I got the train to Manchester to go to the desperately seeking Alex event. I did not know what to expect, it promised fabulous evening of poetry performances and open mic, musicians, burlesque dancers, classical quartet.

I arrived to find a very packed green room, having missed the string quartet in time for the poetry reading / open mic. I found some of the poetry hard going, I can appreciate the clever writing, but some of its was a bit too arty for me, I suppose that I am just a philistine.

I stood and had a chat to a few people including Holly back from her backpacking adventures. Unfortunately it transpired one of her friends contracted Dehghi fever which had rather coloured the last part of her trip. Hopefully her friend will recover soon and then I suppose the she can focus more on the good memories.

Paul, Righni, Jo and Ian were to play with a Gypsy's playground revival gig as part of the show. Paul looked very tense as they were getting ready, and sounded surprisingly nervous talking to the crowd. Fortunately as they kicked into a version of old school which was awesome. They also played another funky number, which I didn't get the name of but was good.

While it was all in a good cause we felt hot and crowded so we decided to move on to another bar. Paul, Ian, Myself Dave, Claire, Paul Righini, Danny and Nick headed to Space. We sat and had a couple of drinks before heading to the the Bridge. Nick gave us a lift there before heading off home.

After warming up in the Bridge we headed to Mojo by which time I was already feeling a little drunk. Someone had the idea to move to corridor which we did, it was nearly empty, I think we were going to leave but Dan had already bought a drink and got a bit stressed. So we stayed had a few more drinks before finally getting a cab home. The cab ride was amusing we were one too many so Woller sat on the floor trying to look inconspicuous!