Some time ago, my wife expressed a wish to visit Manchester to do our Christmas shopping. We agreed in late October that we would go. However, in the meantime, life took a slight turn which affected the decision. We volunteered to take care of our friends' daughter on any occasion necessary during her younger brother, Mally's, hip operation in Alder Hey Children's hospital in Liverpool. Liz, his mum, would be staying with him in the hospital, and David, his father, would be shuttling between Anglesey and Liverpool. This meant waiting until we knew what day or days we might be required. There was a delay in Mally's return home because the hospital had to be sure he would be OK if released back to his foster parents' care.
During this period I had problems with COPD from which I often suffer. This entailed an x-ray and a subsequent doctor's appointment. When the doctor discussed the x-ray result with me I learned that my chest was free of infection but that my heart appeared to be slightly enlarged. the result was an appointment a week later to have an ECG done. Whilst I was not worried about this there was always the possibility that a further appointment might be necessary so we could not arrange our 2 days in Manchester until this was clear. However, the ECG gave a good result and an earlier colesterol blood test proved OK too.
So, now the way was clear to book the two days. No city centre rooms were available unless we were prepared to pay a silly price. So we booked in at a Rochdale hotel for one night, knowing we could dine there too. We drove to Manchester and parked outside House of Fraser where we began our shopping. We had a pleasant lunch at Cafe Rouge in Deansgate and explored Waterstones bookshop across the road. Next we walked across to St Anne's Square to the Christmas Market to see if it compared to last year's experience in Salzburg. It didn't!
As the afternoon wore on we completed our shopping and then went to the hotel to pack presents ready to deliver to our family in Castleton and Mildrow.
Next we called on our daughter who was, naturally, surprised to see us. We spent a short time with her and our grandaughter, Ellie and then drove over to deliver secret Christmas presents to our son's home. He was away on business but we delivered the parcels and I kept the girls entertained so they would not see where their mum was hiding our presents. It was lovely to see everyone.
We returned to our hotel to get ready for dinner. The rest of the evening involved dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant attached to the hotel. Next day we drove back to Manchester to continue shopping in the city centre. It was not long before we realised the centre was not a shadow of its former self so we left to continue in the Trafford Centre. We completed our shopping and had lunch during our stay in the Centre. At three o'clock we set off back to home in Anglesey.
The weather was very strange indeed. From large remaining puddl;es we could see there had been heavy rain in the afternoon. Spray was a hazard on the motorway and visibility was bad because there was the largest and lowest black cloud hovering above us as we drove. It was so dark we checked the time! But after a few miles it improved. We were homeward bound and the light was better in the west.
On arriving home we lit the fire and settled down with our feet up. They were really aching after all the walking we had done. It was good to be home and we decided we would not repeat the experience again. Manchester would not be a choice for Christmas shopping. Home is where the heart is and our hearts are firmly established in Anglesey.
