A drive around England
Sep. 28th, 2023 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcLast week, my employer entered voluntary liquidation and I was made redundant. Our youngest's high school had a weekend break, followed by a staff strike, and my new job doesn't start until next week, so we took a few days off to take everybody around England. We met a few of my relatives (my late parents each have some surviving siblings) and did a little sightseeing.
I broke up the longer drives with something to do in between, and we stayed in a succession of different Travelodges (budget motel chain) of varying degrees of adequacy. By slipping in a visit across the Severn to Tesco in Chepstow, we were able to have been in Scotland, England, and Wales all in the same day. On our various outdoor walks and visits, we were lucky with the weather. We were also lucky with traffic, sometimes passing rather worse congestion and delays on the opposite carriageway.
One of our stops, the Lancashire Infantry Museum, rather exceeded my expectations. Being sited on an Army base, one is escorted by a volunteer who acts as a knowledgeable guide providing context for the artifacts. It was engaging, and good value for money.
Our Historic Scotland membership helped with entry to Stonehenge. These days, there is an informative visitor centre some distance from the A303, then one may proceed via various routes to the site itseif: by bus, or on foot along the road or across fields. The stones are fenced off, one proceeds on a path around them. Enough of the monument remains that one can picture how it might have once looked. It was interesting to imagine what it might be to have been one of the original users of the site.
For me, the most stressful part of the trip was visiting London. It is a part of the country that I usually avoid, especially by car. I don't have much familiarity and it felt like the part of the trip that was likeliest to go wrong. It all went to plan most agreeably. We parked in Wembley and rode the underground into the centre to walk around places like Westminster and Tower Hill. On our brief visit, the only tourist attraction that we actually entered was the British Museum which does a good job of showcasing Britain's colonial loot.
We took a look at the two houses of my childhood. My first house is in Urmston, in Manchester, and the neighbourhood still looks very similar, even the local park I used to play in, which we explored on this visit. We also stopped at what was the Arndale Centre which has now become the Stretford Mall. My second house is in a Cornish village which also remains quite familiar. Both houses are looked after well by their current owners and they still bear the rusty exterior box holding an alarm bell: my father designed and installed his own security system. Local churches, etc., remain similar too. Things sometimes don't much change.
I can see the appeal of London for locals, there are many kinds of landmark that may become associated with home, there is something for everybody within easy reach of public transport, I don't know why I don't like it more. I could see the appeal of Manchester but it still feels familiar to me. However, I can also see the appeal of the centre of Paris, which I know rather less well. Both seem attractive places to me to live. London, for whatever reason, not so much, especially not at the price.
I broke up the longer drives with something to do in between, and we stayed in a succession of different Travelodges (budget motel chain) of varying degrees of adequacy. By slipping in a visit across the Severn to Tesco in Chepstow, we were able to have been in Scotland, England, and Wales all in the same day. On our various outdoor walks and visits, we were lucky with the weather. We were also lucky with traffic, sometimes passing rather worse congestion and delays on the opposite carriageway.
One of our stops, the Lancashire Infantry Museum, rather exceeded my expectations. Being sited on an Army base, one is escorted by a volunteer who acts as a knowledgeable guide providing context for the artifacts. It was engaging, and good value for money.
Our Historic Scotland membership helped with entry to Stonehenge. These days, there is an informative visitor centre some distance from the A303, then one may proceed via various routes to the site itseif: by bus, or on foot along the road or across fields. The stones are fenced off, one proceeds on a path around them. Enough of the monument remains that one can picture how it might have once looked. It was interesting to imagine what it might be to have been one of the original users of the site.
For me, the most stressful part of the trip was visiting London. It is a part of the country that I usually avoid, especially by car. I don't have much familiarity and it felt like the part of the trip that was likeliest to go wrong. It all went to plan most agreeably. We parked in Wembley and rode the underground into the centre to walk around places like Westminster and Tower Hill. On our brief visit, the only tourist attraction that we actually entered was the British Museum which does a good job of showcasing Britain's colonial loot.
We took a look at the two houses of my childhood. My first house is in Urmston, in Manchester, and the neighbourhood still looks very similar, even the local park I used to play in, which we explored on this visit. We also stopped at what was the Arndale Centre which has now become the Stretford Mall. My second house is in a Cornish village which also remains quite familiar. Both houses are looked after well by their current owners and they still bear the rusty exterior box holding an alarm bell: my father designed and installed his own security system. Local churches, etc., remain similar too. Things sometimes don't much change.
I can see the appeal of London for locals, there are many kinds of landmark that may become associated with home, there is something for everybody within easy reach of public transport, I don't know why I don't like it more. I could see the appeal of Manchester but it still feels familiar to me. However, I can also see the appeal of the centre of Paris, which I know rather less well. Both seem attractive places to me to live. London, for whatever reason, not so much, especially not at the price.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-29 12:01 am (UTC)Interesting about Stonehenge. I'd read that it isn't worth the effort to visit, because it's fenced off now, and you can't really get up close and personal as you could in the 20th Century.
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Date: 2023-09-29 09:45 am (UTC)My guess is that you'd still like London plenty. (-: I don't think there's any good objective reason for my various opinions on such! Admittedly, what I've seen of Brooklyn appeals more to me though, again, probably not at the price; I'm glad you found quite a workable situation for yourself there with your apartment, etc. It's true that you don't need a car and that sure saves money in a different way.
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Date: 2023-09-29 02:29 pm (UTC)The expense is an individual thing. For me it would be more expensive to live elsewhere.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-07 11:47 pm (UTC)Sounds like a lovely trip! I don't like 'tourist' places, and London would qualify. Another dream has been to spend a month in a village in Italy, sitting in the piazza, drinking wine and eating fresh bread and olive oil, and just listening the the language and the life going on around me.
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Date: 2025-02-25 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-11 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-12 10:10 am (UTC)