The second last of our seven Eurail days was kicked into action to catch the 09:53 from Euston Station to Manchester Piccadilly. Yesterday we’d booked a seat, which the app said was mandatory. Evidence collected today suggested that may not have been the case. But it didn’t cost anything and it was good to know we had a seat on the train – which proved to be a valuable asset.
This weekend Manchester is hosting an event for young people called Parklife so the train was full of, once again, over-stimulated young people. The young lads and young girls were travelling in true European fashion, with can in hand. The young girls were apparently oblivious to the cold, rainy weather and dressed as if it were a warm summer’s day, an Australian warm summer’s day, that is, not an English one.
As promised, Emily was there to meet us when the train pulled in just after midday. It was so good to see her – hugs and kisses all around. Our plan of action was to offload our bags at our new digs, check out Emily’s new digs and then spend some time looking at Manchester central. Manchester is serviced by a good tram/light rail system that uses the old railway lines and winds it’s was through the downtown. So, off to the tram platform at Piccadilly we went to make our way out to Sale where we’ll be staying until next Saturday. I only booked our accommodation at 15 Wood Rd, Sales a couple of weeks ago as we weren’t sure of Emily’s movements when we booked the rest of it all. It’s a room in a private home provided by a lady called Isabel. Quite a good outer suburb judging by the gardens and the cars parked in the driveways…. and the comments of a taxi driver a couple of days later. We organised it through AirBNB and it was a bargain AUD$420/seven nights! The aforementioned tram passes by not far away with the stop at Brooklands (one stop past Sale) being a pleasant 15 minutes walk away.
The tram is very regular, never waiting more than ten minutes for one to arrive. Although Sale is not on the exact same line as Emily’s place in Chorlton it’s on the same side of town in the south-west. After meeting Isabel, dropping our bags and getting the key we all travelled out to see Emily’s abode. She shares the house at 58 Keppel Rd with two other girls and three other boys, with no relationships happening. For the record, it’s directly across the street from the house where the Bee Gees grew up before they moved to Australia. Chorlton village has a quite extensive array of shops, pubs and restaurants as well as a tram station. I think it’s just the sort of place Emily will be comfortable in. For a late lunch we stopped at her favourite, award-winning deli – The Barbakan - and then strolled the local streets until we found a pub with a tables out the front so we could enjoy the warm sunshine that poked through the clouds every now and then. The Horse and Jockey was clearly built for the latter as even I had to duck my head to get a beer. Australia was playing England in the T20 World Cup so went went in search of a pub with a TV playing the match. It wasn’t hard to find the Trevor Arms where we sat to watch Australia demolish the English bowling! There are so many beaut little English pubs all over the place. Without a word of exaggeration there is about a dozen within 10 minute walk of Emily’s.
When the Australian innings closed we set off to find another one that served meals so we could eat while watching the Australian bowlers demolish the English batting. Such a pub proved a lot harder to find. We tried the Royal Oak but it was a bit of a dive, certainly not to our tastes, and the kitchen was no longer open at 08:45pm, so Kerry and I headed for the tram and home. Emily stayed to cheer on our lads and watch a comprehensive victory amongst a bunch of long-faced Poms! Australia 7/210; England 6/165.
Bee Gees house…..I knew that already!!😉😉😂
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