General Travelogue - Week One

Monday - Arrived in Manchester at roughly ten in the morning UK time, fairly tired but I got some sleep on the plane for the first time ever. Although I slept through dinner, which kind of sucks. Our plane was early but the one at the gate ahead of us had mechanical problems, so we couldn't get there for quite a while, and when we did there weren't any customs people. Apparently they were on break or something, and they did turn up after twenty minutes or so. The train from Manchester to York was interesting, as I've never been on public transport before. Spent most of the day curled up drinking tea and dozing.

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday - There's a lot of neat things in York, but I didn't have much time to look at them, as I was wandering confusedly through clothing shops trying to find something to wear to Jeff and Johanna's wedding. I spent a lot of time wishing for Mom/Suz/Megs to help me, as my version of clothes shopping involves haunting thrift stores for jeans and t-shirts. Finally, I found a decent outfit, and shoes, and an awesome pagan-y necklace in this neat little jewelry store. Met Jeff and Johanna on Wednesday night for dinner (curry), but didn't get much time to chat with them as they were really busy, not surprisingly.

Friday - Went back in the morning to jewelry store for earrings to match the necklace, and we bumped into Jeff who was picking up his suit. And people say it's not that small a country #grins# Took the train to Liverpool in the afternoon in a party of eight, and checked into the hotel. Had a reasonably quiet evening to rest up for Saturday.

Saturday - Got all cleaned up and went off to the wedding, which was held in the registry office of a museum. Everyone was happy, Johanna's dress was simple and very pretty and she looked lovely, Jeff looked snappy and fairly grown-up in his suit, and the rest of us cleaned up pretty nice as well, if I do say so myself. Pictures will be forthcoming. And yes, I did wear a skirt; although it wasn't a church wedding it was still fairly formal; suits and ties/dresses or skirts etc. There were a fair few people present, family mostly, and some close friends. The ceremony was reasonably short and went off without any problems, and we all adjourned to a local pub for dinner and speeches etc. Then we all went to the local football club's function room for the reception and a massive amount of people turned up, so it ended up being quite a party. There was some live singing and guitar playing by a friend of Johanna's family, and he was quite good, and I got Austin to dance (Jeff owes me five bucks #grins#) We closed the place down at about one-thirty, and shared a taxi with J&J, so they got to their hotel safely, and we got back to ours to crash.

Sunday - The rest of our party went straight back on the closest train, but Austin and I wandered Liverpool a little between trains, and had a good lunch in a pub and looked at some old buildings and statuary before catching our train. There was some confusion as the times were ten minutes faster than the timetable said, so we ended up running for it, and they had another train on the back to test the electrics, but they didn't tell anyone that, so we got chased out of two cars before we found the right ones. Rested up Sunday evening and watched a lot of Big Train.

Culture Shock

England is small. Really, really small, and everything in it is small, too, and crowded together. Appliances are small, food comes in small packages, hot water tanks are small, and space of any sort is severely limisted. Houses are small and smashed up against each other, but this is normal for them, so they think that having a backyard that is twelve feet by twelve feet is really something. You can't throw a stick without hitting a house, but you'd probably get in trouble so you probably shouldn't try it. Since there's a lot of people and very very little space, property is a huge concern. People are massively concerned about their neighbors, as they may drive property values down, so new neighbors are considered a kind of potentially destructive commodity rather than people you might like to meet and hang out with. Being local is almost necessary to get along in a lot of places.

All the forest land was cut down ages ago to build ships, so there's almost no standing timber anywhere. All open land appears to be used for fields, mostly for livestock, and what trees there are are mostly young or in small patches here and there. Wild country is almost nonexistant, and seems to be only found in Scotland.

I am convinced that I'm the only person in England above the age of fifteen who doesn't drink alcohol. In the States there's enough people around who don't drink that I don't get commented on much, even in bars, but as far as I can tell drinking a lot and often here is both the most common hobby and a social obligation. If I'm offered a drink and I politely refuse, I tend to get weird looks and perplexed questioning. I'm considering making up a medical issue rather than trying to explain that I just don't like the smell, as people really don't seem to be able to relate to that one.

In the States, we basically have a flat class system. Sure, we have rich people and poor people, but people can go from being one to the other without too much in the way of eyebrow raising. We're mostly all a bunch of mutts and we like it that way. Here, they still have royalty and hereditary titles and family standing, and it can be disconcerting for someone who was raised in a country dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal (thanks, Mr. Lincoln) to grasp the concept that some people are afforded respect and courtesy based on the circumstance of their birth rather than anything they might have done themselves. I feel more and more barbaric all the time, but I'm fine with that #grins#

More as events warrant.