On the third day, I checked out of the Heathfield B&B on a rainy morning. Since it was a weekday, Keighley Worth & Valley Railway was out of service. The mistress took me to the nearest bus stop on Rawdon Road and told me to wait there for the bus to Keighley.
While waiting for the bus, an old lady talked to me. She asked me where I was going. I answered that I was going to London. Another lady joined us, and they and I talked a bit until the bus was coming.
On the bus, I sit on the upper front seat, and the ladies stayed downstairs. Arriving at Keighley bus terminus, I got out of the bus. The train station was a bit distant from the terminus, so I didn’t know how to get there.
Then the lady who had talked to me first at the Rawdon Road bus stop found me standing there and told me to follow her to the train station, as she was just going shopping nearby. How kind of her! I was able to get to the Keighley train station with her help.
Inside Keighley train station.The food served on the train on my way from Leeds to London.(more…)
Breakfast served at Heathfield Bed & Breakfast was very British, with a fried egg, fried potatoes, and mushrooms; a fried tomato cut in half; two slices of bacon; two sausages; cereals; slices of bread; a glass of orange juice; and a cup of tea. I have a good appetite for breakfast in England because when it’s breakfast time in England, it’s time to have dinner in Japan, where it’s nine hours ahead.
Although it was a bit while ago, I made a private trip to the United Kingdom. It was not the British Hills, not an English village, not a British-style cottage in Tochigi Prefecture, not any other “fake Britain” in Japan. It was the real England, where I had wanted to visit before I died. I visited London and Haworth, West Yorkshire. Both of those places were introduced in the Japanese manga Emma by Kaoru Mori, which was one of my favorite comics I’d ever read.
I list up the “words of the year” in every yearend based on what I experienced in that year.
The words of the year for 2001: getting a flat within the Tokyo metropolitan area, a position change at the office, and Soarer. The words of the year for 2002: America. The words of the year for 2003: the airplane and the musical. The words of the year for 2004: the blog, Asian countries (Singapore and Hong Kong), and the GSM mobile phone. The words of the year for 2005: darts, the GSM and WCDMA mobile phone, and visiting Hong Kong again. The words of the year for 2006: the US stock and the mutual fund. The words of the year for 2007: changing my car and visiting Hawaii. The words of the year for 2008: England and Fukagawa. The words of the year for 2009: office position change, MacBook Pro and JR Seishun 18 Ticket. The words of the year for 2010: Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia; iPhone; and the credit card. The words of the year for 2011: the car, the British culture and China. The words of the year for 2012: Oji, the mahjong, the flight attendant and Facebook.
Now the words of the year for 2013 are: Ayurveda, Korea, high school alumni and Tsuyoshi Takashiro.
