Monday Mural: Eastern Bloc hits 30

Eastern Bloc is one of my favourite places to have a coffee, inside by the vinyl store or outside on Stevenson Square, I love the Russian onion domed churches and the red star Soviet feel of the place's artwork. It's my contribution to this Public Holiday Monday Mural.

A celebration of 30 years as a record store takes place at Band On the Wall on Saturday 5 September You can get in the mood with a library of Eastern Bloc mixes and podcasts here,

#ManchesterPride comes before the Fall

Bloom Street looking lovely in the Gay Village by The Docs (front left) and New York New York (front right). A peaceful scene taken in the week and unlike it will be today, packed full of happy partying Pride people.

Vintage Fair at Manchester Cathedral: Medieval meets Mid Twentieth Century

It was odd to see a licensed bar selling Pimms et al inside Manchester Cathedral yesterday! But it's part of the two day vintage festival- clothes and some exciting mid 20C furniture, a stunning 1930s metal desk and lamps etc. It's smaller than I expected but worth popping into.

Skywatch Friday: #ManchesterPride

It's the annual big weekend of Manchester Pride - where LGBTQIA* communities and friends can celebrate life and raise money for charities. Here are two of the stages being set up on Bloom St/ Sackville St on Wednesday. Dannii Minogue and Atomic Kitten are among the acts lined up.

What are your plans this August public holiday weekend? (I refuse to refer to them as "Bank Holidays") I think a visit to the vintage fair at Manchester Cathedral (which is today and tomorrow), The Stockport Old Town Fringe Festival (which is all weekend) and a walk in the hills above Rochdale are on the cards for me...  

A photo for Skywatch Friday, sharing skies of all hues and colours around the world.



* Should anyone need this explaining, it stands for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex or asexual.

Paving the way on St James' Square @PaveCoffee

Pave Cafe in the city centre is a good place to start the day. A Taste of Manchester gave it a good review here and I look forward to having time to stop one morning or evening to check it out myself.

ABC Wednesday: G is for Ground floor Garden flat

G is for a ground floor apartment garden flat in Piccadilly Village, in late summer bloom by the River Medlock. These are city centre purpose-built apartments on a large riverside development completed in 1990. Linked to ABC Wednesday.

Hang the baskets!

High and late summer is a dangerous time on the early morning streets. Freshly watered hanging baskets outside pubs drip and cascade onto unsuspecting commuters below. But the flowers are with it, as shown here at the Ape and Apple. 

Skywatch Friday: 3.15 at the Exchange

Mid-afternoon in St. Ann's Square. The Exchange clock has long since stppoed working and why it's not been fixed I do not know.... Click to see this week's other Skywatch posts.

I'm off for a few days, walking on the Llyn Peninsula and you can follow my trip on see my Instagram account, 3G on the Welsh coast permitting. 

Due to an incredibly busy week at work co-organising an international conference and out socialising every night in Didsbury, Rochdale and the city centre, I have run out of blog posting time. So Mancunian Wave is taking its first ever break in its 4+ years. Have a great weekend folks and see you bright and early on Tuesday!

A case of the blues at Oasis aquarium...

Oasis Aquarium on Great Clowes St in Salford has been helping fishkeepers since 1985, but I am not sure about the ethics of tropical fish keeping...

ABC Wednesdays: "F" is for football museum

A banner for the National Football Museum which opened in 2012 and is worth an hour of anyone's time. Linked to ABC Wednesday .

Coffee break on Hewitt Street...

Not quite opening tme at Man Co Co, a Manchester coffee roaster cafe on Hewitt Street, Fairtrade, ethical and housed in an old railway arch, a great place.

Monday Mural: St Anthony @stanthonyMCR @TheChristie @mikegarry #AnthonyHWilson

A musical tribute to Tony Wilson was released on 14 August was. The single is a fund raiser for The Christie cancer hospital and is available in independent record stores and at the Saint Anthony website.  The video has some famous Mancunian faces (including a former Dr Who) lip-synching to a Mike Garry poem.Musical arrangement is by Joe Duddell. 

It's a really moving paean to Manchester too (it made me cry) and this promotional poster is my Monday Mural contribution.

#PicPerfectWithThree Three’s Samsung Photography Masterclass

Yesterday I and some other local bloggers (photo below) were invited to an afternooon of tips in phoneography from legendary Aidan O’Rourke of aidan.co.uk . Then we headed out on a tour of the Northern Quarter,followed by talking all things photography with Aidan over refreshments back at the Ziferblat.

Organised by Three's Samsung Hub, we were all loaned a latest Samsung Galaxy 6 phone, which was good camera-wise but far too large for me to hold properly. Will stick to my Samsung Galaxy 3 mini!

