a last minute trip to England

May 24th 2008. After an early start of the day I got myself in to the train, only to be welcomed by an army of women going to the 'libelle beurs’. Too noisy to continue sleeping! The flight to Birmingham was uneventful, luckily, as I do not like flying all that much.

Caz and Roj were waiting for me at the airport. There is nothing like seeing old friends again after such a long time. Saturday was a beautiful day, so after changing and having a quick lunch we headed off to Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s Town). I was amazed about how much Shakespeare one can find in a town. All in all we had a lovely afternoon, and then headed back to watch the European Song Contest (I can’t believe that Russia won).

Unfortunately after a beautiful Saturday the weather changed, so we were off visiting beautiful houses and estates in the rain, which meant we could not see the gardens. The idea was to go up to Sheffield on Tuesday but because the weather being so dreary down in Worcestershire, we decided not to see the Cotswolds by rain but head up north instead. While the wind picked up speed and trees were falling down on motorways, Roj manoeuvred us safely through the Peak District. Of course stops were made on the way. In the ‘Peak’ there are too many picture perfect moments and places, and none should be skipped. I fell in love with it all over again. All I wanted to do was get out and walk around. That however had to wait until Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday were all about rain rain and more rain. You were literally moving around in the rain clouds. So that made the sightseeing a bit hard. On Tuesday Caz and I went to Chesterfield to do some shopping instead. Seriously, English Fashion is not the same as in the Netherlands, but there are similarities for sure. But it was nice to just spend the day with Caz, and I am sure Roj appreciated to have a few hours all to himself. He was however kind enough to take us to Chesterfield and collect us later. It really isn’t easy cycling through the Peak. Wednesday we went to the Sheffield museum, which was a wonderful place, very child friendly. And! I touched the oldest object in the world (or so they say). A meteorite which is 4.5 billion years old. In the afternoon I stopped by Julie, an old family friend, and also met up with her daughters and grandchildren. The oldest already being 12 years old! It was funny, because I had not seen them for a few years, so everyone needed to adjust their image of one another.

Thursday was my last day, luckily the weather was going to be great! Caz had to work for a few hours with the Alpaca’s, which left Roj and me to explore the Peak district and go for a nice long walk and picnic. For me a real adventure as I am not used to walking up and down hills, climbing rocks, jumping across rivers and running back up the hill because we were late. This was definitely the highlight of my trip to England. On the way back we picked up Caz at the alpaca farm. As she wasn’t finished yet, Roj and I went for a walk around the premises. Alpaca’s are such funny and lovely creatures. We ended the day with bowling, unfortunately the lane didn’t calculate the points properly. When I had a strike, the machine counted 9 pins, even though there was none on the lane. But my two strikes were no match for Roj’s score.
To all good things much come and end, and for me that was Friday. I took the train from Sheffield to Birmingham airport and went back home on a plane. Watching England disappear from view is such a sad experience. But all I can say is, I hope to be back soon!

Thank you Caz and Roj for all your time and care, I had a wonderful time!

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