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tkmedia · 3 years

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Belgium v Portugal: De Bruyne firing Red Devils´ charge but are Portugal misusing Fernandes?

Belgium face holders Portugal in a mouthwatering Euro 2020 last-16 tie on Sunday and their star attacking midfielder is in ominous form. Kevin De Bruyne began the Red Devils’ group campaign on the sidelines as he recovered from facial injuries sustained during Manchester City’s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea. “I don’t feel anything on the left side, like after a visit to the dentist,” he explained in a typically abrupt fashion. But since being introduced as a half-time substitute with Belgium 1-0 down to Denmark in Copenhagen, the 29-year-old has unquestionably made his presence felt. A brilliant assist and thumping winning goal saw the playmaker inspire a 2-1 win almost singlehandedly. Belgium made it three wins from three thanks to a routine 2-0 triumph over Finland in their final Group B match, with De Bruyne laying on Romelu Lukaku’s third goal of the tournament. Despite only playing 134 minutes at Euro 2020, he has created five chances with an expected assists (xA) value of 1.18. Bruno benched as holders struggle to find their feet If this is a case of De Bruyne emphatically bringing his Premier League form onto the international stage, the same cannot yet be said of Bruno Fernandes. Since his Manchester United debut on February 1 last year, Fernandes’ 19 assists are the most supplied by any player in England’s top fight. De Bruyne, with 17 assists having played 2,904 minutes to the Portugal international’s 4,297, is the only other player to have recorded more than 15 over the same period. The Manchester maestros also close out the top two in terms of chances created (De Bruyne 131, Fernandes 125), big chances created (De Bruyne 31, Fernandes 23) and chances created from open play (99 apiece) in this time. Fernandes was in the starting line-up for Portugal’s opener when they left it late to beat Hungary 3-0 in Group F, before being unable to avert a chastening 4-2 loss to Germany in Munich. The former Sporting CP favourite was one of the victims as Fernando Santos shuffled his pack in response, only coming on as a late substitute in the 2-2 draw against France – his most notable contribution coming when he escaped punishment for an untidy challenge on Kingsley Coman in his own penalty area. KDB running free De Bruyne and Fernandes’ contrasting contributions at Euro 2020 so far can by partly explained by the amount of freedom they are granted by their respective international bosses to recreate their club heroics. “Kevin will have an influential role, the playmaker, linking possession,” Martinez said a couple of days out from the showdown in Seville, with De Bruyne once again poised to leave a stamp on the game irrespective of starting position. He replaced Dries Mertens against Denmark, nominally roving in the front three, before reverting to a central midfield position alongside Axel Witsel for a man-of-the-match showing versus Finland. For City, the majority of De Bruyne’s Premier League touches last season came in the middle third of the opposition half of the field, with 15.27 per cent in the middle of the left flank. Within the far smaller sample size of his Belgium minutes at Euro 2020, the story is similar enough. Although he does not hit double-digit percentages across the middle attacking third as he does for City, 15.38 per cent of De Bruyne’s Red Devils touches are in that favoured position – coming in from the left and able to see the full picture unfolding. Fernandes’ made 14.08 per cent of his United touches in the same area in 2020-21, with a comparable spread across the attacking midfield zones to De Bruyne. By contrast, for Portugal at Euro 2020, there has been a huge concentration of Fernandes’ touches on the right flank – 22.68 per on the right of the middle third of the opposition half, compared to just 4.12 per cent where he does the biggest chunk of his United work. This suggests far less license to express himself than De Bruyne enjoys under Martinez and the on-field relationship each man has with their team’s superstar goalscorer is somewhat wrapped up in all this. KDB and Rom in sync, Bruno struggling to feed Ronaldo The outcome of Sunday’s match could have a huge bearing on the winner of the Golden Boot, although Cristiano Ronaldo’s group-stage haul of five means he might have already done enough. Lukaku is building on a fabulous couple of seasons at Inter and has three for Belgium so far, with the centre-forward seeming to come alive whenever De Bruyne is in close proximity. A marginal offside call had already thwarted the De Bruyne-Lukaku link before Belgium’s number seven and number nine combined to complete the scoring against Finland. It is not a one-way relationship, either, with Lukaku holding up play expertly for De Bruyne to lay Thomas Meunier’s equaliser on a plate in the Denmark match. Of De Bruyne and Lukaku’s seven combinations at Euro 2020 – when one of them has passed to the other – six have ended in the opposition penalty area, underling their considerable threat in tandem. Fernandes and Ronaldo have passed to one another 15 times, but only two of these exchanges have ended in the area and neither yielded a goal. Their combinations have also been uneven. Fernandes came on in the 72nd minute against France and he and Ronaldo each passed to the other once. They shared three in total despite being on the pitch for 89 minutes together versus Hungary. Perhaps this speaks of the respective status of the two playmakers with their countries. Fernandes, 26, is in Ronaldo’s shadow like the rest of his international team-mates, meaning the cajoling leader on show at Old Trafford is unlikely to be seen to the same extent. Much like his overall presence, his on-field contributions have shrunk. De Bruyne is second to no one in the Belgium set-up, the shining light of a celebrated generation alongside Lukaku and Eden Hazard. It means that, while they might compete as men of equal status in the next Manchester derby, De Bruyne will be the heartbeat of Belgium’s bid for a quarter-final spot as Fernandes seeks to muscle in and make his own talents felt from the margins. Read the full article

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lsl-liverpool-girls-blog · 5 years

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A Liverpool Girl with Style - The Secret’s is Out!!

You've got to hand it to LIVERPOOL it's undoubtably the most vibrant, architecturally interesting and beautiful city in England, full of great places to eat, drink, shop and just to have amazing experiences time and time again. The food scene is now massive, along with the events programme, the museums and the general tourist destinations that swamp the city. So why not do it in style.

Imagine spending a day out with the girls and being able to do it with everything with discounts. That's what The Style Card is offering the girls who love to play, shop, live and even work in Liverpool.

With '33 amazing offers* giving discounts 'all things woman', its got to be with you, in your bag, in your purse and in your life.

What makes the card so great are the incredible businesses and their offers we have onboard.

If you fancy Lunch or Dinner, why not book with......

Alma de Cuba

Eat in style and enjoy an eclectic mix of Cuban, Hispanic, and Latin American influences while they enjoy, either their lunch or dinner using the great discounts exclusive to The Style Card.

Alma De Cuba are offering Style Card holders 20% off their lunch menu which can be used 7 days a week. You can also enjoy Alma De Cuba's hospitality at the weekend, make a booking for dinner (Friday/Saturday) and get 10% off.

The Bastion Restaurant - The Shankly Hotel

Enjoy Lunch and experience their seasonally inspired delicious food with our Style Card offer. Every dish on their menu is stunningly presented and you'll enjoy dishes that are created by some of the most talented chefs in the city, who are passionate about serving unique creations that never disappoint.

The Bastion is offering Style Card holders 20% off their lunch menu (available 7 days a week). And if you want to enjoy dinner on a Friday or Saturday evening, you'll get 10% off your bill too.

The Carpathia Champagne Bar and Restaurant

Get together for a girls lunch at Carpathia and experience their seasonally inspired delicious food with our Style Card offer. Every dish on their menu is stunningly presented and you'll enjoy dishes that are created by some of the most talented chefs in the city, who are passionate about serving unique creations that never disappoint.

The Carpathia Champagne Bar and Restaurant are offering Style Card holders 20% off their lunch menu (available 7 days a week). And if you want to enjoy dinner on a Friday or Saturday evening, you'll get 10% off your bill as well.

If you fancy having Afternoon Tea, we have two offers on the Style Card:

The Carpathia Champagne Bar and Restaurant

The Carpathia Champagne Bar & Restaurant, they're giving Style Card holders the opportunity to experience Afternoon Tea in the perfect surroundings of 30 James Street - home of course to The White Star Line and arguably the most famous ship in the world, The Titanic.

Style Card holders will enjoy an afternoon served with dainty sandwiches, delicate cakes, scones and jam, looking across to the famous Liverpool waterfront and on to The River Mersey.

The Carpathia Champagne Bar and Restaurant are giving Style Card holders and incredible and unmissable offer - an offer you just can't refuse - Afternoon Tea for 2 for the price of 1!!!

You can also enjoy Afernoon Tea at the Bastion Restaurant at The Shankly Hotel.

Afternoon Tea is a very English thing to do and what better surroundings than the Bastion Restaurant to enjoy a relaxing afternoon, chatting away and enjoying finger sandwiches, petit four, scones, cream and jam.

And what a great offer The Bastion Restaurant is giving Style Card holders - the opportunity to have Afternoon Tea two for the price of one.

Cocktail Masterclasses

We've got three offers for cocktail masterclasses, one at: Bar Signature, Alma de Cuba with its exciting hispanic vibe and the Mulholland DIner, with its exciting Hollywood vibe and learn how to mix and put cocktails together like a pro. Shake and pour yourself that perfect cocktail girls!!

Book your masterclass and have an afternoon or evening of fun with the girls and benefit from the Style Card discount of £15 per person at all three of these venues.

Beauty, Hair and Treatments

Dermis Aesthetics

If you're looking for some cosmetic treatments, whether skin or body, but unsure which practise to go to? We’d like to introduce you to Dermis Aesthetics.

Dermis Aesthetics Ltd provides cosmetic treatments to clients, including dermal filler injections, skin treatments, body treatments and opera mask. Owner Mandie has 27 years experience as a registered nurse and fifteen years aesthetics experience. With locations across the country, including: Lincoln, Nottingham, Manchester and Sale, in Cheshire and at Pall Mall Medical in Liverpool, Dermis Aesthetics have built up the experience and rapport with their clients to give you the confidence with any treatment that you book with them.

Dermis Aesthetics are giving Style Card holders an incredible offer; on booking you’ll receive £25 off your first treatment with a spend over £100 and then ongoing a 7% discount on all treatments. Not only that, you can use your discount at the various locations across the country.

Morgan's Spa

Why not book yourself and your friends in for a beatuty treatment. Everybody needs to treat themself to some real pamper time, so we'd like to introduce Morgan's Spa on to the Style Card. Morgan’s Spa is located within the stunning 30 James Street Hotel. A truly exceptional subteranean spa offering a range of pioneering spa treatments.

The soothing and tranquil space allows you to relax and forget all of your worries immersing yourself in a state of complete relaxation. The team of fully certified body and skin care specialists offer top quality spa treatments and are on hand to help ensure your time at Morgan’s Spa is nothing but extraordinary.

The range of spa treatments include massages, rejuvenating body wraps as well as a wide selection of beauty treatments and facials.

