37. Happy birthday, baby [The Lowry, Salford Quays]

‘This time last year I was mooing like a cow.’
The café assistant gives me a dead-eyed smile, the facial equivalent of backing away and hoping that I’ll go quietly.
‘It’s my son’s first birthday,’ I persist. ‘This time last year I was giving birth.’
‘Uh-huh,’ says the girl weakly, taking the money I proffer for my coffee.
It’s [...]

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36. Danger! High voltage! [Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester]

Milo, sporting a slightly garish, red-and-blue striped top, is legging it around the Whitworth. He is squealing in delight. The cause of his pleasure is the gallery itself: not so much the artworks hanging within but its wide-open spaces. To his tiny eyes, the polished wooden floor is a baby-friendly autobahn that he’s free to [...]

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