In our cute wee tinny car, we buzzed on up to Wigan from Swindon. It was our first encounter with the M6. Hopefully we'll never use that beast again! I'm extremely glad that it was James driving and not me.
When we finally arrived at my cousin Paul's place (we went to another Church St in the wrong suburb...) we settled down for a night in front of the rugby and a catch up about Paul's new job with the Brits and what it's like for a Kiwi living in Wigan.
I thought it was a bit strange that underneath my "stinging nettle rash" on my back it felt like someone was punching me...
The next day Paul and Ali took us to the cute old town of Chester. It was all Tudor wood on white buildings, tiny cobbled streets and lovely shopping (not just big chain stores that you see everywhere). And there was an AMAZING Boodles diamond shop, complete with doorman in top hat - I don't think anyone even stocks diamonds that big in NZ!
We had lunch in a tiny wee pub with low ceilings. And of course it came with chips. Sometime when you order a curry they actually ask you if you want it on rice or chips....
The next day was the full on Beatles experience in Liverpool. It was pretty groovy to see John Lennon's old house and Strawberry Fields (which is actually just an old garden). Paul and Ali played tour guides for us, even though they must be sick of showing off Beatles stuff to eager Kiwis.
I also took a photo of the English phenomenon that is Primark. Basically it's a huge chain store that sells poor quality clothes made in Turkmenistan/Romania/Poland at ridiculously low prices. So low that some people don't even bother trying on different sizes, they just buy the same thing in a couple of sizes. It avoids the thousands of people in the changing rooms. Anyhoo, the Liverpool shop had just opened, and there were so many people trying to cram themselves into the shop that there were cattle bars set up airport style and policemen and security guards keeping the masses under control.
Then, as distance increases patriotism immensely, we went to watch the All Blacks play. It was hard to find a place showing our important rugby game, as some little team called Manchester United was playing Chelsea at the same time.
I couldn't figure out why I was so exhausted after two days out, but after an ENORMOUS meal (with chips) with our wonderful hosts at the Orrell pub, I just collapsed with tiredness and this weird pain on my side....
