20 September - Relatively speaking

A couple of years ago, I made contact with a distant cousin I found on Ancestry.com. We met for the first time last year at her home in Lancashire and had a marvelous time together so, being in Manchester, it was time for another visit. As background, Audrey is a retired nurse and her husband, Steve, is a retired teacher. They live in the countryside adjacent to a small city and are really interesting, vital people who were (and are) very generous in chauffeuring me around to all sorts of wonderful places, many involving our shared ancestry. So today it was off to meet them at the train station near their house for a day together.

The adventure started with an Uber ride to the train station. It's supposed to take about 5 minutes, but there was a huge traffic jam. That gave me 13 minutes to chat with the driver, a lovely man from Ghana who told me that I should be going there, not to Kenya. Okay. We made it to the station with barely 5 minutes before the train departed. I raced to track 14. Oops - no, I made it to the entrance of track 14 which is past track 11, up a very long ramp, down a hallway, around the corner and down the stairs. Got there just in time. Where's the train? I wait (with a hundred or so other passengers) and finally hear the announcement saying that, "Due to a problem finding a conductor for the Blackpool route, the 10:02 has been cancelled. The next train for Blackpool will depart at 10:33." Went to the waiting room and suddenly there was an alarm and an announcement saying, "There is an emergency situation. All passenger must leave the station.. Please follow the instructions of staff." Yikes! I looked around and no one is moving. I found a staff member (the alarm and announcement are still blasting away) and pointed up to the speaker. She said, "Oh, it's nothing, just a drill." Quite a start to the day's adventure. As I waited for the train, I heard countless announcements for cancellations including several for trains to the airport. According to Audrey, that's normal. Makes it impossible to plan.

Eventually my train arrived and I made it to my stop. It's the northwest, so it's pouring down with rain. Audrey is in the tiny waiting room to greet me. Steve drives up and picks us up and we're off on today's adventure. They had suggested this outing to the Saltaire Gallery for a David Hockney exhibition. It turned out that Saltaire isn't the name of the gallery, it's the village in which the gallery is located. In Yorkshire! If you're unfamiliar with British geography, that's quite a hike! The drive in the pouring rain, took close to 2 hours. By the time we arrived, the skies had cleared. We parked and walked down the hill to the entrance. The gallery is located in the the old Salts Mill, the largest mill in England. It's a massive building.

According to Wikipedia, "Saltaire is a Victorian model village in Shipley, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the River Aire, the railway, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Salt's Mill and the houses were built by Titus Salt between 1851 and 1871 to allow his workers to live in better conditions than the slums of Bradford. The mill ceased production in 1986, and was converted into a multifunctional location with an art gallery, restaurants, and the headquarters of a technology company. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and on the European Route of Industrial Heritage."

There is a permanent David Hockney exhibit but we were particularly lucky because there was an installation of his work "A Year in Normandy." It's over 90 meters long and was mounted in a horseshoe shape. Turn down the cheesy audio and see it here on YouTube.

Among the many Hockney works on display in the museum are his painting of the Salts Mill, and a whole wall of his chair prints.

There are two incredible shops connected with the gallery. One features a dizzying assortment of art supplies. I was tempted at every turn! The other is a massive book store with books of a creative theme: art, music, biographies of creatives, etc. I left with one David Hockney postcard. There is a downside to traveling with one carry-on.

After our gallery visit we walked down the hill to enjoy the views of the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, where we saw a lovely family of swans.

We then walked uphill to see the old buildings of the town, made from Yorkshire stone.

The much drier, quicker drive home was lovely with views of the hills and meadows, most filled with sheep. The English countryside is almost too picturesque. We had a lovely dinner and Steve gave me lots of new information on my family tree, going back to the early 18th century. He's amazing! Back to the train which, happily, wasn't cancelled!