And one of the reasons I signed up to do the Lancaster University Conference was for this day of a potential visit to the Lake District. Notice I said "day" in the Lakes… this is a travesty and a crime… the Lakes should be a week-long visit where I backpack from one hostel or campground to another… BUT I have an available day. I don't have a week. I will take what I can get…
And that wasn't the end of the complications in figuring out just how to manage this… For reasons of cost (this conference ended up being somewhat self-funded…whimper!) I was trying to take Megabus… For reasons of time, I wanted to take the train… In the end, I took everything! Train up to Lancaster… little city buses between the town and the Uni… Train to the Lakes and back… and then Megabus night bus back into London… where I am now writing… Sigh!
The night portion of the bus was critical… I had to take the latest thing I could find… in order to have as much of a day up in the Lakes as possible. THEN, what was I going to do with my time there. I found ONE tour operator that did half-day tours of authors of the area (focusing on Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth, perfect). There were other tours, of course… This is a VERY touristy area… But they had to be ordered by the group, not by the individual. Now, I'm not the biggest Beatrix Potter fan, by any means, or Wordsworth, for that matter. (He's no Twain!) But I do love him, and I very much appreciate his influence on the US transcendentalists-- who ARE my adored authors!
With that in mind, now, we can imagine me arriving in Windermere… This afternoon tour is pretty much ideal. It gives me time to check out the place, then takes up most of my time in the area and goes to all the places I'd never be able to get on my own… and then there is time after to check out Windermere or grab dinner or whatever… and then I train away.
I arrive at the venue just to check in--well before our scheduled trip but out of an excess of caution-- and the woman there tells me my tour is CANCELLED-- as I was the only one signed up. And I can a) get a refund or b) take this other tour they've offered that I clearly wasn't interested in BEFORE. And I almost exploded in my head, body, brain, spirit… It got bad…
Keep in mind, there are a lot of pieces in the air for this day. If something is late, for example, everything else crumbles and suddenly I'm not getting to London… And also remember that I didn't have a lot of options in terms of other tours… this being the ONE… So what can I even do at this point??
Well, apparently almost cry and cuss a bit… And be generally FURIOUS… (I do hope they feel the unbelievable rudeness of their conduct-- but I doubt it.) And then just bow down and take whatever they decide to give me because what other choice do I have??? I felt very much like I was at a mechanic's… and that is NEVER a good feeling!
I try to walk it off-- making it almost down to Windermere before it's time to head back up to crap option tour of no choices-- and grab a much needed coffee and brownie… (odd side note: I had been drinking a LOT of awful coffee this weekend. Conference coffee… made by students at catering and put in one of those giant carafes… It was nasty, but I couldn't stop… It had been a while since I would have tolerated such nastiness… I prob should have started drinking tea-- They couldn't destroy tea bags!) The coffee was lovely, actually. The first good coffee in DAYS… and the brownie almost made me high… (note: it wasn't THAT kind of brownie-- I was being metaphorical.) And so steeled, I growled and scowled my way back to the tour company… Hoping my hatred of them that was projecting from me would do all the talking…
I had thought of a million scathing horrid things to say to the driver when he arrived… This was apparently all his fault, btw… (The secretary person was clearly chicken shit…) And all the while knowing I would prob say none of it. And I was wrong. I couldn't seem to help myself from saying snippy things when he did his smarmy… Hi, my name is… crap. Hi, are you? Yes, I'm the one who is NOT taking the tour she signed up for… Ah, well, you know how it is… I just need five minutes (said 10 minutes after the time I was told to arrive, btw). Of COURSE you do…
And I LITTERED… Take THAT! (Of course, I don't think they'll appreciate my evil actions, as the container then blew away and out of sight. Crap! I didn't mean to ACTUALLY litter in a national park!)
EVENTUALLY the guy (a weirdly gnomish old man…) relieved himself or whatever and came back… and told me that he was sure I'd enjoy this new tour better and he'd point out other Beatrix Potter stuff along the way… This, btw, ended up getting weird. Remember, I don't really care all that much about Beatrix Potter… it was the principle of the thing that mattered more to me. But he kept all day acting like I was upset because I was a Potter devotee… It got weird and kind of funny… (I don't know any of her books, for example… just that she drew animals and saved a lot of the land up there from development…) Also, there were several Wordsworth sites that I WAS more interested in…
Last note about the gnome… he was a little creepy. In the way of old white guys… He did this weird 2nd degree about where I was from in the States. And I wan't going to give him anything to go on… Where you from? All over… You don't have a home base?? A state you've never heard of… Finally, I fessed up to Missouri, for him to remember the issue at Ferguson. OF COURSE! I made some sarcastic comment like: we're very proud… Then, to my horror and scooting over to the far side of the bus… He went into a rant defending the police! And how clearly anyone shot by a US cop deserved it… AND then how a British cop would kill you faster… (??!!) I had to say: British police don't have guns! Oh, but they could if they wanted them… and then they'd kill you with skill and precision! WTF??!! (Said mostly in my head…) And I tried to engage very little from then on… I figured the best way to do this was to just get him talking about ANYTHING else… (Then I wouldn't have to listen and we'd both be happy.) So I asked about his kids. Note to the world: ALWAYS ask about the kids… they'll drone on and on and you have to do very little active listening… Remember there is GORGEOUS scenery all around me in this case… It's a win-win.
