Trip to Manchester, Part 1 - Fri 21 May, 2010

 {Note: Please excuse the quality of the photos in this post. Many were taken from moving vehicles (trains, cars) and some were taken by other people.}


I have to get up early today because I’m off to Manchester, where my mother was born. I’m actually going to spend the night there with a family I don’t know. It’s a great story: my friend Barbara has a daughter named Jocelyn. One of Jocelyn’s best friends is Fielding, who moved with her family to Manchester about 3 years ago. Fielding’s mom, Kim, and dad, Matt, said I could come to Manchester and stay at their house for one night. So I’m taking the train from Euston Station to Manchester. I’m to find my way to the University, where Kim and Matt work, and then I’ll go home with them.

I’ve got my train tickets and make my way to the station. It’s pretty big and bustling, with people coming and going.

Departure Board at Euston Station

I get there in plenty of time, because one never knows when the Tube will close a line, and since I’ve never ridden the national rail system here, I gave myself plenty of time. Too much time, actually. The train doesn’t leave for 40 minutes.

I’ve noticed while in other stations that there are shops selling Cornish pasties, which are like small pot pies with meat and sauce in them. I used to get pasties at a shop on College Avenue that’s now long-gone, and I haven’t had one since. So I’ve been saving that treat for my train trip.  My plan had been to eat it on the train, but with all this time to kill, I decide to eat it right away. It’s delicious!

I’d brought my laptop on the train, because they provide tables and electrical plugs for people that want to work. I figure I’ll be able to catch up on my blog. I actually do manage to write a bit, but then within 20 minutes or so we’re traveling through gorgeous countryside, and I can’t put down my camera. I take at least 30 photos of the rural farmland, 20 of which actually work. I won’t put them all here; I’ll just show you a few now. We’ll do a slideshow when I get home.

Gorgeous Green Countryside on the Way to Manchester

There are fields of outrageously bright yellow flowers which are rapeseed or what we know as canola, the oil of which is used in cooking. I thought it was mustard at first. It looks as bright yellow as the mustard in Napa.

Bright Yellow Fields of Canola Flowers

We pass canals with long houseboats floating lazily by (or at least they look lazy from the speeding train).  What a romantic sight. Sweet houseboats in Springtime fields, watching the trains come and go.

Canals With Houseboats

We also pass a nuclear power plant. This is quite a surprise for me. There is such controversy in the US about nuclear power, and I have memories of the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters. It’s frightening, really, to see the cooling towers looming in the distance, with steam pouring out of them. We’re only 45 minutes outside of London, after all.  As we get closer I see all the water around the plant, and wonder about its safety. Is nuclear waste leaking into the water table, etc? But there are ducks and geese on that water. It’s probably just warmer than it would normally be, and migrating birds get to take a hot bath instead of a cold one.  I know Europe uses nuclear power much more than we do; another cultural difference. As the train speeds by with no incident, I take a few deep breaths and continue to appreciate the landscape we’re rolling through.

Nuclear Power Plant in the Distance

Nuclear Power Plant Close Up

I get off the train in Manchester, find my way to the taxi ranks, and ask how much it’ll be to go to the University. I didn’t want to walk all the way carrying my laptop, because to my utter amazement, it’s really hot out. It must be in the high 80s. The cab costs less than $10, so I hop in. I’m really trying to live in abundance on this trip, and not worry too much about money.  The last time I was in Europe, 5 years ago, I spent more time worrying about money and denying myself things, and I swore I wouldn’t do that on this trip. So I was fine with taking a cab, and even felt like I was treating myself to something I deserve. This is a new way of treating myself and experiencing life, and I’m enjoying it.

I get to the University and call Kim, but she doesn’t answer. I’m not sure what I’ll do if she’s forgotten that I’m coming, but before panicking I think maybe I’ll go ask at the University visitor center if they can direct me to her building. The woman who helped me has an accent very close to my grandmother’s, and I feel tears come to my eyes to hear it. (My grandma died a number of years ago, and my mother has an American accent.) I even tell the woman how much it warms my heart to hear her accent, and she thinks that’s the sweetest thing she’s heard all day. She calls Kim for me and tells her I’m on the way.

