Michael's World Tour of England #1: Week 4
As this was to be Michael's last week here, I wanted to make sure that we got as much done as possible and that Michael saw everything he wanted to see. It wasn't going to be easy, especially with colds and the weather to contend with as well!
Snow!
On Monday morning, I woke up to find that we had about 2 inches of snow. The owner of the B&B came to ask if we were going out or not so that she knew if she could change the beds and stuff today or wait till tomorrow. We wanted to get as much done as possible this week so we said we were going out. We'd planned to go to Clitheroe today but I didn't fancy driving on country roads in the snow so we looked for an alternative. I was beginning to wonder if we should stay in after all when I remembered that we'd not finished off the Manchester Museum so we decided to do that instead. I had to clear the car off before we could go but the snow was very light and powdery so it scraped off very easily and didn't need de-icing. I was most surprised to find out that the roads were clear of snow too! We got the train to Victoria and then the Metro down to St Paul's square but had to walk all the way down Oxford Road. It was very cold and made my ears hurt. I wished I'd brought my thermal cup so I could have a hot drink rather than Pepsi.
We had a good look round the museum starting with the Lindow Man exhibit which had attracted us to the museum in the first place. It wasn't at all what I expected. It was in a large enough room but there was nothing really there to see so that was very disappointing. I didn't like to see the Lindow man there either; it felt a bit creepy and I found it hard to look at without thinking that it was an actual dead body and in a glass case of all things. We worked up the museum from there and had a look at the exhibits on meteorites, rocks and minerals and pre-historic life. The meteorites one was only small and the rocks and minerals one got a bit boring after a while. There's only so many crystals you can look at before they all start to look the same. The pre-historic life one wasn't too bad, there was an awful lot to it and it included a large petrified tree root and a huge skeleton of a T-Rex called Stan. It's not a real skeleton because the bones are too fragile, but it's made from a mould of one. It's still bloody huge though and set up to look like it's running down the hall towards you.
We ended up getting thrown out again at 4 o'clock because they wanted to close. We'd seen pretty much all of it by now, only missing the first gallery of animals but I think we were fine with that. It was snowing hard again by now so we walked up to Oxford Road to get the train back to Horwich. We had the choice of getting the 4.19 and changing at Bolton or waiting for the 4.30 that was direct. We decided to get the direct train but as it turned out the first one was delayed anyway. By the time the 4.30 train arrived, it was so packed that there wasn't any room for us to get on and we had to wait for the next one. That was the 4.51 which ended up also being delayed! It was still snowing heavily so obviously that was causing some problems much to Michael's bemusement. Finally we managed to get on a train at 4.55 which turned out to be the delayed 4.19 so we had to change at Bolton. The next train to Horwich was the 5.15 but that was also delayed which was quite lucky because we got to Bolton just as it should have been leaving. It was a complete farce but true to form, everyone was just standing around tutting quietly to themselves. Until the train arrived anyway and then it was each person for hirself to make sure they got on the train, ideally with a seat. Thankfully we only had one more stop to go to Horwich Parkway and then drive back to the B&B. It was still snowing but the roads weren't too bad so there were no further problems. I was so glad to get back and not have to go anywhere else for the rest of the night!
Lazy day
As we'd been out and about for the past few days, we decided to have a lazy day on Tuesday instead of Thursday. We didn't need to go shopping this week as we had plenty of food to last us so that was good. All we had planned was to go to the library and then spend the day relaxing. The snow had mostly gone but the paths were still quite a bit slippy in places which is not fun when you're having to walk up and down hills. For some reason, the librarian that we spoke to this week was quite insistent on us joining the library and gave us forms to fill in. Even though we didn't intend on coming back again, it was early enough in the week for us to return if need be so we both filled the forms in. Michael ended up having to be registered with my home address! Wasn't that nice? We both got lovely laminated cards proclaiming our membership of Bolton Libraries but I have no idea when they'll expire. They might come in handy at some point, you never know. I spent the allotted hour getting my e-mail mostly sorted out and getting directions to the airport for Monday. I had a map but there's a really tricky junction and I didn't want to have any problems with it. It was one of those occasions when I didn't really want to acknowledge the lack of time we had left but I had to make preparations. Still there was just under a week left so there was no point being sad just yet.
Liverpool
On Wednesday, we decided to go to Liverpool. I've driven to Liverpool several times, never from Horwich but it wasn't too bad. I was aiming for the Albert Dock so I followed the signposts which took me to the city centre and then abandoned me there. Thankfully I found my own way there. We had a bit of a look round the Albert Dock until we got hungry and then found a bench which faced out onto the Mersey so we sat there and ate our butties*. A couple of pigeons noticed and decided to tell all their friends so we were being accosted by the damn things. They weren't shy about it either and came up really close to us wanting food but we were having none of it. We looked round the rest of the dock and found a decent souvenir shop where Michael bought lots of things for his kids.
From there we walked up into the city centre as it's not that far and had a look round there. I like Liverpool because I find that the city centre is much more open than Manchester and Scousers* are friendlier too. Unfortunately a lot of city centres are starting to have all the same high street shops and less of their own unique independent businesses so it gets a bit boring after a while. I took Michael down Mathew Street because even though he's not a Beatles fan, you can't go to Liverpool and not see it. He got to see the Cavern Club and the statue in Cavern Walks - which surprisingly didn't have any flowers for once - and we had a bit of a look round The Beatles Shop where I was very good and managed to not buy anything. You have no idea how hard that was for me. I had to restrain myself and not drag him up and down that street showing him every single Beatles thing there is, and there's quite a lot of it just down that one street! When we'd had enough of wandering round the city centre, we went back to the Albert Dock and spent some time taking photos of the lovely sunset before getting back in the car and driving off to spend time sitting in traffic due to roadworks. I prefer to think of it as Liverpool not wanting us to leave.
