Chicago Deep Dish

We found the best place in chicago to get an authentic deep dish and there was a queue, a really long one, I figured it was a good sign and it was perhaps the only place where the staff were a bit off with you, I think they were just worn out and sick to death of pizza maybe? (I know sean was by the time were were leaving) the one we chose was an 18" deep dish, stuffed crust special, containing, peppers, mushrooms, sausage and god knows what else, we ordered and left our name at the desk and got a pitcher of ale and found somewhere to sit whilst we waited for our name to be called out, you were literally waiting for a table to empty, "Kenny party of two", the exhausted man said over the tanoy and off we went, they brought out our monster of a pizza, which seemed like a cross between a pizza and a quiche, it was about 3 or 4 inches thick, I dont think anyone managed to finish them as everyone was leaving with a take home box, including us.... what an experience,,, we strolled back to our hotel and along the way saw a couple of homeless people with the giordianos boxes, I think people who had had meals regularly donated to the homeless, I bet they are sick of them.

yum, didlee yumtious...

Buddy Guys Legends

Sean was made up when we turned a corner and there it was, we checked the door and went inside ordered a couple of pints of an ale called Goose the handpump was the shap of a goose and very cute, the two guys sat to my right were real ale experts and I listened as they discussed their hobby, which was all very interesting, sean was looking all around the walls and I took some snaps, I had a bit of suntan lotion on my eye so a couple of the snaps are a bit blured but it felt like quite a find.

I think the snaps speak for themselves here, all the collaborations and all the people who have played blues and jazz at the venue, fabtastic!

Heat Warnings and Waterfalls

The heat warnings on the american tv channels we watched each morning whilst slurping our coffee in the room were scary, (the reporters had so much makeup on they looked like extras from Dallas) they were giving reports of heat up to 108 degrees, and recomended anyone without air con to get out of their homes and into museums, libraries and any public places to keep cool, they said to keep rehydrated and call on elderly neighbours, so it was serious stuff.

We left the hotel and were immediatly hit by a blanket of heat that would have dried three lines of washing in 10 mins (always looking for the positive, thats me) we found explored the local parks of millenium, grant, we were near the water fountains in grant park and the kids looked like they were having so much fun I wanted to join in too. So I did and then I dared hubs and he did too, we were soaked to our underwear and thought a good walk would dry us off which is did, we went in search of China town and found Buddy Guys Legends instead.......

Navy Pier and Pints

Navy Pier was a derelict pier that was reclaimed by the city and renovated as an open space for the public and people of chicago to enjoy, hence nought pence to enter and many attractions along the way, we found a bar and sampled a couple of pints of a local ale called 312 (which is the chicago postcode) very nice it was too. We had planned to get a water taxi back into town but in a moment of weekness I gave a old veteran $10 for a photocopy of his original poems and had a discussion about Margaret Thatcher, I told him the Thatcher the milk snatcher story..... for some crazy reason he thought she was the best thing to have happened to the UK? anyway after much consideration and the long journey back to our hotel its very possible he

wasnt a vietnam veteran
the poems werent his
and his name was fake along with his ID

oh well, just shows you how vulnerable you can be to suggestion after two pints of home brewed ale.

Chicago - Monday

I first woke at 6.00am, looked out the window at the fab view and decided I needed a couple more hours of shut eye, remember, sleep deprivation Is a form of torture and this is a holiday...

Back up at 9.00am and I made us two cups of Jet Fuel Coffee (thats what it said on the container) it did the job and we set off with a small pop up pocket map of chicago and found the famous Chicago Theatre, breakfast was next on the cards and we walked into a mexican caffe, we ordered mexican breakfast wraps, they consisted of omelate sante fe with peppers, spicy sauce and bacon, unusual but something i could get used to. refreshed and refuelled we found the Sears Tower (now renamed the Willis Tower) they have the famous skydeck and great views of the city so up we went, 103 floors, I must be getting braver as I didnt even feel the usual nausea and fear as we got higher in the lift, I even posed for a snap on the glass floor and was able to stand without my knees trembling. On the way out there was a gift shop (I do love a gift shop) and the ones attached to American attractions are always imaginitive if not just plain crazy. I was not to be disappointed this time as they had a fancy dress outfit to make you look like president Lincoln, complete with hat, which I persuaded a very reluctant hubs to try on for a snap. Now you may think that is wacky but later on in the week I actually saw a tourist wearing one, mind you it was by then 108 degrees and maybe it was the only hat she had with her.....

