Scots wa hae... or something like that

Manchester – and despite its reputation as one of the rainier cities in the UK, the weather has been great. Lots more beer drinking and walking in the countryside – a happy combination it seems. Lovely countryside, big hills and bluebell woods – England’s green and pleasant land indeed. A bit of a rude awakening yesterday though when caught the train into Manchester to visit the Ryland’s Library (one of the great private libraries in the UK – now part of Manchester Uni) – which by the way was well worth it. But as well as me, there were something like 70-130,000 (figures differ) other visitors – 90% of them being Rangers supporters from Jake’s hometown – Glasgow. The other 10% being the Russians brave enough to come across for the UEFA football final (Rangers and a St Petersburg team). The Library seemed to be the only place (can’t think why…) that wasn’t full of very loud, halfway to being completely plastered, Scotsmen. The place was jammed pack. Sad to say, Rangers lost 2-0 and Manchester looked like a bomb had hit it – unfortunately, just before the game started, the giant TV screen set up in the middle of town (they were never all going to fit into the ground – you could have got a thousand quid for a ticket apparently) failed and never recovered – not a good thing when this huge crowd were just settling down to watch the match. The ensuing riot has been headlines today and there is going to be an enquiry but I would have though it fairly predictable…(they needed a backup TV at least!!) - and only one Russian stabbed…c’mon Jake – your Glasgow mates getting soft??

I have been involved in less active sports – down the British Legion a couple of nights playing snooker and darts…some of you will know my embarrassing lack of cue and ball skills but this was redeemed somewhat by success at darts. Though that might have had something to do with the amount of beer we had drunk and packets of crisps consumed – it seemed to get a bit silly towards the end. To complete the English experience, we grabbed a kebab (sadly, not a curry) on the way home and watched football on the TV – quite nostalgic really. The next post will be from sunny Slovenia – watch this space!