Spotting

What is there to do on a rainy day in Manchester? How about a little spotting? The locals enjoy all kinds of spotting activity: trainspotting at Piccadilly, tram spotting in the park along the Altrincham line, or—my favourite—plane spotting at Manchester Airport. The ‘Aviation Viewing Park’ is set up for plane spotters, comprising three raised platforms, which I reckon would fit about 30 people on each one (although this is looking at it from a distance, as I’ve never been in). They have an excellent view of the runway, so the plane spotters can happily write down the plane numbers, airlines, and time of take off/landing. There is also a large car park, where many spotters like to sit in their cars, eat sandwiches, and while away the weekend watching flights that more sensible people take to and from other places.

On one weekend I saw about 50 people on the platforms and a full carpark (say, 50 cars). It costs £3 entry for each car, plus £1 for each extra adult, or you can get a 3 month ticket, which I think is around £40. Now that’s value entertainment. There is even an ‘aviation shop’ and a kiosk where you can buy bacon butties and other local delicacies. Indeed, plane spotting is so popular in Manchester that 250,000 people visited the Park in the past year. Yes, 250,000 people. The airport claims they the Concorde which is also parked there is a big part of the attraction, but whenever I’ve driven past I have never seen anyone coming out of the Concorde. They’re all spotting.

But to explain how much they love spotting here, I must report my experience in WH Smith, the stationery store. I recently purchased a diary for the new year, and sitting behind the diaries was a Spotters Book. It’s the size of an address book, but each page contains a table for entering the spotting event, with separate columns to note down the time and date. The great thing is it works just as well for any type of spotting! Although I suspect the avid spotter needs a much, much bigger book to document all those fun-filled days standing in the rain at Manchester International.