With every treatment a Style Card holder books, they'll receive a complimentary glass of Prosecco and 2hrs spa access. You could end up spending the day there, now there's a thought!! Get the girls and spend a day pampering yourselves, enjoying the Prosecco and access to the spa.

Signature Salon

Head to Signature Salon for beauty and hair. Whether you’re wanting a cut and blow dry or a showstopping make-up look for your night out or event, Signature Salon's beauty experts will provide you with all your hairdressing and beauty treatment services that you’ll need, all in the heart of Liverpool.

Make-up from full application, make-up lessons to a colour, cut and blow dry, Signature Salon is there to get you ready for your special event.

Style Card holders are being offered 10% off any hair and make-up appointments. So time to get booking your appointments girls!!

Hotel Stays

We've teamed up with Signature Living to give Style Card holders an amazing set deals across The Shankly Hotel, The Art House Hotel, 30 James Street, The Signature Hotel and also The Exchange Hotel in Cardiff, if ladies you're planning a visit and want to stay in an historic, luxury hotel situated 450 yards from Cardiff Bay, you need to book into The Exchange Hotel for your stay. You'll get same benefits as The Shankly offer, here's a little reminder:

*An overnight stay with jacuzzi bathroom *Breakfast *2 course dining experience in a choice of our restaurants *£119.00 per couple *Subject to availability Sun – Thurs (Excludes Bank Holidays)

*If it's a weekend stay, you'll get an amazing 10% off your booking at any of these hotels.

Candles

Oakes Candles

Candles have got to be your thing and with two fab brands onboard, you've got a great range of candles and associated products to choose from. The first company is Oakes Candles offers are a range of luxury, eco-friendly based candles and diffusers. Their candles are all handmade, handpoured and made from vegan friendly ingredients and are paraben free.

Oakes Candles ethos is to to provide the highest quality of ingredients in their luxury products to fragrance your home and enhance your environment; all the while providing eco friendly waxes, superior scents and repurposeable glassware.

Oakes Candles have featured in Tatler magazine and their products have been launched in John Lewis' Oxford Street, Brent Cross, Leicester and Stratford stores.

Style Card holders get 15% off purchases, if you spend £20+ you'll receive a free gift.

Lily's of Liverpool

The second of the businesses offering candle and associated products is Lily's of Liverpool. They're offering 20% of their candle and diffuser products.

The centre of the business is selecting the best scents, which thought has gone into, too. Each scent is built from using fragrance and essential oils. If you don’t want to customise, you can buy off the shelf from four fabulous signature scents:

The Three Graces

Queen Mary II

Lord Sefton

Port of Liverpool

Chocolates

We couldn't have an exclusive card, without having chocolate on it, we're lucky enough to have two fab brands, offering exquisite products.

Bloom Delight

Bloom Delight, a family run chocolate business directed towards customers who like unique distinguished gifts and healthier self-treats. Their artisan chocolates are handcrafted from premium quality ingredients with natural superfood flavours and fresh fillings.

Bloom Delight has gained the trust of The Ritz and their famous Ritz top hats are filled with their luxury chocolate collection.

Bloom Delight are offering Style Card holders 15% off all purchases.

Cocoa and Beans

A new Liverpool artisan chocolate business offering handmade chocolates. Cocoa and Beans are offering a 20% discount on all purchases, including events like weddings.

Flowers

Fishlocks Florist

Is your thing flowers - one of the best gifts you can give, what ever the occasion, happy or sad, congratulatory or celebratory, so it's great to have Fishlocks Florist on The Style Card, based on Hardman Street in Liverpool, Fishlocks Florist has been delivering in and around Liverpool for over 120 years, not only that it offers the Interflora service for further afield deliveries. So any time a Style Card holder needs flowers, they can just order online, over the phone or instore and receive 15% off.

Weddings

Bridal Reloved Liverpool

For all the prospective brides out there, we've got some great wedding offers too. The first is from Bridal Reloved Liverpool, who sell high end pre-owned wedding dresses through their award winning, friendly and welcoming boutiques. Their wedding dresses are either brand new, ex-sample or worn once and cleaned. They also sell veils, tiaras and other accessories.

With dresses from designers like Jenny Packham, Maggie Sottero, Ian Stuart, Justin Alexander and Claire Pettibone to name just a few the choice is there for you to select the perfect dress for your perfect day.

Bridal Reloved Liverpool are offering Style Card brides a FREE veil when ordering and buying their wedding dress from them in store.

Wink ‘N Pout

You've got to feel amazing on your wedding day, so using the skills of a professional bridal make-up artist is really important, we've teamed up with Wink 'N Pout to give you a great offer, 20% off their trial make-up.

Simon Bellis Photography

Great pictures maintain great memories; so it's incredibly important that your photographer is able to achieve this for you on your wedding day.

Simon Bellis Photography are totally focused on wedding imagery, Simon knows what makes a picture look good, he's got a great/special eye for the little details, that makes a photograph look amazing, that others disregard. He knows what makes a good picture and will always make suggestions to get the best out of you and your shoot to ensure that you are presented with the most magical images to be treasured for generations to come.

If you're getting married in 2019/20, Simon Bellis Photography are offering Style Card holders a free engagement shoot (worth £100) when you book your wedding photography with them.

Opulence Wedding and Event Planning

If you've got an event planned, whether a wedding or celebration, why not employ Opulence Wedding and Events to give you the support, advice and the knowledge to guaranatee a successful and stress free event.

UK and Destination Wedding Planning

Opulence gather your imaginative ideas and bring them to fruition, assisting in everything from locating the venue to the smaller details like favours. They'll work purely on your budget designing and delivering your dream wedding to cater for your specific requirements. Their job is to remove the stress, strain and support in anyway they can. They design weddings within the UK and abroad specialising in Ibiza and Santorini.

Mobile Bar Hire

Their mobile bar can be set up in your home, garden, office, marquee or chosen venue. They style the bar with accessories, lights and décor to match your event theme. You may hire bartenders to host your event leaving you to relax and enjoy the party. They also offer three drinks package which include; dry hire, cash bar and unlimited drinks package.

Venue Styling

At Opulence they'll style any venue to suit your chosen theme with our extensive range of products. Designed for any celebration including weddings, baby showers, christening's, communion's, birthdays and much more. Their products include the following; centrepieces with fresh or artificial flowers, chair covers, table linen, sweet stand, themed backdrop, wishing well, wishing tree, post box, LED dance floor, LED signs.

Opulence Wedding and Events are offering Style Card holders 15% off the total cost of your bill.

Cake!!!

Afternoon Tea at Fifi

Afternoon Tea at Fifi, offers bespoke Afternoon Tea and desserts catering for all events, from weddings, baby showers, hen parties, bridal showers, birthdays, to corporate functions.

They provide delicious food beautifully presented and elegantly delivered. From brunch to desserts tables and so much more. They pride themselves on exceptional service to match their great tasting food. They can design the table setting from the tablecloth to the fine bone china and cutlery. They can also help you plan your event so our table can compliment your theme.

Afternoon Tea at Fifi are offering Style Card holders 15% off when you have 10 guests or over at your event.

Little Miss Alice Cakes

There's nothing like homemade cake and whether you need to have a cake, cup cakes, tray bakes or celebration cakes you'll get them from Little Miss Alice Cakes. It's all about perfection, cakes that taste amazing, melt in the mouth and look fab too. Style Card holders are entitled to 10% off all orders.

Ridiculously Rich by Alana

We couldn’t have The Style Card and not have Ridiculously Rich by Alana on it, a firm favourite of LSL Liverpool Group members. Ridiculously Rich by Alana is all about an approach in the kitchen that's about perfection, experimentation, flavour-obsessed, and of course motivated by all things indulgent.

Owned by The Apprentice Winner, yes you read that right, The Apprentice winner; Alana Spencer, Ridiculously Rich by Alana produces an amazing range of cakes from gooey chocolate brownie to peanut butter fudge cake and everything in between.

Style Card holders have the opportunity to benefit from two discounts, 5% for ordering directly through the website and 10% for orders over £10 ordered straight from Merseyside Ambassador, Louise.

After all that cake ..... time for: Exercise and Activities

Liverpool SUP Co

Liverpool SUP Co - Liverpool's premier stand up paddleboarding experience, it doesn't matter it you're a complete beginner or have been paddling for years. Stand-up paddleboarding is the fastest growing watersport in the world, so why not give it a go.

The Liverpool Sup Co will be able to offer you an experience like no other. They offer a wide variety of experiences to cater for your varying needs and you can select from the various locations they offer to get out on the water.

The Liverpool Supco are offering Style Card holders 10% off all their sessions.

Liverpool Yoga Company

Time for yoga, the Liverpool Yoga Company, not only can you take part in Wednesday Night Yoga, Yoga in the Park, Yin Yoga; you can also benefit from 1:1 private sessions, private group sessions and also take the opportunity to try yoga on a paddleboard, which looks great fun!!

The Liverpool Yoga Co are offering Style Card holders 10% off all the sessions available.

Gifts

These Little Things

These Little Things is an online gift shop that specialises in unique and personalised gifts. Shop til you drop using the 10% discount to purchase a bespoke gift and or clothing, across all the ranges. If you're in need of a gift of any sort you need to look at the wide range of gifts that These Little Things offers, from mugs to baby grows and everything in between.

Entertainment

The Spare Rib

This is your opportunity to get a little closer to burlesque dancing. Fancy having a go? You can, whether to have a private booking or to join a workshop or book an entertainment package for a hen party, wedding reception, birthdays or other event bookings.

Style Card holders are being offered 10% off a booking for the above and also to purchase standard price tickets to their shows.

So as you can see The Style Card offers holders great exclusive offers, plus it has a couple of great features:

1. You can use the offers as many times as you

2. *We'll keep adding new card partners.

