Stomp and chomp: a random Mancunian Christmas

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.

Bournemouth, old London town, and old mates

Good old London – being an Aussie, you can always find lots of mates to catch up with. First on the list: Lisa and Dave, mates of mine from those long-ago days at uni. They were awesome hosts, welcoming me with Dave’s special bangers and mash when I arrived! It had been a while, and it was great to catch up on their lives in the UK. During my time with them, Lisa gave me a tour of her and Dave’s work (the Royal Science Institute, brilliant), we wandered around Oxford and Regent streets to check out the Christmas lights and elaborate store-fronts (to me it was amazing – after the non-event of Christmas in Indonesia, the biggest Muslim country in the world!), and we went to see a theatre version of Edward Scissorhands. It was great fun. The other reason that the two of them are champs is because they let me use their house in Queen’s Park as a base while they were away for Christmas.

Because most of my friends were working during the day, it gave me a chance to see a bit of London (and its shops) during the day, and catch up with people during the night. I was able to share a few wines in London’s oldest wine cellar near the Thames with James Mac, an old uni buddy of Ange’s; share a few beers with Sally and Schuey at the Regent Hotel down the road; catch up with Fritha, a new friend from the wedding, for a drink on the Thames; randomly find out that Rob M-L was back at home, and share brunch and some Christmas shopping with him in Camden; and of course buy myself a few Christmas pressies. But I couldn’t help myself from converting all the costs to the feeble Aussie dollar! So it was another reason I was thankful that I had a gratis place to stay. And justified all my purchases. :)

And then, the most random thing that’s happened to me in a while: while strolling across Westminster Bridge, James and I ran into a distant relative of mine, Tanya, who was coincidentally on holiday too. We both looked at each other and at first couldn’t put names to faces, we were both so out of context! But after a few seconds we worked it out. It was great to see her – I’d only met her a few times after discovering I had a third cousin I didn’t know about! – and to get out of the cold, the three of us went to the nearest pub for a couple of beers (see a trend emerging here?).

Tanya and I spent the next day on a Thames river cruise up to Greenwich to check out the Meridian, and meandering back to the city afterwards. It was great to have a friend to hang out with, who had just as much free time on her hands as I did! And I would never have gone there if she wasn’t planning on it.

And then onto the next adventure, with a certain Mr Zul.

Zul is one of the biggest legends I know, with a cracker smile and cheeky approach to life that makes him fun to be around. We used to work together in Liberia for ICRC, in 2006. I hadn’t seen him since then, so was looking forward to it. He was born in Cameroon, but educated in the UK, and had gone back to university for further study in Media and Communications at Bournemouth University after finishing up with humanitarian work after a few amazing destinations. So I jumped on the train and headed down to Bournemouth to hang out with him for a few days.

I got quite a welcome when I arrived – a big hug and pick up from the train station, an impromptu tour of his great little town, a trip to the beach, followed by an amazing roast chicken he’d made for our lunch. I felt very spoiled! It was nice to be taken care of, I realised how much I missed it in Indonesia! The beach was only 5 minutes away from his flat, and albeit cold and windy, being winter, I could imagine in summer it would be a cool place to hang out. If the wind ever stopped and the water ever got warm enough. Hehe! I never imagine beaches when I think of the UK, but being an island I guess it must have them somewhere…

The next afternoon we drove to Weymouth, further west. It was quiet, and many guesthouses said ‘full’, but were just closed during the off-peak season. Weymouth is another picturesque coastal town, with old stone buildings and a clock tower along the seafront, with a wharf at one end. We had come here to visit Zul’s mate from uni, who owned a nightclub and was hosting a big pre-Christmas bash there. After a tour of his club – which was amazing – we went for dinner, before coming back for a night on the town. The place was pumping, mainly upstairs in the club area with DJs, but also downstairs in the recently renovated, beautifully dark and seductive Moroccan-inspired Kas-bar. And the drinks were flowing… Zul’s mate kept cracking the bottles of champagne all night. Rad!

The next afternoon I received a tour of Bournemouth University and then onto the centre of town for some last-minute Christmas shopping, followed by watching an English Premier League game at the local pub, followed by trying to console him further (Chelsea had already lost) when his car was clamped for being parked illegally and he had to pay a huge fine… boo! We’d even moved the car once already, after parking illegally the first time, to what we thought was a legal park!

So it was at the train station the next day that I was sad to part ways with Zul. But we both had new adventures to look forward to – he was heading to Switzerland for Christmas and skiing adventures with a group of good mates, and I was heading back to London before cruising up to Manchester for Christmas with Lucy and her family. It had been a great few days with Zul, and I greatly appreciated all the effort he had gone to – I hadn’t felt that special in a long time! Amazing what a true bit of hospitality can do for you.

Back in London again, I checked out the Natural History Museum (my favourite building in London), which featured the National Geographic Wildlife Photographer of the Year. As usual, it was an amazing exhibition. I was also happy to catch up with two more friends, Sally and Isaac, for dinner one night – Isaac played footy with my previous boyfriend Matt, and we had become friends through him. While I had seen Sal at the pub a few nights ago, it was great to hang out with both of them at their place, and to find out what Isaac had been up to.

You can check out the pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60812&id=543196685&l=34f29e40aa

Christmas Eve, I packed my bags (again!) and jumped on the train, direction: North.