Hey y'all,
Hope you are alive after the last blog. Yes it was mammoth, but just so many exciting things! :P
Will try and keep this shorter... but no promises!
Nothing like coming off a 16hour flight and being detained in San Francisco airport... perfect.
"Mam, where is your DS 2019?"
"Ah, I don't have it"
"Please take a seat in Secondary customs"...
Of course I forgot some 'important' piece of paper, but really was it necessary?! I needed the DS 2019 to get my VISA and I had my VISA in my water damaged passport and I had a valid passport... so why was it damn necessary? Welcome to The United States of America Margot!
Spent the night in an airport hotel, relieved to have not been put on a plane and deported. I got the CalTrain down to San Jose, a lovely 1 hour ride, starting to get a feel for the California!
I certainly got the cliche travel experience. I was waiting for a train, when a eccentrically frizzy red headed lady started talking to me. She was the kind of character you would expect to have a black cat following her around. Had an Irish background, but had grown up for the most part of her life in South San Francisco. She went on to tell me, "The US is not a safe place for people anymore, if you commit a crime, the Police will charge you for more than you did and you will be imprisoned in a unlisted prison in the desert. No one will ever be able to find you. Your existance will disappear and no matter how much people search for you, you're gone. Property of the State now. But I have a friend. Dennis. He is also Irish, an ex pat. He drives a big Catalac and can get you from San Francisco to San Jose in 35-40mins... you'll be hard pressed to find someone that can do that! If you ever get in trouble with the Police, call Dennis. He will come find you and sort everything out. But his number is unlisted. Never give this to anyone. I will know if you have given it to anyone." Proceeded to write some details on a pre made business card, stating 'Dennis - (and his number)'...
As she was nearing her stop, she said, "if you ever need me, come to (some bar) in town and ask the Barman for Babzilla. He will come find me. I won't give out my real name. Just remember Babzilla"
And she was gone. Surreal. Again, welcome to the US Margot! The first people I spoke to were customs and a loony lady... what was install for me if this was the beginning?!
Arrived at the Campus Village B (CVB) building, my accommodation on campus, the largest of 7 apartment/dorm blocks. The campus accommodates over 3000 students! A little more than I am use to at my humble UWS res with 325 students. The campus was pretty quiet as it was a week before class commenced. I met two other internationals waiting outside for the 3pm entry, an Aussie chick and Swedish guy, so boom - 2 others in the same boat. Perfect. After checking in, meeting a few other Internationals, we took a trip to Walmart to buy our necessities. Was a 4 hour experience, complete with Taco Bells dinner which had a sign saying "WARNING - Chemicals known to the State to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm may be present in foods or beverages served here." Wow.
So I had arrived in the States on the 13th August. Unfortunately a few days before that, I received a phone call from my family, saying my 90 year old Grandad Harry, had had a fall in the bathroom, spent the night of the bathroom floor and amongst other things, went into renal failure, with the doctors giving him days to live. Being a close family, there was no doubt in my mind. I was going home. By the 15th August, I was on a flight home to Sydney. I arrived on the 17th at 6:30am, made it to the hospital and spent the day with Grandad, who was semi unconscious. Being the last grandchild of 6 to visit, when he heard my voice in his room, he opened his eyes, something he had not done for 48hours. At 6:15pm, he passed away, with some of the family and I at his bedside. The funeral was organised with haste to allow me to return to the USA and commence university, so on Monday 22nd we had the funeral, in which my dad and I spoke at. Tuesday 23rd I returned to The States and started class on Wednesday 24th.
It was obviously a hard time for me and the family, however was so nice to be able to spend Grandad's last day together. Something I don't regret for a minute! A lot is going to change back home now, end of an amazing era for an amazing man and for all of his family, its the end of the family home that my Dad has lived in for over 50 years and a place we have all had so many memories in. But you got to celebrate what a fantastic life he had.
Back to the States. Took a few days to recover from a physical and emotional rollarcoaster. Adjusting to a whole new culture, city and university was another challenge in itself. Thea told me a cool quote "life only throws at you what it thinks you can handle"... I guess it was one of those moments.
The two classes I take are Occupation and Physical Dysfunction and Cultural Diversity in OT. I have those classes in seminar style, for 3 hours each once a week. My lecturer is really cool and for those OT kids, she has written a chapter in the Pendretti book, "OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY - practice skills for Physical Dysfunction" Gigi Smith is her name. So learning a wealth of knowledge from her! Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, I attend fieldwork. I am working with kids with special needs in schools throughout the Santa Clara county. So far so good!
