Had a rather rough awakening Saturday morning. Although I love hotels and hotel-beds, I sometimes wake up not knowing exactly where I am, and most importantly, I don’t know the size of the bed – cause it’s always different.

Basically, I thought I was just rolling over to a less warm part of the bed, but…. ended up rolling RIGHT down on the floor – landing between the bed and the wall, almost knocking my head in the bedside table, BAM!!! What the f…..?! GOOD MORNING to me. Ouch!

But the questionably wonderful morning didn’t stop there. When I opened the drapes, it was raining cats and dogs…! Of course. It’s Britain. :) I waited for a while but then I decided to go out anyway, I couldn’t just sit in a hotel room all day. After all, I was prepared – had my raincoat and all.

 Just before I left the room, I saw that Ronnie (who’s one of the few people who’s been reading my stuff online since the very beginning, my first ever website, then MySpace and now this) left a message saying that I was apparently in his “hood” so to speak. Always nice to actually meet people in real life after having talked a bit back and forth for a few years. :)

So, he was already in Manchester when I texted to say where I was at. Before I even had time to open the text-reply, the guy had already found his way to Boots where I had just been shopping a few things! :)

I ended up having my personal Manchester-guide! Took a long walk, had a burger on the way, and then when we finally got to Manchester Apollo, he was going to show me how to find my way back to my hotel after the show. Picadilly station was close, so I figured I’d take the train just one station – at least I knew how to find my way back from there. Once we were at the station, I saw there was a STARBUCKS!

Sooo – of COURSE I HAD to have my Mocha Frappucino. :)) I should start writing down how many different countries I’ve enjoyed a Mocha Frappucino in. Ronnie was very british with his cup of tea (what else?) haha.

Went back to the Apollo and got in line. Ronnie kept me company a while, until the line started filling up and he hadn’t planned on going to the show anyway.

Like I said to my friend Mari earlier today, this is one of the best things about travelling alone – you get to meet new people. If you’re travelling with friends, you don’t get the same natural opportunity, so this is great.

Once again I experienced the polite british crowd. I stood there, front row – ALWAYS front row – and there was a little bit of space between me and the girl next to me. Had this been in Sweden – you would have had some drunk asshole pushing his way to get that spot, regardless who he might end up hitting or shoving in the process. HERE it was more like…. first there was a hand on the barrier – then I heard this male voice saying: “Excuse me…. is it okay if I hold my hand here?”

Uh – what? I’m not used to people asking, they usually just act like Terminators, moving (or re-moving….) everything that gets in their way…! It felt almost like a private show, I didnt notice anyone really – nobody headbanging, flapping his/her hair in my face, nobody jumping on my toes, nobody going bezerk at the barriers, it was so civilized I could barely believe it!

The show? That was described in the blog from yesterday, but here are some more videos! :-)

After the show I went to the station and guess what – trains were NOT running anymore! What the f….?! I specifically ASKED when I was there earlier that day, and now I had a ticket that I wouldn’t be able to use.

One of the station employees offered to show me the way to Oxford road. It was the sweetest, nicest thing. I thought he would just go to the entrance and then point me in the right direction, but he walked with me for a good five-ten minutes until we got to a street that led STRAIGHT to Oxford Rd! Another good reason to travel alone – you get to meet nice people like that.

Can’t believe Ronnie spent half his day walking me around Manchester too, so its very cool to get to know all these great people!

Well…. sleepy time here. Next trip is High Voltage. I think. Something might prevent me from going but I still don’t know for sure. I hope I will be able to go, I really want to. Would want to see Thunder and Skin, two bands that we are not likely to see in Sweden anytime soon.

 One of my favorite songs by Thunder…:

We’ll see what happens.