Summer In The City Part Two
St Ann's Square
A trip to sunny Manchester was the order of the day for Sunday and a mighty fine day it was. I took my new camera along to capture the glorious sunshine. We were treated to more European markets - the panorama above shows a German stall in St Ann's Square surrounded by seated patrons.The busking was top class also. From the Hootchie Cootchie Man belting out the blues to a James Taylor wannabe via a classical guitarist, a wide selection of musical taste was catered for.
It's not long ago that all the buskers would have been 'moved on' by over-zealous coppers suspicious of anything even slightly bohemian. From hippies with guitars to war veterans with harmonicas it was all the same to plod.
Manchester seethed with humanity. I can remember the days of Sundays being all about "THOU SHALT NOT", TV dominated by religious twaddle until 7.00pm, pubs shutting early and the repressed sexual hypocrisy of rags like the News of the World - ("I made my excuses and left...."). It almost seemed a punishment for the hedonism of Saturday night. And now I hear people talking about the 'good old days', days spent with the family in quiet contemplation. Bollocks, those that could afford it were on the golf course or enjoying a weekend at their country cottage. It was the rest of us poor buggers who had to experience boredom on a scale that sheer we positively welcomed the prospect of Monday morning. There's no contest in my book. I accept all the arguments about shopworkers and the like having to work at weekends but, to me that means extra jobs and money in the pockets of folk who would otherwise be cashing Giros on a regular basis. Sundays are positively wonderful these days. You young uns don't know you're born.I finally traded my Waterstone's vouchers for a few novels including Monica Ali's Brick Lane and the latest word-of-mouth blockbuster The Da Vinci Code.
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