Well, here I am!

Got in to Manchester Airport just around 5 AM and we've already checked into our hotel, across the road from Man U's stadium and with a room overlooking where the docks used to be.

We've also discovered that, at the moment, there aren't any working lights in our hotel room. Electricity is working, but not the lights. Strange.

As it turns out...

All we had to do is insert one of our keycards into a slot to turn the lights on. Pity we can't do the same for the gas in the hotel restaurant...

It's been a trip of ups and downs. Our first trip was to Manchester United's stadium, Old Trafford (my father's idea; I'm not particularly interested in football). He booked a tour of the stadium, but because they're setting up for a concert, it was limited to the team museum and a few rows of the stands. Doesn't exactly compare to going through the whole stadium.

Our fortunes got better after we went to another stop, the Imperial War Museum North. They had an exhibit on "Animals at War" going on. One interesting artifact on display is the stuffed remains of a cat that lived in the War Office in the early 1900s. One of the information panels had a picture of two modern soldiers holding a pair of young cheetahs (ping kheetor84).

Hopefully tomorrow's travels will work out a bit better.