One of those days in town

Now I am usually preoccupied with the past but occasionally I say just occasionally I set off to record the present.

This I have to say had a lot to do with a Tuesday in town on a shopping expedition which I was able to slip away from.

And as you do I started off from St Ann’s Square and bit by made my way down towards Piccadilly.

The sun shone and during the course of the morning the city became more busy, a combination of late morning shoppers and early dinner time crowds.

So by midday the place was heaving and as busy places go you can’t much beat the tram stop at Market Street.

At almost any time of the day it seems to be packed with people which given that it is right beside the big stores and just a tad’s walk from the Arndale is as it should be.

And of course it is one those stops which allow you  to change trams which makes it doubly busy.

Along with St Peter's Square the trams roll in with a frequency and often you get them waiting behind each other which I suppose is one of the signs that the service is a success.

Now I know there will be those who point to the overcrowding on some routes and the odd weekend when routes go down but I do like the tram.

And not for the first time will admit to traveling on the route from town  out to Chorlton and on to East Didsbury just because this recreates the old train service which closed for passengers in the late sixties.

In fact when the route was extended from St Werburghs to Didsbury I was there on that first day and shared the journey with a lot of other middle aged men with cameras and a few even with tape recorders or what ever to day passes for a tape recorder.

So here we are, starting off beside St Ann’s Church and moving effortlessly to Market Street, taking in that small square and two tram pictures.

And before anyone asks I just like St Ann’s Church and trams ............... not so keen on Market Street.

Although it  is less unpleasant than when the crowds surging down from Piccadilly to St Mary's Gate had to be  mindful of the trams, buses, horse drawn carts and lorries..








Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson