Saturday, May 27, 1989

Meeting at a Pub in Chester ...

I had a lie-in today until around noon, when I arose and ate. Milled about Dr. Morrison's house until about 5 p.m., doing little of any consequence, at which time Dr. Morrison and I left for Chester.

Once we arrived in Chester, we met up with his niece, Rosemary, and four of her friends, at a nice pub/restaurant for a meal. Three of Rosemary's friends were from New Zealand (Ian, Shelley, and the other one whose name escapes me at the moment) and one of her friends was from Texas (Wilson).

We carried on some interesting international conversations and discussions (Ian was impressed with my desire to become a journalist) before we left to go see a movie. We went to see "Beaches," a bit of a tear-jerker at the end of the film. It wasn't too bad, though. (At times when the movie was quiet, you could hear sniffs from the people in the audience.)

After the movie we all returned to Dr. M's house, where we watched a Billy Connolly video. Good fun! I ended the evening talking to Rosemary about traveling... she's done quite a bit herself.

Tomorrow we are talking about taking a trip into Wales. I can see it from the back window of Dr. Morrison's house, but so far I have not been there yet.

(Pictured is a pub-restaurant in downtown Chester. I've dined there before, but I'm not certain if I did on this particular evening. Still, very nice building.)

Saturday, January 21, 1989

Burns' Night Dinner ...

I woke up at noon - much later than usual - and made my way downstairs at Dr. Morrison's house to have some breakfast and read the newspaper.

I was still sitting at the table finishing my breakfast when Dr. Morrison came down and told me he had bought me a hoagie for lunch. So, fresh from one meal, I was granted another. (Deja vu?)

I relaxed and read a bit, then watched "A Passage to India" on TV - the movie version of the book I'm supposed to read. It was well done, interesting, and a lot easier than reading the book! It was a long movie (nearly 3 hours), but still shorter than reading it.

After the movie ended I took a bath, dressed in my dinner suit (Dr. Morrison tried unsuccessfully to get me into a kilt), and later we were off to the Burns Night Dinner. It's a long standing tradition to hold these affairs to celebrate the birthday of poet Robert Burns. This year marks the 230th anniversary of his birth. This was also the 104th year that the Chester Caledonian Association, which was hosting this evening's festivities, has held their own celebration here.

We arrived at the Queen's Hotel in Chester at around 6.30 p.m., then had a few drinks before sitting down. Scotch was heartily consumed, food was devoured (naturally haggis, which I despise, was on the menu, but there were other delicacies that I quite enjoyed), poetry from Burns was recited and heralded, speakers spoke fondly of Burns, songs of the poet's poems were enthusiastically sung (Dr. Morrison's cousin Ronnie was one of the two featured singers), and jovial toasts were made. It was a decidedly male-dominated event.

Unfortunately, the kids sitting behind us were a bit rude and loud, but the dinner was nevertheless entertaining and fun. Everyone left the banquet happy (some considerably happier than others), but this was hardly the end of the evening, as wives came to pick up their husbands to take them home, or to other parties. Our destination was an afterparty at the home of the Gills (friends of Dr. Morrison. I sat at the banquet with Gavin and Ian Gill.) That was good fun as well, with more drinking, conversation, poetry reading, and singing going on here... not to mention some Scottish dancing.

It was fabulous fun, and we finally made it back to Dr. Morrison's house at around 4.30 a.m. Still wasn't quite ready to go to bed, so I read a bit more from "The Chronicles" before falling cold away asleep.

(Pictures: #1 - The front and back cover of the Burns Night program. #2 - Enjoying an evening at the Gills house party after the event. #3 - Gus sings!)

Saturday, December 17, 1988

Christmastime in Chester ...

Started the day off with another lie-in. Got up at noon, and at 1.30 p.m., Dr. Morrison drove me into Neston to meet with Dave and take the bus to Chester. It was quite crowded, being a Saturday so close to Christmas, but interesting nonetheless.

This time I remembered my camera and took some pictures, but it got dark quite early (only four days until the shortest day of the year!), so a lof of the pictures might not come out.

Got some Christmas shopping done as well. I bought Viv's Christmas gift (which I will not release at this time, in case wandering eyes happen upon this document before Dec. 25.) I bought a going away/Christmas gift for Doug, and one for the Morrison's (a box of Chocolate Brazil Nuts.) For myself I bought the Peter Gabriel "Sledgehammer" remix maxi-single, which I haven't seen anywhere else. We also at lunch at McDonald's.

Came back home on the bus, then walked a bit to get back to the Morrison's house, where I was almost immediately graced with a phone call from, Duncan, one of Glen's friends, who asked if I would be interested in going to a pub with him, Steward and Sean. I did join them after eating dinner and wrapping my gifts, but I told them that I had to be back earlier than they were originally planning in order to make a few phone calls.

