Fantastic Margaret, I feel we had similar youths !! You tell the story so well, I felt I was there with you! I remember the IRA bomb at Victoria train station in London , I just missed it ! Crazy times
As ever, I am in awe of what a rich (culturally speaking at this point!) life you have lived. You have so many stories to tell…it really is fascinating to read these accounts. Thanks Margaret 🙏
Another fantastic story thank you for taking us back in time and reminding us of some of Manchester s darker moments juxtaposed with the fabulous night of fun spent at the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 💗
Really enjoyed this, thank you. I lived a bit further north near Blackburn at the time and made frequent excursions down to Manchester, but on this occasion stayed local to watch the football.
A great piece. I love the way you draw us right in to your life back then, all the detail and relationships and the way you encountered things. It must have been so frightening when the bomb went off. I was in London from summer 95 and came back to Manchester in October 96. I remember how shocking it was to see the city centre looking so different. My MA tutor was Michael Schmidt who ran Carcanet Press. Their office had been in the Corn Exchange which of course was damaged in the blast. I remember visiting Michael at their new temporary place that autumn and him telling me, still with so much shock, about how he and and a colleague had been allowed into the bombed out Exchange to quickly take one sentimental item each from the office. I just found a short account of that online actually. After I finished my MA in 1997 I left Manchester and didn’t go back for several years. After the redevelopment parts of the city centre had changed so much I could hardly recognise it as the city I used to know
Thanks so much Sasha. So many people must have lost so much. I really miss the Old Corn Exchange it had so much character. I also left in 1997 and it was unrecognisable when I came back several years later.
Ah, I did not know Coronation Street was set in Manchester - and I have a Mancunian friend, who loves the show! It all makes sense now. Margaret, as always, your writing is just like falling down a well (in a good way). I'm in, I'm there, seeing, smelling, hearing it all with you. In 1996, I was in Scotland with my boyfriend (who I'd marry just over 8 months later), and we watched the England-Scotland match in Oban. I don't remember even hearing about the bombing.
I was working near 23 st in '96, just down Broadway, coincidentally. Still smoking too. The neighborhood was getting hot just then. It was quite dead at one time. My wife Elodie had lived in the Chelsea, before we met. She'd run into Nico in the elevator from time to time. I'd settled down by then. My wild times were in the 80s. Enjoyed your post 📫 😊
Brilliant, Margaret. It so perfectly captures those seemingly endless nights out in one's 20s, followed by trying to reckon with the days' events. I was obsessed from afar with the Hacienda, only ever seeing it in the 2010s, when it was already an apartment block. Thanks for this trip through 90's Manchester. Very similar in some ways to 90's NYC, where my friends and I spent many similar nights out (Save the Robots was our favorite dance spot, an underground club which ran from 4am-8am). I love how you capture the transience of the people from that era, crashing on floors, coming and going... and the dreaming of living somewhere else, doing something else. Did you ever make it to Japan? Looking forward to the next installment.
Been trying to get chance to comment properly while on a train with many dead zones. Great piece, Margaret. I’ll leave it there for now as the signal willl drop again in a mo!
Love this! I lived in Manchester for six months Oct 2023-April 2024 and quickly fell in love with the city. Did a tour the first week and learned about the bombing. Thanks for actually putting me IN Manchester 1996, actually living and breathing and dreaming within that world. What a great piece!
Love this Margaret, absolutely fantastic and so vivid. I was desperate to visit Manchester in the mid 90s - absolutely choking at my chain. But I was also soft Southerner, and I bottled it every time the subject came up. London was less than an hour away, after all.
As always Margaret, wonderful storytelling and love the attention to detail. That took me right back to that fateful day in 1996. I was at home in Withington and like you, started receiving phone calls asking if I was alright before I knew what had happened.
Brilliant evocative writing. As always. I loved it Margaret. God I remember that day. I lived in Stoke and had friends who I thought could have been there. Anyway, this is your story, and you tell it so so well.
Fantastic Margaret, I feel we had similar youths !! You tell the story so well, I felt I was there with you! I remember the IRA bomb at Victoria train station in London , I just missed it ! Crazy times
Thanks Francis. Thank god you missed it.
As ever, I am in awe of what a rich (culturally speaking at this point!) life you have lived. You have so many stories to tell…it really is fascinating to read these accounts. Thanks Margaret 🙏
Thanks so much Esther. I think we all have stories to tell and I appreciate you reading mine.
Another fantastic story thank you for taking us back in time and reminding us of some of Manchester s darker moments juxtaposed with the fabulous night of fun spent at the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 💗
Reading this on a train to Woking and enjoying the wander back through northern time and down familiar ginnels. Thanks for the ravey time travelling.
Thanks Sarah. I hope you had a good trip.
