Manchester is a big place!  Seven million others live in the urban area, making it the second-largest urban area in Britain after London.  The area has been inhabited for nearly 2000 years, since the Roman commander Agricola built a wooden fort here in AD 70.  The site of the fort is marked by today's Camp Street.  In the 18th century, the town sprang into the forefront of world attention by being the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.  Thanks to the infrastructure of a well-connected canal system, the coming of the railways, and later, the Manchester Ship Canal, Manchester was ideally placed to receive incoming raw materials of cotton from the USA.  It also had the large workforce required to process the raw materials and the means of distribution for finished goods. The city became known locally as "Cottonopolis."  Many of these warehouses still survive, but have been converted into hotels and flats.  The first passenger railway in the world ran between Manchester and Liverpool.

Sue took me to work with her.  She works for www.thephone.coop.  It is the only co-operative telephone company in the UK.  Manchester is the home of the co-op movement, which was founded by the Rochdale Pioneers.  The rattie mousepad was made by Julie at Acrorats.