Southport
I'm not quite sure what the weather was trying to prove this week but on Thursday we woke up to more snow! There wasn't much on the ground but it was snowing at the time. Of course, today we'd planned on going to Southport but at least part of the shops there are under cover. The roads were pretty much clear so driving there wasn't an issue, although the snow was coming down fairly heavily and flying at speed directly towards the windscreen which made it a bit scary. I kept trying not to flinch because it felt like it was going to go into my eyes, despite there being glass in the way. When we got to Southport, we used the Park and Ride because it was only a pound and much cheaper than paying for several hours of parking. At the park and rides where I live, you park for free and then pay for a return trip on the bus at a highly subsidised rate so I expected it would be the same kind of thing here. So I parked and then we went onto the bus only to be told by the driver that the bus ticket was included in the parking. I just kind of smiled and nodded but as soon as we got a seat I asked Michael, "What parking?!" I'd not seen anything about paying for parking anywhere! A little worrying but nothing I could do about it then.
We got off the bus on Lord Street which is Southport's main road; it's very long and all down one side of the street are shops and a covered walkway which is great on wet days. We wandered down it for a while until we got hungry and then had our butties sitting in what was originally just the square in front of the Town Hall but is now the Princess Diana Memorial Gardens. After that we walked up round the pedestrianised area that's near the train station and then along the rest of Lord Street. It didn't take us very long at all but I think most of that was down to the fact that we didn't really go in any shops. We had a look in one or two, such as Past Times which is interesting but I don't think it's as good as it used to be, and we also looked in the Wayfarer Arcade which is nice but didn't really have any shops of interest to us. Southport does have lots of independent shops but they seem to be mostly clothes shops!
We'd finished looking round the main shopping part by about half past two so then we walked round to the front instead. It was really windy there due it being on the seafront and a bit nippy* too. There was an arcade on the pier there and it had 2p machines so I changed 50p into 2p pieces and we had a play. There was a roulette wheel game which seemed to be the best one so we played that a lot. I won 24p in total - it would have been 28p but one machine didn't give me my 4p winnings much to my disgust. We walked along back in the direction of the park and ride, taking lots of photos of the ducks and spent some time having fun throwing stones at a small pond which had a thin sheet of ice over it. Finally we ended up back at the car park where I was a little apprehensive in case we needed a ticket of some kind in order to raise the barrier so we could leave. As it turned out, we didn't so that was a relief but we'd inadvertently ended up parking for free! Michael said it was rather pathetic though, as it was only supposed to be a pound anyway!
The Lake District
On Friday while we were having breakfast and deciding what to do that day, Michael asked if it was too late to go to the Lake District. It was already 10 o'clock but if we were able to get ready quickly, then it was doable. I had to get petrol first so it was about 11 by the time we got onto the motorway but it only took 45 minutes to get up to Jct 37 and from there another half an hour or so into Ambleside. I was looking for somewhere to park and came across a large empty one so pulled into there. It was right next to a lake, although I wasn't sure exactly which one, but as it was sunny and there were benches on the lakeside, we decided to have our butties there instead of in the car. It was gorgeous and the sun was actually quite warm which was surprising. It was really quiet and peaceful too, even with the amount of seagulls and ducks and other birds about.
Once we'd eaten, we walked off to find the town centre. I was a little concerned that I'd inadvertently parked way out of it but it was about a 15 minute walk so it wasn't too bad. We just wandered all over the town centre, having a look in some of the interesting shops. One of the first places we came across was a little chocolate shop where you could watch the chocolates being made. We managed to go in, look around and come out again without buying anything which was very impressive. We found a souvenir type shop that looked very interesting but there was a note on the door saying that owing to family issues, they were going to be closed for a while. That was a shame, I'd hoped that Michael might be able to get some nice souvenirs there. We also came across a retro record shop. Selling vinyl records no less! And they were all in those wooden boxes too. It was very nostalgic. It was also very empty so I felt a bit bad when I wandered round, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the records and then not buying anything. Then again, I was also very pleased of myself for being able to resist the temptation of The Beatles and Queen on vinyl!
We'd seen pretty much all of the town centre by 3.45 and by now it was starting to get a bit chilly so we decided to call it a day. There was a Greggs bakers on the way back to the car park and they usually sell Heinz soup but I thought it might be a bit late on in the day for them to have any left. I went in and asked, and to my surprise, they did have some! It was cream of tomato which I love but Michael doesn't like, however he was cold enough to have a couple of mouthfuls on the way back to the car. It was worth it just to see the faces he pulled each time. We ended up taking photos on the way to the car park, so by the time we were ready to leave it was half past four! There was only ten minutes left on the ticket so that was good timing. It was a straight run back so we got back to the B&B at about 6.15 so that wasn't bad at all. It was a really nice day, and I was so glad we got to go up there. I always forget how beautiful the Lake District is and I'm pleased that Michael got to see it.
Chester
I asked Michael on Saturday what he wanted to do that day because it would probably be the last day for going out anywhere. He decided on Chester so we quickly made some butties and then went off down there. Chester is a lovely city and it's one of the first ones I'd mentioned to Michael when we started talking about him visiting here, so I couldn't believe that we'd left it so late to visit! One of the reasons I wanted him to see it is that it's a very old city dating back to Roman times at least so it has about 2000 years of history, and it's also the only city left in the UK that still retains its complete defensive wall.
When we got to Chester, the first thing we did was find the Tourist Information Centre to see about getting a map of the city. I was hoping for one that included a walk round the walls, telling you what everything was. There were a couple available (none of them free unfortunately) and we decided on one that took in the city as well as just the walls. We had our butties first, to give us energy for the long walk ahead, and then we made a start. Somehow I ended up reading out the directions and the information from the map, I think that was because I said it would be easier than Michael having to keep taking his glasses on and off every five minutes. It was quite a responsibility though, and I managed not to direct us the wrong way or anything so that was good. The walk said it would take about 2-3 hours but we didn't really hurry round at all and it ended up taking us about 4 hours instead.
