I'm dreaming of...(Part 1)

Christmas overseas was obviously going to be different from Christmas in Australia. For one thing, our extended families were not going to be there. For another, the weather promised to be somewhat colder (although Wayne vividly remembers being very cold at Lorne a couple of years ago). We were faced with a couple of options; try and recreate an Australian Christmas in the middle of England, or, go the whole hog and have a Christmas that was totally unlike any that we had ever had before. Without too much debate it was on the latter course that we decided and, consequently, on December 23rd we found ourselves waking at 3:10am ready for a 4am drive to Luton Airport.

None of us had ever been to Luton Airport before, although we had all seen it on the television program ‘Airport’ which was shown on television in Australia before we left. After dropping off Madge (our Nissan Almera that replaced Kylie the Mazda 323 after our trip to Manchester) at the airport parking, the bus took us up to the airport which, even at this early hour of the morning, was thronged with people. We had learned our lesson from our Madrid trip and were there in good time, even so, by the time we made the front of the queue they were putting out a last call for our flight. Once again, Meg and Wayne had kept the destination from the boys however, even when they read where we were going Brock identified it as Genovia and Quinn had no idea where Geneva was (so much for that excellent Geography mark!).

The flight itself seemed remarkably short, even to Meg who was the only one who didn’t sleep, a point which she still reminds the others about. She claims that this negates our previous status as ‘delightful travelling companions’, the boys assert that they had not had very much sleep and so needed a nap and that it is not their fault that Meg cannot sleep on aeroplanes. Coming into Geneva was amazing as we flew over the Alps, covered with snow and everybody was really excited about the possibilities that the next few days held.

On the ground, it was a matter of collecting our luggage and then boarding the complimentary public transport into the centre of Geneva itself. When you arrive at the airport the free ticket you are provided with lasts for 90 minutes, however, all hotels in Geneva give visitors a pass which provides them with free public transport for the duration of their stay. This is great because Geneva is well stocked with trains, trams, buses, and ferries all of which fall under this provision. What we hadn’t counted upon was that, even though our hotel was only 16 kilometres from the centre of Geneva (they use kilometres in Europe, so we had to reconvert back from the miles to which we have become accustomed) it was across the Swiss border, in France, and so was not covered by this provision.

However, at this stage we hadn’t discovered this important fact and so, after arriving at Geneva’s Central Station, we boarded a tram out to Moillesulaz, a suburb of Geneva on the border with France. From there we walked across the border to get a taxi through Annemasse (the beautiful French town on the other side of the border) to Ville-le-Grand, which was the site of our hotel. Now because we were travelling to Switzerland and assuming that we would be spending most of our time there, the money that we had we had converted to Swiss Francs. Of course, now we were in France they would not accept these, only Euros would do, so before we could even get in the taxi we needed to get some more money. Once this was done our driver took a convoluted route to the hotel and charged us 3 times the amount he had originally quoted (taxi drivers are the same the world over it seems). It was at this point that we found out the news about public transport and Geneva not being applicable in France, which was a bit of a issue given that we had planned to use public transport to get back into Geneva and explore.

The hotel staff gave us some helpful directions and we were able to catch a bus not far away (although the walk was cold enough to have everyone rubbing their hands) and then a train from Annemasse Station back into a station near Parc La Grange on the edge of Lake Geneva. As you will see by the photos on our blog, Geneva is a beautiful city. There is a fascinating array of architecture with lots of monuments and streets dedicated to famous people. We jumped back on another tram (the ticket we had bought at the train station gave us travel for the remainder of the day) and went into the city centre to tour the shopping district and see what we could. After looking at the shops, we wandered down to the waterfront.

Although it was cold, windy and overcast, Lake Geneva was still a beautiful sight. It was only the wind being more obvious, and the lack of toilet facilities that drove us back into the city. However, there were so many parks and gardens in Geneva itself that this was not too much of a hardship. Among the many things we saw was a statue dedicated to Louis Favre, one of Geneva’s favourite sons. While it seems like a massive undertaking even now, imagine building a train tunnel through the Gotthard Massif (a mountain in between Switzerland and the Italian border) in 1872. When Wayne first travelled to Switzerland with his family back in 1982 they had travelled through the Road Tunnel, which had only been completed 2 years earlier) but he had not realised just how long the railway tunnel had been there. Sadly for Louis Favre he did not live to see the tunnel completed but died while still working on it one day in 1879. In this, he was among 200 who were killed while bringing about this feat of engineering.