The first weekend I was back, our gang of International students got the bus to Santa Cruz, about an hour bus ride from campus. The culture there is like that of Byron Bay I was told, but when I got there, it seemed more like an English seaside town, with its long pier, amusements/rides by the sea, cold water and no one actually in the water! The weather is actually upwards of 30degrees, but the water never seems to warm up. Sunbaking on the beach, I heard the weirdest sounds, to which i had no idea what it was, to look around and see Seals playing on the pontoon by the pier! About 30+ of these huge, ugly, scared seals (Sea Lions I think they actually were)...
The campus takes up from 4th street to 10th street and about 6 streets wide, so is pretty big! Right in downtown San Jose. I've been told San Jose is the 10th biggest city in the US and the 4th safest city! So far since i have been here there has been a shooting (well I've heard more than one when i've been drifting off to sleep) and a sexual assault on campus... What the hell is the rest of the US like then?! a girl on my soccer team even brings pepper spray to training with her kit! Seems like a worthwhile investment!
Was at Las Vegas for the long weekend... but I will save that for my next blog!
Hope all are well! Drop me a line if you are reading these and let me know how you are going.
Margot xoxo
Wednesday 7 September 2011
Thursday 1 September 2011
London & Italia
(Written late - from 25th July - 13th August)
Buongiorno,
Hope everyone is well! Please send through your news and stories so I can keep up to date with everyone :)
Having a fantastic time in the UK. Leaving Saturday and heading to San Francisco, before arriving at my university, San Jose State University (about 45mins drive from San Fran).
I spent a week in London from the 25th - 30th. Travelling on a budget, i decided to take the bus from Leeds to London, a 4 hour bus journey, instead of the 2 hour train ride. Saving of about $25. Well, in retrospect about it, may have been $25 well spent to have taken the train. Bus driver didn't show up, angry passengers stressing about making connections, youth storming off the bus, cigarette in hand, saying "I can't be arsed listening to this" (in regards to the pensioners shouting at the member of staff), traffic jams all around London due to 2012 roadworks... but I can't be too harsh to National Express, as I made the journey in one piece with various delays, not bad for 18quid return.
Headed just north of London to visit my second cousins (my dad's cousin Nikki), her husband Andy and kids Charlie (19) and Georgie (14 going on 20). I spent 2 months living with them when I was on my GAP year after school, so was lovely to spend a short, but sweet time there. Charlie showed me his 2 new snakes and their food, frozen mouse. Nikki had inherited a turtle, that was 30 years old or so... had a near miss when it escaped the garden a few months back and had ended up under their garden shed. The kids had to tell her to get a grip from the never ending tears she shed in the fear she'd lost the thing! Georgie shared me with her passion for Asian pop singers and told me stories of stalking them at various gigs around London, waiting at stage doors for her heroes to exit the building, then showed me photos of the stereotypical Asian hand gesture. One 'Popstar' has even arranged an afternoon tea with Georgie and her friends on the bands next tour!
Tuesday, was a day of rememberance. Or as I'd rather put it, celebration of life. For one Ms Amy Winehouse. So I took a trip to Camden to pay my respects. Along with hundreds of others coming and going. Empty Vodka bottles and Stella Artois cans lined the kerb sides along the flowers and tributes. One lady, who seemed to resemble a similar habit to Amy's, sat peacefully, teary eyed, cigarette in one hand, bottle of vodka in the other, staring longingly at the Musicians house. An appropriate tribute one may suggest. I felt I was not paying my full respect, but I couldn't stomach straight Vodka at 11am on a Tuesday morning.
Spent lunch with my Aunty Bron on the Kings Road at Chelsea in her lunch break. Couldn't resist the sale at Jack Wills, so bought some heavily discounted items and felt like I could mix with the wealthy Londoners, strutting along with my small Jack Wills labelled bag.
Tuesday night, headed to Croydon to meet up with Amy, a friend I met when on a 10 day tour of India back in 2008. We had a few cocktails before meeting up with two of her friends from work, caught up on the latest of what Richard Branson was up to at Virgin, before having a fantastic Vietnamese dinner of fish, quail, squid, duck and white wine - all at an extremely cheap price! Headed back to the cocktail lounge to complete the evening and make it not as memorable as I would have liked... then spent a good 45minutes longer than necessary navigating my way to London Bridge from Waterloo.
Wednesday I enjoyed a nice sleep in.. before navigating around London. Surprisingly I remembered alot more of London than I expected, so enjoy strolling from London Bridge, down and over the Thames, up to Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Soho. Found my regular Chinese restaurant in Chinatown for lunch, unfortunately wasn't the 3 pound lunch special I use to frequently consume. That evening, I met up with my cousins Edwin and Elissa, along with Aunty Bron and we saw 'Ghost' on the West End. Was AMAZING! Technology these days with theatre is truly amazing.
