chrisg's Tour Diary

Yesterday, the sun came out for the first time since last week. Hurray!! We couldn't tell at the time of check-in, but our travelodge was right near the quayside of the tyne river. I had to wake up early to move the van and avoid a ticket, but in turn was rewarded with a really beautiful walk through town.

Our show in Leeds fell through, then was resuscitated, then fell through again, so we've headed back to Manchester for a bit. The nice thing about being in one place for a decent period of time is that it allows us to finally do some laundry after weeks of traveling. Living in California, you forget how smoke in bars can hang out in your clothes for days afterward.

I think I notice the differences between England and America more than I notice them in other countries. I blame this on the fact that they use the same language as us, and so my brain assumes that things will be the same as they are at home. this is not correct.

Some minor differences between England and America: TJ Maxx is called TK Maxx. Dayquil kicks ass over all of the cold remedies in Boots. England has a much higher adoption of the air hand dryer in restrooms. The problems with these dryers: namely, that they either exhale a lot of cold air or very little very hot air, and they never really dry your hands, are the same. Starbucks in England carries a delicious chocolate chunk shortbread unavailable in America. No one spends more time at an American rest stop than necessary. Rest stops on the British motorways, by contrast, are decent places where you can even get a soy latte.

Walked around Manchester a little bit today, up and down random streets and along canals, then met up with Mike, who took us to a noodle house for dinner in a place called Chorton. I've been told it's the birthplace of the beegees. Afterwards, we hung out with some friends of his who were celebrating a birthday, and ended up staying out until 3am drinking polish vodka.