An American tourist’s chaotic trip to Manchester has gone viral after he documented the whole thing in a TikTok vlog.
Adeib El Masri, a successful LA-based photographer and TikToker with more than a million followers, said that our city was like ‘a different world’.
He has previously been documenting his experiences of visiting London, including several vlogs about the British weather.
Over the course of two days spent up north, Adeib appeared baffled by the concepts of queueing, fairgrounds, and people being nice to each other.
His pair of heart-warming videos have amassed more than half-a-million views at the time of writing.
At St Peter’s SquareAt the Trafford CentreInside Dog BowlAmerican photographer Adeib El Masri documented his trip to Manchester in a two-part vlog. Credit: TikTok, @adeibb
In the first instalment, Adeib films himself at Manchester Piccadilly, saying: “I’m in Manchester. It looks kind of the same except all the buses are free apparently.”
From his taxi, he adds: “Everyone is so much nicer here, I can already tell.”
He then takes a trip to ‘Trafford Mall’, where his visit to the cruise ship-inspired food court The Orient prompts him to say: “This mall has the most Vegas vibes ever. Like ever.”
On his second TikTok vlog, he praises Manchester for being ‘so pretty’ while walking through Chinatown, and says we have our ‘own Big Ben’ in the Kimpton Clocktower.
Adeib and his friends tried to go for afternoon tea at an undisclosed location, but were turned away for not booking 24 hours in advance (‘very pretentious’, he says) and end up visiting a local Costa instead.
He then documents his trip to a fairground, where everything about the experience seems to delight and confuse him.
He says: “So guess who’s at a carnival! So it’s not a carnival, it’s a parking lot.
“There’s a child running the stands. I’m very confused.
“Moral of the story, check where the funfair is, it could be a parking lot that isn’t a real funfair.”
Fairground disappointment aside, he does concede: “You know what, Manny is a 10 out of 10, d’you know what I mean.”
He later says, on a visit to Dog Bowl: “To save the day I decided to go bowling. Bowling is not available. It’s fine,” before heading to Nando’s.
Once safely back in London, he updated his followers with this: “Manchester was like a different world. Everyone is much nicer, like genuinely out-of-their-way nice, which is bizarre.
“Literally nothing went right in Manchester. I was there for like a day and a half, I almost got deported. Let’s just not get into it.
“Will I be returning? Probably not.”
Featured image: TikTok, @adeibb
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Ruth Jones and James Corden are making a new Gavin and Stacey follow-up project
Danny Jones
TV writing, directing and acting double act, Ruth Jones and James Corden, are teaming up once again for a follow-up show to UK comedy favourite, Gavin and Stacey.
After the success of last year’s one-off reunion, de facto third Christmas special and series finale – which was one of the biggest British telly events in some time – the two are getting back together to deliver their next project.
The aforementioned 2024 conclusion broke multiple records when it aired on BBC One, so it’s little surprise that there was plenty of interest in commissioning the next chapter, though it’s still unclear as to how connected to the Gavin and Stacey universe it will be.
Either way, you know there’ll be plenty of people grabbing a subscription to watch this one.
Ruth Jones and James Corden in 2008, at the height of Gavin & Stacey‘s popularity. (Credit: Ben Salter via Flickr)
Amid Netflix, Amazon Prime and their long-time collaborators at the BBC all courting the new series, it is Apple TV that has picked up the latest script from Jones and Corden, as per the Radio Times.
Set right here at home, the duo will be keeping things domestic, as they are set to star alongside an all-British cast over the course of 10 episodes.
Having picked up the inaugural season for a reported £8 million, Apple’s streaming platform will no doubt be banking on a big hit.
Once again, details remain tight-lipped at the moment, and it’s unclear if any familiar faces (be they actors and/or their actual on-screen characters) will be returning besides Jones and Corden, but an insider told RT that fans can expect it to be “uplifting, gentle and very funny.”
The source goes on to add that, besides just appealing to folks on our side of the pond, by introducing a “new format and new characters, they wanted to let an international audience enjoy their work”, and hopefully, have moments like this:
It goes without saying that America is obviously a big target market, given the former Late Late Show host’s eight years spent in the States, but Apple TV’s global reach is a big plus for the pair.
Nevertheless, they are hoping to achieve a similar heartwarming feel and those ‘water cooler’ moments with the Gavin and Stacey follow-up, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with.
Already said to be hard at work writing the show, we don’t care if it’s a sequel or spin-off show per se, we just pray it’s as touching and funny as their magnum opus.
That ending was pretty perfect, wasn’t it? Well, by one little niggle we had…
André Onana is set to leave Manchester United on loan as early as next week
Danny Jones
Manchester United goalkeeper André Onana is reportedly leaving the club as early as next week as he prepares to make a late move to mainland Europe.
It’s fair to characterise Onana‘s time at Old Trafford as fraught and divisive, to say the least, but now the Cameroonian keeper is set to leave Man United on loan for the rest of the season.
While most dealings had to be completed at the start of the month, Turkey’s own transfer window is still open for another few days, and now, the seemingly exiled shot-stopper is set to spend a potentially future-defining spell in the Süper Lig.
Preparing for his soon-to-be fully completed move to Trabzonspor, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano states that he will complete the deal next week.
As detailed by Romano, the 29-year-old former Ajax number one – who arrived as one of the first key signings under Erik ten Hag – has personally agreed to the terms of the switch.
It is a little surprise too, as the journalist claims that Onana will earn more money overall, with the Turkish team set to fully cover his United salary, plus the signing fee and bonuses, taking the overall package beyond his base wage of £120,000 a week.
Although both clubs have agreed to a season-long loan, with Trabzonspor promising more than his normal pay packet has been at Old Trafford, there is no loan fee or obligation/option to buy included.
Safe to say that not all supporters will be exactly sad to see him go, as despite some good moments in the shirt (including besting both David de Gea and Peter Schmeichel’s penalty save ratio early doors), his tenure in Manchester has been less ‘Theatre of Dreams’ has been far from it.
So much so, in fact, that in response to the news of his imminent departure, a compilation of all his unforced errors thus far was quickly shared online:
Once his medical has been completed and the final Ts have been crossed, Onana will be one of several statement outgoings from Man United this summer, with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho and Rasmus Højlund all leaving the club in the last couple of months.
While only Garnacho’s was a direct sale, Onana’s is the only other one of these loan deals which doesn’t necessarily imply a permanent move away as yet.
Either way, the ever-controversial keeper willneedto make the next 12 months or so very impressive if he has any hopes of standing between the sticks for United again, especially with Altay Bayindir now quickly returning to the second string with the arrival of Senne Lammens.
What about you, Reds – are you sad to see him go, and do you think this time away could see him revive his Premier League career?
Daisy Jackson -
23rd September 2022 
