Third
Great Britain , United Kingdom
Trip Around the World, DAY 5-8
DAY 5. London ~ Norwich
It's mid-summer, but it's still cool in London in the early morning. With a wool-silk-linen trouser, a wool-mohair trouser, a striped shirt by Charvet, and a silk knit tie by Rivellano Rivellano, I was ready to start my trip. I thought a jacket style would be appropriate as a picture of a trip to the U.K. by car, but I dared to coordinate with a non-British brand. Only my partners can make me feel like I'm traveling alone.
After about an hour's drive, we arrived at the Kempton Park Race Course Race Track, where a mid-size antique market is held twice a month. This is where a mid-size antique market is held twice a month.
Although there were many larger items on display, such as furniture and framed paintings, we walked around and got a good selection of cute and easy to take home goods.
Mostly furniture and other larger items. Dazzling race course lawn.
A teddy bear that has finished its role, staring at you with sad eyes. . England is their home country, so they spring up in large numbers.
The selection of goods at the antique market changes its look from country to country. . Still, it is interesting to see a mixture of things from all over the world.
The "Rhino" with the rhino symbol, often seen at market sites, is a cargo truck rental company.
With a good haul, we straddle London again and head east. Our destination is the town of Cromer, located at the northern end of the east coast. It is a seaside town about a three-hour drive from London, where a small antique market is held the next morning.
I had spent a lot of time at the racetrack, so I hoped I could make it there before the evening... , when I saw a sign for a military store on the side of the road. I decided to go there without hesitation. . I decided to consider this kind of thing as "a good way to get around.
The signboard points to an out-of-the-way warehouse district. When you drive up to the store, you will see a large amount of surplus clothing in a spacious warehouse, and bags and shoes lined up on the walls. It was a sight to behold. However, there was no one in the store and no one was coming out, so I thought, "Well, I guess it's OK," and was browsing on my own for a while when I spotted an elderly man in the far corner of the spacious store. When he saw me, he too said in a loud voice, "Hi, how are you?" He pointed at his watch, raised his index finger upward, and then made a baton with both hands. He pointed to his watch, held up his index finger, and then made a batten with both hands, which he said meant, "We close in one hour. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 3:00 p.m. . I responded by making a circle with my hands above my head. The stores close early in the English countryside.
The store seems chaotic but is actually well organized. A large number of military releases from the United Kingdom and other Western countries are lined up.
Items that are hard to find in Japan are also on sale in the United Kingdom, the home of the product.
"Uh-uh, okay?" The man's voice sounded as if he was getting impatient, and I looked at my watch to see that an hour and a half had already passed. I apologized to the man and paid for my purchases, returned to my car, and hurried on, but by the time I reached Cromer, it would be around 9:00 p.m. I decided to change my plans a little and head for the Norwich area in front of me tonight. I decided to change my plan a little and stay at a hotel near Norwich, which I had picked up at random on the web, and found it to be a magnificent castle-turned-hotel.
Hotels converted from castles are sometimes common in England.
DAY 6.
Norwich ~ Cromer ~ Nottingham
When I woke up, I found myself in a room of a castle. We quickly left the hotel and drove north. We passed by Norwich Castle, which is famous in this area, but I had enough of castles already, so we passed it quickly.
Originally, we were going to go from Cromer to a potter's house along the coast. I just picked a place that looked good from a Google Maps search for "pottery," so I don't know if it was a hit or miss, but even if it wasn't, it was a "good road trip" on this trip. I chose "Sutton Pottery" from several candidates because Dr. Google told me that there is a military store in the neighborhood. . technological innovation is a strong ally in traveling efficiently.
We follow the doctor's directions through a pasture and arrive at a small village. There is no one around.
I found the house and parked my car in a space that looked like a parking lot, and a mysterious man in a Shell Oil uniform came out of a trailer house parked across the street, smiling.
The man with the mysterious smiling face, whose expression I could not tell whether he was smiling at me or not, made a gesture of "come" with the same expression as before, and entered the house. I followed him into the house, which turned out to be an entire workshop and gallery. Apparently, the man lives in a trailer and works from home. . It's reasonable, but a little strange.
The logo looks like a small house = workshop and a cute fish hook.
His name is Malcolm Flatman, and he has been making pottery and teaching pottery classes here since 1977. . I like his simple shapes and unique glaze application. He has a modern but clean, everyday style that I liked and liked immediately. I bought some of his works and asked him about them. He told me that he had decided to retire in May 2020 and would not be making pottery after the end of this year. Malcolm, who was smiling as he kneaded clay and showed me his work, looked very happy and cheerful, perhaps because of his red and yellow shirt, but ... he retired. . He seemed to be an unusual person in many ways.
." balks Malcolm, "I'm embarrassed to be dressed like this today. I wish you would always dress like this.
These works are a cohabitation of cute British sensibility and masculinity , but simple.
At a small military store just down the street from Sutton Pottery, we were told that a Japanese man had visited the store last month, and we strolled around the store but did not find anything of interest. I got a few items at a discount, including a British military quilted jacket made by Beaver of Bolton. . After regaining our composure, we headed for our original destination, Cromer.
. "The Japanese buyers are very good, so I bought all the good stuff. In the center of the rack is a quilted jacket.
