Manchester Archives

Gag

August 19, 2023 Andy YoungLeave a comment

I could write a poem about the joys of sleeping on a bed but I will spare you. A few things happened since I last posted but I don’t want to talk about it. Not yet anyway. Hence, the title ‘gag’. I’ve been speaking to O yesterday, we had a good email exchange going and it reminded me why he’s so awesome as a friend. We’ve set a date for meeting up in Manchester and we can talk til our respective ears fall off. There will be sushi. There will be coffee and most importantly, there will be comics. So let the saving commence.

Not quite sure what the plan is today. I think I’ll take it as it comes, I’ve agreed not to talk to D till Monday and then we can start to sort things out. I might head into town as I need some shopping. There isn’t a fridge in the room nor a communal one either so it has to be basic stuff that can be cooked with hot water. So guessing my diet of noodles… plates, and bowls, crap, forgot about them. I’ll pick some up as well as it’s cheaper than buying the plastic pot noodles. I think there is communal access to a microwave which I’ll go and check, that would broaden my horizons to microwave rice.

I’m sorry for the lame post. I’m just a bit out of it still and worried that an FND attack is around the corner. With no one being here, it makes me worry.

Day 3 – No self-harm.

QOTD

May 11, 2023May 8, 2023 Andy YoungLeave a comment

Daily writing prompt

What do you do to be involved in the community?

View all responses

Surprisingly a lot more than people would think!
I volunteer four days a week for a charity, which provides digital devices for free to the people of Manchester facing digital poverty. We get referrals from all over the city and the greater Manchester area. I prioritize and filter them, prepare the devices and get them out to them. I also do the collect run, which takes me to many different places to collect any old hardware people want to get rid of. I refurbish it if I can, spare parts if I can, and finally securely dispose of it to EEE regulations so it all ends up being reused.

We provide phones, sim cards, laptops, tablets, desktops, and various electrical items. I’m PAT testing trained so everything is tested when it’s refurbished. There’s quite a bit of admin involved which I usually catch up on a Sunday ready for the week ahead. This past week I’ve managed 20 different devices, all either collected or posted.

For my local community, I live 45 minutes from the city. I do nothing. Literally nothing. We live on a sink estate, have horrible neighbors except for one, and motorbikes with masked riders going up and down the street constantly. There is a police station 5 minutes walk. No presence. No stopping them. Don’t get me started on those small gas canisters of nitrous, like driving through a metal sea.

I had this crazy idea to build a box outside the house and fill it with things for people to swap items for. I would love to live in a place where it wouldn’t;t be robbed or burned down for a laugh. It’s a nice daydream that one.

Scribblings

January 23, 2023 Andy YoungLeave a comment

So for my sins, I have been charged with 2 tooth extractions, a filling, and some kind of other white fillings for the receding gums. I haven’t had any treatment for quite a few years so I see this as not such a bad thing. The extractions could be turned into fillings but as they aren’t visible, removing them just stops any future pain dead in its tracks.

That was today’s excitement. I managed to get to the dentist with the whole family for a 4 person teeth check-a-fon. And I didn’t freak out. Well, a little in the waiting room as the kids were in the car. But then S is 13 and they lock the doors and have the keys. I should trust them more. Not the plethora of kidnap scenarios going on inside my head. Every minute gets worse, first, someone just shouts abuse, next someone is smashing the windows, then the kids are getting stolen along with the car. Then D appeared in the reception that I had been waiting in for what seemed an eternity (5 minutes. 10 tops) and said “All done, your turn” and then instant relaxation now that she had gone to join the kids a whole 3 meters away.

Stupid brain.

I’ve been working since we came back home. D has an assignment she needs to hand in by midnight I’m staying up to proofread it for her. I’ve decided to stop working as it’s been a few hours and my switch (I got it for Christmas with the sole aim of distracting and relaxing me) is calling. I keep playing pokemon Arceus on it and really, really need to play the other games as well. Doesn’t help that I got my shipment of unopened pokemon cards delivered from Vinted a few days ago. I went through each one and shouted out glee when I recognized it from the billionth series on tv. I am a man-child. I do love trading cards. Don’t care too much about what they are but so long as it’s collectible or looks cool I can organize and look after them.

I also got a new notepad two days ago. This ignites joy in my heart.

Me and a friend are doing a workshop on Thursday in town (vagued) about refurbishing laptops and such. There are a few people who have rsvp’d so it’s a done deal that it’s on. I think I’ll use this notepad for that, writing down different things to prompt me to mention if I’m just talking. I don’t know. It’ll be relaxed hopefully and everything casual going on. Nothing too formal, if people want things fixed, I’ll do my best and if people just want to chill and talk then that would be amazing too.