Eventually, a toilet was found near an Anglican Church (which was a bit of a surprise to find in Geneva, particularly when we discovered that it was part of the Diocese of Gibraltar). However, when Meg, Brock and Quinn descended the steps (the toilets were underground) it transpired that only the men’s facilities were opened. Consequently, we continued to wander the streets for a period longer looking for somewhere for Meg to gain relief. This gave us the opportunity to travel the Rue Rousseau named for another famous Genevan, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau was a major philosopher, writer, and composer during the Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of liberal, conservative, and socialist theory. His writings and music were also highly influential, but as it was getting late in the day (and no bathroom was to be found) we decided to return to Ville-le-Grand and Meg remained philosophical.

How to extend a holiday!

There are a number of ways in which one could extend a holiday. Recently we have seen a few options
a) go to Mumbai and stay at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
b) go to Bangkok
Both of these events occurred in the week leading up to our weekend away in Manchester and were quite distressing. We did not follow either of these paths, but our weekend was extended nonetheless in a way which was also not particularly pleasant.

None of this was on our mind as we left school at 3pm on the Friday afternoon. Brock and Quinn had been given permission to finish early and had come home and completed their packing. Wayne and Meg were permitted to leave without attending the usual Friday afternoon staff meeting and so were able to get away in good time to, hopefully, miss most of the Friday afternoon peak traffic. Initially, this is what happened. We sailed across to the M1 just south of Luton (making use of the M10 on the way) and despite the road works we were making good time. There was some delay as we turned on to the M6 and drew closer to Coventry and then Birmingham at a time not long after 5pm but this did not cause us huge delays.

What was interesting was how quickly it got dark. Those of you who have only ever lived in Australia may not realise that, at the height of winter here in England, it starts getting dark at around 3pm. By 4:30pm on our trip north it was already pitch black and it was noticeable that there were areas in which fog was starting to develop, making it harder to see the view around us. We had travelled along much of this road on our trip to Ireland, so we knew some of the things we were passing, but it still would have been nice to see some of the sights along the way.

Another fascinating development was the appearance of a gravely dirt on the motorway, particularly as we started to ascend some of the hills north of Stoke-on-Trent. The origin of this soon became clear as we came up behind a truck with the illuminated sign ‘Spreading’ travelling in the middle lane. As we passed alongside, Kylie was showered with grit which was being spread on the road to counter the ice which can build up on nights (like this one) where it is very, very cold. This was one of the areas where fog was at its worst, so to come up on this truck with very little visibility was something to set the heart pounding slightly.

As we approached Manchester we were once again given cause to curse the inaccuracies of Google Maps and their travel advice. The hotel we were booked into (for which we had got a phenomenally cheap deal, precipitating our journey to Manchester in the first place) was at the Birch Service Area beside the M62 Motorway just north of the M60 which forms a ring around Manchester. However, rather than simply directing us to get off the Motorway at that services, Google Maps had instructed us to leave the Motorway at the previous Junction and travel some back streets looking (in vain) for the hotel which we were told would be there. Fortunately, we found some generous locals in a pub and they directed us to where we needed to be.

The previous week at Hailey Hall had been exceptionally busy, as a flu virus had gone through the school. At its bleakest we were down to 13 students (out of 67) and 8 staff with even some of those attending feeling unwell and sniffling. Wayne had experienced a gastro bug the previous week which seems to have increased his immunity to the flu, and Meg tends not to get sick anyway, so they both worked through the week but were very tired. As we were all sharing a room (and it was very cold and there was not very much to do at the services) we put the television on for Quinn to watch and Brock then Meg quickly dropped off to sleep.

When we woke Saturday morning we were disappointed to discover that the fog from the previous evening was still present. Not only that, but the temperature was down in the low single digits and there was intermittent rain. Meg, however, had been drawn to Manchester on the basis of stories she had been told of brilliant shopping and was not to be deterred. After a hot chocolate next door, she and Wayne returned to wake the boys so that we could make the journey into the city centre. One of the big advantages of our position on the north side on Manchester beside the motorway was that this was relatively easily accomplished. While dining we had chatted with other travellers who were off to watch football teams playing down south in Plymouth (an 8 hour round trip) and north east in Newcastle (approximately 4.5 hours all up) and had commiserated with them.