I had a good time out at the pub with those guys, and when I returned I discussed my rail plan with Dr. Morrison, as I was leaving for London tomorrow. Then I called Sid, where I was going to be staying while in London, and let her know my plans for arriving tomorrow. J.P., Doug and Viv were already at Sid's house, so I had a chance to talk to them as well. We worked out a plan that they would meet me in Leicester Square at 3.45 p.m. I hope I make it in time, because we're going to see "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" at the Odeon Theatre in Leicester Square.

Next I called my parents back in Camp Hill tell them that I was in Liverpool and that everything was fine. After a short break, I decided to surprise my friend Greg Swartz and give him a call and see how he was doing. Of course with Greg it's always a good conversation, and he updated me on what was going on at Camp Hill High School, how he made the Distinguished Honor Roll, his obsession with Europe, politics (of course) and how he organized and spoke at a Dan Quayle rally in Harrisburg for the election, the Clapham Junction train crash, and, of course, about the little man with the thin mustache who has secretly taken over the United States.

Following that I watched a little more telly and relaxed. I then joined Fiona and a friend of hers in a game of Dingbats, to which, after a stalemate, no one won.

Looking forward to heading down to London and seeing Viv and my friends again tomorrow. Should be fun!

Friday, September 30, 1988

Good German Girl vs. 'Bad Taste Disco'

Woke up early for breakfast to get ready for a little time in Hull. After a shower and some toast, Doug, J.P. and I hopped a bus to center city Hull, which we found to be a pretty nice section of town. When we arrived, we went through the various shops and took in the scenery. Through the course of the trip, I bought a much-needed towel and washcloth, as well as a cassette tape at the HMV music store: Elvis Costello's "Out of Our Idiot." That's a hard one to find in the U.S. - a collection of mostly previously unreleased songs.

We ate lunch at Wimpy's, a fast food restaurant named after the famed Popeye character (and referenced in the Genesis song "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" - "...chewing through your Wimpy dreams.") After that it was a leisurely walk through town. The last shop we went to was a fabulous Army-Navy store. Doug bought a flag and a pin, and J.P. bought a hat and a Soviet-type pin. I didn't buy anything on this trip, but I'm sure I will be back.

We caught a bus back to to the halls, where we then went out to open up our bank accounts. The school brought in representatives from various banks who were clamoring for the students to open their accounts with them. They offered various incentives, from 10 and 20 pounds, to a fancy filofax to organize your life (they are all the rage here.) I went with Lloyd's Bank, as did Doug. They just gave us the filofax, but I quite like it.

I then went to the International Students meeting, where we learned all about how to be normal. We then ate dinner, came back for the rest of the meeting, and then went to a reception. The reception was very nice. I got to meet a lot of people from abroad, but the highlight came when I met two girls from Germany and one from Holland. I sat and talked to them for awhile, their names being Karin, Suzanne, and Liesel-something (it became "Lisa"), along with Doug and J.P.

Doug and J.P. then left for the "Bad Taste Disco" event, of which I also had a ticket for, but chose instead to stay behind and talk some more, promising to catch up with them later. However, that was not to be the case. The four of us went in Karin's car (with the steering wheel on the normal side!) to get some pizza. Then we took it to Sue and Lisa's flat and ate it with some wine. One thing I've learned is that over here they eat pizza differently. Instead of slicing it, they cut it into bites and eat it. Odd.

On Monday when we ate pizza during our pub crawl in Chester, I sliced it and ate it like a normal pizza, and they found that to be odd. But they ate it the same way I did as well. (Oh, another humorous memory from the pub crawl that I forgot to mention before: Dave offered me a bite of his pizza, which I appeared to fulfill, but then at the last second took a monster bite, leaving him almost no pizza. I wasn't even hungry at that point, but hey, anything for a laugh. Anyway...)

I sat and talked with Karin, Suzanne and Liesel-something about anything and everything, but mostly on cultural differences, the Olympics and horrible landlords. After a couple of hours there, Karin and I left the flat and I was faced with the choice of going to the Bad Taste Disco, or just going home. After a frustrating decision-making process (and noticing that Karin's car arial has been bent up), I decided to return home. When we arrived at the Grange, I invited Karin in for some coffee and she accepted. It was only when we got to the room that I realized that I only had one mug (The Beatles "Blue Meanies" mug that I bought in Liverpool), and no spoon. Fortunately, she drinks her coffee black, because I didn't have any cream and sugar, either. So, being forced to improvise, I made coffee, gave her the mug to use, and stirred the coffee with the opposite side of my toothbrush. In the end it worked out fine and served as a humorous memory of this evening.

We continued to talk for about an hour more, during which time I learned that she was also a conservative (they're everywhere!) We talked a bit of politics, travelling, and whatever else we could think of until she had to leave. Since neither she nor I has a telephone, we could only exchange addresses. Turned out to be a great evening... looks like I made the right choice in taking a pass on the Bad Taste Disco. I wonder how that went?

