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I was watching Last of the Summer Wine the other night and Compo said he wouldn't mind being well off, he was told "You wouldn't like being well off, too much responsibility", he replied "Yes you're probably right" what an absolutely fascinating statement.
Anyway, it has been showery and wet since we have been here in Manchester, Wednesday spent catching up on sleep, generally relaxing watching Roland Garros and then we got a message from Krystyna (Cousin) that Dave has been called out and dinner was postponed til Thursday.
Thursday was another lazy morning for us and a walk to the city centre to the Piccadilly Gardens Dianese shop to try on motorcycle boots - all were way to small in the foot and motorcycle boots are getting into the Cafe riding set with so many half size or ankle boots available. George at Dianese gave us another bike shop to check out, Hein Gericke in Salford (M8 8DU), that had a lot of motorcycle accessories and clothing.
We wandered around the town centre saw an Art Gallery that had some great Star Wars paintings and prints, one of Darth Vardar for #3000 and a really neat R2D2 print for around #300. Had a bite to eat across the road at an Italian named and owned cafe and had the utmost worst coffee I have ever tasted it was vile and burnt!!!!! After that experience we got some wine at Tescos before catching the 6:08 to Levenshulme to Krystyna and Daves for dinner. We had a great night with them eating Paella and before we knew it it was 11:30 and a taxi was required to get us back to the apartment.
Friday we picked up the rental car and headed to Liverpool, in hindsight we were really optimistic about the weather, it showered on and off all the way to the Albert Docks.
The docks have been completely redone and look great, there were old sailing ships moored up, canal boats motoring through and the Duckie taking tourists. We wandered the shops fully understanding the locals speech thanks to friends giving us linguistics training over the years. I did purchase a Speak Scouse educational book for advanced linguistics. The weather was getting worse, feeling more like Wellington on a rainy day so in the end we postponed visiting anything else like the Cathedral or crossing the Mersey until next time.
We headed back to Manchester setting the GPS to head to Hein Gericke motorcycle accessory and clothing shop (M8 8DU) to get some bike boots (Daytonas) and made it back to the apartment. That night Kerryn made us mexican, healthy chicken and grated raw veges.
On Saturday morning Mark and Mike were up to move the car from the street parking and headed to Hein Gericke to pay for the boots, got #60 off them as well and then saw some heated gloves for less than #150 but the size wasn't there. They will get them in for me to arrive on Wednesday. Today is movie day, Mark and I watched Prometheus in 3-D at the iMax cinema it was awesome and a great movie as well. Prometheus is a movie that needs to be seen on the largest screen possible, Teresa and Kerryn went to Dark Shadows which they both enjoyed and were willing to watch again, this was all followed by a late lunch at a local Italian called Zizzi. To top the day off we spent the evening relaxing and having Apple Strudel for dessert as we were all still too full after lunch.
Sunday was off to see Tatton Park with a detour to see the kids good friends Christina and Jan at there new house and to admire the work that they have completed so far. They have great plans for the section and house and the butterflies on the wall seem to be multiplying. Tatton Park is an impressive place with different types of gardens, sculptures and art spread throughout. I would recommend this for a visit, have a ride on the Merry-go-round adults pay #2, eat an ice cream and watch the deer roaming freely across the grasslands.
The evening was spent with playing "Ticket to Ride" a great board game and then watching recorded Roland Garros until play was suspended.
Monday was again a relaxing time, headed off to the Odeon to see Men-in-Black III in 3D which was an entertaining movie, a bite to eat at Costas and then we went to find a Post Office. At the Post Office we participated in the great English past-time standing in-line and realised that in NZ we can never complain about having to wait when the line is only four people deep. There were two tellers and about twenty people waiting in the queue the tellers were really polite and helpful throughout and no-one got flustered.
Back at the apartment the time was spent watching Rafael Nadal becoming the greatest Clay tennis player ever. After eating a Lentil and Celery soup (???) we went with Kerryn to Altrincham (Altringham) to watch her ice skating. She is very very good and spent longer than intended practicing after the lesson.
Tuesday was up early to head to see Marysia, Dave and family, we packed our winter woolies as the temperatures are in the very low teens. The GPS provided the route out of Manchester and on to Haswell via the A19. The evening was spent catching up with the extended family, Michelle has a Cup Cake business that is extraordinary. The cup cakes are really mini-cakes with lots of icing and strawberries, mint biscuits, or some other lovely topping.
The weather is typical north but not for this time of year, it is playing havoc with the racing and getting the pigeons ready for race day.
It is only one more day til Barcelona and the start of the Pyrenees part of the trip. It will be sad to leave the kids, our friends and cousins as we won't know when we will see them again, plans are currently in about two years time, but who knows.
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