Month: January 2017

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Sun, at a Price of Cold and Wind

I ended up not having time to go out today as I was working on long tax hearing. I was, however, able to fully enjoy the wonderful sunshine thanks to the large windows in here. When I did go out around four to put out the trash, I was glad I hadn’t made plans to go into the village as it was COLD. The wind just howled all day and I suspected that it would be bringing the promised cold snap and snow. Wish I’d been wrong…

One thing of note that I did today is that I called my host’s Spanish teacher to confirm that I’m expected to join her conversation class tomorrow! She said yes, but that she thinks I’ll be too advanced for her group. The cost is just £5 for one hour (basically the same as an hour on horseback on Isla!), so I can try it out and if I don’t like it, I don’t have to go again. I have quite a bit of work for tomorrow and Friday, but I’m still going to aim to actually spend time in the village tomorrow and get a few pictures. 🙂

I have to be extra diligent about accepting work since my next sit was cancelled. 🙁 So that leaves me with a hole of more than a month to fill before I fly back to Canada. I really do not want to have to pay UK rates for a month’s accommodation, so I’m combing the housesitting ads in the hopes of finding a couple either near here or London (to cut down on travel costs). I’ve got a month, so there’s time. I’m just not happy with the levels of the coffers right now since work still hasn’t picked back up to full-time and I haven’t yet paid for travel from Montreal to Haven or from Haven to Mérida. Thankfully, like in Bulgaria, there’s not really anywhere to spend money here unless I eat out or go into Halifax, so I can at least stop the financial bleed a bit. I’ve been going non-stop since I left Almería, so I’m quite content to sit by the fire here for a few days. 🙂

I wish I could post pictures of this house. It is just so ME. There are lots of things in it that I actually own back home and the cat is a twin of my late Neelix. So all that has led to my feeling so comfortable here so quickly.

More tomorrow with pictures of my adorable, hilly, stony English village. 🙂

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Tesco Delivers!

My delivery window was between four and five and the driver was here at four on the dot! I never thought that they would actually bring stuff to my door and was not looking forward to many, many, many trips up and down that scary staircase. But the guy did bring everything right to me! WOW. And I thought I’d have to go to Halifax on a bus. This was so fantastic and I didn’t even have to pay a delivery cost! The order was perfect and exactly to the penny what my estimate was. There’s lots of fresh meat, but no produce because my host left me a week’s worth of stuff!

I am depressed by how much this all cost when compared to a similar shop at a proper supermarket in Moose Jaw. This would have been about a 200CAD shop back home taking into account comparable deals. It was an 80CAD shop here. I get that people in the UK are suffering economically and housing costs are absurd, but I’m in yet another country where I can thoughtlessly buy products like cheese, never mind prepared sauces and other convenience foods, that I have to seriously think about purchasing back home. Stop it with the excuses. Canadian grocery prices are unreasonable and inexcusable. And don’t give me that bull about us being a huge country. I totally get why northern grocery prices are high. I even get why I pay more in Assiniboia than in Moose Jaw. I’m talking about prices in the populated part of our country where there is a lot of supply and demand. *sighs*

Well, I won’t starve here. Now, time to decide what I’m doing for dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs? Curried chicken and rice? Maybe just a bowl of soup? Or how about bangers and mash? Hmm…

BTW, my driver asked if I’m Canadian or American and when I said Canadian, he asked, “Where from, Saskatchewan?” I was SHOCKED. Most people over here don’t even know Saskatchewan is a thing. As it turned out, his friend and wife moved to a small town near Moose Jaw. Yeah, it’s my Yorkshire neighbours back at Haven. I can’t make this stuff up.

Post edited in May of 2017 to add: My neighbour Charles at Haven said that he told our English neighbour P about the Tesco delivery guy and, without hesitation, he said that the guy is a friend of his ex-wife’s!!!

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Knackered

I had a pleasant first evening in Hebden Bridge. I went down into the village, about 1KM, and walked around for a bit looking for dinner. There weren’t many options on a Sunday night. I finally decided on a rather fancy pub, which was a good choice since I had a really lovely meal for just £10. That was a generous sausage sandwich with cheese and onion chutney with a small cup of carrot and cumin soup and half a pint. Everything was really yummy and a bit “posh” (the name of my sandwich!). It’s nice to know that I have a few options to eat out here.

