Nan's Pick n' Mix

An old friend, if that is the right description, of whom I was very fond, who made me feel safe many years ago when I probably needed looking after but didn’t think I did due to youthful naivety, recently came back into my life via Facebook. So an old friend, in the most literal of descriptions is probably the best, asked me where I was currently living, he knows Manchester, used to live here but didn’t know Levenshulme, it wasn’t the area we used to hang out in at all and well those of you who know it will know it’s not the kind of place you go for a visit if you’re from out of town.  Not because there is anything wrong with it, there just isn’t a lot to see. During our correspondence he asked if it had been gentrified, such a wonderful question I thought and of course open to a piss take.  I want to make something clear before I go on I love where I live, am happy and comfortable but I do tell things as I find them, gets me into all kinds of trouble but some traits are hard to control.

Levenshulme is a big pick and mix of a place, the kind you find when you go and visit your Nan, they're not quite the sweets you’d have chosen but there are some great ones in there with the odd minger. I’m not one for history so I won’t tell you the past movements of the place, why people came and when, though I am sure it is interesting but I will tell you of the people who are here now. We have a mix of students, teachers and other professionals priced out of better areas, immigrants from all over, Irish Catholics and general fuck ups. There are so many characters around that my daily walk is never dull, I also find people here really friendly.  Almost everyday my eyes meet those within my community, we don’t know each other, have never spoken yet we exchange smiles which range from the very shy and gentle to broad, toothless grins, the young to the old, and every race gladly joins in this much forgotten simple expression of humanity. We are a madly mixed up smorgasbord, a lovely representation of Britain today. The only group that doesn’t smile at you is the students, too young perhaps, too up their own arses at this stage of their lives to reach out, not sure but that’s just the way it is.

As far as I’m concerned the people are the best thing about the area. The facilities are rather ramshackle, there is litter everywhere, it's slightly unruly never quite doing what it's told, there is a rather unsettling trend to put plastic flowers and plants in gardens and a lot of poverty.  I mean we can’t even afford an Oxfam, but then I’m not sure if that says more about Oxfam than it does about Levenshulme. We do have a great charity shop though, that I support wholeheartedly, get all my books from there. Levenshulme is not the ideal place to go out drinking either, my ex partner and I did once or twice when we first moved in but you can smell the sulphur just ready to light up, not a good mix with all those spirits being bandied about. When I could still go out and drink, I preferred a quieter place with good music rather than dodging all that flying glass. That said it depends what takes your fancy, doesn’t it? If you like a place with edge, not fully formed, a non-conformist as I do, as I am possibly, then this may be the place for you.