Monday Mural: Eastern Bloc hits 30

Eastern Bloc is one of my favourite places to have a coffee, inside by the vinyl store or outside on Stevenson Square, I love the Russian onion domed churches and the red star Soviet feel of the place's artwork. It's my contribution to this Public Holiday Monday Mural.

A celebration of 30 years as a record store takes place at Band On the Wall on Saturday 5 September You can get in the mood with a library of Eastern Bloc mixes and podcasts here,

#ManchesterPride comes before the Fall

Bloom Street looking lovely in the Gay Village by The Docs (front left) and New York New York (front right). A peaceful scene taken in the week and unlike it will be today, packed full of happy partying Pride people.

Vintage Fair at Manchester Cathedral: Medieval meets Mid Twentieth Century

It was odd to see a licensed bar selling Pimms et al inside Manchester Cathedral yesterday! But it's part of the two day vintage festival- clothes and some exciting mid 20C furniture, a stunning 1930s metal desk and lamps etc. It's smaller than I expected but worth popping into.

Skywatch Friday: #ManchesterPride

It's the annual big weekend of Manchester Pride - where LGBTQIA* communities and friends can celebrate life and raise money for charities. Here are two of the stages being set up on Bloom St/ Sackville St on Wednesday. Dannii Minogue and Atomic Kitten are among the acts lined up.

What are your plans this August public holiday weekend? (I refuse to refer to them as "Bank Holidays") I think a visit to the vintage fair at Manchester Cathedral (which is today and tomorrow), The Stockport Old Town Fringe Festival (which is all weekend) and a walk in the hills above Rochdale are on the cards for me...  

A photo for Skywatch Friday, sharing skies of all hues and colours around the world.



* Should anyone need this explaining, it stands for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex or asexual.

Paving the way on St James' Square @PaveCoffee

Pave Cafe in the city centre is a good place to start the day. A Taste of Manchester gave it a good review here and I look forward to having time to stop one morning or evening to check it out myself.

ABC Wednesday: G is for Ground floor Garden flat

G is for a ground floor apartment garden flat in Piccadilly Village, in late summer bloom by the River Medlock. These are city centre purpose-built apartments on a large riverside development completed in 1990. Linked to ABC Wednesday.

Hang the baskets!

High and late summer is a dangerous time on the early morning streets. Freshly watered hanging baskets outside pubs drip and cascade onto unsuspecting commuters below. But the flowers are with it, as shown here at the Ape and Apple. 

Skywatch Friday: 3.15 at the Exchange

Mid-afternoon in St. Ann's Square. The Exchange clock has long since stppoed working and why it's not been fixed I do not know.... Click to see this week's other Skywatch posts.

I'm off for a few days, walking on the Llyn Peninsula and you can follow my trip on see my Instagram account, 3G on the Welsh coast permitting. 

Due to an incredibly busy week at work co-organising an international conference and out socialising every night in Didsbury, Rochdale and the city centre, I have run out of blog posting time. So Mancunian Wave is taking its first ever break in its 4+ years. Have a great weekend folks and see you bright and early on Tuesday!

A case of the blues at Oasis aquarium...

Oasis Aquarium on Great Clowes St in Salford has been helping fishkeepers since 1985, but I am not sure about the ethics of tropical fish keeping...

ABC Wednesdays: "F" is for football museum

A banner for the National Football Museum which opened in 2012 and is worth an hour of anyone's time. Linked to ABC Wednesday .