This past weekend was Si and Suzie's engagement party up in Manchester. So on Friday everything Si, Will and myself met up at Euston and headed up to the Manc for the weekend. Originally Lozzie was meant to come with as well, but changed her train to the Saturday to attend her Christmas party which was on the Friday. So Will quickly snapped up her original train ticket instead of taking the bus. Once we got up there and checked into the hostel, we headed out to see what was around the local area and stopped off at Dukes 92 which is located on lock 92 of the Manchester Canal. We landed up staying there for a few, the atmosphere was decent, and we weren't 100% what else was in the area, so stuck with a place we had a seat and were already at.

On Saturday morning we met up with Paul, Carol, Dan and Ieva and settled on a fry up at the first pub/cafe which we passed, the B-Lounge, which always goes down well after a couple of cold ones the night before, but unfortunately wasn't nearly the best breakfast I've even had, and everyone else agreed. Oh well. After breakfast, we missioned around town for a while, taking in some of the sights and sounds of Manchester, and made our way over to The Printworks, an urban entertainment venue located in the city centre. The building was constructed in 1929 and was the largest newspaper printing house in Europe, and in 2000, as part of the redevelopment of Manchester following the 1996 bomb, it reopened as a leisure centre offering clubs and eateries.

By the afternoon, with us all rather hungry, we decided on Nandos which is in the Printworks, along with a range of other takeaways and restaurants. Unfortunately the queue was over an hour long in waiting time which just didn't suit us at all, especially with us all being hungry. So instead it was upstairs to the good old Wetherspoons for a classic beer and a burger. After eating and drinking there, if was off to the station to meet up with Lozzie who had just arrived in after a rather big night the night before. Once we met up at the station, we quickly headed past the hostel for her to drop her bag and for the rest of us all to change into something a bit more respectable. Then it was off to the Woodstock Arms in Didsbury to Si and Suzie's engagement party.

Had a really good night, with a turn out from everyone, not that I knew half the crowd - but the London crew. I landed up taking over as being videographer and interviewer asking everyone to say a message or two, so that'll be fun to watch at some stage. They had put on a huge spread of finger snacks and food throughout the night, with a private bar in the area they had reserved, so much easier than fighting your way to the bar. After the speeches and drinks and food, we started to organise taxis and plan our way into town, out to Deansgate which is full of clubs and bars. We tried for a while to get into Revolution, but after getting bored in the queue, we decided instead on the Pitch & Piano, which was basically just next door. We stayed there until closing, which is good fun, and messy - especially Sizi who was in full form. As usual. But a good night in general!

Yesterday, after checking out, grabbing some breakfast, we caught the train back down to London, getting in mid afternoon. I had planned to meet up with Haig who was in London over the weekend, and before he missioned back over to Korea once again. Nandos seemed the best choice for food, but met up first at the Prince of Wales just on the high street, then tried Nandos, only to realise it was closed :( Sad news... but looked like it was being renovated. So as a backup option, we thought we'd give Wallace & Co. a try out for food - which is run, or managed, by Gregg Wallace from Masterchef and a few other chef related programmes. So it wasn't quite Nandos unfortunately, but a good enough option and still close to home. Was good to catch up with Haig both last weekend and briefly this one, at least it was a bit more tame than last Saturday at the Merchant!