Thursday I decided to get out of London, escape the hussle and bussle. London in the summer is just one big BO problem. And you suffer twice as much peak hour on the tubes! I took a trip to a continually criticised town, Southend-on-sea. London's closest 'beach'. Aka Chav central. It is Essex after all. It really is not as bad as people say, however I wouldn't quite call a beach a place where the towns drainage runs out to the sea, but each to their own. I took a lovely stroll out out the 2.2km long pier, 'The Longest Pleasure Pier' in the world. Being so 'long' it required a train to run out and take the old folk back if they managed the walk out. Just to get the whole experience, I jumped aboard to.
Spent Thursday night in Aunty Bron's local, The Charles Dickens, with Michael and Bron. The night ended with Bron sitting on a 'Boris bike', much to Michael and my laughter, considering she can't ride bikes!
Friday I headed up to Leeds. I had the pleasure to jump on the coach and get stuck in traffic. During the few hours delay on a full bus, coincidently I was sitting next a guy from Newcastle back home! He was also in the UK/Europe for a bit before going to America on Uni exchange. They breed us well back in the Castle of New.
Friday night was Jo's Hen's night. Was a crazy night. Typically Tashi (and I) were 3 hours late, but did have a good stock of alcohol to contribute. Soon after we got there, Jo had spilt a few drinks, so it was time to head out in Leeds. We went to her favourite bar, 'Fab Cafe'... a retro comic style bar, full of comic geeks. Complete with star Wars characters and a fusball machine! By 3am, we had made it home with a very drunk Tashi... who asked me in the morning, "so how did we get home last night?"
Written on 31st August (struggling to remember, but want to finish this blog) lol
The weekend of the 30th July - Aug 1st, Tashi and I went to Liverpool. Of course we didnt end up gettting there until about 3pm in the afternoon, went the original plan was a 9am train... we shoe hunted for a while, as naturally Trash bag still didn't have her bridesmaid shoes for the wedding in 5 days! Unsuccessful again... However, it allowed me to take in the sights and characters of Liverpool. On various occasions I witnessed girls form 16 - 30 years old, walking around with rollers and hair nets on, looking like oompa loompa's in their spray tans, hunting for their latest dress for Saturday night, but in their pyjamas?! Only in Liverpool! To hear the sounds coming out their mouths, i was sure I was on another planet.
We met up with Tashi's mate Freddie and her beau and went for an early dinner by the Mersey River... or sludge pile.
We then headed out to visit some of the Thornleys friends, family and tag alongs... going fmor pub to pub, to eventually clubs in Liverpool. And didnt I feel underdressed! I soon took it in my stride, hit the cocktails and decided to do the traditional 'PLANK' on a famous Liverpool icon, the Lambanana.. (photo on facebook). We headed to a Hawaiian bar with Karen and Nicky, friends of Tashi's mums, and had a pina colada out of a pineapple... quite tropical for Liverpool! :)
Sunday, we were spoilt by a lovely hearty cooked breakfast by Bren, Karens husband, just what was needed. We headed up to Formby, spent the afternoon with Tashi's nan, lovingly referred to as the 'Moron' and Poppa Rodger... Tashi's drunken translation when described her Grandmothers faith of Mormon. Headed on to meet up with Jules (Tashi's mum) and Adrian for a drink before train down to the 'Pool. Well... that was when I truly understood the stereotypes of Liverpool!
Innocently sitting on the train, next thing the group of about 6 boys, about 14-18 sitting spread out of the next few rows, decided that it was about time for a punch on. And then it began. "You f'ing so and so, you bring your mother f'n friends around to my mothers house and i'll f'n stab you, go on, go on, try me.." and with bleeding nose and ripped ear, the train driver stopped the train and came down, politely asking them when their intended stop was, before reminding them that there are women and children on this train... If I was in his shoes, i'd probably kick them off, but hey, maybe thats how they do it in Liverpool?
We visited some friends of Tashi's, before realising we had missed the last train home, so had some chinese in Liverpool's Chinatown, before heading to her Grandparents place to crash for the night.
Early Monday morning train back to Liverpool, Trashi off to work and I met up with Pat (Nikki) and Kat, and we, as well as 10 or so of her Physio mates, went to a high ropes adventure course 'Aerial Extreme' in North Yorkshire. I couldn't believe that the fellow who worked there, was Wil, a guy I worked with at PGL in 2008! Out of all of us there, the Aussie knew someone!
Thursday was the wedding! Joe and Dave - 2 people that worked and met each other at the Queenswood Social Club, where Tashi worked also. Was a lovely wedding, in a small church just outside of Leeds, followed by a LOVELY reception in an old building, decorated beautifully by Jo, for an afternoon and evening reception. There was a massive Hog roast and about 20 chickens on the spit too! Not a sight for the vegetarians. Somehow, I put in a great effort and managed to review what I had eaten and drank that day at 3am...
