this is something
you should experience before you do. You have 2 rows of seats- one
with men, one with women. You get a minute or so with each competitor
in order to “sell yourself” to a potential partner. After each
move, you mark a “yes” or a “no” box next to each person's
name or your personal sheet. The sheets are collected at the end of
the dates and the organisers with send you details of your matches.
Simple! Try it out with Boy Meets Girl Speed Dating.
This
weekend sees the opening of winter attraction The Curling Lanes, the country's only outdoor curling venue.
Try it out on The Lawns in Spinningfields!
Any
Danny Dyer fans in the house? He's signing
his new book, Life Lessons from the East End, in WHSmith Arndale
Saturday 1pm.
More
boxing this week! Anthony Crolla has
another title shot against Darleys Perez on Saturday. If you fancy
watching it with me and a group, check out this meetup.
We need a location!
Any
creative writers out there? Try out Writers Connect
on Sunday afternoon. It's a great opportunity to receive helpful
feedback on stories and poems. I'll be there seeking feedback on a
script synopsis. I want to know what you think!
"I
might play some fucked up shit tonight, seriously,” says Radio 1's
Trevor Nelson. “I might play Kool
and the Gang or something, I dunno.” Well, I don't think he did
bust out any “Get Down On It” or “Joanna”, but the Radio 1
hip hop DJ did dish up some underplayed classics, including
SoulIISoul's Fair Play and many others.
Last
night was Mr Nelson's third appearance in The Milton Club for their monthly Soul Purpose
event, which has featured an ever-expanding list of high-profile DJ
and singers. He didn't come on until quite late, letting resident
Justin Fry take command for the first
few hours. The night got busier later on than usual, with a lot of
women filling the club. Mr Nelson eventually busted out a few
rarities from the 90s hip hop scene, setting a great mood. He didn't
seem to pay much attention to the customers, though, and my attempts
to get a picture with him were mostly in vain due to the impenetrable
crowd near the DJ booth.
That
said, there was a great atmos. I've been a Milton Club member for a
year now and it's a place where I can always see friendly faces.
Christmas
1992: I got an Amiga 500+, an underrated and great computer with some
superb games. As the years went by my collection grew, and although
Commodore got a bad rap, the Amiga provided hours of entertainment.
Among
my favourites were Putty (this guy has given a stern review- it's
better than he makes it sound)
Also
a favourite: the addictive Rainbow Islands.
I
wasn't all for brightly coloured platform scrollers: Road Rash was
bloodthirsty fun.
1996:
as GCSEs began, the available time I had to play them shrank, and my
interest in films grew and grew. Added to that, a lot of Saga and
Nintendo fans treated the Amiga as a laughing stock, and it didn't
deserve such treatment.
This
week my parents cleared out their loft, and I rescued a load of these
games from a big black bag up there. I'm tempted to shell out on an Amiga on Ebay, but the prices
are almost as steep as a brand new one would have cost back in the
day. So
I'm looking at the possibility of finding the hardware and software
to play old Amiga games on the PC. Has anyone had any success with
this?
Did
you have one? Were you a rebel and shunned the Mega Drive and the
Super Nintendo? What was your favourite Amiga game? Are there any
resources for playing games like this?
If
you haven't seen Matt Damon SF movie The Martian yet, Manchester Social Nights
are watching it tonight. £6 is cheaper than most cinema tickets
these days.
If
you fancy learning the Latin step of Bachata, keep this Thursday
free. The Manchester International Party People
have reserved the whole of Element 19 club for lessons. And speaking
of “free”, so is the event.
Friday:
join me and Manchester Social Group
at The Milton Club for Soul
Purpose, where Radio 1 DJ Trevor Nelson will be playing. I've been
to a couple of Soul Purpose nights before and they were superb.
You'll need a ticket. We'll
be starting in Deansgate's Slug and Lettuce pub, which has recently been
refurbished. In fact, Friday is the venue's reopening party. Come
take a look!
