My Week (56)

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Kind of matching to the „Englische Woche“ in German football, I flew to England this week. My better half was being invited to a wedding of an old friend she did meet a few years ago via a student program in Leeds. So here’s a little about our last days featuring fish & chips, lots of really classy dressed people and some strange influence regarding the language. Maybe this occurs because I am writing this text in a small hostel room in Manchester…

The last week

On Thursday we left for Chesterfield. After riding the train (to Memmingen / Allgäu Airport), taking the plane (to Stansted) and being way too long on a coach we arrived after about 14 hours. Stressed out, tired and exhausted. But this way we had this whole travelling shit done in a day. A long and horrible day, but we where there. Although it did feel a bit strange to be in London just for about two hours…

On Friday we had a „day off“ and walked around in Chesterfield. A little shopping, a little sightseeing and of course a little „Bundesliga“. I was very glad that a pub in the city did air the match „Dortmund v Freiburg“ that evening (and that my BVB won, of course!).

On Saturday we were being transferred by bus to a small chapel nearly an hour away from Chesterfield, in Bonsall. A very charming little place in the middle of green hills and a lot of stony ground. Maybe I will show you some images of it in a vlog I am working on about this trip, so I’m gonna spare you the details right now.

But yeah – we were dressed appropriately for the occasion. Or so we thought – the older British ladies did trump us all with their fancy fascinators and elegant wardrobe. Classy! But I think my obligatory image with the red phone station is kinda working out…

At the celebratory evening event we had luck to get at a table with some really entertaining and friendly people. My girlfriend only knew the groom, I didn’t know anyone (except of hers) there. But a quick game should losen the anxiety: Every person at the table wrote and drew a word and every time it got mentioned at a speech you had to drink a sip. Turned out that a lot of poeple wanted to remember us that it was „today“, but „family“ what I’ve written down made someone else drink a lot, too, so it’s okay, I think.

Interestingly there seem to be some differences between German and British weddings. The speeches (performed by fathers of bride and groom, groom himself and best men) have been held directly after each other at the beginning. After that there was the menu – and that’s it. Okay, a wedding cake has been cut with a navy sword but no other show elements had been staged. Also there was no „clinging“ with knifes against glasses, so the bride and groom shall kiss (what felt kind of relaxing) and they didn’t know our tradition of the groom’s jacket (that every other man is only allowed to take his off, if the groom already did).

But the main difference was the party itself. We had to pay for drinks (except a bit of wine at the dinner). That seems to differ from wedding to wedding there (as in Germany), but is more or less normal. But the price of 4,50 punds per Pint was not… And then there was the ending, that got around astouningly quick. At one o`clock the last tune had been played. We were kind of sad and surprised, but that was it.

Today we drove bus again (yay…), to get to Manchester, our last destination for this little trip. Before we get back to Germany on Tuesday, we will have a full day to see the city, neither of us had been to before. So this should be interesting. Of course, if I get my blogging stuff done until then…

What I’m looking forward to

At the moment I am looking forward to my bed a lot! Being at home and don’t having to travel by bus or train seems like a really good idea. Elsewise I am really excited about getting a visit from an old friend: LangweileDich.net Co-Founder Piotr will join us over the weekend. And who knows – maybe we’ll visit the „Oktoberfest“, for old times sake.

Greetings from UK!