It was just a short trip down the road to the A56 which we used to get into town. This took us through the suburb of Prestwich. It roughly follows the line of a Roman road which was built between Manchester and Longridge. As we were driving along through this leafy and very scholastic part of Manchester it was obvious (being a Saturday morning) that there were lots of Jewish people in the area. In fact this part of Manchester is the second largest Jewish community in the UK and has numerous synagogues as well as a number of Jewish schools. Given the severity of the bombing that took place in Manchester during World War II it seems appropriate that the two communities have united in this way.

As you get much closer to the city you can just see the walls of another Manchester landmark, H.M. Prison Manchester (better known as Strangeways after the parks and gardens on which it was built). Strangeways was built in 1869 and is still able to hold around 1200 prisoners. We have mentioned before the movie ‘Pierrepoint’ and it was at Strangeways that the title character from that movie conducted the ‘fastest ever hanging’ of James Inglis in 7 seconds. More recently the Premier League footballer Joey Barton was kept at Strangeways, as was the serial killer Harold Shipman who was there on remand while awaiting trial. There were a series of riots at the prison in 1990 which saw 147 staff and 47 prisoners injured between April 1st and April 25th. For those of you who grew up in the 1980’s you might also remember the album by The Smith’s called ‘Strangeways Here We Come’.

Just before the city centre itself we also passed the Manchester Evening News Arena which was built as part of Manchester’s bid for the 2000 Olympic Games. It is the largest indoor arena in the United Kingdom and was the first one built with 360 degree seating. The opening performance was part of the farewell tour for Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean and nowadays it regularly hosts basketball and ice hockey games with the Manchester teams from the national competition playing there. As well, it is the world’s busiest arena for concerts (outselling Madison Square Garden in New York) and was the site of the last Spice Girls concert in the UK. It was built on top of Victoria Railway Station, which makes travel to and from the arena much easier.

Despite the clouds and the fog we were able to see an impressive array of architecture as we entered the city in search of a suitable shopping centre for Meg. Again, because of the extensive bombing of Manchester during the war years lots of rebuilding has taken place and there are some very impressive structures. A detonation by the IRA of the largest bomb exploded by them on English soil in 1996 The Commonwealth Games of 2002 also saw lots of building take place and some of that was quite obvious also. We pulled into the carpark at the Arndale Centre, which is the UK’s biggest city centre shopping mall, (after witnessing some amazing pieces of driving) and drove up a fabulous spiral entry ramp. This gave us the opportunity to get a viewing of the Manchester Eye (like the London Eye, a giant sightseeing ferris wheel) although not enough time to take a photo.

Once we were inside Meg was in shopper’s heaven (or so she thought until Sunday) with an enormous array of shops all beginning their pre-Christmas sales. Our first port of call was the BHS (British Home Store, sort of a cross between Woolworths and David Jones for those of you in Australia) which served a very cheap full English breakfast. The boys were able to load up on sausages, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, hash browns (Wayne also had black pudding) and a good sized drink. From there we were able to venture out, breaking into small groups at various points and do some Christmas shopping of our own. The only major drawback to the Arndale Centre came when it was time for us to leave (a few hours after we arrived) when we discovered that there was only one elevator working and that this was the only way to access the part of the car park in which we had parked. After a little wait to actually get on to the elevator itself we were quickly up to Kylie and on our way.

For our next trick we decided to drive around the inner ring road that circles inner city Manchester. Even at 2pm it was still foggy and wet with limited visibility but there was a lot to see. The oddly shaped Beetham Tower (Manchester’s tallest building at 169 metres) was clearly visible as was the CIS Center which, as well as being an office block, is also the UK’s largest solar power project. As well as the newer buildings, the Manchester Town Hall Clock Tower (87 metres) also stands out. The road takes you up and down, with some raised parts and some which take you down to street level so we actually did two laps to make sure that we saw as much as we could before we journeyed to our next stop.

