Farewell Manchester
It was sad to have to bid farewell to Manchester this morning and especially to have to leave our fabulous spacious and warm apartment. Before we left, since there was a laundry in the apartment, I thought I’d do a quick wash so we didn’t have to keep hauling all our dirty clothes around with us. Besides, we were all running out of socks! The apartment had one of those fancy washer/dryers combination machines that you need a degree in electronics to be able to operate. It had multiple dials and symbols that bore no resemblance to either “washing” or “drying” so I just picked a number between 1 and 10 and hoped for the best. Miraculously it did seem to wash everything but getting it to turn into a dryer was a different story. Wouldn’t you think they’d just have a switch that you turned from “Wash” to “Dry”? That would be too easy. It’s an IQ test which sadly I failed! I called the concierge and he came to my aid more than once but it had him baffled too! In the end, we both decided it must’ve been broken because that was easier than admitting it had outsmarted us. He suggested we try another unit and see if their machine worked any better. This one actually had the instructions in French and was totally different again. I accidentally re-washed everything but it didn’t spin! Now I had a whole bag of soaking wet washing that must’ve weighed about 30kg that we had to cart around with us back to London! Sometimes it’s the little things on a holiday that make all the difference.
Rossco had another early start today due to the fact that he was spending the day in Shrewsbury (I love saying that. You can’t say it properly without putting on an English accent!) He was catching a train in a completely different direction to us so we got a couple of extra hours to hang out in Manchester.
Toby and I were catching the First Class Virgin fast train back to London again and that gave us access to the First Class Lounge upstairs. Toby just heard the words: “free” and “food” in the same sentence and that was where he wanted to be! While he was enjoying mini cans of soft drink, croissants and biscuits and catching up with all the latest sports news in The Times, I was absorbed in my novel, both of us getting carried away with the whole First Class experience (quite a novelty!), we lost track of time and we nearly missed the train! We ran down to the platform just as we heard the shrill blast of the whistle and broke into a jog, scooting alongside the train with our oversized wheelie bags (not to mention our huge bag of wet washing!). It didn’t help that we were in carriage K and that carriages A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J were all about a kilometre long! The train went on forever! I think the doors just brushed the backs of our heads as we climbed aboard! We just made it by the skin of our teeth.
Once we were well ensconced in our books again and our journey was well under way, we were offered some sumptuous snacks which we eagerly devoured. Toby also keenly partook in what was on offer, despite his overindulgence in the Lounge earlier. Just the perception that he was getting a free feed was enough to whet his appetite all over again! The menu included “outdoor-reared Cumberland pork sausages” which had us intrigued. Is that opposed to an indoor-reared pig? The sausages were delicious but it had us wondering what they might have tasted like had the pigs been domesticated lap-pigs! I did disgrace myself at one stage and spilt my water all over my lap which was a bit unfortunate. I was sloshing around in my seat for the rest of the trip and couldn’t wait to get a change of clothes. Nothing worse than wet undies eh? Gross!
Reaching Euston Station with all our luggage we were again amazed at just how many people commute on the Tube each day! There’s such an etiquette involved too. For instance, everybody just seems to know instinctively that when you go up or down an escalator, you stand hard over on the right hand side, in single file, directly behind the person in front of you. If anyone wants a speedy ride on the escalator, they use the left lane. People are constantly speeding up the left lane and if you want to pull out, it’s like being on a busy highway and trying to overtake! You need blinkers! No one gives way and you take your life in your hands if you try and pull out into the line of traffic! It seems strange to me that the left lane is the fast one. On so many occasions I’ve drifted subconsciously over to the left to let people pass me but thankfully Ross has been there to call me back from certain doom (“Sarah! Stay on the RIGHT! QUICK!!”) just in the nick of time!
