Oh England my lionheart
Dear livejournal friends,
usually I'm writing in German but as I like to share this entry I will post it in English as many friends don't understand German.
So now I'm back from my short trip to Hertford.
Travelling to the UK:
It began in the night from Thursday to Friday. Actually I wanted to sleep a couple of hours on Thursday evening but I had a headache and then a colleague called me up to make a date as she is taking a client of me and so she needs some informations and files of course.
I had to take the last bus going from my village like part of our city to the central station. My son was so lovely to go with me as he got a month ticket and thus he could take me with him.
When arriving there I had to wait 1 1/2 hour for my transfer bus to Weeze so I decided to drink a coffee at McCoffee. I was very surprised to see how many people were dressed up and some of them very drunken and asked myself if they don't have to work the next day and what pubs or Discothecs are openend on a Thursday evening/ night.
Finally I arrived with the transfer bus the airport of Weeze. For those who don't know: this was a British air base as Nordrhein- Westfalen was a British occupied zone. When the British Air Force left the airport Ryanair and other cheap airlines started their business there which is quite good for this region I guess as it means employment for some people.
Anyway I had to wait for further 2 hours before my plane started. I got to know another gothic lady and so we had a nice chat during the flight.
Arrived in Stansted I got the Stansted Express and then the train going to Hertford. These were the most fast connections on the whole trip.
In Hertford I had to realize that it is such a small city that sightseeing would not take me long. Anyway I found a Starbucks and enjoyed my soy café latte and then I checked how to get to Birch Green with the Bus and as the bus does not go very often to this village I had another couple of hours to spend with walking around, window shopping and buying some stuff especially something to eat.
It was early afternoon when I arrived in Birch Green where the accomodation was.
Meanwhile I was more than tired but unfortunately the owner was not there at the time of my arrival as she expected me to come an hour later. So I sat in her front garden for a cigarette and had to wait.
Finally my host arrived. A very nice lady probably in her seventies who apologised for her late arrival. She made me a coffee and then prepared my room.
The room I got was so nice, proper and comfortable even with a small TV.
As you can imagine I immediately fell asleep when I went to bed and just woke up in the evening, ate a bit and watched TV which was quite interesting. Why do you have so many shopping channels?
Hertford is like Sleepy Hollow but without the headless rider:
Next day I got up early and took my breakfast and prepared for the evening.
At the bus stop I found out that the next bus will be in 3 hours. As it was fine weather, too, I decided to walk to Hertford or at least in the direction of it and try to find out if there are other buses going to the centre. Thus I had a nice walk for an hour and took some pics.
I found another bus station going to the center.
There I took my coffee at Starbucks again and then started my 'sightseeing'. Well, after about 2 hours I was done with it. Hertford is a small old city but nevertheless there is not much to be seen and quite disappointing for me. Even their museum has not so much to show.
But Hertford was preparing for Halloween, too, and so I went into some shops to see what decoration stuff and dresses they have. Very nice.
And finally I got the cups so that I can try some of the recipes of this book (M.in case you read this: do you remember our discussion about the cup measurement and your suggestion of using tea cups? Well, I think that would not really work ;-) )
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sinfully-Vegan-Decadent-Desserts-Satisfy/dp/1569244766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319746338&sr=1-1
In the early afternoon I decided to get me something to eat and found an asian restaurant that looked good.
As there were no guests I was at first insecure if they had already opened but the owner showed me to a table. He was very nice and interested where I was coming from and as he saw that I ate with chopsticks (white ones) he gave me a pair of them in black. How sweet is that?
While walking through the Hertford Castle Park I took some random photos.
In the evening the party started in a location called Hertford Corn exchange. Really nice venue.
And finally I met Sarni, Kez and Lisa in real life. I also met Geoff and Pete again, got to know their new bandmate Roger and met a lot of very lovely people this evening.
At Sarni's and Kez's Birthday party performed a band called Future perfect and then Tenek and we all had lots of fun. And Dave Charles was the one who kept us dancing for the rest of the evening.
One of the videos that are made from the Tenek gigs. Although in the description it is said that fans even come from Germany I want to stress that my reason to come to Hertford was to see Sarni and Kez as they had invited me to their Birthday party and I don't want to lower this event as it was their day. The concerts were a nice bonus indeed.
http://youtu.be/U3eF8FfFaO4
I had a fantastic evening and everyone was so nice and lovely. And it is good to meet people in real with whom you only had contact via facebook before.
