25 October 2023

Today was our last day in the Northern Hemisphere. “It’s about time”, I hear you say!

And I had my “grumpy pants” on. I wasn’t looking forward to that long plane trip home. Of course, I was looking forward to seeing family and friends, wearing clean (and varied) clothing, having a good long hot shower, sleeping in my own bed, unpacking my backpack (and not having to repack it again for a long time), and sipping on that first cup of good coffee. (No pressure Vanessa!) But, we’ve had such a wonderful time that I don’t really want it to end. Grahame, on the other hand, was keen to get home to “see the sea”, go for a ride on his bike, kayak in the harbour and maybe even get back to work (!!!! ) .

We left our lovely little Litton Airbnb in a thick fog. It was tricky driving on those narrow country lanes with rock fences close on either side, and definitely a tight squeeze if we met a car coming the other way, but Grahame coped brilliantly, and the occasional glimpse of countryside above the fog level made for stunning views on a very cold but sunny morning. (5 degrees at 9:30 am).

“Baby Blue” was returned to Stoke on Trent and before we knew it , we were on the train hightailing it towards Manchester for the remainder of the day.

My bad mood increased when we tried to leave our bags in the train luggage storage. They were going to charge us £50 ($96 AUD!!!) for the privilege of minding our 4 bags for around 5 hours. I threw a “bit of a tanty” and expressed my disgust to the Attendant. I refused to pay such an outrageous amount. I’m pretty sure the Attendant didn’t give “two hoots” about my predicament and probably took pleasure in the fact that the “crazy old lady” would now have to lug her bags around with her all day.! Or would she???

In desperation, I googled “storage facilities near me” and bingo, I found “Bounce”, an online system that, once you downloaded the app, it indicated if there were any storage facilities nearby and gave a quote. Once you signed on, accepted the quote and paid the dollars, they sent the actual address. It was a much cheaper option, and my mood lifted, as I felt I’d had a small win over the “big guys”.

Grahame had found us a great activity online, that took us walking around the major city highlights. It was a “mystery” which took us to various locations. We had to solve a puzzle, have a look around and then move on to the next. Yes!!! Another App on my phone!!! This one called “Questo”.

The sun was shining and my birds were singing again, now that our luggage had been sorted and we were on the move.

Our starting point for the game was the Cathedral, so of course went on in.

It was such a contrast to the dark, dimly lit churches we had been in recently. The sun was lighting the stain glass and the whole building was filled with light. It was quite beautiful!

Our next stop, and almost next door, was another church of sorts. The National Football Museum!! I thought I’d never get Grahame out of there, but he was happy just to have a quick look in the shop! He did suggest that it would be probably full of “Manchester United s*#t” and he wasn’t that keen.

We walked through the “Northern quarter”, with its arty and crafty vibe and lots of street art.

The Bee is the symbol of Manchester and it was on everything! From city street furniture and bus stops to huge murals , the bee was evident. It represents Manchester as a city of industry and hard work.

Our “adventure” took us to the Opera house and town hall as well as other buildings of significance.

We passed through Piccadilly Gardens which was bustling with people, light rail, workers setting up for the Christmas Markets and various street food vans.

St Mary’s RC church was described as the “hidden gem”. We pooped our heads in, solved the clue and moved on.

Our favourite venue, however was the John Rylands Research Institute and Library.

It was as if we had stepped onto the set of Hogwarts. As a working library, the little study nooks were full with students doing assignments or reading and researching. Im not sure how productive I’d be with streams of tourist traipsing past clicking their cameras constantly (me included!)

Our adventure finished at the Science and industry museum with our “mystery” solved. By now our energy levels had faded and we were happy to complete the quest and head back to the train station.

We caught the train to the airport well before our 9:25 pm flight which turned out just as well.

Earlier, at Tesco in Stoke, I bought a dish scrubber and some cleaning pads in order to give our boots a scrub before arriving at Australian Customs. ( I’ve been rapped over the knuckles before when arriving back in Australia with muddy boots!) I’m sure we looked a sight, on the train platform at Manchester airport busily cleaning our boots.

The queue to check our bags and get through customs and security was long and slow moving. It took a while and once cleared we “celebrated” the end of our holiday with a champagne or two.

We knew we were in for a long night before arriving in Dubai sometime tomorrow. Hopefully the champagne will help.

See you on the flip side!!!