Blackpool and The Lakes District

Blackpool Tower

This past weekend, we went to visit Susan's friend Jo, who lives near Lancaster in a town called Caton. Jo invited two other friends, Sonia and Hilary, to her place for the weekend as well. We went to Blackpool -- it was fun, though quite cheesy. Blackpool is a seaside resort town, somewhat like a gigantic Coney Island, complete with a gazillion streetlights, a huge lookout tower (which looks a bit like a mini Eiffel Tower), various amusement parks, casinos, horse and buggy rides, trolley cars, donkey rides on the beach, wax museum, Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum, etc. etc.

We took the train to Blackpool North, which we later discovered was really on the wrong end of town, because Jo bought us tickets to the amusement park called Pleasure Beach. It was a lovely, warm (for UK), sunny day and it was a rather nice stroll to the park. However, the plan was for us to go to an ice show in the park, so as we strolled along the beachfront promenade (which, unfortunately, was also under reconstruction), we suddenly found ourselves in a rush to get to the park and to the ice show on time!

Jo, Suze, Hilary & Sonia

Amazingly, after much confusion at the park entrance, we managed to get into the show (there wasn't really a cutoff for audience arrival anyway), running past some skaters about to take to the ice backstage and finding some seats. Really, there weren't any bad seats in the house. Although, the costumes for the ice show were a bit hideous and Susan and I were having fun laughing about the paltry budget the costume designer must've had.

Pepsi Max Big One!

After the show, we ventured off into the park to find some expectedly bad fast food and then went off to hit some rides. Jo's friend Hilary, explained to us that Blackpool is "famous" for it's "rock", by which we learned was actually rock candy, not mineral deposits found on the ground. We went to ride the Space Invaders 2 ride (like Space Mountain at Disney World) and while we were in line, Hilary and Jo went off to buy us all some rock. I was even more surprised to find out that the rock candy is really peppermint sticks with an outer coating of colored candy (my definition of "rock candy" is clumps of colored hard candy that looks like rocks). Some of them had "Pleasure Island" emblazoned into the middle of the peppermint stick. It was a nice treat, some of which I saved for an "after dinner mint" (to settle my tummy after my dinner of fish & chips that I ate while walking back to the train station that evening). Later, we enjoyed a couple rollercoasters, especially the Pepsi Max (TM) Big One, which sports a 235 ft. high hill and speeds up to 87 MPH! We rode the Big One at sunset so we had a lovely view of the sunset over the ocean from an extraordinary height! (although, it was a bit frightening, I admit).


Sunday, we went to Jo's family's farm in the village of Witherslack, which is in the Lakes District, for a huge Sunday roast dinner prepared by Jo's mother. The dinner was quintessentially British, complete with plenty of Yorkshire pudding, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and a custard pudding for dessert. Mind you, the word "pudding" is synonymous with "dessert" in England, unless it's Yorkshire pudding, blood pudding or probably a dozen other non-dessert puddings which I'm not yet privy to. A bit confusing to my American sensibilities, although the Kiwi finds it perfectly normal (mind you, her mother IS British).

Grooming Mr. Chips

Before dinner, we met Mr. Chips, Jo's horse and Jo employed me and Susan to help with grooming his mane and tail. After dinner, we took him out for a ride, along with two bikes they had at the farm which were, of course, both too big for my short little legs. Unfortunately, the one with the smaller frame had a rusted seat post that required a wrench to adjust, so I had to ride the bigger one with the adjustable seat. It was a bit excruciating after a huge Sunday roast dinner that Jo's mom cooked for us, since I had to double myself in half over my very full belly to reach the handle bars. Going up hills threatened to prompt a revisit with dinner, but luckily I managed to keep it all under control.

After a short while, Jo, gave up the reins to Susan and then later to me. I was a bit concerned about being able to ride Mr. Chips with my short little legs, and it's true that Jo put the stirrups on the shortest setting and they were just barely short enough.
Thankfully, Mr. Chips was very gracious about his new human riders and he heeded our inexpert commands very nicely. At one point, while Susan was riding, a car had come rather quickly around a blind curve and Mr. Chips stopped and remained quite calm when faced with the vehicle suddenly in his face. Thankfully, horse and car driver were quick to brake and there was no accident!


Soon, it was time to head back to the train station and to make a rather confusing journey back to Liverpool (trains weren't running in parts, so we had to take a bus instead). All in all, it was a good weekend.

More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/barckhoff/BlackpoolLakesDistrict

UK Postal Strike

Well, I did actually get around to buying some post cards and was seriously thinking I might actually write some and even mail them soon. But, then I was listening to the radio (good thing, too!) and heard something about a UK postal strike. So, I went to the BBC website, and sure enough, I heard right. They're on strike and asking the public to hold back on mailing stuff to avoid a "logjam" of mail. Here's the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7027142.stm.

Well, sorry folks, you'll just have to wait a bit longer for those postcards (I know you were just DYING to get one). I hope they get it resolved soon -- these sorts of things can get messy fast!

Weekend excursions

This weekend, Susan and I went to Chester, which is a charming walled city with lots of medieval buildings and some Roman ruins and history. It was an easy 45-minute train ride from Liverpool, so it made for a good last-minute day trip. We took a stroll around the wall of the city, were a bit non-plussed by the Roman ruins, and were surprised to stumble upon a horse race entirely viewable from the city wall at England's first ever race course (built in 1549 or something like that?). I took some photos and posted them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/barckhoff/ChesterEngland.

