Its the simple things, heading back for a 3 week holiday to show off the 6month old (at that point, lets gloss over the 30hour flight 😕 )
Having been away for, erm, 14 years and not back since 2009 - what should my priorities be ?
My list is:
1) A decent curry
2) Skips, salt and vinegar chipsticks
3) A proper haggis supper
4) A proper kebab maybe even one of thos folded Naans with dogmeat in it
5) Nice handpulled beer (less of an issue these days as we brew our own)
And can someone loan me a bike in the Claderdale area for a couple of days or point me to where i can hire/blag one ? Will be staying in Calderdale for a couple of days with friends.
1) A decent curry - On my list for return from oz
2) Skips, salt and vinegar chipsticks - never floated the boat, do they stille xist?
3) A proper haggis supper - wtf no!
4) A proper kebab maybe even one of thos folded Naans with dogmeat in it - Only after 30 pints and then it will still be crap. Kebabs are worth eating this end of the world!
5) Nice handpulled beer (less of an issue these days as we brew our own) - Top of the list
Proper Sunday lunch in a decent pub! Soggy Monday afternoon ride on a dogshit ridden bridleway 😉
Good beer
Proper Cornish pasty
A fry up with pork sausages, real bacon and black sausage all covered with brown sauce.
Decent curry
And the wife would add a trip to waitrose
None of these things are done correctly in Western Australia
Exactly Pork Sausages why do they insist on making them out of everything else
>Soggy Monday afternoon ride on a dogshit ridden bridleway<
Sold ! Sounds fantastic. Will that include hedgp0rn and a selection of those hanging bag trees as well ?
Proper [s]Sunday lunch in a[/s] decent pub
Marmite
My to do list on my 5 yearly trips back to blighty consists of (coming from WA)
- decent pint in a good pub
- fish and chips not bloody oven chips
- pork sausages
- curry
- Sunday papers
- OS maps
- hills
- black pudding, haggis, other similar delights
. Yes, apart from th hanging bags bit. No-one bothers with that nonsense round here, they just leave it where it's laid.Will that include hedgp0rn and a selection of those hanging bag trees as well ?
Seriously though, if you haven't already, catch a train to Ullapool and take your bike. I guarantee you won't regret it.
Proper meat pies. I've thought of importing them myself, would gladly pay 20 USD for one from Waterfields.
mmmmmm
mail me in profile as I run a bike hire business in Rossendale just over the hill.
Ok, so here's my list...
-Nineteen hours of flying with my 6'4" frame wedged into an economy class seat.
-Arrive Gatwick on a drizzly cold miserable morning to be greeted by immigration staff with an 'attitude'.
-Crawl across London in the rush hour traffic at 3mph
-...
Nah, sod it, think I'll just stay where I am thanks 😀
Going for a ride when going outside does not feel let stepping into the gates of hell would be nice, I am so glad winter is here!
I think a good old fashioned pub crawl would be 1st on my list, followed by an 11pm curry where you don't feel as though you're keeping the staff up!
Getting up a proper mountain somewhere in Snowdonia
Sitting in a traffic jam - just to reminisce about the daily commute that was 😀
Guess I have not been away long enough or I go back too much (once a year) as I don't miss anything apart from family and friends?
For me, it's:
- decent pint (or three) in a good pub
- fish and chips
- meat pie/pasty
- proper curry
- clothes shopping
Stock up on bangers, bacon, tea-bags and cheap medicines from Boots for the flight back...
Warm flat beer
Proper bacon sarnie
Read the Sunday Times
Go to a real pub and eat some pork scratchings, with the above warn beer.
@Marmoset It is also nice to eat out and not feel like you have subsidised a small european country
When I was in oz the thing I missed the most was a proper chicken roast.
Steak and beef no problem. Chicken ,no good.
I remember stopping at a Red Rooster restaurant which has surprisingly a huge chicken on its roof only to be told they had no chicken.
The rest of oz I loved.
sitting in a pub near the fire whilst it sleets outside.
double glazing so it's warmer inside than out.
Proper English curry 😉
Jacket potato with cheese and beans
Some stuff from M&S foods
A full English with chips
Private Eye
We did the same about a year ago with our then-6-month-old. Arriving in Manchester Airport, cold, chucking it down with rain, smokers huddled outside the doors with the wind blowing in filling the place with smoke... welcome home 🙁
But then it was onto the train and off to show his nibs off to the family, and drink lots of proper beer (homebrewer here too, but the range of bottles of proper beer available at the supermarket was truly staggering, and at the same cost per litre as swappa crates of Waikato/Lion Red etc. here... [i]almost[/i] made me want to move back! Then I just resolved to get better at brewing 😀 )
Anyway, the main point of this post was to say that if you haven't already booked seats with bassinets on the plane, ring the travel agent tomorrow and do it. Extra leg room for you and even though our lanky little monster was almost too long for it, it was fantastic to be able to just put him down for a few hours. There were a number of people on our flight who had to take it in turns holding the baby the entire flight, didn't look like fun.
Skips are now free from MSG and other artificial flavourings and don't taste the same. Sorry.
Nah, sod it, think I'll just stay where I am thanks
With an attitude like that, I think it's for the best 🙂
Mine is:
Proper Fish+Chips
Decent Curry
and pick up a pot of marmite on the way back
Hebden's Blazing Saddles has an extremely nice Orange Five demo bike, among others. The friendly folk there will point you in the direction of some superb trails, too. Fish & chips from Crown Fisheries. Kebab from Papas. Magic Rock beer from Old Gate. Speciality northern grumpiness from Bonsalls hardware.
I miss Bonsalls, i haven't found anywhere useful in Huddersfield where you can walk into a relatively small shop and always come out with exactly what you need
Edit: Is it still the Greenroyds running Bonsalls?
a good pint of ale, i remember from my year trip to NZ the beer being terrible down there!
See your mates/family.
Have a good drink.
Ride your favourite trail.
Fish n Chips.
Then return home knowing that's all your missing and nothing else!
Oh and take loads of photos.
See your mates/family.
Are you kidding? Why do you think I left?
monkey_boy - Member
a good pint of ale, i remember from my year trip to NZ the beer being terrible down there!
Look harder the craft beer revolution is taking hold, we are even bringing kiwi beer to Oz 🙂 and it tastes like home
Bacon? Better here.
Beer? You can get good stuff now.
Pies? just as good here.
Fish and chips. You got me there.
Pork scratchings. The wife makes some ace crackling.
Fish n Chips (with cod, none of this flake sh1te)
Mushy Peas
Curry and spicy food in general
Sainsbo's £3 lunch deals
Technical sports clothes at a sensible price
Fresh fruit at a sensible price
Percy Pigs
Chiswick High Road
Sausages
For me, its sausages (again) - they're just wrong here. And cheese - I miss all those wonderful English and French cheeses. You can get some here but not without selling a kidney.
Also, the smell of spring in my formerly local woods (wild garlic, bluebells), a nice bit of chalky downland and sunken lanes, their walls gnarly with tree roots.
Proper pint, ideally overlooking village green, pub lunch
Visit a Brewdog bar.