Lucy Gash is a champ, and I love her to bits. It was the second time
I’d been adopted into someone’s family during this trip, and for
Christmas it is even more special to spend time with ‘family’. Lucy
lives in Marple, a small town about half an hour south of Manchester,
and I was stoked to have been invited to spend Christmas with her and
her family. Her house is absolutely gorgeous – it’s half of a lovely
renovated old heritage home at #1 Lime Kiln Lane, with big bay windows
overlooking the park, and is constructed as three split levels. She
bought it from her parents, who live in the other half – which is
perfect for nipping next door to attend Christmas dinners! – but still
allows for more than enough privacy.
When I arrived, I
was introduced to Brian and Mary, Lucy’s parents, who were both champs
as well (seems to run in the family!). Brian reminded me so much of my
grandpa Mel, it was great, and like my grandpa, he likes a drink and
making sure that everyone else around him is enjoying one too. Our
Christmas Eve lunch-slash-dinner was also shared with Lucy’s sister
Katherine (aka “boobs” – I love sisterly nicknames!) her boyfriend Olly,
Lucy’s brother Dan and his girlfriend Jane. By mid-afternoon we were
all a bit jolly and had stuffed ourselves with a usually unacceptable
amount of roast turkey, vegetables, gravy, chocolate roulade and pear
jelly. The pissiness continued into the evening (which begins at about
4pm, it gets dark so early. I couldn’t handle it) when we traipsed down
to one of the two local pubs to meet up with Lucy’s new man, Robbo.
Speaking of champs, add another one to the list!
Christmas
Day involved a lot of food, again! I was a little surprised when Lucy
gave me a couple of cute Christmas gifts – which was totally unnecessary
considering just having me there for Christmas was present enough. I
had bought her a small present though, so that made me feel a bit
better! The presents kept flowing when we arrived next door, and were
clearly a big part of the Christmas ritual for their family. I always
find it interesting to see how different people do it, because for my
family, presents aren’t a big deal, especially now that we are all
(apparently) grown up. But everyone had clearly put a lot of thought
into what they bought each other, which I really value. The Quality
Streets chocolates and champagne were also flowing!
After
stuffing ourselves for the second Christmas lunch in a row, we went for
a wander up the garden path – oops I mean the lane – to visit some
friends’ of Lucy and Robbo’s. We spent the night playing Guitar Hero on
Playstation, as well as belting out a few tunes on the karaoke channel.
It was good juvenile fun for big kids!
Boxing Day we
finally got our asses off the couch and headed off to “Stomp &
Chomp” 2008. Great name! This is an annual event organised by a local,
which is basically an orienteering expedition through the Mancunian
countryside, in teams of up to five, based on clues and observations.
This year’s route took us along stone walled public access paths across
rolling fields, through sloppy, muddy patches, up the hill to a big
cross monument, via an obligatory mid-way pub stop-off where I was able
to try the local “bitter” brew, along a lake and river, through a golf
course, and back to the pub we started at for some much-needed beef
hotpot. It was great fun, and definitely a unique way to see the
countryside.
It was just as I imagine rural England to
look like: green rolling hills criss-crossed by ancient stone walls,
small villages with their local pubs dotted here and there, woolly white
sheep with fat tails wandering about. And there was something
refreshing (although it was bloody freezing!) about traipsing around the
place in a big jacket, boots, beanie, scarf and gloves, totally warm on
the inside but feeling like your face is going to freeze off.
On
the 27th Lucy had organised to meet some friends for lunch at the pub
(where else?) over yonder. “Over yonder” in this case is as it sounds –
over the hills and far, far away – well far enough to walk for a couple
of hours. Robinson, who I’d met the night before, joined Lucy, Robbo and
I on our trek across the countryside. It was a great day for walking
and we crossed over our route from Stomp and Chomp via the cross
memorial on the top of the hill. Nothing like crunching all the
glass-like ice on the surface of the puddles when you’re rugged up and
walking around in the cold! I enjoyed meeting all of Lucy’s childhood
friends, and they’d all kept in touch even though many of them lived
away from Marple and now had families of their own.
Later
in the day two of Lucy’s friends Lara & Courtney, who had
driven up from London, joined us at the pub. He is a Jamaican that has
made his money in the UK as a DJ. The poor buggers recently had to postpone their
Christmas holiday back to Jamaica because Courtney had lost his
passport, and wasn’t able to replace it in time! But the good thing was
it meant they were able to spend some time with us. After heading back
from the pub, a bit of chilling out, wine in hand, some traditional
Christmas game-playing (in this case Jenga!) and some food at Lucy’s, we
headed down to the other Marple pub for more socialising and beer
drinking. It was another fun night of just hanging out and talking
rubbish which ended in a random visit to the other pub once ours closed,
and managing to flog a long blonde wig from one of the Marple locals. I
must say Courtney looked particularly ravishing in it – being Jamaican
and all!
Check out my pics! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=64727&id=543196685&l=10e1866171
And
then it was one last brekky – Robbo’s famous bubble (of the bubble and
squeak fame, but said with a Mancunian accent, hilarious!) topped with a
poached egg being the new food of choice – before boarding the train
for one last adventure: New Years in Edinburgh.
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