'Bye madam, please come again!'

Well it was going to happen sooner or later, and that time was Saturday morning!

I’d been in town overnight after having a fab makeover and photo shoot experience and dinner on Deansgate, with 3 friends. That experience was something else, and gave me the confidence to do my own thing in ‘straightville’ the following day.

So it was as early a start as possible, despite not going to bed until 3 am, and eventually I was out and about by 9.30. Dress to blend, they say. Well, today I wore my long brown gypsy skirt, brown/beige/white patterned halter neck top, and beige cardi. I’d been in my heels for 12 hours on the Friday, so today it was going to be the leather flip-flops. Bliss!

So, out of the room, along the corridor I go, and down in the lift through reception. There was hardly anyone around, so on to the street, turn left and walk the 100 yards up to Deansgate. I had to cross at the pedestrian crossing, and then I was in the pedestrian area, between Selfridges and Harvey Nicks. Most people out at this time were early shoppers, or on the way to work, so certainly not people-watchers.

At Selfridges there was some commotion at the main door, with 3 or 4 staff repairing something, but they stood back politely to let me go in. MAC Cosmetics are on the ground floor, and I wanted to spend time in there anyway. Jen (an absolutely beautiful blonde!) approached me, and she was so helpful, and we must have spent about 20 minutes together, going over foundation shades, and the new eye shadows. I thought that her eye makeup was stunning, which embarrassed her a bit! Two other friendly MAC girls came over to chat too. Jen gave me an eye shadow makeover, and I was quite pleased with the results. They were ever so friendly and asked me back anytime.

After that I wandered up the escalator and browsed the clothes on the 2nd floor, and chatted to some of the assistants. At one stage I found it so relaxing that I thought I was getting bored! The store wasn’t that busy, for mid-Saturday morning. I went down into the basement to the Illy coffee counter, where I was pleasantly served by the coffee girl. I just had to sit down at this stage for a breather, and send a few ‘guess where I am?!’ texts to friends, although I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would have been. After that it was another trip back upstairs to use the facilities and freshen up in the ladies loo.

By this time it was getting close to lunch time, and I wanted to push the boundaries a bit more and explore Deansgate, which was getting a bit more crowded by now. Still no stares, as far as I could tell. I sat outside Café Rouge and ordered a latte, got my magazine out, put the sunglasses on, and sat and read for a good half an hour, almost forgetting where I was. Then I went inside, asked the pleasant waitress (who had served us as 3 Bob’s the day before!) for a quiet table, ordered a light girly lunch, and read a bit more. Honestly, by this time it was if I was the invisible woman, or had the whole population of Manchester gone t-blind that day?!

All the coffees and mineral water had gone right through me so it needed a couple of trips to the loo, and freshen up at the same time. No hassles in there either, although when I joked with a middle-aged lady in there about things getting lost in handbags, she gave me a double take, but only after she heard my voice, which is never baritone-deep anyway! Still, that was another mini-boost all the same!

Then on leaving the restaurant it was ‘bye madam, please come again,’ from the Spanish waiter, as I smiled and headed out on to Deansgate and back towards the hotel. Again, no hassles, and I just went with the flow of the pavement crowd.

At the hotel, I sneaked up to my room but then found out that the card key had expired, so it was down to reception again to explain what happened, and the card was refreshed in an instant, without hassle. So then it was back up to the room, and 30 minutes rest with my feet up, before leaving the hotel for the next part of the day’s adventure.

Honestly, what an anti-climax of a day, despite the adrenalin rush!