Friday was a 5:30am wake up for a flight to Venice! Yay! All had been booked by Tashi, as we were going to spend the night in Venice, before heading down to Ferrera, to watch her mates play in the World Tchoukball Championships! I was excited for Venice... A very hungover trip to the airport for me, thankfully it was only a 15min drive that Jules was kind enough to get up to take us.
Tashi is one who loves surprises. She always has grand ideas for peoples birthday and special occasions, however amongst her busy schedule and extravegent ideas, they unfortunately rarely surface. However, she prides herself on those spontaneous surprises... This was one of those....
At Checkin desk...
Jet2 lady: "Welcome to Jet2, where are you flying to today?"
(I was too hungover to talk...)
Tashi: "Venice"
Jet2 lady: "Last names?"
Tashi: "Thornley and Widdup"
Jet2: "I can't find you on the system, did you know your check in code?"
Tashi: "Yes blah blah blah"
Jet2: "I am sorry, but your flight was for yesterday..."
SURPRISE MARGOT!
Tashi refused to believe this, so marched off to find some internet to check. Later coming back with her tail between her legs...
I headed to desk to see if we could book tickets onto todays flight...
"All full sorry"
Me: "are there any other options?"
Jet2: "no unfortunately. However, there are 3 people that havent turned up for this flight, so if you wait around til check in closes, we can book you onto this flight." Eeekkkkk
Needless to say, we were on the flight. I was still a little worse for wear. The run through security was probably not the best turbulence for my upset stomach.
Sunny Venice! Realised later, we got ripped off on the boat ride into Venice, but we made it. Had a pizza lunch. I got my wind back and were off to explore. Headed to San Marco square, walked around the cobble streets, flooded with tourists, beggers and locals trying to sell anything and everything touristy. Tashi bought a gondola boaters t-shirt. I convinced her the matching hat wasn't worth 10pounds.
We had a good chat as we walked around, I explained how the Gondola's were truly an extortionate price for the time spent aboard and its still nice to take the public ferry to be out on the water. I found the scene of the crime, where Brittany had skinny dipped under a bridge in a canal, on a cold December night in 2007. What memories! We passed Gondola's with boaties trying to get us on board, 100euros one guy said, for 40mins! No way. We walked on and before long, another guy offered us 80euros... we declined politely, we walked on and I again went over the vast expenses of the Gondola rides, little did I know Tashi had stopped and was haggling with the guy, next thing I know she's heading back to the Gondola and we are getting on. Surprise #2.
To be honest, it was a lovely relaxing paddle around the back canals, with the guy giving us limited commentary with his broken English on the attractions surrounding. 60 euros for 35mins... Was definitely a nice experience. We explored a bit more of Venice by foot, before stopping to have dinner by a canal.
We got up early the next day, 6th Aug and went up the tower in San Marco Square. A truly spectacular view of the small islands. I didn't realise how many Cruise Liners stopped in! How on earth did they fit? No wonder Venice floods!
Headed south on a train to Ferrera. Arrived with no hotel bookings. No maps. No idea of where the Tchoukball was being played. I truly was on a spontaneous Trashi holiday. And she was loving every moment of the adventure. I suggested instead of just walking away in a random directions from the train station, that maybe we ask a bus driver where the centre of town was and how best to get there. In the end, we pointed to a picture of Ferrera castle, which we knew was in the centre of town.
Siesta time. never a great time to arrive in a small town. We managed to get some accommodation when eventually finding the internet cafe... hired some bikes, got a dodgey map, a peddled our little bikes like mad to get to the Tchoukball venue. It was so hot and humid and the bikes were the most dodgey we had ever ridden. Was ace to see Jan and Han and to finally watch one of these games of 'Tchoukball'. After the game, we all rode back to town together, going through a local park, filled with fair events. There was a giant.. and i mean GIANT teddy machine there. I couldn't resist. 1 euro a go. I knew the it was pricey. But the reward was so great. I went in with confidence. I had a wealth of experience and success behind me. I picked out my victim. A pink pig. Was in a great position for my shiny silver claw. 1st attempt... fail, or rather shuffled into a better position. 2nd attempt... picked up and fell out of my claw. 3rd attempt... SUCCESS! A large silver rollardoor opened (about 1m squared) for my new prized possession to be delivered to me.
The day 'Tchouky' the pig was brought into the world. He soon became the GB team mascot.
We joined all the countries for a team dinner, but with poor service and high humidity, we spent more time at the local kebab caravan, before a gelato on the way home to bed.