Before we even got to the City of Manchester Stadium (the centrepiece of the 2002 Commonwealth Games) the boys were impressed by an enormous sculpture, called ‘B of the Bang’, built in 2004. It was designed to look like an exploding firework and named for a quotation from the British sprinter Linford Christie. Rather than attempting to start at the ‘bang’ of the starter’s gun, Christie apparently said that he tried to begin at the ‘b of the bang’. Let us say that this is not immediately obvious when you are looking at it, but at 56 metres tall, and made of weathering steel so that it has become a rust colour it is an imposing sight. It is, apparently, taller and leans at a greater angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

City of Manchester Stadium is another impressive structure and reminded Wayne of the Olympic Stadium in Sydney with a number of the features it possessed. Across the road from it is a very large store featuring material relevant to the Manchester City Football Club (for whom it is now their home ground). Having been into a large number of sports stores and seen which clubs are featured it surprised Meg and the boys to see so much Sky Blue, because Manchester City are not a club that are particularly well supported outside of Manchester (unlike their nearest neighbours). Wayne ducked across to the stadium to see if any tickets were available for the derby game the next day (there weren’t, but tickets were available for the League Cup game later that week) and then up to the museum to see if it would be possible to do a tour of the ground (which it was, leaving in about 5 minutes).

Touring a stadium is an impressive experience, particularly if, as we did last year when we were all season ticket holders at the Brisbane Lions, you have spent a bit of time in them, because you get to see lots of the areas and places of which you are otherwise ignorant. Meg’s favourite part of the tour was the visit to the private boxes and the restaurants because they were places to which she had not been before. Quite honestly, all of us would enjoy the experience if offered but might balk at the asking price (£180 per person just to have lunch at one of the restaurants on a match day). Getting down close to the pitch and seeing the areas where the managers and players sit during a game was also interesting. The comparison between the seats on which the average patron gets to sit and the much more comfortable and spacious seating was eye-opening, although Brock and Quinn had both commented before on the airline seats the managers had while watching highlights on television.

Another fascinating part of the tour around the City of Manchester Stadium was how totally it has become the football teams stadium, despite it’s origins as the stadium for the Commonwealth Games. We saw a model of changes that had been made to the actual structure, where extra seating had been added and the ground level was actually raised up above where the games had taken place, and were told of the cost to the team to make those changes. Otherwise the majority of the focus was on Manchester City Football Club and its history. Having said that, the tour guide that we had was wonderful; she was informative, able to answer questions, and generally personable. The other impressive thing was the tributes to various footballers and fans which the stadium now contains, some of which has been moved across from their previous stadium at Maine Road. That they care so much about their history was nice and also that the family of a player who dropped dead during a game was also talked about was very refreshing, rather than just focussing on the death itself.

Perhaps because of the presence of such competition from the Manchester Evening News Arena and the football stadium of the other team from Manchester, it wasn’t entirely surprising that concerts held at the stadium was the other minor area of focus during the tour. It was no surprise to Wayne, who knew already that the Gallagher brothers were Manchester City fans, that this is the stadium where Oasis prefer to play when in Manchester. That U2, Take That, and Bon Jovi had also appeared there was not so expected. Meg was most excited to see pictures on the wall of when Rod Stewart had performed at the stadium, however she did comment that perhaps he had aged somewhat (but in a very non judgemental way Rod, in case you are reading this).

Another favourite part of the tour was to visit the part of the stadium where press conferences are held. It is quite nice, and relatively comfortable for both journalists and interviewees (Wayne, Brock and Quinn sat up in the seats pretending that one was the manager and the other two were new signings to the team). Similarly, the places where managers and players are interviewed immediately after the game was also fascinating. It was right in the tunnel which they use to enter the ground and consisted of two boards printed with the teams sponsors logos. Obviously, when we have watched games and the post-match interviews the camera people have focussed in very tightly because we had not realised how small the actual panels were.

