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hazelchazSaturday in Northwich, Cheshire, part 1 of 2.
People I photographed Saturday included Sue Mason![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frostfox and Ann-Marie Olsen.
We slept onfrostfox's spare bed, which folds up into a couch. Something I noticed about the B&B's we stayed in (in Glasgow and Inverness), which applied to Sue's guest bed as well: duvets. Where at home we'd have a fitted sheet on the bottom, and a flat sheet and blanket on top, here we usually ran into a fitted sheet on the bottom, and a duvet with a washable cover around it. It certainly makes making the bed easier in the morning.
I also discovered another one of the delights of British plumbing, when I'd been standing in the tub for 20 minutes with the left faucet control turned way up and was still waiting for hot water. I called down to Sue asking how long it should take, and she asked if I had the one with the "H" turned on. I didn't have my glasses, I'd just figured left=hot, right=cold. I bent down and investigated: yup, the left one was "C" and the right one "H". I'd been waiting for the cold water to come out hot. (That sort of works here at home by the way; the first minute or so of water from the cold tap in the kitchen comes out warm, esp. in the middle of the day, because the sun shines on the pipes out back.) Sue explained that the plumbing arrangements aren't standardized the way they are back in USA.
Sue took us on a trip to some of the delights of Cheshire. She's Cheshire born and raised, I believe; so this was a chance to see the countryside through a native's eye. But first we stopped for groceries so we'd have dinner. We went to Sainsbury's. Lots of fresh options for packaged salads, just like we have at home. This was the first time all trip that I'd seen any iceberg lettuce; I almost squealed with delight and homesickness when I spotted it in the cold case. We didn't buy any, though.
We bought lots of other food.library_lynn and I paid for the entire basket of groceries; there was only about 5 pounds or so worth of food that wasn't going with us, and most of the food that was going to Sue's house we'd be sharing. We let her provide her "Nectar" costumer-loyalty card so she could get her loyalty points. (They don't have the preferred-discount system that you see at Ralphs and Albertsons and Smart & Final, where there's sometimes an additional discount if you wave your card.) We bought chocolate mint Kit Kat, and chocolate orange Kit Kat and strawberry-and-cream Kit Kat. It's a crying shame that Nestle has bought out and shut down Rountree's, and I hear the Rountree chocolate doesn't taste the same; I don't know what the Nestle Kit Kat will taste like, but the flavored ones should be interesting to share around. Also I bought some Jaffa Cakes, which are round biscuits (soft cookies) with a bit of orange goo and a chocolate coating. And I bought some Custard Creams. I had a hunch that they'd be like our "Vienna Fingers." We might have picked up a few other goodies as well.
Sue took us to a little place that used to be some old stables; they'd turned the whole place into craft shops, and a candy shop, and some other stores as well. There was a "fun fair" that was closed, because it was a drizzly day. I took a picture of the big snake slide. I also noticed a kiddy ride (the kind you put 50p in, of the sort usu. found in front of a supermarket back home) with "Bananas in Pajamas" characters. There was a teddy bear store that was just overrun with cutesiness... there was a place with some interesting cards... one place had 3-D stereo viewer cards. You could mail it to someone, and they could open it up and see a 3-D view.
There was one jewelry place that had some of the most beautiful scarves on the wall. Sue made approving noises about the jewelry prices, and we found some items appropriate for a few folks on our Xmas list. I also spotted a chunky purple bracelet that looked like it was made for Sue's purple ensembles, so I bought that and slipped it in my coat pocket when she stepped outside of the building.
We had lunch at the cafeteria on the property. And went back into the candy shop to get some ice cream. There was a place called "Salsa" that had some silver jewelry and other delights, and we did a little shopping there.
Outside, there was a place with lawn ornaments. Didn't see any flamingos. Lots of little people, maybe a gnome or two, a gopher with a sign "Keep off the grass that's my dinner!"
People I photographed Saturday included Sue Mason
frostfox and Ann-Marie Olsen.We slept on
frostfox's spare bed, which folds up into a couch. Something I noticed about the B&B's we stayed in (in Glasgow and Inverness), which applied to Sue's guest bed as well: duvets. Where at home we'd have a fitted sheet on the bottom, and a flat sheet and blanket on top, here we usually ran into a fitted sheet on the bottom, and a duvet with a washable cover around it. It certainly makes making the bed easier in the morning.I also discovered another one of the delights of British plumbing, when I'd been standing in the tub for 20 minutes with the left faucet control turned way up and was still waiting for hot water. I called down to Sue asking how long it should take, and she asked if I had the one with the "H" turned on. I didn't have my glasses, I'd just figured left=hot, right=cold. I bent down and investigated: yup, the left one was "C" and the right one "H". I'd been waiting for the cold water to come out hot. (That sort of works here at home by the way; the first minute or so of water from the cold tap in the kitchen comes out warm, esp. in the middle of the day, because the sun shines on the pipes out back.) Sue explained that the plumbing arrangements aren't standardized the way they are back in USA.
Sue took us on a trip to some of the delights of Cheshire. She's Cheshire born and raised, I believe; so this was a chance to see the countryside through a native's eye. But first we stopped for groceries so we'd have dinner. We went to Sainsbury's. Lots of fresh options for packaged salads, just like we have at home. This was the first time all trip that I'd seen any iceberg lettuce; I almost squealed with delight and homesickness when I spotted it in the cold case. We didn't buy any, though.
We bought lots of other food.
library_lynn and I paid for the entire basket of groceries; there was only about 5 pounds or so worth of food that wasn't going with us, and most of the food that was going to Sue's house we'd be sharing. We let her provide her "Nectar" costumer-loyalty card so she could get her loyalty points. (They don't have the preferred-discount system that you see at Ralphs and Albertsons and Smart & Final, where there's sometimes an additional discount if you wave your card.) We bought chocolate mint Kit Kat, and chocolate orange Kit Kat and strawberry-and-cream Kit Kat. It's a crying shame that Nestle has bought out and shut down Rountree's, and I hear the Rountree chocolate doesn't taste the same; I don't know what the Nestle Kit Kat will taste like, but the flavored ones should be interesting to share around. Also I bought some Jaffa Cakes, which are round biscuits (soft cookies) with a bit of orange goo and a chocolate coating. And I bought some Custard Creams. I had a hunch that they'd be like our "Vienna Fingers." We might have picked up a few other goodies as well.Sue took us to a little place that used to be some old stables; they'd turned the whole place into craft shops, and a candy shop, and some other stores as well. There was a "fun fair" that was closed, because it was a drizzly day. I took a picture of the big snake slide. I also noticed a kiddy ride (the kind you put 50p in, of the sort usu. found in front of a supermarket back home) with "Bananas in Pajamas" characters. There was a teddy bear store that was just overrun with cutesiness... there was a place with some interesting cards... one place had 3-D stereo viewer cards. You could mail it to someone, and they could open it up and see a 3-D view.
There was one jewelry place that had some of the most beautiful scarves on the wall. Sue made approving noises about the jewelry prices, and we found some items appropriate for a few folks on our Xmas list. I also spotted a chunky purple bracelet that looked like it was made for Sue's purple ensembles, so I bought that and slipped it in my coat pocket when she stepped outside of the building.
We had lunch at the cafeteria on the property. And went back into the candy shop to get some ice cream. There was a place called "Salsa" that had some silver jewelry and other delights, and we did a little shopping there.
Outside, there was a place with lawn ornaments. Didn't see any flamingos. Lots of little people, maybe a gnome or two, a gopher with a sign "Keep off the grass that's my dinner!"