Sunday was the big day. All the finals of the championship. GB ladies were playing off for 5th place. Was a fantastic game! They won, but it wasn't an easy win. Was all streamed live over the internet for the world to see! We spent the afternoon in a near by pool cooling off from the 40degree heat. What kinda of pool makes in mandatory to wear swimming caps! Joke! So we all looked like complete idiots! Was nice to have 3 or 4 afternoon cocktails by the pool though. We watched the wheelchair Tchoukball, women's and men's finals.. that was certainly an eye opener! What athleticism these Taiwanese men have! They won convincingly, 75-45 or so over the Italians. We stayed for most of the LONG closing ceremony, before cycling back, having a nap, then going out for dinner.
Monday, we were up early to get the train back, to meet our flight in Venice. Venice is definitely the most disorganised airport EVER with the queues unbelievably long! Arrived in Leeds, Tashi repacked her bag and headed off an hour later for 3 days of training with work. Pat, Megan and I enjoyed some rose and Thai for my pre-birthday celebrations.
9th AUGUST! Another year older... 22! ekkkk
Pat took me to the parcel pick up to get my birthday parcel from the family, which was lovely. I got the train off to Liverpool to meet up with Jules and Jake for an afternoon of climbing. Was great fun! Hadn't been climbing in ages and couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday afternoon. Jules had cooked a lovely dinner, got the rose in and everything, but I think the Thai from the night before wasn't so lovely and I spent my birthday out the front with a bucket... funnily enough kinda reminded me of my birthday last year?! Strange.
Wednesday 10th - I got the train back to Leeds, went out for dinner with Tashi to celebrate my birthday and bless her cotton socks, she had arranged a little surprise dinner for me at Thai! Megan, Ste, Pat, Alan, Tashi and I were there, a few others couldn't make it. It was ace to see everyone again and say my farewells...
Thursday I spent sometime packing and sorting out my stuff. That evening, I got a sad call from my family saying Grandad had had a fall, spent the night on the bathroom floor and the family has been called to his bedside at hospital, as he had gone into renal failure. I spent most the night in tears, devastated by the news, trying to comfort myself by remembering he is 90 and has lived a fantastic life.
Friday morning, I finished off packing and got a train down to London. Tashi came with. We left my stuff at left luggage and explored London. Soho, Covent Garden and Leicester Square mainly. I showed Tashi where I use to work in London and had a nice afternoon walking around. We joined the office workers and had some friday evening drinks, a pizza express garlic doughball dinner and some more sightseeing. Before long, I was on the tube to Heathrow. Got up early for my flight to San Francisco.
Grandad was still kicking on, despite the doctors first thought.
I arrived in America, only to be detained. Just what I needed after a 14hour flight....
Sorry for the length, I have turned this into more my travel diary and I seem to just have all these memories that I want to have written down.. so I apologise if you have ended up waking up hours later with your face on your keyboard... :) xx
Buongiorno,
Hope everyone is well! Please send through your news and stories so I can keep up to date with everyone :)
Having a fantastic time in the UK. Leaving Saturday and heading to San Francisco, before arriving at my university, San Jose State University (about 45mins drive from San Fran).
I spent a week in London from the 25th - 30th. Travelling on a budget, i decided to take the bus from Leeds to London, a 4 hour bus journey, instead of the 2 hour train ride. Saving of about $25. Well, in retrospect about it, may have been $25 well spent to have taken the train. Bus driver didn't show up, angry passengers stressing about making connections, youth storming off the bus, cigarette in hand, saying "I can't be arsed listening to this" (in regards to the pensioners shouting at the member of staff), traffic jams all around London due to 2012 roadworks... but I can't be too harsh to National Express, as I made the journey in one piece with various delays, not bad for 18quid return.
Headed just north of London to visit my second cousins (my dad's cousin Nikki), her husband Andy and kids Charlie (19) and Georgie (14 going on 20). I spent 2 months living with them when I was on my GAP year after school, so was lovely to spend a short, but sweet time there. Charlie showed me his 2 new snakes and their food, frozen mouse. Nikki had inherited a turtle, that was 30 years old or so... had a near miss when it escaped the garden a few months back and had ended up under their garden shed. The kids had to tell her to get a grip from the never ending tears she shed in the fear she'd lost the thing! Georgie shared me with her passion for Asian pop singers and told me stories of stalking them at various gigs around London, waiting at stage doors for her heroes to exit the building, then showed me photos of the stereotypical Asian hand gesture. One 'Popstar' has even arranged an afternoon tea with Georgie and her friends on the bands next tour!
