I wake up early and avail myself of the family’s actual, working shower. It’s a luxury for me to wash my hair under a real showerhead, and not have to fumble with ill-fitting hoses like I do back at the London flat. When I come downstairs, I see that Matt has used the excuse of having a guest to fix one of his favorite breakfasts: hot croissants with melted ham and cheese. What a treat! The kids are quite happy to have a guest if it means they get to eat this well, too, so I don’t feel guilty and happily enjoy my breakfast.
Luxury Breakfast With the Manchester Family
We have a bit of a plan going. Fielding has driving lessons and a math tutoring session later in the day, so she’s kind of busy. Matt has to go to work, even though it’s Saturday. Peter’s just going to hang out for a while. Kim and I will take the dog to get her special, medicine-laced bath, and we’ll stop at a nearby arcade (group of stores) that has artists’ studios and boutiques. After that we’ll pick up the dog, take her home, meet Matt for lunch, and then head to the North part of town to see where my mother grew up.
Houses and Yards
Just a brief break here to explain something about the architecture and developments around London and Manchester. There are not many stand-alone houses, and most of them are mansions. One has to have a lot of money to live in London anyway, and while Manchester is cheaper, there are still mostly semi-detached and apartment blocks (I live in a “purpose built apartment block,” meaning the building was intended to house multiple apartments from its inception.) Semi-detached means duplex. There’s a house that looks symmetrical across the front, but it’s actually split down the middle, and each owner shares a wall. Most of these are two-storey houses. In Manchester there are usually gardens (yards) in the back, if not both front and back. Here’s the neighborhood that Kim et al live in. It’s typical of many, many neighborhoods in the area.
Fielding’s Family’s Neighborhood in Manchester
Driving
I haven’t yet ridden in the front seat of a car, and only been in two cabs so far, so it’s quite an experience to ride while Kim drives. Being on the left side of the road feels okay until it’s time to make a turn, at which point I can’t help but wince as it seems like we’re heading into oncoming traffic. But that is absolutely nothing compared to the roundabouts. Kim explains that they’re actually a much better way of controlling traffic than cornered intersections, but my heart is in my throat with each and every one. I don’t know how long it takes one to get used to the driving on the left, but I’ve been in the UK for nearly 3 weeks and I still have to undo 50+ years of habit to remember to look the correct way when crossing streets. I’m not sure I could ever drive here…
Buildings and Interesting Sights in Manchester
We drop the dog off and head to the part of town with the artist studios. On the way I snap some shots of lovely buildings in and near the town center of Manchester.
Near the City Center Area of Manchester
On the way to the studios I see some interesting artwork on a wall. There’s more of that here than in London. In London I swear I’ve only seen graffiti and artwork on walls at the skate park on the Queen’s Walk and under the platforms at the rail stations. I don’t think it’s allowed in London at all. But here in Manchester there’s a bit more guerilla art, as it were.
Wall Art in Manchester
We pass an old (137 years old) building that used to be the cotton and fish marketplace entrance. The English empire ran on the cotton trade for over 100 years, and Manchester was the center of that trade. Some buildings still stand from the 1870’s:
Old Cotton and Fish Market Gates
We walk into an arcade of artists studios, where we see people making jewelry, leather items, classes in felting wool, and various other artistic pursuits. Apparently it used to just be studios, but the artists all got together and fixed the place up to offer retail sales as well. Nothing really catches my eye except some paper light fixture shades, but the person who made them isn’t around; it’s just an exhibit. I do see one interesting thing, though, and you’re going to laugh when you see the photo. I had to use the bathroom, and to my surprise, there’s a teeny, individual-sized water heater attached to the sink. Just so you’ll have warm water to wash your hands. Isn’t that so sweet? Who would’ve thought water heaters were made so small?
Smallest Water Heater in the World
There really is something about the way the British treat each other that’s very endearing. There are monuments and historical sights that belong to the people, not to the government, and those sites are well-treated. No graffiti, no vandalism. And there are very many fewer signs about rules and regulations. There are some, but not as many as we seem to have in the US, and the tone of them is different. “Take care” and “mind the gap”. Even when they’re making the Homeland Security-style announcements about not leaving luggage around unattended, they still speak respectfully. “Please be sure to keep all your personal belongings with you, otherwise they might have to be removed and destroyed” instead of “Never leave luggage unattended or take bags from unknown parties.” Maybe I’m being romantic, but it really seems as if the authorities expect people to be educated and civilized, and they don’t automatically treat citizens as if they were wayward children.