By the time the tour finished it was 4:30pm and very cold and dark. The plan was to quickly drop Meg back at the hotel and then for Wayne and the boys to head out to Preston where there was going to be a 5:20pm football match between Preston North End and Bristol City. Unfortunately, even with a street directory, getting back to our hotel proved to be harder than we had anticipated. This was partially because of the fog which had settled heavily, partially because of the traffic which was the heaviest we had experienced all day, and partially just from a lack of familiarity with the area. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was 5:27, cold and wet. The sensible decision to stay in that night was made and we missed a 2-0 win to the home team in front of 11 161 people. However, the match report the next day and the highlights on the television made it clear that many of the people at the ground missed much of the match because the fog was so heavy, so no one was really upset. Instead, after a great day, we all collapsed into bed for a relatively early night.

How to extend a holiday! (Part 2)

Fortunately, the Sunday morning to which we arose was much nicer, weather wise, than the Saturday. The sun was shining through a very blue sky and, while it was still cold and slightly windy, it boded well for a day where we would be able to see much more than we had previously. With this in mind we headed out around the M60 Ring Road in search of a shopping centre which had been recommended to Meg by the hotel staff the day before. In the process of getting there we saw much more of the suburbs of Manchester, as well as some slightly more distant vistas of the city itself, and a glimpse of the airport which is the largest in the United Kingdom outside of the London region.

Another sight which caught the eye was the large indoor ski centre known as Chill Factore. That the UK (where it does actually snow during winter) requires artificial ski slopes might come as a surprise to some of you. This is the second such centre we have come across since we have been here (there is another at Milton Keynes called Xscape) and the locals explain it by saying that it guarantees there will be snow for people to ski and snowboard on which, particularly in the southern parts of England, you can’t guarantee otherwise. Despite Manchester being in the north, the argument for consistency still stands and this centre has three separate slopes. Brock and Quinn were enthusiastic, but Meg had shopping on her mind.

Not far from Chill Factore was the place we had come to visit, the Trafford Centre and from the outside it was a very impressive size. Despite the presence of numerous large car parks it was clear that this was a busy place for, even though it was Sunday morning and when we arrived the majority of the shops had not yet opened, finding a spot to park Kylie was difficult. Even though the day was clear and sunny it was still bitterly cold, so we paused just long enough to snap a picture of Meg looking excited before rushing inside to get out of the weather.

There are over 230 different shops in the Trafford Centre, but that does not do justice to the place. Architects and designers must have lavished attention on it, because it looks absolutely amazing. There are statues and columns, fountains and domes, plants and water features; the place feels like a palace where people can shop. After taking the photo of Meg we had left the camera in Kylie, a decision we regretted (although not enough that anyone was prepared to brave the cold to go out and get it). It seems weird to be talking about taking pictures of the inside of a shopping centre, but this one is a shopping centre which would justify such snaps.

As you might expect, some of the shops were very impressive as well and the lure of Christmas sales and shopping had brought out many of Manchester’s fair citizens (as well as people from much further afield) so there were also excellent opportunities for people watching. It is a curious thing that many people in Britain see shopping as an outing, like going to a park or the theatre, and it is obvious that places like the Trafford Centre as designed to cater to this way of thinking. People dress up to go there. Perhaps it is something to do with the climate, particularly at this time of year, where it is much nicer to be indoors than out.

Highlights of our time at the centre included, for Meg, a visit to the Armani Store, where a handbag was purchased which will be a Christmas gift from Wayne to her. Meg has explained to Brock, Quinn and Wayne that the handbag would cost somewhere in the region of $500 in Australia, needless to say it was purchased for substantially less here. Another purchase was made in a store called Evans where Meg was asked if she would like to participate in the customer reward scheme. When she assented various forms were produced and telephone calls were made. Despite the fact that we had only lived in the UK for 10 months, and normally you cannot get credit until you have been here at least a year (and sometimes 3 years) Meg soon found herself in possession of a new credit card (and £5 off her purchase). It is no wonder that so many in the UK are in a substantial amount of debt. (Meg has used the card wisely thus far she assures all and sundry).

We spent a few hours here, discovering along the way that the centre has an education and outreach centre. Students can do a BTech in retail through the place and there are links to organise school visits to the site, or representatives can come to you. The boys tried to keep Meg from noticing too much about this, for fear that the boys of Hailey Hall School might soon find themselves making regular trips to Manchester. After finalising a number of our Christmas gifts we strode back out laden with bags, and jumped back into Kyle to move to our next stop for the day.

