So, 'ffistas, any advice on Manchester? I think that's where I'm going to move to in the UK.

Oooh, good choice! Lots of culture and history and nightlife, but it's still poor enough that property prices are less horrifying than in London, say. The dodgy bits are very dodgy, but such is life. The posh bits are also pretty posh. Big city by UK standards, and it's a University town. Very buzzy. Back in the day it was home of the new music scene, whence came The Stone Roses and Oasis and all that. But that was a while ago. Good shopping, both posh and studenty. Culturally diverse.

t Yorkshire lass

Wrong side of the pennines

t / Yorkshire lass but you can't have everything.

My mate Soph (whom I sucked into an obsessive love of LoTrips RPS - from reading no fanfic I got her collecting thousands of NC17 stories just by pimping Calico's story to her...er, the same one I made you read, actually, now I think of it) works at Manchester University, and she lived there for years - although now she actually commutes there from Yorkshire every day. I've visited her in Manchester lots, though, and it's definitely somewhere I'd consider living. They have a cool German Christmas market, and excellent art galleries, lots of lovely Victorian architecture - Go Team Manchester.

Ooh, dodgy bits...my favorite bits. (don't ask Crime Chick, right?)

The dodgy bits are very dodgy, but such is life.

When I think of the dodgy parts of Manchester, I think of The Royle Family .And when I think of The Royle Family my heart explodes with love.

Cool! That's good, I thought Manchester would be a good base from a cultural-urban standpoint. Mostly I just want an established queer culture and a good music scene, so I think I'll be set.

Mostly I just want an established queer culture and a good music scene, so I think I'll be set

Sorted!

When I think of the dodgy parts of Manchester, I think of The Royle Family .And when I think of The Royle Family my heart explodes with love.

YES! Fanfuckingtastic show, that. Caroline Aherne is one talented lady. It's excruciatingly good stuff - incisive as you like, toe-curlingly recognisable people and dialogue. I laughed my socks off, but it also had me weeping like a baby a couple of times. Damn.

...must get that on DVD. Stat.

...it always boggles my mind to think of her with Alexis Denisof. Gosh.

Fay, did you see the special a fortnight or so ago? It undid me; I was undone.

Fay, did you see the special a fortnight or so ago? It undid me; I was undone.

Sadly I don't have TV set up in my flat at present - pretty much all my TV viewing is via DVD (presently rewatching Alias season 4, with a view to appreciating my newly-purchased Alias season 5.)

Well, plus I'm in Thailand, rather than Blighty, so it probably wasn't viewable on whatever the cable telly here is.

Was it the Christmas ep? With the bathroom scene? That reduced me to a blubbering wreck. (Are you in the UK or the States, btw? Or elsewhere?)

No, no, it was a new episode. Baby David as a seven year old, the first glimpse of Anthony's child, "All I ever dreamed of was being laminated throughout" and a bunch of other quotes that have already insinuated themselves into my speech and the most quietly devastating scene yet.

I'm in Ireland but receiving the BBC is par for the course here now.

OMG, really? An all new episode? Is Caroline Aherne back from Australia then?

Argh!

Want. Take. Have!

It's ahemable. You must want. take. have it because it was freakin' brilliant. I'm getting emotional just thinking about it and I'm a manly man.

There was also a talking heads piece on after it with J.K. Rowling, Peter Kay and Noel Gallagher geeking out over it in the most affectionate ways.