Ambition

A few years ago now, the Minx and I met up with some friends in the Northern Quarter for a late breakfast and drinks. It turned out that one of those friends knew someone who was staying nearby and suggested she invite him down to join us. And that was how I met Simon.

I can't remember now whether we'd all been out the night be before - I do recall the general 'morning after' feeling - but he came and joined our languid group and conversation was made. At some point it became apparent that we had a shared, historical passion for Gary Numan, and that, my friends, is when our friendship ignited.

And it turned out that we had plenty of other things in common, such as the rollercoaster ride of running a small business, which is something I still do, whereas Simon now makes a living as an artist, primarily through his photography. You can see some of his work here (although seeing the pictures on the web is nowhere near as good as seeing the actual prints).

In 2017, Simon ran the first Not Quite Light festival, which was a bold undertaking, pulling together several different events and activities under a conceptual banner, loosely based around the histories (and possible futures) of Manchester and Salford.

Last year he ran the festival again with an even bigger and more ambitious programme, which included one excellent evening in the Sacred Trinity church. The amount of work that Simon puts into it is incredible, plus he has the attendant stresses around ticket sales etc. I honestly don't know how he does it.

And this year, he's doing it again. Next weekend, in fact, Thursday through Sunday. This evening, we met up for a drink in Salford, which was lovely and, I hope, relaxing for him. Walking back to the train station afterwards, I saw this at the side of the road, which seemed rather appropriate: all of the best aspects of this word apply to Simon. I absolutely take my hat off to him.

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-10.9 kgs
Reading: 'Jog On' by Bella Mackie (haven't read a word of it all weekend!)