Easter Midlands

All signs pointed to me being stuck in London over the upcoming Easter long weekend. Majority of the "Londoners" had months in advance pre-emptively organised trips month and had taken the opportunity to make the most of 4 days away from London. Generally, I would welcome this situation with open arms, unfortunately my mind has been uneasy over the last week. I needed to get away from the familiar and minimise any form of reflective alone time. I need a distraction or anything to occupy my thoughts. Unfortunately most flights out of London were booked out and the few remaining fares were inflated beyond logic. Car rental lots were empty and I was forced to do the only sane thing a person in my situation could do. I jumped on a train out to Sheffield, the Midlands (£20).

I was conscious of keeping myself occupied over the 2 hour train journey and had deliberately packed a stockpile of entertainment. Book, Freakonomics check. DS, check. MP3 player, check. I was armed with the necessary tools to prevent me from drifting into a contemplative country-side stupor. The likes of MOS Annual, Kings of Leon and Kid Cudi kept me upbeat until the earphones drummed through the mood changing Missy Higgins and Jay Sean. Sure enough, I was soon staring blissfully out the train window at the slideshow of rolling hills, lush paddocks and flowing rivers. I was in a hypnotic lull and a million thoughts and hypothetical what-ifs bludgeoned my brain. I really need to re-sync my music.

I was welcomed by a close family friend and after a crash-course Sheffield tour we embarked on our Midlands romp. The beauty of this trip was that it was unscripted and unplanned. We we're winging it through the UK. A cheap National Express ride (£7.50) from Sheffield and 1 hour later we were in Nottingham, the home of Robin Hood. Our spontaneity had backfired! We had somehow managed to arrive into Nottingham on the night of the playoffs for the Ice Hockey. The entire town was brimming with people and after visiting 5 hotels the common theme was that no rooms were available. We sucked it up and each checked into the Hilton for one night (£107).

Easter Sunday, we woke early and gorged ourselves on the continental buffet before setting out to Nottingham Castle(£5.50), the oldest pub in the UK( Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem) and finally onto the Peak District. Nottingham to Bakewell via Matlock on the Transpeak Zig Zag (£8). We stopped off for some Yorkshire Pudding Pub lunch and the famous Bakewell Pudding.

Another 1 hour bus ride from Bakewell to Sheffield (£3.90) and we were back. We decided to find some Chinese Dumplings and ended up drinking Red Wine and chatting into the early hours of Easter Monday. I take for granted having a familiar person to talk to without having to think twice about divulging details. I crashed out in the Hospital Residency Common Room for my final night of accommodation. Another worthwhile random weekend in the UK, successfully managing to substitute the emptiness with friends, travel, food and alcohol. Surely, this can't be sustainable ...