Sparkle: Friday

OK – so the hoped-for internet connection didn’t quite materialise. So my “let’s do a blog while it happens” idea was a bit of a no go.

I’ve now left Manchester, and am stuck in a Travel Inn “up north” for work for a few days… and luckily theres a wireless internet hotspot here. So I can finally get something uploaded.

Friday.

Friday started early… I drove up to Kims to help load up the van with all the Sparkle stuff. We got a Tranny Van.. natch. We had helium, balloons, t shirts, food, and rather too many clothes ;-)

Just so we stood out we had two sparkle signs on the side of the van and purple ribbons on the aerial. I followed behind in my car with more ribbons for good measure.

We got to Manchester about 4ish… dumped our gear in our apartment at the Place and headed down to check everything was going OK at the Exhibition and Lecture area. When we got there I bumped into Siobhan, who was slightly taken aback by my boy appearance.. She said she expected someone taller….. she obviously hasn’t seen my family!

All sorted, it was back to the Place to get changed, and to get some food and nibblies together for a small soiree in our Penthouse by way of thanks to some of the people involved. Had a pretty good turnout and much champagne and wine was quaffed… I think Siobhan may already have posted the image of the champagne corks that we had left at the end of the evening…. There were rather a lot.

It was lovely to finally meet Siobhan in the flesh, as it were…

So at 10pm we headed out (the staff at the Place weren’t too keen on loud parties taking place there) and made our way down to Via Fosse to see Elephant Shelf play… More wine and Smirnoff Ice was quaffed… (I think) The band were great and it was cool to see Miss Laura Handbag strut her stuff on guitar.

After that it all gets a little fuzzy… I think I drank a little more than I intended. Thanks to Kim for escorting me in roughly a straight line back to the apartment!