The Wayfaring Path

So, our first week in Sheffield… we have four weeks here, neither of us had been here before, and we are looking after TWO dogs, so it was definitely a big unknown for us how we’d like it. Happily, we both really like Sheffield! It’s not a pretty city for the most part, but it has a buzz and a good feel to it. There’s so much pride in the manufacturing and engineering past, a real diversity of people, and there’s heaps to do. We won’t get bored here!

We certainly won’t get bored with the dogs taking up so much of our time. We have Sanders and Harland (an uncle and nephew) who are named after Colonel Sanders (he of KFC fame) for reasons unknown. They are sweet boys but a LOT of work, with lots of health needs and strange quirks. (I can’t say I think it’s a good idea to keep breeding these Old English Bulldogs with such health problems, it feels unfair on them to be born to almost certainly develop skin, breathing and eye problems). So there’s a lot of checking various body parts to make sure they’re not bleeding or infected, eye drops to be put in multiple times a day, and a lot of drama whenever we try to take them for a walk. But they are good boys and it’s not their fault they’ve got so many health issues.

So for the most part it’s enjoyable but it IS definitely a challenge. I suppose, however, that “easy” dogs will just be looked after by friends and family, so it’s the dogs requiring a bit more attention and care that will be on the pet-sitting sites. We are grateful to be here, it’s a lovely home in a good area, so it’s a trade-off with our time. It’ll be quite freeing to be onto the next stage, though, with nobody to look after but ourselves!

Monday was a settling-in day, and I walked up to the doctor’s to get a blood test. The nurses at the surgery take the bloods that are then sent off to the lab, which is different to NZ where you go to a clinic to get blood-suckered. I tried to make an appointment but was told to call in the morning, plus I needed two separate appointments as I have two separate ailments. Weird. But again, I’m very grateful to be getting any care at all.

On Tuesday I went to the new acupuncturist. She’s very good, very different to the Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor I was seeing in Nailsworth, but both great in their own ways. Again, a really holistic approach to health (as opposed to separate appointments for separate ailments) so definitely something I want to pursue when I’m settled back in at home. I walked from there into the CBD and found a cute cat cafe so went in for cake (of course!) and some kitty energy. This mostly involved me being ignored until I had food to give them, so pretty classic kitty energy indeed!

I had a fun time in an outdoor clothing shop trying on trousers and chatting with the shop assistant. I explained our trip and she was gobsmacked and asked me how I managed to have such a fun life… then she said “I bet you don’t have kids!” ha ha yup! She’s in her 20s and not keen on the idea but is currently getting all the threats of future despair and loneliness that I used to get too. She’s heard all the horror stories about how she’ll most definitely regret not having kids when she’s in her 50s, so I was very pleased to tell her there’s no regrets here!

Wednesday was cathedral day. I went down after lunch and met Regan at the tram stop. (I’ve not been on a tram yet, as they don’t run near our place, but it’s definitely on the list). We loved the cathedral! After the huge and impressive ones we’ve seen so far it definitely looks far more humble (and is a lot smaller) but had such a great feel to it. Another one with a cafe inside, and there were lots of people there – tourists as well as locals. Certainly didn’t feel like a fusty and unloved place, it felt like a centre of the community, which I think England does so well with it’s churches.

The cathedral is connected with the Talbot family, most notably George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, who is interred in the cathedral. He, along with his wife Bess of Hardwick were the ‘jailers’ of Mary Queen of Scots for around 15 years – at great financial and personal cost. They were very wealthy but even so struggled to maintain the Queen in the manner to which she had become accustomed, and during the Queen’s imprisonment rumours abounded that Shrewsbury and Mary were conducting an affair. His and Bess’ marriage was affected, and they lived separately until his death.

So it was kind of hilarious to read the inscription he made for himself, especially where he absolutely totally and completely denies having an affair with the Queen (and anyone who says so is “malevolent”), which I think makes it sound most definitely like he DID in fact have an affair with her. The wonderful Bess of Hardwick isn’t even mentioned in the inscription, which I think is desperately unfair. But anyway, there’s no gossip like 400 year old gossip, am I right?

