Peak District

Danny's family was nice enough to take us out to Peak District today to show me around the hills of the area. Monsal Head consisted of a bridge, a tunnel, waterfall and lets not forget the grassy plains surrounded by hills. We walked around in the bridge but voted against walking all the way through.

Where is that secret brick, I know that it is around here somewhere.

We didn't actually walk across this bridge but we did take a couple pictures before we decided to walk towards the waterfall. I was quite excited to see what was and English waterfall entailed.

A picture of me testing out the temperature of the water.

The full effect of the waterfall.

 

From the little bridge in Bakewell...there was a large 'infestation' of birds from the tourists feeding them way to much bread. Seriously oversized.

After our slow incline back to the top we drove into the town of Bakewell, known for their pudding? Around town I pet my first goose, strolled in some very quaint shops and the arts and crafts fair.

A fish & chips shop in Matlock Bath.

Off to Matlock Bath, a place filled with fish and chip shops, sweets and ice cream all down the street. There is even a small amusement park at the top of the hill.

I tried my first meat pie today (steak and potatoes) I have to tell you that with gravy on top it was sure delicious. A another wonderful day out exploring the new and exciting nearby locations.

Over and Out.

Fred Zeppelin

It was due time to set off into the weekend night life and we had come across a flyer saying that there was a Zeppelin tribute band playing right in our own backyard. Of to a place called The Flower Pot. I thought it was an odd name for a venue but when I stepped inside I realized that this place couldn't fit more than 50. Danny tells me there was a sign above the door saying that the capacity was 250, I really doubt that.

They started their show at half past 9, I seriously thought that they would begin their show later but I guess here people want to make it back home before midnight. However they did play a full 2 hour set with no intermission.

The drummer was an old bald man with a translucent drum set that I found mighty mesmerizing, to be able to watch his hands while he played out his solos. The bass guitarist was 25 pointed out to the crowd by the lead singer. The guitarist did his part in bringing some flare to the stage, with over the head riffs and him playing a long winded outro with a violin bow. The lead singer Fred Zeppelin had his own personal touch but in the end I wish his voice was as powerful as Robert Plant. i was a little sad that they didn't have a keyboard as part of their set. To be honest I'm not really hacking on them at all it was a nice reminder that classic rock will on even when 90% of the people at the gig was about mid 40's doesn't mean that the younger generation cannot appreciate the live production of something that changed the souls of the past.

Bringing some awesome classics: (in no order) Whole lotta love, Tangerine, Stairway to heaven, Communication breakdown, Dazed and confused, Kashmir, Black Dog, Misty mountain hop, Rock n' Roll, Nobody's fault but mine, Immigrant song...and so on. I really wished that they would have played D'yer M'aker.

Now I have to say that I have been lucky enough to have seen 'A Whole Lotta Led' at Pemberton. Since this show reminded me of them I went ahead to take a look at their future gig dates and found that they will be playing in England. I hope that we can catch them whilst they are touring Europe. Side note: On this search for Zeppelin tribute bands I found that there is a full girl band called Zepparella, after youtubing them I found the urge to pay them a visit too. I'll have to wait until I make it back to the states before that will happen.

Final note: LONG LIVE LED ZEPPELIN.

Day in Leicester

Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower

Danny's friend Tiva was heading out of town and invited us along for the ride, my first road trip. Even though it was only a day trip out of Derby Danny and I got to see some awesome sights. Before wandering into the shiniest Highcross shopping centre we came across Leicester market filled with all sorts of stuff.

A produce market, one of my favourite kinds.

 After our wander around odd stores (one named CULT with over prices clothes for the boringly average with too much money) and the book store of course. On our wander back to get picked up to our next unknown destination we walked right past an American candy store! Yay, twizzlers. Inside the Haymarket shopping centre we tasted some very yummy Italian candy oh it was good...might have to switch over since twizzlers aren't readily available all the time. 

It looks like a pint glass from below.

I would like to brag and say that we walked all this way to see the pint castle but alas we did not, we had the luxury of driving most of the way.

A picture of white deer!

And over here we see The Pint. (okay that isn't the real name)

 After some nice sight seeing in the rain of the open vastness that England has to offer, off to the museum. I really have to say that i love that all the museums a least the ones that I have been to have all been free. Unlike ours back in Canada.