I came in and messed with the telly antenna for a bit until I got a steady signal. Haven’t played with rabbit ears since the turn of the century! 😀 Sherlock wound up being so intense that I had to rewatch it straight away on iPlayer and I didn’t get to sleep till about one.

There was no rush to get up this morning, so I was up around ten. It was a better night than I’ve been having, but still not great. So, of course, I’ve got a cold starting. 🙁 I was able to make coffee in my room and my host had left me muesli and milk. So I had a bit of breakfast before heading out around eleven. But my Airbnb host was home and we ended up gabbing for a long bit before I left. She informed me that my best bet for groceries is to place an order online for delivery by Tesco’s so I made a mental note to look that up.

So it was almost 12:30 by the time I got to my house. It was raining quite heavily and there is a super long and steep flight of stairs down to the house, so I took it sloooooow to avoid a fall. The house was all ready for me, with a cosy (gas) fire in the hearth. I unpacked a bit, had a chat with the cat, and then settled down to see if I could indeed order online from Tesco. I created an account and learned that as a new customer, I get free deliveries for a month! However, there is a minimum spend of £40 and I had a hard time getting to that amount, so I think this will be a one-time thing. But I got meat, cheese, sauces, and various staples. I’ll be able to supplement with the stores here in the village. My Canadian credit card appeared to be approved, so I should be getting my order between 4 and 5PM tomorrow. I could have had it sooner, but since I wasn’t sure I would get the free shipping, I opted for the cheapest time slot.

By the time I was done, it was well past two and I was famished. My host had left me a plate of homemade fish cakes, so I sautéd some Brussels sprouts and shallots to have with a couple of those. Dang were they good! I’ll have to ask her what she put in them in terms of spices (cumin, maybe?). There was potato in them, so I didn’t need anything else to have a complete meal. Very thoughtful of her.

Late afternoon, as it was getting dark, I headed back into the village to find something for dinner. The supermarket here isn’t bad in terms of choices, but I compared a few prices to Tesco’s and was very glad I made the online order! I found a prepared salad that should be a nice supper. I’ll finish the fish cakes for lunch tomorrow and then I’ll have my groceries after that.

It’s quite a trek into town, lots of stairs and hills. It’s slick in rain and I hope we don’t get ice, but I doubt I’ll get that lucky as there is snow in the forecast for the weekend…

Here’s to hoping I get some proper sleep tonight. I really don’t want to lose a whole week here to a cold the way I did when I got to Spain.

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Manchester to Hebden Bridge

It was yet another not so great night of sleep, but still better than the previous three. I had prebooked a train ticket for 11:15 to arrive in Hebden Bridge for 11:50. Knowing how long it would take me to get into Manchester, I got up at 8:30 and took my time with breakfast and packing. When I left around 9:30, I found the morning was warmish and not too damp, which was great since I had a 1KM walk waiting for me when I arrived in Manchester.

Even though it was Sunday, the bus still ran every few minutes. So I didn’t have to wait too long for one. I hadn’t taken into account traffic being non-existent, so we got to downtown (Manchester Piccadilly coach station) in record time. By the time I’d followed the barely adequate signage to Manchester Victoria railroad station, it was just past 10:15. Dang. I could have gotten up 45 minutes later!

I happened to pass Queen Victoria’s statue. She does look like Jabba the Hutt…

The station is really not a pleasant one to hang out as it’s all outdoors (brr), the toilets are terrifying (the stench was such that I could not get close to them), and there are no benches. The only place to sit comfortably is one of several cafés and I wasn’t at the point of needing another coffee.

First thing I did was collect my ticket from a self-serve machine. I bought it online last night for £4.25 and the site claimed that I was saving money. Just to check, I went through the process to buy a ticket for the 11:15 to Hebden Bridge and it was £10!!! Am I glad I bought online! The collection process was easy. I just had to insert the card I’d used to make the purchase and enter a code that had been sent to my phone.