I won't tell you everything we saw, because that would just be boring, just some of the more notable ones. The walk started off with the excavated part of the Roman Headquarters which showed the strongroom where the pay chests were kept. That was pretty cool but it was a shame that it was behind glass so you couldn't really get a good look. At one point, the directions told us to go into a museum, through the shop and out of the back which was a bit strange! That was the most confusing part because there were no directions to the shop in the museum. When the walk took us to the bridge over the River Dee, it mentioned how Wales is only 1½ miles away and as a result of their frequent attacks on Chester, a law was passed which stopped them doing such naughty things as accessing the city after sunset, meeting in groups of 2 or 3, or carrying knives. It still stands too! Obviously the Welsh are still up to their old tricks in Chester.
There was also the Roman Garden which displayed a hypocaust that was found elsewhere in the city and moved to the gardens, as well as a lot of colonnades which a group of emo kids were using as stepping stones. Near to that was Roman amphitheatre which was pretty impressive, even if half of it was still buried under a car park. I was a bit annoyed by a bloke and young lad who'd decided it was a good place for a bit of a kick about. Nice appreciation and respect for history on both counts. Further along, the ruins of St John's Church kept us occupied for the longest amount of time, and not just because of the squirrels next to it. I've never seen such friendly squirrels. As soon as they were aware of you, they came rushing over to about a foot away to see if you had any food for them. I tried to take advantage of their closeness to take photos but when they realised that that thing in my hands was not edible or if it was, I was not offering it to them, they ran off. I ended up with lots of blurred pictures of their rear ends instead which wasn't quite what I was after.
I think by the time we'd finished, we'd had enough of walking and it was getting pretty late so there wasn't really time to do anything else. That was a bit disappointing because we didn't get to look at the Rows at all: this is where the shops in some of the streets have got a covered walkway on top of them and this then developed into another row of shops, so there's two rows of shops on top of each other. There's lots of little ginnels* and all kinds of interesting places to explore but we could have done with at least another two days to see all of it. We were frozen too as it was a really cold day and rather windy up all the walls so we called it a day and went back to the B&B.
More Snow!
Sunday was Michael's last day here - Monday didn't count as that was the day he was leaving! - and as we had packing and stuff to do, we'd agreed that it would just be a quiet day spent at the B&B. Michael had got most of his packing done in the morning while I was making breakfast, so afterwards I did my packing and he played on my DS. In the afternoon, I wrote out the directions to the airport on post-it notes and stuck them on my map so that they were all ready for Michael to be the Navigator. We then spent the afternoon playing Guitar Hero 3 on my PS2. It had started snowing a bit while we were having our dinner, so as we played, I was watching it get heavier and heavier and start to settle. It also got foggier too, to the point that we could hardly see the houses below us! I was a bit anxious about it but it was still early enough in the day for it to all blow over and clear up.
When it got to about 5 o'clock, we'd just beaten the level which was good because my hands were worn out. I packed all of the PS2 away and then we had to decide what we were doing for tea. I had suggested Nando's which is a Portuguese piri piri chicken restaurant but Michael was concerned that it might be too spicy and the last thing we wanted on his last night was for there to be upset stomachs! Pizza Hut was possible as pasta is now a main part of their menu, or I said that we could always go back to the Jolly Crofter. We decided to see what Pizza Hut's menu and queue was like and then make up our minds. When we got out of the house, there was a decent cover of snow and I had to clear the car off before we could go anywhere. As it was Sunday, a lot of the roads weren't clear due to lack of traffic and as it was still snowing, I was not so keen on driving very far.
When we got to Middlebrook Retail Park, the car park was more or less completely empty. And dead silent. Of course the falling snow helps to deaden all sound, so it felt like Michael and I were the only two people in the world. But then we got to Pizza Hut where they were queuing out the door! I've never seen it so popular! I didn't hold out much hope for getting a table any time soon, but I asked how long the wait was anyway. The girl asked how many it was for, so I said two and she told me to follow her to a table! I wasn't expecting that at all. I'm not sure how the people queueing felt about it either! We both got the special 2 course offer; I got a starter and pizza for £6.99 and Michael got the starter and pasta for £7.99 which meant that the starters were free. I got wedges and he got chicken strips which were very yummy, but then neither of us was able to finish our main course. When the waitress came back over to ask if we were finished, I asked if we could have the rest to take home and she said okay. We waited for ages for her to bring them over but she never did so in the end, we went over to pay. I asked about our leftovers but the waitress had thrown them away because she forgot or didn't realise we wanted them or something. I was offered a replacement pizza for free but had to turn it down because I didn't want to wait for it or have it to deal with the next day when we wouldn't have time or anywhere cool to store it. That was very annoying.
So that was pretty much it. We had a quiet night watching The Devil Wears Prada on TV which was better than I thought, and then getting everything all ready to pack in the car in the morning. We'd done quite well managing to finish off most of the food we'd brought. Michael was taking some back with him, such as the bag of cereal and the jar of Nutella. I think I'd done pretty well with my introduce-Michael-to-as-much-English-food-as-possible challenge this week though.
Foreign Food
On the Monday, we had butter pies for tea. Butter pies are not that common, they're very much a Lancashire dish and as a result, I struggled tried to find some in Horwich. I ended up having to buy some at the corner shop near my house when we'd nipped back for post one day. They're really yummy and one of my favourites so I was glad that Michael enjoyed his.
We had some curry which I suppose doesn't technically count as he's already tried it, but we got a jar of tikka masala which is one variety he's not had before. We also had dopiaza which is the kind he's had before and the one he normally gets. We also had naan bread, I had peshwari naan because it's my favourite and Michael just had garlic. It was very nice to have curry with naan and a bit of rice too, I like it that way, rather than just with rice.
We had a need for cake again this week and as we happened to be in Sainsbury's, we treated ourselves. Sainsbury's has a very nice range of fresh cakes so we got a cinnamon bun which turned out to have lemon icing on the top and was so good. We also got a muffin each which was done kind of like a butterfly cake, with the top cut off and sort of buttercream filling in between. They were really good and a very nice treat indeed. We got to have more Angel Delight, this time it was Butterscotch flavour which did go quite nicely with the M&Ms. We'd got four packets so the raspberry and vanilla ones got to go back with Michael. We'd also been working our way through a bag of mini lebkuchen while he'd been here too which I don't think he's had before. It's a German thing, kind of like soft gingerbread and quite nice with a coffee.