After a little adjustment to being back in the fast end of town, Toby and I finally got the hang of the Tube. It’s actually so easy to get around. Much easier than the trains in Sydney and WAY easier than the subway in New York! Each platform has a really clear diagram of the stations it covers and they’re all different colours. All you need to do is look for your colour and go to the corresponding platform. Once you get it, it’s a piece of cake. We were so proud of ourselves, making our way through the labyrinth of the Underground, to our hotel, without a hitch! One thing we did notice though, was a distinct lack of wheelchair/pram (massive wheelie bag) access in any of the stations. None of them had lifts or ramps and the stairs are so steep it would be impossible to get a pram up and down them. Almost as impossible as me trying to get my gargantuan bag up and down. Each time I was faced with the daunting prospect of trying to ascend or descend the stairs (we counted 50 stairs in one station!) with my oversized luggage, I was pleasantly surprised by a kind English gentleman offering to carry it for me. Chivalry is certainly not dead in London! On more than one occasion though, my knights in shining armour were red-faced and huffing when they returned the bag to me and I thought one older fellow may have been giving himself a hernia. OK so I admit I may have overpacked a little. It’s good to have a choice though isn’t it? Better to overpack than underpack. That’s what I always say. Besides, warm clothes take up so much more room in your bag than summer ones! Let’s hope I never go backpacking; I’ll be a cripple by the time I walk to the first youth hostel.
Our hotel is right near the Tower Of London and the Tower Bridge. In fact we have a brilliant view of both of them, right out our window. At night, the Tower of London lights up and looks like the Disneyland castle! It’s spectacular! Our hotel room, while having a million dollar view, is…well…there’s no other way of saying it…TINY! Maybe it’s been accentuated by coming straight from our huge Manchester apartment that had 2 massive bathrooms, 2 massive bedrooms, a huge loungeroom, separate dining room, laundry, kitchen and big luggage room, but we all agree that this is definitely, without a doubt, the smallest hotel room we’d ever even seen! If I roll over I’ll be in the bathroom. Toby’s on the sofa bed which is literally a foot from our bed! At least it will promote family togetherness; either that or we’ll drive each other completely mad!
Once we got to London I still had the silly wet washing to contend with! After surveying the prices on the hotel’s laundry service – £8 per shirt – I decided to opt for a local laundromat instead. Was there such a thing in downtown London? I checked with the hotel desk and was given a map and told to head over the Tower Bridge and turn left, right, left, right…I was pretty confused! Toby had stayed back at the hotel to have a snooze so I was on my own. I’m sure I can thank answered prayers rather than my map-reading skills for the fact that by some miracle I managed to stumble across the Abbey Street Laundrette. It was such a classic little laundromat, complete with Russian teenager holding the fort. She had her headphones up so loud and she was filing her nails, completely oblivious of what was going on around her. I was so pleased to see a huge industrial sized dryer and my load was fluffy and warm in no time. By the time I crossed back over the Tower Bridge it was right on dusk and the sun was setting, casting a golden glow over the whole area. It was so pretty – mind you, it was only 3:30 in the afternoon! I still can’t get used to that. It gets so much colder once the sun goes down too.
Toby and I had arranged to go to the movies to see Hunger Games 2 and it was opening in London today. Being such pros on the Tube now we were on and off trains, flashing our Oyster cards and making all the necessary connections without any drama. We were at Leicester Square in no time. There was a huge launch of the new X-BOX and all the trees were lit up green, with live music from a guy called Plan B who everyone seemed to be screaming for. They all seemed to be singing along to his lyrics but we’d never heard of him. We initially thought it was Bruno Mars – sounded just like him – but then we were told by some fans who he was. We’ll have to Google him!
The movie theatre was massive! It had an upstairs and a downstairs and was the size of a mini entertainment centre! We certainly weren’t the only ones who thought it was a good idea to go to the movies and it was packed! The queues were so long!
Toby and I will never complain about ads at the movies in Australia again after we were made to sit and endure forty minutes of ads before the movie even started. Forty minutes! We’d finished our popcorn before the opening credits! As soon as the lights went off it was like some sort of magic spell was woven over my eyelids and I could not for the life of me stay awake. Don’t you hate that! I was struggling to keep my heavy lids from drooping and eventually just went out cold and missed most of the film! Every time I was shocked awake by something sudden on the screen, Toby would try to give me a quick recap of what I’d missed but in the end, it was too hard and I just had to sleep! Tobes absolutely loved the movie (he’s read the books) so I guess I’ll just have to get it out on DVD!
Poor Ross had such a big day at work today with his early start and then a train delay at Birmingham causing him to get back to the hotel at around 9pm! He said Shrewsbury was a really cute little place, well worth a visit.
