Posts Tagged ‘Manchester’
Thursday, September 6th, 2012
A mate asked me to go and test drive a few cars with him this weekend, so that’ll be good fun on Saturday. I always like driving different used cars, seeing how they vary in terms of performance and comfort. We might go and have a go in some brand new cars too, which will be interesting. Not sure I can persuade him to go to the Lamborghini garage though.
Man United play Wigan at home this Saturday and I’m hoping we’ll be done with the car shopping before kickoff. I was going to go to the game but I’ve decided to watch it at home with the lads and a few beers instead. I’m hoping we can keep a good run of form now and get up to the top of the table in the next few games. With Van Persie in the form he’s in it looks likely. We’ve also got our first Champions League game next week, against Galatasary on Wednesday. We need to focus for that one and make sure we don’t make mistakes and get knocked out early, like we did last year. I definitely do not want to be in the Europa League again.
And it’s typical that yesterday, in keeping with my run of form with sporting predictions, Contador stormed the stage and took over two minutes out of Rodriguez in the Vuelta, giving him the overall lead. Just goes to show how quickly things can change in sport – I only hope what we’ve seen is an honest performance. It was amazing to watch and great bike racing but I can’t be the only one with a niggling feeling in the back of mind, knowing that he has just returned from a ban for taking performance enhancing drugs. It’s a shame cycling is tarnished with doubt because of its doping history but it’s something we still can’t ignore, unfortunately.
Tags: Alberto Contador, Buying a used car, Champions League, Football, Man United, Manchester, Premier League
Posted in Football, Manchester, My Life | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
Once again I tried not to let sport take over my whole weekend but, once again, I pretty much failed. I don’t normally like watching cycling time trials but the deciding stage of the Tour de France on Saturday had me gripped, and it was amazing to watch Bradley Wiggins storm home for an emphatic overall victory in the Tour. There may always be a question of whether Chris Froome could have gained enough time in the mountains to beat him overall but we’ll never know – they rode as a team, with Froome supporting Wiggins, so that’s that.
And what a way to finish it on Sunday as well, with the yellow jersey leading out the rainbow jersey on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, for Mark Cavendish to win a record fourth final stage in a row. It really couldn’t have been a better Tour de France for the British riders and it seems to have captured the public’s interest as well. I’ve never seen so much cycling in the newspapers but I doubt it will last, what with the Olympic coming up. Wiggins doesn’t seem too bothered about the attention either and I don’t blame him – he is, after all, just a bloke who likes riding his bike.
We raised a glass to the first British winner of the Tour de France on Sunday, as I was out for a meal with my daughter and her boyfriend in one of the top Manchester restaurants. I had a lovely steak and a few glasses of nice wine and the best thing was that the boyfriend was paying, which topped off a great weekend.
Tags: Bradley Wiggins, Cycling, London Olympics, Manchester, Manchester restaurants, Mark Cavendish, Tour de France
Posted in Manchester, My Life | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
After all the sporting excitement over the last few weeks it’s nice to have a bit of a break and think about something else for a change. I’ve got a lot of work on in the studio this week and I’m looking forward to really getting into it. A local band are in for three days recording their first demo and I love the excitement and enthusiasm that brings – they’re so full of optimism and it reminds me of what I was like when I first started in this game. I must be getting old and jaded now.
On Thursday afternoon a mate and I are heading out to look at some second hand cars. We’re planning to get to about six or seven different places so it’s going to be busy, but good fun hopefully. We’ll be looking for him mainly as he’s in desperate need of a run around – he got shunted from behind last week, which wrote his car off, and he needs to get back on the road as soon as possible. I’ll be looking at cars for me, as ever – I still haven’t found the right model for me yet and I’m determined to get the perfect one, and that’s only going to happen if I keep looking. One day, you never know, I might come back from a trip like this having actually bought a car. There seems to be about as much chance of that at the moment as there is of me getting a sporting prediction right.
Tags: Buying a used car, cars, Manchester, Music, Music recording, Recording studio, Unsigned bands
Posted in Music, My Life, The Studio | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
As a Manchester United fan, you could consider these to be dark times. We’ve just lost the Premier League title to our biggest rivals, Man City, and Chelsea have just won the Champions League, a competition we embarrassingly got knocked out of, sending us to the Europa League, in which we suffered the same fate. Add to that the fact that one of our star players, Rio Ferdinand, hasn’t been called up for England duty and it could look like a pretty awful season for us.
It’s true that these circumstances aren’t ideal, to put it mildly, but I like to look on the bright side. We came a very close second in the league, only losing because of goal difference, and played a major part in one of the most exciting ever climaxes to the end of a Premier League season. As for the Champions League, all I can do is repeat what I’ve said before – we’ve done it before (three times) and we’ll do it again, simple as that. We’re too well managed, too passionate and quite frankly too good not to. And the best thing is that all of the negatives from this season, losing to City and getting dumped out of the Champions League, will only make us stronger. I’m looking forward to next season already.