Michael's had peirogi before so that wasn't anything new to him, even if they were from a proper Polish deli. We'd got two packets of breaded chicken escalopes, one was just regular but the other was southern fried style. We had those with mash and sweetcorn and they were really nice. I think that was about the only American thing we had this week so I did do well! Of course, he's had French Toast before, but he's never had French Toast homemade by my own fair hands before, so I think that still counts as a new thing. So over all, I think I did reasonably well. It might have been a bit slow to start off with, but I certainly managed to introduce him to lots of English food by the end.
Entertainment
We actually managed to do more than watch telly this week, so that was quite an achievement. We did watch quite a bit of that though. Mostly Top Gear and QI, though we also found The Big Bang Theory on one night and a programme about Terry Pratchett and his Alzheimers which was very sad but quite informative. We finished off Red Dwarf II and there was also a couple of episodes of Red Dwarf shown on Dave on Saturday which might have been a bit confusing for Michael as they were from series IV or so, I think. We'd finished the first series of Jonathan Creek last week and made a start on the second one, although I accidentally put the wrong disc in so we started it in the middle. Whoops! I did get to show Michael Alan Davies' Urban Trauma stand up show though which I think he really enjoyed so that was good.
I'd got a new game for my DS thanks to Melly sending me Trauma Centre: Under The Knife so we played that. It made a change from constantly playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village as we had been doing! We also played Guitar Hero 3 quite a bit. We had a contest on Tuesday to see who could get the best score on Through The Fire And Flames by Dragonforce (the hardest song on any Guitar Hero game for those three or four of you not aware of it). Michael got 182,250 points, hit 96% of the notes and a streak of 132. I got 186,246 points, hit 96% of the notes and a streak of 192!
Aside from that, we played Scrabble which Michael won this time, 264 to 256 I think it was. It was a long game though, it took well over two hours thanks to my having lots of really crappy letters. On the Saturday night, we made a point of finishing off the jigsaw too. It was on the kitchen table covered with newspaper and the tablecloth to protect it so it would have been really easy to forget it was there! Once we'd completed it, we gazed at it in admiration for all of 30 seconds before we broke it all up and put it away.
And then it was Monday.
Departure
I'd set the alarm on my watch and my phone for 7 o'clock with the intention of leaving as close to half past 8 as possible. We were ready pretty quickly and skipped breakfast, intending on having something to eat in the airport instead, in order to save a bit more time. It didn't take long to pack the car, although I was a bit worried about whether or not everything was going to fit in! It seemed like we had so much more than we'd gone with even though I didn't think we'd bought that much. Thankfully the snow and ice from the night before had pretty much gone so the roads were clear and I didn't have to de-ice the car.
The journey there was mostly uneventful. I'd been advised by my cousin that there was a really tricky junction from the M61 to the M60 where a lot of people have problems so I was not looking forward to that. However, I was too busy worrying whether or not I was going to have enough petrol to get to the airport to notice the trickyness, and by the time I realised where we were, we'd already got through it. There was quite a lot of traffic which I'd expected but we didn't do too badly for time. We got to the airport, I managed to find a space in the car park and then it was off to check-in. There was a really long queue and hardly any desks open so it seemed to take ages to get anywhere. Finally it was all sorted and we could go and get some breakfast.
For some reason, there's nothing at all in the departure hall and only passengers can go through to the departure lounge so we had to go down to Arrivals to find something. When I'd been waiting for Michael to arrive, I'd stood in front of the Spar which had a large sign to say that it sold Tim Hortons. It's not Dunkies, but it's close enough! I got a coffee, a yoghurt and a muffin while Michael got a salad. We ate our breakfast quickly because time was getting on and we didn't have much of it left. I'd got plenty of food with the intention of eating the muffin later on, not knowing how long it would take me to get home, but annoyingly the yoghurt was on its best before date and turned out to have gone off already. I was actually very un-British and went to complain so I got my money back! Yay me!
All too soon, it was time to go back to Departures so that Michael could go through to security and board his plane. Manchester Airport is not built for loving goodbyes really. There's a huge flight of stairs that goes up to the departure lounge which seems too dramatic for words, but once he'd gone up there, I couldn't see him any more. It felt really weird though because I'm so used to hurrying to the airport to catch my plane but this time I was the one staying behind. I wasn't quite such what to do with myself. I found somewhere to sit and tried to see if I could get online to watch Michael's plane leave but all I could access was a free T-Mobile hotspot that only let me browse the airport's home page. After a while, I gave up and went to stand under one of the monitors instead to watch Michael's flight disappear off it. It seemed to take ages but finally, it wasn't listed any more so I knew he'd gone.
After that I paid £8 for the pleasure of parking when I was expecting half that so that was irritating, and then I had to pay airport prices on petrol to get home. I got back about 1 which wasn't too bad. As soon as I'd forced down a sandwich, I booted up Pigwidgeon and watched Michael's plane make its way across the Atlantic. He seemed to be doing really well, he'd landed in Amsterdam early, left there early and was expected to land in Boston an hour ahead of schedule! I was panicking a bit because Michael's phone was dead and so there was no way of getting in touch with him. I managed to get hold of Caden who was picking him up to let him know, but he was also watching Michael's plane and was aware that he was going to get in early. The good thing was that because Michael got in so early, he got back home before I went to bed so I could speak to him. It was so weird to think that it was only that morning I'd said goodbye to him at Manchester Airport but now he was back at home in Boston, and I was back home too.
So that is the tale of Michael's World Tour of England. We managed to cram an awful lot in but I didn't get to show him half the things I wanted to and I've thought of even more since. It was still amazing having him here and I'm so glad that he was finally able to come. I don't know when he'll be able to come back again because it was so expensive but at least he's managed it once. Now we're counting down to our next time together, which will see me returning to Boston probably in September. I already can't wait. I miss Boston!
Lancashire to English dictionary:
* butties = sandwiches, or a packed lunch.
