Friday 3rd October

I've a number of people to call tonight, some from messages left when I was on holiday. On Wednesday night I drove the 7 hour journey all the way back from Scotland to Manchester. Thursday was a normal day. Now it's Friday night.
Having been to the Highlands, the countryside pubs, the villages, now in Manchester I can feel Friday night starting up, as I sit on the bedroom floor sorting out the bits of paper with telephone numbers written on.

Looking at the numbers – there's Alex K. Julia the French Lady who is studying in Manchester. I met Julia in between promoting my book at Manchester University. I started a conversation with her and we got on so well we swapped numbers. Robin, a lady who in the past has written poetry for a book and wants to do more writing in future, she came across as if she had lots of ambition. I met Robin in a shop while looking at books. Michela who I want to get to know better. I met Michela while she was working in an estate agent in Altrincham. Ben and Chris who I met in bars. Rebecca who I originally know from school. I saw her around and took the opportunity to swap contact details, we haven't had the opportunity to meet up properly yet. There's also a few people I'll call in a week or two.

It's amazing how you can find so many people to meet up and potentially make friends with in such a short time. It's the nights out in the last month that's done it – the energy improves every other area of life as increased enthusiasm, being able to start conversations with people and swap numbers, and a vibe everyone starts to pick up on.
So now as a result of going out at night, I'm not only meeting people on the night out, but in the daytime as well because I have the skills from the nights out to draw on. If there's people I might see around during work or shopping, I have lots of stories to talk about from the nights out. Also, with the experience of approaching people in the city, inviting someone along in daytime situations is no big deal.

I phone Alex K – he says he's filming the hitman film next week and is working on the schedule and telling me how he wants to do a really good job of it. I phone Julia. She is in the Library (on a Friday night at 7:45pm!) she wants to make a really good go of 3rd year at university which is good. We have a good conversation and get on well though.

Anyway. I come up with this really good idea – I'm now thinking instead of meeting up with all these people who live all over Manchester, I should invite them all to one place. Having 10 friends that you meet up with intermittently is ok, but how do you ever get to know anyone? What's needed is a suitable venue for a regular meetup every week.



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