WHERE ARE WE?

A Durian from the garden - honestly.

Photo by Kanpirom Srisongnang.

M14

For TOP – Random Stuff

We were eating seventeen we bought from Thom’s Place (1)
On the corner where the Princess kisses Greame (2)
We considered six or seven in the Claremont (3)
Lights out twelve catch us forty and a dream (4)

Six black mice guide a carriage through the rust storm
To ensure on-time express delivery
Blinking lights, durian sherbet; confusing thoughts
Waking up in a panic – WHERE ARE WE?

From thirty three it’s seven on the forty one (5)
You can do it in about twenty five (6)
From thirty two it’s five, but it always takes two (7)
Get two fifty, then get one-o-five
Or get one-o-three, perhaps choose one-o-nine (8)
You’ll do the job in fifteen or twenty (9)
You’ll never be stuck if you’re coming from the south
If you do it by bus there are plenty

*Metrolink* will get you to the centre of Town
Then buses south will go down Wilmslow Road
Don’t get too relaxed, you know it’s only a mile
So check out all the landmarks as you go
**Refuge Assurance clock, now the Palace Phallus
Past the Universities and MRI
Whitworth Art, The Curry Mile, then any right turn**
And the land of M14 meets your eye (10)

Cocktails are now being served. Today’s special is:

DURIAN SHERBET

The order:

“Durian Sherbet
Agitated, not disturbed”
Best drink of the day!

The ingredients:

Puréed Durian
***Home distilled ‘Isan’ Lao Khao***
Sun-dried chilli flakes

1 - Number 17 on the menu (Chicken Chow Mein) at Thom’s Fish Bar
(an unlikely name for a Chinese take-away)
2 - The junction of Princess Road and Greame Street
(I think it should be GrAEme, but everyone says CREAM anyway)
3 - Six or Seven in the Claremont – 6 or 7 pints of Holts Bitter in the Claremont Pub.
4 – In bed by midnight, forty winks (sleep) and dream
5 – 33 (M33) is the post code for the town of Sale, 7 miles away, 41 is the bus route
7 – 32 (M32) is the post code for the town of Stretford, five miles away, but it’s a two bus journey
8 – 250, 105, 103, 109 are all bus routes
9 - Buses are frequent so the journey only takes 15 or 20 minutes
*-* - Metrolink is Manchester’s Rapid Transit System/Tram Route
**-** - The Palace hotel used to be the Refuge Assurance building, its clock tower is a huge Phallic symbol
You pass Manchester Metropolitan University (formerly Manchester Polytechnic) as well as Manchester University itself, Manchester Royal Infirmary (among other large hospitals) and Whitworth Art Gallery, before hitting The Curry Mile (rows of shops), most of which are Indian/Asian/Halal restaurants
10 – M14 is the post code for Rusholme/Moss Side, Manchester, UK

***-*** - Isan is the north-east region of Thailand - Lao Khao is Rice Liquor