the preceding trip there

2003 was my first and only time in Manchester so far, and that was a nice trip. I was in Leeds for a conference, and during and after the conference I was also able to visit Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Durham, York, Newcastle, and then all around Scotland including way up to the north. That included the small childhood nostalgia indulgence of looking, unsuccessfully, for the Loch Ness monster– though I enjoyed Inverness anyway.

But then I had to endure the contempt of my 4-year-old nephew when he overheard me telling my brother about the search. “There are no monsters,” he said, with exasperation at my ignorance.