(Photo taken by J.P.: Doug and Rick take a moment to rest near a fountain in downtown Hull. The backstory on this picture: Back at Millersville, Doug saw a photo in the exchange student brochure of two travelers in this pose, it was his goal to recreate that moment for himself.)

Monday, September 26, 2008

The Fantastic Chester Pub Crawl Birthday Extravaganza

Woke up at half-eight when the phone rang. It was Glen's friend Sean (pictured), curious about what plans we had for our day in the picturesque City of Chester. I was still suffering from "just woke up" and was relatively incoherent.

After that I fell back to sleep until about 10 a.m. when Fiona's boyfriend, Dave, called. Shortly after 11 a.m., Sean, Stewart, Dave and I were on our way to Chester.

I was there last night to see "The Running Man," but I didn't get to see all that much of Chester at the time. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so I was unable to get photos of town... although in light of how this day went, it was probably best I didn't have it with me. Overall, it was a fabulous day. We shopped in the morning, where I bought the new Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight (88 Remix)" maxi- single. We then at lunch at McDonald's (a little taste of America... except the ketchup is a little sweeter, and they charge you extra for each packet. Weird.)

Over the course of the day I bought a Union Jack flag and a map of Britain (both to hang in my dorm room when I get there), a cassette of the "Buster" soundtrack (excellent!), and a blank tape. We walked and shopped for about 8 hours, including a walk along the top of the wall that surround Chester. The wall was built buy the Romans long ago... and after we pointed out that fact, our running joke became that everything in town was originally built by the Romans. ("Oh look, W.H. Smith... did you know that store was built by the Romans?")

We also visited Chester Cathedral, which was fabulous. I wished I could've stayed there all day with a skeleton key to get into all the crypts, crannies and what-have-yous that are in that place. We then left to search for some museum Dave wanted to take me to in Chester. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure exactly where it was and we failed in our mission to find it.

Dave (pictured, right) and I finally took a break in the center of town, near the keymark clock that was covered up for repairs, and then entered the pub behind us. While we waited for Fiona and Zoe to arrive we chatted a bit, largely about political and social culture (he's also conservative like me), over a pint. Fiona and Zoe were supposed to arrive at about half six, but they missed their bus and didn't get in until half seven.

We the set off on a traditional British "pub crawl," in celebration of Fiona's 18th birthday (in two days actually... so she's technically two days away from being legal age to drink, although no one here seems to mind much.) During the course of this most festive evening, I was introduced to several British beverages, as we managed to hit, I believe, about six pubs (some of them are a bit fuzzy recollections).

There were several memorable moments during this excursion:

• I sang the sad and depressing "Happy Birthday" song to Fiona, as taught to me by my high school World Cultures teacher, Pete Sanden, who sang it to kids in class on their birthdays. It goes:

“Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday.
People dying in the streets.
Children with no food to eat. But...
Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday."

• Fiona spilled two drinks, one of which resulted in a broken glass, and the other resulting in Dave licking the spilt beverage off of the table.
  
• I accidentally knocked Zoe off of her chair... well, actually, I barely touched her and she fell back off of the "slippy" chair.
  
• Air guitaring "Hotel California" in a pub.
  
• Singing a rousing version of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and later marvelling that a Queen song was played at each of the last three pubs we were at. One more and my theory would’ve kicked in, that this is no longer a coincidence, but rather a tribute to one of the band members having died. (Fortunately, that was not the case, and Queen will continue to “rock you.”)
  
• An Englishman who was convinced that I was English, and merely impersonating an American accent.
  

Some other hazy recollections include Dave blowing up a balloon (I hope it was a balloon) while walking down the street, running through the streets of Chester to get to the next pub, something called "Thumper," and then hitting a pizza place to get some food at five after 11, since the pubs closed at 11 p.m. Although the place was ready to close in 10 minutes, we were undaunted, ordered our pizza, and forced them to stay open until 11:45, when this loud group finally left the empty restaurant and returned to the streets, no doubt causing much celebration among the staff forced to endure our lack of courtesy.

Afterward Fiona and Dave briefly disappeared, and we had no idea where they went. But as quickly as they vanished, they suddenly re-emerged and we could catch a taxi back home. When we returned, Dr. Morrison was quite amused by my current state caused by excessive alcohol consumption, especially when I then took it upon myself to pay him back the five pounds that I owed him. I walked Zoe back to her house, then returned home, where Fiona went to bed and Dave and I sat in the television room, continuing to chat until about 4 a.m. He told me stories about some kid named Philip Ingram at his school, who reminded me of someone I went to school with named Mike Sim. I told him about some kid I went to school with named Mike Sim, who reminded him of this kid he knows named Philip Ingram.

The evening ended with me acquiring from him my new "pseudonym in favor" -- Thermos Fortitude. I don't know what that meanns.

What could have been finer?