大象传媒

There鈥檚 No Such Thing as Free Parking

• Kate Feld
• 25 Jan 07, 12:42 PM

The big news amongst Mancunian bloggers this week is the council鈥檚 to the city鈥檚 parking regulations that would put an end to free parking on evenings and weekends. Bloggers opposing the changes included and , who writes: 鈥淭he current plans to charge for parking from 8am to midnight 7 days a week will be a disaster for the city, not only for our theatres, shops and businesses, but they could lead to more residents leaving the city centre at a time when it needs to be attracting them in ever increasing numbers in order to avert a crisis of housing surplus.鈥�

Others were talking about the high gales which wreaked havoc around Greater Manchester last week. train wasn鈥檛 running, so he cycled home, but not without some detours. 鈥淧iccadilly (the road) was shut because there was a load of scaffolding that was looking precarious. The Piccadilly station approach road was shut too, along with another road near the bus stops on the eastern side of Piccadilly gardens. The result was chaos.鈥�

Clare Sudbery of has noticed the reappearance of the Sabirock guy 鈥� a mysterious figure of great interest to Manchester鈥檚 blogging community:

鈥淢r Sabirock was there again today, sitting on his fence by a roundabout鈥 caught his eye. We smiled at each other. I really should try and actually listen to his music.鈥�

Meanwhile, music blog has posted a review of folksinger and harpist Joanna Newsom鈥檚 recent gig with Northern Sinfonia at the Bridgewater Hall. Despite initially thinking Joanna鈥檚 voice sounded like a tortured cat, JustHipper has grown to appreciate her unique vocal style. The concert was 鈥渁 remarkable performance,鈥� she says:

鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 take my eyes off her hands up and down the harp, wondering how she managed to play so perfectly and sing such complex and skilful poetry so sincerely at the same time.鈥�

And Norm of was interested to read of the Countess of Chester Hospital鈥檚 toward smoking on hospital grounds, which involves closing outdoor smoking shelters and helping staff quit so they can set a healthy example. 鈥淏ut, let's face it, this is tame stuff,鈥� Norm writes. 鈥淚 think the hospital should consider rounding up all smokers who enter its premises, holding them for several days and hosing them down with liquid horse shit until they confess to the unutterable baseness of their own miserable beings and renounce their evil ways forever.鈥� Indeed.