Really enjoyed this, thank you. I lived a bit further north near Blackburn at the time and made frequent excursions down to Manchester, but on this occasion stayed local to watch the football.
Thanks Joe. A good thing you stayed nearer home that day. Thanks for reading and sharing.
Love this text... And you still have that smile... Full of life!
A great piece. I love the way you draw us right in to your life back then, all the detail and relationships and the way you encountered things. It must have been so frightening when the bomb went off. I was in London from summer 95 and came back to Manchester in October 96. I remember how shocking it was to see the city centre looking so different. My MA tutor was Michael Schmidt who ran Carcanet Press. Their office had been in the Corn Exchange which of course was damaged in the blast. I remember visiting Michael at their new temporary place that autumn and him telling me, still with so much shock, about how he and and a colleague had been allowed into the bombed out Exchange to quickly take one sentimental item each from the office. I just found a short account of that online actually. After I finished my MA in 1997 I left Manchester and didn’t go back for several years. After the redevelopment parts of the city centre had changed so much I could hardly recognise it as the city I used to know
Thanks so much Sasha. So many people must have lost so much. I really miss the Old Corn Exchange it had so much character. I also left in 1997 and it was unrecognisable when I came back several years later.
Ah, I did not know Coronation Street was set in Manchester - and I have a Mancunian friend, who loves the show! It all makes sense now. Margaret, as always, your writing is just like falling down a well (in a good way). I'm in, I'm there, seeing, smelling, hearing it all with you. In 1996, I was in Scotland with my boyfriend (who I'd marry just over 8 months later), and we watched the England-Scotland match in Oban. I don't remember even hearing about the bombing.
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing your gift!
I love that. Thank you. As long as you can get out of the well at the end.
Oban is a beautiful place. I hope you had a good time there.
I was working near 23 st in '96, just down Broadway, coincidentally. Still smoking too. The neighborhood was getting hot just then. It was quite dead at one time. My wife Elodie had lived in the Chelsea, before we met. She'd run into Nico in the elevator from time to time. I'd settled down by then. My wild times were in the 80s. Enjoyed your post 📫 😊
Thanks for reading CG. I’m jealous of Elodie that must have been quite something, to live in the Chelsea.
Here's a little background on Elodie. They always leave me out, though we collaborated on a lot of the stuff. But I guess it's fine that way
https://www.echonyc.com/~jhhl/Lauten/bio.html
She sounds like a v talented woman.
Brilliant, Margaret. It so perfectly captures those seemingly endless nights out in one's 20s, followed by trying to reckon with the days' events. I was obsessed from afar with the Hacienda, only ever seeing it in the 2010s, when it was already an apartment block. Thanks for this trip through 90's Manchester. Very similar in some ways to 90's NYC, where my friends and I spent many similar nights out (Save the Robots was our favorite dance spot, an underground club which ran from 4am-8am). I love how you capture the transience of the people from that era, crashing on floors, coming and going... and the dreaming of living somewhere else, doing something else. Did you ever make it to Japan? Looking forward to the next installment.
Thanks so much Rob. I think 90s NY must have been a lot of fun. And a 4am start is hardcore.
I did go to Japan 🇯🇵 I lived in Tokyo for a few years. There’s an old post I wrote but I may revisit in the future.
Been trying to get chance to comment properly while on a train with many dead zones. Great piece, Margaret. I’ll leave it there for now as the signal willl drop again in a mo!
Thank you! I hope you’re heading somewhere nice? A honeymoon?
A friend’s 60th. A lot of fun and the kind of extrovert’s party I could never pull off!
Love this! I lived in Manchester for six months Oct 2023-April 2024 and quickly fell in love with the city. Did a tour the first week and learned about the bombing. Thanks for actually putting me IN Manchester 1996, actually living and breathing and dreaming within that world. What a great piece!
Thanks so much Paige.
Love this Margaret, absolutely fantastic and so vivid. I was desperate to visit Manchester in the mid 90s - absolutely choking at my chain. But I was also soft Southerner, and I bottled it every time the subject came up. London was less than an hour away, after all.
I think the familiar is less intimidating. Manchester was home to me really. Thanks for reading and sharing Lewis.
fabulous Margaret - a great piece.
Thank you CC. It is much appreciated.
As always Margaret, wonderful storytelling and love the attention to detail. That took me right back to that fateful day in 1996. I was at home in Withington and like you, started receiving phone calls asking if I was alright before I knew what had happened.
It’s hard to believe it’s nearly 30 years ago. Thanks so much for reading and sharing Helen.
Brilliant evocative writing. As always. I loved it Margaret. God I remember that day. I lived in Stoke and had friends who I thought could have been there. Anyway, this is your story, and you tell it so so well.
Thank you Mike.