It’s been a while since I blogged without purpose. I’ve missed it – the act of writing has always been therapeutic. On a personal level I’ve been busier than ever – I’ve met a whole bunch of brilliant people and my workload has reached capacity, which is amazing, but the downside of this is there’s little time for doing nothing.

I received a message from my friends from 6th form to meet up for a meal in Manchester – we have known each other for over twenty years and have stayed in contact, meeting up every so often to catch up. They’re a great group of women – all are doing well for themselves with families and jobs, and I love the fact that even though I don’t see or speak to them for months at a time, we slip back into conversation as though I had seen them yesterday.

Manchester

Manchester

Emmeline Pankhurst’s house

I decided to make an extended trip out of it and booked myself into a hotel room for the night. To my recollection there has only been a single time I’ve done that during the time The Bloke and I have been together (which was when he had a minor heart operation) so the concept was somewhat of a novelty, despite the fact that The Bloke is more than supportive of any time I want to myself.

It was a brilliant few days.

I got an early train and my time was my own, so I surprised my mum by taking her out for an early Mother’s Day pub lunch and then took the opportunity to have a wander over to Emmeline Pankhurst’s house, which is situated near Mum’s workplace. I’ve been meaning to see it for a while, and seemed rather fitting to be at the birthplace of the Suffragette Movement on the weekend of International Women’s Day.

I travelled back into Manchester city centre and checked into my hotel. The weather was glorious for most of the weekend and so I walked, shopped (treating myself to the new Jeffree Star Blood Lust make-up palette), slept, had a long hot bath, saw some street art and joined my friends at Turtle Bay in the Northern Quarter where we ate, drank, took lots of silly photos and laughed lots, which was loads of fun. I also saw the funniest graffiti ever in a toilet. Anna loves geography apparently… 

My tolerance for alcohol is low and I completely overdid it to the point where I’m still feeling a bit rough even now, but it was a very much needed release. I remember a time where I could have a very late night and then function perfectly well the next day – this is definitely not something I’m capable of now.

Aside from the drinking, this sort of weekend is definitely something that I need to do more often. The freedom of an entire city to yourself is rather liberating.

What about you guys? What are your favourite things to do when you have a moment of time to yourself?

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