The trip to England part 2 - Snow, mates and footy!

After the hectic few days surrounding the wedding we decided to just relax and do nothing for the next few days....Oh, sorry I meant we decided to drive around the whole of Northern England visiting mates and doing loads - not at all relaxing, but very good fun!

So at lunchtime on Sunday after our last night at Sophie and Pauls me and Fubb jumped into our posh black rental car and drove the 25 minutes drive towards the Warrington area, where we met up with my old mucker Chuck for a spot of lunch. Its always good to meet up with Chuck, reminisce about old times and have some good scoff. Chuck lives in the town of Culcheth and even though its not a big place there is always somewhere good to go for food. So we found ourselves in The Smokehouse, where we enjoyed a pint with our lunch and Chuck had one of the largest burgers I think I have ever seen. We took a short walk after lunch to stop off at the local British legion to enjoy one more beer before saying goodbye to Chuck again. It was unfortunately only a short visit, but a lovely way to spend a chilly December Sunday.

Seen in Culcheth - The 3 R's - Math, English and Science apparently..... Idiots.

We headed back to Urmston for the evening where we had a nice lamb dinner with Chris, Gareth, Tracey, Emma, James, Pimm Alistair and Georgia. Gareth and Tracey were heading darrrn saarrff early Monday morning and this was our goodbye meal with them. We wont see them again as they are down south until we fly back to Canada and so we had a good chat over dinner and finally a couple of hugs, manly handhakes and a goodbye in the street before we left. I really enjoyed the 3 or 4 days all us brothers spent together. We haven't all been together since our wedding and we don't know when the next time we will all be in the same place at the same time will be, so it was really nice to catch up and have a few drinks over the last few days. I hope we can arrange something special in a year or two and maybe get together in Hawaii, or Mexico or China or something - You never know!!

We had arranged to go up to Harrogate in Monday to visit our old travelling partner  - Nikki Frew and her awesome hubby Matt as well as little Jack - who came to see us a in the summer of 2016 before our wedding. But before we  drove up to Yorkshire, we decided on a spot of lunch in The Trafford Centre, where we saw Steve Mcmanaman on our way in - (He is an ex Liverpool player and a scouse knob) He looked ill and not happy - which since he was in Manchester, wasn't surprising as he had probably been called a scouse knob all morning. We had a spot of lunch and a quick look around the shops as well as being sad at all the baby -chariots who were locked up in a pen like a bunch of pigs ready for slaughter - Free the chariots - I say FREE THEM!!!

Set them freeeeeeeeeee!!!

 One thing we noticed while in the UK was the traffic. It was never very good, but in the last two years it has gotten ridiculous. It took us so much time to get anywhere and our average speed was about 20mph all the time we were in UK. This is why we didn't arrive in Harrogate until it was dark! However, it didn't detract from us having a great night - Messing about with Jack and dancing with him and his bloody annoying singing Xmas tree, having a couple of beers to celebrate with Nikki and Matt when they showed us photos of her recent scan to announce the news that they are having a 2nd kid next year and also enjoying a lovely big Chinese takeaway.
We had a really good nights sleep in their lovely new house and after breakfast the next day and a bit of jigsaw and football fun with Jack we said our goodbyes and headed back to Manchester.

With Jack, Matt and Nikki

He is an awesome kid!

Tuesday evening was great. We had tickets for United champions league game and fell easily into the old routine... Pick up a meat and potato pie and chip barm from Parkers Chippy and then walk along Chester Road eating it. A quick pint in Chesters and then along Sir Matt Busby Way to the ground and the game. (Read any of the old posts about United games and this is exactly what we did back then too) It wasn't a classically enthralling United game, but a steady 2-1 win and the added bonus of walking right into Chris and Emma on the way home and popping into the Melville with them both for a pint. A classic and wonderful evening out!

Here's a video of what its like to see the pitch on arriving inside the ground...'This is the one' playing and me, a little over excited to be back....
Click this link..
https://www.facebook.com/rick.davey.288/videos/10156177711802150/?l=7219588146629195022

                                                     The 2nd goal to win the game

The players leave

Theatre of dreams

Chip barm of dreams!!

Wednesday had come along far too quickly. The Wedding was now consigned to history as was the trip to Old Trafford. We only had a couple of days left in UK before heading back to a Canadian Winter. But today was exciting as we were going to visit our mates Mark and Kate and their little baby boy Clarence. But we received a message early in the morning saying that Clarence was ill and there was a danger of us catching whatever it was he had and it involved a bit of projectile vomiting. Bugar.