We went back out to the M60 then turned at Chester Road making our way through Stretford onto Talbot Road heading toward Old Trafford. Those of you who are interested in cricket might have guessed that we were heading for the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of the Lancashire County Cricket Club and site of some famous Test match victories for Australia. The name Old Trafford comes from the de Trafford family who have lived in south west Manchester since 1017. Their original home, Old Trafford Hall, was situated close to what is now the White City Retail Park. The family moved to the new hall in what is now Trafford Park, sometime between 1672 and 1720. Consequently, there were two Trafford Halls, one old and one new. The old hall was demolished in 1939 but the name Old Trafford has stuck.

The cricket ground doesn’t look particularly imposing from the street but it does extend back a lot further than you initially think. We saw people alighting from the train station next to the ground (Manchester is particularly well set up if you want to attend big events, with football, cricket and concert stadia all possessing train stations adjacent to them) and thought at one point that there was something on at the ground, but being winter the ground was closed, even to Australians who wanted to take photos and gloat about the relative prowess of our cricket teams. In the end we managed to get a few photos of the exterior of the ground before heading, literally, just down the road to the ‘other’ Old Trafford.

Unlike its namesake, Old Trafford Football Ground, home of Manchester United Football Club, is VERY imposing to look at. It is the largest club stadium in the country (only Wembley is bigger, but it does not belong to any individual club) which isn’t surprising when you see that they describe themselves as ‘the most popular football team in the world’. It can hold 76 212 spectators and when we walked into their ‘superstore’ we were blown away by the number of ways that you can purchase tickets to matches and how quickly they can get you in and out of the queue. Admittedly, we were also blown away by the amazing array of paraphernalia that you can purchase decorated in some way or another by the Manchester United colours and emblems. From baby clothes to tools, crockery and cutlery to electronic devices, if you were a Manchester United fan you could go completely mad.

As we had at the City of Manchester Stadium, we decided to do a tour of the ground in order to see as much as we could. Because this was not starting for about half an hour Brock, Quinn and Meg amused themselves by looking around the museum, while Wayne wandered into a bar where the Old Trafford staff were watching the game (being played at the City of Manchester Stadium) between Manchester City and Manchester United. The game finished 1-0 to United, leaving all the staff very pleased, and Wayne caught up with Meg and the boys before the tour began.

In a number of ways the two tours were very similar, after all they were both at stadiums used predominantly for football, but there were a number of differences between the two. The trophy cabinet at Manchester United is significantly fuller, given that they have won more Premier League titles, FA Cups, League Cups and the European Cup (now the Champions League) on multiple occasions. While both clubs are concerned with their history, this is even more apparent at Old Trafford where the club has played since 1910 (although there was an eight year period from 1941 where the ground was under repair after severe damage from German bombing during World War II). Another, for us, major difference was the quality of the tour guidance provided. The younger, female, member of staff at the City of Manchester Stadium had been pleased to answer questions and was very friendly. The older gentleman who took the tour at Old Trafford was brusque, fast and treated people who were obviously foreigners with disdain.

While Old Trafford is a much older stadium, it has been so regularly rebuilt and extended that this is barely noticeable at times as you move around the ground. The amount of money that the team generates means that it is fitted out with everything you could possibly want. In the team changing room (and this was a highlight for everyone on the tour) was a wall with an incredible multi-media set up, so that at half time the manager could show actual footage of the points he was trying to make from the first half. There were interactive white boards as well and further down the corridor was an education suite for people interning at the ground. While the staff at the City of Manchester Stadium had made disparaging remarks about the quality of the turf at Old Trafford, getting down close to the ground (you weren’t allowed on the field at either stadium) it looked in very good condition.

Another impressive thing about Old Trafford was the memorial to the victims of the Munich disaster. We had not been long in England when the 50 year anniversary of that event had taken place, and this answered many of the questions that Meg, Brock and Quinn had had at the time. Returning from a European game in Belgrade the aeroplane carrying the Manchester United team, staff, journalists and supporters crashed while attempting to take off at Munich airport, where it had had to stop over. 21 of the 44 people on board were killed instantly, including 7 members of the team and 8 journalists. The pilot and a player named Duncan Ferguson survived for 3 weeks and 15 days respectively, despite having suffered horrendous injuries. 2 of the surviving players never played again, while the manager, Matt Busby, was in hospital for 3 months and read his last rites twice during that time. A pregnant lady and her three year old daughter were saved by Manchester United player Harry Gregg who returned to the wreckage to pull them free. It was a huge moment in United’s history, bringing them to the attention of the world while causing them to have to rebuild.

