Hold my hand

Last night headed to see the Top Gun Maverick. We had been awaiting the arrival of the film for years, much delayed thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic we were excited to see Tom Cruise jet off once again.

We had decided to view it at the Light Cinema in Stockport. I met up with Ian to catch the train to Stockport only to find it had been cancelled. We ended up taking a taxi meeting up with Dan and Berger at the Swan with Two necks opposite the Red Rock complex. 

I haven't been in the Swan for many years maybe even a decade, it hasn't changed much with the wood panelling and anachronistic Smoke Room. Enjoyed a pint there before heading in the the Light.

I enjoyed the film, it was similar to the New Star Wars or Star Trek films been made to mirror the scenes and characters of the original in a way to keep old fans happy but have some new younger cast brought in. Interestingly as the film goes on the planes get older. Starting out with the experimental Jet to the F18, F14 ended the film with Cruise piloting a WW2 era prop plane. The cinematography was amazing, not a complete cgi lots of live action cameras strapped in cockpits and on the wing tips. It certainly was entertaining and well worth catching on the big screen.

On the way home another train was cancelled so we had to catch the very last train, after spending the day with Thom and in the Garden I was ready for bed. Think I am missing Cruises ability to still perform at the highest level in spite of his age.

Paramount have a twitter tool to generate you Top Gun Callsign, mine was rocket!

Everything's electric

Pre Race

Last Sunday was the Great Manchester Run. I had entered the 10KM so we headed out to Manchester on the train in the morning. I was in the White Wave starting 11:47 so had plenty of time. The trains were packed with runners and with city fans heading into town early to soak up the atmosphere pre game.

I had done the Great run a few times before, its a great event with loads of support on the course. The event started as part of the Manchester commonwealth games. I read that it's the third biggest participation event in the UK beaten in numbers only by the London Marathon and Great North Run.

While I was running Kath took Thom to relax in the peace garden. These are now part of the recently redeveloped Lincoln Square. At the moment its a slightly weird space with lots of new butemupty shop units. However the Lincoln statue now has more space to and the Peace gardens are back after being moved from St Peters square to make room for the second city crossing.

Waiting to start

I always found it slightly weird that there is a statue of Lincoln here, seems slightly incongruous to have an American president in a British city, Manchester supported the Yankee states and their desire to end slavery even though the blockade on the confederate states hurt the economy of Manchester.

I must admit that I had not done a huge amount of training for the run so I was pleased to come in just under the 1 hour mark. Far from my personal best it was still a great effort and I really enjoyed the run.

After meeting with Kath we headed for some much needed food then hopped on the train back home. Fortunately the train home was much quieter.

Post race in Lincoln Square

If you fancy doing the Great Run Manchester use this link to get £10 off your entry.