Yorkshire is a place, Yorkshire is a state of mind...

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to quote the Mighty Boosh (drug induced BritCom).

Well, a week break came just in time! I spent the first few days (the weekend) getting some work together for my literature class and battling French bureaucracy.

I have a small victory to report: I got my medical exam rescheduled! This means there is a CHANCE I may get my titre de sejour (which allows me to stay... you'd think they'd have gotten around to it sooner as my visa expired at the end of November...) before April rent which means I can finally get the government subsidy for my rent (a nice 90E a month). SO keep your fingers crossed this is not my last victory.

I actually got a prompt phone call after I emailed them, but then I tried to return the call and could NEVER get an answer until RIGHT before bording the plane in Nantes and then they said they would check with the people in Le Mans (its organized oddly enough out of Nantes) and call me back. I thought great, I'll be in England, my phone out of charge when they call. But they called just as I had got to Fiona's so all worked out.

SO anyway, I got the train bright and early from Le Mans and got to Nantes around 10. I went out the North exit as that was the only one I saw labeled for public transport. I couldn't find the airport bus direct, so I took the tram to city center, asked someone where the bus there was. They have guys who just stand around to give directions, so he walked me to the bus which ended up driving right back to the SOUTH side of the train station before heading out to the airport. Oops...

But I took the early train to give me plenty of time and after seeing a bit of Nantes it gave me something to look forward to in coming back.

So I got all checked in and sat at the cafe drinking a diablo fraise (stawberry syrup and soda water) and reading a French epic poem about the story of Moses and then went through security and boarded pretty painlessly. I was starving as I'd assumed they'd sell food after security but really didn't. But the flight landed early and I was met by the fabulous Fiona and her boyfriend Matt who kindly drove to Nottingham to pick me up (in a Spanish car, so the wheel was on the left like at home "Look, I even got a left side car just for you". Sure Matt :P ).

Rested up back at Fiona's having tea and watching television with her and her brother John. We watched Master Chef, a cooking competition. I got such a kick out of it when they end a round and the judges are going to go deliberate, they said something like "Alright, now go have some tea while we decide who goes on to the next round." :P They do love them some tea, those English.

Then we walked to their Nan's stopping on the way for Cadburry eggs (eee!). Nan made tons of pancakes for Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday, the English version of Mardi Gras) and we first had savory ones- a white chicken and cream sauce with veg - then after a tv break while waiting on Matt to finish up at his garage (if you need a VW fixed in England, he's your guy) we had sweet ones with either syrup, lemon and sugar, or orange juice and sugar. Meanwhile Nan quized me about many many things ("Did you have family in the last war?"... she may think my grandpa was at Pearl Harbor but I didn't feel like trying to explain what I meant by south pacific) and showed me pictures of little John and Fiona and some total strangers.

We also watched some scrubs, family guy, and futurama. Good English speaking fun. 😊

After we FINALLY convinced Nan we could not possibly eat another pancake, she tried to give us cheese and crackers. We said no thanks many times but accepted the tea and coffee offer only to have Nan come out with a plate of chocolates she insisted we eat. She is very nice, but Fiona was right when she said "Now remember, you can say no when Nan offers you food, but don't expect it to work." I took a couple and a while later I thought she reached down to take my plate away but when I reached for my coffee a bit later I noticed that she had put 8 chocolates on my plate. Sneaky.

Good thing Matt had his car, I think we would have had to roll back home when we finally left about midnight.

So we had a good rest the next morning and I got to enjoy a nice bathtub (remember the size of my microshower in Le Mans). Lovely. Then a guy rang the doorbell and John answered. He said "I'm not selling anything! I'm from ____ (some big survey company) doing a survey, can I ask you a few questions. How old are you?"

"uh... 17" at which point Fiona cracks up. See, John is 20 or will be very soon, but figured you had to be 18 to do the survey and he looks 15 so.... unfortunately for him, the survey was for 16 and over.

Fiona and I snuck around them and headed into town for the day on Sheffield's expensive and not so effective bus line (though there are 2 companies and we did take the cheaper of the two). The town center was very nice. I've got some pictures to post here. We walked around then stopped in to visit her boss who was very nice and had some more tea and then left and headed up to Sheffield University.

We had sandwiches in the cafe on campus and I had a nice big carafe of coffee- all coffee in the union is fairtrade. It was nice to hang around a campus that is lively like home! There were people everywhere going to class and visiting and campaigning for office. It was great. Unlike home, however, the union store sells Smirnoff and other alcohol and the gift shop had some funny but somewhat risque joke items you wouldn't find at the ol' UA.

Then we went to try to say hi to some of Fi's lecturers, but none were really in but I did ride the paternoster in the Arts Tower. That is like a big chain that goes in a loop and you step into one of the little boxes as they pass the opening on your floor and then just step off on what ever floor you're going to. It is more effective than an elevator, but I am convinced it is a dangerous death trap or else there would be more of them. But rather they are a disappearing contraption and I mostly cowered in the corner. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster

Also did a bit of shopping - got a cute Vespa shirt on a sale rack. Fiona got one with a cartoon cat in a toaster that says "goodbye kitty", it's cuter and less dark than it sounds. Very funny.

Fiona's parents both work nearby- her mom in research at a hospital her dad with the telephone company - so we were able to meet them and get a ride home which was nice.

