Hong Kong Yarns: UK Adventures

A whistlestop round up of the first of our two weeks in the UK:

The weather was a bit of a shock to the system!

I finished work on Friday night and got the tram into Central to meet Stephen, who had all our bags at Hong Kong station and we checked them in. This system is too clever and what every big city needs - your bags magically (well, presumably by train) arrive at the airport and on the correct flight and you don't see them again until you arrive at your destination!

Bags

After the bags had been successfully deposited we got the tram back to where I work to go to our after work local. After a few Tsing Tao we jumped in a taxi back to the station and got on the airport express train.

Eee, plane to England!

I was so excited having been out of the UK for nearly 6 months, Stephen cheats and goes back to London every once in a while.... The plane was far better (much newer) than the one we flew out here on and BA are now back in the good books. We watched a few films, ate food (really not necessary) and got a few hours kip, all good. We landed in London and had about a 90minute wait before our flight up to Manchester. I put my o2 sim in my iphone and rather upsettingly my data settings had disappeared so no tweeting for me! I do love Terminal 5 at Heathrow though and had a good wander round - even WH Smith is exciting when you've not seen one for a while - even if I didn't recognise half the celebs in all my favourite mags.

They did board us on time but unfortunately it was snowing! We sat and waited on the runway for a good hour to be de-iced before we could take off. The 30minute flight passed super quick (Stephen was pleased with his bacon butty - I had to reject mine on grounds it had been pre-ketchuped, yack!) and before we knew it we were in Manchester, yay the north - home!!!

We went to pick up our wheels for the week (I rang o2 while I waited and got my data back and all was well with the world again). Stephens brother is working in Germany at the minute and was supposed to land a few hours after us but due to our delay he wasn't much behind us. We then decided to wait for him and save his folks a round trip to the airport since we'd probably cross them on the drive anyway! And where better to go wait when you've just landed from many months out of the UK? The nearby John Lewis! Stephen was mainly not impressed with my desire to look at all the pretty things and quickly marched me to the cafe.

Hire car

The Best Hot Chocolate

I'm ashamed to say that while we waited for Michael (Stephen's bro) I may have 'indulged' in a Greggs sausage roll - so wrong but so tasty!

Couldn't resist

We drove up to Ramsbottom where bacon sandwiches awaited us - ahh, yum! After a good catch up we then drove over the pennines to my mum and dads, easier said than done. As we were about to turn onto the motorway from Ramsbottom we heard it was closed somewhere between Leeds and Manchester so decided to go over the top. Hmm, possibly not the best idea when you've not driven for a while and it's been snowing... It was a little scary at times but fortunately Stephen is a super driver and we made it just fine.

Mum and dads back garden - snow!?

I was struggling a bit at this point (travelling several timezones does that to you) and was so tired I couldn't even eat my tea! I'd asked my mum to get me my favourite Waitrose pizza (when you don't have an oven you miss these things a lot!) so was very disappointed not to eat it. I tried to stay awake till 9pm but didn't quite make it. Not surprisingly I woke up early, and hungry - so what better to do on a snowy Sunday morning than to cook your pizza for breakfast and watch the Malaysian Grand Prix with your dad.

Ah, pizza!

Sunday saw us go see my grandma in Otley and then a quick trip to Ilkley in the snow. I'd been so looking forward to buying things in Fat Face but there was just nothing I liked.

On Monday we went into Leeds with my mummy for a mooch around the new Trinity shopping centre. This was the first project I worked on when I first started in 2008 so it was really good to see it finally finished, given how much it stopped/started/changed during the recession. I say finally finished but it isn't really - a lot of the west (the bits my company did) are still being chopped and changed but it'll be open at some point! Either way, I was really impressed - the city desperately needs money spending on it and this is a good start. I do love Leeds very much and it'll always be home but it really is quite scabby in parts! We went for lunch at Ribshakk (annoyingly disappointing), then to Crown Point to buy work shirts in M&S outlets and called in a M&S Food on the way home for....

Yep, that's right - CHINESE. They just don't know how to do it properly in HK....

On Tuesday we had a lazy morning and popped down to Otley and the best butchers in the world for sausage rolls and pork pies (yep, it was a healthy couple of weeks), before driving back over to Ramsbottom for a family get together.

Yum

On Wednesday I took my first opportunity to go wool shopping with a trip to Clark Craft Products in Ramsbottom - Stephens mum had sent me some £ (yes, real pounds!) for my birthday so I was determined to spend it all on wool, given the selection in HK is rubbish.

Came back with this little haul, barely even dented the budget

We went to the chippy for lunch, there are some in HK but we are yet to try them and apparently aren't that great, before driving down to Macclesfield for a friends birthday. Said friend is doing Ironman Wales in September, we went out for a meal then made him drink many shots - I'm not sure this was ideal training.

Epic garlic bread starter

Vodka Revolution on a freezing Wednesday night

On Thursday we drove back to Ramsbottom as Stephens sister was now back from her job in Salzburg for Easter and had a good catch up and a Mexican feast.

We then drove back to my mum and dads on Good Friday and got the good old x84 (4 times more expensive and 4 times less frequent than HK public transport) into Leeds for drinks and pizza with most of our Leeds based chums, it was ace to see everyone.

Somebody stole a cucumber from a super posh cocktail bar and then we ended up drinking 1/3 pint tasters , which quickly became known as 'Yorkshire Shots'

On Saturday morning we woke up mildly hungover and in desperate need of exercise / fresh air - a week of solid eating and drinking will do that to you. We walked about 4 miles into Headingley, I had a quick look in Baa Ram Ewe but didn't buy anything, went for a cheeky drink in Arcadia and caught the bus home. (Actually no, first we went to pick up an M&S order and somehow I ended up in Hobbycraft! Glad I did as I think I was one of the first to discover Regia sock yarn at £1 a ball - ace!) At home my dad had got the BBQ ready because he knew how much I wanted one, even though there was still plenty of snow and it was freezing outside - thank you!!