Smartphones and Tablets

Number 1 has got to be the portable device we have in our pockets. And it has never been easier to find apps to download or stream your favourite movies and TV shows to watch on the go. The only downside is the size of the screen. But if you are staying away from home with a smart TV in the room you can use apps such as AirPlay to mirror your content onto a bigger screen.

Laptops

While laptops aren’t as convenient to carry as smartphones or tablets, they are still a lightweight way to take your home entertainment with you on the move. If you want to watch your content on a bigger screen, you can always connect your laptop to a TV or projector. This is especially handy if you need to show a presentation or video to a group of people. Just make sure you have a long enough HDMI cable!

Portable projectors

If you’re really looking to bring the big screen experience with you, a portable projector can be a great option. These small devices use LED or laser light sources to project an image onto any flat surface, so you can set up your own personal theatre practically anywhere.

Portable Blu-ray players

They may seem old fashioned now, but if you have a large collection of Blu-ray discs, a portable Blu-ray player is still a great way to take your movies with you wherever you go. These players usually come with built-in speakers and a small screen, so you can watch your favourite movies without having to lug around a bunch of extra gear – or worry about wifi and data.

Streaming devices

If you don’t want to bother with physical media, there are plenty of streaming devices that will let you watch your favorite shows and movies without ever having to leave your home. Devices like the Roku Streaming Stick and the Amazon Fire TV Stick plug directly into your TV’s HDMI port and give you access to tons of streaming content.

Also think about streaming options. If you’re someone who loves streaming shows or movies, there are now plenty of options that allow you to do so without using up all of your data. For example, Netflix now offers offline viewing, so you can download shows and movies to your device before you leave and watch them later without using up any data. So do a quick search on how to change netflix region.

Game consoles

If you’re a gamer, you probably already have a game console hooked up to your TV. And luckily, most of the major consoles (like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) also offer streaming apps that will let you watch movies and TV shows. So if you’re looking for a way to kill two birds with one stone, a game console might be the way to go.

Modern smartphones can double as gaming consoles, especially when it comes to classic games, many of which receive official rereleases, while others are available through emulation. Given that you typically have a little less time to game while on the move, game cheat websites can be highly helpful in allowing you to get over those time-wasting barriers to keep up with your progress or simply make it easier to enjoy the endings.

Wi-Fi hotspots

If you need to stream content but don’t have access to an Internet connection, you can always use your phone as a personal hotspot. Just make sure you have a data plan that can handle all that extra usage!

Antennas

If you want free HDTV, an antenna can be a great way to get it. These days, there are plenty of small, easy-to-use antennas that can pull in a strong signal, even in rural areas. So if you’re looking to cut the cord, an antenna might be the way to go.

Media servers

If you have a lot of digital content (like movies, TV shows, and music), a media server can be a great way to keep it all organised in one place. These devices let you stream your content to any connected device in your home, so you can watch or listen to whatever you want, whenever you want.

Cloud storage

Finally, if you want to be able to access your content from anywhere in the world, cloud storage is the way to go. Services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud let you store your files online, so you can download them to any device with an Internet connection. In addition, most of these services offer apps that let you stream your content directly to your mobile device, so you can take your movies and TV shows with you wherever you go.

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Running

The great thing about running is that the only equipment you need to get started is a pair of trainers and Salford Quays is a wonderful place to start. Whether you walk, jog or run, park runs are a fun way to get started and make new friends along the way. There are free, weekend park runs taking place all over the world. And if there isn’t one near you, the park run community will help you set up a new event for your community.

Cycling

If you haven’t ridden a bike since childhood, getting back on the saddle can feel intimidating. Once started it is a freeing form of exercise that is also a fantastic way of getting around the city quickly, enabling you to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. However, there is a lot to consider before you get started. What bike to choose, what to wear and safety concerns are all issues that can be difficult for a novice to navigate. Adult cycle classes are a good place to start, and many cities offer free cycle training and advice on equipment, cycle routes and coping with traffic.

Swimming

The pandemic has encouraged us all to enjoy exercise outdoors and open water swimming, sometimes called wild swimming, is an invigorating way to inject a real sense of adventure into your work out. Temperatures are much cooler than an indoor pool so wearing a wet-suit is advised. Regular open water swimmers will probably want to buy their own, but to get started it might be best to borrow one first before you invest. The UK is home to more than 150 clubs who train and compete in open water swimming. In Salford Quays both U-Swim and Helly Hanson watersports centre have regular sessions, with safety teams on hand, to help get you started.

Dancing

The popularity of TV shows us Strictly and The Masked Dancer have put dancing on the top of many people’s list of skills they’d like to learn. Again, you don’t need much to get started, just turn up some tunes and start moving. But if you’re keen to know your fox trot from your cha cha, hustle from the merengue then joining a dance class might be for you. By signing up for group dance lessons you get to make friends and work out those hard to reach muscles without often thinking about it as exercise because it’s so much fun and once in the groove you won’t need to worry about finding the motivation to keep fit.