Fantasy Island

In a dreamlike state we unpacked made ourselves a cuppa (we had an ace drink making machine called a Keurig - I have seen them demonstrated in Selfridges) you had these little containers you put in one part then a mug full of water etc.... great fun and the cuppa was ok too...

we got changed, and got a fist full of dollars and we were out on the magnificent mile for 3.30pm......

We found a massive statue of Marilyn Monroe, lots of posh shops like bloomingdales, macys and Hersheys, we found Oprah Winfreys studio and saw a group of people who looked like they were heading to a beach so we followed them, after the shops ended there was a subway we carried on following and the subway came up to a wonderful beach which somehow looked out of place with a backdrop of sky scrapers, I announced ...."this is like something off fantasy island" because thats what it felt like, tired and hungry we headed back to our hotel to sink three pints of Samuel Adams summer ale and there hard rock burger, which was all very nice, it being a sunday night we had the bar to ourselves and chilled out watching back to back rock music videos...... Later asleep in our room, I heard someone knocking on the room next door, a secret knock, in fact it was the intro to YYZ which I thought was so random I must have dreamt it...... wondering what adventures the next day held I drifted off in a mist of ale and antihistermines (I always get bitten by the bugs when its hot, they find my rare blood group tasty).....

Chicago here we come.....

Arriving at O'Hare Airport at Chicago time of 1.15pm (though our bodies were registering 7.15pm) we collected out luggage went through the imigration checks, yes we had our visas, yes we packed the bags ourselves etc, it isnt worth being either funny or arsey to the airport staff, they dont want to be your friends they want to know your not a terrorist, so after the finger print check and they had asked us our business in the USA and they felt suitably satisfied we wished them and their nation no harm we were allowed through

Having read three guide books on the city I felt we could dispense with the taxi route and do public transport, I knew we needed to find the "L" (elevated transport system) into the city, we were the blue line and it would be 17 stops and take just 40 minutes, we used the ticket machine and for just $2.25 we got to Chicago city and got off on Clark/Lake stop, four blocks from our hotel which took just 10 minutes to walk, oh lord it was hot, having come from pissy old manchester on a cold sunday morning I had jeans, trainers and a coat, so arriving at our hotel was wonderful.

I checked us in with J.B. On the desk, told him it was for Hubs 50th and he upgraded us, we were on the 14th floor and our room was fab, with a great view..... the holiday begins here.....
how far are you prepared to go?

Wedding Bells .......

I have never understood until now, why people cry at weddings, after all when your young and have only ever been to celebrations for 18ths and 21sts then the odd engagement party thrown in for good measure, whats the big deal with a wedding, well here is the deal, I am now in my forties (I wish someone would say really? and mean it) yes forties, hubs is now in his 50's and we have had a decade at least of illnesses various, some more serious than others and let me tell you it makes you cherish each and every happy event in a way you never did before...

So after our day at poppit beach and goood old catchup with my former work colleagues from Manchester Uni and a few scoops of ale and damn good ......nights sleep (steady on) well it was more of a coma as we had drank a fair bit......

we got all suited, booted, fascinated, spanxed (is that even a word) and headed to St Thomas church in the beautiful village of St Dogmeals and watched a beautiful, smiley and 10 minutes early bride arrive at the church to marry the groom, we sang, we smiled and I admit that my eyes felt that prickle of pending tears that I have never ever experienced at a wedding before, so if I reach a ripe old age it will be proper crying, complete with snotty bubbles at future weddings, I cant wait.......

Cardigan here we come ......

