50 things you must do in Manchester?

The other day I was reading 'City Life' (free student special Feb 2002), a local magazine in Manchester (http://www.citylife.co.uk). In the last page of it there was a list of 50 things you must do in Manchester, which was funny. I checked it against what I had done here and found I only did a few of them, as follows:

1. Eat an Abdul's kebab (I like Kebab!!)

2. Have to buy food at the 24 hour Spar (only when I was in desperate need of food and I didn't bother to go around)

3. Take a day trip to Blackpool and go on the Big One (A trip to Blackpool was the first of my trips here)

4. Walk city centre streets looking up to catch the architectual grandeur (we were more interested in shopping centres, to be honest!)

5. Take the tram to the Lowry (In fact our target was the designer outlet opposite the Lowry)

6. Get (at least verbally) abused by schoolkids in Salford (I was relieved when I moved out of my accommodation there; I had got their attention for a few times when going back home; they liked to say 'how're you?' in Mandarin, maybe supposing all Chinese (or any lookalike) speak Mandarin! Once or twice they even tried to 'attack' me physically!)

Here are the rest of the list:

1. Visit the Press Club

2. Get mugged

3. Get ripped off by a drug dealer

4. Adopt the Manc swagger

5. Spot David Beckham (What a pity I haven't!)

6. Become a DJ

7. Go to North Manchester

8. Be on Channel M

9. Join a Band

10. Turn on, tune out and drop-in at the Buddhist Centre's mediation classes

11. Get dripped on in the Music box

12. Take in the view from Aderley Edge

13. Play table-top space invaders of Fab Cafe

14. Snog the monster in Fab Cafe

15. Find a favourite curry house in Rushlome (We went to an Indian restaurant once there but I don't think it was our favourite!!)

16. Get lost in Afflecks Palace (I seldom went there)

17. Sell your entire CD collection to Vinyl Exchange

18. Stick to the carpets at the Roadhouse

19. Drink at every bar (including the New Union) in the Gay Village 

20. Spot someone from Coronation Street (I haven't watched any of its episodes - though I know it's popular - so I don't know if I've met anyone from this TV series!!)

21. Experience the space-age theatre-pod of the Royal Exchange Theatre

22. Graffiti the pebble at the Bridgewater Hall

23. Take your partner to Xanadu swinger's club on Blackfriars Street and check if they really do have the biggest watershed in Europe

24. See a football match at Rochdale's Spotland football ground (I watched a football match at Old Trafford only)

25. Try and go a week without saying 'cool', say 'apnin' instead

26. See Phoenix's Nights style cabaret at the Willows in Salford

27. See Rugby League at the Willows Stadium in Salford

28. Watch the stars from Godlee Observatory on top of UMIST

29. Pretend to be interested in one of the new £1.4m apartments at No.1 Deansgate and then turn it down as inadequate

30. Drink Holts bitter

31. Buy a Kagoul

32. Have a day out in Stockport

33. Go to Keppel Road in Chorlton and look for resting rock stars/actors/musicians

34. Stroke someone else's beard at the Cornerhouse

35. Buy something from the Clone Zone

36. Have your picture taken outside Salford Boys Club, recreating that classic snap of the Smiths

37. Buy a Big Issue from the vendor who sings 'Sun ainnnn't shinnnnnninnngg, sky ainn't bluuuuuu, someone buy a biiig issssue'. Apparently you get two free staples with every copy (Sorry, I used to walk past by the vendors!!)

38. Work behind the bar at the Night and Day

39. Shag a member of an incomparably fey indie-guitar band just before they go global

40. Get on personal terms with at least two of the following; Badly Drawn Boy, Andy Votel, Jon Da Silva, Mani (or any ex-member of the Stone Roses), John Vegas, Barney Doodlebug

41. Eat a bag of steaming black peas from Stalybridge station buffet bar. 

42. Start a pub fight during a televised United match

43. Adopt Manc Slang; refer to your siblings as 'Our Kid' your girlfriend as 'Doris', your mother as 'me mam' and everyone else as 'a propoh wankoh'

This page was last updated on Wednesday, 15 October 2003.

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