I find Kim’s building and she meets me. She’s very sweet, and offers to sit in the café to chat for a bit before we go up to see her lab. She asks me why I’m in the UK, and when I tell her I’m here to study Astrology, she asks me why I think Astrology works, etc. It’s always interesting for me to talk with “hard” scientists, but I can’t say that I’m the best person to defend Astrology to those whose lives are built only on the scientific method. I do my best, reminding Kim that Astrology and Astronomy were once the same thing, and that thousands of years of observation is what Astrology is based on. She’s very polite, and diplomatic, and seems open-minded, but I can tell I’m not doing such a good job of convincing her, or even answering her questions satisfactorily. We finally decide to drop it and go upstairs to her lab.

Kim shows me around and tells me about her research. She works on the genetics of bone marrow, and is doing some fascinating research on how certain parts of genes control the morphing of stem cells into healing cells within the blood. Or at least I think that’s a summary of what she’s working on. I’m proud of myself for being able to follow some of what she was talking about, but not sure I remember it all correctly. We see fruit fly labs and frog labs, and she lets me look at cancer cells through a high-tech microscope.  Kim tells me that one thing that distinguishes cancer cells from normal cells is that they never die. Most cells use up the “buffer” genes they have, and once those are exhausted, the cell knows it’s time to give up the ghost. But cancer cells don’t pay attention to that cue. Once scientists really understand all about how cancer cells live forever, they’ll be able to make any cell live forever. The implications of that are more than I can deal with after a day of traveling in the heat, so we finish that conversation and head back to her house.

On the way to the bus we’ll take home, we pass a huge, ancient, gorgeous cathedral. (It might just be a church. I think the difference is if the church is the seat of the diocese then it’s a cathedral, but in my mind, these huge buildings that are more than 500 years old must be cathedrals. You just can’t put them in the same class as the small, house-like buildings of corner churches.) We step inside and I get a few photos without being too obnoxious about it.

Cathedral in Manchester, Across the Street from the University

I have to say I love being in places where energy and money has been spent in showing that there is a divine presence larger than any one person’s life. Most synagogues that I’ve seen spend their energies on other things than the building itself, but churches, especially European churches, go to great lengths to show the glory of God. I love the huge ceilings, the wood and stonework, and especially the stained glass. I consider myself a spiritual rather than religious person, but I can appreciate the beauty in religious buildings.

We catch a double-decker bus back to Kim’s house. I’m able to snap a few photos from the top of the bus, which is great fun. Kim and I talk about how intense it was for her to learn to drive in the UK and how she’s comfortable with it now, but still would rather take the bus or ride her bike.

Shots from the Double-Decker Bus in Manchester

At home I meet Fielding. Matt and Fielding’s younger brother Peter are out. They soon come home and we all chat for a bit. Matt goes in to make dinner—Spanish paella. Yum! But it’s already 6:30 and I’m starving, and I know how long it takes to make paella. So we snack on cheese & crackers. Peter goes off to play video games.

I break out my laptop and pull up Kim’s chart. We talk for a while, and everyone laughs at how accurate my questions and ideas about her are. I do Fielding’s chart, and then Kim asks me to do Peter’s. I look at it briefly, but then say I want him to come down, because I don’t want to talk about him without his permission. He comes down and we talk. He has a Cancer Sun, and Kim and Fielding have Capricorn Suns, so they’re polar opposites. I’m able to explain to them why they might have trouble seeing the world the same way, and how they might keep each others' different points of view in mind when they interact. Everyone seems happy, and Kim seems as if she might actually put more faith in this discipline that is part art and part science. It all goes really well and we all have a great time.

Dinner is awesome! I feel so honored that Matt would go to so much trouble. He loves to cook. I’m a good excuse, he says, and I can definitely relate to that. They have a beautiful house they’re remodeling, and after dinner we talk a bit about their plans for the kitchen. Then we take a walk in the park over to a biscuit (cookie) factory and back. At the park we see some awesome grafitti, a mural, in fact. I took shots of it for Bruce and Teresa, especially, to see.

Peter in Front of Mural in Manchester Park

Matt, Kim, Fielding, and Peter have one of the loveliest and loving vibes of any family I’ve ever been around.  It was such a pleasure to be part of it, even as a guest.

Matt, Kim, Fielding, Peter, Myself and Heidi, the Dog in Front of Their House
(Heidi moved.)

Later we all play a board game, called Taboo. Peter, Kim, and Matt all go to bed, but Fielding and I stay up late talking about books and our favorite authors. Fielding is incredibly sweet and lets me use her bed. At first I demure, out of politeness, but when I see her lovely bed with it’s wrought iron frame, I drop that and just thank her for the use of her room.

These folks are just so nice, so welcoming and warm. I am forever grateful to them for opening their house to me. 

Next post: Manchester, Part 2