Storyline: 50 years later
Does this grey, wet and cold city deserve more posts? To begin with Alex summarized our experience well in his two posts. Yet I enjoyed it a lot, so maybe there are few more words to be said. A short walk in London and the train trip from Euston London to Piccadilly Manchester aside, this was my first impression of England. Grey, wet, dull and cold…Manchester skies so low, almost touching the canal (was this like Jacques Brel’s song “Le plat pays” about Belgium, where I spent a few years of my life?). Not much different on the other side of the North Sea. The photos we took make a lovely black and white canvas.
The art on the canal tells it all. I enjoyed strolling with Alex, trying to catch his “getting to know my home town” excitement. There were a few moments I caught on camera. But mainly later in the rainy and windy fields and fells of Cumbria. We are both very different in our weather tolerance or lack of it. I love the dry heat of my motherland, anywhere I can find it, the sun that that warms my bones and brings comfort to my entire being, the light breeze from the mountains or the sea. There are very few such precious days here in Ontario. Alex, on the other hand loves the wet, cold and windy weather in Canada. There, I could see why. He was born in it. We walked around following Alex’s memories (or the lack of them).
On day one we came upon the first free public library in Europe – Chetham’s Library, next to the Manchester Grammar school where his parents had once signed him up for an entrance exam [I wasn’t offered a place-A]. The library was founded in 1653, hosted in a building from 1421. It has an impressive collection of early printed books and has been in continuous use since its foundation.
I knew it! There was a connection between me and Alex long before we met. Communism was born in this Manchester library! Here, at this table was where Marx and Engels did their economics research and came up with the ideas that changed the world, for better or for worse. Alex was born in this city, and I lived through some of the results of imperfect implementation of Marx’s ideas.
We also visited the John Rylands Library, which is part of Manchester University and holds an impressive collection of very rare books and manuscripts. It was really neat that it was functioning as a free museum and at the same time a working library.
We saw many students with their laptops, working in alcoves off the main gallery, like the one in the photo above. We were excited to see old papyrus books and fragments such as the one from the Bible Book of Deuteronomy from the 2nd century BC. Photos of the ancient pieces were not allowed, and although quite a few people had a snap we respected the rules. Definitely worth the visit!
During our four days there, we did not see heavy traffic in the Greater Manchester area. Public transportation is beyond the imagination of any Canadian politician or any ordinary Canadian for that matter. And it is affordable. There were three free bus lines in Manchester city and they covered all of central Manchester! The area is covered by an elaborated, affordable bus and tram network.
When we first saw a Manchester tram we were intrigued by the height of the doors. In our previous experiences, tram doors are close to the ground for easy entrance and exit. Well, here there are raised platforms, similar to those in UK train stations.
And we were surprised to see the taxi waiting room and system at the huge and ornate Trafford Centre shopping mall.
People were very friendly. We met a penguin who asked us for directions to Antarctica. Apparently, lots of people get lost around here. No honestly, if it weren’t for Alex’s introversion, we could have spent a pleasant afternoon in the pub with a group of friendly veterans who he volunteered to photograph. Beers on them!
We missed a few art museums, the Lowry included. It was just closing when we finally reached it, after visiting Alex’s childhood neighbourhood and lunching with Mona, an old family friend, at Carluccio’s in the Trafford centre, then walking past Old Trafford, the home stadium of Manchester United Football Club.
Well, there is always “the next time” for museums…
Chinatown
Alex:
The walk from Piccadilly Station to our hotel on Princess Street took us past the Gay Village and Chinatown. The entry into Chinatown is marked by a huge, colourful arch. It turns out that one of my cousins was the crane operator who installed this ornate piece. The road was closed to traffic while he maneuvered the mobile crane into place then slowly and gently lowered the arch into place. The community members were ecstatic at the precision in which he handled the job and insisted that he join them for the celebratory lunch. When he returned to the crane, the road had been reopened and the usual downtown traffic made it extremely difficult to get the big truck out. The community came to his aid and as a group held traffic back and helped to direct him and the crane to the safety of the main road. Job well done!
… and more photos (click on any photo for larger rendering)
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