So l am starting an open water course at my local diving shop
(manchester england)
i start on wednesday for 6 weeks,

i am hoping to do this as a chance for a bit of adventure and travel and hopefully take it further than just this one course,
i dont have any mates that can dive so l guess l will be doing this alone, im also full time employed,

anyways l was just wondering if anyone had any advice for a first time diver looking to get into the world of it all.

Once you're certified, finding dive buddies wo not be difficult at all. You most certainly wo not be alone. You will probably meet quite a few on course with u not to mention folk that come in to purchase gear at the shop. Most dive shops tend to be like the small town barber shop u see in American movies. Everybody serious about diving hangs out drinking java (sometimes more), talking diving & arranging dives. It is a social club type of setting. You may even have an inhouse dive club at that dive shop as many shops will sponsor one. That just increases the number of trips & dives to get involved in not to mention off diving activities like pub nights, bowling or even paintball. Families r also encouraged, diving or not. Even on trips. It gives non diving wives,hubbies, gf's,bf is & kids a group family experience while the divers r out doing their thing for a few hours.
You will also benefit from the advice from more experienced divers in the club regarding things like gear selection & dive sites. That helps considerably with ur learning curve & most experienced divers will be happy to help since that just adds one more dive buddy to call if they get the sudden urge to get under. You can never have enough dive pals what with everyone is differing schedules. There r also online communities u can join such as http://scubaboard.com/forums/matrix/ that is a popular site, offering gear tips, a dive buddy service & dive destination advice or recommendations. Even hotel or resort ratings as well as dive shop listings, charter outfits & the like. There r even online dive trip buddy/room mate finding sites for the solo traveller wanting a buddy to dive a certain destination at a given date. Here is an example: http://singledivers.com/index.php?pid=9
Your next step up the ladder is advanced. Your being in the UK, l have no idea if you're doing a PAD l or BSAC, since both r offered there, but the eventual skill sets u will learn r the same even though the courses r named a little differently. You're fortunate to be learning in that part of the world, just as I, as a Canadian am fortunate to have learned here. The reason is that we both dive in challenging conditions. That is far better than learning warm, calm water & generally produces a diver capable of diving any environment since we do not know any better. :) You will already have had some of the worst conditions thrown at u & will be better prepared for it. You will also garner more respect for ur abilities when diving in a warm destination since it will be like a walk in the park.
Get some dives under ur belt before tackling ur advanced. Become comfortable with the skill sets you've learned. Once u feel you're ready & ur Instructor agrees, then it is time to move up. The cost will be about what you've spent on ur OW course. You will learn underwater navigation & take ur dives deeper to the point that u will recognize the oncoming symptoms of nitrogen narcosis.
Once you've got ur advanced, again, use those skills for a time before moving up the chain. Your task loading has increased & u will need to be doing everything as second nature. Autopilot if u will. One handy cert to earn for yourself in particular, given ur location, is ur wreck cert. You have tons of them there. Many historical, many with sad stories. All of them interesting or at least they r to me, I've dived up in Scapa & had a blast. l do not get to dive warships here, only 1850 is schooners, paddle wheelers & the odd cargo vessel or artificially sunk wreck.
Bottom line, u just opened up a new world. There is lots out there to explore, enjoy & learn. Divers r a pretty friendly bunch. Finding dive buddies is the least of ur worries. Explaining to ur wife why u just bought another piece of dive gear or a new local wreck has just been found & u can not paint the bedroom today, r the hard parts. :)

Do not worry too much about being a single diver. Classes and diving clubs are a great way to meet people locally that share your same interest.

For travel, l have gone many places around the world as a single diver. Usually, at the resort or on the dive boat there will be other single divers and we would buddy up. Or the dive is a ''guided tour'' and everyone is diving as one huge group.

Have fun.