Agh! Another month and I’ve not written anything. I’ve forgotten what I’ve done but it’s all been good and I’ve had lots of fun….
It all started with a walk in Sunbank Woods to look for Mushrooms with Manchester Ranger service. We did quite well and found about 50 types. I made a note of them, they can be found here. It was really nice, despite being about 500m from the runway at Manchester Airport. Luckily the woodland was saved when they were trying to expand the airport, it’s an amazing place. Didn’t get any to eat though and the one’s I thought were edible from near my house in Sheffield turned out not to be (Lesson #1: Don’t confuse Button Mushrooms with Yellow Stainers)

Then saw Steve Bell who was really witty and funny. Very similar to his cartoons. He was so anti-Thatcher and Bush and obviously this has come out in his cartoons over the last 20 years.

Then it was time for some firestarting (see the allotment blog) and a(nother) 😉 trip over to Manchester. This time went to the Warehouse Project to see Jamie Lidell amongst others. Was a good night apart from a quiet (relatively) soundsystem and ridiculously expensive (and warm) booze.

Caught some Muthinimbira performing on Zimbabwean Mbira at the free University Lunchtime concerts. Very cool. I’d like to have a go and playing one of them!

Then it was Harcourt VIII. The latest in our (bi-)yearly get togethers. This time we headed up to Newcastle for a weekend of, well, drunkeness and sightseeing I suppose… Highlights were probably the clubbing on the Saturday night and the trip to the Baltic on the Saturday day. We didn’t really see the best of Whitley Bay, but for the rest of the weekend the Newcastle Broon Ale flowed (well we had 2 each as our first drinks!), the champagne on the train to celebrate Nick’s birthday on the way up was enjoyed I think, and a slight lack of organisation kept everyone on their toes!

A plus was finding a Star Wars mask on the floor which I wore and also some crazy sunglasses in the night club!

[tag]Newcastle, Mushroom, Steve Bell, Harcourt, Geordie, Warehouse Project[/tag]