a big guy in a big city

Bone is red and dead in Manchester [pictures ahoy!]

Posted by Bone at June 16th, 2008

Just so we’re clear me+mustache=awesome. The mustache (which has now departed my face) did seem to have some kind of magic power over all those around me, or perhaps a mustache just made me more confident because I was ‘in character’. Anyway, I had a great weekend in Manchester, so here’s a load of pictures.

Pete went as Thom (red), and somehow actually managed to pull it off.

Rob was George Best (red and dead), and really stayed in character really well by drinking a lot and getting in bed with a random girl at the end of the night (just to sleep, no naughty business!). You may notice that he’s holding a white Russian, which was my idea to go with my costume, and I even bought vodka that was made in Russia for extra authenticity.

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Greggy went as Kurt Cobain (dead), which basically meant that he dressed as himself, but wearing a jumper, and that he brought along a guitar to smash up that took one hell of a beating before accepting its fate of not remaining in a single piece.

Thom was a Canadian mountie (red), and got most of the accessories for his outfit from the Early Learning Centre, and from the of his trousers they were made for kids too (they were so tight he could barely sit down).

Danni went as Danni wearing a red dress, Clare was Audrey Hepburn (made her own dress!), and Ben was a cowboy wearing red.

Hannah went as Hannah wearing red, in an outfit that took many hours to find, and meant that I went into Primark and New Look, something that every man fears.

Me and Clare continued our fake kissing exploits, because that’s what we do now, although she did also share a fake moment with Danni.

After many rowdy rounds of singstar the party started to wind down, and at about 5 thought it was about time to get some sleep.

Departing from the land of nod at about 11 we awoke in quite a mess. Pretty much every flat surface was covered in bottles and cans, and for some reason there was toilet roll all over the floor. Faced with this situation we did the classy thing and got out of there before we felt obliged to join in the cleaning.

When we got into town food was our first port of call, and we ended up at a place in Picadilly Gardens called Kro Bar and had table service in their restaurant section, which seemed ridiculously civilised considering our various states of hang overs and, for some, still being drunk. Greggy had a tuna melt, which from his description may well have been the finest tuna melt ever created. Rob asked if he could have gravy put on his chips, and they actually did it, it doesn’t sound that amazing now, but at the time it impressed me.

I ordered something called ‘bikesmad’ (it’s a Danish bar), which was rather tasty. It’s sauteed beef, potatoes & onion, with a dash of worcestershire sauce, with a fried egg on top and some beetroot.

After brunch I dragged everyone to Magma since there’s always something cool to buy there, and then I dragged everyone to the Urbis to go to the ‘How Manga Took Over the World’ exhibition. I knew there was a lack of enthusiasm from the group, so I didn’t force anyone to go in, but Rob and Greggy came in with me and immediately walked into the section marked ‘adult’, which was actually a lot tamer than you would have expected.

I’m not particularly interested in manga or anime, but I am certainly interested in the work of Terratag, Tado and Jon Burgerman. I’m not sure if you’re actually allowed to take photos in the Urbis, so I just took sneaky shots from the hip when none of the staff were around.