At the New Walk Museum, there was a two headed lamb donated by a local veterinarian.

I learned that some have problems spelling Leicester. So here is a nice little jingle for kids to remember:
Lions Eat Ice Cream Every Saturday Tigers Eats Rats? There seems to be a couple variations.
We had a wonderful day in Leicester.

Around Derby

It has been awhile since I posted an update but I wanted to wait until I had something with more 'woo' to write about. So here it is my dear friends back home.

Derby Museum, since we got hungry we didn't go through all the exhibits, we'll be back. We browsed through the porcelain collection, onto the Stone Age to the Middle Ages with a sarcophagus. Astronomical: The beauty of a thousand stars. was the one that I really wanted to see and within it we found...

A one pound note. Whoah. I wish they didn't convert everything into coins.

 

Off to the Cathedral: 

Danny...self explanatory.

The front of the cathedral, I couldn't fit the whole thing into the frame so you get the top of the gate.

The river that runs through Derby. Good ol' refection on water photograph.

 

Going to see the Zeppelin cover band this Friday...and possibly the Floyd Experience, Jimi Hendrix....

I just wanted to share some pictures, I am sure I will have more to write about very soon since Halloween is around the corner and something called bonfire night. Until then. Cheers.

Traditional English Food

Buttered Crumpets: After one of Danny's friend showed some serious enthusiasm about how I had to try one of these, we bought some from the near by grocers. Roughly 7 cm in diameter and roughly 2 cm thick. I like to skip the butter and just put jam on mine but you can spread whatever you like on it. I think maple syrup would be best.   This is usually served in the mornings for breakfast. They look very pancake like on the other side, but they don't taste like a pancake.

English Mint Sauce: Made from finely chopped mint leaves, soaked in vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. This is something that I very naively thought was only for Indian dishes. Since the Indian serve it next to meat it is very much the same over here but they serve it next to lamb. It is a very lovely sauce that can be put on almost anything.

Scones: I had always wanted to try once since I had no idea what they were. It is of Scottish origin and is served with jam and cream for tea time (our dinner time). I had the opportunity to have them baked fresh! Next time I plan to try one of the blueberry kinds.

Fish and chips: As most people already know about this traditional English food, I myself never tried it whilst in Canada. I know we have it available but when it comes down to it, it isn't a take away food which I think is what makes it novel for me. Here it is wrapped in paper and off you go, when I opened it up it was literally dripping in grease. The paper test would definitely become see-through if left long enough. I could barely eat half of it, unfortunately it didn't agree with me and I won't be trying this again. I can see the appeal for it though

Yorkshire puddings: Love, love, love them!  They're traditionally served with Sunday roast and of course gravy. I have seen extra large ones with sausages and other fixins served in them. I can't wait to try one of the super yorkshire pudding.

A Large yorkshire pudding!

 That is it for this post I am sure at some point I will be able to share another post about food. I'm currently on a search for bubble tea...until next time.

Obtaining a NIN and work.

I probably shouldn't have waited as long as I did to start my application process to get this National Insurance Number but here I am about 10 days since my arrival. I have finally started looking into what I need to obtain this (SIN #)...

Just a couple steps:
1. Fill out some form called the 'CA5400' signed and forwarded to the National Insurance Number Centre.
2. Now this is the part that has me a bit weary (wait for processing it can take up to months) eep.
2.5. Registering with local doctor's office.

When I called the number I immediately got transferred to the right location even though the number I wrote down was for the nearest branch to me. From there the lady just gave me another phone number and hung up. :/

Yesterday I finally got on the phone with the gentleman who said that he would send out an application that I would have to fill out and send back. This part of the process would take 7-10 days, two days later I got mail! Off to the mailbox.

At the present moment during the wait for the application for turn around time I have been looking for a job. I have applied for a couple jobs around town, admin work mostly since I am unsure if I want to work in the customer service industry as of yet but as we all know Christmas is around the corner and a lot of places in the near by mall will be hiring. Of course pay is always something we take into account...and this is what I learned.

Minimum wage goes:

• £6.08 = $9.79 CAD- the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
• £4.98 - the 18-20 rate
• £3.68 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
• £2.60 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

8 days later I got my National Insurance Number. Okay, I'll admit it but I thought it would be harder than this.

No Thanksgiving, No Problem

Good ol' Facebook status posts informed me that Canadian Thanksgiving would be landing on the Sunday. I very shortly after reciving this news I was told that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in England.

