Manchester

I went with a fellow Cov Uni student up to Manchester on Thursday for a conference on European Terrorism and Security, past and present. It was a good conference, with sessions yesterday and today. We hired a car to get there as it was the most reasonable price (train tickets are pricey here!!!). There was a bit of a bump in our plans when we picked it up and they had to call their insurance company to make sure that a lowly student could be insured (Seriously, folks, I'm a postgraduate student! That means that I'm responsible and smart- good characteristics for a prospective rental driver, not reasons to raise the deductible!). But the insurance company didn't believe that, so they made me agree to a higher "excess" (ie deductible) of £1,000. Ouch. Thankfully, I was careful and stupid drivers stayed away from me, so no damage. :-)

I've got a friend living in Manchester that I wanted to see, but wasn't able to as we needed to get on the road once the conference finished so that we could get the car returned before the place closed at 4:30. We got there 15 minutes early... and guess what? The gate was locked, the whole place shut down. Rrrrrrrrr. This customer sure isn't happy, and won't be renting from them again. I had to drive back across town and leave the car in a car park closer to my place overnight (which won't be cheap), and will have to wake up early and return it in the morning. I'll have words to share with them. I could have stayed in Manchester, seen my friend, and seen a bit of the city had the company told me they'd be closing early. But nooooo.

As it was, this trip really was simply for the conference. After it concluded last night, we went straight back to the hostel, ate a nice dinner, and I read a bit of a really great book and went to bed. No exploring the city, sadly. Oh well, I'll just have to go back!

By the way.... if you hadn't put two and two together, this is the second trip I've driven for here in the UK... and this time, unlike last time, I drove a manual car! I didn't kill the engine once (no surprise, as I drove a manual at home)... but I'll admit, I did reach down with my right hand trying to shift a few times. Hehehe. Crazy folks here, driving on the "other" side of the road and shifting with your left hand... (can't say "wrong" side, no matter how much I want to say it, as that would be culturally insensitive!).