The dark side of a long holiday ...

Sunday, a day of rest, and we have a full day in Manchester to recharge our batteries, and the iPhone and the iPad and the Mac book and the camera, the list goes on. Also, Mary is still sore from her fall in Stockholm, I think she may have cracked a rib - I'll do my bit by trying not to make her laugh.

Its a beautiful bright and sunny day in Manchester. I look to Mary to see what mischief we can get up to today when she says - "I need to do some washing". No problem, I'll find a laundrette, shove the clothes into a washing machine then the tumble drier - easy. Not so I find out.

We started the day with a walk along the canal - a pleasant walk - could do with a cleanup, but we enjoyed ourselves. We found a laundrette, then I found a pub "The Boat and Horses" - nice place for lunch - very popular. I was amazed at how much potato & vegetable & Yorkshire pudding people could put on their plates when they ordered a half roast chicken !!!

Back to the hotel for a rest after another walk around the nearby houses then it was off to the laundrette armed with £1 and 20p coins. Now people assume you know how to work these machines - we don't. Bought the soap, put it in the machine, throw in some clothes, select a wash that we think maybe right, close the lid and wait 40 minutes to see what happens.

Okay, so we open the lid, clothes are still very wet and some have soap marks and grit lines in them ... there's no way Mary is going to use the dryers. Home we go to have a makeshift clothes line in our room - Mary is worried that management might throw us out - they didn't.

In all a restful and peaceful day, and a happy Mary with a suitcase full of clean clothes. Being away for a long holiday means you have to do some washing sometime and it can be a real test of your ingenuity.

Tomorrow, more of Manchester, visiting cemeteries and a family dinner to complete our visit here.

CheersRead more