Instead of looking forward to my usual Thanksgiving at my friends house. We had already made many plans for this weekend. However Lex did make a turkey curry and one darn magical apple crumble in honour of Sunday.

The Goose Fair = K-days (Capital Ex) it is almost the same minus the bands and the agricom with all too many vendors.

 

One scary looking spider

Main Room at Rock City

Holy Shit NERO

One of Danny's friends invited us to a dubstep dnb show that I couldn't say no. After dinner we went to pre drink at a friend of a friends house, time to meet more people. Beer Pong away! A brisk walk downtown to a  three room event hall having a capacity of 2451! (Starlight Room is only a 1000) So bam, Sunday show 3pm-3am...Detonate Alldayer :

Nero (Live)
Skream
Friction
Netsky
D Double E (Live)
Jakwob
Loadstar
SGT Pokes
MC's AD, Texas, Script

Basement: Shogun Audio - Way of Warrior LP launch...
Friction
Alix Perez
Icicle
Rockwell
Transit Mafia

 Alright I'm tired I'll have to write more later.

First week in Derby

So after a 8.5 hour flight I was a bit nervous going through the corridors towards passport check is what the signs said. When I finally made it to the front of the line my passport was scanned and I was instantly asked "Why were you deported last time?" The lady at the desk told me to sit down and then when she came back she asked some regular screen questions. ie. "How do you know these people you are staying with? How much money do you have?" then I got stamped and I was on my way!

From there we sat down and played a little bit of catch up before our 3 hour drive to Derby. On the drive from Gatwick I saw a lot of trees impeding my vision of fields but the thing that I did notice was that the streets they drove on were in immaculate condition even in the city compared to Edmonton.

New Home

It was a beautiful day but since I was so tired and I wanted to set my sleeping pattern straight right away I decided to stay up. Mission complete.

12 hours later.

Cookie cutter houses

Breakfast in bed, I don't recall this ever happening. What a super awesome fantastic way to wake up! Food time = walk to Tesco, I believe the last Tesco that I went to was in Kanchanaburi in Thailand when my camera broke. I recall there being one in Guangzhou in China when I was living there too. Side note: The local art store Reams isn't more than a 15 minute walk away! Mind you Paint Spot was literally around the corner and across the street.

I noticed that from plentiful pile of  fliers for delivery that a lot and I mean a lot of it consists of Indian cuisine. Also for the last bit of news for the day is that it was the record high for October...26C. I have had the best luck with weather from the last week of Edmonton through Calgary till now.

Jet lag caught up with me I couldn't fall asleep until 8am and since Danny didn't want to awake me from my deep slumber I ended up dozing until the late hours of 6pm. Watched 'Aliens vs. Cowboys' before heading to bed early to get a good night sleep for a proper day exploring Derby.

Getting up at a reasonable time today for a day out. I quickly learned that my blow dryer I brought from Canada will only explode without a legitimate power converter. The day consisted of buying some house things, eating dinner (our lunch) at the food court, wandered about to the book store and the local art gallery at the QUAD (For the 'haha road exhibit', very Andy Warhol-ish). I have taken next to no photographs of the city I must rectify this.

After that we set off mini trip to Sandiacre...on this 35 minute bus ride I saw nothing but suburbs...mind you I fell asleep both ways.

Birthday celebrations! Bento boxes for dinner, this is when  I learnt that when you order a lemonade that you will get a carbonated lemon drink that resembles sprite. During drinks at Standing Order a converted bank with an immense ceiling, making good use of drink specials I learned a bunch of colloquialisms:

Lets see what I can remember... nappy = diapers, straight = tailor mades, crash a fag = bum a smoke, bap = bigger bread roll, cob = regular bread roll...etc.

After they turned on the lights and rang the last call bell at midnight (last call is at midnight?) We headed off....The old Bell since it's always open till 3am so I have been told. Oh here is a tidbit of information pool consists of red and yellow balls (yes there is still and 8 ball) and the rules are a little silly but that is just me saying that our Canadian rules make more sense.

Thursday evening: off to explore the local jazz bar on our way back we ran into a mini hail storm. I forgot my camera so I have no evidence of this event. Strangely enough it felt new even though I have seen hail storms the size of golf balls.

Oh fancy key...