Tuesday, was a day of rememberance. Or as I'd rather put it, celebration of life. For one Ms Amy Winehouse. So I took a trip to Camden to pay my respects. Along with hundreds of others coming and going. Empty Vodka bottles and Stella Artois cans lined the kerb sides along the flowers and tributes. One lady, who seemed to resemble a similar habit to Amy's, sat peacefully, teary eyed, cigarette in one hand, bottle of vodka in the other, staring longingly at the Musicians house. An appropriate tribute one may suggest. I felt I was not paying my full respect, but I couldn't stomach straight Vodka at 11am on a Tuesday morning.
Spent lunch with my Aunty Bron on the Kings Road at Chelsea in her lunch break. Couldn't resist the sale at Jack Wills, so bought some heavily discounted items and felt like I could mix with the wealthy Londoners, strutting along with my small Jack Wills labelled bag.
Tuesday night, headed to Croydon to meet up with Amy, a friend I met when on a 10 day tour of India back in 2008. We had a few cocktails before meeting up with two of her friends from work, caught up on the latest of what Richard Branson was up to at Virgin, before having a fantastic Vietnamese dinner of fish, quail, squid, duck and white wine - all at an extremely cheap price! Headed back to the cocktail lounge to complete the evening and make it not as memorable as I would have liked... then spent a good 45minutes longer than necessary navigating my way to London Bridge from Waterloo.
Wednesday I enjoyed a nice sleep in.. before navigating around London. Surprisingly I remembered alot more of London than I expected, so enjoy strolling from London Bridge, down and over the Thames, up to Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Soho. Found my regular Chinese restaurant in Chinatown for lunch, unfortunately wasn't the 3 pound lunch special I use to frequently consume. That evening, I met up with my cousins Edwin and Elissa, along with Aunty Bron and we saw 'Ghost' on the West End. Was AMAZING! Technology these days with theatre is truly amazing.
Thursday I decided to get out of London, escape the hussle and bussle. London in the summer is just one big BO problem. And you suffer twice as much peak hour on the tubes! I took a trip to a continually criticised town, Southend-on-sea. London's closest 'beach'. Aka Chav central. It is Essex after all. It really is not as bad as people say, however I wouldn't quite call a beach a place where the towns drainage runs out to the sea, but each to their own. I took a lovely stroll out out the 2.2km long pier, 'The Longest Pleasure Pier' in the world. Being so 'long' it required a train to run out and take the old folk back if they managed the walk out. Just to get the whole experience, I jumped aboard to.
Spent Thursday night in Aunty Bron's local, The Charles Dickens, with Michael and Bron. The night ended with Bron sitting on a 'Boris bike', much to Michael and my laughter, considering she can't ride bikes!
Friday I headed up to Leeds. I had the pleasure to jump on the coach and get stuck in traffic. During the few hours delay on a full bus, coincidently I was sitting next a guy from Newcastle back home! He was also in the UK/Europe for a bit before going to America on Uni exchange. They breed us well back in the Castle of New.
Friday night was Jo's Hen's night. Was a crazy night. Typically Tashi (and I) were 3 hours late, but did have a good stock of alcohol to contribute. Soon after we got there, Jo had spilt a few drinks, so it was time to head out in Leeds. We went to her favourite bar, 'Fab Cafe'... a retro comic style bar, full of comic geeks. Complete with star Wars characters and a fusball machine! By 3am, we had made it home with a very drunk Tashi... who asked me in the morning, "so how did we get home last night?"
Written on 31st August (struggling to remember, but want to finish this blog) lol
The weekend of the 30th July - Aug 1st, Tashi and I went to Liverpool. Of course we didnt end up gettting there until about 3pm in the afternoon, went the original plan was a 9am train... we shoe hunted for a while, as naturally Trash bag still didn't have her bridesmaid shoes for the wedding in 5 days! Unsuccessful again... However, it allowed me to take in the sights and characters of Liverpool. On various occasions I witnessed girls form 16 - 30 years old, walking around with rollers and hair nets on, looking like oompa loompa's in their spray tans, hunting for their latest dress for Saturday night, but in their pyjamas?! Only in Liverpool! To hear the sounds coming out their mouths, i was sure I was on another planet.
We met up with Tashi's mate Freddie and her beau and went for an early dinner by the Mersey River... or sludge pile.
We then headed out to visit some of the Thornleys friends, family and tag alongs... going fmor pub to pub, to eventually clubs in Liverpool. And didnt I feel underdressed! I soon took it in my stride, hit the cocktails and decided to do the traditional 'PLANK' on a famous Liverpool icon, the Lambanana.. (photo on facebook). We headed to a Hawaiian bar with Karen and Nicky, friends of Tashi's mums, and had a pina colada out of a pineapple... quite tropical for Liverpool! :)
Sunday, we were spoilt by a lovely hearty cooked breakfast by Bren, Karens husband, just what was needed. We headed up to Formby, spent the afternoon with Tashi's nan, lovingly referred to as the 'Moron' and Poppa Rodger... Tashi's drunken translation when described her Grandmothers faith of Mormon. Headed on to meet up with Jules (Tashi's mum) and Adrian for a drink before train down to the 'Pool. Well... that was when I truly understood the stereotypes of Liverpool!
