World Curry Festival!

Well today was another random Saturday discovery. I was in the City Centre running some errands. I finally after four months have jeans again. I also have some heels and some casual stuff that doesn't look like it belongs to someone twice my size. Yay! I'm proud of myself for actually being successful in clothing shopping.

Moving closer to the point of this entry. I had to stop by the bank to take care of something and ended up in the City Park again. Facebook (and one of the other Canadians in the area) informed me that this weekend is the World Curry Festival.
The festival runs Friday to Sunday. There is food for (in my opinion) outrageous prices as well as small performances as well. I took a few shots of the park for your amusement.

This first one is a pretty fantastic view of City Hall. It is a side view but still you get the idea.

This is the puddle (nickname of some). Basically it's a fountain-like art form that sometimes that children play in. It's been cooler lately so there have been less children playing in it.

 In the background you can see some of the booths. I had a chicken tikka wrap. It was fairly decent.

Here are the Cake Ladies. They are on stilts which is quite interesting to see them move. They have to keep moving continuously to maintain their balance.

Discovering the festival was a nice coincidence since it gave me an excuse to be outside in the sun for a little bit longer. I think that I spent too much time inside. This is a pattern that has formed since I was very young. Perhaps I should the opportunity to now break it. One thing that I'm really liking about the area is that there seems to be something going on fairly frequently. Last weekend there was the Saltaire festival (not that I made the trip out there). I wonder what will happen next week. 

Sundays are rundays!

Well the pattern that my life has taken up is work like crazy Monday to Friday, get up to something whether work or errands on Saturday and on Sunday go for a walk/run and then finish whatever else must be done before Monday. With Sundays being run days I've been getting some amazing shots of the countryside and just been enjoying being outside. To give you an idea of how beautiful the area I live in is, here are some photos!

Both of these were taken about fifteen minutes walking from where I live. All that rain we get means for a very green and very lush countryside. 

Last Sunday when I went in the other direction for my run I ended up on top of a very large hill. I thought I had taken a picture of the view but it turns out that I had not. Regardless, you could see for miles. It was all rolling hills and what I would call moors, but I could be wrong. Much of it has houses and such on it, but much of it looks like either farmland or just fields of one sort or another. So when people keep asking me why here? Why not, it's beautiful!

Surprises in the City Centre

Two weeks ago (yes I know I'm behind) I was in the city centre tending to some errands and happened and a pretty exciting discovery. I was sitting in the city park waiting to meet someone. It was a nice sunny day, the temperature was warm and I had found myself a place to sit with the intention of reading while I waited. As I sat down an interesting scene was unfolding in front of me. A man dressed in an old police uniform (think bobby) was forcing a Beefeater Bear into a telephone box.

It was quiet an amusing scene so I put my book down to watch for a while. Soon enough there were these women dressed in incredibly colourful costumes that emerged from the building behind the telephone boxes.

Being my confused and curious self I had to ask what was going on. It turns out that the building you see in the background of the photos is the city hall. That weekend marked World Heritage Day so the mayor here decided to open up City Hall to the public. There was a self-guided tour of the council chambers and many other rooms. There was a replica of the building on display for people to see.  

Really the building is very cool. I liked this replica since it meant I could show everyone what the building's structure looks like. Note the bell tower -it's very imposing and I think very English. Apparently th

There was also many royal souvenirs from different time periods and artifacts from the city's collection.

This is the view when you first walk in through the front doors. It is a very beautiful building. 

The gorgeous ceilings in the council chambers.

Stained glass windows in the ceiling. Think of all the hard work it too to get those up there. This building was built in the 1873s. I was impressed.

Stained glass really is all the rage in this building. It looks far more impressive in person. This picture really does not do it justice at all. 

The council chambers was constructed completely out of one kind of wood. It feels very impressive to stand in the chambers even when it is nearly empty.

Something really cool that everyone should know about Bradford's City Hall: on the outside of the building (which is made of stone) there are 35 statues of Britain's monarchs positioned on the outside of the building, including according to Wikipedia (although I didn't take the time to double check myself) Oliver Cromwell. 

