I hate Round Abouts
Friday morning after breakfast I had some time to kill so I took a walk down Princes dock. It was a beautiful sunny morning, some of the few bits of sun we have had this trip. Hey… how come I always seen to leave gorgeous weather in Portland to go somewhere with nasty weather? It is really cool, everywhere we go people offer us tea. When we saw one guy who did not we said to each other, “how rude!”.
We started at a university in Liverpool then we went to a hospital in Trafford. On the way to Trafford we went through a series of no joke at least 10 round abouts even though we were on a straight course for the highway. I think I have FINALLY mastered the round about model. Maybe. I still get honked at sometimes, but I think that is probably due more to me not staying in any particular lane. In the afternoon Annemari had to catch a flight to Helsinki so I went to the last hospital by myself. That is when the torrential rains started. There had been severe storms around the area most of the week, but we had escaped most of them. Not today.
After I left Manchester I headed out for Newcastle. It was several hours away, but I thought it would be a good stopping point for the night since I did not want to drive to Edinburgh in the dark. In fact I wasn’t sure I was going to get to Edinburgh at all because I was more interested in driving up the east coast. I had researched some hotels to find some that were decently priced and seemed okay. There are very few of the brands I’m used to here. I had the street names on most, so I thought for sure I could find them between that and the hotel search on the sat nav. Yeah right! I wasn’t too keen on staying right down town, but those were pretty much my only options. When I got to Newcastle, the first hotel I went to was the Malasion. It was desorated sort of art neuviox. It was all black and purple inside, and it smelled heavily of candles… what were they hiding? It seemed kinda run down too. The rate was about $225 per night, and I knew I could do as well or better if I could find one of the others. So I began the search for a hotel. I had seen the Hilton as I came into town, but I sat in the car park and couldn’t find anything in the sat nav. I was tired, hungry and starting to panic. I finally identified the Hilton and ended driving in circles trying to find the entrance. Melinda was absolutely no help. I could have sworn at one point that she was yelling at me. She even kept talking after I turned her off… ho-bag. The hotel was right on the Tyne river so that was no easy feat. I was happy with my choice though. It was a bit more expensive, but the room was nice, quiet, and clean. I had a nice meal including cheese plate and headed off to bed.
We started at a university in Liverpool then we went to a hospital in Trafford. On the way to Trafford we went through a series of no joke at least 10 round abouts even though we were on a straight course for the highway. I think I have FINALLY mastered the round about model. Maybe. I still get honked at sometimes, but I think that is probably due more to me not staying in any particular lane. In the afternoon Annemari had to catch a flight to Helsinki so I went to the last hospital by myself. That is when the torrential rains started. There had been severe storms around the area most of the week, but we had escaped most of them. Not today.
After I left Manchester I headed out for Newcastle. It was several hours away, but I thought it would be a good stopping point for the night since I did not want to drive to Edinburgh in the dark. In fact I wasn’t sure I was going to get to Edinburgh at all because I was more interested in driving up the east coast. I had researched some hotels to find some that were decently priced and seemed okay. There are very few of the brands I’m used to here. I had the street names on most, so I thought for sure I could find them between that and the hotel search on the sat nav. Yeah right! I wasn’t too keen on staying right down town, but those were pretty much my only options. When I got to Newcastle, the first hotel I went to was the Malasion. It was desorated sort of art neuviox. It was all black and purple inside, and it smelled heavily of candles… what were they hiding? It seemed kinda run down too. The rate was about $225 per night, and I knew I could do as well or better if I could find one of the others. So I began the search for a hotel. I had seen the Hilton as I came into town, but I sat in the car park and couldn’t find anything in the sat nav. I was tired, hungry and starting to panic. I finally identified the Hilton and ended driving in circles trying to find the entrance. Melinda was absolutely no help. I could have sworn at one point that she was yelling at me. She even kept talking after I turned her off… ho-bag. The hotel was right on the Tyne river so that was no easy feat. I was happy with my choice though. It was a bit more expensive, but the room was nice, quiet, and clean. I had a nice meal including cheese plate and headed off to bed.
posted by Jill at 9:42 PM
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