I went up to Microdirect — the computer shop — with Miss Noodle and her man. Opposite, this hideous multi-storey car-park has appeared on the corner of Upper Brook Street and Hathersage Road, as part of the ongoing development of the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

It looks like a giant electric fan-heater and feels too tall and too wide for this spot.

Twenty years ago, I lived near here on Daisy Bank Road (gotta love that name). The area used to have a ’suburban’ feel. But now, multi-storey buildings line the road all the way from the city centre to Hathersage Road. It feels as if the city is expanding out here.

I found a recipe for pissaladiere (French onion tart), on the side of a bag of Dove’s Farm Pasta Flour. So I thought I’d give it a try. Olives, anchovies, onions, tomatoes…

It tasted great but I put on far too many tomatoes I think. In fact, some recipes don’t mention tomatoes at all. The Dove’s Farm recipe doesn’t include yeast, but others do. I’m confused (but it doesn’t take much) :-)

Tony Blair was on Newsnight last night to promote his ‘respect agenda’ and answer questions from the audience. As the programme started, he seemed to have a bizarre glazed expression on his face.

At the end, Kirsty Wark said goodnight to the viewers, the credits rolled, and she completely ignored Blair, who was sitting next to her. She put down her microphone on the table and looked straight ahead at the audience. Blair looked at her, obviously expecting the usual fake end-of-programme pretend chat, but there wasn’t any.

He glanced at the audience, then back to Kirsty Wark, like a puppy seeking affection. But she continued to look straight ahead. He stared at her. Then, finally, as the music came to an end, she looked down at her notes. Fade out…

I would love to put the video on here for you to see for yourselves, but the BBC probably wouldn’t appreciate it.

< 2005 entries in the Daily Journal

NOTE: a New Year and a slightly new look to the Journal which will now be known as the Photo & Video Blog. From today I’m using the software Wordpress. Which should save me a lot of time.

I was awake early and so was my neighbour. So we went shopping. It was drizzling and the first day back at work for many people after New Year. Some of them were trooping along almost like robots.

I wanted to try and capture the awfulness of a grey and wet winter morning in Manchester. But, with the blue sky, street lights, reflections in the wet roads and the vivid way my Canon Powershot A70 camera handles this kind of scene, it actually looks quite colourful.

It was good to know we would be heading straight back home afterwards and would be able to dry out and enjoy some reduced-price Sainsbury’s mince pies and cream. Unlike the poor damp office workers.