Salford [Behind The Scenes]

Manchester is an incredible place to be. A great media location, a fabulous music scene and there's always something happening. It's also cheap, I can have a good night out (as I did last night) for £9, which is alright, and it can be even better!

Sad as it sounds, I'm marking on my Salford Student Map where I've been as and when I go there. So far we've ticked of places like The Courtyard, The Printworks, Barcode, Baa Bar, HMV Ritz, 5th Avenue, Odder Bar etc... lots of cool place, lots of clubs so far and I'm hoping to get along to some nice bars soon.

This week's been really hectic, as I knew it would be. It started with a nice night out at Odder bar on Oxford Rd. A quiznight - my favourite. The rounds were fun, the vibe was very cool and the whole evening went well. We came 5th and won a turban.

Tuesday was a pretty exciting day because I had my spine checkup. One really good thing about Manchester is the MEN. I love it- what a great local paper. They were advertising a free spine checkup because, after all, 'we check our teeth regularly, why not our back?!'. The spine doctor told me I had to dramatically increase my flexibility and core strength otherwise I'm going to have serious trouble in a few years...

Also on Tuesday I'd scheduled in a haircut in Deansgate. I arrived, chatted, enquired of the price of the cut and left in shock. No haircut ever took place.

I attended a Social Media Storytelling workshop at Cornerhouse on Wednesday evening with a few pals from Uni. The session was led by Katie Moffet - very interesting indeed, and it introduced me to the power of infographics and also Storify, a story-telling/blogging tool that integrates all your social media - certainly something I'll be using in future!

After that we went to Acoustic Night at Hard Rock Cafe, that was fantastic, finally some live music. However, no scratch on Banbury's finest yet. I am working hard to find a decent bar that can beat Banbury's live acoustic music scene. It's week 3 so naturally I'm still hunting......

A man and a guitar, yes!

Last night was spent watching darts at the pub then playing some pool whilst enjoying a good pint.

All in all, there's always something to do, and I love that. Here's life in Manchester from the last week or 2 in photographs:

Fire at halls! Or not, as it turned out. Just drunken antics resulting in a lot of angry students at 3am.

Seb capturing some scenic shots for our documentary

Deadly boring afternoon in the library

My day out in Sheffield to see Sophie

Beautiful day for a good book at MediaCity

3am pizza!

A shot from the train - Manchester City Centre

By night.... The Printworks in Manchester City Centre, ready for a party!

What they don't show on the virals....

What they do show on the virals!...

A city alive with the sound of talent

City life

Really settling in now. I've not exactly felt homesick whilst I've been here, but the relentless lifestyle was something I had to adjust to. And preparing so many meals!- tedious.

When I say relentless, it doesn't mean work-wise. I always like to be busy and happily I'm enjoying one of my busiest weeks yet! The relentless aspect comes with how often you have to socialise with people- and at first where you constantly want to be in the right flat at the right time so you can enjoy your friends' company...it's all just settled now. The social circles are established.

That last paragraph makes me sound real insular and reclusive. Sometimes its just nice to take an hour out, put some music on and reconfigure yourself before getting involved again with a fresh head.

This week I've got a really exciting schedule ahead of me. The documentary about MediaCityUK continues to move along strongly! I anticipate it should be done within a few weeks. However. Seb, the idiot. Somehow he managed to delete one of our interviews off the DSLR! Tragedy! I have a backup audio track so that may well be exclusive to the radio doc! Poor guy, we've all been there.

Got meetings this week, it's the Arndale Student Giveaway later today..got a social media workshop at Cornerhouse to look forward to as well..a pal of mine Marcus Taylor has just released the review copy of his new book so I'd love to take some time to read that..

On the other hand, last week I saw in the Manchester Evening News an advert for a free spine checkup. The advert gripped me and I signed up. So this week I'm looking forward to a specialist check-up and to work out if I'm going to snap in half in my 40s etc.

Also signed up for a free checkup at a new Dental surgery in MediaCityUK, that's on the horizon so exciting there. Very exciting here because the lovely lady confirming my booking had asked whether I'd like a tea or coffee upon my arrival next week. What excellent service.

As you know, live music is my passion so this week I've been working out where the cool places to go for music are and testing them out. Tonight I went to Odder on Oxford Rd in town, fantastic groove in there- loved the vibe and so aptly The Travelling Band, one of my favourites from Fairport earlier this year, host a live music night on the 4th Sunday of the month. Really keen for that. They also do a 'Cool As Folk' night to showcase come cool folky music! Right up my street. Can tell Odder will be a regular for me.

Alongside the music at Odder, I've got some great gigs lined up this month, including City & Colour, got lots of cool bars and venues to check out too.. Also.. Hard Rock Cafe do an acoustic night, which to me sounds heavenly, and they do a live music night on Friday so when my family come up this weekend I may treat them to manchester's finest!....

On Location: MediaCityUK

We're back on location- it's 11:25, Seb is getting some scenic shots of BBC Dock House at the moment. I feel a Canon DSLR like his would be a good investment!

I've just interviewed Lisa Hill from MediaCityUK in the glorious sunshine here. A former University of Salford student, she gave us some great content for the documentary!

That makes it 2 out of 2 so far for interviews. Seb had her framed fantastically in the shot- can't wait to show you.

Down here nice and early today so we've seen the sun come up over Old Trafford to my left. Means we've enjoyed the early morning hustle and bustle of the city. Never fails to inspire me seeing so many BBC/MCUK lanyards round people's necks. I however am proud of my UoS one!

Infront of me there's that scattered line of benches, I can see a group of school kids being led past BBC Quay House, there's some sort of motivational training session happening on the lawn and there's a photo shoot going on. Very vibrant.

I'm off to Sheffield shortly, for no business, purely pleasure. Eeee that's a sleazy sentence. I'm seeing an old friend for a coffee..so I can use the train journey to mull over what we've done this week. I feel a lot has been achieved.

Outstandingly, 2 weeks in since I moved here, the course hasn't even started yet and we've got a TV and Radio programme in production. Ooo I've just seen a man drive past on a Segway....anyway, its been (as ever with my life) relentless so far in Salford.

On Location: Salford Quays

Just put our first interview for the documentary in the bag! Spoke with the cultural/arts development manager for Salford Quays- Kathy McArdle. Set outside The Lowry Arts Centre and overlooking the beautiful Quay, we're in our element today. I was so far in my element that I had a goats cheese and onion chutney panini for lunch. that never happens.

The content from the interview is first class! we're going to be able to use so much in the programme. Seb's now got his cinematography hat on - it's golden hour. I think focus pulls and slow panning is on the menu today. He's got the 550D out reeling in some really lovely footage as I sit here in the sunshine crafting this blog together.

I'm producing the radio documentary and Seb is doing the film - the aim is to explore the journey of development for Salford Quays and MediaCityUK.

Such an inspiring day - Kathy was delighted we're doing this documentary off our own back. It's exciting to think this is step 1. The emails are flowing and interviews keep getting organised. I'd give it 3 weeks until we have a first draft!

This is exactly why I came to Salford - so much opportunity here - and looking out onto that vista......... I have big ideas.