July 18, 2010

Manchester to Stoke-on-Trent

Had a good night’s rest . I had to use both pillows last night due to the extreme softness of them. When I woke up about 6:15 a.m., my head had sunk so far down that all I could see was white on either side of my head. I got up and took a morning shower for the first time on this trip. I was so tired last night that I went to bed and fell asleep towards the end of the movie on TV “Walk the Line.” I got downstairs at the same time as Charles. The buffet breakfast had the usual fare, but at least the eggs were scrambled correctly. After eating I grabbed a table in the bar area which is part of the restaurant. The toaster malfunctioned. So the manager had to open all the doors to clear the smoke and smell of burnt toast. I closed my laptop and waited until I knew for sure that the fire sprinklers wouldn’t be set off. Wouldn’t that be fun! We left at 8:30 a.m. in the rain with a temp. of 60° F. Many of the tourist have had bad coughs since Edinburgh. It started with one women and has spread to about 7-8 people. So far I have been lucky . The only thing that I hate about it is that many of them leave their tissues on the floor or in the little seat pocket instead of throwing it away. But then again, I have noticed another quirk in the others; they don’t know how to push their chairs in when they finish eating. When they finish, they just get up and walk away. Even at the McDonalds or other restaurants, I have seen people do this. The cleaners then have to come by and clear off the table and push in the chairs. We got into Stoke-on-Trent about 9:53 a.m. Along the way, I saw a pheasant out in the field for the first time, and we passed a Cricket game being played. I miss the photo shot of them. We got to the Wedgewood Company just as they were opening at 10. Not many workers were in their visitor center, but enough to give one the idea of how they create their pieces. In some of the departments you can do a make and take. If we had more time, I may have done some of the different activities. I bought a few pieces, took a photo of the tea cup planters in the courtyard, used the restroom, and then it was time to board the bus at 11:15. On the way out of town, we passed over a canal with a canal boat heading toward the bridge we were on. So we stopped to take pictures of the men on the boat who waved back at us. Very cool! Also on the outskirts we encountered a race being held on the other side of the road.