the mister was hanging out with al gore in NYC so i went to manchester on a whim. not the most obvious of choices but hey the draw of marx and engel and lure of random european architectural influences was a compelling reason. sentient that we're not going to be in the UK indefinitely (have a rant about that will save it for the end of the post!) and thought to see more of this lovely country while i can. it was the manchester derby weekend so i was lucky the hotel prices hadn't skyrocketed. would usually have slept on a friend's sofa but thought to be indulgent hehe. there's something very empowering about solo travel, about exploring a city on your own. had sweet friends who met me on sunday and were aghast that i'd been wandering around the night before (we happened to all be at the mall, surprise surprise) but they're a lovely couple in the throes of LDR. he's up to visit and having been there, done that and gotten all possessive when the mister was in town (or i was visiting the mister) i thought better of imposing on their bubble. maybe that's just me being presumptuous that everyone thinks like me when they're probably infinitely more mature and gracious. M's one of my oldest friends (we've swum together since we were 3+!) and we had the pleasure of meeting up in the amalfi coast over easter. this was a bonus, and they're in london next weekend too!
it's been some time since i've gone any where on my own (not since NYC to buy my wedding dress easter 2012) and it was a refreshing change to be selfish and self-indulgent. my inner el cheapo even relented and didn't mind £7.50 for the ferris wheel! and took a ton of selfies while at it haha. china town was another surprise - great wall was a chance find and i had la mian! what was even better was that there was no MSG (yay!!!) and it wasn't oily. chinese restaurant jackpot...
how i knew about home*sweet*home in the northern quarter was from some insta lurking. in fact that's how i knew M was in mcr visiting L so had to have waffles with scrambled eggs, blueberries and bacon too. absolutely yums when drowned in maple syrup :)
and another photo of the ferris wheel against the blue skies.
and the uk*border*agency rant as promised - it's no secret that i hate the hassle and suspicion i get every time i clear customs. it's as if the border agency presumes that i want to overstay in their country. no, actually, i'm from a first world nation when yours is comparatively third world, i feel like telling them. but that's just asking to be detained / deported. the medsch doesn't make it any easier with weekly scan ins to assure them i'm not moonlighting in a chinese restaurant. in addition to singers trumping the uk in terms of GDP per capita and life expectancy (slide borrowed from a labour*leader), the mister was just contact traced for TB because a co-worker he spent a week at court huddled up next to and getting coughed all over just tested positive. WELL DONE, LONDON. need we look any further for proof of third-world-ness? not feeling the love. and we got this startling text re: being contact traced and needing tests a few hours after the mister had an episode of night sweats. i was laughing at first (haha, night sweats, do you have tb, haha) but was not laughing when we got the tb text later in the day.
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