England: Manchester, Final Day

Dear Friends,

I am in a hotel in Manchester. Members of our group are scattered all over the hotel’s cafe reading, trying to connect to the internet or chatting with one another. This airport hotel is just another fine institution upon which we have descended in full force. We are bedraggled and creased from a two hour bus ride in which we sat stewing in our own damp clothes after we had waited for twenty minutes in the rain for the bus. We didn’t actually mind the wait in the rain that much because it gave us time to say a properly drippy goodbye to the Windermere lake and to the hills surrounding it. 

I walked out to the dock that juts out at the base of our hostel. I had my turquoise leather shoes on, which I am still planning on throwing away in a few hours when this trip ends. They got a hole in the sole when we tramped around on the moors behind the Bronte’s house and now rainwater is flowing in through that hole. Is that a metaphor? “The rain of life flows through the holes in the shoes of travelling…”

OK. Wheaton in England is over and I am feeling a little loopy. This trip has been a whirlwind of experiences. 

Some favourites:

1. Running along the Thames in the early morning and watching the sun glitter above St. Paul’s Cathedral. 
2. Sneaking off to a Costa Coffee in Canterbury as soon as the coach dropepd us off in order to write an email to Sheldon. 
3. Walking along the coastal paths of Beer in the evening. 
4. Visiting Jane Austen’s home and pretending to be her while walking through her gardens. 
5. Sitting with my fellow students and reading Pygmalion aloud complete with accents (a range of skill was exhibitied—from very skillful to incredibally poor. We are talking about “cockney” accent whcih freely flowed into a southern drawl.)
6. English breaksfast at every single hostel. Yes, 80% of it was from a can, but I actually love canned things. 
7. Tea and toast time! I have Lily and Elena, two girls from thsi trip to thank for this almost nightly ritual of eating and preparing tea and toast and eating it with whoever was around at that time. 

I will be back in the Czech Republic tomorrow afternoon. I cannot wait to see my dad when he picks me up in Prague. 

Last thing I will do before leaving: Throw away my turquoise shoes.