Manchester

The week in Manchester is over...

Believe it or not, I had no access whatsoever to the internet the whole week... not in the hotel, the house, or the golf club. I would expect something like that happening somewhere else but not IN Manchester, England. Oh well, no big deal.

Mark, Mane and yours truly got back from Poland Monday afternoon. That was when Mark got an email letting him know he was in the Manchester tournament, which until that point we had discarded and were making other plans for the week. So fix our luggage, buy a bus ticket and left again early Tuesday morning. What is a 3.5 to 4 hour car trip from London to Manchester took almost 6 hours. These buses stop EVERYWHERE. It was nice to see the english countryside though. Gentle slopes with high green grass and wheat dancing with the wind.. so poetic hehehe and of course sheep everywhere. Even though England has a fairly big population, it seems the cities are very dense, leaving still lots of countryside left for farms and those sort of things, which I didn't expect.

We got to the club and the very first person I see in the parking lot is Daniel Reilly! Danny was in the golf team my first year as coach at UCA and now he is back home studying and doing great! Almost done with his degree and trying to set up a business of his own. I will see him again in a couple of weeks.

...And then there is Daniel Haughian. Talk about a guy who is doing great as well. Dan was my teammate, roommate, and friend in Arkansas and it was awesome to see him and being able to stay at his apartment with his girlfriend Rosie. He works as a golf pro at this incredible practice facility. We went out for drinks pretty much every night and talked golf until early hours of the morning. He also took me to the "Theater of Dreams"... Old Trafford... Manchester United's stadium (that is soccer for all you gringos). That place was AWESOME, you can feel history as you walk through it.

The European Tour Productions asked Mark if they could do an interview with him. So they took us three to an indoor ski slope! So we actually skiied in summer, in England, in Manchester... well, on my part I "tried" to ski. Hope my abilities don't get shown too much because it is a little embarrassing. We did have a great time though.

Saturday night Dan, me and some of his friends (a couple of whom I knew before, Smithy and Fletcher) went out to downtown Manchester. The first pub we hit was really nice. Stayed outside the balcony on the second floor, with an aqueduct serving as tram (subway/train) tracks now right next to it, canals running around, and lots of people out having fun. Then we went to a couple of clubs that actually where underneath the aqueduct! So the inside of these clubs had walls that went really high up over rounded ceilings, all made of the oldest-weathered brick, but the walls next to the floor and floor were of marble or wood, with leather couches, fancy lamps, weird lights... never seen anything like it. The places had a great atmosphere needless to say!

Now we are in Madrid... but the story how we got here will be published on the next post... Cheers mates!

Mo / Mauricio / Negro