Monday, June 25, 2007

Yesterday in Leeds

Mrs C and I drove 80 miles or so up to Leeds yesterday
with our daughter R and Little Ava -- so see our
youngest daughter, Bubs. Our usual car (a Peugeot 306)
is off the road at present, having repairs to get it
through its MOT. Instead I hired a car from Enterprise
-- a new VW Jetta 2.0 litre TDI, which was bloody
fantastic -- felt as though we were driving a top limo
-- it was effortless to drive at 70-80 mph -- wonderful
comfort and acceleration.

Thinking back to my past life in Leeds, I went to a
grammar school there for 4-5 years, and later to Leeds
Med School for another 6 years, and did various hospital
and GP training jobs there, before we moved to Nottm in
1975, which is Mrs C's home city. My parents lived in
Leeds much longer that I ever did, so we spent many
weekends visiting them when our girls were little. So
I think of Leeds as my second home town.... even though
I was born in Manchester, spent some idyllic years as a
child in leafy parts of Chealdle Hulme (Cheshire), and
2-3 years on the Bulmershe College campus in Reading.

Bubs studied music at Leeds University (BMus Course), and
has decided to make Leeds her home. She and I have an
occasional funny banter about whether it rains more in
Leeds than it does in Nottm -- I reckon that the East
Midlands is drier (it's one of the driest parts of the
country!).

It was pouring down with rain as we left Nottm in the
morning, and the rain caught up with us an hour or two
later in Leeds -- which didn't put us off having a stroll
round Kirkstall Abbey. Bubs is moving house at the end of
July, from a 1 bedroomed apartment to a shared house across
the road. The owners threw a street party for everyone
9 months ago, and had invited Bubs to attend, since when
they've all become good friends, and go out to clubs
together as well. Bubs was house-sitting for the couple,
so we spent a good part of the day in the new place.

She made us a very nice meal, out of cans of butter beans,
red kidney beans, chick peas (one can of each), and one and
a half tins of chopped toms -- all heated up in a pan, plus
half a tin of coconut milk, and then well seasoned with salt
and freshly ground black pepper, served up with brown rice
and brocolli. I'm used to eating this kind of mix flavoured
with Thai spices, but it was lovely to be able to taste all
the veg without having my taste buds blasted with chilli,
etc. After all that, we had mugs of tea and fresh fruit,
followed by a walk round the block. By the way,Little Ava
had one of her favourite meals: mashed potato with cheese
sauce, which she ate by hand and by the spoonful, and a pot
of fruit yoghurt also - so she had to have a good clean up
afterwards.

Here is a photo of Little Ava and Auntie Bubs.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, Justin. Thanks for stopping by my blog. It is always good to "meet" new people.
Seems you had a great time in Leeds. I spent time in Hull many years ago, which if I remember well, is about an hour or so away from Leeds. Not exactly a bustling metropolis, but I had a good time nonetheless.

8:34 am  
Blogger AngelConradie said...

ooh yum, now you made me hungry!

7:01 pm  
Blogger justin said...

Chitty: thanks for dropping in. I've yet to see Hull ... both my dad and Mrs C's dad spent some time there (teacher training mainly, pre WW2.. they were pals at school and at uni too).
Angel: yes, my mouth was watering, while I was typing this story up.

7:01 am  
Blogger andrea said...

My best friend is Mancunian and her maiden name is Cheadle!

10:41 pm  
Blogger justin said...

Hi Andrea -- lovely to hear from you again. As they say, it's a small world.

I didn't get to know Manchester very well, though I spent the first 11 years of my life there, first of all in the city nr. Alexandra Park, and then living in the leafy suburbs (nr.Bramhall Park). Which bit of Manchester did your friend live in?

3:55 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home