Shakespeare's from Stratford upon Avon. Robbie Williams is from Stoke on Trent (he's like the Shakespeare of our generation). Stoke is also famous for its pottery history, and many museums associated with this history. Upon arrival in Stoke, the very first thing you see on exiting the train station is a giant statue of a man famous for pottery in Stoke, whose name escapes me (I'm sure you'll forgive me).
Every radio station. Every hour. Robbie Williams. I was at the movie theatre waiting to buy tickets for District 9 (cool movie), and Robbie was on in the background. Not only that, but people in line in front of me were singing and dancing along to him. I guess he's a real local hero over here - one of Stoke's on who made it up through the boy-band ranks and into stardom. Today we were in a market place and there was a newspaper stand with the headline:
Seriously, this dude is everywhere. On BBC Radio Stoke they refer to him only as 'Robbie', and give all of his albums nicknames ('coming up next hour we've got a hit from Robbie's album Ego') and so on. I've decided I'm going to try and talk to the next Stoke-local (or 'Stocal', as I call them) using only Robbie song titles. I don't expect much success, but I would like to think I can use enough to win some/lose some.
Stoke is a city. It's a city where all the houses are made of the same red brick and are often no more than three stories high, making it look as though they are all designed off the same plans. In a city that (combined with neighbouring Newcastle under Lyme) has a population of around 700 thousand, this means a lot of urban sprawl. Basically the city looks like it should be a small village, but goes on forever in the same low density/small business corner shop motif forever, which (when combined with the red brick and single set of plans) makes it very easy to get lost. I don't plan to leave the house without the company of an adult at all times.
I came to Stoke to visit some friends of mine from University. I had never been to Stoke on Trent, much as I had never been to anywhere in Europe, and I saw this as a good chance to spend a couple of days relaxing with some friends before rushing back to London and then Paris.
I'm staying in a red brick three-story house somewhere in Stoke/Newcastle (I don't know where one ends and the other begins), and they've put me in the guest room of their house. Well, technically it's an attic - I actually have to climb a foldout ladder that comes down from the ceiling to get to my room! I've never slept in an attic before - there's a mattress up here, as well as hundreds of board games. It's all very exciting.
Today I climbed a mountain and visited a sweet shop. I saw three goats and many types of sherbert. I also suspect the Michelin Man of being a secret Nazi:
I guess it's a good thing I'm sleeping in an attic.
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