Stopped off to say hi to Alan.

1912-1954. Younger than me.

He told me to take care cutting across Whitworth St, so I did.

Friends of Manchester Peace Garden

Manchester Peace Garden. Okay so it was a bit daggy, just a few scrubby bushes outside the town hall extension, but also included a statue called the Messenger of Peace. (Mancunians also called it the Pigeon Feeder.) All removed to make way for the redevelopment of St Peter's Square.

This group is campaigning to get the Peace Gardens and the Messenger reinstated in the medieval quarter — the space between the cathedral and Chet's. (Manchester must have more quarters than a 4-dimensional hypercube now.)

I don't call myself a pacifist, but I think it's a shame when quirky green spaces and public art disappear from our cities, so I hope this group succeeds.

Friends of Manchester Peace Garden

Mancky

Music, art, architecture of Manchester, mostly concentrating on the 1980s / 1990s.

I couldn't find an overall navigation page, you just have to follow the links and see where you end up, like a psychogeographical dérive.

See if you can find the bit about the rooftop housing estate on top of the Arndale Centre, abandoned after the bomb.

Mancky

I love it, it's fantastic. I felt quite nostalgic for the Precinct Centre.

Interesting to see the page about Antwerp Mansion. Manchester Ceilidh considered this for a venue. We were genuinely concerned that the building would collapse on us.

A colleague of mine picked up this info at a public meeting in Leeds. May be useful / of interest.

Brexit: What EU citizens living in the UK need to know — Kingsley Napley

This year's Tour has been absolutely bonkers. I think they're trying to compete with our politics.

Tour de France: Chris Froome forced to run up Mont Ventoux after crash

Tour Highlights

Yesterday evening catching up on the weekend's Tour highlights. Chris Froome's new descending style reminded me of my friend L bombing down the hill from Brinnington into Reddish Vale. I don't remember that she ever punched a guy wearing a chicken suit though.

Watching Froomey's aero tuck reminded me that by getting off the saddle and hunching over in the cockpit, she somehow managed to get under the barrier at the bottom of that slope without slowing down :-)

Flippin 'eck, van Avermaet grabs a 5 minute lead in the GC in a single stage!?

There were dozens of young men in WW1 uniform standing and sitting silently in the morning rush at Manchester Piccadilly this morning. Spooky and very moving.

Somme marked by uniformed men across UK with #wearehere