Nervous. But good nervous.

Also, this came in the post a couple of days ago. I love having things on my wrist, different bands, all with their own unique feel. I love this one as it’s non-invasive and rests quite nicely. You should definitely check them out –> https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/787147872/mens-womens-unisex-brown-single-wrap?ref=yr_purchases

Right. Enough ramble. Hopefully all of you amazing people had a fantastic weekend and Monday.

A new dawn…

June 1, 2011June 1, 2011 Andy YoungLeave a comment

Hey.

This will be my first proper post in about 2 years. It is something that I miss doing as it helps me, or so the therapist says, to get things off my chest and on to paper. Although I do prefer writing on paper. Even though my hand hurts after an hour or so. Woo. Go the computer generation!

So since this is technically my first post…

My name is Andy. I come from Wales but I live & work in Manchester. I like shiny objects, have a strange addiction to nicotine patches and diet coke. So now you know at least ~~one~~ two random facts about me. Hopefully I will have figured out how to put an image in here of me.

Ok, less of the specifics about me as sharing isn’t a key quality in me if I know the person, if I don’t and they don’t know me I’ll quite happily share to my hearts content. Music. That is something which is a huge part of my life. I’m one of these firm believers that there is a song for every conceivable moment in life.

An example, driving through Manchester city centre, 5am in the morning when the light is just starting to creep through the city. Its still dark and murky but you can work out the figures and objects emerging. I had ‘Sweet dreams – Marilyn Manson‘, I’m aware that isn’t the name of song but um nur nur nur, nur nur sweet dreams are made of thiiissss. That one. He covered it which happened to be particularly good.

I once spent a whole summer living the life of a vampire. Not ripping out peoples throats and drinking blood! … actually today’s vampires don’t do that. They wear mascara and have hair covering there eyes. Anyways. I would wake and rise late in the afternoon and sleep at 9am. I used to listen to loads of music during that time. Bob Dylan specifically. Say what you will about his upbringing, poor little rich boy etc, but his music has always had a nice calming effect on me. Even now as I type I can hear the lyrics to shelter in the storm. Sort of a conditioned programming through sleep deprivation from a decade ago heh.

*reads back* hmm. not painting a well rounded image of myself am I.

Have a picture of Molly, the words best dog ™

Molly is amazing. She makes everything that is bad, wicked and evil in the world better. She does it with a smile, a lick and a leg hump. Yes, alas, my dear sweet Molly is in fact a lesbian. Much rather prefers the company of my leg as opposed to cuddling up with a boy dog. That aside, she is still cute despite being old and into the whole ‘hairing thing’.

So this will do for now. Hugs for all. Oh. Yes. I like hugging everyone. What can I say, I’m cuddly 😉

Continue reading “A new dawn…” →

Weekend Report

June 20, 2010June 2, 2011 Andy Young5 Comments

It was a good weekend. As usual it flew by, which is a good thing & bad rolled into one.
Saturday involved an early morning trek to Stockport to find maternatey clothes for J. You get so much free stuff when your pregnant its unreal. The books they give you all contradict each other, they also have conflicting things that you can and can’t do. I do find it funny, its an obvious area that people cash in on, where you need to have the ‘best’ thing for your child. The marketing is fantastic. It’s something that I’ve started to notice more with my role at work. To appreciate good marketering when you see it.

Do you love your unborn child? if you really do they you’ll spend hundreds on THIS device, otherwise they will grow up a freak and won’t amount to anything in life.

Thats pretty much the gist of what they put out there. That being said, we will no doubt succome to this advertising and buy countless articles of clothes they will grow out of in minutes. Part of the fun. They had an awesome pirate costume. Which will have to be bought for halloween next year. Which has to be the best time of year ever.

The bank also made me chuckle on Saturday. After waiting in a shockingly long queue the very helpful teller asked, “Do you know the state of your account?”. Why the hell else would I be wasting 20 minutes of my Saturday throwing money at the bank.

I also got a game called Left 4 Dead. Far to addictive shooting zombies.

Today we went to Cleeveleys. Or however you spell it. Its a less touristy version of Blackpool with a nice beach. Molly loved it, when we got there she jumped straight into a puddle and did mad little sprints everywhere.

You could even see Blackpool tower. And as you can clearly see Molly was smiling as she jumped, dived and rolled around in the sea. When we drove back we stopped at J’s dad for fathers day and had an impromptu bbq. It was nice. I simply sat and took photos.

I’m so tired its unreal. 3 hours driving in the baking sun with some lovely sun burn.