* Scousers = natives of Liverpool
* slightly nippy = quite cold
* ginnel = narrow passageway or lane
Snow!
On Monday morning, I woke up to find that we had about 2 inches of snow. The owner of the B&B came to ask if we were going out or not so that she knew if she could change the beds and stuff today or wait till tomorrow. We wanted to get as much done as possible this week so we said we were going out. We'd planned to go to Clitheroe today but I didn't fancy driving on country roads in the snow so we looked for an alternative. I was beginning to wonder if we should stay in after all when I remembered that we'd not finished off the Manchester Museum so we decided to do that instead. I had to clear the car off before we could go but the snow was very light and powdery so it scraped off very easily and didn't need de-icing. I was most surprised to find out that the roads were clear of snow too! We got the train to Victoria and then the Metro down to St Paul's square but had to walk all the way down Oxford Road. It was very cold and made my ears hurt. I wished I'd brought my thermal cup so I could have a hot drink rather than Pepsi.
We had a good look round the museum starting with the Lindow Man exhibit which had attracted us to the museum in the first place. It wasn't at all what I expected. It was in a large enough room but there was nothing really there to see so that was very disappointing. I didn't like to see the Lindow man there either; it felt a bit creepy and I found it hard to look at without thinking that it was an actual dead body and in a glass case of all things. We worked up the museum from there and had a look at the exhibits on meteorites, rocks and minerals and pre-historic life. The meteorites one was only small and the rocks and minerals one got a bit boring after a while. There's only so many crystals you can look at before they all start to look the same. The pre-historic life one wasn't too bad, there was an awful lot to it and it included a large petrified tree root and a huge skeleton of a T-Rex called Stan. It's not a real skeleton because the bones are too fragile, but it's made from a mould of one. It's still bloody huge though and set up to look like it's running down the hall towards you.
We ended up getting thrown out again at 4 o'clock because they wanted to close. We'd seen pretty much all of it by now, only missing the first gallery of animals but I think we were fine with that. It was snowing hard again by now so we walked up to Oxford Road to get the train back to Horwich. We had the choice of getting the 4.19 and changing at Bolton or waiting for the 4.30 that was direct. We decided to get the direct train but as it turned out the first one was delayed anyway. By the time the 4.30 train arrived, it was so packed that there wasn't any room for us to get on and we had to wait for the next one. That was the 4.51 which ended up also being delayed! It was still snowing heavily so obviously that was causing some problems much to Michael's bemusement. Finally we managed to get on a train at 4.55 which turned out to be the delayed 4.19 so we had to change at Bolton. The next train to Horwich was the 5.15 but that was also delayed which was quite lucky because we got to Bolton just as it should have been leaving. It was a complete farce but true to form, everyone was just standing around tutting quietly to themselves. Until the train arrived anyway and then it was each person for hirself to make sure they got on the train, ideally with a seat. Thankfully we only had one more stop to go to Horwich Parkway and then drive back to the B&B. It was still snowing but the roads weren't too bad so there were no further problems. I was so glad to get back and not have to go anywhere else for the rest of the night!
Lazy day
As we'd been out and about for the past few days, we decided to have a lazy day on Tuesday instead of Thursday. We didn't need to go shopping this week as we had plenty of food to last us so that was good. All we had planned was to go to the library and then spend the day relaxing. The snow had mostly gone but the paths were still quite a bit slippy in places which is not fun when you're having to walk up and down hills. For some reason, the librarian that we spoke to this week was quite insistent on us joining the library and gave us forms to fill in. Even though we didn't intend on coming back again, it was early enough in the week for us to return if need be so we both filled the forms in. Michael ended up having to be registered with my home address! Wasn't that nice? We both got lovely laminated cards proclaiming our membership of Bolton Libraries but I have no idea when they'll expire. They might come in handy at some point, you never know. I spent the allotted hour getting my e-mail mostly sorted out and getting directions to the airport for Monday. I had a map but there's a really tricky junction and I didn't want to have any problems with it. It was one of those occasions when I didn't really want to acknowledge the lack of time we had left but I had to make preparations. Still there was just under a week left so there was no point being sad just yet.
Liverpool
On Wednesday, we decided to go to Liverpool. I've driven to Liverpool several times, never from Horwich but it wasn't too bad. I was aiming for the Albert Dock so I followed the signposts which took me to the city centre and then abandoned me there. Thankfully I found my own way there. We had a bit of a look round the Albert Dock until we got hungry and then found a bench which faced out onto the Mersey so we sat there and ate our butties*. A couple of pigeons noticed and decided to tell all their friends so we were being accosted by the damn things. They weren't shy about it either and came up really close to us wanting food but we were having none of it. We looked round the rest of the dock and found a decent souvenir shop where Michael bought lots of things for his kids.
From there we walked up into the city centre as it's not that far and had a look round there. I like Liverpool because I find that the city centre is much more open than Manchester and Scousers* are friendlier too. Unfortunately a lot of city centres are starting to have all the same high street shops and less of their own unique independent businesses so it gets a bit boring after a while. I took Michael down Mathew Street because even though he's not a Beatles fan, you can't go to Liverpool and not see it. He got to see the Cavern Club and the statue in Cavern Walks - which surprisingly didn't have any flowers for once - and we had a bit of a look round The Beatles Shop where I was very good and managed to not buy anything. You have no idea how hard that was for me. I had to restrain myself and not drag him up and down that street showing him every single Beatles thing there is, and there's quite a lot of it just down that one street! When we'd had enough of wandering round the city centre, we went back to the Albert Dock and spent some time taking photos of the lovely sunset before getting back in the car and driving off to spend time sitting in traffic due to roadworks. I prefer to think of it as Liverpool not wanting us to leave.
