Manchster Trip

S'up everyone,

Last week Lany had to go up to Manchester for work, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to stay for the weekend and hang out with Fatboi!  Lany was up there Thursday so I came up Friday morning on the train and worked from Chris's place.

Friday night we planned to head out and have a quick dinner, and Chris a snack as he had to go to a workmates farewell later, but we ended up in a very nice Italian restaurant called San Carlo's with Chris having a starter and sneaking some tastes of our mains before kicking on to meet up with his friends.  Lany and my dinners were really good (I had a creamy mushroom sauce on stuffed pasta called 'fagottini' which was da bomb!), and the 'house wine' was actually really good - very happy all round.

On Saturday we headed out into the countryside a little to a big hill near Rivington (Lancashire) where apparently Mr Lever (or the Unilever brand fame) had a massive estate - it's now ruins but the hill commands an excellent view.  There were lots of photo opportunities which I took advantage of, so check out the Gallery for all of them.

On the way to the base of the hill we stopped at a built up reservoir (built ages ago, so not a concrete dam or anything, just a massive earth wall) and the sky/water was pretty surreal.

Then onwards to the hill base where we climbed to a tower called the 'Pigeon Tower' which supposedly was part of the estate and had limited accommodation.   Half way there was an ornamental pond which had frozen over.  Usually when ponds freeze in London all I see is a flat mass of ice, but for some reason on this pond you could see huge ice crystals that must have formed super slowly or something.  At one end they were packed together, at the other they were broad and flat (the size of my hand).  The photos don't really do it justice but it looked amazing.  Chris went to the edge of the pond and snapped off some huge sections which were only a 1/2 cm thick, so when you threw them onto the ice they shattered and made a cool 'twinkling' noise as they slid over the ice.  Hard to explain, but it was really _really_ cool.

Then up to the top of the hill to a tower that was used for a geese hunting lookout.  Spectacular views.  Also there was little balls of dew (I guess) which were freezing into (sort of) snowflakes.

On the way back down we found the 'main' area where the house and gardens were supposed to be.  The sun came out (well, the clouds blew away) for a short while so we got some great views on the way down.

And after getting to the base of the hill and the car, we went around to the other side of the hill to find a mini-castle My Lever had built on the lake.  It was small but super cool - imagine having a castle on a lake as a summer house or whatever!

As you can imagine, there were lots of nature-scape type photos to take.  I was particularly fascinated with the trees there - so windswept and crooked, but colourful even though it's the middle of winter.

After hiking around, we needed a good feed and so we headed to Lancaster.  In town we saw the big castle, which was pretty big actually to be right in the middle of a town, and then had a hearty meal in a cool pub which is set up in some old tunnels (it was probably the castle food storage area).

Anka

Yassine's Wedding during Christmas and New Year in Morocco

Hey everyone,

I have been very demotivated since Christmas/New Year in Morocco as the weather in London has been really ugly and gross - hovering near zero degrees, but grey skies and smushy rain.  Not cold enough for snow - BAH!  This week is VERY cold though, so hopefully we'll get snow!

Anyway, over the end-of-year break, Lany's bro Yassine got married to his super nice girlfriend Siham.  They just did a small ceremony at the house as their 'proper' wedding is going to be later in the year.  Silly me thought that being at house it would be a small affair, but as that's completely impossible for Moroccan's it was still a big celebration.

Siham looked absolutely amazing in her outfit and even though it is winter, the weather was perfect with a bright and sunny day - no rain!  I took a LOT of photos and am still sorting through some, so if you want to see them please go check my Photo Gallery.


After the ceremony at the Tihami house (outside Marrakech, near Tahanaout) we went to a nearby restaurant for feasting and dancing.  Siham's dad is a champion, he was dancing and joking all day - and at one point even started pretending to sing with the band.  The food was as good as ever, so there are some photos.


Siham's grandfather is also a brilliant singer, so he sang at the wedding and afterwards at the restaurant.  Moroccan's really revere their elders, it's very cool to see.  Siham's grandmother, also in spectacular fashion, stole the limelight by boogie-ing down on the dance floor.

I don't want to give away everything regarding the wedding as it may spoil some of the details for ours (which is NOT far away, eek) - so for now you'll have to be content with photo browsing.  As for the rest of the trip, we went out a little and saw friends, but really it was all about wedding prep (first Yassine/Siham's, then ours) so there's not a lot to say.  Poor Lany really did a lot of wedding stuff and returned more tired than when she left!

Anka