God, save the Queen?
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2003
1
22
23
Trip End
Jan 10, 2004
Newcastle,
United Kingdom
Monday, December 15, 2003
I have been in England now for 2 weeks. On Dec 2nd I touched down in Liverpool after spending my last night in Spain in the city of Malaga. That night I also fare-welled my friends Audrey, Adam, Veeral and Jo.
I was actually glad to leave Spain and head for an English speaking country - somewhere I could communicate easily and use a vocabulary of more than seven words to do so! As I found out, they don't speak english in Liverpool! The 'Scouse' accent is so heavy I had difficulties.
The first thing I did in Liverpool was to invest in a pair of gloves, beanie and a scarf... the weather is so cold here and im still struggling to aclimatise. That said, going out on the town you see most of the women dressed very sparingly... short skirts and tight short tops are the go - no complaints from me though!
Liverpool has actually won the vote to be Europe's city of culture in 2008. Spear-heading the campaign was all the hype and history of the Beatles - tours to where they played, memorabilia etc.. As im not really interested in any of this, I gave it a miss and headed to Anfield - home of Liverpool FC. I visited their football museum and took in a match. I sat at the famed 'Kop end' and joined in the chorus of songs like "You'll never walk alone" and "When the Reds go marching in". Hearing the entire stadium singing in unison was awesome.
I also spent some time at the Albert docks which have been revitalised and rebuilt with lots of cool pubs, clubs and shops. Apart from this area though, the city in general in drab - its an old city though, established in 1207.
Manchester was a nicer city, not as industrial and i could understand what the locals were saying. I stayed a few nights and met some cool people. Went out on a couple of occasions with a group of spaniards and an irish guy sharing my dorm. I also visited Old Trafford and Manchester United's theatre of dreams.
I then journeyed to a little town called Stanwick in Northamptonshire. I was invited to stay by Emma, whom i met in Madrid. Living with her and her folks was an interesting experience... had some fun and learnt a little about their lives but ultimately Emma's expectations differed to mine. Needless to say, I cut my stay short (only stayed two nights).
I organised to meet my buddy and ex-work colleague, Lawrence. He was off to Newcastle for the weekend so I tagged along. We stayed with his mate Lee. The three of us had quite a big weekend together. Friday night in Newcastle was pumping and it seems they dont hold back...they drink like maniacs - I had no choice but to join in! On Saturday we went to the pub (before midday) to watch the football and had a beer before breakfast... apparently this is typical!!
Lawrence left yesterday but I was invited to by Lee to stay and spend Christmas in Newcastle! Im looking forward to meeting his family (originally from Brisbane) and seeing what Christmas is like over here.
Time to go, Lee's sister Kerry has dinner on!
Hope you are full of Christmas cheer. Missing you heaps.
Peter
xoxoxoxox
