England Experience - Part 1

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Welcome to Lichfield, Birmingham, Manchester and now Scunthorpe. These are the places we have managed to chalk up on our trip so far in England, with everywhere FREEZING cold, but loving it!! Let’s go all the way back to Lichfield.
So, we arrived at Lichfield after our adventurous train-missing-debacle at 5:30pm on Friday, 26th November, and got picked up by Jeff (Mischa’s Uncle) from the train station. After that, it was really just a night of catch-ups (Lucy and the twins were there!!), a bit of dinner, some TV watching and then off to bed. During the TV watching we were shown a few new programmes, most of which Jess seemed to enjoy. A few of these include Coronation St (a bit like Neighbours) and I’m a Celebrity….Get Me out of Here (which is actually filmed in a ‘jungle’ in Australia doing tasks that are both gross and funny). That was enough for us, as it was a big day again the next day as we were off to Manchester to watch Man Utd play at Old Trafford.
27th November, the 57th day of our trip was devoted to football. But to our DELIGHT, we woke up to a white front lawn, as there had been enough snow fall (very weird) to cover everything. We soon found out that it was not going to let up, and have since been caught in the coldest period in England’s history. So after enjoying the view, we got up, had some brekky and then headed off to the train station to take our 2hr train ride to Manchester to watch the football match. Even though the game didn’t start until 3pm, when we arrived at 12:30pm at Old Trafford (the stadium they play in), there were THOUSANDS of people milling about. A lot of souvenirs were being sold, but as we didn’t have much cash (yet again!!), Mischa opted for the game day scarf which he proudly showed off during the game. It was quite a good buy, as it had both teams on it, and the season they played in, so a pretty good souvenir in the end. After picking up our tickets, we headed on inside after buying some food. Unfortunately for Mischa, he had bought a can of drink, which isn’t allowed inside, so he sculled that before we went and found our seats. The seats were FANTASTIC!! They were on the 2nd tier, right in line with the goal line, so any corners, we had a perfect view of (at this end). We got there before a lot of people had come inside (you’re not allowed back out once you’re in) which got us some good shots, but by the time the whistle of the game went off, it was PACKED!! And what a game we got to see!! Wayne Rooney was on fire, and in the end Man Utd smashed Blackburn Rovers 7 goals to 1!!! It was a fantastic atmosphere (obviously Man Utd fans were happy!!), and VERY loud. The announcement came over that there were 75,000 people there!! It was great fun. After the game, it was a LLOONNGG trip back to Lichfield, as even though there was a game on, they didn’t increase the number of trams running through Manchester, so we stood in line for over an hour waiting to get on one, and then when we got to the station, we had some dinner and jumped on a train going to Birmingham. We got to Birmingham alright, jumped on our connecting train, thinking all was good. After sitting on it for 40mins, we finally were told to get off as they had trouble getting it started, and told us to go to another platform. As we were walking there though, another announcement came over to tell us they had another train coming back on the original platform, but when we got back there, they had only 1 carriage, and so all of us (there were 3 carriages full!!) weren’t going to fit on that one, we eventually got a more direct train a bit later, and we finally got home at 11pm (instead of 10!!). An adventurous, cold (didn’t go above -2®C!!) but enjoyable day. Also, Mischa’s mum and dad had arrived from Cairns, so it was good to see them, but didn’t see them much as they were sick and had a bit of jet lag for some reason!! 
28th November, a Sunday was very much a day of rest. We had a nice sleep-in, before a day spent mostly at home. Lucy, Jon and Camilla and Isabella (Mischa’s cousin, husband and twins) came over about midday for a traditional Sunday lunch. It was beautiful and a lot of it!! After dessert we headed off to give the twins a bit of exercise (and tire them) for a little walk around the snow that had fallen, threw a few snow balls at each other but then went in to thaw out some more. The rest of the afternoon and night was spent watching more TV (the same shows as above incl some sport replays!!), had a bit of dinner and then off to bed.
29th November, and the big chill is setting in!!
Mischa’s mum and dad were off to Scunthorpe to stay at his Nana’s place until the party on Friday night so we said goodbye to them, before Jess convinced Mischa to have another lazy day of nothing. So that’s what it was. Mischa did convince Jess to go for a walk around Lichfield though, so we went into town to grab some things (incl Christmas pressies for everyone in England), some lunch and enjoyed the cold. We also went for a lovely walk around the Cathedral and the lake, where it was close to fully iced over. Mischa just had to stand on it (right on the edge where it was thick enough), but we also saw all the school children finish school and come out to crack it on the edge of the lake. Unfortunately for one poor boy, he cracked it a bit too much and went ankle-deep into the icy water, so quickly got out (while all the kids were laughing) and hurriedly walked back home. Mischa was just glad he didn’t go all the way in so he would have had to save him!! After our little adventure (and some great photos!!), we headed back to wait for Lara and Cam (Mischa’s sis and partner from Cairns) to arrive and had some pizza for dinner, before more TV and then bed. Another lovely relaxing day in England!!
30th November, welcome to the Cold!!
So, in case you hadn’t seen on the telli, England is in a cold snap. Ice cold wind from Iceland is being blown across the water and straight onto England, bringing with it cold winds and snow. This has meant unprecedented temperatures all the way around England!! And snow in NOVEMBER!! It normally doesn’t snow until Jan, so it’s cold, even for the locals!! So you would think inside is the place to be, but no... Mischa is keen as to go play in the snow, plus convinces Jess to go for a walk and then train ride into Birmingham, the biggest city, close to Lichfield. So off we went, a day of activities planned.
First up was a nice walk down to the Thinktank in Birmingham. This is a very-hands-on Science Museum, which was fairly fun (Mischa definitely had more fun than Jess!!) but more aimed at high-school students. There was plenty to see and play with; Mischa started an old car by turning the crank, he also performed a VERY gruesome Hip Joint Replacement surgery with real footage, he recycled cans and plastic and loads of other fun stuff. After 1 ½ hours, it was time for lunch, so we headed back to the HUGE shopping centre called Bull Ring. We had lunch at restaurant Pizza Hut (even though we had pizza the night before!!) before heading off to find the ice-skating rink. We found LeisureBox, a newly opened entertainment place which included Games Arcade, Ten-Pin Bowling, Cafes and Ice-skating!! It had only been re-opened literally 2 hours, so we were the first on the ten-pin lanes and 3rd on the ice!! It was pretty dead, but we still had a ball!! Jess came away with no injuries from Ice-skating (last time she cracked her wrist) so that was good, but she unfortunately got beat at both games of Ten-Pin. We eventually left the LeisureBox at 4pm, heading onto the World Famous German Markets. These markets are the biggest German markets outside of Germany (obviously!!) in Europe. And they were pretty impressive!! But alas, we didn’t buy much outside of some sweets. By now we were getting pretty tired, so we headed back to the train station to hop on a train back to Lichfield at 6pm. By the time we got back, Jeff, Cam and Lara had decided to head down to the local pub for a drink, so we tagged along to grab some dinner and some nice photos in the lights at Lichfield. So, pretty much 4 ½ days in Lichfield, before Wednesday, 1st December, where we head up to Scunthorpe for Mischa’s Nanas 80th Birthday party!!

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Comments

[mum G]

lovely
HIya Mischa and Jess, finally ashby link opened! It's still bitterly cold but as always your blog made it sound wonderful. Thanks for you few days here, nana really appreciated your efforts and your fun attitude. She continues to brag that you came all that way for her party. Thanks. Hope you have solved the camera debacle, love you both xxxxxxx mum