Around The World – Abbots Bromley, England
The goal of this leg of the journey is to meet up with fellow Hobbit Kimarla Kass in her quintessential English country village of Abbots Bromley. Alert readers will remember I met Kim and the other ladies at Hobbiton in New Zealand.
Leaving Edinburgh, the only thing I need to do is change my remaining 50 Pounds in Scottish notes (alert readers will remember the whole Clydesdale thing) to English notes. I walked a long way to a Bank of Scotland, pulling my suitcase in the rain, only to be told they don’t change bills there for non-customers, and the cash drawers are all computerized and just dispense whatever bill is in the slot anyway. It didn’t help that I was a past customer and worked in their IT department for a year. The teller lady told me to go to a “bureau de change” (money changer for different currencies), so I walked back up to a big department store where the day before I saw a sign that they offered the service. I made my way up to the 5th floor only to be told they can’t change Scottish pounds to English pounds due to money laundering laws. Funny, the Bank Of Scotland lady didn’t tell me this. Big Catch-22 here. The sympathetic lady suggested I get 50 pounds worth of 2 pound coins because the coins are universal across the UK. Ugh. I walked down again and into an attached mall, looking for a shop that might have sufficient English pound notes. I went into a newsagent and they were able to find enough 20 and 5 pound English notes in their till to make the swap, although they didn’t seem happy about it. I cannot be the only person who runs into this problem?!
Full of soon-to-be-legal currency, I walked over to the train station and got my web-purchased ticket card from a dispenser. The incoming train was delayed due to rain and high winds causing tree branches on the line, so we left about 20 minutes late. The train was magnificent, I had requested a quiet car and that’s what I got. No talking, no phone calls, everyone was great. The announcements were clear and informative and when the ticket lady came by I told her so, turns out she was the one also making the announcements. By the time we reached Crewe for my connection for one stop to Stafford, we caught up the time so I arrived right on time. Kimarla wasn’t at the front gate when I got out but she arrived about 5 minutes later due to local roadworks and traffic. We flew back to her village in her black John Cooper Works Mini and stopped for two orders of haddock fish & chips.
Kim used to have a big house with a barn and lots of land but she sold it and renovated a cute little house in town. She spent 7 months tearing it apart and restoring it back to its Victorian charm, exposing the original beams and pulling out walls while modernizing the electric and plumbing and heating. I’ve watched too many hours to count of This Old House and other home renovation shows and what Kim did to this place with her own hands is just outstanding. Oh, and it’s pink. Tastefully pink I must say…
I met her dog Boogie, a Briard, who is a huge and furry and very friendly but wanted to cuddle on the couch at 120 pounds… Imagine a cross between Chewbacca and Mr. Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street. That’s him.
We had wine, I drank most of it then she brought out a bottle of something called Thunder which is a toffee flavored vodka which slid down very nicely. Talked and talked until about 1 AM.
In the morning we agreed I was looking a bit overgrown, so she pulled out her professional tools and gave me a haircut in the kitchen. Pity she couldn’t do anything with the encroaching grey hair.
We then went to the nearby National Memorial Arboretum. It was the day before 11/11 Remembrance Day so tents and AV were being set up, as the ceremonies are covered live throughout the UK from here. We took the land train tour around, saw about a hundred individual memorial stones / plaques / trees to many different branches of service and wars through the years. It was very moving being there, seeing the documentation of old and new wars and the millions of people who have died. I made a donation and got a small enamel red poppy pin.
We then went to a nearby marina serving the extensive canal network in the UK. Dozens of very narrow and long canal boats were moored up. Some are lived in, some are weekend / holiday boats, a few were floating businesses. I had a goat cheese and roasted red pepper sandwich for lunch, yum.
We came back home and took Boogie for a walk through town, through the cricket grounds, through the school and back down the high street.
We rested until it was time to meet Kim’s friends Jane Birch and Dave down at the local pub called The Goat’s Head. I had 3 pints of nice local pale ale, but not too bitter and hoppy! We talked about a possible trip to Thailand next November. Dave likes to fish so I showed him the website and pictures from the Hua Hin Fishing Lodge. Kim and Jane like to do a bit of adventure so we’ll figure out the details when the time gets closer.
We walked home and heated up artichoke and sun dried tomato quiche, made salad and then watched a bit of telly. Have I mentioned how amazing a cook Kim is? One night I had a minor panic when her scale, which was set to Stones, told me I had gained about 15 pounds! The next morning I set it to kilos and I was much happier with the number.
Today was Tesla day, as it has been so many times. Turns out there’s a Tesla showroom in sort-of-nearby Birmingham! We took small roads to get there, through villages and woods and rivers and just beautiful scenery. We got to the showroom, took some pictures and talked to a girl who works there. Walked out into the back parking lot and were then chased out, turns out we can’t go back there, sorry!
We then drove over to the Bullring shopping center and parked on the top level, then took a very scary elevated walkway into John Lewis. We walked through the mall and out to the pedestrian area which was setting up for a German Christmas market. We had lunch at a restaurant called The Botanist. I tried to have a hanging cheese and vegetable kebab (because how often do you have that opportunity?), but it comes pre-made with onions. Ugh. I ended up with a cheese / salad / dried tomatoes / hummus sampler board. On the way home we stopped at a friend’s farm to pick up eggs and I saw their chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, sheep and other farmyard animals. We then stopped at another friend’s farm to see their horses.
We came back home and decided to make risotto with asparagus for dinner. While prepping and slowly(!) cooking the risotto, Kim told me that it is actually Italian rice, not tiny-rice-shaped-pasta as I had thought for years. You can get pasta in a thousand shapes, why not rice shaped? This revelation rocked me to my foundation. Oh well, it tasted great anyway!
The next morning Kim had haircuts and errands to do all afternoon so I stayed home with Boogie. I had Diet Coke and Cool Ranch Doritos for breakfast. I was very productive, getting ready for the next stage of my trip. I contacted Rikke Wichmann in Copenhagen and she gave me her location. I booked my flight from Birmingham to Copenhagen via Brussels and booked my train from Copenhagen to Amsterdam via Hamburg. I sent a request for Airbnb for a private room in a tall ship tied up to a dock near my electric-car-and-boat-building friend Anne Kloppenborg’s workshop in Amsterdam. Of course, my request was rejected with no explanation. Yet another kick in the teeth by an unprofessional Airbnb host. Will have to make another request later.
Kim came home and we went down to the pub to see Jane and get the printouts of my tickets. Kim is severely technically handicapped so Jane does all of her tech support. We made macaroni and cheese with butternut squash, feta and cheddar and paprika, salad and roasted vegetables.
In the morning, Kim had already swapped the car for her motorhome, since she was taking Boogie down south with her to a girl’s weekend out with her friends. She dropped me off at the Birmingham airport in lots of time. Thanks again Kim for a wonderful visit, you can come and visit me in Thailand anytime, but be prepared to cook!
