Leaving warm sunny Brisbane and the beaches of Stradbroke Island for the midlands of the UK during their tail end of winter may not be everyone’s cup of tea. And yes, they do drink lots of that as well as fine ales over here in Nottingham where I’m based studying my PhD for 6 months.
Everyone warned me of the February floods, but thankfully when I arrived in Heathrow early on a Sunday morning it was cold (6 deg C) but was clear and sunny for the 2 and a bit hours drive up to Nottingham. Well it should have only been that long, but I managed to get lost from the Hertz hire car depot in Heathrow somewhere within the airport before going illegally down a one way street to get out on to the highway.
This was despite having a GPS with a posh female English accent. I decided to call her Patricia. Later I discovered that Patricia had taken me to Plumtre Road rather than Plumtre Place, so I ended up about 50 miles north of Nottingham at some odd looking village. Unfortunately, I could not blame Patricia for that!
Plumtre Place is in the heart of the Lace Market district of Nottingham city – a place of large old brick places that used to house Nottingham’s thriving lace industry. My B&B in Mill House had soaring ceilings and large windows which converted quite nicely to an apartment.
Now I’m living in the Castle District in Royal Standard House right next to Nottingham Castle with the exclusive ‘The Park’ district behind. I’m getting used to the midlands accent, though they do seem to say “brilliant” and “rubbish” a lot and they don’t always seem to understand me.
I’m not really getting used to the cold and the need to wear several layers when proceeding outdoors. Uncomfortably, I find the layers keep unraveling and sticking in odd corners of my anatomy. I have, however, got used to not needed sunglasses or putting on face cream with sunscreen every morning.
Just down the road is my local pub – the Crow’s Claw – and they do a mean pie (vegie) and mash and their ales are great! I’ve also discovered the wonderful Deliah deli in town which does a flat white almost as good as home. Then there’s the Alley Cafe which does wonderful organic vegetarian food, but unlike many other vego places, it also serves beer and wine.
I’ll drink to that!
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