And with a year's membership at just £23, the savings that you're going to make are enormous. Click on the link to find our more and become Style Card holder.

https://www.lifestyleloveliverpoolgirls.com/sign-up-for-the-membership-card

Businesses if you'd like to find out more about becoming a partner, click on this link, or alternatively email:

https://www.lifestyleloveliverpoolgirls.com/sign-up-for-the-membership-card

[email protected]

#liverpoolrestaurants #liverpoolhotels #signatureliving #liverpoolbakers #liverpoolgirls #liverpoolflorists #liverpoolchocolate liverpoolyoga liverpoolsupco liverpool thestylecard theliverpoolgirlwithstyle

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sportsleague365 · 5 years

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A lot was said on the battle with Vincent Kompany by Troy Deeney prior to the FA Cup final tie between Watford and Manchester City. Both side’s respective captains knew they’d be in for a tough battle between one another. Deeney loves to rough up his opposing centre-half, winning as many headers as he can and making life tough for them in the process. Before the showpiece event, the Hornets skipper said: “I’m going to just talk about myself here. I think if I play well they’ll have had a very difficult day. Who has been the best player in the EPL so far this season? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have their say in the video below… “If there are a lot of crosses in the box, as much as I really respect Mr Kompany, he’d say it’s not going to be an easy day. “If I’m on my A game it’ll be a very difficult game for whoever’s playing.” As we now know, it really wasn’t a difficult day for anyone in a sky blue shirt at Wembley on Saturday as City obliterated Watford by six goals to nil. Deeney earned an embarrassing 5.85 rating on WhoScored, and failed to even have a single shot on Ederson’s goal to make his bullish pre-match words look all the more misjudged. Manchester City fans spot what Vincent Kompany told Troy Deeney during FA Cup final thrashing https://t.co/dUSmYNboFc pic.twitter.com/xBUGZCgMoP — FirstPressNG (@firstpressNg) May 19, 2019 The 30-year-old also only had 33 touches of the ball, the joint-least out of all of his teammates who started the game – Heurelho Gomes in goal had more with 37. Deeney was well and truly phased out of the game by Kompany, who’s facial expression to the striker after City scored their fourth goal was a sight to behold. It made a mockery of the confident pre-match words from the Englishman, and looked as if the Belgian was thinking something along the lines of, “Well, that went well for you, didn’t it?” He probably wasn’t thinking just that, because Kompany is a man of too much class to be petty; although, his facial expression gave a lot of hilarity to a miserable situation for Deeney. From one Skipper to another… Vincent Kompany had a message for Troy Deeney 👀 pic.twitter.com/GreiAQzyH6 — Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 19, 2019 #ManchesterCity #TroyDeeney #VincentKompany

#ManchesterCity #TroyDeeney #VincentKompany

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pampertree · 3 years

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Find Amazing Stress Relief With A Massage in Manchester!

Manchester is a brilliant city to explore on your time off, however whether you have had a particularly stressful week at work or want to spend some time with a loved one, a massage in Manchester is the perfect idea! The spas and salons around the city offer many luxurious treatments from hair, nails and facials to body, mud baths and so much more and clients are guaranteed to feel amazing after a session. Clients are able to choose their ideal treatment for an hour of relaxation or you can even book a whole day full of your favourite spa treatments to indulge in! This is perfect for those special occasions you want to get ready for such as a wedding or girls night out, but it is also popular for those simply in need of a break away from the stresses of work and home life. You can find the best services and venues near you with the help of PamperTree which will make you feel refreshed and leave you looking stunning!

So many luxurious treatments available!

There are 28 massage therapies available in the best massage centres Manchester has to offer which guarantees there will be the most suitable option for you no matter your needs. If you are in need of deep relaxation, the Swedish massage or aromatherapy massage may be the perfect choice or even the four hands massage which is known to be the most intense, relaxing massage on offer. If you are looking for pain relief after a sports injury or accident, the sports massage and deep tissue massage are popular options that immediately reduce pain, offer stress and tension relief and improve mobility with a regular session. The traditional Thai massage is a unique treatment which combines yoga, stretching and massage to build a connection with the body and improve communication. PamperTree is here to help you find the best salon that offers exceptional services.

Choose the best service for you!

The skilled therapists will offer a consultation to assess your problem and determine the most beneficial body massage near Manchester that can be tailored to your needs for the best possible results. With so many incredible massages on offer, clients may feel overwhelmed! This is why the professional therapists are here to offer their advice and guidance to ensure you receive the best service available that is tailored to each individual’s needs for outstanding results. There are the traditional options available including the chair and foot massage as well as more unique options that are becoming more popular such as the biodynamic massage and shiatsu massage. There are even specialist services on offer for those with specific needs such as the prenatal massage for pregnant women and reflexology that deals with pressure points in the feet that connect to other body parts. Not only can you find the best salons and spas close by to your office but you can also discover mobile massage therapists who will bring their professional services to your home.

Book amazing massages in Manchester for the best results!

Whether you find the perfect service that provides amazing improvements, or you enjoy trying different massages at times, you will always find the ideal service for you here. PamperTree advertises all available venues and the treatments on offer to ensure clients can find the best salon all the time that is known for providing exceptional treatments. You can even discover the range of massage deals and discounts highlighted on PamperTree to make sure you book a treatment that is well within your budget! Clients can also read through the ratings and reviews left by previous clients to ensure you book an appointment in the best possible venue and whether this is a one off relaxing service or a regular treatment, your care is always prioritised and the treatments are tailored to your needs for incredible results. Not only do you feel improvements in your physical wellbeing but a regular service is also known to enhance your mental wellbeing and leave you feeling relaxed and stress free. Book a massage right now and indulge in luxury for an hour of self care!

Read another blog - Indulge in Deeply Relaxing Manchester Spa Days!

#massage in manchester

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jestbee · 7 years

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June 15: Come Back, Be Here (Chapter Four)

Title: Come Back, Be Here – Chapter Four Tags: Long distance relationship, getting together, fluff, angst, Words: 1610 Summary: The five times Dan and Phil said goodbye in a train station, and the one time they didn’t. Prompt: 15 days… I broke my laptop charging cable so there could be some disruption to this project until my internet gets installed on 17th and I can use my desktop PC. (I’ve been using my laptop and stealing my parents WiFi)

FEDIJ Day: June 15

Previous Day/Chapter | Masterlist of fics so far

[AO3 Link]

Phil is beginning to resent this train station. On the one hand, when Dan is arriving the lights on the concourse are bright, and the hustle and bustle of the crowds feed into his nervous energy, jumping on the spot, peering over them to seek out his first look at Dan making his way over to him. On days like today though, the frantic energy of people moving around feels like friction, like he can’t get enough space to breathe.

Dan doesn’t seem to be having the same problem, he’s chatting endlessly at Phil’s side, apparently oblivious to his monosyllabic responses. Phil is learning Dan, has started to become fluent in his mannerisms, but he mustn’t be as knowledgeable as he once thought because he could swear Dan is nervous.

Phil uses his hands to talk frequently, tends to amplify his communication with paralinguistic cues in the form of wide, fast hand movements. Dan is more stoic, with a tendency to fiddle with whatever is closest by when he’s getting on to really difficult subjects. But today Dan’s hands are moving wildly, he’s practically vibrating with it.

“Are you okay?” Phil asks when Dan takes a breath.

“Yes,” Dan says, “Why?”

“You seem… I don’t know. Nervous?”

Phil feels a little sick, the nagging sensation that Dan could be nervous about giving bad news, about telling Phil that he’s finding this too difficult.

“I’m fine.”

Phil nods silently, not wanting to press the issue, though he suspects this is more to do with his own fear of what he might find there rather than trying to protect Dan’s feelings.

The board is lit up in the same way it always is and they crane their necks to look, both deflated at the ‘on time’ announcement even though they expected it.

“I guess delays are only granted as Christmas presents,” Dan says, a shy smile tugging at his mouth.

“Could have given me one for my birthday though,”

“Your birthday was yesterday,” Dan points out.

“Yeah… but you’d think the train gods might let their mercy drift into the day after as well. It’s Sunday, and you’re leaving, and then going on holiday for two whole weeks in a place where you might not have wifi, that’s not a very nice birthday present.”

“Train gods?”

“Shut up.” Phil laughs, his mouth climbing into a pout.

“It’s fine,” Dan says, “It’s cute.”

Along with the nervousness it seems Dan is being more liberal with his affection today. He’s stepped into Phil’s space, not touching, but they are close enough that if you were inclined to do so you could interpret their relative spatial positions as indicating more than platonic intentions. It confuses Phil to no end, as well as making him fight and internal war with himself over whether he actually wants to step away, whether he actually cares if they are spotted or not. But he knows Dan does care, usually, so he won’t press it. Instead, he’ll just enjoy today and assume that he’s getting a little extra devil-may-care from Dan as an extended birthday treat.

Phil feels his cheeks flush slightly at the praise and he drums his fingers on his leg to stop himself reaching out.

“I could give you an extra birthday present if you like?” Dan asks, a slightly crazy smile on his face.

“Oh yeah?” Phil cocks an eyebrow, or hew tries to, he’s not sure what his actual facial expression is but Dan seems to get the intent.

“Ew, no. I’m not blowing you in a bathroom or something. I meant an actual present… well… not a thing. You can’t touch or anything it’s… Um–”

“Dan,” Phil interrupts him, “What the hell are you going on about?”

“Just…come here.” He catches Phil’s cuff in his fingers and tugs until Phil is following him across the station. They come to rest in the underpass, near the ticket machines. There aren’t as many people here, and the ones that are aren’t paying attention to them as much. They crowd into a dimly lit corner and Dan looks up at him with such fondness that Phil feels his chest might burst.

“This is all very secretive,” Phil notes, “And you’ve only got ten minutes until your train leaves.”

“It won’t take long,” Dan insists, “I just… I didn’t want to say anything in front of your parents because… well, I don’t know how they’d take it.”

“Okay…”

“It’s nothing bad!” Dan says in a rush, “But they might not… approve? I guess. Or they might think that it’s stupid or too fast and anyway it might not even happen and–”

Phil reaches out with his hand and places over the top of Dan’s flailing one. He squeezes Dan’s fingers lightly between his own and it seems to slow Dan down, make him take a breath. “Calm down,” Phil says, “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine. You said it was a present, it can’t be that bad.”

Dan breathes out sharply, like a staccato sigh. “I applied to Manchester university.”

Phil knows his mouth is gaping open, knows he hasn’t said anything, knows he can’t. He feels rooted to the spot, the overwhelming knowledge of it rolling over him, the possibilities…the beautiful glorious image of Dan, here, at last.

“You…?”

“Yeah,” And Dan’s dimples are out, he’s grinning madly at him, Phil has never wanted to kiss him so badly.

“For… what? When?”

“UCAS deadline was the 19th January. I… I didn’t know whether I should tell you.”

“Of course you should… You did it without telling me? Oh my God Dan, do you know what this means?”

Dan shrugs, “I mean, I got the grades. I got them last year before my gap year so it’s not like I have to wait for them or anything.”

“So, wait. I’m confused. You don’t have to wait for grades so… did you get in?”

“They…” Dan shifts slightly closer and drops his voice like it’s a big secret. “I got an unconditional offer.”

“OH MY GOD!” Phil wants to throw his arms around Dan, to pull him up close and bury his face in his neck, kiss his lips and breathe him in. He does none of those things, instead he wraps a hand around his bicep and jostles him slightly.

“I know, I know. They only hurdle now is my parents. They don’t know I applied, I don’t really know how they’ll feel about it so I haven’t even accepted the offer yet.”

Phil makes himself relax, tries to adopt a neutral expression, one that isn’t the embodiment of begging Dan to throw caution to the wind and come here.