Innocently sitting on the train, next thing the group of about 6 boys, about 14-18 sitting spread out of the next few rows, decided that it was about time for a punch on. And then it began. "You f'ing so and so, you bring your mother f'n friends around to my mothers house and i'll f'n stab you, go on, go on, try me.." and with bleeding nose and ripped ear, the train driver stopped the train and came down, politely asking them when their intended stop was, before reminding them that there are women and children on this train... If I was in his shoes, i'd probably kick them off, but hey, maybe thats how they do it in Liverpool?
We visited some friends of Tashi's, before realising we had missed the last train home, so had some chinese in Liverpool's Chinatown, before heading to her Grandparents place to crash for the night.
Early Monday morning train back to Liverpool, Trashi off to work and I met up with Pat (Nikki) and Kat, and we, as well as 10 or so of her Physio mates, went to a high ropes adventure course 'Aerial Extreme' in North Yorkshire. I couldn't believe that the fellow who worked there, was Wil, a guy I worked with at PGL in 2008! Out of all of us there, the Aussie knew someone!
Thursday was the wedding! Joe and Dave - 2 people that worked and met each other at the Queenswood Social Club, where Tashi worked also. Was a lovely wedding, in a small church just outside of Leeds, followed by a LOVELY reception in an old building, decorated beautifully by Jo, for an afternoon and evening reception. There was a massive Hog roast and about 20 chickens on the spit too! Not a sight for the vegetarians. Somehow, I put in a great effort and managed to review what I had eaten and drank that day at 3am...
Friday was a 5:30am wake up for a flight to Venice! Yay! All had been booked by Tashi, as we were going to spend the night in Venice, before heading down to Ferrera, to watch her mates play in the World Tchoukball Championships! I was excited for Venice... A very hungover trip to the airport for me, thankfully it was only a 15min drive that Jules was kind enough to get up to take us.
Tashi is one who loves surprises. She always has grand ideas for peoples birthday and special occasions, however amongst her busy schedule and extravegent ideas, they unfortunately rarely surface. However, she prides herself on those spontaneous surprises... This was one of those....
At Checkin desk...
Jet2 lady: "Welcome to Jet2, where are you flying to today?"
(I was too hungover to talk...)
Tashi: "Venice"
Jet2 lady: "Last names?"
Tashi: "Thornley and Widdup"
Jet2: "I can't find you on the system, did you know your check in code?"
Tashi: "Yes blah blah blah"
Jet2: "I am sorry, but your flight was for yesterday..."
SURPRISE MARGOT!
Tashi refused to believe this, so marched off to find some internet to check. Later coming back with her tail between her legs...
I headed to desk to see if we could book tickets onto todays flight...
"All full sorry"
Me: "are there any other options?"
Jet2: "no unfortunately. However, there are 3 people that havent turned up for this flight, so if you wait around til check in closes, we can book you onto this flight." Eeekkkkk
Needless to say, we were on the flight. I was still a little worse for wear. The run through security was probably not the best turbulence for my upset stomach.
Sunny Venice! Realised later, we got ripped off on the boat ride into Venice, but we made it. Had a pizza lunch. I got my wind back and were off to explore. Headed to San Marco square, walked around the cobble streets, flooded with tourists, beggers and locals trying to sell anything and everything touristy. Tashi bought a gondola boaters t-shirt. I convinced her the matching hat wasn't worth 10pounds.
We had a good chat as we walked around, I explained how the Gondola's were truly an extortionate price for the time spent aboard and its still nice to take the public ferry to be out on the water. I found the scene of the crime, where Brittany had skinny dipped under a bridge in a canal, on a cold December night in 2007. What memories! We passed Gondola's with boaties trying to get us on board, 100euros one guy said, for 40mins! No way. We walked on and before long, another guy offered us 80euros... we declined politely, we walked on and I again went over the vast expenses of the Gondola rides, little did I know Tashi had stopped and was haggling with the guy, next thing I know she's heading back to the Gondola and we are getting on. Surprise #2.
To be honest, it was a lovely relaxing paddle around the back canals, with the guy giving us limited commentary with his broken English on the attractions surrounding. 60 euros for 35mins... Was definitely a nice experience. We explored a bit more of Venice by foot, before stopping to have dinner by a canal.