Hung out at Fiona's watching Without a Trace until Matt picked us up and we headed out to Nicky's. She has a lovely home and we were absolutely spoiled by a fabulous Italian meal. Her mom is Italian and we had for starters mushrooms with a good cheese and ham toping (delicious!), then a meaty lasagne like pasta dish and for desert TIRAMISU! Nicky made desert and it was fantastic! We visited her and her boyfriend and played with her new Wii which was fun.

Slept in a bit on Thursday then we went into town and met a friend of Fionas and the one and only RUTH BOBER(!) who was on her way from Leicester home to Cumbria and stopped for lunch with us. Had a nice meal and a good visit then went to a video store where Fiona exchanged her scratched copy of the Labyrinth then on to a fantastic Italian cafe called Remo's. Remo was hanging out by the window and the coffee was great and strong like in Italy. My espresso and double mocha had me absolutely wired.

Her parents met us there and then we headed over to pick up pizza at her favorite place, Nibbles. They had messed up the order so we had a bit of a wait and Fiona's dad ran me over to where he works and showed me all the broadband and phone wires and how that all works. WOW there were so many tiny wires and how it is all set up was incredible. I never thought about how that all works when you pick up a phone and dial. It was pretty crazy and I was kind of afraid of tripping and whipping out phone service to half of Yorkshire or something.

Then we got the pizzas and drove home and proceeded to enjoy the pizzas (they were good and had chilis mmm) and some Irn-Bru - an orangy sweet Scottish soda that was pretty good and seemed to be a source of pride for Fiona's father (he seemed a bit insulted I had never tried it before). More Without a Trace (Fiona got seasons 2 and 3 cheap on ebay 😊 ) and Mighty Boosh Live DVD then we got a taxi with Matt, John and a friend of his. Went to the Forum, a bar in town but since John's passport is cut and out of date they didn't let him in (again, he does look 15 but every other place he went to instead- apparently many places- accepted the ID) but as we had planned to meet people there he went off with his friends and Fiona Matt and I stayed and visited with some of Fiona's friends.

After a bit the music got really loud which they said was unusual and we figured out we had managed to come on French Hip-Hop night. Go figure.

Then Alix met us after the play he had been to ended and we visited a bit before heading to a pop club called the Leadmill which has apparently been around for ages. The music was fun but the DJ didn't let a song play for more than like 15 seconds except for Summer of '69, which is great but not to dance to. While at the bar this guy kicked me and then turns around "I'm soo sorry! I was doing my Hasselhoff impression!". HA they were playing the Baywatch theme, see. So I said ok, let's see it then. Fair enough, so he does his impression which is basically running in place in slow motion which was pretty funny. We left around 1 which was a dissappointment to Alix who is never happier than when dancing to pop music, but Fiona's not a night own and Matt hates dancing. I'm not much for dancing either, so it wasn't heartbreaking for me although we did have a great time.

Slept in plenty on Friday then went to the art museum with Fiona and her mom. They had a fantastic exhibit by Angus McBean of portraits he had done. He did some surrealist photos which were amazing especially given they were pre-photo shop days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_mcbean You'd probably have recognized best his photos of Audrey Hepburn and Vivien Leigh as well as the Beatles' cover of Please Please Help Me.

Then we saw a little modern art across the way at the Millenium something (Gardens?). Some of it was cool- like a park scene made with light bulb trees and funky benches- and much of it was wierd. Like 3 circles of tvs flashing different color patterns while the soundtrack to the Odd Couple played with all the words and music removed.

Then we enjoyed a coffee and cake at Cafe Nero with a nice view of the square by the Town Hall. Then we headed to Sainsbury's grocery where I was able to get more Cadbury, peanut butter, ranch type dressing, jello mix, Angel Delight (instant mousse which is either loved or despised), and tea which came with a little stuffed chimp from the commercials.

Then we had a nice dinner at her parent's - her Dad made stir fry. YUM. Then he drove Fiona and her mom and I out to a nice pub where we had drinks and visited to end our girls day out. Came home and crashed and slept in well the next day.

Then it was time to pack everything up and head out. Fiona's mom kindly gave me a ride to the airport. I went to check in and they said one carry on only. I was kind of put off since I had got out of Nantes fine with both my backpack and laptop bag, but the guy explained it was airport security's rule not the airline, so I checked my backpack. I expected RyanAir, in typical budget airline fashion, to charge me a billion pounds knowin I had no choice, but it was free. Then I assumed it would never make it to France but it did and all was well. I had shoved nearly everything from it into a shopping back with my magazine anyway.

I got a Dr. Pepper but forgot I would have to down it pre-security which I did. Then I had the most thorough pat-down of my life (I was wearing a reasonably tight shirt and jeans- don't know what they thought I could be hiding between my shoulders....? Then I wandered the duty free stores until boarding, but alas they only sold coke and no Dr. Pepper.

The flight actually boarded on time go figure. So, more on Nantes next time.

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Photos

Anglican Church
In the center of Sheffield

Cool benches
past which a 3-legged dog had just run. :P

Witty tattoo place
Check out that name. Don't worry- I didn't get poked by anything sharp here, but they did Fiona's last tattoo and piercing.

Flowers
in the Winter Garden

Funky shiny things
which reflect the garden building random, but cool looking

me and Fiona
Reflected in the shiny things.

Cat Statue
Isn't it nice how the two get along?

Fiona
At Coffee Revolution, free trade cafe at the Sheffield Uni Union

My coffee
At Coffee Revolution, free trade cafe at the Sheffield Uni Union

Bubble Bin
Outside the hospital

Town Hall

Comments

[sarah]

yorkshire
I LOVE ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fiona]

w00t!
Glad you had a good time! You know you're welcome any time. :)