Parping knowledgeably

Dan's exams finished last Friday and so, apart from a curriculum meeting next week, he has no school until September! One of the items on his not very long to do list for the interim is to buy a stool for when he's playing double bass, so I suggested to him that this afternoon we could go down to the music shops in Manchester. 

I had a school awards ceremony down at the Church, this morning, but as soon as that was over, I walked back up to the house, collected Dan, and we set off, grabbing a couple of coffees from the Costa machine at Kirkby Motors on our way.

We parked up in the Northern Quarter and went to grab some lunch and, as Hannah is only working part time* while she finishes her law exams, she came to meet us, too. (We went to Liquor and Burn, which was fab.) 

After that, Dan and I walked along to Dawsons, at which point it became apparent that our mission had changed from music stools to classical guitars. I had a very enjoyable 20 minutes looking at all of the analogue synths, particularly a watching a chap who was playing with one of them and parping about in a knowledgable fashion. 

And after a brief look at the guitars, including a beautiful Gretsch, Dan concluded that while Dawsons stocked acoustic guitars, they didn't have any classical ones, so we made our way to Forsyths. Here, up on the second floor, Dan took down a guitar from the wall and, making himself comfortable on a stool, proceeded to play beautifully for about ten minutes.

When he'd finished playing and put the guitar back, I looked at the price: £1,850! It turned out that there was some sheet music that he wanted, too, and that came to just under £30, which was far more affordable, so I treated him to that.

*Working part time in her day job that is. She seems to be working constantly at studying the rest of the time.

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-11.3 kgs
Reading: 'Pauline Boty: Pop Artist And Woman' by Sue Tate