As a related aside, though, I will tell you about one announcement I heard that blew my mind. I was walking through a Tube station on my way to an adjoining line one day, when the announcer said, in a very normal, everyday tone: “Ladies and gentlemen, the Jubilee Line is experiencing severe delays due to a person under the train at the Earl’s Court station. All other lines are in good working order.” A person under the train?! OMG! Nobody but me seemed the slightest bit unnerved by this announcement, least of all the announcer.
Okay, back to Manchester. We leave the arcade and go shopping in a mall. There was a fish market there with fresh fish, and just like I’d seen at my own grocery store, some of the fish was dyed a bright, neon yellow. I’d asked the fish monger about it, and he said it was because in the old days cod was smoked with wood that would turn the fish yellow. So even though this fish is fresh and not smoked, people still associate the yellow color with “the old days.” I know in the States I’ve seen salmon dyed a deeper orange-pink color, and I’ve never understood why people would want to eat falsely colored fish. So I guess this is the British version.
Bright Yellow Dyed Cod
After shopping we go to pick up the dog and take her back home, then we meet Matt for lunch near the university. We go to Gabriel’s café, a nice, down-home type place that Matt & Kim really like. Matt orders pork belly in gravy and beans, which is not something you’ll see on too many American menus.
Pork Belly and Beans for Lunch
I want the beet salad, but I need some protein, so I ask Gabriel if I could have a piece of sausage with my salad. He’s very sweet and says he’ll get the chef to make up the plate for me. To my surprise, the chef put the sausage in the salad itself. It’s still good, even if the sausage is bright neon pink from the beets.
Beetroot Salad with Sausage
After lunch Kim and I head to the Northern part of town, called Prestwich, where my mother was born. I have the address of the house in which she grew up, and I’m excited about seeing my ancestral home. It takes a bit of map reading and a few wrong turns, but we do finally find the house. It’s in a lovely little neighborhood that seems populated with Hassidic Jews. We see quite a few folks coming out of the synagogue nearby, and all the stores are closed because it’s Saturday. Kim is happy to find the neighborhood, because she happens to love bagels and hasn’t yet found any good ones in Manchester. So now she knows where to go!
Me in Front of My Mother and Grandparent’s Old House in Manchester
It turns out my mother used to live quite close to a very large park. She told me that when she was little, during the blitz of WWII, there were anti-aircraft guns in that park, and that sometimes the spent shells would go rolling down her street. I remember other stories she’s told me, about ducking in ditches when planes came flying low, strafing the neighborhood. Stories of how she had to hide in the cupboard during air raids. She was finally evacuated to a farm in the Southern part of England, when she was 5 years old. I think she spent 4 long years away from her parents, while the war raged in Manchester. My mother told me that they used to listen to the radio, and that there were propaganda shows in which the announcer would say that Manchester was burning, that this street or that street was now rubble, and they never really knew what was true or not. But at 5 years old, how would you know what to believe? Adults were saying something was so; why would you question it? Here’s an image from an ad in a Tube station from the London History Museum that gave me a picture of what things must’ve been like:
Image from London History Museum Advertisement
Anyway, all those stories come flooding back to me as I stand in this now peaceful, lovely neighborhood. I am so very grateful that I, and especially that my own children, have never had to live through anything like what my grandparents and my mother went through. I send up a prayer of thanks and then leave my thoughts of war-torn past and go back to my current incredibly hot, sunny, cloudless day in Manchester.
Now we’re headed to the Lowry Museum and the adjacent shopping mall. Both Kim and I have gift ideas in mind, so we do the girl shopping thing. It’s air conditioned in the mall, and it feels good. I think every single person in Manchester is either outside or in an air-conditioned mall, and later in the day I figure 40% of the population is sunburned. It’s so unusual for them to have such a lovely day that everyone wanted to be out enjoying it.
The Lowry Museum in Manchester
The Lowry and the surrounding area is in the process of being redeveloped. Kim told me that each year the UK chooses a city to receive funding and get a makeover. This year it’s Manchester. This area is on a river, the Mersey, I think it is. So they’re working on a riverwalk and other niceties. Just across the river is the Manchester United stadium.
Manchester Riverwalk Near the Man U Stadium
We finish shopping and then have to head back, because my train is leaving soon. I hug everyone and thank them for their hospitality. It’s been such a pleasure to meet them and to see a bit more of the UK than just London. On the train ride home I do manage to get some writing done, since I’m only seduced into taking a few more photos of the storybook countryside.
Sheep in the Fields on the Way Home From Manchester
Fields with Hedgerows That Could Be Hundreds of Years Old
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