It makes me remember some of the things that I love most about my city – Deansgate for the shopping (not the slapper bars), the brilliant mix of cultures & the fantastic musical heritage. Very few other cities were half as cool as Manchester for music while I was growing up, except perhaps Seattle.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjWb4Iy8ARo

How cool is that? A steel band doing a spot of Joy Division!

Here’s the original too – a fucking classic! And if you disagree I WILL FIGHT YOU!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZwMs2fLoVE

Rock out with your… er, yeah, you know what to do…

Guaranteed to make me happy and nostalgic for VERY baggy jeans, hooded tops, singing in mates’ bedrooms and wishing we were old enough to go into Manchester on our own.

And at the same time it takes me straight back to singing along when pissed (albeit a few years later than the above), wearing vintage Lacoste Polo tops, Ben Sherman shirts & a 70s Wranger’s jacket – all from the institution that was Affleck’s Palace home of the best mosaic in the world, FACT!

Image courtesy of DullHunk (Flickr)

Aaah, the halcyon days of youth.

Anyway, enjoy…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnMiNJL3utw

And yes, it’s usually pretty grey in Manchester. It rains a lot there – hence why Dublin has required no major acclimatisation on my part

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-NlYftA7-M

giddy little girl I am, whoop whoop!