Kat in the North

I’ve had a bit of a break from blogging recently, and I’m feeling guilty about it! My life inevitably evolves around daily commute to north Manchester (Lancashire, really) and weekend attempts to catch up on sleep and recover. Recent changes to my routine made me re-think and re-organize pretty much every aspect of my lifestyle. I’ve done some reading on how to improve sleep quality (my Fitbit has proven that I’m awake for roughly 2 out of 8 hours spent in bed and often don’t have enough deep sleep) and stocked up on sleep aiding herbal teas. I have also signed up to Calm full membership, taking advantage of their 50% off offer and I listen to their great soundscapes, binaural music and mini meditations regularly, even during my lunch break at work. I’m on week 4 of Couch to 5k – I had to stop for 2 weeks because of cough – it seems to help me fall asleep on those lucky days when I’m otherwise too rested 😉 I enjoy cooking again,mostly at weekends because I don’t have time or energy to prepare tea from the scratch during the week. I absolutely adore The Infinite Monkey Cage podcast by prof. Brian Cox and Robin Ince and I listen to it virtually every single morning in the train. I sometimes jokingly say that these podcasts are more fascinating that my actual job 😀

What really takes priority for me though is what I do with my spare time. Every moment is precious, and I can’t afford wasting time anymore, whether it’s on rubbish Netflix shows, uninteresting books or boring meetings. What is more, I spend about 30-40 min a day making my way to work through a most disgusting, deprived and filthy area you can imagine – image below. For the sake of protecting my privacy I will not name the town, but trust me, this is very much in the UK, world’s 6th largest economy, while a vibrant city full of shiny new skyscrapers is only 7 miles away.

Naturally, when I’m off work I need to de-traumatize and for me there are two main ways to achieve it: either through culture, of nature. So far this year I have had a pleasure to attend a Viennese New Year concert at Bridgewater Hall (phenomenal acoustics, nice venue, if a little small), Ellen Kent’s production of Madama Butterfly at a fully packed Manchester Opera House (beautiful but very tired and dated building, wobbly, torn seats, I won’t go again) and Carmen performed at Chester’s Storyhouse by Ukrainian National Opera. I saw a really good Golden Mummies of Egypt exhibition at Manchester Museum. I watched “Callas – Paris 1958” movie concert at Chester’s gorgeous new Picturehouse cinema.

And only yesterday I discovered Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight: a much more varied and interesting collection than that of Manchester Art Gallery in my humble opinion. I knew about origins of Unilever, but I knew little of Lady Lever herself. It turns out she was an extremely well travelled woman and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Her husband, William Hesketh Lever, the first British tycoon fascinated with his American counterparts and their advertising and marketing ways, was an avid art collector, first for mundane purposes, using fine art as prints for soap ads, then for genuine interest. He also collected goods from China and anything linked to Napoleon. And, surprise, surprise, he was a Freemason (who wasn’t, hey?).

As a birthday present to myself, I have bought a ticket to Royal Liverpool Philharmonic to see Robert Plant’s Saving Grace . I’ll have a day off afterwards I think 🙂 I’m also 100 % sure I’ll go to London at some point this spring to see Legion Exhibition at British Museum and, time permitting, visit Tate Britain where I haven’t been yet. I’m very much looking forward to A Celebration of Puccini in late May, also at Liverpool Philharmonic. No serious holiday plans so far, apart from a week in Krakow in April, but my company is threatening me with work-related trips to Pakistan, Nigeria and Dubai 😀 Whether these dangerous ideas will materialize I can’t be too certain, and, weirdly, I don’t feel like booking any personal trips at the moment. I am thinking about a little wander around Yorkshire in the early summer, incorporating Harrogate, York, Skipton and perhaps a guided mini bus trip to Yorkshire Dales. One day dedicated to Three Peaks Challenge would be nice too! Other than that, I would really like to explore some charming small towns on Manchester – Leeds line, like Todmorden, and Hebden Bridge, bearing in mind they get repeatedly flooded every single year…

As I was googling for alternative streaming services e.g. other than Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, I came across Royal Opera House stream which I’m currently trialling (14 days free, than £9.99/month) and National Theatre at Home, same monthly cost. To see NT in cinemas is around £20 these days just for one play, so I might try it around Easter, even if it’s for a month or two. For music, I am still well chuffed with Tidal and its superb sound quality. I don’t like having too many subscriptions and again, time is too precious to be wasted on things that don’t offer decent enough value for money.

As for nature therapy, it’s my first winter back in the North since 2020/2021 and I am NOT enjoying it one bit, all these storms, localized tornadoes (!) and random snow. Manchester is on the wet side of the Pennines as someone at work kindly explained to me, and it always feels about 10 degrees colder than Cheshire, and it rains every single day – not kidding. As soon as the spring begins I’ll make sure I’m out as much as possible in green open spaces, as far from damp, grey misery as possible 😉 Below, Delamere Forest in its autumnal glory.

So, that’s about it folks. If anyone has any suggestions for books, podcasts, movies, shows or music to make life more bearable they’re more than welcome 🙂