Part of the tribute is a long tunnel (named the Munich Tunnel) with memorial plaques lining it, giving information about the crash, the victims, the survivors and the impact upon the club. There is an old clock from the ground which is stopped at the time that the event took place, at 3:50 on the 6th of February, 1958. There are also memorials for the journalists, crew, club staff and supporters who died in the crash. This year, on the weekend following the 50th anniversary, Manchester City played Manchester United at Old Trafford when many of these tributes were opened. Spectators on the day were provided with a free scarf and there was universal condemnation when a number of those scarves subsequently turned up on Ebay.

Another highlight of the tour came as we were making our way down the tunnel to the pitch. The tour group was divided into pro United fans and others (the category we fitted into) and the youngest member of each side was allowed to lead their ‘team’ down the tunnel to the field of play. Consequently, Quinn now has memories of leading a group of people down the players tunnel while the cheers of nearly 80 000 people rang out (they played a recording of the noise the actual crowd would make on a match day). We then went and sat in the players’ and managers’ chairs (very comfortable) by the pitch while we were told some more information about the ground and its history. By this stage it was getting close to 4:00pm, it was dark and very cold so we were not terribly upset when the tour came to an end and we went back to Kylie ready to make the long trip back to Hertford.

This began well enough, there was a little traffic as we were moving down to the M6 (as you might expect on a day when about 40 000 people had attended the game at the other ground). Eventually we made it out on to the M6 and were headed for home. We had just gone past the services between Junction 19 and Junction 18 when we were forced to come to a complete halt. Although we didn’t know it at the time, up ahead (in fact about 12 cars ahead of us) there had been a single vehicle accident resulting in a roll over which blocked all three lanes of traffic. Emergency vehicles came travelling down the slip way and it became clear that we were going to be here for a while. After a couple of hours some workmen came along to say that they were working from the back of the queue to clear the backlog, but that the road might be completely closed until morning. Brock and Quinn both needed to go to the bathroom, so they and Meg got out and walked back through the cold to the services, while Wayne waited in the car in case circumstances changed and we needed to move.

As things turned out, just as Meg and the boys returned the traffic started to move forward, as they had cleared one of the lanes to let traffic through. Food (acquired at the services) was shared and stories told as we slowly moved forward trying to get the windscreen to defog. Unfortunately, Kylie did not appreciate being parked in the middle of a motorway for 4 hours with the engine being turned on occasionally. We had only moved a couple of junctions down the road when it became clear that she was starting to overheat. Wayne was just able to get her off at the services at Keele and up the steep driveway when the engine gave out completely. With a bit of pushing from Wayne, Brock and Quinn, Meg steered Kylie into a car park and we went inside to get warm while the engine cooled down.

After an hour, we replaced the fluid in the radiator and checked the oil to see if we could get Kylie started again. In this we were helped by some lovely security staff at the services, who provided us with a large water bottle and a tap. When this did not work another patron at the services used his jumper leads to attempt to start her for us, again to no avail. We went back into the services and began asking for a phone book to try and get help. When we contacted the AA we were informed that there was a 9 hour wait because our experience that night was not an unusual one. Meg phoned the Head of Hailey Hall School to inform them that there was a good chance we would not be in the next day, or that at the very least we would probably be late and we tried to sort out what we would do for the night.

By this stage the staff at the various shops of the services had got to know of us and our plight. The manager came down to see us and told us that there was a motel not far away and offered to drive us there when she came off shirt at 1am. We contacted the hotel to ensure that there would be a room for us and accepted her kind offer, arriving at the hotel very early in the morning and just wanting to crash into bed. Before we came to England we had been warned by some people that the English were not very friendly, but our experience has been overwhelmingly different, we are constantly receiving kindness from complete strangers.