Onto the gorgeous scenery. It is truly jaw-dropping… I'm dropped instantly into nostalgia from several angles… This reminds me of a car ride with the family. (Hey, kids, let's all get in the car and go THIS way for hours and look at pretty stuff!) It also reminds me of my previous visit to the area… Mom, Dad, you'd LOVE the Lake District!!
AND, my mood softens. I start to have fun in spite of my spite… It's actually much easier to do than have spite when it's all so flipping lovely! The driver has shifted over to much safer ground, and I am able to respond to stuff more honestly and with less horror… Yes, it's lovely-- gorgeous… Can we stop for photos? (Answer, no! Explained why for the next 10 minutes… two steps back, dude!) BUT I can roll the window down… And I do what I can with what I've got… And that's a NIKON, baby!!
Eventually, we catch up with the other family. (Mom, dad, son--Parents doctors and son professional animator--all from India but had lived in Wales ages ago and were revisiting where the son was born and lived as a wee baby. They were lovely!) And the four of us go on a boat ride across lake Derwent… There are a LOT of Lakes, and there is no test at the end… But I took a pic of the tour brochure so I could at least remember the names of stuff in case I ever needed them… ;)
From this point on, the day was GORGEOUS and FABULOUS and other adjectives in ALL CAPS. The day was sunny, the wind--and occasionally spray--was in my face, there was water, trees, birds, sheep, and nothing else! This was what I had made all these ridiculous plans and itinerary for. The boat ride in itself made the day worth it.
And it was pretty much all good from there. They moved me to the back of the bus as "last on," which was clearly fine with all involved. And the gnome drove us all over places we'd never be able to see with a city bus… These desolate grassy wastelands that reminded me of the desert around my folks's pad-- In fact, I had several Arrowhead/Big Bear nostalgia moments during the day-- Passes and valleys-- One side greener, one side more tree-covered, one side more rocky and desolate, one side totally undeveloped… We seriously went from one view to the next. My poor NIKON was on one-bar for battery (How do I keep doing this?) and so I couldn't look at the pictures I was taking-- I had to devote myself just to shooting… And the pics that make it to the blog are from the phone, btw… There was a lovely waterfall… There were a few, but the one we stopped at was called Moss Force… There was even a stone circle, Castle Rigg. It was lovely and friendly and in NO WAY spooky. I wondered if this could be a random market-place stone circle. Just b/c the Druids made a circle DOESN'T have to mean they did human sacrifice or their homage to the seasons there. People were picnicking and it was all so sunny and cheerful. Made me wonder if that WAS the vibe we were supposed to get there. I wasn't missing the Druidic vibe-- Rather, I was picking up exactly the right one. Oddly enough, the gnome's theory was similar to mine…
AND we stopped at Dove Cottage and Grasmere Cemetery for the Wordsworth-iness of them. Once again I had to remember that I'd started out the day very angry and it was because of WW… When by now I just wanted to walk around in the park that was planted with a gajillion daffodils in memorial to WW. I had another mad nostalgia buzz here. I *think* I took an actual film picture here back in 98 that ended up all lovely and soft-focus for some inexplicable reason, and became a "here is my gift that is crafty but not stupid" Christmas present to Wendy that year. IF I remember correctly. It was the SAME shot. Almost the exact same soft focus…
And that was that. We went almost an hour over our schedule, but I was NOT complaining. Given the start of my visit-- that's saying something! And I even heartily and honestly thanked Andy (I guess he's earned his name) by the end. It was LOVELY! And he really took us to all kinds of great parts of the region! I enjoyed every bit of the tour itself. :)
And that left me just time to grab dinner and then get on the train/bus/tube back… Even THIS went right… Walking a slightly different route into the ridiculously cute/touristy/chi chi downtown Windermere area (again, memories of Arrowhead), I came across a house's front yard with THREE cats basking in the sun next to an open window. They were outside, mind you. I got pics of two of the three… (I have a third pic of a cat--but that one was from Lancaster, and not as friendly.) These guys were great, and the tabby leapt from the windowsill TOWARD me, rolled around on its back, and nudged my hand with its head. It didn't LET me pet it, it MADE me… I didn't complain! Then I saw a neat looking dinner place, where I might have had my first patio dining experience in the UK (weather-wise), and the table had coffee beans buried in it! And the wine and pizza were lovely, and Wicked Game played on the stereo. Because of COURSE it did…
Then, trains, buses, and tubes happened… and that is ANOTHER story! :)
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