It was Matts night to make dinner for the house (they each cook for the group on a rotating system), so we settled in and helped roll meatballs and stir the sauce for spaghetti bolognas. Matt lives in a huge house with four of his Chemistry friends from the University of Bristol, a house which used to be an old folks home. This fact is noticeable from the placard by the front door that welcomes you to "a friendly place for the aged", to the red emergency strings hanging by the toilets, and of course to the fact that all the showers were handicap accessible. One thing that was strange though was that for all the precautions around the house there were a Massive number of stairs! Stairs down to the kitchen, stairs up to the bathroom, and a good 3 floors worth to get to Matt's bedroom (which Jackie and I over-took for the few days we were there thanks again Matt!).
After that first lovely dinner with the flat mates we took the evening to relax and enjoy some wine with new and old friends. Those chemists were an interesting bunch, with talk straying from politics to how to make household items explode by combining certain chemicals. Oh and also the age-old argument over the pronunciation of "aluminum" (there said "aluminium", that extra I being the kicker).
The next day took us on foot around the city. With Heather we went to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (which holds the most unusual arrangement of items: fossils, a new-age American art exhibit, gemstones, an old biplane airplane). Then we of course had to go and see Matt's lab where he's working on re-creating the virus that lead to the Irish Potato famine.
The next day brought us out in the semi-sun to a music festival along the docs. We wandered around the fair-like event looking at the wares of local vendors and trying to find something good to eat. With food in hand we headed to a large square to meet with a friend Maz and her boyfriend and lie around. With music in the background and free Bulmers cider being given out we spent the day exactly as one should on an English summer day, laying around in the park listening to music and talking with friends.
One of the other great things about the English summertime are the weekend "stag" and "hen" parties (bachelor and bachelorette). Now we all have our conception of what these events are usually like; cigars and booze or funny gag gifts given at a party. Well in England they are a quite public affair including "fancy dress" (think Halloween costumes) and bar crawls. Usually the one to be married has the most interesting attire but the packs of people usually have a theme. That night we saw Elvis's, prisoners, Where's Waldo, the Virgin Mary, old ladies, contraceptive paraphernalia, and much much more. So in the evening we managed a perfect spot at the bar to get to see all of these groups passing by. Jackie made a project of it to jump up and go take a picture of each group that passed by. What funny things they do in England :)
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