Day 2 Whistlepunks and Bocks
Slept really well for about 6 hours straight, then was awake
for a while but eventually went back to sleep.
I’m feeling reasonably human today.
Tom is sleeping after a 12 hour night shift, but we have Heather to show
us around and stop us getting the tram in the wrong direction.
On the agenda for day #2, Whistlepunks Axe throwing. When we were here for the wedding in January,
“the boys” went axe throwing at Whistlepunks, one of those pre-wedding male bonding
things. It sounded like fun and I was a
little miffed to miss out, so it was my special request of "things to do in
Manchester". And I’m so glad I asked,
because I totally SUCKED at it. Pretty
simple concept, you take a small axe (tomahawk size), hold it above your head,
and throw it at the target, a 1metre round bulls eye about 3 metres away.
It took me about 12 throws to actually get the axe to stick into the wood. It kept bouncing off, and despite some one-on-one coaching and encouragement, I did not improve very much at all. Practice time over, still without getting the damn axe to land blade first in the target, the competition began. I did improve slightly, and eventually fluked a bulls eye, but still came pretty much bottom of the score board. It’s a good thing I’m used to being useless at such things, because it was great fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It took me about 12 throws to actually get the axe to stick into the wood. It kept bouncing off, and despite some one-on-one coaching and encouragement, I did not improve very much at all. Practice time over, still without getting the damn axe to land blade first in the target, the competition began. I did improve slightly, and eventually fluked a bulls eye, but still came pretty much bottom of the score board. It’s a good thing I’m used to being useless at such things, because it was great fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Next up was a wander around Manchester city, which is a real
mix of old gothic-style buildings and more modern boring buildings, all jumbled
together. We found a neat little café (called
PBK – Pot Kettle Black) for coffee and a snack inside a huge glass arboretum type
building.
Then it was time to mosey off to our next treat – Bocks Roast Fondue restaurant. Another simple concept, slow roasted beef brisket with roast spuds and veges, Yorkshire pudding waffles, with a large vat of gravy over a warming flame to dip the goodies into.
Absolutely delicious and I have no idea why this idea hasn’t taken off around the globe. We slowly worked our way through the pile of food, fended off a few attempts to clear away the remaining goodies until it was all safely tucked away, and passed a very pleasant afternoon chatting about all manner of things and setting the world to rights.
Then it was time to mosey off to our next treat – Bocks Roast Fondue restaurant. Another simple concept, slow roasted beef brisket with roast spuds and veges, Yorkshire pudding waffles, with a large vat of gravy over a warming flame to dip the goodies into.
Absolutely delicious and I have no idea why this idea hasn’t taken off around the globe. We slowly worked our way through the pile of food, fended off a few attempts to clear away the remaining goodies until it was all safely tucked away, and passed a very pleasant afternoon chatting about all manner of things and setting the world to rights.
We caught the tram home again and chatted some more before jetlag
had our heads nodding and we took ourselves off to bed about 9.30pm.
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