Friday, June 16, 2006

TGIF --> Huntingdon

June 16, 2006

So, It's Friday. It's come up pretty quickly actually. I feel like I haven't accomplished as much as I should've this week. I guess I'm still not fully adjusted or something. I've come up with several ideas, but none of them are really "clicking" with me. I'm not sure I should be admitting this on the blog, but we've all experienced creative block. I'm not TOO ashamed.



Anyway, today was a pretty casual day. Only a handful of us in the office. I actually did help out with mocking up some food packaging. Reminded me of my old Wilton Connor Packaging Days. I'm still working with the Durham Lit Fest stuff as well.

At the end of the day, I walked down to the train station. I'm actually heading out of town to visit some old friends of mine I haven't seen for ages (ever since they moved to England). I figured now's the best time, since I'm usually across the globe in the US.



After a few hours, a train stop and a full Phil Hendrie episode, I finally made it. Another English town to experience, Huntingdon.




WARNING:
the following bit of blog entry is probably too overly detailed and irrelevant for those of you who don't really know me or my friends, Dru and Arianna. Most of what you're about to read is for the benefit of our mutual friends. If you are our friends, the following is still just a documentation of an uneventful night. It still means a lot to me, because I love them. If you're still reading this, enjoy.

It was so good to see Dru and Arianna. It was also odd to be interacting with Americans. I was actually surprised by their accents (or lack-of). They even brought me a gift to make me feel at home... a bag of Doritos.


So, first stop? Dru and Arianna's house. It's actually an old stable that's been remodeled into a cool little house. Nice comfy place. Awfully close to the street though. Passers-by can literally look right into any window... inches away. It gives their cat, Mocha, something to do though.







Dinnertime! Luckily, Arianna's a great cook. Not only that, but it was great to eat fresh, homemade food again (as opposed to typical pub food). But, what meal is complete without dessert? None (at least according to these two). This is where I was introduced to "Sticky Toffee." Supposedly, it's "to die for" and I HAD to have some. Luckily, Dru and Arianna knew of a great local pub, "The Crown" which serves it.






Oh I forgot to mention, this was my first time experiencing driving on the left side of the road (Well, I wasn't driving, but even as a passenger, it was still unsettling). Anytime I'd see oncoming headlights, my gut was telling me we're headed right for them. Fun stuff.




So, we made a trip to this place. We just started things off with tea and pints. That's when we noticed something distressing. The sticky toffee was no longer on the dessert menu. Just to be sure, we asked the waitress if it was still available. Apparently, they no longer serve it. Crap. But later, when we finally got someone to come over to take our order, we were told the kitchen's closed (Even after they knew damn well we wanted some dessert!!).






Hmmm. Dru and Arianna know of another posh place to get some good sticky toffee, "The Old Bridge." This place was NICE (probably too nice for some t-shirt wearing folks as ourselves, but they didn't seem to mind). Not only did they serve sticky toffee, but we actually had a waitress come out, take our order and serve it to us! Can you believe it?

The sticky toffee was actually pretty good. It's basically a piece of spice cake with some toffee and ice cream on top. Delish. It made me wonder: is the calorie exchange rate in the UK the same as £/$ exchange?. If so, I just ate nearly double the calories this dessert would've had in the US (Yes. Thats was a dumb joke, but I enjoyed it.).

After we paid too much for a couple of bites of dessert, we decided to walk the streets of downtown Huntingdon. Most places were closed, but it was still a nice place to see. Super clean. The place actually looked like a move set, it was so pristine. Here are some blurry nighttime shots for you.







I was actually surprised this place was closed:



And what night would be complete without a trip to the laundramat. "Most nights," you say? Well, not this one. Luckily my laundry schedule coordinated with theirs. By the way, it would've cost me £45 to do my laundry through my hotel's laundry service. What the heck? DIY is much more affordable... but boring.



That's it. I hope you all enjoyed your virtual renuinon with Dru and Arianna. If not, I still have the rest of the weekend to bore you.

Later.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for seeing and reporting on those two. They look so good together don't they? Get there mailing address while your there man. Give them both uncomfortably long hugs for me.

Seth

9:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it's great you got to see Dru and Arianna. Hope they're doing well. Give them my love. Glad you got to catch up w/ them. It's a good thing you just happened to be in the neighborhood.

8:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Justin, can't thank you enough for the info and pix of my boy and girl. They are busy being wonderful at everything and have little time to write Mom so you once again are my favorite.please tell the old crowd that MommyCarol says hi to all , have really missed the lot of you!
MommyCarol and Daddy Wayne Walters

12:19 AM  

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