Peterloo Remembrance Day, Sunday 16 August, 1230, Windmill Street

Details of the Peterloo massacre are here.

Skywatch Friday: #Southport day trippers. Oh to be 17 again! #CityDailyPhoto

Photo by Tim Sutton-Brand

Compared to the monsoon rainfalls greeting me this morning as I struggled to work, Wednesday was a glorious summer’s day. Tim and a large group of friends headed to Southport, probably the nicest seaside town within easy reach of Manchester. 40 miles away or an hour by train from Deansgate and you are in a grand old town with pier and a beach- although it is a 50 minute walk out to the sea, so wide is the beach.

Oh to be 17 again? Yes and no. Most of today’s 17 year olds are under so much pressure, halfway through their A levels or starting in the world of work and a rough road ahead of over-priced housing and the effects of climate change. 

But the sense of freedom, potential, friendships, relationships, exploration as they start out as independent adults is something we all crave a little of as we hit cynical middle age! Though I am generally less jaded and more full of optimism and energy than many of my own peers it seems…

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Reach for the summer sky

There are some wonderful modern statues down by Home on Albion Street. These have been here for years now, in fact I first posted about them when I started the blog in April 2011 and again a year later.

ABC Wednesday "E" is for an easy job, Summer in the city

12:59 p.m., Greengate car park, the car park attendant. 

The sultry days of summer and the black brolly was being used as a sun shield. After a busy morning the car park attendant wandered across his domain and back to his metal hut for a well-earned lunch break. "E" for ABC Wednesday.

Bootle Street #Peterloo

Bootle Street and some fine architectural details. Hundreds of dragoons, militia and special constables began to assemble here back on the day of the Peterloo massacre. 

Crowds will gather nearby on Sunday for the annual Peterloo remembrance events, which start on Sunday from 1230 outside the Manchester Central Convention complex (GMEX). 

Monday Mural: Paint your shed

A couple of shed murals by Sheffield based street artist Faunagraphic from one of the stalls at last week’s Dig the City urban gardening extravaganza in Manchester. 

Here are the rest of this week's global Monday Murals.

Lily of the balcony

I'm pleased with how my balcony lilies have bloomed, with the best yet to come, probably while I am away!

City Slickers on Blackfriars Bridge

I couldn't resist snapping these two characters walking over Blackfriars Bridge earlier in the week, one in a Manchester City red and black away kit and the other also a sky blue follower by the look of it.

Dig the City, for kids of all ages...

Children's entertainers have been playing to a packed crowd on Greengate Square all week, as part of Dig The City. Regeneration continues around the railway arches and the mammoth ugly sisters development, while the lovely, egalitarian Abito block watches over it all...

#MJF2015 Blind Monk Trio @MattandPhreds @ManJazzFest

Blind Monk Trio

Two of the best things I have seen at this year's Manchester Jazz Festival so far (apart from me in a 2013 Jazz Festival t shirt, ha ha...) have been the Graeme Wilson Quartet (from Newcastle) in Festival Square and Blind Monk Trio (from Liverpool) who played at the perfect jazz venue, Matt and Phred’s. This is the 20th Manchester Jazz Festival and it keeps getting better and better! Check out the two bands I mentioned.

ABC Wednesday: "D" is for drummer's dfscore at #MJF2015 @ManJazzFest

Above: Sam Andreae and Richard Craig

Composer and drummer Rodrigo Constanzo and six musical colleagues played a fabulous improvised set titled dfscore on Sunday at the Manchester Jazz Festival... The set was "a ground-breaking creative tool for communicating commands to musicians through digital devices. Using graphic, visual or written cues, new music is created instantaneously by improvisers, simply following the instructions appearing on screen in front of them as they play. Leading improvisers will perform music created using the system".

Digging it with ABC Wednesday's D.

Feed your mind at the jazz festival with @ChaophrayaThai

I ate some fantastic food at the Manchester Jazz Festival, which is on all week, The Chaophraya stall serves a magnificent Vegetarian Pad Thai and spring rolls.

Monday Mural: Manhattan in Manchester

A New York yellow cab awaits you at Manchester airport, or at least a photographic mural of one... More Monday Murals.

Heavy machinery at MOSI

Some ancient Crossley Brothers equipment outside the Museum of Science and Industry.

#CityDailyPhoto Theme Day: Bicycle

This month's theme day of Bicycle has been chosen by Giacomo and Gianna who run the Livorno Daily Photo blog. My offering from Manchester is a Tuk Tuk bike and a tandem, whch are among several bikes on display at this Thai restaurant in Spinningfields. They bring a touch of antiquity to an otherwise modern block.