“Well, it’s your life Dan.”

“I know. And I applied to Law like they wanted so hopefully that will go a ways to accepting it. They’re just still a bit… funny. About you.They might thinks that’s the only reason I’m doing it.”

“It’s not though, is it?” Phil checks, “You’re doing what you want to.”

“I mean… I can’t really see myself as a lawyer, but I can’t really see myself as doing anything so it might as well be that. It’ll be a good job, and I’m sure I’ll like it fine once I grow up and get used to the idea. But Manchester is a good university. It’s not… It’s not just for you. But… you know, you’re important to me.”

“You’re important to me too,” Phil whispers, the hand on Dan’s arm tightening for a moment like the hug he’s unable to give.

There is the sharing of a soft smile which says more than any words ever could.

“Best birthday present ever,” Phil grins, “Even if it doesn’t actually happen.”

“I’ll make it happen,” Dan says determinedly, “Happy Birthday, Phil.”

Phil feels it all rush up in him then, that emotion he’s been trying to push down, the words he knows it’s far too early to say. His head is filled with so many ideas, the hopes he feels building in his chest like an ever expanding block of something warm. He’s never felt like he does with Dan, it’s big and slightly scary and he doesn’t want to shy away from it, not really, but it all feels too much until he’s here, until they know that it isn’t just a possibility anymore, but something inevitable, something permanent.

“Thank you,” is all he says instead.

Dan is moving again then, looking at the clock on his phone and grumbling slightly about the train and Phil is in a daze as they say goodbye. He gets another big, exaggerated hug that doesn’t really get into his personal space, but Dan hangs on for a few seconds longer than is appropriate and Phil can feel his cheeks pushed into a smile against his shoulder and it’s not perfect, but it’s as near as they can get.

Phil opens his mouth to speak and Dan interrupts him. “Text you,” he laughs, “I know.”

“Yeah,” he responds, “text me.”

Then Dan is leaving, he’s getting on a train and he’s going away, away, always so far away but this time Phil can see an end to it, he can visualise it so perfectly. He resolves that if Dan decides he is going to come here, that he will do something too. He’ll move out of his parents, come to the city centre, take the next step in his life that he’s been putting off a little himself. It’s all coming together, and Phil can see the next tetris block of his life and clearly as he’s ever seen anything.

#my fics #phanfic #phanfiction #phanfic fluff #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #fic prompt #dnp #dan and phil #phan #phandom

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coopdigitalnewsletter · 6 years

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19 Mar 2019: Amazon Dash checks out. Social media and terrorism. The Aldi effect.

Hello, this is the Co-op Digital newsletter - it looks at what's happening in the internet/digital world and how it's relevant to the Co-op, to retail businesses, and most importantly to people, communities and society. Thank you for reading and please do send ideas, questions, corrections etc to @rod on Twitter. Please tell a friend about it!

[Image: Smithson Spiral Jetty, Daily overview]

The Aldi effect

“For many SKUs we are the biggest buyer by a country mile” - a great long read on the history and culture of Aldi. “Aldi’s customer profile is now classless. The supermarket is as strong with affluent people as it is with people on low incomes.” Some good stuff on both the famous middle aisle and the infamous checkout speed. And this is interesting on food delivery:

Aldi still has no plans to sell food through its website. (You can buy wine and “middle aisle” products there.) As the large supermarkets have realised, it is very hard to make money from internet sales because the profit margin on groceries is small and the delivery costs are so high – but now they can’t reverse course without losing customers. Andy Clarke, the former boss of Asda, told the Sunday Times last year that if the big four supermarkets had their time again “they wouldn’t have offered home deliveries, full stop”. “Online groceries are a cost drain,” Neale said. “Why should 90% of customers subsidise the 10% who get free home delivery?”

Related: Tesco’s Jack’s isn’t managing to get customers in?: “It was crazy at first, but it’s died down since. Aldi’s still full, though”.

Amazon Dash checks out, zero-click arrives

Amazon discontinued its one-click Dash buttons. They were a very interesting experiment: turning your kitchen worktop (or wherever you placed the button) into the simplest of interfaces. So what’s next? For repeat purchase consumables, you’d think that it’s the interface disappearing entirely, probably into subscriptions (Prime/Subscribe and Save in Amazon’s universe). Or perhaps the interface eventually migrates onto the product packaging itself somehow (“Buy Me Again”? Contactless payment?). Or onto your kitchen bin. (Argos is also trying to make button recede into the background with a use-camera-to-search app.)

Amazon is also taking steps toward zero-click ordering. The goods just keep coming to you. If a brand pays for that to happen, it’s free samples (and they’d be natural products to put those Buy Again buttons on). Or if it was you paying you’d return the product for a credit if you don’t want to keep it. You can imagine Prime starting to feel like money.

What do houses (and roads and cities) look like when they are all receiving lots of deliveries daily? Will houses with a delivery “airlock” be valued higher on Rightmove? Will houses become micro-distribution centres? Could you have housing *inside* the warehouses?!

Social media, content moderation and terror

Facebook’s crisis management algorithm runs on outrage.

When Elon Musk tried to destroy a Tesla whistleblower.

Facebook gives new details on NZ attack video.

Why do stories like this keep happening? Partly it’s that people are less trusting of big tech these days, and that the media love a click-clicky story. The other reason is that big tech companies keep acting as if the entrepreneurial ends justify any means.

Last week: social media as accelerants for the darkest of content and the very difficult life of the content moderator. This week an appalling terrorist attack in New Zealand prompted questions about the role of social media. (Leave aside for now whether the mainstream media have played as big a role by normalising intolerant behaviour.) Facebook were quick to point of the scale of the problem they’re dealing with, which may be a surprise if you think of these things in terms of “taking the [single] video down”. Even so, the response needs to be better.

The tech industry sometimes thinks that because some activities cannot be scaled up easily with automatable, technical means (yet), they can be avoided. But that difficulty scaling is a sign that the work simply has to be done the hard way. Moderating content, like police work or teaching or healthcare, is a societal thing, and societal things don’t scale as efficiently as technology does. They have to be done though, because otherwise the lack created “negative externalities” for the rest of society to pick up.

You are the training data

In January, IBM released a dataset of 1 million photos of people's faces designed to reduce bias in facial recognition software. Reducing bias is good, though it turns out that IBM used photos from people’s social media. “IBM says it drew upon a collection of 100 million images published with Creative Commons licenses that Flickr’s owner, Yahoo, released as a batch for researchers to download in 2014” - so the photo licences probably allowed this kind of use but it’s unlikely that photographers or subjects will have expected their work or likenesses to end up training facerec systems.

Learning from disasters

Boeing finds itself in the middle of two catastrophic aberrations in an era of unprecedented aviation safety and an analysis - two interesting reads about the terrible Boeing 737 crash. The full story won’t be clear until the crash investigators report, but it’s a good illustration that there is unseen complexity in every field, and that complex problems rarely have simple explanations. The airline industry has a solid history of learning from its mistakes (and consequently a good safety record) - it’s an approach that the tech/software industry could learn from.

Other news

Central England Co-operative has launched a programme to encourage women into traditionally male-dominated sectors such as IT and engineering. Good work.

The world wide web turned 30.

The hottest chat app for teens is Google Docs - it flies under the radar in many schools and during homework time.

His life is an endless voyage, posting into a social media ocean with no horizon in sight - a slightly sad story about a “yacht influencer”, who spends a lot of time helping “rich people and rich companies advertise their yachts” on social media. “If Instagram changes its algorithm slightly, there goes a bit of my business. [...] I’m totally dependent on a platform that’s completely out-of-control.”

Modern technology is quite hard to put into fiction in a compelling way. Does that means that modern tech is inhumane/bad for us or that modern storytelling is only just beginning to come to terms with depicting it?

“The Inuktitut word for internet, “ikiaqqijjut,” is often translated as “the tool to travel through layers.””

Co-op Digital news

The Co-op Digital blog has been on fire the last couple of weeks. Salute to the writers and Amy McNichol, who makes the words great.

Pair writing clear, accurate content for ‘How do I’ by Matt Edwards.

Field research: designing pre-paid plans with Funeralcare by Gillian McDonald.

Using ‘sacrificial concepts’ to explore the direction of a product by Louise Nicholas and Joel Godfrey.

What is design, and why should you care? by Katherine Wastell.

Events

What has the web team been up to playback - Tue 19 Mar 1pm at Federation House 5th floor.

Line managers' drop-in clinic - Tue 19 Mar 2pm at Federation House 5th floor.

Health team show & tell - Tue 19 Mar 2pm at Federation House 5th floor.

Food ecommerce show & tell - Tue 19 Mar 2.30pm at Federation House 5th floor.

Ladies that UX - Tue 19 Mar 6pm at Federation House.

Sci-fi book club - Tue 19 Mar 7pm at Federation House.

Co-operate show & tell - Wed 20 Mar 10am at Federation House 6th floor.

Data ecosystem show & tell - Wed 20 Mar 3pm at Angel Square 13th floor.

Manchester WordPress user group - Wed 20 Mar 6.30pm at Federation House.

Digital offers show & tell - Thu 21 Mar 2pm at Federation House 6th floor.

Membership show & tell - Fri 22 Mar 3pm at Federation House 6th floor.

Manchester Service jam master class - Sat 23 Mar 10am at Federation House.

Delivery community of practice meetup - Mon 25 Mar 1.30pm at Federation House.

HI future: Homeless Employment and Educating Businesses - Tue 26 Mar 9.30am at Federation House.

Funeralcare show & tell - Tue 26 Mar 1pm at Angel Square 12th floor.

CMO CRM show & tell - Tue 26 Mar 2pm at Angel Square 13th floor.

Line managers' drop-in clinic - Tue 26 Mar 2pm at Federation House 5th floor.

Data Insights at Scale + Machine Learning - Tue 26 Mar 6.30pm at Federation House.

OpenData Manchester: I Can't Believe It's Not Data - Tue 26 Mar 6.30pm at Federation House. (Data horror stories, including: “in 2003, Manchester City Council received a £7,500,000 budget cut due to an error with the census data, which essentially lost 25,000 people”)

Web team show & tell - Wed 27 Mar 1pm at Federation House 6th floor.

Tech for good live - Thu 28 Mar 6.30pm at Federation House.

Membership show & tell - Fri 29 Mar 3pm at Federation House 6th floor.

More events at Federation House. And TechNW has a useful calendar of events happening in the North West.

Thank you for reading

Thank you, beloved and thoughtful readers and contributors. Please continue to send ideas, questions, corrections, improvements, etc to the newsletterbot’s flunky @rod on Twitter. If you have enjoyed reading please consider telling a friend about it!

