June 4, 2007
Pickle Report From the Road
Oh, welcome to the North of England. After a whole of night of all flying no sleep, we landed in Manchester and picked up our rental car which, due to a mix-up, turned out to be a brand new Saab 93 Convertible. We couldn’t believe it either. And then we drove three and a half hours up to North Yorkshire, pulling off once when my lack of sleep was making me see triple, this compounded by my baptism by fire driving on these Great British roads (roundabouts and driving on the wrong side are really just fine, but the narrowness and twistiness of these roads at high speed make driving rather terrifying). We finally arrived in Sinnington, where the marquee was already set up on the village green and we saw the bride and groom sorting out last minute arrangements. Dinner down the pub that night, and then we went to bed early at our splendid b&b. Next day was all wedding, and it was all gorgeous, perfect, hot sunny day, gorgeous bride and groom, we got to ride there in a vintage Bentley, the 11th century church was predictably lovely, all the guests were good fun, cupcakes, good company, first dance and then more dance, champagne, hilarity and porkpies. Yesterday we boarded our vintage bus for a trip o’er the moors and an incredible lunch at Byland Abbey (roast lamb shank, followed by sticky toffee pudding). And then back to Sinnington, and we were off with the top down, driving across the countryside on A roads, feeling quite Two for the Road (and me regretting I hadn’t packed a headscarf or movie star sunglasses). England is breathtakingly gorgeous and spreads far and wide. Soon the Yorkshire Dales turned into The Pennines, and then the clouds moved in and thunder rolled. I’ve rarely seen a more dramatic landscape, but then I come from Central Ontario where we don’t do drama much. The sun came out again, and we got on the motorway (the top was back up by this time, as we’d anticipated the rain in time). Eventually after 4 hours of driving, we arrived in Fleetwood Lancashire, and were reunited with our England Mum and Dad, who were quite happy to welcome home their prodigal son and his dotty wife.
What a surfeit of reading I’ve got on at the moment. Reading Town House by Tish Cohen, which is ultra-enjoyable and perfectly read in the little bites I can afford to take during this somewhat whirlwind vacae. But then I’ve also got the weekend papers (which seem to have become more tabloidy over the last two years, and not just in their shape), I’m venturing into Waterstones today, and I’ve also got my bag of tricks from Bronwyn. My bridesmaid’s gift was Cath Kidston bookbag stuffed with Persephone Books and others.
Further, I’ve got four more days of this breeze left, with trips to Lancaster and Cumbria planned.
And all of this conspires to make me the luckiest girl in the whole wide world.
