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.

I remembered reading a year or two ago about mail tunnels under St James’s Building on Oxford Road. They were for use during the second world war, I think, and included some sort of railway.

I’m not sure whether these are the same tunnels, but I’ve been reading about the Guardian telephone exchange:

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“When Armageddon came in 1914 Manchester’s victories in war were no less renowned than her victories in peace. The young men of Manchester and Salford, when the call came, proved themselves worthy of the highest traditions of their race. To no more acid test could they have been subjected. They passed through it gloriously. read more »