November 28th, 2005

Sheffield Day 1

Well, I finally made it to England. My super-tremendous cell phone doesn’t work at all, and I can’t seem to get online here either. Which doesn’t really bother me for two reasons. First, I am sure we’ll have some form of internet access on site, and second, I have no way (as of now) to recharge my computer batteries. The plugs here are all for 220 volts, and I don’t have an adapter. And to think, this is ENGLAND… I can only imagine how hard access will be in Afghanistan.

I arrived in Manchester tired. Of course the gaseous old man next to me on the flight over kept me awake with his “emissions”, not to mention his foul breath… So I didn’t get much sleep. I did get to see the horrible movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”. It was awful, but at least Angelina Jolie was in it…

I was met at the Manchester airport by the UK WWE staff. They recognized me, which I thought was nice, considering we only come to England about three times a year. There was a car service just for me (since for some unknown reason travel booked me in a whole day before anyone else was scheduled to be here… ) Normally I would have to ride on a bus with the great unwashed WWE crew, whose idea of a good time is to make fun of everything, bitch about the service in business class, and not appreciate anything that isn’t distinctly American.

I planned to take a nap, then go explore Sheffield. My big plan for today was to do a Bill Bryson-esque “walkabout” and take pictures of the town. Then I would write up a mini journal. I am not sure if I have ever been to Sheffield before. I have been to London, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle, but I don’t remember being here.

Well, my “nap” turned into a five hour “night” from 10 AM to 3 PM! I seriously could have rolled right back over and slept until 7 or 8 I think. Groggy, I forced myself to get up, shower (in the most ridiculous shower ever. The tub walls are about seventeen feet high, and it is nearly impossible to get out without tripping.) Needless to say, it is about 5 AM as I write this in Sheffield, and I am WIDE awake!

I decided to leave the camera behind and just go explore. Sheffield reminds me of Boston or New York, with shops lining the streets. There were a lot of people walking around, mostly laughing and seeming generally happy. I walked for about an hour, then stopped into a place called the “Frog and Parrot Tavern.” (Gotta love those wacky British names!) I ordered an extra cold Guinness, and was asked to remove my hat. I hate places like that, but it seems that baseball hats are universally shunned here, along with wearing “Football Colors”. Many pubs have signs strictly forbidding this, in the hopes of preventing riots I assume. I finished my Guinness and left.

My friend Abi has been in England visiting family for a week already. He said he might come to Sheffield today, so I decided to head back to the hotel and see if he’d showed up yet. Walking back, a girl stopped me on the sidewalk. She was selling a magazine of some sort. She asked if I was American, then told me the baseball cap gave it away. (I wanted to say, “You sure it isn’t the fact that my teeth are straight?” but didn’t.)

Abi hadn’t checked in. Leaving my baseball hat behind, I left in search of dinner. It was about 6 PM by now. I found a McDonalds, a Burger King, a Pizza Hut… but nothing else. All the nearby restaurants were already closed. Some pubs were serving food, but it was all hamburger-type dinners, and I was looking for something better. I finally found a small Italian restaurant, and had a HUGE dinner of pasta and chicken with goat cheese. It was tremendous. Then, since I had nothing better to do, I had a huge slab of chocolate cake.

Stomach filled to capacity, I crawled back to the hotel, where I promptly fell back asleep. I woke up at about 4 AM , and have been wide awake ever since. I am not sure if we have to work today or not. I am hoping not, since that would give me a full day to explore more of Sheffield.

Author: frenchy

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Sheffield Day 1

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