Southport
I'm not quite sure what the weather was trying to prove this week but on Thursday we woke up to more snow! There wasn't much on the ground but it was snowing at the time. Of course, today we'd planned on going to Southport but at least part of the shops there are under cover. The roads were pretty much clear so driving there wasn't an issue, although the snow was coming down fairly heavily and flying at speed directly towards the windscreen which made it a bit scary. I kept trying not to flinch because it felt like it was going to go into my eyes, despite there being glass in the way. When we got to Southport, we used the Park and Ride because it was only a pound and much cheaper than paying for several hours of parking. At the park and rides where I live, you park for free and then pay for a return trip on the bus at a highly subsidised rate so I expected it would be the same kind of thing here. So I parked and then we went onto the bus only to be told by the driver that the bus ticket was included in the parking. I just kind of smiled and nodded but as soon as we got a seat I asked Michael, "What parking?!" I'd not seen anything about paying for parking anywhere! A little worrying but nothing I could do about it then.
We got off the bus on Lord Street which is Southport's main road; it's very long and all down one side of the street are shops and a covered walkway which is great on wet days. We wandered down it for a while until we got hungry and then had our butties sitting in what was originally just the square in front of the Town Hall but is now the Princess Diana Memorial Gardens. After that we walked up round the pedestrianised area that's near the train station and then along the rest of Lord Street. It didn't take us very long at all but I think most of that was down to the fact that we didn't really go in any shops. We had a look in one or two, such as Past Times which is interesting but I don't think it's as good as it used to be, and we also looked in the Wayfarer Arcade which is nice but didn't really have any shops of interest to us. Southport does have lots of independent shops but they seem to be mostly clothes shops!
We'd finished looking round the main shopping part by about half past two so then we walked round to the front instead. It was really windy there due it being on the seafront and a bit nippy* too. There was an arcade on the pier there and it had 2p machines so I changed 50p into 2p pieces and we had a play. There was a roulette wheel game which seemed to be the best one so we played that a lot. I won 24p in total - it would have been 28p but one machine didn't give me my 4p winnings much to my disgust. We walked along back in the direction of the park and ride, taking lots of photos of the ducks and spent some time having fun throwing stones at a small pond which had a thin sheet of ice over it. Finally we ended up back at the car park where I was a little apprehensive in case we needed a ticket of some kind in order to raise the barrier so we could leave. As it turned out, we didn't so that was a relief but we'd inadvertently ended up parking for free! Michael said it was rather pathetic though, as it was only supposed to be a pound anyway!
The Lake District
On Friday while we were having breakfast and deciding what to do that day, Michael asked if it was too late to go to the Lake District. It was already 10 o'clock but if we were able to get ready quickly, then it was doable. I had to get petrol first so it was about 11 by the time we got onto the motorway but it only took 45 minutes to get up to Jct 37 and from there another half an hour or so into Ambleside. I was looking for somewhere to park and came across a large empty one so pulled into there. It was right next to a lake, although I wasn't sure exactly which one, but as it was sunny and there were benches on the lakeside, we decided to have our butties there instead of in the car. It was gorgeous and the sun was actually quite warm which was surprising. It was really quiet and peaceful too, even with the amount of seagulls and ducks and other birds about.
Once we'd eaten, we walked off to find the town centre. I was a little concerned that I'd inadvertently parked way out of it but it was about a 15 minute walk so it wasn't too bad. We just wandered all over the town centre, having a look in some of the interesting shops. One of the first places we came across was a little chocolate shop where you could watch the chocolates being made. We managed to go in, look around and come out again without buying anything which was very impressive. We found a souvenir type shop that looked very interesting but there was a note on the door saying that owing to family issues, they were going to be closed for a while. That was a shame, I'd hoped that Michael might be able to get some nice souvenirs there. We also came across a retro record shop. Selling vinyl records no less! And they were all in those wooden boxes too. It was very nostalgic. It was also very empty so I felt a bit bad when I wandered round, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the records and then not buying anything. Then again, I was also very pleased of myself for being able to resist the temptation of The Beatles and Queen on vinyl!
We'd seen pretty much all of the town centre by 3.45 and by now it was starting to get a bit chilly so we decided to call it a day. There was a Greggs bakers on the way back to the car park and they usually sell Heinz soup but I thought it might be a bit late on in the day for them to have any left. I went in and asked, and to my surprise, they did have some! It was cream of tomato which I love but Michael doesn't like, however he was cold enough to have a couple of mouthfuls on the way back to the car. It was worth it just to see the faces he pulled each time. We ended up taking photos on the way to the car park, so by the time we were ready to leave it was half past four! There was only ten minutes left on the ticket so that was good timing. It was a straight run back so we got back to the B&B at about 6.15 so that wasn't bad at all. It was a really nice day, and I was so glad we got to go up there. I always forget how beautiful the Lake District is and I'm pleased that Michael got to see it.
Chester
I asked Michael on Saturday what he wanted to do that day because it would probably be the last day for going out anywhere. He decided on Chester so we quickly made some butties and then went off down there. Chester is a lovely city and it's one of the first ones I'd mentioned to Michael when we started talking about him visiting here, so I couldn't believe that we'd left it so late to visit! One of the reasons I wanted him to see it is that it's a very old city dating back to Roman times at least so it has about 2000 years of history, and it's also the only city left in the UK that still retains its complete defensive wall.
When we got to Chester, the first thing we did was find the Tourist Information Centre to see about getting a map of the city. I was hoping for one that included a walk round the walls, telling you what everything was. There were a couple available (none of them free unfortunately) and we decided on one that took in the city as well as just the walls. We had our butties first, to give us energy for the long walk ahead, and then we made a start. Somehow I ended up reading out the directions and the information from the map, I think that was because I said it would be easier than Michael having to keep taking his glasses on and off every five minutes. It was quite a responsibility though, and I managed not to direct us the wrong way or anything so that was good. The walk said it would take about 2-3 hours but we didn't really hurry round at all and it ended up taking us about 4 hours instead.
I won't tell you everything we saw, because that would just be boring, just some of the more notable ones. The walk started off with the excavated part of the Roman Headquarters which showed the strongroom where the pay chests were kept. That was pretty cool but it was a shame that it was behind glass so you couldn't really get a good look. At one point, the directions told us to go into a museum, through the shop and out of the back which was a bit strange! That was the most confusing part because there were no directions to the shop in the museum. When the walk took us to the bridge over the River Dee, it mentioned how Wales is only 1½ miles away and as a result of their frequent attacks on Chester, a law was passed which stopped them doing such naughty things as accessing the city after sunset, meeting in groups of 2 or 3, or carrying knives. It still stands too! Obviously the Welsh are still up to their old tricks in Chester.
