Welcome to Middlesbrough
We finally made it - and it looks like the rain must have followed us. I could definitely see those grey gloomy clouds in the rear view mirror following us. Scooted into the auto shop and waited while the tires were being put on Scarlett. So nice to see in the waiting room a mini old school style TV was showing the Parolympic's - women's swimming which was really interesting to watch. I can't believe these ladies all have some form of a disability but that doesn't stop them from competing to win a gold medal :D so much determination - and we are all set! A little after 10 am Craig got the keys and we set off to continue our adventure to York! (for my readers who don't know I spent a year living there as a MA student at York St. John University 2009-2010).
York
Greeted by Rawcliffe park & ride we pared the car. Boarded the bus. Once we arrived in York we had 6ish hours to spare before meeting Craig's friends at Nando's in Middlesbrough. It was around the lunch hour and we went to grab a pastie and sit down to chit chat. Afterwards we hit Starbucks for a nice caffeine jolt with relaxing in nice red arm chairs. Our next mission was to find a scale for making exact measurements for pasta etc. We looked all over and ended up at Lakeland. I can now say Craig is the owner of a nice flat silver scale. Both of us were in the mood for chocolate so we decided to split a double chocolate cake at Patisserie Valerie with a shot of espresso for Craig. I then asked if we could go to YSJ for some memories. Really good to see the buildings where i had classes
- before we walked back into town he took a photo of me in the front garden. One word can describe
it : SCRUMPTIOUS! Few more hours to go so we decided to head to the museum gardens for awhile and walked by the river. Walked around town and stopped in the VisitYork shop where I bought this lovely purple hoodie :) Both of us had a little more time to kill and wanted to do something FREE so we headed to the National Railway Museum - full of trains, artifacts & memorabilia, videos etc. We then took the bus home (super packed and we had to stand up). Hopped back into Scarlett and off we rode to Middlesbrough - a car journey filled of music. Dinner is set for 7:30 - so we thought we might be late. Luckily enough at 7:15 JoAnne (mate of Craig's) called and said dinner is for 8pm which we were relieved to find out - so Craig kept cruising then another phone call from Neil (friend ii) said our reservation is set for 7:45.
Middlesbrough ii
Arrived to Nando's on time - waited a few minutes for the rest of the gang to show up. We were then ushered to a giant long table in the back. In total there are 6 adults and 2 kids (daughters of Joanne and Mick). Orders were placed and we all casually chit chatted over drinks (non-alcoholic) and olives (which I tried one and it was ok not super yummy). I sat next to Craig on one side and Neil on the other. Neil is Craig's boss - very nice guy and his partner is LeAnne (such a firecracker). I had a great time talking to Neil about Greece - where I'm from etc. While waiting I got to know Leah (one of JoAnne's daughters) very talkative girl - I just wish I could have kept her myself. She sorta reminds me of me - likes ponies - likes firey rainbow colors and has long hair like me :D. After dinner finished we all went our separate ways into our cars. Part of Thursday night group (which Craig ALWAYS goes to) is to drive over to Mick and Jo's to watch TV and chit chat. I had a great time of laughs - getting to know everyone - etc. Neil also talked to me about the opportunity of crafting up a social media strategy for 2Touch. Pretty awesome I think.
Got home around midnight. Really amazing how many stars there are in the sky! Night!
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