We had planned to stay the night and have a few drinkys over dinner in their lovely little house in the Todmorden - a cute little town in West Yorkshire. We still managed to drive out there though and swap pleasantries. It was all a bit strange - We arrived and swapped Xmas presents by placing them on the floor and retreating. Then spent 20 minutes or so talking through the stair bannister, aware that if we got too close then we too could be struck down with the lurgy.

It was lovely to catch up with the three of them though, and they really do have a lovely house with a big back window looking down across the valley and the town below. Hopefully, we can catch up with them again soon on Skype and see them when they aren't contagious! It was worth the horrible traffic on the Motorway just to see them for a short while.

Thursday was our last day in Manchester and so we took a drive into the city to have a look around. The huge Manchester Xmas markets are on and we spent a time wandering around and grabbed some delicious German sausage and fried potatoes for lunch. We visited some of our favourite places - wandering down deansgate and past the Peverils Peak pub, as well as a pint at the wharf in Castlefield and a walk around the canals that we spent a few days photographing a couple of years ago. I honestly cannot express how much I miss the city. Its where I grew up from when I was 5 or 6 until I joined the army and even though I was born in Skegness, Lincolnshire, I will always call Manchester my home. There is just something about the place that will always drag me back. The music, the food, the people and the dirty grimy buildings that have a history all of their own. Its a wonderful place and I was sad that this day was our last day there.

Heres a few random pics of the city I love...

Our last night was spent with Chris and Emma, We had stayed there the night before because of Mark and Kates illness and on this night we took them out for pizza at The Bird 'ith Hand pub(Yes, it is correct - The Bird 'ith hand) Its a traditional pub with good beers, but has decided to do something different with the food. Instead of the usual pub type food, it has turned part of the pub in to a pizza/diner complete with booths where you have your own TV to catch up on the sport. Its very unusual here in UK but works very well and with a great selection of pizza, salads and the like I can see it being very successful. It was a good last night out and after a good sleep we woke up to a thin covering of snow! Yep, we do get snow in UK.

We said our sad goodbyes to Chris, Emma and of course a really sad goodbye to Taz. What a great dog he is. Then we headed south, where our flight was booked from Gatwick early the next morning.

On the way down south we had decided to visit a place that we never made it to when we lived in UK. The Black Country museum.
Its an outdoor museum near Birmingham which has a rebuilt town from the 1800-1900s, complete with working Chip shop, Tailors, coal mine, church, fairground and Pub as well as a whole lot more. You basically spend the day living like you would in the old days - eating at the chip shop, drinking at the pub and watching how things were made like nails or horseshoes in the blacksmiths.

Unfortunately, with the snow it wasn't the best day to visit and was quite quiet - But the Chippy was open and the pub too - So we did enjoy a huge fish and chips cooked in the old fashioned unhealthy way as well as a drink in front of a roaring fire in the pub. We also made it down the coal mine and visited the school and spoke with a loads of the 'characters' who tell you the stories of how good things used to be. Like kids using chalkboards and getting punished properly by teachers when they misbehaved!

Snow in England

Enjoying the sunshine in the Black Country museum

The old fairground

RADIO STUFF

Making nails

The pub.

At the top of the street is the Chippy!

Our final night was spent in a hotel just near to Gatwick airport and after another farce with The Green Moron Car Company (See photos) We got to the airport in plenty of time for a pint and a full english breakfast before our flight back to Canada.

See the arrows and writing. This is NOT where you return your car though.... Hmm, what a bunch of dicks!

Its actually in here! FFS

 The flight back was good - we had plenty of food, watched movies and swapped planes in Calgary before finally arriving back in Winnipeg just about 6.30pm. It had been a long day though and with the time difference we were both knackered, so we had a good lie in the next morning before heading round to English place for good Sunday dinner and a catch up with Jon, Susan and the dogs.

The trip to England was great. It was so good to see Chris and Emma get married and to catch up with them as well as Gareth and Tracey and of course all the rest of the friends and family we ran into, had a beer with and spent time with.

It makes me a little sad and homesick wondering when we will get back to England and more specifically Manchester,again as well as wondering when the three brothers will be together once more - I am sure something will happen sometime and we will all meet up for a pint somewhere in the world. But till then we have the memories of a wonderful trip home and a great couple of weeks.

So I leave you all there. Happy Xmas and New Year to everyone. Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for a new post at the end of December!