Spalding, part II

Like Back To The Future part II - but less interesting.

So, for those of you that haven't guessed, or that I haven't already told, the reason I went to the lovely place known as Spalding was to visit my brother for a couple of days. As promised, here's a little recount of what we got up to.

First off Gareth took me to Sergi's deli, a simply amazing place filled with foods you might never even have heard of. Given a large enough wallet, one could happily eat there for weeks, never having the same thing twice and never having a bad meal. We passed on the haute-cuisine this time though, and just had some sandwiches made, which were ace.

Got back to Gareth's flat, which is surprisingly large, and nicely kitted out (though, oddly lacking a bed), and then went out to see some of the independent shops, including the bookstore mentioned in the first post. The lack of bed wasn't really an issue, as I had a comfy mattress to sleep on, though I'll admit I almost had a heart attack when I found out that the only (rather small) mirror was the one above the sink in the bathroom.

We also went out to see Ayscoughfee Hall, which is now a free museum with some pulchritudinous gardens attached, which are open to the public 24/7. The museum itself is quite interesting too, with a lot of interactive exhibits - which I enjoyed, despite the fact they might possibly have been originally intended for someone with at most half my years.

The museum included a short video, intended to give viewers an overview of the fens, and the growth of the area known as South Holland. Unfortunately, the opening sentence was "Our understanding of the fens is more of a mystical feeling, than a geographical reality.", and after that it was hard to take anything seriously.

It's quite interesting how the fens have been drained, and the effect this has had on the local land. On the one hand, the place is now inhabitable, instead of just marshes, but this has also causes the area to shrink, so that the school where my brother teaches is now almost in the sea, whereas in Roman times it was miles away from it.

With the local butchers (real Lincolnshire sausages..drool) and other such places about, we ate well the whole time, and I found a great little independent clothes shop called Take 2, selling exactly the sort of thing I like to wear. I got two new pairs of trousers, and a new top, all for the princely sum of £9, though I think I gave the old lady behind the counter a heart attack when I tried one of the tops for size, I'm not sure she's ever sold one to a male before.

Watched a bunch of films too (Borat is *so* much better than I was expecting), went out to see Springfields (as described in part I), and also saw Wales get absolutely thrashed in the rugby, with Chris Czekaj getting a broken leg too, to rub things in. It still seems weird, watching him playing international matches, when I remember playing against him myself at school - though he was, admittedly, a little better than me even then.

Edit: See comments for corrections on geographical issues, if you're into that sort of thing ;)