Travellers' Tales...

Chester & Daresbury

This weekend has been lots of fun, spending time with the family and chilling out to celebrate Jasmine's birthday. We left Manchester at 10am yesterday to travel to Chester for a day wandering around, shopping and perusing the Christmas markets (which, granted, weren't quite up to our home city's standard!). We took the park and ride bus into the centre, and much to Dad's dismay, had a spree in Primark before stopping in a Wetherspoons for some lunch. I had a chicken burger with bacon and cheese on it, with fries and onion rings, and a pint of cider - about two days worth of calories!

After lunch we went for a look around the cathedral, which was really pretty with all the Christmas decorations up, and there was a The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe exhibition on with mechanical characters and scenes from the book which was fun to have a gander at. After a tad more shopping we caught the bus back to the car park and drove to Daresbury, where Lewis Carroll, author of Alice In Wonderland, is originally from. We stopped for a coffee at the Ring O Bells there, which is a gorgeous old fashioned pub with a few knick knacks to theme it to the famous children's book.

We then drove on to our hotel, The Daresbury Park, which we had got on a Groupon deal. We got a three course meal there (granted only a carvery and buffet for starter and dessert) the room with access to the pool and sauna facilities, and a bottle of wine for just £59 per room - a crazy bargain. We were also offered the chance to pre-order wine at the time of booking for half price a bottle so got one each of white, rose and red - forgetting that we got a free bottle with the rooms too so ended up with 5 bottles!

We drank (some) wine in the bar after eating, and then went to bed before midnight as we were all pretty shattered!

Weekly Update!

Cutting, Bleaching, Gigging, Guiding and Laddering!

This week's been pretty varied, which in my opinion is always the best way to live. On Monday after I had finished my seminar I went into town and got my hair cut at Toni and Guy (it was a half price model day, I don't spend any more than £20 on my hair!) Then I popped into the library and chanced across the complete illustrated works of Lewis Carroll. All thoughts of work then banished, I went to the Yummy Cupcake Company and read, accompanied by a cookies 'n' cream cupcake and a lovely cup of tea- lush! In the evening my boyfriend came round and cooked a gorgeous sausage casserole for us. Then we discovered Tool Academy, so spent the rest of the night catching up with the series!

Tuesday and Wednesday were very uneventful, except I dyed my hair, so it is now rootless and platinum once more. On Thursday I went to Oxfam with a few friends to choose our clothes for a fashion show we are doing soon, where we are customising second hand clothes and then (hopefully) selling them afterwards. In the evening I went for a few drinks in my local pub (which is surprisingly nice) with some friends. There also happened to be a quiz on that night that was free to enter, so we had a go, although we didn't even manage to make the top five!

On Friday I went to the gym and did some work before going to a last minute Fairport Convention gig in Morecambe with a couple of friends who had a spare ticket. I'd never even heard of them, let alone listened to their music, but after sampling them on Youtube, I was looking forward to it. They were really good, despite being unlike anything I would normally listen to, and even the support were worth getting there early for, which is a rarity in my experience. We caught a bus back to Lancaster, and then I made a last minute decision to go to Sugarhouse, even though I was wearing trainers and a studded belt! I had an awesome night though, as loads of people were out that I knew.

On Saturday I had to be up early as I was tourguiding for prospective students and their parents on campus. I had a horrendous headache and was starving, but managed to last until it finished at 3pm before going home for a 'nap' that lasted two hours! That evening was a 1920s themed LUFS social that had been planned for a while, so although I wasn't feeling on top form I still went out. Whether it was the amount of alcohol that I consumed, or there was still some in my system from the previous night, but I proceeded to get rather past the tipsy stage, resulting in a 12 inch pizza being consumed, and a clumsy trip over on the walk home that led to a ladder in my favourite tights. I'm clearly making the most of my last few months at university!