When we woke the next morning we phoned the RAC (we had discovered that, through our possession of a bank account with Barclays we had breakdown coverage with the Royal Automobile Club) and they told us that there was still a considerable wait but that they should have someone back to the services by 1pm. We went to the dining area to enjoy a large buffet breakfast (full English) and then Wayne and Quinn set out to get back to Keele services by bus in case the mechanic was able to get there earlier. Meg and Brock waited at the hotel in case we needed to book another night there, and where we were given permission to leave check out till as late as possible.

After a short walk up to the local bus stop, Wayne and Quinn jumped on a bus headed into Newcastle-Under-Lyme (the nearest town). This was quite interesting as Newcastle is a lovely town of about 74 000 people in a lovely valley (the Lyme river valley as you might have guessed from the name) not far from the city of Stoke-on-Trent in the north of Staffordshire. It was named for a new castle which was built in the 12th century under Henry II and given town charter status under Henry III. Like much of the rest of the area, pottery has been a big feature of their economic history and Josiah Wedgwood was an inhabitant. Other notable former residents include Phillip Astley, the founder of the modern ‘circus’, and Arnold Bennett, a novelist Wayne studied at University who used the town in his novels under the name ‘OldCastle’. There are some lovely parks in the town centre and a Christmas market was taking place as we arrived, given that we would not have been here if not for car problems, we were quite pleased.

Once in the centre of town we needed to change buses to head out to Keele where we would have what we were assured was a short walk down to the services. At 11am we were somewhat surprised at how full the bus was until we realised that it was headed to the Keele University. Keele was established in 1949 and given full university status in 1962. It has the largest university campus in Europe and there were signs that it is still growing. Among its graduates are included the playwright Peter Whelan, Kojo Annan (the son of Kofi Annan for Secretary General of the United Nations) and Steve Jackson, the co-founder of Games Workshop and Fighting Fantasy. It is a very impressive place, nicely laid out and with some lovely residential areas. Quinn mentioned how he would like to study somewhere like this, so it is something worth checking out. As we got to the far end of the campus it was time to alight and walk down to the services.

This was amazing, as everything was covered with ice. As they walked along they occasionally slipped because the path was completely iced over in places. Grass and bushes beside the road were frosted over and the sheep out in a local field were as white as if they too were covered in frost. The trees that they walked past and under had ice lining their leaves and branches and, as they thawed slightly, occasionally Wayne and Quinn would see sheets of ice falling to the ground and shattering all over the path. Of course, it wasn’t long before one of these events took place as they were walking underneath a tree and they found ice raining down on their heads. It was bitterly cold so both wished to get to the services as quickly as possible but without slipping and hurting themselves.

After about 15 minutes it began to snow, just as they were making their way down into the services itself. Giving Meg a quick phone call to let her know they had arrived safely they settled in and bought some hot chocolate in order to defrost while watching the snow outside. Kylie was where she had been left, still affixed with the note to let people know why she was there, because normally parking is only allowed for 2 hours. After they had warmed themselves Wayne attempted to start her once more, just in case we would be able to drive down to pick up Brock and Meg under our own steam, but alas these efforts proved fruitless.

The reason for that became apparent at around 12:30 when the RAC man arrived. It did not take him long to discern that Kylie had blown a head gasket and that she wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry. Fortunately, our coverage included the provision of a hire car to get us home, and the towing of our car to a mechanic of our choice. Quinn rang Meg and Brock with this news and they checked out of the hotel and caught a taxi up to the services so that they could be there when the tow truck arrived which would take us all down to Stoke-on-Trent where we would pick up the hire car. The taxi ride was a nightmare, with the driver being seemingly suicidal in his approach to driving on icy roads and not being willing to accept that Brock and Meg did not have much cash until he arrived at the services and saw the sad sight of Kylie broken down.

Eventually, at 4:30pm (approximately 24 hours after we had originally come to a halt on the M6) the tow truck arrived and Kylie was rapidly transferred onto the back. We all climbed up into the cabin to be driven the 7 miles down to the garage, where we were able to get most of our luggage and possessions into the little hatchback which would be ours for the next 24 hours. We promised that when we arrived back at home we would contact a local garage to arrange to have Kylie transferred down there and to pick up the hire car. After some paperwork we were finally back on the road. Reaching home at about 9:30pm we collapsed into beds, knowing that we would each have to be up to go to school the following day. The idea of an extended holiday is a lovely one, but in these circumstances we might have preferred if things had just gone to plan.