Cromer is a fishing town, and people from this area seem to come here to eat crabs, and the town was crowded with tourists. . I immediately tried the famous "Cromer Crab" with salad and potatoes. The crab, which was served with salad and potatoes, was not only smelly, but rather fruity and fragrant, and it topped my list of the best crabs in the world.
. You can't see much crab, but it's a good portion. Raw vegetables are surprisingly precious in the British diet.
Too picturesque , attractive long happy beach . . there were too many clouds to say .
Due to a late itinerary, we made the drive from Cromer to Nottingham, right in the middle of England, a little under 4 hours on this day. We arrived safely and went to bed.
DAY 7 & 8.
Nottingham ~ Liverpool
Nottingham is home to the famous Nottingham Castle. This is really, really famous, but that early morning, I was in Newark, about 40 minutes drive northeast from Nottingham. The Newark Showgrounds, a former air force base, is the site of a large two-day antique market. . not to mention a castle.
I arrived earlier than the doors opened, so I purchased a two-day pass and waited in line at the entrance gate. When the gates opened, the crowds of visitors streamed in like spiders. The vast grounds and four gymnasium-sized buildings were lined with booths of antique dealers. This was the most important point of the trip, and the best place to buy antiques.
Under cloudy skies, antique dealers lined the expansive grounds.
Where did you get it and who is it in the hands of? ......
Unlike in the U.S., the antique market in the U.K. does not have many eye-catching items that pop. There is a shared sense of value for antiques that have a profound sense of weight, such as very old antiques that remind us of the long history of Europe and objects from China and the Middle East, and it is enjoyable to find many new values, although they are difficult to understand. . However, from the perspective of buying for the Japanese market, it seems to be a more difficult market than the U.S. market.
A very beautiful folk art celestial maiden. Behind her are stone statues, Chinese vases , and rare shells.
Basically, the uncle only sells items that are over 200 years old. Here I bought a small Mexican stone statue.
. On the other hand, when it comes to used clothing, you can buy quite good items at a reasonable price. Compared to American goods, I have the impression that the market value of secondhand European clothes has not yet increased. When I filled my trolley bag with a large amount of used clothes, it filled up quickly, so I had to go back and forth to my car many times, and soon the luggage space of my car was full as well.
A rack from the good old days; I wonder what a home closet would have looked like 80 years ago.
I also had a blast at the booths with their wonderful displays. I was able to buy a few school jackets, which are now rare.
After two days of massive harvesting, we headed to Liverpool, a large city on the west coast, in the afternoon of the second day. On the way, we had heard that it rains constantly in this area, but we were really forced to drive in heavy rain for 2.5 hours, so much so that we could not see the road ahead from start to finish. Just as the city of Liverpool came into view in the distance, the rain stopped beautifully and a dazzling sunset lit up the riverside city.
Sunset on the Liverpool Mersey River. The beautiful scenery often relieves the fatigue of travelers.
The Royal River Building at dusk, an art nouveau structure built in 1911 , apparently an icon of Liverpool.
A statue of the "Lovely Foursome" stands facing the Mersey River.
Liverpool is my favorite "The Beatles" city. . Although I was tired from the early morning market walk and the long drive, I could not stop myself from going there. . at "The Cavern Club," one of the sacred places of The Beatles, where they played live before and during their debut period.
Luckily, the hotel was within walking distance, so I walked to the holy place, dragging my limp legs. Behind the main street, I noticed a noisy street with loud music and screaming young people. I immediately recognized it as Matthew Street.
At the entrance of The Cavern Club, a strong-looking bodyguard urged us to pay the admission fee and descend to the basement. Although I had seen this place many times in movies and should have been familiar with it, it looked completely different when I saw it in front of me. To tell the truth, I had a little bit underestimated it as a tourist attraction, but it was completely different from what I had expected. The bricks on the walls, the graffiti, the echoes of the music, and the taste of beer seemed raw and intensely cool. . my heartbeat remained racing the whole time. In fact, there were plenty of things that woke me up - the lousy merchandising, the weird dancing of grandparents from abroad, the cheaply-played copy bands of classic songs - but the moldy smell, the sticky floors, the heat and humidity were probably still there, just as the rumors said they would be. The experience of actually going to the place is precious.
The most difficult part is to inquire about how to enter the building while being scared of the seriously stiff and strong-looking brothers.
At the extremely busy bar counter, the bartenders are a sight to behold as they work their way down the line.
Here is a performance of the famous copy band, with the grandfather and the grandmother dancing.
It is still a cool place to store after all. . the lady with the nose piercing and the dated graffiti.
After a brief trip to 1962, I went back to the pub where John Lennon used to hang out and had another beer, half in a state of lethargy. As I drank the beer in the dimly lit pub, my vision wavered and I began to feel sleepy. Yes, I was tired today. I took a cab back to the hotel, a distance I could walk. My humming was "A Hard Day's Night. Tomorrow is the first day in a while when I can get up late. I will sleep long.
The journey continues.
PROFILE
. Born in 1980. After working as a store buyer, he launched "Filmerange" and became independent as "Sankakke" in 2012. He spends his days working and traveling while pursuing good Japanese products.