Then, I just found a wall to lean against and spent some time on Buzzfeed. 🙂

The train was thankfully right on time (some other routes were delayed) and the trip was super quick, just a bit more than 30 minutes. The landscape was very foggy and bleak. There was a long bit in a tunnel. I kept my ticket in hand since it was checked after nearly every stop. When we got to Todmorden, the stop before Hebden Bridge, the ticket checker just came to tell me, “You’re next.” Very nice of him!

My host wasn’t waiting when I got in, but showed up after a few minutes. She took me into Hebden Bridge to show me around a bit. It’s a very cute touristy place with a lot of shops, but not a lot of stores, rather like Dawson City. I was advised that since I’m here a month, I would do well to take a bus to Halifax to do a stock up shop and then top up at what passes for a supermarket here. So I will take that under advisement.

I was then treated to lunch! Wow! We went for real Italian pizza like I haven’t enjoyed since the Balkans, followed by an espresso. Only £6 (10CAD), which is almost Balkan prices for such a meal.

We then went to the house so I could meet my charge and see how things work. The house is adorable and so typically my idea of an English cottage. The cat looks a lot like my Neelix (RIP) and took to me right away. She’s very chatty! I think I will be very happy. My office (Poang chair in the sitting room) has an amazing view. I will share that for sure.

Since the house is tiny, I was asked to find other accommodation tonight. As it turns out, the Airbnb I picked was literally around the corner! Since I was asked to show up in the late morning to give my host time to leave, I’m going to check out at the last possible second, 11AM, and then go get settled.

My Airbnb is really lovely. The place in Manchester was fine, really, but for the same price point in Hebden Bridge I have luxury. I was just able to make myself a cup of tea from a huge assortment (went with vanilla chai!) and the bed seems comfy. I will confess that the top reason I picked this one is because they have a TV and tonight there is a new episode of Sherlock airing. 🙂 So I’m rather counting the minutes to 9PM. But first, I’ll need to get some sort of dinner sorted. Hopefully there’s a chippy or pub not too far away. For tomorrow, my host is leaving me fish cakes to reheat and Brussels sprouts to cook up! I haven’t had any of those in far too long!

Amsterdam already feels so far away. I can’t believe how quickly I’ve managed to run myself straight back down again, but four nights of crap sleep will do that to me. Now, on to my English life! 😀

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How the Smartphone Has Changed Travel For Me

I was asked this in a comment yesterday: “Do I really need an iPhone to get about?  What happened to maps?”

I like to use a paper map to orientate me in a city and to get a better idea of where things are in relation to each other. If I’m just going from point A to B, I’ll also use it to navigate. Provided the city has adequate street signage, which so many of them do not.

To me, the question of whether you really need a smartphone to travel nowadays is akin to asking an explorer of old if he needs an astrolabe or a sextant. No, not strictly speaking. But it sure makes it easier to get around.

Your paper map won’t tell you where you are in an instant.

It doesn’t know the most pedestrian friendly route or the location of the nearest no-fee ATM.

It can’t let you do a quick search on the cheap sushi place to learn it has a mouse problem.

Unless it’s specifically for public transit, it very likely won’t be able to get you to the nearest bus stop for your route and tell you how quickly to expect the next bus.

The paper map will disintegrate in rain (like mine did on Friday — it was so damp out that even when under cover, the map was getting soaked).

Glancing at your smartphone is way more discrete and something locals do, which can be safer than standing on a corner with a giant map, branding yourself as a tourist.

A paper map also won’t give you access to your bank accounts if you need to move money around in a hurry, a calculator to do a quick currency conversion, or access to your invoicing system when you’re off on what is technically a work day and a client emails you with a question (your map also can’t get your emails).

I could go on and and on about the relevance of a smartphone. I travelled before they existed and having one is so much better than not having one. If you’re someone whose idea of travel is to take taxis between locations with very little walking around, then a paper map is likely still enough. But I cover a lot of ground on foot and I’d much rather have a little voice in my ear telling me turn here or there so that I can focus on discovering the city I’m visiting than to wander around with my nose buried in a map.

That said, I’d take my GPS over any smartphone maps and I’m still rather kicking myself for not finding room for mine!