If you want to find out more about Co-op Digital, follow us @CoopDigital on Twitter and read the Co-op Digital Blog.

#aldi #amazon #facebook

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aleesblog · 7 years

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Remembrance hump of Garrincha published in The Blizzard

Bird of Passage

A personal quest into the life-story of Garrincha, Brazil’s unrefined legend

By Andrew Lees

1st June 2017

Money talks but it don't sing and dance, and it don't walk

Neil Diamond

Under an unremarkable sky there were four of us out on the backstreet making our rings fly. I thrust my ring away then pulled it in, creating ellipses in the summer air. If it dared to slip I coaxed it back up, bending my knees and bracing my shoulders as I tried to circle the sun. Jill Clapham and Karen Pullen were streets ahead, looping their hoops in a swaying 2/4 rhythm and creating double flirts with their ductile hips. That morning as the larks rose into the sky above Little Switzerland I twirled my first ton.

At two o’clock we all ran in to watch Sweden play Brazil. My father was already crouched in front of our Bush console. I sat beside him on the hearthrug and my mother brought in a jug of Kia-Ora orange squash. On the other side of the bulbous screen a thickset man in a raincoat was triumphantly brandishing a large Swedish flag. The magic mirror then moved its focus to show the opposing teams jogging up and down uncomfortably in the silent rain. At last the referee blew his whistle and the final was afoot. A quarter of an hour into the game the commentator informed us that the effervescent Brazilian fans were singing, “Samba, Samba” even though they were losing 1-0. Garrincha, their right-winger attacked from the fringes. Twice in succession in the first half, he beat three players and his inch-perfect goalmouth crosses resulted in Vavá goals. As the game went on my eyes were drawn more and more to this hunched man who never passed the ball. On 29 June 1958 I was transported to a field of dreams somewhere on another planet.

That winter I gave up hula-hooping and started to kick a rubber ball against our coal house door. I learned to keep the pill on the ground, tame its wicked bounce and make it run. I gained a rhythm that allowed me to twist and dart past imaginary opponents. I found that with the slightest of taps from my left foot I was able to alter the ball’s speed and trajectory. I kept my feet apart, flexed my body and imagined I was Garrincha. My ball slept with me under the sheets as I listened to Bobby Vee on my portable radio.

I set unregistered record after record with that small rubber ball and became a star of the school playground. It was also the last time the skylarks darted out of the turf and diminished to dark specks in the porcelain sky, the last time they would sing their hearts out, momentarily disembodied as they summoned the sun.

It was now 1959 and I had started to go to football matches with my father. I loved the communal walk to the ground, the baying wit of the tribe and the surging swell of bodies tumbling down the terraces. But what I watched on the pitch was a war in which tough men battled it out for a paltry win bonus. The game was prosaic, forbidding and merciless and bore no resemblance to the fluidity of the Brazilian champions.

In the summer of 1966 I got to watch Brazil play for a second time. Garrincha emerged from the Goodison Park tunnel wearing the number 16 shirt. His unstoppable swerving banana kick that had hit the top right hand corner of the Park End net three days earlier had led me to anticipate a repeat performance of the mesmeric sequence of steps I had watched as an 11 year old with my father. After the band had played the national anthems Brazil’s bandy-legged outside-right ambled over to position himself next to two policemen patrolling the far touchline.

Under the floodlights and with the Liverpool crowd’s chants of “Hungary, Hungary” and “ee ay adio ” echoing in their ears Flórián Albert and Ferenc Bene set about putting the ageing world champions to the sword with fast incisive counter-attacks. Just before half-time Kenneth Wolstenholme, the BBC sportscaster, lamented, “Ah, Garrincha seems to have gone now. He has lost all the feistiness and fire and that devastating burst of speed.”

In the second half I noticed that Garrincha sometimes came inside looking for help and on the rare occasions when he tried to get round the outside of the Hungarian defence he was easily cut off and forced to pass. At the final whistle a delirium of appreciation burst forth, as toilet rolls rained onto the pitch. A stray balloon blew up from the Gwladys Street terrace, drifting forlornly in the direction of Stanley Park.

It is 2006 and I am sitting in the Bar Vesuvio in the old cocoa port of Ilhéus watching Botafogo play Vasco da Gama. The ball rarely leaves the ground and always seems to be angled perfectly through the narrowest of channels. Periodically it shoots out to the flanks and is then rifled back across the box. In this game corners and throw-ins are irrelevant. The ball dips and bends as it fires towards goal. Then out of the blue a Botafogo player goes round his opponent on the outside and I blurt out the words, “Alma de Garrincha.” An old man sitting beside me smiled kindly and said, “Garrincha jogou futebol do mesmo modo que viveu sua vida, divertindo-se e irresponsalvelmente!” [Garrincha played football the same way he lived his life, pleasing himself and running wild!]

Back in England football was now an acceptable topic of conversation in the hospital canteen. In fact there were many similarities between the modus operandi of university teaching hospitals and Premier League football clubs. One Tuesday lunchtime after rounds I explained that ‘Garrincha’ was a drab little Brazilian bird with a buzzing flight and a bubbly song that could not survive in a cage. Nobody had heard of Garrincha.

I then got out my laptop and showed them extracts from the 1963 Cinema Novo film Alegria do Povo [The Happiness of the People]. The film begins with black and white photographs of Garrincha to a soundtrack of samba. I fast-forwarded so they could see the Lone Star of Botafogo mesmerising his opponents in the Maracanã stadium.

One of the house officers, a Manchester United supporter reflected, “He plays a bit like George Best.” I replied caustically that Garrincha was Best, Stanley Matthews and John Barnes and a snake charmer rolled into one. “What’s more you don’t need slow motion/3D/surround sound from 23 angles to prove he has more tricks than Messi and more grace than Ronaldo.” I knew that my fuzzy evidence had not convinced them. They smiled benignly but knew their chief was basking in the emotional overglow of an unhealthy reminiscence bump.

Undeterred I continued to watch web compilations of the Little Bird’s sillage, much of which had been posthumously embellished by music. To Moacyr Franco’s song Balada no.7 (Mané Garrincha) I watch him double back before arrowing away to the right. A magnet seemed to be always attracting him to the margin of the pitch. His style was casual, irreverent and highly improbable but never disrespectful. He tormented and teased but never mocked. He was wordless and indefinable. For Garrincha, football was no more than a series of duels against instantly forgettable defenders and foreplay was far more enjoyable than scoring. The more joyous he made the crowd, the sterner became his facial expression. He was football’s Buster Keaton cracking jokes with his bandy legs and dancing to the gaps in the music. In one game playing for Botafogo he was even admonished by the official for flirtatious play. He was a one-man carnival who could turn life upside down with his antics. ‘Seu Mané’ expunged the prison of cause and effect from the game of football.

By the second half of the 19th century Lancashire cotton goods had become almost worthless in Brazil. Even the turbines coming in on the Liverpool boats from Manchester were in far less demand. As a consequence the 1000 or so English expatriates began to invest more in local textile production. John Sherrington, a man who had strong commercial links with Manchester, purchased a stretch of verdant land that nestled below the forested Serra dos Órgãos in the centre of the sate of Rio de Janeiro. Here in 1878 in the grounds of the old fazenda he and his two Brazilian partners constructed a textile mill. The project got off to an ill-omened start when the ancient tree said to have been more than 50m tall and with a trunk circumference greater than 30 human arm spans came down during the construction of a road, but within a few years the factory was functional, converting natural fibres into yarn and then fabric.

The municipality of Pau Grande in the district of Vila Inhomirim 50km outside Rio de Janeiro already had a small railway line. It had been constructed by the English engineer William Bragge in 1853 and connected Raiz da Serra and the Imperial City of Petrópolis with the wharf in the small port of Mauá at the mouth of the Rio Inhomirim. This railway provided a reliable form of transport from the mill to the coast.

The Francisco dos Santos family were descendants of the Fulni-ô Indians, who after being ousted from their coastal homeland by the Portuguese had settled in Águas Belas, a municipality close to the Rio Ipanema. Although they had finally been hounded down near Quebrangulo and forced to take the surname of their oppressor these ‘people of the river and stones’ refused to bow to outside discipline. As their traditional lifestyle was eroded some of their number assimilated with renegade black slaves in the quilombo hideouts of the Brazilian outback.

Manuel Francisco dos Santos was the first to travel the 2000km from the tribal homelands to the boomtown dominated by the mill owned by the América Fabril company. Although the landscape bore similarities with the countryside on the borders of the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco from where he had travelled, Pau Grande itself more closely resembled Delph or Saddleworth on the Pennine ridge.

The several hundred labourers had come from all over Brazil but the mill managers were exclusively English. In return for the privileges of secure employment and accommodation the predominantly illiterate mill workers were obliged to comply with the strict discipline and moral code of the British Empire. Mr Hall, the manager, would sometimes deal with misdemeanours that had occurred outside the factory by administering a caning to the miscreant. Mr Smith, the director, emphasised the virtues of hard work and self discipline and encouraged football on the premise of ‘healthy body, healthy mind’.

On 28 October 1933 Manuel’s brother Amaro dos Santos, who worked at América Fabril as a security guard, became a father for the fifth time. The midwife was the first to notice that the baby boy’s left leg bent out and the right turned in. Manuel Francisco dos Santos had to grow up fast and his love of trapping and caging birds led his older sister Rosa to nickname him Garrincha. In his school reports he was described as quiet but mischievous and impulsive and his teachers considered him uneducable. For the young Mané by far the best thing about Pau Grande was a secluded potholed stretch of grass 60m by 40m high on a bluff that overlooked the factory. There were days when he would return two or three times for peladas [kickabouts]. Barefooted and dressed only in shorts Garrincha and a couple of mates would regularly thrash older opponents. His hunting spear was the ball and his prey lay nestled in the back of the net guarded by a goalkeeper. When he was not running with the ball he would be fishing or hunting with his friends Pincel and Swing, two brothers from the neighbouring Raiz de Serra.

His first job, at 14, was in the cotton room of the mill with its blistering heat, lung-damaging dust and deafening machines. The air had to be kept hot and humid in this the most unpleasant working environment of the factory to prevent the thread from breaking. He was always going absent, often to drink cachaça in a local bar or have sex with the mill girls at the back of the small football stadium belonging to SC Pau Grande, which had been founded in 1908 by workers from the factory. His employers soon gave up any hope of getting a decent day’s work out of him and it was only his footballing deftness that saved him from the sack. With Garrincha in SC Pau Grande’s side the factory team went two years without a defeat.

The coach likened Garrincha to Saci, the pipe-smoking mulatto imp whose spellbinding one-legged footwork created whirlwinds of chaos wherever he went. It was impossible to outrun Saci, who could make himself disappear at will. Sometimes he would transform into Matita Pereira, an elusive bird whose melancholic song seemed to come from nowhere. The only way to placate this legendary trickster was to leave him a bottle of cachaça.

