Darkness and chatshow Charlie

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Vote for me, I'm an alcoholic! That was chat show Charlie´s (Charles Kennedy´s) surreal pitch to his own political party, as I was packing my bags to fly from England to Argentina.

I spent Christmas and the new year in England visiting friends and family, after my year long trek in Africa. It was a short break to ensure that people still know who I am!

England felt familiar, although I no longer have anywhere in that country that I can call my own home. In fact, it didn't seem that anything much had changed in the last year. Life had gone on. Even the news of the downfall of leader of the Liberal Party, Charles Kennedy didn't feel like news. There had been rumours, (which he had denied), in the press about his drinking before I left Blighty back in December ´04. And to be honest, I don´t give a damn about any of them, whatever new designer label policies the politicians marketing people dream up.

England, in the deep mid-winter is dark. The sun rises late and sets early. Even when the sun rises, it is usually hidden behind clouds. Sunshine is a rarity. So, I had a shock, when I came from Africa. The biggest shock was the darkness. Which is why so many Brits worship the sun when they see it.

So, I stopped off in England for a number of reasons. One of them is that it felt significant to me, that I should be in the country for Christmas 2005.

My mother died on Christmas Day 1995. For those of you in the world that celebrate Christmas on a different day or not at all, I mean December 25th. So, it was the 10th anniversary of that event. On Christmas day morning 2005 I walked to the cemetery at Kineton Parish Church from my dad´s house. The photo in this blog of the church was taken that morning. I didn't tell anyone what I was doing, because it was a private moment between my mum and I.

RESUME

A brief resume of my flying visit to Blighty.

I flew into London Heathrow. I spent the night in London, using the time to visit the London Eye, from where I took photos for this blog.

After a night in London I went up to Heage, Derbyshire. The house of my brother Gareth and his wife Sue. They live in a village in the Peak district near Derby.

From there I continued north to my old hunting grounds in the city of Leeds. Leeds is where I lived for most of my adult life. I left home for Leeds Polytechnic (now called Leeds Metropolitan University) when I was 18. It may have changed name but it will always be the Poly as far as I'm concerned. (I'm showing my age!)

In Leeds I rushed around to visit friends (including ex girlfriends). I spent a couple nights in the brand new IBIS Hotel in Leeds which cost me 49 pounds sterling a night. On the 3rd night I stayed with Kasia and Dorian. Dorian is a local lad, his wife, Kasia is originally from Poland. Dorian posts on travelblog usually about Eastern Europe.

On Tuesday 19th I made my way back down to my brother's house in Heage. I stayed a night there, going out to the pub with Gareth in the evening.

The next day Gareth drove me down to my dad's house in Kineton. I then spent the next 10 days staying at my dad's house over Christmas. During that time my dad drove me to several different nearby towns on different days. I was attempting to do some shopping. It took a while to find the stuff. The first attempt to do some shopping was on the day after boxing day ( 27th December). We had to turn back without visiting the shop we were looking for because of very heavy snowfall. Visibility was down to nothing. One of the places that my dad drove me to was Stratford-on-Avon, hence the photo in this blog of Shakespeare's birthplace. I know Stratford, because we lived there for a couple of years when I was young.

I needed to go back to London to pick up a ticket for an internal flight in Argentina from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. When I bought the ticket I had specified that it be delivered to the London Victoria office of the travel agents. So, I went back down to London on the 29th of December.

I then decided that I needed to go sightseeing. I first caught a train back up North and spent new year´s eve at a friends place (Damien). New Years day I started a brief tour of the Yorkshire Coastline. Yorkshire is very scenic - I should know, I lived there long enough. But, it changes a lot from season to season, looking very different in winter than summer. Mid winter is the low season, so a number of the hotels and tourist attractions were closed. Scarborough Castle, Whitby Abbey, and the Captain Cook Museum in Whitby were closed, amongst other tourist attractions which didn't think it worth opening at this time of year.

So, I started my tour with a day in Scarborough. I stayed at the Grand Hotel on the South Bay. It was one of the first purpose built seaside tourist hotels in Europe. It only cost me 45 pounds sterling which I thought was very good value for money. There are much cheaper places in the town, but I thought it was worth spending a night in the Grand. It´s Grand, has lots of atmosphere, and I'm worth it!

The next day I walked to Robin Hoods Bay. It´s a long walk, I had sore feet at the end of it. It was a push to get to Robin Hoods Bay whilst it was still light, because there is so little daylight in Yorkshire in January. Robin Hoods Bay is a very scenic old fishing and smugglers village.

Then the following day I walked along the coast to Whitby. Another scenic and historic town. From Whitby I travelled back down to my dad´s house. I spent another day at my dad´s place until I had to catch the plane to Argentina from Heathrow.

The flight was very long, but I´m now starting the second leg of my epic world tour. I should be in the America´s for the next year.

My next blog will be from the end of the world, Ushuaia. The most southerly city in the world.

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Photos

Pub in the village of Heage
Just down the road from Gareth (my younger brother) and Sue´s house.

Kineton village
The village where my dad lives