Meeting Leonard Cohen with Food Poisoning

In 1968 I spent two terms in Wright Robinson Hall of Residence while at Manchester University. These were the days of parties and we would try to go to as many as possible every night. We were good gate crashers. At one party I cooked and ate some bacon and eggs at about three in the morning. The next day I woke up in bed in the Hall of Residence very ill with food poisoning. It served me right.

Rainy County Floods

Manchester is the Rainy City. It has been called the Rainy City for decades, mostly affectionately. It is not the rainiest city, and when I spent three of my life there I did not notice any exceptional rainfall, but to most of the inhabitants of England, Manchester is the rainy city. There are rainier places, such as Seathwaite in the Lake District, but they are not cities. Manchester is also in Upland Britain, which is simply the part of Britain than run North and West of a line from Hull to Exeter.