Eventually Garrincha’s dazzling dribbles came to the attention of scouts from Rio de Janeiro and he was offered trials for the big clubs. He arrived at Vasco da Gama’s São Januário ground without boots, turned up late for a trial with São Cristóvão and when asked to stay overnight by Fluminense feared for his job and returned on the last train home. His insouciance counted heavily against him. Eventually a supporter and scout from Botafogo, a modest football and regatta club, but one that had a strong journalistic and intellectual following, dragged SC Pau Grande’s number 7 back to the capital.

On clapping eyes on Garrincha, the Botafogo coach Gentil Cardoso is said to have muttered, “Now they’re bringing cripples to me.” He then asked the young bumpkin, “How do you play, son?” to which Garrincha replied, “With boots!” After watching him kick a ball around Cardoso had seen enough to throw Garrincha into the first-team squad’s practice match. After the game the Brazil left-back Nílton Santos, who had been nutmegged for the first time in his career by the upstart, is said to have told Cardoso that the boy was a monster and should be signed on the spot if only to prevent him being snapped up by one of their rivals. The Rio press enthusiastically heralded Garrincha’s signing as a professional footballer in 1953. Their only criticism was “the boy dribbles too much.”

In Sweden in 1958, Garrincha was the best in the world in his position. Four years later in Chile he was the finest player in the world. After he had been officially announced as the player of the tournament, the poet Vinicius de Moraes composed the sonnet 'O Anjo das Pernas Tortas' [The Angel with Twisted Legs]:

'Didi passes and Garrincha advances

Observing intently the leather glued to his foot

He dribbles once, then again, then rests

Measuring the moment to attack

Then by second nature he launches forward

Faster than the speed of thought.'

In his June 1962 article “O Escrete de Loucos” [The Squad of Madmen] published in Fatos & Fotos, Nelson Rodrigues, the great Brazilian cronista reported that the European squads had been working on strategies to stop Garrincha but had not taken into account that the Brazilian team was a phenomenon made up of pranksters who played the game from the soul. In the last minutes of the final against Czechoslovakia, Garrincha had turned the opposition to stone. One defender even put his hands on his hips in total capitulation. Regarding the earlier 3-1 victory against England in the quarter-final, Rodrigues wrote, “The Englishman plays football whereas the Brazilian lives and suffers every move.”

Garrincha fathered fourteen children by five different women. One of them, Ulf, was born after the 1958 World Cup final and grew up in Sweden1. Garrincha had a lengthy and tempestuous relationship with the samba diva Elza Soares. He drank heavily and was responsible for the death of his mother-in-law in a car accident where he was drunk behind the wheel. When he finally hung up his boots, after a brief comeback with the small Rio club Olaria in 1972, he faded into oblivion. One of his last public appearances was at the carnival in Rio de Janeiro. The shots of his hunched bloated figure sitting alone on the front of the Mangueira samba school float saddened the nation.

Following Garrincha’s death from the complications of alcoholism on 20 January 1983, Hamilton Pereira da Silva, a poet and a politician from Tocantins, composed Requiem for an Angel:

They stood in the cortege

And offered him wings

Multicoloured wings

Vermilion, white

Chocolate

Grey

Hang gliding on the wing

For you who lived as an angel for so many years

These wings would have been meaningless

Before the eyes of the people

In the magical glow

Of those Sunday afternoons…

Two days after the announcement of Garrincha’s death, the poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade published an article entitled “Mané and the Dream” in the Jornal do Brasil in which he declared that football had become a panacea for Brazil’s sickness. Garrincha had been a reluctant hero who had temporarily banished the nation’s inferiority complex and inspired the have-nots to greater things, He pleaded for another Garrincha to rekindle the nation’s dreams: “The god that rules football is sardonic and insincere. Garrincha was one of his envoys, delegated to make a mockery of everything and everyone in his stadiums. The god of football is also cruel because he concealed from Garrincha the faculty to realise his mission as a divine agent.”

In his imagined chronicle Diario do Tarde Paulo Mendes Campos wrote that the rules of Association Football did not apply when Garrincha was on the pitch. The pushes, trips and shoves against him went unpunished and it was only when the embarrassed defender fearful of ridicule by the crowd pulled at his shirt that the complicit referee would be reluctantly forced to award a foul.

Despite these chansons de geste by Brazil’s greatest living writers and poets, the truth of the matter was that Seu Mané’s trickery defied literary description. Football was not an art. Garrincha had held a mirror up to the nation.

His body was taken from the clinic in Botafogo to the Maracanã stadium. Nílton Santos insisted that his teammate be buried in Pau Grande and not in the new mausoleum for professional footballers in the Jardim da Saudade. Traffic came to a halt on the Avenida Brasil as the cortège passed by with mourners crowding the sides of the road and others throwing flowers from the overhead bridges. “Garrincha you made the world smile and now you make it cry” had been daubed on a tree. As the mayhem of cars finally approached Pau Grande the bottleneck became so great that people were forced to abandon their vehicles and walk to the little church.

Seu Mané had played the game for its own sake. His fancy footwork, element of surprise and capacity for improvisation had nourished the nation’s soul. A memorial stone was placed in the cemetery. Its inscription read, “He was a sweet child. He spoke with the birds.” Tostão, his teammate, would write on the 20th anniversary of Mané’s death, “Garrincha was much more than a dribbler, a ballet dancer and a showman, he was a star.”

My sentimental quest begins at the Botafogo Sports and Regatta Club on Avenida Venceslau Brás. It’s now used mainly by the young socios (members) to play volleyball and basketball. A picture of Nílton Santos in the entrance reminds the club of its glory years. His black and white striped shirt with its lone star hangs in a display case next to the trophy cabinet.

When Garrincha played for Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas it was a deeply superstitious club. The day before the game a mass communion with eggnog, milk and biscuits would took place and on match day the club’s silk curtains were tied up to symbolise the ensnarement of the opponents’ legs. An hour before the game each player was compelled to take a mud bath and eat three apples. An ex-Fluminense player had to be included in every team. Before each game a stray mongrel called Biriba would piss on the leg of a player. When things were going badly for the team the Botafogo president would release the little dog from the stand to run onto the pitch and distract the opposition. Biriba became so important at the club that he was included in one of Botafogo’s championship winning team photographs.

I set off past the Aterro do Flamengo with its fenced playgrounds full of youths playing football, I look over at the Marina da Glória with the mist-topped Sugar Loaf in the background, heading for Praça Quinze where the boats come in from Niterói. Out in the bay the Ilha das Cobras is surrounded by frigates. I drive fast on the Linha Vermelha heading north in the direction of Galeão. To my left is the vast sprawl of the Complexo do Alemão favela, the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz and the toy-town church of Nossa Senhora da Penha perched on its sacred mount. I reach the artificial brine lake designed to deter the favelados from hanging around the beaches of the Zona Sur and then drive north towards the Federal University Hospital block where I had lectured the day before. A nauseating smell of sewage fills the air. I head north-east through the teeming run-down districts of Baixada Fluminense, which are full of old trucks, new schools and stray dogs.

In Casa-Grande & Senzala [The Master and the Slaves], Gilberto Freyre uses the term bagaceira – the shed where the dry pulpy residue left after the extraction of sugar is stored – as a metonym for the exploitative plantation culture. Freyre wrote that “Brazil is sugar and sugar is the Black” and both were linked in the collective unconscious with sensuality and sexuality. Bagaceira was later used to refer generically to marginalised riff-raff. Football had provided Garrincha with an escape route from enslavement but when all the fibre had been squeezed out of him cachaça left him as bagaceira.

The municipality of Magé with its farming communities guarded by the Dedo de Deus mountain marks the official leaving of Rio de Janeiro. We turn right along a bumpy narrow road filled with buses and motorcyclists, cross the single lane railway track, go past a man on a horse and open roadside kiosks selling tyres. The people seem gentler and more approachable than in Grande Rio. At a birosca that sells buns and cachaça I stop to ask the way to Pau Grande. Chortling, the bar owner points to his groin and says, “Aqui está.” “Pau grande”, I later learned, was slang in Brazilian Portuguese for “big cock”.

After another 15 minutes drive the Estadio Mané Garrincha, the home of SC Pau Grande, comes into view, its rustic white walls and small arched entrance resemble an Andalusian village bullring. The grass is lush and samba drifts from the television in the clubhouse. The president, plump, with a Zapata moustache and dressed only in fading khaki shorts, greets me effusively. In one corner of the clubhouse are three cases of memorabilia, one filled with small trophies, the other two with crumpled newspaper cuttings and posters defining the ascent of the Little Bird. One of the pictures shows an 11-year-old Garrincha sticking out in a team of men and another his father Amaro, looking down affectionately on his young son from a small wooden veranda. In some of the group photographs there are boys who resembled my own teammates from school, pale solemn faces, straight brown hair and small chins.

The president tells me that Garrincha used to love to return to Pau Grande for a pelada with his old friends after playing at the Maracanã. Over a glass of cachaça he tells me the club are hoping to raise money to create a small museum. He also reminds me that the black and white striped SC Pau Grande strip is identical to that of Botafogo except for the star. I offer him money to buy a ball, but he refuses and we settle for just another photograph. I then walk down the cobbled road to the centre of the village where a small bust of Garrincha greets the few visitors. To its right are a series of murals illustrating how Pau Grande used to look in its prime.

América Fabril closed in 1971 and its buildings now operate as a distribution centre for mineral water but the Neo-Gothic grey and white Capela de Sant’Ana that had been overwhelmed by Botafogo supporters at Garrincha’s funeral is unchanged. A car blasting out propaganda for Sandra Garrincha, a candidate in the Magé prefectural elections, drives by, followed by a group of young girls waving flags in support of her campaign.

I ask one of the security guards at the gate of the old factory if I can have a look around. The factory looks much the same as it did in the days when it produced cloth. The chimneystack is still standing but there are now vast empty spaces giving parts of it the appearance of a vacant exhibition space. In some of the rooms machines rumble away bottling water from the mountain springs. I thank my guide and walk back into the village in the direction of the lemon bungalow which the Brazilian football federation had bought Garrincha for his part in the World Cup victory in Chile in 1962. Two of Garrincha’s friendly grandnieces are standing on the veranda talking to a young man astride his bicycle. Grilles guard the windows of the house even though I am told there is still next to no crime in Pau Grande. There is a mural of Garrincha’s head in his playing days at the front door and on the wall of the house looking onto the street is written the legendary number 7 he carried on his back and the words “jogando certo com as pernas tortas” [playing straight with twisted legs]. One of the girls invites me to enter a small shrine at the side of the house. Among the photographs and medallions is a framed tribute fastened on one of the walls:

'Garrinchando

'Garrincha pretends that he despises the ball, but she knew he would always come back to pick her up.

