When my mother passed away my eldest sister Hemu,who lives in Manchester with her lovely family, told me and Suman that we had to continue our annual trips to Manchester and stay with her. This was something that could not change and she has literally taken over the role of my mother. Hemu is like Superwoman on steroids! She doesn’t sit down all day and is forever cooking or cleaning. She is the first person to help anyone in need and offers without thinking of her own schedule. She is so caring and giving and not only is she my elder sister but my mother, my well wisher, my voice of common sense, my fellow traveller but most importantly my friend. We talk on the phone at least twice a day, in fact since we’ve both been playing this word puzzle ‘connections’ she usually rings me first thing in the morning as she refuses to get out of bed until she has done it.
My trips to Manchester are a mix of shopping, visiting relatives, eating,eating and even more eating! We have our usual list of restaurants that we have to visit… no trip to Manchester is complete until we have eaten Chinese at Tangs, Lebanese at Yara and Italian at San Carlos. Then Hemu finds a whole list of restaurants one better than the other and Jijajee always finds a Michelin star restaurant to take us to. Basically they pamper us like mad and we enjoy every minute of our stay. My Jijajee comes across as very quiet and a bit serious but his tongue in cheek humour is very wicked and he always manages to have the last word. Although he has now retired from his business he can spend from morning to night on his computer doing God knows what but no one can get a better deal than him. He will comb every site possible till he gets the lowest price for you. He always manages to get great deals on flight bookings and hotel reservations so whenever I am planning any holidays he is my go to person!
My nephew Ajit, his wife Smriti and their son Ishaan recently moved to Kuala Lumpur and this is my first trip to Manchester without them here so the house is feeling very quiet and I am really missing them… especially Ishaan’s constant chatter and lovely hugs which are the best ever… Ishan – you owe me about 20 happy ga at least!!!
I can’t leave out Hemu’s daughter Kavita and granddaughter Shivani. Kavita lives just a 10 minute walk from Hemu and often pops round for a cup of tea or we meet up for a walk.. though her walks are more of a hike… you really have to be fit to keep up with her. I can’t believe Shivani will be 21 this month… I still remember bringing her home from the hospital when she was a tiny baby!!!
The weather in England is unpredictable at the best but this year it has been just crazy. It is July but today it has just rained on and off and it’s been really windy. In fact, when I was packing to come here I had to keep changing my clothes as one day Hemu would say there was a heatwave and the next she would say the temperature has dropped to 10-11 and she is wearing her thermals!! Consequently I have packed some extremely mis matched clothes so I have a good excuse to go shopping tomorrow.
There is a lovely park, Bramhall Park, about 10 minutes walk from our house so we usually go there for a walk around the grounds and round the lake. It is so quiet and peaceful in the park and you can hear the cry of the birds and the rustling of the trees. We always end up at the coffee shop for a cup of coffee and a rest before we head back home. Another walk we often do is a circuitous walk into Bramhall Village and by the time we get there it is always just the right time to have a glass of wine in one of the bars before heading home.
On our first day we walked to the park, came home and had lunch and Vinay slept for 3 hours. I think it was the combination of jet lag, fresh air, exercise and nice hot soup that helped. The best part here is that you can walk till 9pm as it stays light so you are not restricted to any particular time. Today we walked into the village and had lunch in one of the many restaurants there. As we were getting ready to leave it suddenly started rainy so fortunately Jijajee came with the car to pick us up.Now that we are home I think it is a good idea to get into bed and have a short nap… after all I am on holiday!!!
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