Fireworks and Footie

Lots of exciting happenings this weekend. On Friday night I went out with Cait and a few of her friends from her hall to see fireworks in celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. In case any of you haven't seen 'V for Vendetta' (or for any of those like me, who lack the cultural awarness pre-Hollywood movie), Guy Fawkes Day is the 5th of November and commemerates the day that the Gunpowder Plot (to blow up Parliament and kill King James I, in order to overthrow the Protestant ruling of England) was foiled. It was in 1605.

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

The English set off fireworks and have huge bonfires, so that's what we did. We went down to a small fair in Putney and it was good fun. Pictures of fireworks and of Putney:

Saturday morning I got up at 6:30 (!) to go for a run before we left for Manchester. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful morning; I ran down to Westminster, up to Tower Bridge and the back. I got to watch the sunrise behind Tower Bridge. So, I may never get up that early and see it again, but it was worth doing once. After that, I met Andy and we took the train up to Manchester - my first trip in the UK outside of London! The countryside was quite pretty, and we arrived in Manchester (less pretty) at 1. We went back to watch the second half of the Arsenal game on TV, then drove up to Blackburn to see the Blackburn-Liverpool game. I LOVE soccer/football here! The Blackburn keeper is none other than Brad Friedel (US National keeper for those who don't know) and I was psyched to be very familiar with at least one player on the field. The first half Blackburn dominated, but the last 25 minutes was all Liverpool. It was a 0-0 game, but I loved it. The game was sold out and there was singing and chanting... it was fabulous.
Satuday night we went out in Manchester, which was fun but not thrilling. I seem to have transferred some of my New England elitism to Londoner elitism - Manchester is a very different place: very working class, architecturally different (echoes of Concord, NH... or vice versa). And they all have funny accents. In a bad way, girls. ;) Sunday morning I went for a short run (to see more of the area, really), then lounged around watching sports on TV in Rich's house until taking the train back late afternoon yesterday.