On The Road Again

To my family, it must seem that I am on vacation all the time. Since I retired, and especially since I moved to southern California, I have made many road trips and enjoyed a couple of spectacular cruises. Of course my flight north during the LA fires to a series of Airbnb’s and the resulting horrific circumstances for so many of my neighbors, was not exactly a relaxing walk in the park. My sadness and anxiety for the well-being of those affected by the fires hasn’t let up after all these months, and it’s only been made worse by the political and social upheaval that has followed the fires. I documented that malaise in my last post.

My most recent foray into vacationland, however, was truly refreshing and enjoyable. The break from the 24-hour news cycle allowed me to develop a fresh perspective and a desire to move forward with a more optimistic point of view. I highly recommend visiting another country during these fraught American times.

Online search engine Duck Duck Go defines vacation as “a period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation, especially one with pay granted to an employee.” Well, this vacation fits the first part of the definition, if not the second part. In fact, not only did I not have my pay granted by an employer, I splurged my travel budget for this year and probably next year as well.

But it was worth it.

Manchester, Here I Come

I flew into Manchester Airport from LAX, a very long flight broken by a few hours in Atlanta. Arriving in the early morning, after going through Customs and Passport Control (streamlined by facial recognition) I walked for ten minutes to the Manchester Airport train station. I’d pre-booked a first class seat, which I’ve never done before, but it was worth the money. My comfortable seat faced a table, and came with excellent wifi. Also free coffee. Getting on the train with my suitcase and heavy back pack was a challenge (“mind the gap!”) but a helpful person gave me a well-timed push. I stored my luggage on the shelves provided and settled in for a two hour journey.

I was a bit wobbly when I got off the train in Leeds, but then I remembered the Pasty Shop at the entrance to the platforms. There I purchased a Cornish Pasty as big as a dinner plate and made my way to the platform where I expected the local train to appear.  Unfortunately, the train came into a different platform that day, which I would have known if I’d been watching the arrivals and departures board instead of eating my pasty, but there was another train in half an hour and then I was on my way to visit my friend Susan.

Home Town Girl

I was now in Bradford, Yorkshire, where I was born. After two years of unfunded proposals, Bradford was (yay!) awarded the designation of City of Culture for 2025. A sizable monetary grant allowed the city to renovate, regenerate, and reconstruct historic buildings, and the city is now sponsoring many festivities and cultural events to showcase the results.  

Susan was a wonderful tour guide. We drove and walked and ate. I marveled at art exhibits and the rebirth of this city which was known as the “wool capital of the world,” during the Industrial Revolution, but which had been rather neglected in recent decades. The photo to the left is the reimagined city center, combining old and new in a car-free zone. I remember the underground passages that formerly allowed pedestrians to cross from one side to the other as dark, smelly, scary places. Now everything is above ground and clean.

Three days later Susan was speeding along local roads to historic Darrington, a village in West Yorkshire, near Pontefract. Our mutual friend Avril lives there, and she would host me for the next three days. I met Susan and Avril 35 years ago at Bradford College, where, like me, they taught future teachers of young children.  Our long friendship resulted in me being invited on a 5-day ramble in County Durham, meeting Avril and her husband in Las Vegas for a visit to Death Valley and a memorable production of Mama Mia, and Susan and I traversing half the length of California with three of her children.  We also developed a student exchange program between our two colleges. That day in Darrington we spent hours reminiscing and catching up on the events of our lives.

In honor of my long friendship with these two women, as well as with the lead leacher of the Bradford early years program, Sally, sadly now passed, I created a group of characters in my upcoming cozy mystery called the Beesley Puzzlers, and named each of them for my friends.

A Blue Plaque – and a Very Large Park

Susan stayed for lunch and a village ceremony bestowing on Avril’s house a coveted Blue Plaque. (“The blue plaque scheme, established in 1866, commemorates historic and notable people, events, or buildings by installing permanent signs at relevant locations.”) Then Susan drove back to Bradford, and Avril and I embarked on a few very full days of more walks, talks, and meals. And more reminiscing and catching up.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Avril, her daughter, and I spent a wonderful day walking around the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, then returned home to a several course meal Avril had somehow managed to prepare for her hiking buddies and spouses in spite of our full day. It was wonderful to see those ladies again and reminisce about our walking vacation so many years ago. A couple of local walks and evenings in local pubs with Avril and her husband, then, in no time at all, I was sitting in a limousine heading for Thame, a village in Oxfordshire, and the last leg of my English journey.

While I was in Thame (pronounced “tame”) I stayed in an historic inn called The Spread Eagle. For three days my long-time bachelor friend Robert (we’ve known one another over fifty years) proudly squired me around his village, which has been used by the British drama, Midsomer Murders, to depict the fictional  town of Causton. We explored Thame Museum, walked along several well-groomed Town Trails, and ate our meals in ancient pubs. Finally Robert helped me into yet another limousine (I was feeling a bit like a movie star by now) which would take me to Southampton and the Queen Mary 2 for a very special Atlantic crossing.

That’s all for today.  Watch for  Part Two: What is the QM2 and Why Was I On Board?

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Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s.   Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families will be out soon, and she’s working on an update to The Book of Whole Grains while also crafting a cozy mystery, Death on a Sunny Afternoon – a Harriet Palmer Mystery.