We were lucky enough to get beyond the ropes and up close and personal with George Talbot and three other Talbots – I had asked Father Richard to tell me who the other three were and he gave us a mini tour and a proper good run-down on who they were. I suspect Father Richard has a big part to play in why the cathedral feels so welcoming and is so busy, as he is warm and kind and had time for everyone who came up to him while we were talking.

On Thursday I finished work an hour early and started my long weekend. I had Friday off as I was supposed to be going down to Canterbury for Spoontown – a spoon-carving festival I had (impulsively) booked a ticket for before consulting a map to see how far away the venue is from Sheffield*. I made the call earlier in the week not to go as I wasn’t sure I’d be able to cope with carrying the camping gear without pinging my back, and also was feeling terrible leaving Regan with the two dogs for 3.5 days. So I decided to keep the day off and have a couple of little adventures to make up for missing Spoontown.

So I boarded the train that I would have taken on the first leg of the trip to Canterbury, and got off two stops away at Derby. I’m really glad I didn’t have to sit on the train for hours as the aircon had broken and it was an OVEN. So gross. Derby is a nice town, with a couple of good museums and a cathedral (there’s a pattern forming eh?!). I went to the excellent Museum of Making and was so impressed with all the things that were manufactured in Derby and surrounds. It’s a great interactive museum (I did some weaving!) and really interesting and inspiring.

When I went to the cathedral I was gutted to see a sign outside saying it was closed early so they could set up for a service. I really wanted to go in and see Bess of Hardwick’s tomb so I thought I’d try and talk my way in. I spotted two people around the side who were taking things inside so I went up, and in a very strong Nu Zulund accent explained that I would love to go in and I’d probably never be back in Derby ever again. They agreed to let me help them carry some things in – as long as I didn’t act like a dumbstruck tourist. That was pretty hard as it was a pretty cool place and then when I saw Bess’ tomb I got very excited and snapped a sneaky photo. So I got to see Bess and very very quickly pay my respects. She’s an amazing person, look her up!

A quick whiz around the little museum, which had some nice pre-historic, Viking, and Anglo-Saxon artefacts, plus a lot of stuffed animals – including a peacock and huge brown bear in the library. It was a very old-fashioned but quite charming museum, and they were just beginning works to modernise it, for better or worse. Then to the station and home to Sheffield.

The alarm went off hideously early on Friday morning and I got myself to the station and then on to York in a glorious golden light. I’ve wanted to go to York for ages, and it didn’t disappoint! One of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe and quite stuffed full of visitors on this warm summer day. Apparently it’s always busy in York but Friday was even more so, with two university graduations occurring and a hot sunny day bringing everyone out for a drink and a bask in the sun.

I had a ticket booked to the Yorvik Viking Centre and got there early enough to sit in the small square and people-watch for a bit. Then it was time to be corralled into a group and get underground! Based on findings from a famous archaeological dig in 1976-1981, they’ve recreated both the dig and also the Viking village they excavated, complete with animatronic figures (including cats!), accurate clothing and buildings, and stinky smells! I loved it, and took heaps of photos, so I’m looking forward to going back in September (free re-entry for a year, yay!) to just sit and enjoy it rather than taking video and pictures. The (non-robotic) staff were knowledgeable and interesting, and there were more fun artefacts to look at after the ride was over. I started to get excited thinking that we might find some similar ones on Lindisfarne!

I headed off to the Shambles, a medieval street that would probably be quite cool if it wasn’t for all the people taking selfies and the completely rammed shops. I walked into one shop and was accosted by a shop assistant who tried to engage me in conversation and all I could manage to say was “this is too much for me” as I scuttled back out the door. I decided to leave the Shambles until my overnight trip in September, when I can go in the early morning before anyone else is there!

