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The weekend just gone was the Xmas party for Man Utd and also Man City. The Manchester United players were in the club Prohibition. There were a couple of fights but it seems that it was relatively minor.

The City players were in the club Lucid on Sunday (I was there on Saturday – missed out on City players getting hit). First Anelka was punched by an angry fan who did not like his reported desire to play for a “big club”. The more serious incident involved Joey Barten who apparently poked a lit cigerette into a youth players eye. We will have to see what happens.

Related links:

Christmas Party Poopers
BBC News Sport
Football 365

This weekend was the Manchester BBC Xmas Party which I helped organise. I had a great weekend. We managed to sell almost all of the 60 tickets.

The weekends events started off in Sweet Mandarin restaurant for a meal. We had a raffle and also secret Santa. We also had a few drinking games but unfortunately we did not have enough time for many other games.

Next up was Lucid – pretty much everyone went there so it must have been quite a sight all of us queueing up. Loads of us had queue-jumping tickets which was supposed to get us in quicker and give us a free drink. We got the free drinks vouchers (including a few extra ) but we did not get in any quicker. Oh well. Had a few drinks and lots of dancing (if you can call it dancing!). Had a great time and took loads of photos. Unfortunately it closed at 2am when I think most people could have kept going for at least an hour more. It seems surprising that in a city like Manchester a massive club like Lucid closes at 2am on a Saturday night.

A few of us were hungry so headed to Kwok Man in Chinatown. Unfortunately there was a pretty big queue and we could not be bothered. I ended up just getting some chips on the way home. Got back home by about 3.30.

Went to football the next day at 11am – we could tell who did not go out the previous night and they won most of there games! I did somehow manage to score a couple goals but also tackle myself! I have a sore arm (back, leg,…) today. By now I was starving since I did not have breakfast so went for some dim-sim. A load of ppl from last night all met up. We then went for a drink, wandered around the Christmas and German market and then went to the cinema. Watched Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events – the lastest movie with Jim Carrey. A strange weird film but quite good. For dinner we went to Nandos went was delicious – I should of ordered more but only had a Chicken burger. After the meal we all headed home and to try and get some sleep.

Overall a really enjoyable weekend. It was great to meet all the ppl and hope to see you all soon.

Related links

Photos- you will need the username/password. Contact me for it.

Went to Birmingham to meet some friends and celebrate Christmas. Got to Birmingham around 4pm (we did get a little lost).

After dumping the stuff off at the hotel and relaxing we went to a Japanese restaurant called Shogun in a place called the Mailbox. The food was really nice but there was a lot. We had a choice between a few different Christmas menus.

I went for Menu 1 which was:

Appetizer
Yakitori (Skewered grilled chicken in Teriyaki sauce)
Harumaki (Japanese crispy spring rolls)
Soba Noodle Soup (Noodle Soup with Chicken, Green Vegetables and Spring Onions)
Tori Sarada (Thinly sliced grilled Chicken Breast with Salad and Dressing)

Main Courses
Tender Duck Breast served with Pineapple and Teriyaki Sauce
Fillet of Sweet Lamb served with Teppan-yaki Sweet Potato
Tender Fillet of Beef with Oriental Mushrooms

Desserts
Oriental Pandan Salad

We thought we had to choice one of each but we got them all. The spring roll was really nice. We also had rice and veg. Thankfully it was about 10 minutes from the hotel so we managed to walk off some of the food.

The Mailbox was a collection of bars, shops and restaurants in a really cool contemporary setting. It looks really nice.

We got back in time for the X-Factor result – didnt really watch it and didnt like either of them but I am glad G4 did not win. By about 9.30pm some other ppl arrived and we headed to the club The Works. It was a huge place.

We stayed there pretty much till it closed at 3am. It had 3 different rooms with different types of music – HipHop/R&B/Jungle, Dance and the other room was more chart, 80s,90s, and cheesy stuff like Bon Jovi, Proclaimers, Bryan Adams etc. I liked the cheesy room – lots of stupid singles and dancing. The Works was actually named one of the places to avoid on this site! but i enjoyed it overall.

On the way home was getting hungry so went to McDonalds and got a double cheeseburger – first McDonalds for about 6 months – it tasted good!

Got back to hotel and then watched some TV – didn’t get to sleep till around 4.45am. Woke up just pass 9am – stupid body clock waking me up! – stayed in bed and watched T4 and Hollyoaks. We left the hotel around 12 and after giving someone a lift to the train station we went to the shopping centre called the Bullring. It was a really nice modern shopping centre. Didn’t buy anything. We ate at an Italian cafe and had some pasta. We then went to find somewhere to sit and chat – eventually found a place that was open. Before too long it was for people to catch the train.

We drove back to Manchester – it only took about 1 hour 45 mins which was not too bad. Got back and was so tired.

Had a great weekend and really enjoyed it.

Related links:

Shogun Teppan-yaki restaurant
The Mailbox
The Works nightclub
Bullring

I have some photos online but you will need to email me – and then I may tell you were they are

Went to see Blink 182 in the MEN Arena in Manchester last Friday. It was excellent. As far as the gig went I think it was better than Avril Lavigne (who I saw about a couple months ago). I think I prefer Avril’s songs overall though. My favourite bits was when they sang All The Small Things and Whats My Age Again and when they sang (I think it was) I Miss You and Tom got everyone to hold up there mobiles. It looked great. Another pretty entertaining bit was right at the end when Mark played solo on a few different instruments.

Unfortunately my camera batteries were dead so only managed one photo – which I put online at some point.

This gig was part of there mini UK tour. They were on Radio 1 Jo Whiley show this Monday and played a couple live songs.

Here is the setlist:

Feeling This
Easy Target
Whats My Age Again
Violence
Happy Holidays You Bastard
The Rock Show
Obvious
I Miss You
Asthenia
Dystentary Gary
All of This
First Date
Go
CAROUSEL!
Stay together for the kids
Dumpweed part 1
M&M’s
Josie
Man Overboard
Dumpweed part 2
Reckless Abandon
All The Small Things
Down
———————
Interlude
Stockholm Syndrome
Dammit
Mark Guitar Solo
Mark Keyboard solo
Mark Harmonica solo

If you ever get a chance to see them do so!

Rating: 9/10

Related links:

Blink 182 Official Site
Blink 182 on Jo Whiley show – Radio 1
Manchester Online Review