Chez PJ & Lisa in Howden (where? exactly)
On the eve of Australia Day, we (Melanie, Nath, Nick & I) decided to catch the train up to Yorkshire to spend the weekend with PJ and Lisa. They had just moved into their own 2 bedroom place in Howden (Where? Exactly!) which is a short train ride from York or Hull, depending on your direction of travel. From London, it’s approximately 2 hours on the train. But it seemed much quicker to arrive as we all merrily enjoyed a few bottles of wine on the train up!
Lisa picked us up from the train station (literally, a train station with nothing around, we thought it was an early April Fool’s Day joke at first!) and delivered us to our abode for the weekend: theirs. It was a lovely warm, well fitted out apartment with views of the local church (read: a daily alarm bell!). We immediately began the well overdue catch up with them both, over a few more bottles of wine and an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. (I’m not too sure how that last element snuck it’s way in!).
On the Saturday, we caught the 10:30am train from Howden to York. We then spent the day wandering the tiny lanes and window shopping our way around. We were all slightly feeling the effects of the night before, and the many, many, many stairs to the top of the York Minstrel definitely didn’t help! But a good, hearty English lunch did. Pies and roasts all around (washed down with a Coke, much to the boys’ dismay).
We spent the afternoon at the Viking Museum, and seeing Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate. Before a final stop in a traditional sweet store, and then the fudge shop, we then had a cider in a pub that is actually underground in a cellar. Very nice!
On Saturday night, Lisa cooked up a superb curry that we all enjoyed before the Pictionary Competition began! The game became a heated competition of lots and lots of all plays! Drawing with eyes closed, with left hands, without your pen leaving the paper – we had it all! I’ve never laughed so hard in my life! Surprisingly, Melanie & I were victors! ‘Yay us!
It was then Fireworks time. We loaded up Nick’s backpack (actually, it was already packed with goodies) and headed out to the rugby fields across town. We carried nothing but fireworks. The boys set up a great display on the fields, and one by one the rockets hit the sky for a fabulous fire in the sky! Pity about Nath’s unfortunate mud-slide fall as he went to reload……. But hilarious!
Church bells woke us on Sunday morning. After a leisurely breakfast, we went for a wander around Howden before picking one of the local 6 pubs for a Sunday Roast. It went something like this:
Waitress: “Would you like the beef or the pork?”
Us: [We are considering…]
Waitress: “Oh wait, sorry we are out of the pork.”
Us: 5 beefs it is then!
And the roasts they delivered to us could have fed the whole village! Potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and more as a “side” to our gravy and puddings. We had to take that walk around Howden after lunch (through the graveyard? Hmm) just to walk off some of that saturated fat.
By 4pm, it was time for the Londoners to return to the train station to catch our train back south. We had such a wonderful time up in Yorkshire – a sneak peak at the quiet life was great fun!