First English Fish and Chips (but certainly not the last)

This one will be short and sweet and to the point I promise. When one goes to England they must try fish and chips. Why? I don't know because we used to eat them when we were kids and my mother would tell us stories about proper fish and chips. Last night I was down in the city centre and happened by a fish and chips shop -who shall remain nameless simply because I forget its name. I got takeaway fish and chips for 3.80. Since this is my first fish and chips I do not know if this is a good price, however they were warm and delicious. The lady in the shop put the chips in the bottom of the takeout tray and then plunked a heathy sized piece of fish on top of it. Add a bit of vinegar (note the customer does that him or herself and I felt like a daft Canadian not knowing that right off - I had to be told) and she wrapped it right up in paper!! It's so cool that they still do that. She wrapped it up quickly in three pieces of paper wrapping one piece around the bundle at a time to keep the heat in and then put it all in a plastic bag. I grabbed a little wooden fork on my way out after I paid her and voila! dinner. The paper did the trick. I decided that I was tired and wanted to eat my dinner at home. So I found myself the bus and headed home. My fish and chips was still hot when I got there. I sat down at the table and enjoyed myself some English fish and chips.

By the way: little wooden forks are great for eating chips, but murder on the fish. 

Accidental Discoveries

The other night I stopped by the store to pick up some juice and instant noodle cups. The store that I was going to is located on the far of a shopping centre. I had been to this store before but I decided that I would take a different route home in order to see more of the area. As I was leaving the shopping area I found an odd-looking formation sticking out of the ground.

It looks a bit like a bell, but at the same time it makes me think more of a lightbulb that has been shoved into the ground and then turned on. I think the yellow rays coming out from it is why it reminds me of a light bulb. 

Continuing on in my wanderings I found a cathedral.

 It is built out of these large stone blocks with a rather wide stair case leading up the grounds on which the cathedral is located. I climbed up the staircase and found a sign stating that visitors to the cathedral were welcome.

I really liked that there was moss on the walls in places. It made it feel suitably old. I especially enjoyed the traditional-looking lamps that had the modern florescent bulbs inside of them. This particular picture really does not do it justice at all since it is a bit blurry. Alas, the sad things we must put up with in our first world lives. 

The inside of the cathedral was exactly what you expect to see in an old church in England. There was old wood and stone. There were stained-glass windows depicting different scenes. There was also in progress a choral celebration. As a part of the choral celebration there were also prayers. It made it feel very much like a service which is suitable considering it was taking place in a cathedral. I stayed for the service, which was only 30 minutes. I must say, it was a very enjoyable thirty minutes. It took conscious effort at first, but once I relaxed and got my mind off my to-do list the services was very beautiful. The atmosphere in the near empty cathedral was comforting but at the same time almost eerie.  There was one other person there outside of the priest, the chorus and sound man. The great thing about that was it felt like a private event. Myself and the other individual were like VIP members at a private show (although technically it was open to everyone). Now normally I'm not really big into the religious music but really this chorus was heavenly. They were together and well rehearsed. Their harmony was spot on. I don't have a single criticism. Following the service I left and continued on home.

Putting away my purchases, I decided that I was hungry and would eat one of my noodle cups. As I pulled it out of the cupboard to get it ready I had the unfortunate realization that I didn't have a fork or anything to eat the noodles with. BUT low and behold when I opened the noodle cup:

a little plastic fork

that folds out to a full-sized fork!! I'm sure everyone reading this is rolling their eyes, but I have to tell you I was seriously impressed with the fork. I mean come on -think of how inconvenient it is to pack your instant noodles into your lunch satchel and then have to also pack a fork. Or if you are like me, forget to pack a fork. Or the other alternative - if you are like me but you pack a spoon thinking its a fork. Let me tell you that spoons do not work well with noodles. So needless to say England - I am impressed. 

Hello faithful followers of Life. Those who know me well know that I sometimes come up with ideas and then dismiss them because they sound crazy but every so often I come up with one that I hang onto and follow through with even if it still seems a bit crazy. The circumstances leading up to the creation of this blog is of the later category. I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for nearly two years. When you look at the blogs that are out there in the non-space of the internet world the good ones have a theme rather than just being about the random adventures of life. That is the primary reason I had yet to do a blog - I needed a theme. Well now I have a theme of sorts. This is going to be about my experience and travels while I am based in the UK. I'm here to teach but also to experience, travel and meet some fantastic people. OH! And of course to drink some tea.