Sheffield

Tuesday night I got up at eleven, completed my experiments, got on a delayed plane to England, realised at border security I didn't have Sophie's address, called my mum at 1am NZ time to get it, ran through Heathrow and got to my coach just in time! On the coach I met a photographer who has just been on a painting course in Southern Italy and was going to fly to Oz to paint the outback next week. He told me all about how brilliant India is. Turns out talking to the person you're sitting next to is a gamble that sometimes pays off!

When I got to Sheffield I was so glad to see the ancient camp stretcher in the spare room that I immediately broke it and had to make myself a pile of duvets and sleeping bags to collapse into. 

My nest of sleeping bags

I was also quite pleased to see SOPHIE!!! She is living with her dad's mate. He is an interesting fellow who has spent the last couple of days cleaning motorbike parts in the kitchen sink and telling me about avant garde composers.

SOPHIE!!!

We went into Sheffield town centre yesterday. Sophie entranced a child with her bubbles, but gave the kid the bubble mix rather than luring them away and making them work in a steel mill. It's been amazingly warm and sunny and Sheffield's full of friendly people with delightful Yorkshire accents. Most importantly, you can get a pint of local craft beer at a pub for less than $5.

Chillin' in the Shef

We stumbled across a fair in the middle of the city. Sheffield's about as far as you can get from the sea in England, so they had got around this problem by setting up a small seaside, including tiny beach and tiny sea and a terrifyingly rickety helter skelter. The higher I climbed the more I wondered about OSH regulations.

All British towns must have a helter skelter by law

portable beach

WHEEEEE!!!

Sheffield has a lovely old cathedral. We had a poke about and then some lunch outside, where we got to witness the UK tradition of a "chav picnic." This is where rough types take their shirts off, drink cans of Stella, chase their exotically-named children and piss against the cathedral. The police turned up but disappointingly there was no fracas.

The serene interior of Sheffield cathedral

The less serene exterior of the cathedral

Sophie had to pretend to be taking a photo of me outside the cathedral to get that last photo, so you better appreciate this intimate glimpse of British culture.