A Saffer Holidays in Great Britain

I arrived in the Manchester, England one day before the massive snow storms began, it snowed us all in , which was perfect as I had not seen my mom or sister for over 2 years and we spent a great deal of time gossiping and  filling one another in about husbands, pets, bosses babies etc.  I had not met my sparkly, new niece either and as a mostly absent aunt , I had to make up for lost time. The snow blanketed our valley, and we had the huge pleasure of a white Christmas -truly special for South Africans like me. On Christmas Eve our in-laws invited us along to an English tradition- the pantomime, I was somewhat sceptical, but my skepticism turned to delight as I was transported by Sleeping Beauty, complete with the pantomime standard, an in drag mother and  fabulous double entendres, and the funniest version of the 12 days of Christmas I have ever seen, or heard for that matter-what a blast! The performers were hugely energetic, the songs were poppy, peppy and (usually) appropriate to the story and a great time was had by all. I love the fact that we saw whole families together: too-cool-for school English teenagers, super excited toddlers, burly dads, overworked moms, grannies, grandads, aunts and uncles, all screaming ‘he’s behind you’ at the top of their lungs. Much of  the rest of my time was spent celebrating, Christmas eve, Christmas day, New years eve, new years day, Tuesday, Wednesday….well, you get the picture! As a send off, I insisted that we visit my brother- in-laws favourite ‘chippy’ , that is British for fish and chips store. It is called Grandma Pollard’s and if you are ever in the Yorkshire area, and want a truly delectable cheap-as-chips (sorry I couldn’t resist) treat, you need to check this place out. You will also need to book an appointment or eight with your personal trainer afterwards but it will be worth it. The batter is featherlight, and the fish super fresh, then it is fried in beef drippings, to make the best fried fish I have ever had.YUMMY! On Monday, I fly home to Philly, my sweetheart and my doggie, but I have the great pleasure of getting to bring my mom along for 10 days before her return to South Africa. I am looking forward to it very much…hopefully our plane can take off. Hold thumbs for us.