This was primarily for the football but we took an apartment for an extra 2 nights. We really enjoyed ourselves here. It was the first time I actually explored the city. I said to a pal that lives there that I didn't like the way they were building huge contemporary buildings right next to some stunning buildings from the 18th and 19th century. Can't understand how they build brand new buildings and let the old ones right beside them just rot. The city grew on us with each passing day. The best thing about it all was the people. They were ridiculously friendly. We got chatting to loads of different folk in Old Trafford, on trams, in restaurants, in pubs. It was brilliant! Don't mean to insult anyone, but I didn't think English people were as open as this. I was expecting them to be a little standoffish. If anything, they were more friendly than the Irish or Scottish.         Photos to follow

P.S. sorry i've not been on much. Been really busy for the last 5 weeks. I run a small ad in a local paper each week. I must have clicked the box for the digital version as well., cos I got a response from the online classifieds. When I contacted the lady, I arranged to meet her the following day. Turns out she is the daughter/director of one of the biggest construction companies in the west of Ireland. She got me to paint the lobby of an industrial unit that they had converted into offices and rehearsal studios. She was happy enough with my work to then get me to do the upper landing and walls and skirtings of the corridors. It was a big job because all the walls had wood panelling which involved hours of brushwork. also, there was good bit of water damage that had to be rectified first. My knees are in bits cos I spent most of last week doing approx 400ft of skirtings ( about 18 inches high) with primer, undercoat and 2 topcoats. Its a bit of a strange one cos I would figure that these guys would have their own "in house" painters. I have most of it done now except for some stuff that they have to make up in the workshop to cover several holes in the ceilings. Thats another thing, the ceilings are 14 foot high and the panels went most of the way up. I was up and down ladders like a feckin yoyo. One good thing about it is that my butt cheeks are now made of steel. I could crack a walnut between them

Excellent set of posts Dermo, glad you enjoyed your trip.

Pleased to hear as well that work is good for you. You might make the October meet up at this rate!

Did you get any sort of City v Utd vibes in Manchester? I've heard that most Mancunians actually support City.

That friendliness observation is funny though. Whilst I've not been out and about in Manchester City centre like you just have, my brief interactions from folk in that part of the world - a weekend in Blackpool and a weeks work in Accrington - left me feeling that they were rather rude and abrupt!

Not so of course when you meet up with folk from there whilst you're on holiday. Had a good few evenings in Barbados recently with 3 sets of couples from Manchester area.

didn't see or hear any hassle between the Utd and City fans. We were wearing Utd hats and scarves for the 3 days cos it was bloody baltic up there! We had a bit of banter on the tram one of the days when a City fan was messing with Darragh, telling him that Pogba was terrible. darragh replied that he wasn't as bad as Pep dun't know where he gets it from We were in the Arndale shopping centre ( the one the IRA blew up) and if anything rude was going to be said, I reckon that was where it would happen. But, honestly, we received nothing but friendliness and smiles. Everyone wanted to know where in Ireland we were from for some reason. they always asked if we we from the north or the south. I always said the west coast. I think the Manchester people stole a little bit of my heart if I'm honest

Glad you both had a good time mate.

Great stuff mate and repped, glad to hear of the graft as well, hopefully thats your foot in the door for more.