Last weekend me and hubs were lucky enough to be travelling down to Cardigan in Wales,much further than familiar cricieth and just as beautiful. We set off very early and by around 10ish we saw a sign for RHUG, we stopped looked as some real live bison (straight out of a western) I admit I wanted to round um up swirling rope and in my head this would work, then I thought logically and I am not a cowboy, I have trboulbe with corodiation and i could come a cropper, so, we just had a bison burger and a cup of tea in the cafe, the sun was coming out and it showed all the promise of a nice day. The sat nav lady was just beginning to get on our nerves as we pulled into a municipal carpark in cardigan town and got out to stretch our legs, we had a stroll around and then I saw the groom, completely by chance so hubs put on a deep voice and shouted hey McGlinchey (why do boys think this is so funny?) anyway after hugs all round, yes the bride was with him and her lovely matron of honour too, they were going to have their manicures ahead of the big day, not sure what the groom was up to. We got our chicken and chips and headed to a fab beach called poppit.

I do like to take a pebble from each beach visited, it feels like i am taking a little of the seaside home with me. Poppit beach is very flat and very sandy but not much int he way of pebbles, in fact there were just 4 and now there are just 3.

I had the picnic rucksack with me and we ate our chips with proper cuttelry (non of your plastic or wooden forks for us kennys) we also shared a cold can of lager in proper glasses.

We saw a sign that read "Cardigan Museum" and decided how random it would be to have a museum of all the different cardigans in the world, you could start with the matinee jackets in lemon knitted by grannies, right to the arran chunky cardigans perfect for cold days and fisherman........

Broken promises and flipcharts

My dad had a saying that certainly rings true despite it being over 30 years since I still heard it as a teenager and thought “what is he on about”?

He said someone will walk a mile to borrow something from you, but cant cross the road to give it back..... never did this saying ring more true than yesterday this is the story.....

Texts: LJK to MK - do you have a flip chart in your office
MK – LJK – Yes
LJK - MK Can I borrow it for a few hours, I am in meeting rooms above a bar and they dont have one.
MK - LJK - I will ring you....

So I did ring and got the version of events of first born that made me say YES. How I got the flip chart to him went like this.....

After some subtle distractions to a couple of work colleagues in the form of a round of drinks (tea of course this is a work situation) I wedged the door open and carefully carried the flipchart stand down in the lift 10 floors. 5 mins later first born came round for it, I said the following and even as the words left my mouth I wouldn’t have gone to betfred and put money on it for one second, but it didnt stop me going through the motions...

This needs to be back here tomorrow, if it gets lost of stolen or broken you have to replace it.

He assured me in front of the receptionist (so i do have a witness) that he would collect it from Bachanalia at 9.00am and deliver it to my building so I could place it back and no one would be the wiser....... this is what happened next

He didnt come home that night, he didnt come home the following morning and I rang left messages on email and mobile, then finally he rang at 9.55am, to say he was now at home and could I go to Bachanalia and just say I was a work colleague of his and had come to collect the stand. This wasnt what we agreed at all.

I told my work colleagues I was going to get milk for the office as we had run out and trotted off to bachanalia, I was enormously lucky that a member of staff was outside and about to have a cig break, she showed me up 6 flights of stairs to the flipchart which had been unused ! I carried it down the 6 flights again and over uneven terrain in the rain back to my building, back up in the lift and in the hall, where it was now 10.10am and a meeting was due to start at 10.15am in our meeting room and possibly requiring the flipchart........ as you can imagine I am now exhausted, perspiring and just as I think I have got a way with it a voice says, “Maria, what is the flip chart doing out there”......

First borns biggest worry in all this was in his words “dont tell the girl at bach your my mum or anything, I was trying to hit on her and I dont want all that “Oh he’s my boy” type of conversation going on ......

My biggest worry, was getting the flipchart back in the meeting room before it was missed.

I have learnt a valuable lesson

I managed it and exactly 5 minutes after I replaced the flipchart in the meeting room, two visitors arrived and the meeting went ahead.

It certainly was a close one.........

If first born were anyone else I dont know that I could have forgiven him, as it stands I almost do, but there were lessons learnt...