Ark-Industries

We must have spent the entire week cleaning the flat, after a week of having the windows open all day and a good thorough cleaning everywhere, its barely livable. We really should have asked/pushed for a 3 month lease. We have had to find creative ways to do our laundry. As we only have a washing machine, we have ran drying lines across the room, we try to get it outside when we are home, but when we are out, we have to hang them inside. Its slow to dry, but it does work. It looks like it’s a fair distance to a launderette.

Found a Flat

We found a flat and moved in today. We must have spent nearly the entire day cleaning into get it up to livable standards. We were promised that it would be cleaned on the Saturday and ready to move into. Unfortunately our standards of cleanliness are a whole lot different than those of the owners. We moved the furniture around and discovered the furniture had never been moved. There were cigarette butts, dust an inch thick and filthy soot covered walls. There were 4 air fresheners that didn’t nearly mask the odor. The place smelt stale, moldy and of urine. The stove looked like it hadn’t been touched..Ever! Bela was not impressed.

It was a rainy morning so I watched a little bit of television and let Bela sleep in. I watched an interesting cooking show with a host named Keith Floyd. He was traveling to and around Africa and cooking in the local ways with the local foods. It was very neat to watch. In the afternoon we took a short drive to Clitheroe and took a nice walk up the castle grounds and explored the keep. It is a high keep and the remaining walls look over the city and you can see all around in to the surrounding hills. We walked around the gardens some more and stopped for tea. Having tea is almost a full time event. I have found that having 4-6 cups a day seems to be average. I wonder if that counts for daily water intake? We wonder the garden some more and briefly explored some shops on the main street before continuing our journey. Bela’s uncle Peter drove us around the countryside on a very scenic route to Blackpool. We passed many spectacular towns and farms on some very narrow and weaving roads. Peter tends to drive a little faster than we are used to, but I suspect that may just be the way everyone drives here. After some time we needed to stop and stretch our legs. We stopped at the cutest B&B/Pub I have ever seen. It had a thatched roof and looked very quaint. We strolled up and down the canal and I remarked to Bela how we should get a boat and moor on the canal. We could sail up and down England’s canals. After a quick coffee and Ice cream we decided to continue on to Blackpool. We found the city to be like a mini Las Vegas. I think it’s more like the town from the Lost Boys movie with the carnival on the peer and all the shows and restaurants along the boardwalk. As it was starting to get a bit late, we returned home and picked up some Chinese food on the way. I have to admit that it was some of the best Chinese I have ever had. A little bit later we finished the evening with some pleasant conversation and a nighttime tea.

Today we awoke to the sounds of gusting winds and falling rain. We also awoke to morning tea. Once we figured out how the shower worked, we cleaned up and proceeded to breakfast. It was a wonderful traditional English breakfast of bangers, egg, patty, tomatoes and potatoes. We then did some assorted tasks before heading into town. We enjoyed the scenic drive into Chorley, where Bela and her Aunt Joy did some shopping in the market and Uncle Peter and myself headed for the Job center. We eventually met back up at a restaurant where we had a delightful afternoon tea. We then made a few more stops and returned home for a quick dinner of Stew. We then headed out to watch Peter play a match of Crown Bowling. Unfortunately his team did not win, however there were great moments that made the game suspenseful and entertaining. We then returned home where Bela had a cup of tea to ease her cold and we headed off to bed.

We arrived in Glasgow at 8:30am, and with no real plans laid out we set off for Manchester to look-up Bela’s Great-Aunt and Uncle. We tried to book a bus from Glasgow to Manchester and ended up getting a booking for the 3:15pm bus. So with 6 hours to kill we ended up spending almost the entire time in the bus terminal. We tried lunch at the bus station café, where Bela had chips and I had a burger and chips. Oddly enough, burgers here are just that - a plain burger. Just a warm patty and a dry bun. We couldn’t find any condiments either. As I tried to eat it, I watched other people order burgers and all were the same as mine. I chalked it up as the way it’s done here and I might as well get used to it. Bela thought it might be a good time to try calling her Great Aunt and Uncle to see if they could pick us up in Manchester. Unfortunately there was a problem with the phone number and we were unable to get through to them. So finally 3:15 rolled around and by then both Bela and myself were exhausted. We got on the bus and I almost immediately car sick, I think it was because of the lack of sleep. So for the next 5 hours, I tried to sleep as much as one can on a motor coach and am surprised by the amount I did sleep. We arrived at Manchester and Bela tried again to contact the relatives. With the help of Directory Services she got the appropriate number and gave them a ring. Another half hour of waiting in the bus terminal and Bela’s Great aunt and Uncle arrived. They are both so friendly and very nice. We quickly traveled back to their place just outside Feniscowles in an area called Cherry Tree (a suburb of Blackburn), where we had a quick snack of sausages and bread with a cup of tea. We then headed off to bed where we quickly fell asleep and finally got a good nights rest.

We arrived at the Vancouver bus terminal at 5:15am. Our short 6-hour ride seeming like it took forever. During one of the stops, I briefly chatted with a couple of guys who we taking an 8-day traveling vacation...3 days on the bus from Windsor, 2 days in Vancouver and then another 3days back. I don’t know how they could stand being on a bus for that long. My mom picked us up from the terminal and we went back to her place for a 2-hour nap, breakfast, and a trip to the airport. We slowly made our way through the line to collect our tickets and at one point were told that the seats were overbooked from Calgary and we were going to have to wait. Well we waited in line for nearly 2 hours and were beginning to wonder if we were even going to make the flight. At the last minute we were all bumped to 1st class and we hurried through security and the departure gate. After the departure gate we proceeded directly to the plane where by some odd coincidence we asked if they were still boarding the plane and we ended up being the first two people on the plane. As part of the master plan, I had anticipated an overnight flight where we would be tired from the previous nights bus journey and would mostly sleep on the plane. I didn't consider how uncomfortable riding on planes and busses would be.’ Its now 11:00pm in Alberta and 6:00am in Glasgow and we should be landing in 2 hours. After an 8-hour flight and very little sleep in the past few days, I am going to be very tired tomorrow.

Today was an interesting day to say the least. We started the day in Summerland and took a quick trip to Penticton to visit with Craig. With only about an hour and a half to go to Penticton and get back and onto the bus to Kelowna, we were cutting time a little close. After a quick coffee at Tim Horton’s and my truck only starting by the skin of its teeth, we were able to get back to Bela's parents' home with only minutes to spare. We quickly packed up and zoomed off to the bus station. We spend most of the afternoon visiting my sister and my nephews, and weighing and repacking our backpacks before we were shuttled off to the bus station for an overnight trip to Vancouver. We had planned to use our military might to sleep on the bus, especially with all the practice runs we had done going to Wainwright and back. Unfortunately the bus was filled to capacity and we were very fortunate to have someone move so we could sit together. We tossed and turned most of the time and I may have dozed a couple times but never more than a few minutes. So much for us sleeping