The dribble was his courtship.

Garrincha, you passed through life, overcoming all obstacles that were put before you. But in the end that relentless adversary Death defeated your dribble.

From that moment on the ball and the football universe became orphans of the most blessed contorted legs football has ever known.'

Pau Grande is still full of gente boa. Doors do not need to be locked at night. Round the corner from Garrincha’s old house an elderly man tells me that the former mill town is still full of Garrincha’s ancestors. He then leads me up a path behind the houses that reminds me of the Brackenwood edgeland of my childhood, full of weeds, plastic bottles and butterflies. After a short walk up a steep incline we reach an empty white outhouse with two palomino horses tied up outside. 20 metres below the high bank is a clearing strewn with twigs and leaves. At either end are goal posts without nets. I climb down and start to run close to the right edge where patches of grass grow sheltered by overhanging trees. I pause. I then sidestep to the right and accelerate. I twist round with my back to the goal, shimmy and shoot. I feel free. When I can fly no more I sit on a bench behind the far goalposts. Once I have gained my breath I rise and walk to the edge of the ridge and look down on the mill, the little chapel and the orderly rows of houses.

An hour later I drive on up to the cemetery at Raiz da Serra. As I am parking the car, a skeletal drunk in shorts, sandals and a fading orange shirt staggers out of the Encontro dos Amigos bar offering to guide me to Garrincha’s grave. He tells me that the previous Friday three Vasco da Gama players had made the pilgrimage from Rio to pray for inspiration before their game against Flamengo. Tucked away in the middle of a row of closely packed tombstones I am shown a faded inscription, which says “Here lies the man who was the happiness of the people Mané Garrincha.” On the worn headstone his date of death is recorded incorrectly as 20 January 1985. There are no flowers or graffiti. A singer and friend Agnaldo Timóteo had paid for the funeral, the tombstone had been paid for by his captain Nílton Santos and a local family called Rogonisky had allowed Garrincha’s remains to be buried in the same grave as their 10-year-old son who had been killed in a road traffic accident.

I then climb up to look at the newer but equally stark and neglected obelisk. Written on a memorial tablet are the words:

'Garrincha

The Happiness of Pau Grande

The Happiness of Magé

The Happiness of Brazil

The Happiness of the World.'

As I sit in silence in this deserted cemetery I think that it could only have been my great-grandfathers’ deep loyalty to street, neighbourhood and even mill that prevented them packing their bags during the slump. It was in towns like Oldham that association football first changed from a game played by gentlemen into a profitable attractive Saturday afternoon spectator sport. As I sit by Garrincha’s grave I see their familiar faces under their flat caps, their trunks bent over by the damp and onerous labour, hurrying past the smokestacks and rows of terraced houses to Boundary Park. The Latics were yet another stabilising devotion that stopped them sailing down to Rio on a Lamport and Holt steamer.

Football has been hijacked by television money and sponsorship deals. It was now much more of a spectacle but had fewer magic moments. Running fast with the ball glued to your toes was high risk and was decried by millionaire coaches. Wingers like Garrincha (outside rights and lefts) had been replaced by a new breed of wing-backs that could attack and defend. Power and victory were what counted these days.

A small brown wren-like bird with a large cocked-up tail, sharp beak and shiny black cap flits under a neighbouring headstone and interrupts my litany of regrets. Dusk is falling and with a heavy heart I leave through the dark forests on the steep ascent to Petrópolis. I am now certain that when I have started to dribble my lines, when I can no longer remember my date of birth or the names of my children the alchemist will still be around beckoning me to come and join him for a pedala in the clearing above the cotton mill.

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thetoffeeist · 8 years

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Tom Davies.

Kieran Dowell.

Liam Walsh.

Or as they are better known by some of the coaches around Finch Farm: The Holy Trinity.

The significance of such a bestowed name is well understood by any Evertonian worth his salt. The bursting levels of optimism held within the club for these three midfield prospects is real. Now, with Tom Davies transitioning from the kid invited to train with the first team to the latest Toffees’ treasure, in just a few short months, people are starting to believe that the footballing Gods may have blessed Everton once again and that one day soon we may see three central midfield academy graduates gracing the hallowed Goodison Park turf.

Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey, and Alan Ball was a triumphant midfield partnership worshipped by the blue faithful during the late-sixties. As a midfield unit they were a revelation, thrilling football fans far and wide. Between them they possessed the full range of midfield skills and had a telepathic understanding. It is on these similarities that coaches have baptized their own nurtured trinity with one of Everton’s most sacred names.

Consisting of the composure of Davies, the eye for goal of Dowell, and the insane passing ability of Walsh this mini trinity has been the substratum to the success of Everton’s youth sides for a while. All the components of a dynamic footballing midfield triangle are there - it has chemistry. Or it did. Now that Davies has left for the first team we won’t be seeing them play together again until the others follow in his footsteps. But the hope and belief is that they will and a path is being made for Dowell and Walsh to get their chances too.

Case in point: Ryan Ledson. Once Everton’s next big thing, Ledson had captained the England Under-17s to Euro 2014 glory before being called up to the senior side by Roberto Martinez. The Blues boss went on record saying that the holding-midfielder had a certain future in the first team, but this summer the 19-year old was allowed to leave the club to sign for Oxford United (where has been a hit and just recently bagged his first goal, a memorable 40-yard lob). The truth about why Ledson had to move on was that after returning from a loan spell he had found himself squeezed out of Unsworth’s U23s side by the better developing Walsh, Davies and Dowell who had established themselves during his absence. With first team opportunities getting further away and finding himself further down the pecking order of the U23s, it was decided best for Ledson and the club to go their separate ways.

It would be naïve hyperbole to claim that the three academy products can go on to achieve a status anywhere near touching that of Kendall, Ball, and Harvey. But if the trio of local lads can at least establish themselves in the first team squad that alone would be a massive achievement. We are currently in financially crazy times where it is deemed logical to spend £30m on Moussa Sissoko. How much money would it save the club if it successfully produces an entire central midfield capable of holding their own in the Premier League? In a league where money mostly talks (we can never forget Leicester City), that in itself would be a minor miracle. Manchester United’s Class of ’92, with Scholes, Butt, and Beckham helped propel that club further on its way to being the biggest in the world. So just exactly who have Everton got on their hands here?

Tom Davies

Over the last 12 months Tom Davies has begun to fill out physically. Being built more like a man has enabled him to hold his own against the fully grown, grizzly central midfielders that the Premier League has to offer. Not since Wayne Rooney exploded onto the scene have Evertonians warmly embraced and identified with a graduate as one of their own to the extent they have with young ‘Davo’. From head to toe he stands out from your typical footballer. With his blonde ketwig, scraggly facial hair, and rolled-down socks, the freewheelin’ Tom Davies doesn’t looked fazed by anything. He is a Bob Dylan in a world of Drakes: Pure substance, unique style - and after that City goal – bonafide folk hero.

Kieran Dowell

The player that Ross Barkley keeps tabs on. Kieran Dowell was the name on everybody’s lips before Ronald Koeman took charge. A left-footed attacking midfielder with silky skills, dribbling ability, peachy crossing and known for scoring outstanding goals was the first of the three to make a senior team debut back in 2014 in a dead-rubber Europa League game. He made his Premier League debut in April 2016 when he replaced Ross Barkley as a sub. Opportunities with the first team have since been paused. Coaches believe he has found coming up against bigger defenders a challenge that requires the 5ft 9inches 19-year-old to complete the growth spurt he is currently going through to handle the physical side of his game. He recently stated in an Echo interview that he would relish a loan move in order to ‘make him a man’. There is no doubting Dowell’s attitude or ability and it is just a matter of time before we see him involved with the first team.

Liam Walsh

When the first team coaches ask questions around Liam Walsh’s diminutive stature and ability to defend, the counter-argument is Iniesta. The 19 year-old centre mid from Huyton is only 5ft 6inches tall, but it is his outstanding passing ability which is his strongest asset. David Unsworth has praised Walsh for his ability to control games demonstrating a maturity beyond his years. He has already been tested in the lower leagues with a loan spell at Yeovil Town in 2016, where he made 15 appearances, scoring one goal and earning several man of the match awards playing a key role in helping keep the struggling side up. He demonstrated the fearless streak seen in other Huyton-born midfielders Joey Barton and Steven Gerrard quickly handling himself at Yeovil, telling the Echo:

“When I got the call from Unsy he was all for me going down and said I could handle it footballing-wise but off the ball (I wasn’t sure) because they are tough men,” he added.

“In my first game I had a 50-50 with one of the biggest players I’ve ever seen in my life and I went right through him and from there I just thought ‘I can’t really back down’ and that I could handle myself.”

A string of recent stellar performances since returning to the U23s has brought him to the attention of Ronald Koeman and earned him training sessions with the first team.

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courtneytincher · 5 years

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Hotel Hit Squad: The Bulgari Hotel London has upped its game with a new restaurant based on a New York favourite