We got up early the next day, 6th Aug and went up the tower in San Marco Square. A truly spectacular view of the small islands. I didn't realise how many Cruise Liners stopped in! How on earth did they fit? No wonder Venice floods!
Headed south on a train to Ferrera. Arrived with no hotel bookings. No maps. No idea of where the Tchoukball was being played. I truly was on a spontaneous Trashi holiday. And she was loving every moment of the adventure. I suggested instead of just walking away in a random directions from the train station, that maybe we ask a bus driver where the centre of town was and how best to get there. In the end, we pointed to a picture of Ferrera castle, which we knew was in the centre of town.
Siesta time. never a great time to arrive in a small town. We managed to get some accommodation when eventually finding the internet cafe... hired some bikes, got a dodgey map, a peddled our little bikes like mad to get to the Tchoukball venue. It was so hot and humid and the bikes were the most dodgey we had ever ridden. Was ace to see Jan and Han and to finally watch one of these games of 'Tchoukball'. After the game, we all rode back to town together, going through a local park, filled with fair events. There was a giant.. and i mean GIANT teddy machine there. I couldn't resist. 1 euro a go. I knew the it was pricey. But the reward was so great. I went in with confidence. I had a wealth of experience and success behind me. I picked out my victim. A pink pig. Was in a great position for my shiny silver claw. 1st attempt... fail, or rather shuffled into a better position. 2nd attempt... picked up and fell out of my claw. 3rd attempt... SUCCESS! A large silver rollardoor opened (about 1m squared) for my new prized possession to be delivered to me.
The day 'Tchouky' the pig was brought into the world. He soon became the GB team mascot.
We joined all the countries for a team dinner, but with poor service and high humidity, we spent more time at the local kebab caravan, before a gelato on the way home to bed.
Sunday was the big day. All the finals of the championship. GB ladies were playing off for 5th place. Was a fantastic game! They won, but it wasn't an easy win. Was all streamed live over the internet for the world to see! We spent the afternoon in a near by pool cooling off from the 40degree heat. What kinda of pool makes in mandatory to wear swimming caps! Joke! So we all looked like complete idiots! Was nice to have 3 or 4 afternoon cocktails by the pool though. We watched the wheelchair Tchoukball, women's and men's finals.. that was certainly an eye opener! What athleticism these Taiwanese men have! They won convincingly, 75-45 or so over the Italians. We stayed for most of the LONG closing ceremony, before cycling back, having a nap, then going out for dinner.
Monday, we were up early to get the train back, to meet our flight in Venice. Venice is definitely the most disorganised airport EVER with the queues unbelievably long! Arrived in Leeds, Tashi repacked her bag and headed off an hour later for 3 days of training with work. Pat, Megan and I enjoyed some rose and Thai for my pre-birthday celebrations.
9th AUGUST! Another year older... 22! ekkkk
Pat took me to the parcel pick up to get my birthday parcel from the family, which was lovely. I got the train off to Liverpool to meet up with Jules and Jake for an afternoon of climbing. Was great fun! Hadn't been climbing in ages and couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday afternoon. Jules had cooked a lovely dinner, got the rose in and everything, but I think the Thai from the night before wasn't so lovely and I spent my birthday out the front with a bucket... funnily enough kinda reminded me of my birthday last year?! Strange.
Wednesday 10th - I got the train back to Leeds, went out for dinner with Tashi to celebrate my birthday and bless her cotton socks, she had arranged a little surprise dinner for me at Thai! Megan, Ste, Pat, Alan, Tashi and I were there, a few others couldn't make it. It was ace to see everyone again and say my farewells...
Thursday I spent sometime packing and sorting out my stuff. That evening, I got a sad call from my family saying Grandad had had a fall, spent the night on the bathroom floor and the family has been called to his bedside at hospital, as he had gone into renal failure. I spent most the night in tears, devastated by the news, trying to comfort myself by remembering he is 90 and has lived a fantastic life.
Friday morning, I finished off packing and got a train down to London. Tashi came with. We left my stuff at left luggage and explored London. Soho, Covent Garden and Leicester Square mainly. I showed Tashi where I use to work in London and had a nice afternoon walking around. We joined the office workers and had some friday evening drinks, a pizza express garlic doughball dinner and some more sightseeing. Before long, I was on the tube to Heathrow. Got up early for my flight to San Francisco.
Grandad was still kicking on, despite the doctors first thought.
I arrived in America, only to be detained. Just what I needed after a 14hour flight....
Sorry for the length, I have turned this into more my travel diary and I seem to just have all these memories that I want to have written down.. so I apologise if you have ended up waking up hours later with your face on your keyboard... :) xx
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