'A mall?'

Life Another Christmas shopping day, this time in Manchester. Farmers, continental and craft markets are in the main squares which means real beef burgers on chiabatta bread, jars of lemon and coconut curd and extraordinary canvases. With all the odurs, colours, sounds and good will it's like going abroad but staying put. The city centre was inevitably crowded so I only stayed around long enough to visit Vinyl Exchange and buy an umbrella. Went through Picadilly Station on the way home for the first time since it's refit. It feels like an airport, large enough to house it's own HMV and more coffee shops than Seattle. On one of the upper levels a group of students were gathered in a dead space next to a wall -- as though this was their meeting place.