There was also the Roman Garden which displayed a hypocaust that was found elsewhere in the city and moved to the gardens, as well as a lot of colonnades which a group of emo kids were using as stepping stones. Near to that was Roman amphitheatre which was pretty impressive, even if half of it was still buried under a car park. I was a bit annoyed by a bloke and young lad who'd decided it was a good place for a bit of a kick about. Nice appreciation and respect for history on both counts. Further along, the ruins of St John's Church kept us occupied for the longest amount of time, and not just because of the squirrels next to it. I've never seen such friendly squirrels. As soon as they were aware of you, they came rushing over to about a foot away to see if you had any food for them. I tried to take advantage of their closeness to take photos but when they realised that that thing in my hands was not edible or if it was, I was not offering it to them, they ran off. I ended up with lots of blurred pictures of their rear ends instead which wasn't quite what I was after.
I think by the time we'd finished, we'd had enough of walking and it was getting pretty late so there wasn't really time to do anything else. That was a bit disappointing because we didn't get to look at the Rows at all: this is where the shops in some of the streets have got a covered walkway on top of them and this then developed into another row of shops, so there's two rows of shops on top of each other. There's lots of little ginnels* and all kinds of interesting places to explore but we could have done with at least another two days to see all of it. We were frozen too as it was a really cold day and rather windy up all the walls so we called it a day and went back to the B&B.
More Snow!
Sunday was Michael's last day here - Monday didn't count as that was the day he was leaving! - and as we had packing and stuff to do, we'd agreed that it would just be a quiet day spent at the B&B. Michael had got most of his packing done in the morning while I was making breakfast, so afterwards I did my packing and he played on my DS. In the afternoon, I wrote out the directions to the airport on post-it notes and stuck them on my map so that they were all ready for Michael to be the Navigator. We then spent the afternoon playing Guitar Hero 3 on my PS2. It had started snowing a bit while we were having our dinner, so as we played, I was watching it get heavier and heavier and start to settle. It also got foggier too, to the point that we could hardly see the houses below us! I was a bit anxious about it but it was still early enough in the day for it to all blow over and clear up.
When it got to about 5 o'clock, we'd just beaten the level which was good because my hands were worn out. I packed all of the PS2 away and then we had to decide what we were doing for tea. I had suggested Nando's which is a Portuguese piri piri chicken restaurant but Michael was concerned that it might be too spicy and the last thing we wanted on his last night was for there to be upset stomachs! Pizza Hut was possible as pasta is now a main part of their menu, or I said that we could always go back to the Jolly Crofter. We decided to see what Pizza Hut's menu and queue was like and then make up our minds. When we got out of the house, there was a decent cover of snow and I had to clear the car off before we could go anywhere. As it was Sunday, a lot of the roads weren't clear due to lack of traffic and as it was still snowing, I was not so keen on driving very far.
When we got to Middlebrook Retail Park, the car park was more or less completely empty. And dead silent. Of course the falling snow helps to deaden all sound, so it felt like Michael and I were the only two people in the world. But then we got to Pizza Hut where they were queuing out the door! I've never seen it so popular! I didn't hold out much hope for getting a table any time soon, but I asked how long the wait was anyway. The girl asked how many it was for, so I said two and she told me to follow her to a table! I wasn't expecting that at all. I'm not sure how the people queueing felt about it either! We both got the special 2 course offer; I got a starter and pizza for £6.99 and Michael got the starter and pasta for £7.99 which meant that the starters were free. I got wedges and he got chicken strips which were very yummy, but then neither of us was able to finish our main course. When the waitress came back over to ask if we were finished, I asked if we could have the rest to take home and she said okay. We waited for ages for her to bring them over but she never did so in the end, we went over to pay. I asked about our leftovers but the waitress had thrown them away because she forgot or didn't realise we wanted them or something. I was offered a replacement pizza for free but had to turn it down because I didn't want to wait for it or have it to deal with the next day when we wouldn't have time or anywhere cool to store it. That was very annoying.
So that was pretty much it. We had a quiet night watching The Devil Wears Prada on TV which was better than I thought, and then getting everything all ready to pack in the car in the morning. We'd done quite well managing to finish off most of the food we'd brought. Michael was taking some back with him, such as the bag of cereal and the jar of Nutella. I think I'd done pretty well with my introduce-Michael-to-as-much-English-food-as-possible challenge this week though.
Foreign Food
On the Monday, we had butter pies for tea. Butter pies are not that common, they're very much a Lancashire dish and as a result, I struggled tried to find some in Horwich. I ended up having to buy some at the corner shop near my house when we'd nipped back for post one day. They're really yummy and one of my favourites so I was glad that Michael enjoyed his.
We had some curry which I suppose doesn't technically count as he's already tried it, but we got a jar of tikka masala which is one variety he's not had before. We also had dopiaza which is the kind he's had before and the one he normally gets. We also had naan bread, I had peshwari naan because it's my favourite and Michael just had garlic. It was very nice to have curry with naan and a bit of rice too, I like it that way, rather than just with rice.
We had a need for cake again this week and as we happened to be in Sainsbury's, we treated ourselves. Sainsbury's has a very nice range of fresh cakes so we got a cinnamon bun which turned out to have lemon icing on the top and was so good. We also got a muffin each which was done kind of like a butterfly cake, with the top cut off and sort of buttercream filling in between. They were really good and a very nice treat indeed. We got to have more Angel Delight, this time it was Butterscotch flavour which did go quite nicely with the M&Ms. We'd got four packets so the raspberry and vanilla ones got to go back with Michael. We'd also been working our way through a bag of mini lebkuchen while he'd been here too which I don't think he's had before. It's a German thing, kind of like soft gingerbread and quite nice with a coffee.