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We remember a time when flat hunting involved setting aside time at weekend to scan the classified ads or browse the window of a local newsagent. For years now when flat hunting, instead of scouring the local newspaper, surfing rental ads online has been the best place to start. Usually, if you liked the look of the apartment, you would arrange a viewing and go from there. But during the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing guidelines have seen virtual tours of apartments become more common.

Moving into an apartment you have not laid your eyes on in person can be nerve-racking. Even if you are looking for serviced apartments or serviced rooms, most people would prefer to see a place for themselves before agreeing to a tenancy. But since that isn’t always possible at the moment, we’ve put together some top tips for finding the perfect apartment during a pandemic.

Do as much research as possible
Well, saying that, it depends how well you know the area already. If you are staying in an area you know very well, then you may not have to do as much research as someone who is relocating to a different part of town, the state or the country. In those instances, you want to make sure that you know as much as possible. Do research on crime rates, area demographics and what your commute will be like. It would also help if you know what bars, restaurants and public transportation are nearby. There are plenty of online resources that will be able to consolidate all that information into one place for you.

Utilise a local rental agent
Rental agents come in handy because they will be able to use their different resources to provide you with the best possible list of places based on your needs and budget. They know the market like the backs of their hands. They will be able to provide you with useful information that will help you make informed decisions. You will save so much time and stress my using a local rental agent.

Take a virtual tour
A virtual tour takes it a step further than a 3D tour. When you take a virtual tour, you are essentially doing a walk through the apartment via video chat. Typically you will be on this virtual tour with the property manager, so you will be able to use that time to fire off any questions you might have about the apartment. Treat the virtual tour like a traditional tour, making sure to ask your guide to show you the insides of closets and things like that.

Be mindful of rental scams
There are a lot of scammers on the internet looking to prey on people who are looking to move. Make sure that you are not one of them. Some red flags to look out for include if someone refuses to do a virtual tour of the property, if the price is way too good to be true, if the listing has tons of grammatical or syntax errors, if you feel like the person you are coordinating with is trying to rush the rental process, if they ask for your financial information before applying to the apartment, if they ask you to wire them money before you sign the lease and if they only want you to pay in cash.

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It’s in a foreign language and I won’t know what’s going on
It’s easy to follow what’s happening on stage, even when everything is sung in a different language. Many operas (such as The Merry Widow) are performed in English anyway. When they’re not, there are screens with surtitles at each side of the stage which translate what’s being sung, so you always know exactly what’s going on.
A night at the opera is definitely not just for opera buffs. More than anything, it’s an emotional experience. However, if you do fancy doing some homework before you go, Opera North’s ‘in a nutshell’ series has all the essentials (plot, characters, and what you’ll see and hear) at a glance.

It’s boring
If you like your entertainment to take you on an emotional roller-coaster opera is for you. In Tosca, Floria Tosca’s aria ‘Vissi d’arte’ (‘I lived for art’) and her lover, Cavaradossi’s ‘E lucevan le stelle’ (‘And the stars were shining’) are both tear-jerkers, while The Merry Widow will have you laughing out loud at the characters’ antics on stage. Opera is also one of the most visually stunning spectacles in all theatre. As well as some sumptuous sets and costumes, you often get a LOT of people on stage at any one time (principals, chorus and sometimes dancers as well). This always makes for an impressive sight – and sound! Look out for the ‘Te deum’ in Tosca which is a great example of the power of ensemble singing.

I’ll have to dress-up
While TV might lead us to believe we should wear nothing less than a full tuxedo or evening dress for a night at the opera, in reality you can wear whatever you like. There’s no dress code. The joy of it is, you can dress up to the nines if you like and make a special occasion of it, or if you feel more comfortable in jeans that’s equally acceptable. Everyone is there for the same reason – to enjoy the show.

I’ll be sat there for hours
Most operas are only a couple of hours long which is about the length of an average film, and there’s usually at least one interval. Tosca is 2 hours 40 minutes, including two 20-minute intervals, and The Merry Widow is only 2 hours 20 minutes, including one interval.

I can get the same experience listening to a CD
You can watch a performance on DVD or catch an aria on YouTube, but listening to live opera singing in the theatre is something else entirely. Experiencing the power of the human voice is definitely what sets opera apart. The lack of microphones means there’s no barrier between the performer and the audience, and you get the incredible experience of listening to someone singing over a full orchestra without amplification. The sound really does have to be heard to be believed.

The ticket price will break the bank
An evening at the opera is much cheaper than most people think with tickets starting from just £20, depending on where you choose to sit in the auditorium. If you’re under 30, you can sign up to Opera North’s free Under 30s scheme and get tickets for just £10, plus a selection of other benefits.