Then I walked to York minster and had my mind blown. This thing is HUGE! And beautiful! Part of it was covered in scaffolding but the rest of it is so ornate and wonderful. I didn’t go inside as there were waaaaay too many other people waiting to go in (it was a late-opening day) and so I’ll save that for my September trip. I walked around the outside and it just got lovelier and lovelier. It was so exciting to see the stonemasons’ workshop and it was so peaceful in the gardens. There was a new statue of Queen Elizabeth II at the front, which was lovely to see – probably the first time I’ve seen a statue of someone in a church who I’ve actually seen in real life!** I can’t WAIT to get inside and see the stained glass windows.

The day was getting hot so I decided to walk in the museum gardens for a bit then go into the Yorkshire museum. There’s a really good temporary exhibition of Viking finds from the local area as well as further afield, plus the museum’s permanent exhibitions of Star Carr (an amazing Mesolithic site in Yorkshire), lots of cool medieval stuff, and a display about Mary Anning. Star Carr was particularly exciting for me as I’d written an essay on it for my archaeology studies and had spent many hours listening to podcasts and reading articles about the bows, digging sticks, and deer head-dresses while researching it. To see them for real was mind-blowing. Again.

I had lunch somewhere cool (thank god for aircon) and then braved a walk on part of the city walls. Nice to be up high and getting different views. So many amazing old buildings, all just part of the fabric of the city. People live and work in them, they are still useful all these hundreds of years later (and houses we built in the 90s and 2000s are all rotting away – bonkers). I mooched about some shops, particularly those with aircon, and then found a cute wee church with a cat statue, a peace bell, and weird boxes for sitting in rather than pews. It’s still in use and I was chatting to a chap who said the congregation would really prefer normal pews but it’s very old and all that and a listed building so they can’t change them.

Then it was time to head for home, with a detour to two very cool shops I’ll go back to in September. It’s SUCH a frustration to have so little money to spend on great stuff, plus the expense of sending things home, or the bother of carrying them around. As we get towards the end of the trip I’ll have less accommodation to pay for so hopefully will be able to buy some cool clothes and books and fabric and yarn and all the other Linda things! Fingers crossed!

On the train there I was listening to The Constant Princess, an audiobook by Philippa Gregory about Henry VIII’s first wife Katherine of Aragon. There’s a scene in it where a young Katherine is talking with Margaret Tudor, her sister-in-law, who is written as quite the spoiled brat. She has been betrothed to a Scottish king and is soon to leave on her long journey north. When I was walking around the walls I saw a plaque by a gateway saying the hole in the wall was made for Margaret when she visited on her way north for her wedding. It was so weird to come across that on the same day! I listened to more on my way home and marvelled at being in places where these people lived and ruled and fought and died.

Saturday morning was quiet as I was tired from my adventures, but in the afternoon we went into town to visit the Millennium gallery (with their excellent Colour exhibition), the Winter Gardens (kind of like a very big version of the Begonia House in Wellington but with fewer begonias), and then to a couple of pubs to listen to bands. There’s a huge music festival called Tramlines taking place in Sheffield this weekend and lots of the local pubs run a Fringe festival with bands playing and free entry. We saw three bands in two pubs and they were all really good. We walked home through streets full of people and music, such a vibe!

My plans for a walk in the park today were scuppered with another day of feeling a bit blah so I rested and hung out with the dogs and enjoyed being in this nice house in a leafy part of town. We have some fun things planned for the week – nothing too strenuous for me, but there’s so many things to do we can pick and choose whatever suits the mood on the day. Good old Sheffield!

*PS I learned tonight that one of my trains back from Spoontown had been cancelled, so I was secretly pleased I wasn’t having to deal with train dramas with all our camping gear in tow (and probably way too many spoons!) on a Sunday evening.

**PPS I saw the Queen in real life when she was leaving Government House (Wellington) in a limo sometime back in the 90s. I waved and got a blank stare in return. So not a great story, but there you go.