If I am not mistaken, one week after the "Open House", Marianna and I realised that very soon, it would be a new chapter in her life: she would be resuming her studies after an absence of 4 years from academia by starting an M.Sc. at Imperial College. We thought we should have a weekend break out of London before this time, which, from experience, I know will be a busy one. We checked a couple of towns across the UK and then I remembered! A quick call, a booking, a small suitcase and off we headed to Nottingham for a weekend!
One of my buddies whom I have known for over a decade now, JPZ, is doing a Ph.D. at Nottingham. Since I have been here in the UK, I have visited him twice at Notts and once at Worthing while he was working there, and he has come down to London a couple of times too. Since Marianna had never been to the home of Robin Hood in the Midlands and it had been a couple of months since we had seen JPZ, we abused of his open invitation to visit any time and thus we decided that Nottingham it shall be!
The trip was longish - 3 hours by coach is just at the limit of my endurance, especially the first hour which is simply getting out of London and embarking on the M1. Once we got there, the usual thermal shock: it is way colder there than London! JPZ and his better half picked us up and we headed to his flat, where we had a welcoming meal and a good bottle of wine and a deserved sleep...
The next day was possibly the most beautiful dose of weather for September. We all headed off to the Peak District, where we set off on a walk up to a cavern upon a hill, Thor's Cave, the ascend to which was (in the words of JPZ) about to give me a heart attack. But it was worthwhile the effort since the view was amazing. The descent was far easier and then another walk up to another peak, Ecton on Hill. The beauty of nature in this part of England is beyond words: fresh, pure air, abundant stretches of green and streams, no cars, no planes, no buildings, nothing really except hills, trees, grass...and cows.
All this was followed by a hearty pub lunch, a drive back to Notts, a walk around the city centre, the compulsory pit stop at a Nero's Cafe and then back to the flat. A quick shower and change of clothes and then a massive dinner at a Thai restaurant which probably restored my calorie intake to more than it was before all the walking in the morning. The night was concluded by a visit to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub, the oldest one in England (or so it says). I love that place!
On Sunday we did not stay long and only visited the city centre for some shopping and going around. After all the goodbyes, we headed back down to London and got ready for another week of normal life in the capital. I look forward to another weekend break around England (and beyond!), away from the hustle and bustle of our host city we are temporarily calling "home".
P.S. The image in this post is not an edited version of the cover of the Floyd album "Atom Heart Mother" but is a snapshot of the cows mentioned in the text above!
No comments:
Post a Comment