Last Wednesday evening I had tickets for Micky Flanagan's Work in Progress tour at Leicester Square Theatre, so after meeting up with Will at The Chandos near to Trafalgar Square, we both headed over to the theatre to watch Micky Flanagan run through some new material for his new and upcoming show - which really was brilliant. I do enjoy watching these "work in progress" shows, as you get to see the other side of stand up comedy which are never quite as refined and rehearsed as the live shows, and always a bit more rough around the edges. But always a good laugh!

Then this past weekend was spent up in Manchester catching up with Si and Suzie and meeting little Ella. They were back over for a couple of weeks and had this weekend free for the jukkas to head up from London for a visit. So Saturday morning was an early start getting through to Euston station for the train up north. It was just me heading up, Uns had been up in North Yorkshire the previous few days for her uncle Pat's funeral, who sadly passed away just last week. But she had managed to organise her train to get into Manchester at a similar time to me which was handy. After arriving and meeting up at the station, we headed off for the hotel and stopped in at Chez coffee shop for a quick coffee and as it turned out, the others were fairly nearby on their scenic walking tour of the city, led by Sizi himself. So after our coffee we left and headed over to the Richmond Tea Rooms and all met up there. From the tea rooms we walked down to Rain Bar for lunch where Suzie and Ella joined us.

After lunch, Uns and I checked into our hotel, the Mercure, near to the Northern Quarter which was central enough. Uns decided to have herself an afternoon nap while I met up with the lads to watch the SA vs Australia game down at the Walkabout. Even though SA managed a win, it certainly wasn't a great game to watch. After the game we stopped in next door at The Bierkeller Bavarian Bar for one, and then I left the jukkas there and headed back to Uns to get ready for dinner that night. Woolley had booked a table for us all at Red's True Barbecue, followed by a few cocktails at the Alchemist bar before we all called it a night.

Yesterday morning we all met up again for breakfast at The Pen and Pencil, before half the crowd left to get their trains back to London. Myself, Uns, Will, Aggie, Duncs and Laurie had booked the later train so landed up doing the canal river walk with Si, Suzie and Ella which was fairly scenic/gritty in some parts, and really did in some areas feel like a scene straight out of trainspotting :)

After a good bit of a walk we stopped in at The Wharf pub for a drink and a snack, then back to the other guy's accommodation to grab our bags and then off to the station to get our trains back home. Good weekend up north and to catch up with the Woolleys again!