I’ve heard opera on the radio and it isn’t for me
Say ‘opera’ and everyone has an idea of what they think it will be like, but actually there’s a wide range of different styles. What’s more, the music of one composer sounds utterly different to that of another so, even you don’t like Mozart, it’s worth giving Puccini a go. Take this season at The Lowry. On the one hand, there’s the dramatically-compelling Tosca with its potent mix of lust, love, religion and politics, and on the other, there’s the light-hearted operetta The Merry Widow with its blend of singing and dancing – perfect for some feelgood fun.

Read our review of Tosca at The Lowry, Salford Quays.

Opera North visit The Lowry, Salford Quays in November and February.  Tosca and The Merry Widow are being performed by Opera North at The Lowry on the following dates:
Wed 14 November Tosca 7.30pm
Thu 15 November The Merry Widow 7.30pm Sign interpreted
Fri 16 November Tosca 7.30pm Audio described
Sat 17 November The Merry Widow 7.30pm

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I am not a natural born runner. In fact, I didn’t believe I was a natural born exerciser for many years (thank you, school PE lessons) – then, out of nowhere, during the summer of 2014, I thought I’d try the NHS Couch to 5k programme. I had so many friends who were runners and, to me, they just emanated ‘health’ – they had that glow about them, that wholesomeness that comes from choosing to go for a bracing Sunday morning run rather than sitting on the sofa watching Sunday Brunch. Perhaps they were on to something. I did a lot of walking – so how hard could it be to pick up the pace a little?

It turned out that running was quite hard. The first session, 20 minutes comprising running for one minute, walking for one and a half minutes and repeating seemingly ad infinitum, felt awful. Turns out I was sprinting, not quite having found my pace yet. I didn’t even really know what ‘a pace’ was.

It didn’t take long for me to become a ‘C25k’ evangelist. Every run I did, every week of the nine-week programme that passed, I was amazed at my own progress. At that point, my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I had just moved in together in West London, to a completely new neighbourhood for both of us. I hadn’t started running in order to explore it, but once I was going for continuous stretches of longer than five minutes, I realised how great running was for just that. As I ran further and further, I realised we lived just 2km from Kensington Gardens!

But back to Salford Quays. My parents moved here from Cheshire 14 years ago as I was going off to university, downsizing from our large family home and wanting to experience city living after years in the suburbs. I returned for holidays of course, but I didn’t know the area well.

I was at week six of the nine-week Couch to 5k programme when I went back to the Quays for the first time since starting to run. It would be my longest stretch of running with no walking breaks… 25 minutes! Was it even possible for me to run for that long?! Where would I go?!

I remember diligently planning my run on MapMyRun and trying to commit it to memory. But then, of course, just 5 minutes in, I took a wrong turn. Gulp. Not wanting to stop on what would be my longest run yet, I just kept going – mostly in circles around the towering buildings around MediaCityUK (I think I ran past Booths about five times) as I was so scared of getting lost. But what I do remember clearly, and fondly, was that on that early September morning, the sky was a gorgeous early-autumn blue and the sunlight reflected on the canal was stunning. And I felt smug – as I ran past the open-water swimmers in Huron Basin, I realised I was ‘one of them’. I’d chosen to get moving, rather than sit on the sofa in my pyjamas all morning (although the reward, of course, was being able to do that guilt-free the next day).

Since then, I’ve run around the Quays on numerous occasions, in all weathers and for all sorts of durations, including when I was training for the Royal Parks Half Marathon last year. Through trial and error, I’ve now realised I like to run around the residential sections around Ontario Basin and St Peter’s Basin, especially on a nice day. There’s always something new to see around MediaCityUK, too, and the many bridges over the water make a nice change in incline and terrain.

I completed my half marathon last year, but still see myself as a novice runner. If you’re just starting out with running around the Quays, here’s a little advice I wish I’d had when I was in the same position:

Run in the morning if you can – it’s less busy so there’s less people traffic. Plus running through an eerily empty MediaCityUK, you can imagine you’re in a Sci-Fi movie.

Pay attention. It sounds obvious, but be aware of people, cars – and trams!

Wear something reflective – especially if you’re running when it’s dark or not quite light yet – which can happen for entire days at a time in Salford.

Eat something that works for you – definitely don’t run on a full stomach, leave it at least an hour after eating, depending on the size of the meal. I like to have an energy snack around half an hour beforehand, which staves off hunger if you’re running at an odd time of day and don’t like to run feeling hungry! I make my own energy balls by Deliciously Ella – they don’t take long to make and you can make a batch for the week.

Take your time – no-one is expecting anything from you, apart from yourself. A cliché but it’s true. If you overdo it and wear yourself out, you’ll just hate it and never want to do it again! There’s no rush.

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