Media City

Today's the day ........................ for war and wine

Spent the day in Manchester - doing a variety of things.

Started off with a visit to the Imperial War Museum North, impressively situated on Trafford Wharf overlooking the Manchester Ship Canal. In all my sorties to the Manchester Museums while in gainful employment, I had never actually been there. I was keen to see how it managed the delicate task of imparting information and educating about war - without somehow glorifying it at the same time. After spending several hours in there - I can tell you that (in my opinion) they manage it spectacularly well.

We then took this very eye-catching footbridge curving over the water to the other side of the Ship Canal to what is now called Media City. This is where the new HQ of the BBC and other television channels are to be found. We watched a bit of Wimbledon tennis on a gigantic screen in the middle of the Plaza before walking on to our next venue of the day - the Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

We were going there not to watch cricket but to taste wine - Naked Wine in particular. I've told you about them before when we were in New Zealand. We like what they do and we buy most of our wine from them. We knew that our friend Bill Small, a New Zealand wine producer, would be there with his wine and we wanted to go and say hello.

All in all - a grand day out in Manchester ...........................