Anyway, June looks set to be a good month. Euro 2012 starts for us on the 11th June, as I mentioned before, and there’s the four day Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend before that. I haven’t decided what I’m doing for it yet – either a weekend away or just spending some time at home and around Manchester. There are a few new bars and restaurants I want to try out so I might have to stay around here.
Tags: Champions League, Football, Jubilee Bank Holiday, Man United, Manchester, Manchester restaurants, Premier League
Posted in Football, Manchester, My Life | No Comments »
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
I’ve been trying to take my mind off the football this week. I’ve had a band in the studio Tuesday to Thursday so that’s kept me busy but now that’s finished I’ve got no choice but to start looking forwards to Sunday. It’s traditional for me and a couple of mates to go into town to watch the last game of the season and it’s particularly special this year, for obvious reasons. So we’re going to make a bit of a weekend of it I think – some bars in Manchester on Saturday afternoon for a few beers then probably for a curry on Saturday night. We’ve been trying to get to all of the Indian restaurants Manchester has to offer over the years but new ones crop up all the time and it’s hard to keep track of which we’ve been to and which we haven’t. I think this time we’ll just go to one we know we like.
As it’s an away game on Sunday, up in Sunderland, we won’t be going to the actual match so I think we’re going to watch it at my place. We’d normally consider going to a pub I think, especially as it’s the last game of the season, but it’s so important we’re going to want to concentrate and listen to everything that’s going on, and that would never happen in the pub. I’ll fill the fridge up and get some decent snack food in then we’ll just have to sit it out and see what happens – and keep an eye on the Man City result as well, of course.
Oh, and I’ve gone with the prediction from the last post and placed a bet on it – Man City to win 2-1 at QPR and us to draw 1-1 with Sunderland, giving Man City the Premier League title. I figured if Man United don’t win the Premier League, at least I might win some cash to soften the blow a little.
Tags: Man City, Man United, Manchester, Manchester football, Manchester restaurants, Premier League, Recording studio
Posted in Football, Manchester, My Life | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
Well the football didn’t provide the perfect end to a great weekend that we wanted. Obviously gutted at losing to Man City and slipping down into second place in the Premier League. It was a bit of a flat match, as far as the football was concerned, especially considering all the hype around it. I think they probably deserved the win to be honest and 1-0 was a fair score line. I was surprised to see Sir Alex lose it a bit on the touchline, exchanging a few heated words with Mancini. He’s normally so controlled – there’s obviously a lot of pressure on him and the team and I hope this isn’t a sign that it’s getting to him a bit too much. The last thing we need at this stage of the season is the manager falling apart.
Still, onwards and upwards. We have two games left to redeem ourselves and of course we’ll have to keep an eye on City’s results. Mancini says Man United are still favourites for the title because we’ve got easier games but at this stage no game is easy. On paper, I would agree that Swansea and Sunderland are a better prospect than Newcastle and QPR, but you never know what will happen. QPR are fighting a bit of a relegation battle, which will undoubtedly inspire them, but the other three don’t really have anything to lose, which could be just as dangerous, especially if we let the nerves get to us and don’t relax into the games. The next two Sundays will be big football days for us.
Anyway, I’m trying to take my mind off football for the time being, at least until Sunday. Had a cracking weekend with the lads, out in town on Saturday and Sunday night. We went to a few bars around Manchester on Saturday then for an Indian and had a really nice steak meal on Sunday. It was good to catch up with them all – a bit like the good old days. One of them took us to the football in his Renault Grand Scenic on Monday night. It’s a decent sized car, easily fitting five of us, and would work well for all the studio equipment and stuff I have to shift around, so I might take a look at one later this week.
Tags: Buying a used car, cars, Football, Man City, Man United, Manchester, Premier League
Posted in Football, Manchester, My Life | No Comments »
Thursday, April 19th, 2012
It’s a good job I’m not a betting man because I would have lost some money on last night’s Champions League semi-finals. My prediction for the Real Madrid v Bayern Munich result wasn’t too far out but it was a bit of a shock to watch Chelsea sneak a 1-0 win over Barcelona. It was a fascinating game of football to watch and I am, surprisingly for a Man United fan, pleased for Chelsea – I think they deserved it. They really stuck to their game plan and didn’t let Barcelona rattle them, which I think was key for the win. We all know how good Barcelona are at keeping the ball and relentlessly plugging away to create chances but Chelsea showed last night that if you stay solid, keep your structure and block them out as much as possible, it makes it difficult even for Messi to score. OK, so they had a bit of luck too and Barcelona could have scored three or four but they didn’t and that is, at the end of the day, what football is all about – scoring more goals than the other team.