Thanks you lovely lots for that!
As no buses where going back to Birch Green I had to take a taxi.
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere:
The next day I had a little hangover but not really bad as I had taken magnesium before and after the party and luckily although I had headaches since Thursday and the painkillers were my best friends again it was not so bad as feared. The weather was fantastic again and as on Sundays there are no buses going from/ to Birch Green I decided to have a very lazy day and take a walk in this village. This was a good decision as this walk did me good and I was surprised that I could not hear any cars only a plane every now and then. It was absolutely quiet except of the wind blowing and some birds singing. In my city I don't know a place where it is so quiet, too, because you can always hear some noise of cars in the distance.
When I returned to my room I started to pack and after eating, reading and watching a bit TV I got to bed early as then my headache started again.
Return:
I got up early, took my breakfast and prepared to travel home.
Back in the town center of Heartford I took my last coffee at Starbucks and took my trains to Stansted where I had to wait a couple of hours for my flight home. I arrived in the evening in Weeze and had to wait again for the transfer bus to Essen. Luckily my lovely son and Viktorija picked me up so that I need not to buy a bus ticket again. And my son was so lovely and caring that he had cooked something for me expecting me to be hungry after such a long journey and I was indeed.
The next day was needed for relaxing and unpacking.
Except of being with my son and Viktorija again I am not so happy to be back in Germany.
Of course I don't need to hang around in a city like Hertford again as it is such a boring place but I like to be in the UK and with British people.
Do you know how amazing you are? It is so nice how friendly, helpful and caring you are and of course it is nice to understand the language - well, most of it.
I remember that it was different about 20 years ago when my son and me where for a week in London. When they heard from my accent that I am German people started to be cold and weren't very helpful when I asked for help. I did not feel very comfortable and somehow left alone. Only one old man was very friendly and open minded and he happened to be a German who had to flee from Germany once but he understood that I was from another generation.
Some people say it is the people in London that they are not so friendly and always in a hurry. Maybe that is a reason but maybe the time has just changed and people have a different understanding for German people nowadays.
There are some more photos in the album if you are interested in them
usually I'm writing in German but as I like to share this entry I will post it in English as many friends don't understand German.
So now I'm back from my short trip to Hertford.
Travelling to the UK:
It began in the night from Thursday to Friday. Actually I wanted to sleep a couple of hours on Thursday evening but I had a headache and then a colleague called me up to make a date as she is taking a client of me and so she needs some informations and files of course.
I had to take the last bus going from my village like part of our city to the central station. My son was so lovely to go with me as he got a month ticket and thus he could take me with him.
When arriving there I had to wait 1 1/2 hour for my transfer bus to Weeze so I decided to drink a coffee at McCoffee. I was very surprised to see how many people were dressed up and some of them very drunken and asked myself if they don't have to work the next day and what pubs or Discothecs are openend on a Thursday evening/ night.
Finally I arrived with the transfer bus the airport of Weeze. For those who don't know: this was a British air base as Nordrhein- Westfalen was a British occupied zone. When the British Air Force left the airport Ryanair and other cheap airlines started their business there which is quite good for this region I guess as it means employment for some people.
Anyway I had to wait for further 2 hours before my plane started. I got to know another gothic lady and so we had a nice chat during the flight.
Arrived in Stansted I got the Stansted Express and then the train going to Hertford. These were the most fast connections on the whole trip.
In Hertford I had to realize that it is such a small city that sightseeing would not take me long. Anyway I found a Starbucks and enjoyed my soy café latte and then I checked how to get to Birch Green with the Bus and as the bus does not go very often to this village I had another couple of hours to spend with walking around, window shopping and buying some stuff especially something to eat.
It was early afternoon when I arrived in Birch Green where the accomodation was.
Meanwhile I was more than tired but unfortunately the owner was not there at the time of my arrival as she expected me to come an hour later. So I sat in her front garden for a cigarette and had to wait.
Finally my host arrived. A very nice lady probably in her seventies who apologised for her late arrival. She made me a coffee and then prepared my room.
The room I got was so nice, proper and comfortable even with a small TV.
As you can imagine I immediately fell asleep when I went to bed and just woke up in the evening, ate a bit and watched TV which was quite interesting. Why do you have so many shopping channels?
