The first Saturday in ages that I haven’t bought a Guardian and I end up being featured in it! Well, by featured I mean a five-line mention in the Guide’s blog column – but it’s much better than nothing. I think I’ll continue not to buy it in the hope of further recognition.

So a warm welcome to my fellow Guardian readers – feel free to subscribe by email or leave a comment if you like the place. And regular Mancubist readers, check out the other sites to be blogrolled here.

Meanwhile, back to the usual Manchester miscellany: someone on urban exporation website 28dayslater.co.uk has done a recce of what they call ‘Manchester Underground’ – a series of air raid shelters under the city, accord to this poster:

There are 17 shelters in all and most of them have sub sections A. B. C etc… these are joined by one long corridor… there are numerous blocked up exits and stair wells… but the most jaw dropping feature was the toilets, the whole place was maze of small wonders…

Check out the rest of these excellent photos here.

Unless you walk around Manchester with your eyes fixed firmly on the floor – or sky – you’ll probably have noticed a series of plain white posters, each containing a poem and little else.

It’s all the work of one Norris Necante, who I’m led to believe is Stretford-based poet Mike Fitzgerald. He’s part of York Road Chorlton, a collective of three artists and creative types who are looking for ‘more talented people with similar interests’.

Always quick off the mark, Manchester’s Flickr community has photographed a few of Norris’/Mike’s poems – Ten a penny Jenny is particularly entertaining.

See Norris’ Myspace blog for a few more prime examples.

James over at Yer Mam! has accidentally organised a Manchester blogmeet. It begins at 3pm in the delightful Hare & Hound pub in Shudehill (that’s the edge of the Northern Quarter, for those with blank expressions) on Saturday 7 April.

These things always become fun some time after you’ve finished trading inquisitive glances, trying to work out who people are, and the beer usually sorts the bloggers out from the, er, non-bloggers. Something like that anyway. If you’re not away for the weekend do go along.

But, what’s this, at 3pm on Saturday 7 April there’s a rival geek-meet? Manchester’s Flickr users, you say? Congregating in Piccadilly Gardens and almost certainly heading for pubs in the Northern Quarter?

What happens if the two groups collide? Will there be a horrible mash of broken cameras, laptops and pint glasses? Watch this space from Saturday afternoon to find out.

My favourite Manchester photographer died on Monday. Don worked at the Guardian’s Manchester office for over 30 years:

For more on Don, read this piece in the MEN by fellow Manchester-based Guardianer David Ward, and view a gallery of his 2005 Northern Lights exhibition, at Manchester Art Gallery.

The gallery currently stocks prints and postcards of some of Don’s most iconic photographs.

Here’s a new photography club, spotted through TheArtGuide:

Are you interested in photography, art and meeting like minded people? Would you like to be creative and also go to a variety of social events? If so Camera Culture UK membership might be just what you’ve been looking for…

Again, the phrase ’social events’ concerns me, but at least they’re using interesting venues: the launch event earlier this month was at Cafe Casbah in Shudehill, and tonight’s follow-up is upstairs at Kro Bar, opposite the Union on Oxford Road.

There’s plenty of detail on the Camera Culture website. I’m surprised to see something so new has an annual membership fee of £90 – they’re clearly hoping for rapid growth. Email organiser Alex Jerman if you’re interested.