Trip to my second home England　vol. 5

It is the last part of our exciting trip to England.

The last stop is the starting point, Manchester.

Manchester is a city which is famous for being the center of the Industrial Revolution. The city is modern. It has large department stores, boutiques, and streetcars, and it was very crowded with people. On the other hand, the city hall, pubs, and cathedral built in the Victorian era were very majestic. The pubs were also busy, and I was happy to see that I felt like the England I remembered ! I was so happy to see this. There is also the famous Manchester United team and the National Football Museum.

In Manchester, I met up with a friend of my mom’s friends from 30 years ago! A friend of mine who moved to Manchester hosted a small party for us. My friend from Harrogate also drove two hours to be there and it was the best and most unforgettable time.

We chatted the whole time, saying things like, “We used to be moms, but now we’re grandmas!”. And we showed our grandchildren’s photos to each other.

We talked with each other and our partners about lots of things, and four hours passed in the blink of an eye.

This was my first visit to England after Covid, and there were many changes in England.

The first is that the food at restaurants has improved a lot.

Before, many restaurants served dishes with very little flavor, and you usually had to season your own food with salt, pepper, ketchup, tartar sauce, vinegar, etc. to your liking.

But this time, no matter where I ate, the food tasted very good. Moreover, the accompanying vegetables were tender-crisp. Before, vegetables were mushy, like baby food. But on the other hand, I heard that for the elderly, they were too hard to eat.

Secondly, there were few fat people

I used to see people eating potato chips and chocolate bars all over the city. And there were many fat people. But now there were few at all. Apparently, the National Health Service (NHS) has become very strict in its guidance. The NHS seems to be very generous with free hearing aids and free medical examinations and tests for people in their 80s and older, but for our generation (in our 60s), they don’t seem to be so kind, as if they won’t even give us tests and tell us to go to a private hospital.

The third is the decrease in the number of pubs and Indian and Chinese restaurants.

Because some restaurants were unable to reopen due to lack of staff after closing during the Covid pandemic, or because more people find it more convenient to take out and eat at home. Because of this, the restaurants that are open now are doing well with very good food and nice atmosphere. However, the variety of food on pub menus has decreased considerably. There are not many young people in the pubs, and there were mostly older retired people.

Fourth, the bills have changed. And previous bills cannot be used. This time, we did not exchange currency because we had our own bills with us. At a Chinese restaurant in York, we were offered a 10 percent discount if we paid in cash. When we tried to use our old bills, we were told that they were too old to be used. Then, I asked Chat GPT, and it said, “The old bills became a scrap paper in a few years after the new bills were issued in England”. I thought, “It can’t be helped,” and I asked Gemini, he said, “You can exchange old bills at the Bank of England. “However, the Bank of England is only in London. It is not in the area of our trip. Naturally, there isn’t one in Manchester either.

However, when I talked to my mother’s friends, they told me that any bank could exchange it. Oh dear, AI, you are wrong!

But I loved Queen Elizabeth so much that I treasured it and kept the bills.

The fifth is the system

I actually received a notice of a fine after I returned home. Actually, in Manchester, I was not sure of the road and for a moment I drove in the bus lane. There were no policemen and I thought there was no problem. Policing is also mechanized. I didn’t see any cameras, so what the hell is going on? Certainly, all the cars were observing the speed exactly. I guess that means they are being watched from everywhere. A few days later, I received a notice about a parking fine. All hotels in England have a system called Parking Eye, and I entered my license plate number when I checked in, but at the last hotel in Manchester, I was not told to do so, so I did not enter it. Then I was fined. But that was cancelled when I emailed the hotel.

Covid has changed England in a big way. It used to be a country that would never change.

It changed for the better. England was still an amazing country. My favorite country.

I am so glad that my husband and I were able to go there.