By 
Well not quite our road but the main ‘social hub’ road near Thrifty Towers. Today (I’m writing this on Saturday) saw the start of a two day festival called WestFest dedicated to the unique place we live – West Didsbury. West Didsbury is a thriving suburb of Manchester in which independent business flourishes. You’ll find a few lovely little streets jam packed with bars, shops, cafes and restaurants most of which are independent businesses or very small chains. It’s a lovely place to live and it is right to celebrate such an area as we have so very few left in this country.
The festival started around lunch time and will go on late into the night and start up again tomorrow afternoon. We mooched up just after midday to take Jarvis to the park for a run around and by the time we came back down Burton Road was busy, busy. Most of the shops and cafes had set out stalls on the pavements and those who hadn’t had decorated inside. It wasn’t the kind of busy where you’re stuffed into a corner and unable to move but chatty-busy and full of buzz. We met up with some friends in our favourite bar Folk, which had taken on a German theme, for a quick drink before popping across the road to wander amongst the food stalls and chat with neighbours and friends. Jarvis – ever the friendly dog (to dogs) made sure we stopped to greet each and every dog even if the other dog wasn’t really in the mood.
We opted for lunch and cocktails from the street stall outside The Violet Hour and persuaded some friends to join us. The boys each went for Blue Ting pulled pork whilst us girls shared a burger and nachos – we had cake in mind for later. Thankfully we managed to snag some outside chairs so Jarvis could stay with us and continue his reign of terror – if you’re a child stay well away from Jarvis unless you have been formally introduced grrrrrrrrrrrr! The burger was really good – my friend Sue and I went for a sans bacon option and split it in half and instantly regretted our decision not to get a whole bastard burger each, what on earth were we thinking? They were beautifully cooked, tender, pink but not bloody and the bun it was sandwiched in between was crusty without entering tooth breaker territory. I gather the pulled pork was good but Mr Thrifty and Sue’s chap weren’t helpful in providing reviews which went further than grunts of satisfaction and cries of ‘MOAR’.
We soaked up the music and atmosphere (oh and booze) then made our way round the corner to Thyme Out to listen to some music and scoff cake in such a disgusting and excitable manner we questioned the wisdom of cocktail drinking so early in the afternoon. At this point our dogs started to show signs of embarrassment at our singing along with the band tiredness so we decided to part ways for a while and put our feet up at home. BUT fear ye not, it’s now coming into the evening, the sun is dipping behind the roofs and I’m exchanging flip flops for heels to pop back up to the festival at the end of our road. I’ll save you from those pictures and keep my camera at home and hit ‘schedule’ on this post before I leave the door.
Comments