Hertford is like Sleepy Hollow but without the headless rider:
Next day I got up early and took my breakfast and prepared for the evening.
At the bus stop I found out that the next bus will be in 3 hours. As it was fine weather, too, I decided to walk to Hertford or at least in the direction of it and try to find out if there are other buses going to the centre. Thus I had a nice walk for an hour and took some pics.
I found another bus station going to the center.
There I took my coffee at Starbucks again and then started my 'sightseeing'. Well, after about 2 hours I was done with it. Hertford is a small old city but nevertheless there is not much to be seen and quite disappointing for me. Even their museum has not so much to show.
But Hertford was preparing for Halloween, too, and so I went into some shops to see what decoration stuff and dresses they have. Very nice.
And finally I got the cups so that I can try some of the recipes of this book (M.in case you read this: do you remember our discussion about the cup measurement and your suggestion of using tea cups? Well, I think that would not really work ;-) )
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sinfully-Vegan-Decadent-Desserts-Satisfy/dp/1569244766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319746338&sr=1-1
In the early afternoon I decided to get me something to eat and found an asian restaurant that looked good.
As there were no guests I was at first insecure if they had already opened but the owner showed me to a table. He was very nice and interested where I was coming from and as he saw that I ate with chopsticks (white ones) he gave me a pair of them in black. How sweet is that?
While walking through the Hertford Castle Park I took some random photos.
In the evening the party started in a location called Hertford Corn exchange. Really nice venue.
And finally I met Sarni, Kez and Lisa in real life. I also met Geoff and Pete again, got to know their new bandmate Roger and met a lot of very lovely people this evening.
At Sarni's and Kez's Birthday party performed a band called Future perfect and then Tenek and we all had lots of fun. And Dave Charles was the one who kept us dancing for the rest of the evening.
One of the videos that are made from the Tenek gigs. Although in the description it is said that fans even come from Germany I want to stress that my reason to come to Hertford was to see Sarni and Kez as they had invited me to their Birthday party and I don't want to lower this event as it was their day. The concerts were a nice bonus indeed.
http://youtu.be/U3eF8FfFaO4
I had a fantastic evening and everyone was so nice and lovely. And it is good to meet people in real with whom you only had contact via facebook before.
Thanks you lovely lots for that!
As no buses where going back to Birch Green I had to take a taxi.
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere:
The next day I had a little hangover but not really bad as I had taken magnesium before and after the party and luckily although I had headaches since Thursday and the painkillers were my best friends again it was not so bad as feared. The weather was fantastic again and as on Sundays there are no buses going from/ to Birch Green I decided to have a very lazy day and take a walk in this village. This was a good decision as this walk did me good and I was surprised that I could not hear any cars only a plane every now and then. It was absolutely quiet except of the wind blowing and some birds singing. In my city I don't know a place where it is so quiet, too, because you can always hear some noise of cars in the distance.
When I returned to my room I started to pack and after eating, reading and watching a bit TV I got to bed early as then my headache started again.
Return:
I got up early, took my breakfast and prepared to travel home.
Back in the town center of Heartford I took my last coffee at Starbucks and took my trains to Stansted where I had to wait a couple of hours for my flight home. I arrived in the evening in Weeze and had to wait again for the transfer bus to Essen. Luckily my lovely son and Viktorija picked me up so that I need not to buy a bus ticket again. And my son was so lovely and caring that he had cooked something for me expecting me to be hungry after such a long journey and I was indeed.
The next day was needed for relaxing and unpacking.
Except of being with my son and Viktorija again I am not so happy to be back in Germany.
Of course I don't need to hang around in a city like Hertford again as it is such a boring place but I like to be in the UK and with British people.
Do you know how amazing you are? It is so nice how friendly, helpful and caring you are and of course it is nice to understand the language - well, most of it.
I remember that it was different about 20 years ago when my son and me where for a week in London. When they heard from my accent that I am German people started to be cold and weren't very helpful when I asked for help. I did not feel very comfortable and somehow left alone. Only one old man was very friendly and open minded and he happened to be a German who had to flee from Germany once but he understood that I was from another generation.
Some people say it is the people in London that they are not so friendly and always in a hurry. Maybe that is a reason but maybe the time has just changed and people have a different understanding for German people nowadays.
There are some more photos in the album if you are interested in them