It’s going to be a big couple of weeks for football from now – Man United have got a home game against Everton on Sunday and I’ll be watching the second legs of the Champions League semi-finals next week, of course. Then it’s all about us against City on Monday, 30 April – the big Manchester derby. It’s possible that game will have a big influence on who is going to win the Premier League in 2012, so it’s about as important as it gets for us. Me and a couple of the lads have managed to get tickets as well; we don’t normally go to derby games but this one is just too important to miss and there are even a few lads who have moved away coming back for it. There are five of them, making it twelve of us in total, meaning our big group of mates will be hitting the town together again for the first time in years. We’ve got a couple of Manchester serviced apartments booked, so watch out if you’re in town that weekend – it could get messy!
Tags: Barcelona, Champions League, Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Manchester, Manchester Derby, Manchester serviced apartments
Posted in Football, Manchester, My Life | No Comments »
Monday, March 26th, 2012
Had a really nice, chilled weekend in the end and did a few things I’ve not done for a long time. I went out with some of the lads on Friday night, to a few Manchester bars, then we all came back to my place for a bit of a party in the games room with a few people we’d met around town. We kept going till about 5am, with most of them staying over on the sofas. A few sore heads in the morning but nothing some cups of tea and bacon sandwiches couldn’t fix.
Did a bit of shopping on Saturday afternoon and went to the cinema in the evening with my daughter. I don’t think I’ve been for about ten years as I’ve got such a good movie system at home but I quite liked it for a change – their popcorn is better than mine too. I didn’t realise Manchester cinemas were so good these days and we were even allowed to take a beer in to drink while watching the movie. I’m sure that never happened when I was a kid.
Football tonight and four full days in the studio for the rest of this week. It’s normally the other way round, busy at the beginning of the week and quiet at the end, but the band I’ve got in wanted it specifically Tuesday to Friday. They’ve been in before though so I know them and it should be good fun. Last time they even let me play on the record a bit – only some tambourine but I still got the credit!
Tags: Football, Man United, Manchester, Manchester bars, Manchester cinemas, Music recording, Recording studio
Posted in Football, Manchester, Music, My Life, The Studio | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
A great weekend of football has set me up nicely for this week. We’re finally in the position we deserve, the top of the Premier League, after a great win over West Brom. Man City seem to be losing their nerve a little bit – I watched the highlights of their match against Swansea on Match of the Day and they seemed on edge as a team; irritable and just not working well together. Still, it’s all good for us and I hope we keep the top spot to the end of the season. It’s what Man United do best – 100% right to the end, when others are losing their nerve and cracking under the pressure.
We’ll be concentrating our efforts on getting a result against Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night now, in the Europa League. That’s going to be a tough game, away from home with a 3-2 deficit from last week’s match. It’ll be a nervy evening round my house I think. I’ve got a busy week in the studio before that though, with a signed band in to record for four days this week. They’re from Finland and their management have sent them over here to record, to soak up a bit of creative energy from the city, I think. They’ve put them up in some Manchester serviced apartments and are taking them on tours of the city, looking at the musical heritage, like the old Hacienda building and the Factory Records head offices, which are now the Factory251 nightclub. I think it’s great that they see Manchester, and my studio, as a destination for such a big project and I’m hoping we can produce a decent record for them.
Tags: Europa League, Man City, Man United, Manchester, Manchester serviced apartments, Music, Music recording, Premier League
Posted in Football, Manchester, Music, The Studio | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Had a nice relaxing weekend with no football to worry about for once. Me and a couple of the lads went out in Manchester on Saturday night. We normally just go around Manchester’s pubs and bars but we thought we’d have a bit of a civilised evening for a change, so went for a nice meal in a great British restaurant in the centre of town, then for a few frames of snooker. There were five of us out so we had a little tournament between us – I think the highest break of the evening was 17, so there’s not much chance of you seeing us playing in a Snooker Championship any time soon.
This week will be a bit different in the studio compared to last. I’ve got a comedian coming in today to record some voice-overs for a video he’s putting together and then later in the week it has to be one of the strangest jobs I’ve had – a TV production company are going to be recoding sounds to be used in children’s programmes. They’ve asked specifically if I have a large space they can record in while moving about with lots of props, so I don’t really know what to expect – I have an image in my mind of a room full of people on space hoppers and loads of kids running around screaming but I’m sure it won’t be like that. I hope not, anyway.
Looking forward to watching Man United thrash Ajax on Thursday night too, in the return leg of their Europa League tie. With the home crowd and the 2-0 buffer from last week’s game, I’m expecting to see some quality football being played, and lots of goals too.
Tags: Europa League, Football, Man United, Manchester, Music recording, Recording studio, Snooker
Posted in Football, Manchester, My Life, The Studio | No Comments »
