The wife (vickitoria10) is obsessed with going on holiday and as an extension to this, she is obsessed with planes and also with airports. And so, whenever we're over in Manchester, she always wants me to take her to the Manchester Airport Aviation Viewing Park, and with me being a good husband, I regrettably do so.

There's no prizes for guessing that the viewing park is right next to Manchester Airport, but you may not know that it's the only airport viewing park left in the country (or so the wife tells me, in a vain attempt to get me excited about our visit).

The park consists of a car park, some grass, a couple of viewing platforms and literally hundreds of sad people who really need to get a life. In the past few months, there's been a bit of re-generation work and the site now boasts a big swanky hall that has a restaurant, cafe, gift shop, toilets... oh and a Concorde.

This magnificent feat of engineering (the Concorde, not the hall) used to be located outside for all to see, but is now placed inside and you can only see it if you pay the ridiculously expensive price of £12.50 each! Being tight (and having paid £7 to get in - £5 for the car, and £2 per additional passenger), we decided to simply squash our faces against the glass and stare in awe at the giant bird that sadly no longer dominates the aviation industry. You can tell that Mr Concorde isn't happy in his new home - he looks sad and seems trapped in his claustrophobic environment. I'm sure he'd much rather be back out on that runway taking people over the Atlantic in record time :(

After gawping at Concorde we made our way into the small gift shop that sells pretty much anything plane-related you can think of, from scale models to inflatable toys (planes) to pens, pencils and rubbers. These seemed relatively reasonably priced, but I managed to drag the wife out without making a purchase.

As mentioned earlier, there's both a licenced restaurant and a small cafe selling chips, ice creams etc, but we'd brought own own food along with us and sat down to eat it on a picnic bench. The wife was having a great time watching the planes land and take off, and we did play a quick game of the ever-so-fun "guess the tail fin" where the first person to correctly guess the plane is the winner.

After eating our dinner, we made our way to one of the old planes that is on display and had a quick look around it, but to be honest, when you've seen one plane, you've seen them all!

There's a couple of viewing platforms that elevate you above ground level to get a better look of the runway. The platforms are filled with all sorts of sad people who are writing down the plane numbers, listening to the pilots' radios, taking photos and waving at passing planes... some of whom kindly wave back with a look of sympathy on their faces.

More information about the aviation viewing park can be found at: www.ohmygodyoureallyneedtogetalife.com

...don't tell the wife, but despite my protests and mickey-taking, I quite like the viewing park... it's a cheap trip out and it is kind of exciting watching the planes land and take-off - although you'll never hear me admit that in public! :)