We also ventured to New Brighton because Susan had a hankering for the ocean. We just strolled along the promenade in the afternoon, but aside from a nice walk, it wasn't terribly interesting. Surprisingly enough, when we got off the train, we found one of Susan's classmates walking back to the New Brighton train station. A small-world moment. We had a late start to our day, so we didn't make it to West Kirby as we'd initially planned, which was a bit further and is better when the tides are low (in order to venture off to Hilbre Islands).

I've also posted some other photos of Liverpool. I'll probably continue to post photos of Liverpool in this same album, as they come. http://picasaweb.google.com/barckhoff/Liverpool2007.

Liverpudlian

Everyone here talks like the Beatles. Or worse, at which point we just can't understand each other (sometimes, anyway). I stopped into a bike shop to inquire about cheap, student rate bikes (we're feeling poor due to weakness of the US dollar right now). The guy said the cheapest he had was for 90 quid, "the blue one over there." I said, "This one right here?" He said, "You call that white?" Nevermind. Note to self: Only Americans use the term "right" to mean something immediately near oneself.

Home Sweet Home

So, I've walked all over Liverpool -- well, round in circles, really. From home to the University (of Liverpool) to City Centre (downtown) and back again. My knees hurt from all that walking. And my shoulders, because I was carrying my backpack with my laptop in it to try to find some WiFi spots. There aren't many. Thankfully, I fixed the wireless in our homestay house. By moving it to a phone jack that actually works, as opposed to the former one which apparently didn't. Not so many tech geeks in Liverpool. It's an adjustment for me.


I haven't hit all the Beatles tour spots like Penny Lane or The Cavern. I figure I shouldn't blow my wad all at once. It's a cool city -- lots of bustling and whatnot. They're supposed to be the Cultural Centre of Europe in 2008, so there's lots of construction and cranes EVERYWHERE.

Liverpool: City of Cranes

There was some round the world yacht race that started here the first weekend we were here. On our second day here, we took a bus and found the bus detoured because of some women's cycle race in Sefton Park *just* before we were about to get off the bus. Then we kept going and going and then some nice people explained to us where we were (as if we knew anything on our second day). Thankfully, the good doctor remembered that Smithdown Road is where all the shops are where we're to go shopping because it's near our new home, so we got off near there and found our way back. So, that was fun.

T-Minus One Month

Travel distances from Christchurch, NZ

Yes, it's true. I'm becoming an accidental world traveler. I've never had a strong inner calling for world travel; yet, here I am counting down the days until I hop onto a plane to cross "the pond" to start a new life, starting with three months in Liverpool, England and then off to Melbourne, Australia in December 2007 and then... who knows?

My friend, R, is jealous of me because I've already been to more continents than her. She aspires to see the world, and her goal is to visit every continent (except, perhaps, Antarctica), while I've managed to visit more than her "accidentally"! Well, not entirely... but that's how it feels. In some ways, it feels like it "just happened" without any real intention of my own, except to be with the one I love.

So, I've found myself in a relationship with a world-traveling doctor from New Zealand. It's kind of fun to say that -- it sounds so exotic and adventurous. But, in actuality it's true... and it's the most efficient way to explain my situation. In New Zealand, world travel is a national past time. I suppose it makes sense, if you think about the fact that the country consists of a couple of small islands about in the South Pacific, with the nearest neighboring land mass (Australia) being some 2000km away . So, naturally, world travel is no big deal to the New Zealander because everything is far away from their homeland!

This is a bit difficult for us those of us in America to understand. Ours is a large country, with so much at our disposal that many Americans simply can't understand why anyone would want to live anywhere else. It is expansive, with every extreme of heat and cold, wet and dry climates, and a wonderful collection of flora and fauna. To show our love for this land, we've built wide open roads to drive our millions of beloved cars back and forth over it. I, like most Americans, have grown accustomed to all the comforts of our home: central heat and air conditioning, dozens of choices for any consumer product that one can possibly imagine, and a ravenous hunger to burn up as much petroleum in as many ways as we can. America fancies itself as the world police, with a government that stampedes the planet like a bull in a china shop. We are a young country with a short history and a big, fat ego. Nothing more than spoiled children. Yes, I am entirely guilty of being an American born into a world of convenience and competitive low prices for goods that I don't even need. And now I will see where it all began -- from where the Imperialists came to pillage and conquer foreign lands and then forced them to succumb to European ideologies. Ideologies that are due for a makeover.

I will only be a few short months in England. Once we move to Australia, I will find myself seeking not only new employment and a visa to allow me to stay in the country, but also a new spirit, a new mentality, a new paradigm that will allow me to keep up with the ever-ambitious doctor who already has her sights on Southeast Asia. So far, counting my own, I've been to four continents, two of which I've visited in the past year to be with my beloved Kiwi doctor. Who would've guessed I would end up in Africa, New Zealand, Europe and Australia in the span of a year? Certainly not me!

I was in dire need of a catalyst for change -- my life has been too stagnant for far too long. Mind you, I realize that going to England and Australia is hardly a far cry from the American way of life. However, for this American, who really never considered leaving the country (except for political asylum from our current "commander in chief"), it is a big deal. And, considering that my favorite Kiwi is not one to be "pinned down" to one country for very long, this is likely a mere introduction to a much greater worldly expansion for me. I can't wait to find out how I will "reprogram" myself in this new realm and to see what will happen next!

So, the intention for this blog is to write about my experiences, thoughts and ideas as I allow myself to plunge into this new expatriate lifestyle. It is for all my friends in the US who want to know what I'm up to. I hope I can keep up with it, to keep it interesting and useful. We shall see...