Lietuva

The advantages of a 6am start and having to venture out into a world which has yet to awaken from the grip of darkness is that I finish work at 3pm meaning I practically have half the day left. Work was tough after only four hours sleep and a McDonald's bacon sandwich, during which I viewed a professional domestic, but I got through it and headed into town to meet Lithuanian Lynx from Lithuania, as well as Wolfie and Enteirah.

Lynx was visiting Leeds and wanted me to show him around the sights, such as they are. I pointed out the glorious town hall, the civic hall, the museum and the various owls which are adorned throughout the city. Apparently, you can go owl spotting like you go pub crawling in Leeds, as the owl is the civic symbol of the city. We also ambled around the town, enjoying the autumnal sunshine after the 10 hours of relentless deluge which occured when I was, thankfully, at work. We also showed him some of the Edwardian buildings in Leeds City Centre and the Corn Exchange too, as well as the new Granary Wharf office area with all the shells of the mills which have now been converted into financial management firms. Here, we took him through the maze of tunnels underneath the railway station, over the raging torrent that was the swollen river, and showed him the canal and the machinery used to unload the narrowboats. He took many pictures so I think he was interested.

We also chatted about Lithuania - it's political problems, it's economic issues and how it has changed in the seven years since I visited. We also focused on his home city of Vilnius and as he talked about it, it was amazing the memories which came flooding back. I even remembered the location of a scary second hand record shop near the river, which was surprisingly vivid. I must go back some time - I just hope the crisis hasn't damaged it much.

We also took him to The Lounge where we had a convivial dinner - pork pie, cheeseboard and I had a Sunday roast. Someone stole a salt and pepper shaker, much to the annoyance of the staff, and it was frustrating that their main menu wasn't on today but there were still some delicious deliciacies on their bar menu. Still, it was an excellent meal, fantastic conversation and a great time was had by all. The same was true of the Brewery Tap, where we ended the day amidst a sea of drawing. It was a brilliantly relaxing afternoon and I had a great time so thanks to Lynx, Ent and Wolfie for being such great company ^^

P.S. As we were saying goodbye to Lynx, we loitered around the sweetie stand and this woman gave me evils, staring me up and down for a good 30 seconds. I think she thought I was going to steal some unattended luggage that wasn't even hers. On my side of the animosity, she chose strawberry gummy things. Yuk!

Lietuva

The advantages of a 6am start and having to venture out into a world which has yet to awaken from the grip of darkness is that I finish work at 3pm meaning I practically have half the day left. Work was tough after only four hours sleep and a McDonald's bacon sandwich, during which I viewed a professional domestic, but I got through it and headed into town to meet Lithuanian Lynx from Lithuania, as well as Wolfie and Enteirah.

Lynx was visiting Leeds and wanted me to show him around the sights, such as they are. I pointed out the glorious town hall, the civic hall, the museum and the various owls which are adorned throughout the city. Apparently, you can go owl spotting like you go pub crawling in Leeds, as the owl is the civic symbol of the city. We also ambled around the town, enjoying the autumnal sunshine after the 10 hours of relentless deluge which occured when I was, thankfully, at work. We also showed him some of the Edwardian buildings in Leeds City Centre and the Corn Exchange too, as well as the new Granary Wharf office area with all the shells of the mills which have now been converted into financial management firms. Here, we took him through the maze of tunnels underneath the railway station, over the raging torrent that was the swollen river, and showed him the canal and the machinery used to unload the narrowboats. He took many pictures so I think he was interested.

We also chatted about Lithuania - it's political problems, it's economic issues and how it has changed in the seven years since I visited. We also focused on his home city of Vilnius and as he talked about it, it was amazing the memories which came flooding back. I even remembered the location of a scary second hand record shop near the river, which was surprisingly vivid. I must go back some time - I just hope the crisis hasn't damaged it much.

We also took him to The Lounge where we had a convivial dinner - pork pie, cheeseboard and I had a Sunday roast. Someone stole a salt and pepper shaker, much to the annoyance of the staff, and it was frustrating that their main menu wasn't on today but there were still some delicious deliciacies on their bar menu. Still, it was an excellent meal, fantastic conversation and a great time was had by all. The same was true of the Brewery Tap, where we ended the day amidst a sea of drawing. It was a brilliantly relaxing afternoon and I had a great time so thanks to Lynx, Ent and Wolfie for being such great company ^^

P.S. As we were saying goodbye to Lynx, we loitered around the sweetie stand and this woman gave me evils, staring me up and down for a good 30 seconds. I think she thought I was going to steal some unattended luggage that wasn't even hers. On my side of the animosity, she chose strawberry gummy things. Yuk!