It is a marvel to me that many New Yorkers think their city has better food than London. I spend four months a year across the pond and am continually exasperated by their saccharine, dairy-free dressings and my regular bouts of food poisoning. I once had to move into my bathroom for 24 hours after an incident involving razor clams, and last summer I encountered a bug so pernicious that it gave me liver damage. There is, of course, truly great dining in New York City. Eleven Madison Park is a treasure, and I can’t wait for chef Daniel Humm to open its cousin at Claridge’s in London. But generally, NyLon transplants don’t fare well. Balthazar was fun for five minutes in Covent Garden, but the promise of fried chicken and live music makes Red Rooster in Shoreditch a no-go for me. Scarpetta is a NoMad neighbourhood staple that recently came to the Bulgari in Knightsbridge in the shape of sibling Sette. I was at the Manhattan mothership a couple of weeks before visiting the London arriviste, and it is – as it always has been – a sort of American Psycho Dorsia throng of businessmen, gloss and quirky negronis, with everyone fawning over the most blogged dish: a $24 (£19) pile of prosaic basil and tomato spaghetti that arrives beneath a glass cloche. It is Florentine trattoria quality, which in New York is celestial praise. I never visited Alain Ducasse’s Rivea, the previous restaurant at the Bulgari Hotel London. I don’t know anyone who did. Its replacement should do well. The basement bar is boîte-like and lovely, while the upstairs dining room bathes that aforementioned spaghetti dish, as well as a fantastic duck and foie gras ravioli, in the kind of light that makes everyone looks comely, nay filtered. The most fawned after dish at Sette – as well as its sister restaurant – is the basil and tomato spaghetti • The sleek and chic Dakota Manchester is a new club classic Sette couldn’t be more on-message with the Bulgari. The hotel is a luxed-up Italianate experience for people who wear white nubuck driving shoes without socks all summer. It’s what I’d call 'Italian modern' – by and large an oxymoron. Milan may be the centre of the universe in terms of showcasing contemporary design, but there is a tendency the length and breadth of the country to over-egg the pudding of every modish interior with outlandish materials and Hanna-Barbera-on-acid lighting fixtures. Designer Antonio Citterio has articulated something special and different for the Bulgari, with an overall look that’s luxurious and expensive – lots of stained oak, silver and glossed mahogany – but that never tips over into bling. I stayed in one of the many suites – Bulgari I (from £12,000 per night) – which is impressive, indeed. It has a vast living room with a gargantuan custom-made sofa and a giant television that I thought wasn’t working, but which was actually hidden behind a sliding black panel. Lots of stained oak, silver and glossed mahogany are to be found in the rooms and suites – but that never tips over into bling Credit: Roberto Bonardi/Roberto Bonardi • The Richmond Harbour Hotel is a great finishing point for a west London-ish safari – even for territorial eastenders It has an office and kitchen, a behemoth of a bedroom and a bathroom with steam room. Apart from a curious lack of phones where I would have liked them, and the fact that the lights in the lounge never actually turn off (minus eco points), I couldn’t fault the experience. Sure, it’s a little rich for my modernist tastes but like everything else at the Bulgari, from the service to the fragrances pumped out around the corridors, it is exquisite. As well as having dinner at Sette, I had supper with a friend in my suite one night, and was impressed by everything, from quality and flavour (particularly the prawn dumplings, which I had again for breakfast) to generous portion size and pricing. I ordered a burger from room service at the Dolder Grand in Zurich a few years ago and was sent what I can only describe as a slider, for £45. I shudder to think what that costs today in Brexit-era sterling. The Bulgari hotel – where a giant plate of smoked salmon with soda bread clocks in at £21 – offers bargains in comparison. The swimming pool at Bulgari Hotel London is huge and glows in emerald Credit: RICHARD BRYANT • With statement design and high-interest food, ex bank HQ The Edinburgh Grand is bang on the money I get the feeling that the Bulgari hotel is a place where nothing bad could ever happen. It has the most beautiful private screening room in London, and the fitness club is as snazzy as it is well equipped: the space-age green strip lighting around the hallways offers a visual dialogue with the huge swimming pool, which glows emerald. I spent a whole day there, leaving only for a 90-minute £350 Signature Energy Facial that rendered my customary resting-cynic face looking profoundly bright, alert and clean. It was the sort of expression I might wear permanently if my life involved little more than rolling around on the rug of a suite in Knightsbridge wearing nothing but a beautiful, voluminous grey linen robe, full of duck and foie gras ravioli. Rooms from £660 per night, not including breakfast. Read the full hotel review: Bulgari Hotel London

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travelguideworldtour-blog · 5 years

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11 Best Places in New York

Newyork State is huge and beautiful, from majestic sandy shore towns and amorous lighthouses to verdant woods and beautiful fall-foliage displays. A number of those finest places to Go to at Newyork comprise Niagara Falls, the Hudson Valley, Long Island and the Adirondacks. Local countries provide you plenty to see and perform as well, for example Connecticut, Pennsylvania, new-jersey , Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine along with Vermont. Below is just a group of special places to stay near ny City.

Contents

1 11 Best Places in New York

1.1 Cook Academy at The Essex Resort

1.2 Weekend Getaways from New York

1.3 Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa

1.4 The Point on Saranac Lake

1.5 Affordable Wilderness Cabins at the Mohican Outdoor Center

1.6 The Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid

1.7 Castle Hill Resort

1.8 Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa

1.9 Mirror Lake Inn in the Adirondack Mountains

1.10 Mohonk Mountain House

1.11 Weekend Trips from New York

Cook Academy at The Essex Resort

Located nearby Lake Champlain and Burlington, that the Essex Resort & Spa can be actually just really a fantastic weekend escape in Boston and NY, offering golf, snowboarding, 2 gourmet restaurant and cooking classes. Play golf the Links and the Jack Nicklaus-designed Vermont National Country Club class. After having a round of golf, relax by the pool and then walk with flowers and blossoms.

Weekend Getaways from New York

The Equinox Resort at Manchester Village is actually just a lavish escape offering a broad assortment of vacation activities for children and grownups. You go fishing, find methods, unwind in the spa, and then also can choose a lesson. The hotel is among the top picks for the best weekend get aways on the East-Coast . The health spa and gym that delivers private coaches, Pilates, and yoga classes in addition to water aerobics. The Driving School offers classes for many skill levels. Junior Off Road can be found from May through October, on weekends and during holiday vacations.

Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa

Located on 75 acres at the Hudson River Valley, Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa offers vacationers comfy accommodation, farm-to-table cuisine using organic ingredients by the inn’s backyard, plus a lavish spa. The home contains 8 cottages and only 10 guest-room, providing careful and privacy support to guests.

Butter-milk Spa offers a menu of options also includes a sauna, steam room, indoor pool. Henry’s at the Farm functions cuisine using ingredients for instance, 40-acre Millstone Farm having orchard and a kitchen garden. Admire views of waterfalls, gardens and the Hudson River .

The Point on Saranac Lake

The idea is actually just really a luxury property on Saranac Lake, New York, offering careful support, individually furnished guest rooms with spacious bedrooms, along with a range of outdoor adventures. Inspired by the Adirondack wilderness, activities at the hotel include swimmingpool, biking, golfing and mountainbiking and sunset cocktail lounges.

Just really a course is at horse riding at the XTC Ranch in addition to Saranac Inn four kilometers out of the purpose. At the Cold Temperatures , go ahead and subtropical ski round Upper Saranac and across the paths in Mt. Van Hoevenberg outdoor Lake Placid. The hotel includes a ice fishing shanty if you prefer ice fishing.

Affordable Wilderness Cabins at the Mohican Outdoor Center

The cottages are next to Catfish Pond where grownups and also kiddies will jump for a swim, go canoeing or biking. The wetlands that are neighboring pose wildlife. The cottages are self explanatory – you’ll have to make your sleeping bag and towels (cushions are given ). Guests may sleep at a bunkroom or pitch a tent.

The Demo Center enables you to decide to take to Deuter Backpacks, LEKI hiking sticks, and LOWA boots until you opt to get them. The camp might be leased for example all lodges, camp sites, Dining Hall space and the boat house, if you’re arranging a family room. Make sure you reserve early, particularly throughout the summermonths.

With rates bunkroom accommodations for classes and smaller cottages let vacationers unwind from a natural atmosphere, surrounded by 70,000 acres of woods and also a lake that is arctic.

The Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid

The white face Lodge can be actually really just a calming summer escape at Lake Placid, offering a selection of outdoor pursuits, relaxing spa treatments and trendy accommodations with rustic accents. Baths are decorated together with accents and hardwood furnishings, in an stair style. Every one of those 94 hotel suites includes a LCD tv, a cast iron gas fireplace and a whirlpool bathtub.

While in the summer, unwind on masonry balconies and the cedar, taking from the nature. The Spa provides a menu of touch treatments. Classic American Cuisine, utilizing the organic ingredients, including fish and match is served by kanu restaurant. Fees are reduced in the offseason.

Castle Hill Resort

Castle Hill Resort Is Just a relaxing weekend Escape in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains. The hotel has the complete service spa and lavish resorts including historical rooms at the home in addition to resort homes. There are various activities to choose from in winter months and at the summertime. Okemo Mountain Resort provides a large amount of paths, cross country ski, snowboarding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, sledding and sleigh rides. At the summertime, the region provides outdoor experiences like biking, hiking, fly fishing, scenic gondola rides and lots of more.

Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa

Each living room features windows and a private veranda to benefit from expansive shore perspectives, together with blue tooth along with wi fi providing tech. The Seawater Spa comprises sand-filtered plus ocean-fed heated seawater swimming pool, a gym stone sauna baths, and cosmetology and salon solutions. Including seven human body treatments, three Thalasso treatments, six human body treatments, three aromatherapies, and also ten massages in addition to spa suites.

Even the sea-water Grill in Gurney’s includes ocean-fresh cuisine at a stylish living area with scenic sea views, The Beach Club is really actually just a full sized restaurant directly on the shore, The Ocean Cafe has casual dining room with sea views, along with The industry is a catch and move champagne perfect for dinner or a snack. Choose the Hampton Jitney In the event you do not maintain a vehicle in New York.

Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa prides it self on being the sole hotel within the Hamptons which will open throughout the year, including breathtaking shore views. The suites and rooms are supplemented by cottages and studios, together with the latter comprising a kitchen and one to fireplace, a patio, plus three bedrooms.

Mirror Lake Inn in the Adirondack Mountains

Mirror Lake Inn, Positioned in the Olympic Village of Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains, offers elegant rooms, a spa and a Selection of seasonal activities. Located 5 hours in New York along with Boston, the inn can be actually really just a fantastic yearlong retreat.

Guests have several tasks, including outdoor heated swimming pool, an all pure beach, tennis, and spa, an exclusive outdoor iceskating rink, and golf and skiing. Even the spasupplies a selection of services in massage, massage, body treatments and facials. There’s also a perspective of also a exercise room plus a jacuzzi, a sauna and this water and an 60 foot lap pool with a whirlpool.

Mohonk Mountain House

Located in the scenic Hudson Valley just 90 minutes from New York, Mohonk Mountain House can be just actually really a historical weekend escape surrounded by 26,000 acres of woodlands along with also the panoramic Lake Mohonk. Guest accommodations are situated at a gorgeous building having views and a personality.

That you do not need to really move much better if you’re seeking relaxing vacations out of Manhattan. The hotel has a tennis centre, a luxurious health centre, stables, a 107-year-old greens, gorgeous gardens Skating Pavilion along with 85 km of hiking paths. Read about New Paltz along with other afternoon excursions from New York .

Weekend Trips from New York

Located in Down Town Wilmington, Delaware, Resort dupont is just actually really a historical escape offering romantic wedding places along with gourmet dining room table. The land originally opened in 1913 and showcases European craftsmanship. There are lots of dining options, for instance, four diamond AAA awardwinning green-room serving French cuisine at a setting that is grand. The Grill delivers chairs. Light snacks are served as the Tavern and at Java Corner.

There’s a range of places such as holiday party, a tasteful wedding, bathtub and parties. The team is able to assist you to plan the right event from begin to finish. For weddings, reserve the Gold Ballroom that includes timber and also twenty five women’s medallions . The neighboring DuPont Theatre hosts Broadway shows.

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11 Best Places in New York

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