Yesterday the Christmas markets opened up for general consumption in Manchester. Ohhh yes. This is a very important day in the year as it significantly marks the beginning of the jolly season. If you ain’t jolly from here on in, then there’s something seriously wrong. I mean, how can you fail to be jolly as you stroll arm in arm through the glistening/glowing/hustling/bustling German markets? Your eyes are quickly darting between fairy-lit stalls, your ears are inundated with festive chitter-chatter and the intense sizzling of sausages, your nose simply cannot keep up with the variety of culinary treats on offer, your hands can’t help but reach out to the quaint wooden instuments and matryoshka dolls, and you just cannot stop ooh’ing, aah’ing and eek’ing (albeit involuntarily). Basically, nothing can possibly compete with the markets in terms of festive jollity.

Conveniently, my day off this week coincided with the opening of the markets, and so up I got and off I went, the boy in tow, wrapped up in appropriately festive attire (a woolly scarf counts, right?). We casually wandered (by ‘casually wandered’, I actually mean ‘strategically navigated’) around the stalls and eventually the gravitational pull of the Windmill Bar caught us and I ended up having a pint of Krombacher on an empty stomach. Krombacher on an empty stomach = festive tipsity. But it’s totally allowed, because the lights glisten more brightly and that sausage is so much more satisfying after a cheeky pint.

Speaking of sausages, there is an unprecedented variety of sausages on offer at the markets this year. Also a commendable choice of cheese/chocolate-covered fruit/strong german beers/mulled wine/luxurious liqueur coffees. I love the novelty of being able to walk around the markets with your drink too – makes you feel like you’re on your jollies! I also loved the seemingly incongruous availabilty of the Lancashire hotpot. In fact, that’s next on my Christmas market to-eat list.