A "Wendy" visit with "Granny" on an "Estate" (and other January events)

I went to the lovely market town of Macclesfield last weekend to visit my boyfriend's Granny. I have a grandmother named Granny too, so it's nice to have a proxy in England who also makes yummy comfort food and has a sweet home filled with things to read and family pictures and knick-knacks covered in grandchildren's fingerprints.

Macclesfield is about 30 minutes south of Manchester on the train, so we were there in no time flat. Macclesfield used to be a silk mill town, but obviously that was sent overseas many years ago. Macclesfield is also on the edge of the Peak District, so it's always a little chillier than Manchester.

Josh's Granny lives on an estate, which I originally thought was some sort of manor or stately home. As it turns out, it's basically what Americans would call a subdivision. However, it's on a hill and has an amazing view of Tegg's Nose and some other big hills. We had a delicious tea (dinner) and pudding (dessert) on Friday night then watched tv. Saturday, we had a lazy morning then a walk near Tegg's Nose (a 380 metre hill named after a "teg" or sheep in Norse). It was so windy, I could lean backwards and not fall over. It was so windy that I had to hold on to Josh not to fall over. It was so windy that I had to hold onto his Granny for fear that she would blow away. Needless to say, we did not make it all the way up the hill, even though I did buy nice hiking shoes for the occasion.

Yes, this is me riding a stone sheep.

This is by some heather, which is apparently not always purple like in the Secret Garden or Wuthering Heights. If it weren't so cold, I'd have been sorely tempted to wear my hair down and run through the moors in an empire waist dress.


Saturday afternoon I took a nap (short due to Josh's snoring-I still love you!) and then we did crosswords and played Scrabble with Josh's Granny. You wouldn't think that Scrabble with someone's granny would be very dirty, but it was! I started it, sort of, by making "S-E-X", but of course, I needed the double letter score on 10-point "X" and I mean male or female, people. Then, on the very next turn, Granny made "P-U-B-I-C"! Don't worry, the raciest word we had after that was "QUESTS" on which I scored over seventy points, thankyouverymuch. I won the game of course, but I won't toot my own horn too much (especially since...well, keep reading). Sunday, we went to a lovely little church on a hill down the street from Granny's house. Josh's Grandpa Naylor is buried in the cemetery there, so it's very special to him. He was in the navy and Josh has his old scarves and sweaters and loves to wear them. Sunday afternoon we came (very reluctantly) back to the reality of school and class today.

As for other slightly more random events in my life:

1. A Question of Genius - As many of you well know, I am a "clever cloggs" as Josh says. Anyway, I entered the running for a BBC television quiz show, A Question of Genius. It's supposed to be harder than The Weakest Link and easier than Mastermind, if that means anything to you. I made it to the audition/callback portion of the tryouts and I was the only girl there, and the only American. Despite my incredibly poor showings in the categories of 20th century British politics, football, and British television, they have invited me to be on the show, which will be taped at the end of February. I have a chance (albeit a VERY slim one) to win £5000 and an even smaller chance to win 10K if I make it to the finals (which I won't). It would be nice to win the money, but being on the BBC is almost as cool to me. Here are some pictures from the audition:



2. The Inauguration - Of course I watched it, and I felt more American than when I first came to Manchester. Here was my beautiful outfit and lovely fellow citizens (and a couple of wishful-thinking Canadians).



3. Delta Spirit - The boys from one of my top 5 favorite bands were in Manchester, so I took Lucy to see them. They remembered the time that I made them pecan pie and recognized me from their couple of shows in Atlanta (and one particularly steamy one outdoors in July). Lucy and I chatted up the lead singer (pictured), and I predict, with my careful tutelage, that Lucy will have snagged a rocker boyfriend by summer.