I come back home yesterday, escaping the rain in Manchester, coming back to the gorgeous sunny weather in the South East, and I wake up this morning and it’s raining cats and dogs.

Never mind. Yes, I’m back home after another successful tour. I do love Manchester and I still can’t put my finger on why. Maybe it’s because assistants in the shops greet me with “A’right luv” or “see ya la’er luv” with that wonderful accent of theirs. Maybe it’s the lovely multi-cultural mix that you don’t get in certain other parts of the country, or maybe it’s the Trafford Centre.

Yes, I finally made it to the shopping centre after all these years of saying I would go. It really was a good idea taking a day off to do this, you really do need a day. I got to see a bit more of Manchester. I took the bus and we drove by Manchester Metropolitan University, it’s very big. I even managed to catch a glimpse of Old Trafford; a little tingle went up my spine when I saw the statue of Sir Matt Busby. I think everybody’s head turned in the same direction as mine when they realised we were driving past the stadium.

And then on to the Trafford Centre. Goodness it was massive. I must’ve walked a couple of miles easy. Funny thing is, I thought it wasn’t going to be so busy that Sunday, what with Man Utd playing Chelsea in the Community Shield match at Wembley. I was wrong. I can only assume the people out in force were Man. City fans who had no interest in watching the match.

I did try to buy some bits and pieces (I have a wedding coming up at the end of the month and i still had my Marks and Spencer’s gift card to spend) but I gave up as it was just too much for me. I spent the rest of the time walking around in awe at the size of the place, at the Chinatown that was actually inside the mall. There’s only one word I can think to describe it, opulent. I’m glad I finally got to see it.

Back to the hotel around 6pm and I treated myself to a Thai meal in the nearby Chinatown in Piccadilly, a green thai chicken curry with rice, lovely. A great day, although I didn’t buy much.

The journey back home was thankfully uneventful and I was back indoors around 5pm. I didn’t last long and I was soon asleep at around 10pm. Aren’t I a lightweight?

I’m up early this morning as life has to resume and I have a few things to do today, including looking  for a car. Yeah, that quest starts today, wish me luck. Then I’m back home this afternoon and the plan is to just relax and take it easy as I have a long booking with a lovely-sounding gent from tomorrow morning at 11.30. It should be fun.

Welcome home, me.

In the end, Man. Utd were outplayed, out-classed and out-manoeuvred by the better team.  I have to say that Barcelona deserved to win.

Man Utd. were down 1-0 ten minutes into the game and I think they were deflated from then on. At 70mins it was 2-0 with a wicked header by that little bloke who’s only 5ft 7ins.  I couldn’t watch anymore myself so I turned over to watch The Apprentice. I did flick back and forth to see if any minor miracles happened as Ronaldo was determined to get one in, but alas, it didn’t happen. Well done to Barca. They were the better team.

And yeah, thank you to Liverpool fan Michael for your text last night. Commiserations and gloating all in the same sentence. Cheers *blows raspberry*. Hey, you still lost the premiership to us though didn’t you? Don’t forget that little detail *insert evil larf here*.

It was a good day yesterday.  Man Utd. retained their premiership title after drawing 0-0 with Arsenal. They only needed one more point. So they took it easy and kept Arsenal at bay. I know one of my favourite customers who supports Arsenal won’t be too pleased. I’ll have to kiss his wounds when I next see him.

Now to just beat Barcelona a week on Wednesday in the Champions League to make it a double. Fingers crossed.

It was great watching Sir Alex doing the Happy Dance.