The Northern Migration

My loyal readers must be wondering what happened to me by now...three days without blogging! She must have dropped off the face of the earth! I'm still here and kicking, obviously, but I've relocated to the North (gasp!). Here is my brief update of the last few days...no promises as to when the next post will be, as we're still trying to find an Internet cafe up here (hence the lack of posts recently), but I will continue to keep you updated as I can.

My last day at BAC was lovely...just a few quick tasks throughout the day, mainly involving striking the Grotowsky exhibition...taking down the cinema set-up was just as fun as putting it together. :) We had a brief rehearsal prior to the YPT performance, which included teamwork exercises. Four-square in a theatre with lighting equipment is a dangerous activity, and I find it ironic that this was the only "sporting event" I attended in the UK. The show was perfect...I could not believe how wonderfully it went, and the director and producer were equally amazed. The sand effect was wonderful, and the audience (all 15 of them) really enjoyed it. We all deserved a performance like that after the rehearsal process, and I could not have been happier with it.

After the show, I quickly put away some of the props from the building, said my goodbyes, and hopped on the bus/tube to catch the 10:00 train to Newcastle. I have to go back to London...I missed my coworkers within ten minutes of leaving them. :) Amelia and Drew met Mom and me at King's Cross, and we spent the next four hours or so en route to Newcastle. It would have been much more interesting had it not been dark outside, but the trip was not too bad. By the time we arrived at my grandma's house, I felt ready to drop...I am staying in my Uncle Paul's old room, which is characterized by the yellowed walls and a phantom tobacco scent from years of being inhabited by a smoker...perfect for me after two months in London. I slept more soundly than I had in quite a while...it was weird being in the house without my grandma or Uncle Paul there (Grandma moved into assisted living a few months ago, so this is the first time I have ever been in the house without her there), but the house still has so many fond memories and it is nice to be in an actual home after my two months of temporary housing.

Thursday was spent just getting reacquainted with the North. I visited Grandma, which was great...I was able to go on my own, and her flat is really nice and cozy. She seems really happy, and it was almost surreal to actually see her after such a long time. I took Amelia and Drew back over there later, to find her in the common area at the end of the hall with her friends having tea. I think this was the first time I've ever seen her interact with non-family members, and it was obvious that everyone there adores her. By the time she came back to her room, her carer had come to help her get ready for bed, so we opted to head out with plans for a visit later. The three of us went into town with plans of hitting up a Boots and a bookstore (medicine for Amelia, who had been feeling ill, and a book for me), but everything was closed by that time of night, so we ended up wandering the bankside for a while before returning home.

Yesterday was a day out, beginning with Alnwick Castle (about an hour and a half from my grandma's house). The castle is ancient, currently housed by the Percy Family, and famous to the modern audience for being the location for several films and television series (most notably Kevin Costner's Robin Hood and the first two Harry Potter films). It also contains amazing gardens, including one made up entirely of roses, and one of poisonous plants (which requires a tour guided to visit, as it is behind locked gates), as well as a gigantic tree house. We spent the majority of the day at the Castle and Gardens (I went on tours of both the castle grounds and the filming locations), before continuing our journey along the coast. We also went by Bamburgh Castle (stopping to visit one of the local churches which contains the post that St Alban leaned against as he was dying as well as the grave of Grace Darling, a heroine of the area who saved several survivors of a shipwreck and became a national celebrity), continued along to Warkworth Castle (which was closed, although we walked around the perimeter), and St. Mary's Island. We also stopped at Seahouses for fish and chips (amazing!) and walked along the shore for a while.

Today was another random day...visit with Grandma, trip to Tesco, and an evening with my Auntie Denise and Uncle Adrian and my cousin Catherine. Evening out with Catherine impending...there's a festival going on at the bankside today and tomorrow, and we're headed to a parade tonight. More stories to come...:)