On
Saturday Manchester's Christmas Markets officially reopen. It's
always a good shout if you want trinkets, pork burgers with stuffing
and Gluwein. Find them at these places and probably any other small section of side street the city council
has managed to cordon off. They will be RAMMED, so be prepared to use
your elbows and shoulders.
A
few Long Island Ice Teas in Sakana
kick-started a Saturday night on Peter St. Small and classy, the
Japanese restaurant's bar makes a good starting place. We moved on to
the recently opened Albert's Schloss, under Albert Hall and in the unit
that once housed Brannigans. The décor of the club has been scraped
back to the bare brickwork and the disco balls and lights give it a
blend of 70s dance club and German-styled beer hall. Unique and with
size and presence, (and Arabian-style performance dancers) it's a
great starting place. The only problems I had were the 20-minute
queues at the bar and the smelly cross dresser. Seriously, what the
hell. Anyway. Oh yeah, and there's a bookable seated area that isn't
properly cordoned off, and we strayed into it at one point in the
night resulting in evil looks and a few stern words from the
customers. The security should have been tighter.
We
then moved next door to Club Liv, the
local celeb haunt. Great club. I didn't recognise any famous types
but my mate pointed out footballer Tom Cleverley,
who I'm assuming was the recipient of the giant wooden crucifix that
the bar staff were carrying flat across the club. The frame's design
held 10 bottles of Dom Perignon in circular holes cut into the wood paneling, each bottle adorned with a club sparkler.
I
was not big-balling to that extent, being on a BSO's wage, so I was
buying £5 shots of Wild Turkey instead. This isn't too bad a price,
considering I payed £4 for a shooter and £12 for a shot of obscure
whisky in Sakana a while back.
Re
the title of this blog post: most clubs now allow you to pay on card.
This means that you don't have to walk around with a huge wad of cash
in your trousers / purse (you may need some on the door, I don't
know. It depends on the establishment). It also means that you'll get
home with a series of receipts detailing exactly where you've been
and how much money you've spent. Just don't throw them away and
you'll piece together every part of your night. Having said that,
even if you do your bank statements will hold testament. If all you
do is draw out cash, that's the only record you have. Everybody's
memory gets a bit hazy after a few scoops, but if you've got memory
difficulties like I have it's much easier to just log onto internet
banking the next day and see where your money went. It also stops you
from spending your taxi money (unless you're using Uber, which is
contactless payment anyway). The only reason you'd need cash is
perhaps for the entry fee, or food after leaving the club. Or if,
say, you drunkenly spill someone else's drink and you want to give
them the money for another.
It's
perhaps not so good if you're the type who needs a limit on how much
they spend.
You
know I love you, Sheffield people. But seriously, how cheesy? And
what's with the vast number of couples?
Anyway,
I had a top impromptu Halloween night out last weekend in the
Yorkshire town. For my first night out there, this is what I went dressed as.
We
went to a few bars, went on to Popworld (very cheesy) and ended in
Dempseys (very gay) til about 5am. (It was the only place open.)
This
guy was loving playing the chained-up zombie from 28 Days Later,
flailing himself about in the middle of the street. Kudos.
Sheffield:
a funny, fun night out. Not to be taken seriously. It's not
Spinningfields. There's no house or RnB. But in all fairness I didn't
see it kick off, and you're hardly going to be charged £12 for a
scotch you've never heard of.
I
picked up this George Orwell classic in Fopp in Manchester. It's a
fascinating account of people in the early 1900s, struggling to get
by on waiter's wages and slipping into utter poverty and destitution.
You think you're poor? You are not poor.
It's
surprisingly entertaining and not as depressing as you'd expect. The
narrator tramps his way through the two cities, battling the cold,
hunger, tiredness and the vicious attitudes of short-term employers.
It's a fairly directionless story, really, (aside from a distinct
downward spiral), but is suitably short and very interesting.
