My impressions of Blackpool
Apr. 24th, 2019 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaMy girlfriend Linda recently moved to the EA hotel in Blackpool, where she is doing research and helping one of the other tenants with his project. Since I had the one confrence in Durham and the next in Manchester, it seemed like a good idea to go visit her in between, since Blackpool is only an hour away by train from Manchester.
Before I went I had read the web page for the Hotel, which mentioned that it was run down and the phrase "seaside resort". This got me picturing one of the small costal towns in Oregon or northern California. Nothing could be further from the truth! Picture Las Vagas, but put it on the coast of England, in easy reach of industrial cities and their workers needing a holiday, let it go through its heyday at the end of the 19th and begining of the 20th Century, so that it is a bit run down now, put ferris wheel and other carnival rides right on the beach, along with nearby casinos, escape/adventure rooms, etc. and you have a better picture. Needless to say, I mostly stayed in the hotel...
The hotel itself is an old building, kinda charming with its stairs that slope a bit sideways with age. There is a kitchen, dining area, a small lounge room with bar, and a cosy little room lined with benches.
There are around 18 rooms upstairs in the hotel. Linda and Marcus have the attic room, which is just high enough in the center for me to stand upright, but quickly slopes to rather low on the edges. Climbing up and down the stairs a number of times a day was probably goid for me.
The EA people living at the hotel are all doing interesting research, and the other short term visitors I met were also doing interesting things. The house does shared food (vegan), with a common meal each evening, and people helping themselves to whatever for the other meals, with the suggestion that if one is cooking feel free to make a bit extra to share.
Therefore, when I woke at 01:30 on Monday to take an antibiotic (they appear to have worked), and was actually awake, I went downstairs, introduced some flour to some yeast and water and left the sponge to wake up while I did some yoga. Then I kneaded up a big batch of bread dough with sunflower and pumpkin seeds and went back to bed while it rose. Some hours later I got up, kneaded the dough again, spread it out to a large flat loaf covering a baking sheet, and, as soon as the oven was warm popped it into the oven and sent a note to the group chat letting people know it would soon be done (and what was in it). One of the guys there saw the message while at the gym down the street and figured that it would be gone before he returned, so was quite pleased when he arrived and saw how big the loaf was. I would up eating bread three times that day (there is a reason I normally bake rolls and freeze them!), and the loaf still lasted till dinner, where it dissapeared.
They do regular group activites at the hotel, which varry by week and who is present. While I was there I participated in the "debugging" session (talk with others about a personal issue you would like to work on and get suggestions for approaches), massage and cuddles (yes, that was how they put it on the schedule!), meditation, listened to a talk which led to an interesting discussion, and I taught a few folk some basic acroyoga.
I still have some healing to do, but at nearly six weeks after surgery, with the infection cleared up and the swelling gone, I am able to do the acroyoga poses that don't need my arms overhead and twisting under tension.
Now I am in the train to Manchester for the UKAS confrence, which should be quite fun and educational. But I am also feeling tired and ready to head home. Looking forward to Saturday and my return.
Before I went I had read the web page for the Hotel, which mentioned that it was run down and the phrase "seaside resort". This got me picturing one of the small costal towns in Oregon or northern California. Nothing could be further from the truth! Picture Las Vagas, but put it on the coast of England, in easy reach of industrial cities and their workers needing a holiday, let it go through its heyday at the end of the 19th and begining of the 20th Century, so that it is a bit run down now, put ferris wheel and other carnival rides right on the beach, along with nearby casinos, escape/adventure rooms, etc. and you have a better picture. Needless to say, I mostly stayed in the hotel...
The hotel itself is an old building, kinda charming with its stairs that slope a bit sideways with age. There is a kitchen, dining area, a small lounge room with bar, and a cosy little room lined with benches.
There are around 18 rooms upstairs in the hotel. Linda and Marcus have the attic room, which is just high enough in the center for me to stand upright, but quickly slopes to rather low on the edges. Climbing up and down the stairs a number of times a day was probably goid for me.
The EA people living at the hotel are all doing interesting research, and the other short term visitors I met were also doing interesting things. The house does shared food (vegan), with a common meal each evening, and people helping themselves to whatever for the other meals, with the suggestion that if one is cooking feel free to make a bit extra to share.
Therefore, when I woke at 01:30 on Monday to take an antibiotic (they appear to have worked), and was actually awake, I went downstairs, introduced some flour to some yeast and water and left the sponge to wake up while I did some yoga. Then I kneaded up a big batch of bread dough with sunflower and pumpkin seeds and went back to bed while it rose. Some hours later I got up, kneaded the dough again, spread it out to a large flat loaf covering a baking sheet, and, as soon as the oven was warm popped it into the oven and sent a note to the group chat letting people know it would soon be done (and what was in it). One of the guys there saw the message while at the gym down the street and figured that it would be gone before he returned, so was quite pleased when he arrived and saw how big the loaf was. I would up eating bread three times that day (there is a reason I normally bake rolls and freeze them!), and the loaf still lasted till dinner, where it dissapeared.
They do regular group activites at the hotel, which varry by week and who is present. While I was there I participated in the "debugging" session (talk with others about a personal issue you would like to work on and get suggestions for approaches), massage and cuddles (yes, that was how they put it on the schedule!), meditation, listened to a talk which led to an interesting discussion, and I taught a few folk some basic acroyoga.
I still have some healing to do, but at nearly six weeks after surgery, with the infection cleared up and the swelling gone, I am able to do the acroyoga poses that don't need my arms overhead and twisting under tension.
Now I am in the train to Manchester for the UKAS confrence, which should be quite fun and educational. But I am also feeling tired and ready to head home. Looking forward to Saturday and my return.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-24 05:05 pm (UTC)I am glad your healing is progressing with only that one hitch.