Michael's had peirogi before so that wasn't anything new to him, even if they were from a proper Polish deli. We'd got two packets of breaded chicken escalopes, one was just regular but the other was southern fried style. We had those with mash and sweetcorn and they were really nice. I think that was about the only American thing we had this week so I did do well! Of course, he's had French Toast before, but he's never had French Toast homemade by my own fair hands before, so I think that still counts as a new thing. So over all, I think I did reasonably well. It might have been a bit slow to start off with, but I certainly managed to introduce him to lots of English food by the end.
Entertainment
We actually managed to do more than watch telly this week, so that was quite an achievement. We did watch quite a bit of that though. Mostly Top Gear and QI, though we also found The Big Bang Theory on one night and a programme about Terry Pratchett and his Alzheimers which was very sad but quite informative. We finished off Red Dwarf II and there was also a couple of episodes of Red Dwarf shown on Dave on Saturday which might have been a bit confusing for Michael as they were from series IV or so, I think. We'd finished the first series of Jonathan Creek last week and made a start on the second one, although I accidentally put the wrong disc in so we started it in the middle. Whoops! I did get to show Michael Alan Davies' Urban Trauma stand up show though which I think he really enjoyed so that was good.
I'd got a new game for my DS thanks to Melly sending me Trauma Centre: Under The Knife so we played that. It made a change from constantly playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village as we had been doing! We also played Guitar Hero 3 quite a bit. We had a contest on Tuesday to see who could get the best score on Through The Fire And Flames by Dragonforce (the hardest song on any Guitar Hero game for those three or four of you not aware of it). Michael got 182,250 points, hit 96% of the notes and a streak of 132. I got 186,246 points, hit 96% of the notes and a streak of 192!
Aside from that, we played Scrabble which Michael won this time, 264 to 256 I think it was. It was a long game though, it took well over two hours thanks to my having lots of really crappy letters. On the Saturday night, we made a point of finishing off the jigsaw too. It was on the kitchen table covered with newspaper and the tablecloth to protect it so it would have been really easy to forget it was there! Once we'd completed it, we gazed at it in admiration for all of 30 seconds before we broke it all up and put it away.
And then it was Monday.
Departure
I'd set the alarm on my watch and my phone for 7 o'clock with the intention of leaving as close to half past 8 as possible. We were ready pretty quickly and skipped breakfast, intending on having something to eat in the airport instead, in order to save a bit more time. It didn't take long to pack the car, although I was a bit worried about whether or not everything was going to fit in! It seemed like we had so much more than we'd gone with even though I didn't think we'd bought that much. Thankfully the snow and ice from the night before had pretty much gone so the roads were clear and I didn't have to de-ice the car.
The journey there was mostly uneventful. I'd been advised by my cousin that there was a really tricky junction from the M61 to the M60 where a lot of people have problems so I was not looking forward to that. However, I was too busy worrying whether or not I was going to have enough petrol to get to the airport to notice the trickyness, and by the time I realised where we were, we'd already got through it. There was quite a lot of traffic which I'd expected but we didn't do too badly for time. We got to the airport, I managed to find a space in the car park and then it was off to check-in. There was a really long queue and hardly any desks open so it seemed to take ages to get anywhere. Finally it was all sorted and we could go and get some breakfast.
For some reason, there's nothing at all in the departure hall and only passengers can go through to the departure lounge so we had to go down to Arrivals to find something. When I'd been waiting for Michael to arrive, I'd stood in front of the Spar which had a large sign to say that it sold Tim Hortons. It's not Dunkies, but it's close enough! I got a coffee, a yoghurt and a muffin while Michael got a salad. We ate our breakfast quickly because time was getting on and we didn't have much of it left. I'd got plenty of food with the intention of eating the muffin later on, not knowing how long it would take me to get home, but annoyingly the yoghurt was on its best before date and turned out to have gone off already. I was actually very un-British and went to complain so I got my money back! Yay me!
All too soon, it was time to go back to Departures so that Michael could go through to security and board his plane. Manchester Airport is not built for loving goodbyes really. There's a huge flight of stairs that goes up to the departure lounge which seems too dramatic for words, but once he'd gone up there, I couldn't see him any more. It felt really weird though because I'm so used to hurrying to the airport to catch my plane but this time I was the one staying behind. I wasn't quite such what to do with myself. I found somewhere to sit and tried to see if I could get online to watch Michael's plane leave but all I could access was a free T-Mobile hotspot that only let me browse the airport's home page. After a while, I gave up and went to stand under one of the monitors instead to watch Michael's flight disappear off it. It seemed to take ages but finally, it wasn't listed any more so I knew he'd gone.
After that I paid £8 for the pleasure of parking when I was expecting half that so that was irritating, and then I had to pay airport prices on petrol to get home. I got back about 1 which wasn't too bad. As soon as I'd forced down a sandwich, I booted up Pigwidgeon and watched Michael's plane make its way across the Atlantic. He seemed to be doing really well, he'd landed in Amsterdam early, left there early and was expected to land in Boston an hour ahead of schedule! I was panicking a bit because Michael's phone was dead and so there was no way of getting in touch with him. I managed to get hold of Caden who was picking him up to let him know, but he was also watching Michael's plane and was aware that he was going to get in early. The good thing was that because Michael got in so early, he got back home before I went to bed so I could speak to him. It was so weird to think that it was only that morning I'd said goodbye to him at Manchester Airport but now he was back at home in Boston, and I was back home too.
So that is the tale of Michael's World Tour of England. We managed to cram an awful lot in but I didn't get to show him half the things I wanted to and I've thought of even more since. It was still amazing having him here and I'm so glad that he was finally able to come. I don't know when he'll be able to come back again because it was so expensive but at least he's managed it once. Now we're counting down to our next time together, which will see me returning to Boston probably in September. I already can't wait. I miss Boston!
Lancashire to English dictionary:
* butties = sandwiches, or a packed lunch.
* Scousers = natives of Liverpool
* slightly nippy = quite cold
* ginnel = narrow passageway or lane