Manchester Festival Frenzy

I am starting to think it may be physically possible to attend a different festival every weekend. This is exciting news, and whilst my hypothesis needs further testing, my evidence so far is compelling, and I invite any passing universities to consider funding further research into what is, after all, a very important possibility.

Evidence item one: Taste of Trafford lures me to Altrincham on Sunday 26th September. If research goes according to plan, this date will hereafter be known as "Weekend no. 1", or perhaps "D-Day".

Evidence item two: The Manchester Whisky Festival, last Saturday. True, I sent representatives rather than actually attend myself, but for funding purposes this still counts.

Evidence item three: Manchester Food and Drink Festival. This has been on all week, and The Whisky Festival may have technically been part of it, but I only went today so it counts as a new one. We started in St Ann's Square, where a number of tempting foodie stalls jostled enticingly for our custom; obviously we succumbed, and purchased cheese, chutney, pork pies (well, the male half of the family bought those), salami, and cakes. I planned to post a photo of my gorgeous AiryFairy Cupcakes, but as the box turned itself upside down in my bag and I had to lick most of the icing off the lid, I decided Laura would probably not welcome this type of publicity. They did taste delicious though.

We then went up to Albert Square, where we sat at cheery communal tables in the sunshine, listening to Elbow playing over the speaker system, eating tapas from Grado and drinking beer from the Robinsons tent. Perfect: this was the sort of day that made me feel proud to live in Manchester. And how often can one combine feelings of civic pride with the purchase of a large bag of German sausage?

Evidence item four: I will be attending two events at The Manchester Literature Festival next Saturday - the Pages Ago historical fiction day and then the Boho Literary Pub Walk. I have the honour of blogging about both for the festival, although I am still puzzled as to why I had to request the Pages Ago event whilst they actively offered me the pub one. Surely I am cruelly misunderstood? *is clever and literary, and doesn't really like wine or beer at all*

Evidence item five: the third Didsbury Beer Festival takes place across the weekend of 28th - 30th October. It goes without saying that as this is conveniently held a two minute walk from my house, I shall probably show my face.

So, the only gap in this promising schedule is the weekend of 23rd October, when I shall be travelling to Edinburgh for the beginning of "birthday month" festivities. Now, if only they had some kind of festival that I wasn't two months late for....