Out and About in Altrincham

I have been in Altrincham for about two months now and someone pointed out to me the other day that despite this, even walking to a local restaurant opened my eyes to new roads and streets that I had never seen before. It occurred to me that I still haven't really been round the town and had a look at what Altrincham has to offer. I knew that some places existed - I'd driven past the local cinema on my way to the supermarket and I'd heard rumours of a local market but I'd not been to either.

I thought that it was about time things changed.

With a free weekend with little else to do other than continue fixing bugs for the TSC website - a relentless tasks where the list never seems to dwindle - I decided to get on my bike and go exploring. It was a beautiful sunny day and although a little chilly, one I had got the legs working it was actually quite warm.

My first task was to find a local barber and after contemplating the choices available on Google Maps, I decided to go with the one I walked past nearly every day. Their prices turned out to be reasonable and I'm not unimpressed with the end result although there was a point mid-cut where I had very short hair with quite a long fringe which made me look rather ridiculous. It doesn't help that most places ask you to remove your glasses before they start - perhaps so that you don't get to see clearly how they transform your hair from long to short. I've noticed recently that whilst my vision with glasses seems to remain fairly consistent, my uncorrected vision seems to get worse and worse. I don't know if this is medically correct or an illusion but I used to be able to function fairly well without my glasses and indeed on occasions, was known to forget them. Nowadays, donning my specs is an integral part of my daily routine and I'm fairly sure I wouldn't be able to function at work without them.

I found the local market and had a long look round. There were the usual butchers, fishmongers and fruit and vegetable stalls but there was also a lovely cake stand supplying all of those fancy little extras like decorations, bases, pastes etc that the professional cake makers all use. I may very well be frequenting that stall quite often if I start to get a bit more adventurous with my baking. I would rather like a large star piping nozzle for pretty cupcakes so I may visit again next weekend.

I've been amassing a large collection of films on my 'to see' list so trying out the local cinema seemed a good way to cross some of these off and see what it's like. At fist I was quite disappointed. The screen was pretty tiny by cinema standards and I'd been used to the sizes of my local multiplex in Birmingham where the screens were pretty enormous. Once the picture came on however, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not an enormous cinema, six screens I think, but the projection quality was wonderful - a genuinely superb picture. I had been really disappointed at the grainy quality of the few 2D films I saw in Birmingham because they were still on film projectors. This was crystal clear digital and very impressive. I almost thought the experience would be ruined by three young teenagers sat behind me but to my amazement, they were all really well behaved. I'd started to believe that all young people were chavvy and selfish but once the film started, they were silent throughout. Even at the beginning there was no horrible music blaring from their mobile phones and the conversations they were having before the film kept me amused until it started.

I had been to see Contagion which looked like an action packed thriller but turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for something more exciting and this was a little bit dull and predictable which was a shame. I'd been so impressed by the picture quality however that I decided to go again on Sunday to see Tintin in 3D. I'd heard a lot about the film but not seen any posters or trailers and didn't really know what to expect. I assumed from the title sequence that it would be very comicy but once it launched into the film itself I was shocked at what I saw. The level of detail in the animation was incredible and I've not seen anything quite like it before. The characters looked so realistic and believable that at times you really did forget that it was an animation. Technology really has moved on and 3D animations really are brilliant. I did have some bad luck at the beginning of this movie, having arrived at the cinema without my 3D specs. I had to rush back to grab them to take my seat before the film started and then spent the duration of the trailers trying to secure them to my face.


The trouble with wearing glasses is that the cheap 3D ones you typically pay a small extra fee for do not fit comfortably over the top and so when I started seeing films in 3D regularly, I bought a pair of clip on lenses that set me back about £10. I've probably worn them about four or five times now and with the last outing, one of the rubber caps came off never to be seen again. I'd really looked after them and had kept them in a hard glasses case with a lint free cloth to clean them each time. Apparently they are not designed to last though because the spring in the clamp broke as I tried to attach them and at one point, I thought I would have to sit through the film watching it in blurry 2D. I tried tucking them behind my glasses in an attempt to keep them on my face but they are clearly designed to sit in front of your lenses as the effect was ruined. Eventually, I managed to balance them on my face in the right position and slouched thorough the movie in order to keep them on my face. It didn't do my back any good but at least I got to see the movie as it was intended.

This week's musical finale comes in the form of the new Florence + the Machine album, Ceremonials which was released on Monday. I had high hopes for this record and wasn't at all disappointed. I was concerned that following the success of Lungs would be tricky but she pulled it off. My favourite track from the album is Only if for a Night which is a cracking opener. If you liked Lungs then I strongly suggest that you give the album a listen, this YouTube video just doesn't do it justice.