Many thanks to :-: House! :-:

The connection at Manchester went exactly as described. To summarize:

We arrived on time (and saw the Concorde, since we were seated on the port side of our aircraft cabin.) The jetway was out of service for some reason, so we deplaned via airstairs (it took a while to line them up - lack of practice?) and walked into the bowels of the building. We followed the "Flight Connections" signs up and down the Manchester maze to a chap who issued us boarding passes before we could pass through security - who were most helpful and pleasant! We recovered speedily...

We easily found the Terraces lounge, where we showed our SN Business Class passes and were admitted without further ado. We enjoyed the views, nice hot showers (only two here, however,) a Continental breakfast and an extended wait, as the SN flight arrived late.

When the flight arrived, we proceeded to the boarding gate. Turnaround was completed raplidly - perhaps 25 minutes - with the Avro RJ-85, and we boarded. Our carryons (TravelPro legal size carry-ons, though overweight according to SN's published 6 kilo / 13 lb limits,) j-u-s-t fit in the overhead compartments, and we were not asked to check them.

Our seats had been changed from 5A&C to 1A&C (seating in the RJ is 2 x 3) - "Business Class" consisted of two rows separated from aft by a curtain, populated by a total of three of us. 5A-C were now in the bowels of steerage, and only rows 1 and 2 were Business. "What's behind curtain number one," you ask? Coach! Which looks amazingly like Business Class. All seats appeared to have 31" / 79 cm pitch, and service was pleasant and efficient. All in all, a decent flight, particularly for the brief time in the air.

Immiediately on takeoff we were given a choice of drinks, then served a light luncheon consisting of a decent salad and a sandwich of a kind of focaccia-like bread with cold salmon and cream cheese, as well as a sampler box with a couple of Belgian chocolates. The other business-suited gentleman (2C) disdained the chockies - but then asked for several boxes "for my children." His wish was granted... his children would appear to this flyer as probably having matriculated a few years ago.

The flight was uneventful, and 1:10 later we were at Zaventem International (BRU) and speeding through immigration and customs for the train to Gare du Nord. MAN - Manchester airport was an easy connection, trouble-free and fairly pleasant - nice Terraces with friendly staff, a nice place to rest and freshen up before flights. I will look for Manchester connecting flights preferentially to Heathrow in the future.