Train, planes, and automobiles

A night at the opera

A smooth flight, a longish walk to Manchester train station with two quite heavy suitcases, getting heavier by the minute. You know the kind: with wheels, but on on a too narrow base, so it is an interesting hand muscle exercise to keep them balanced. Plus, you have to bend over walking (well, at least I do) because the grip is too low.

Some slight annoyance and further carrying of bags because, contrary to the schedule, I had to change trains at Manchester Piccadilly.

Towards York the trip got interesting because groups of youngsters started entering the train, evidently going for a night in town - said town being York. I witnessed again a phenomenon that I saw first in Leicester: the girls extremely sharply dressed, with skirt heights quite inappropriate to the season and quite often their own build, the boys just the opposite: slouchy, unkempt. It was not yet 20:00 but all of them were quite far gone already, and they came prepared with additional pints of beer that were consumed during the train trip. Conversation consisted of reminiscences of past debauches, told at full volume, including not only the intake but also the aftermath - the more unpleasant the merrier.

I am under no illusion that their Dutch peers are any more restrained, but typically such scenes take place at least four hours later, and I am quite sure that the dress code is different. My hypothesis for the former is that this is a leftover from the days the English pubs all closed at 23:00, so you had to get your drinking done before that time.

2-person studio at Wentworth College, York

Getting there

A taxi ride (driving past lots more merrymakers) got me to Wentworth College, but not yet into my apartment. There was a synchronisation gap that resulted in a waiting period of some 10 minutes before the key hand-over took place, but that was time well-spent: I could take a brief look around, and realised that this is actually the building shown on the Accomodation web site (see picture at top), and it is located just as prettily as it appears on the picture.

The studio itself is quite adequate, though I wouldn't want to spend any length of time here with 2 persons. The drapes are covering the window, which looks to the back and not to the lake - making for less noise, so that's all to the good. The safari-like bed covers are the cheapest to be had at Zeeman.

Some info was kindly provided about facilities, including a large supermarket that turned out to be within walking distance (20 mins, have to get a bike as soon as possible) and open until 22:00. I didn't have too much time to find anything beyond the immediate necessities (something to eat tomorrow morning, coffee, toilet paper, cutlery other than chopsticks), will have to explore more extensively later - for instance, tomorrow. I did see they also have bed covers, so that's one item I could have left at home :-/

I will have to find out how to turn the heat down. Probably can't be done.