Totally worth it. Hope everyone had an equally great weekend.

The Weekend Report…

June 13, 2010June 2, 2011 Andy Young6 Comments

They should invent a device which causes a time distortian at weekends, slowing down time to at least a 2:1 ratio. They always come and go so quickly. Although someone would no doubt abuse said device and then no one could use it. In second thoughts, lets not invent the device but instead create a four day weekinstead. *thinks* sad as that is, there is probably a group on facebook for that.I had a lovely weekend.

A picture paints a thousand words.

On Saturday headed to Sale Water park, a really nice place. The lake there is the result of the M60 being built, so naturally they turned it into a nature reserve. Probably to offset the motorway. Heh. Anyways, its a nice place, really lovely for walking the Wog. You can tell it is in Manchester because you have a pylon. J took a very pretty picture of the said pylon.

Molly even had a swim! The ducks in the pond were poised to attack but I think she scared them away. It was so cute, she got water in her ear mid swim out, stopped, lost the stick, grabbed it again and swam back for reassurance.Oh the last picture is of me before the hair I just got heh. It was also sunny. Hence squintingness.

Today headed over to Wales as it is my Dad’s birthday. We went to the dutch pancake house as planned, which as always, was made of awesome. As you can clearly see from the pancake! My dad thought he would pretend to be Hilter with his pancake. Then some ducks came along to play, with Hens following closely behind. I mean, how can I go home and not see wildlife?

It was a nice day.

The haircut I just recieved was good too. Less hair = yay.

Many hugs all.

Randomness of randomnicity

June 11, 2010June 2, 2011 Andy Young6 Comments

It is worrying that it has taken this long to finally set aside some time to do a post. The weather is lovely outside, a lot nicer than the lingering muggyness we’ve had the past couple of days. Hopefully, gone are the days of walking at lunch time and coming back with a cloud of damp & little bugs. Speak of which, I wonder what all those little bugs do when its not humid and damp- are they simply sat around waiting, playing poker, praying for a day of random humidity?

Life over in Manchester is very good these days. Especially now that we are fully settle and established in the house, although what was once an empty house is starting to become a very full house. The garage, a once tranquil and desolate place is now filled with a treasure trove of boxes, trinkets and various items we are not allowed to put in the rubbish. Although on the plus side, at least it will give us something to clean next Spring.

A few weeks ago we went to J’s Mum’s wedding. I had never been to a wedding before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I hired Day to do the photography for it, so it was nice to have a friendly face apart from J and her side of the family. The wedding was great, they had the meal at the Rice Bowl on Deansgate, in town. It was by far the best chinese food I’ve ever had. To say that I had to turn away food must mean that the food was fantasic. The crispy duck was really well presented as were the army of other courses they provided. Whatsmore, when asked they boxed up all the spare food so we could treat Molly!

The first one would be me. We started at the Slug and lettice, which has got to be even more pretencious that Starbucks or Costa Coffee, with people who act above there station. Next one is J’s Mum, J and Me. Then a lovely artsy shot of the rings which Day took. J, J’s mum, Greg (Norris from Corrie heh) and Me. Rice Bowl, best chinese place ever, and finally a nice shot of the town centre. The proper centre. Or Albert Square. It was very nice.

I renegotiated my role at the company I work for, so now I look after Marketing and head that up as well as IT, on the plus side I got a new car and staff. On the down side I got more staff and now have to manage huge sums of marketing, events, material, brochures and print requests. It does make for a busy and hectic day however. I felt so sad when the old fiesta had to go. I ended up selling it to J’s uncle Brian, so its not to far away and I was promised the opportunity to visit at weekends.

This made me feel a lot better.

Silly fiesta. The hours I spent on the m60, morning & night, for over two years. On the plus side the new car is very comfy and has the amazing invention of air conditioning. It is also a car for ‘special’ people like me as it has automatic headlights, windscreen wipers, automated handbrake and if it gets a puncture or the tyre pressure is low it tells me. Creepy.

This weekend is my Dad’s birthday so we are packing up and heading there for Sunday. We will be heading to the Dutch Pancake house there for the yearly binge of pancakes, which next to Chinese food, is something I deeply love.

Oh did I mention that, November 23rd I will be a happy and proud Father? *glee*

It is week 17, Jis healthy and we’ve had the first scan. The next one is next month where we will find out whether we are having a little boy or girl. I’m hoping for a girl, but so long as baby is well and happy, then that is the main thing. I also took great pleasure in saying to the mid-wife that the baby was planned. Take that, statistics!

Although most of you already knew about that but a couple people I tried to tell but didn’t know how to phrase it heh.

Hugs for all.