After another night of mediocre rest, we had breakfast and ventured out in the car to two small villages called Upper and Lower Slaughter. The ominous name actually has nothing to do with any kind of violent history, but is some sort of alteration of an old English word meaning “muddy place.” As we would soon find out, it lived up to its name.
We parked in Lower Slaughter and would walk from there to Upper Slaughter. Upper Slaughter has very limited parking, so a morning stroll through the Cotswolds was in order. As you can see by my pictures, the sun decided not to appear, so the weather alas remained decidedly . . . English. There is a trodden, unpaved path that connects the two Slaughters and the large amount of rain that England has been receiving (more than normal if you can believe it) has created a rather muddy situation.
Both Slaughters were very quaint and almost untouched by the hands of time. Highlights included the immaculately landscaped lawns, the old mill, and the part of the trail that wasn’t muddy. It is quite chilly here, and without the sun present, the wind is very biting. My Mallorca wardrobe may need to be augmented slightly as we are going to an evening football (soccer for you yanks) match in Birmingham. It could be quite cold.
We then left the Cotswolds and began our drive to the north. We stopped off at a place called Greggs which is a very popular bakery/cafe in these parts. English food is decidedly a bit boring and unvaried, and Greggs offers a few variations to these staples. Their signature item is the sausage roll. Rather than spend their precious time coming up with other food items for consumption, English people have gone all in on the sausage roll because they have decided that nothing could possibly be better.
I had to see what all the fuss was about. It was . . .fine. I might order it again, but the love that English people have for these things defies logic. I also had a steak and veg pasty as backup in case the sausage roll was absolute rubbish. We continued our drive up toward Birmingham where we briefly stopped outside Cadbury World. It turned out to be much more popular than we were anticipating. There are tours, rides, interactive exhibits etc., and thusly a lot of children and chaos. We spent about 30 seconds in the Cadbury shop and went back to the car.
From there we stopped at the Villa Shop, the official purveyor of Aston Villa Football Club. I had purchased tickets to a match between Aston Villa and Chelsea women for this evening, and we had to represent accordingly. The prices were surprisingly reasonable for custom kits and other merchandise. Nicole bought me a hat and gloves as well. They were marked down because “winter’s over.” This was exemplified in the 48 degree temperatures and the workers huddling by the entrance door of the store to catch a fleeting glimpse of a mysterious orb in the sky that some cultures have come to refer to as “the sun.”
We arrived about 15 minutes late to the match because parking was a bit of a challenge, as is often the case. We found a neighborhood, parked on the street, and walked about half a mile to the Banks’s Bescot Cres Stadium. Chelsea had already scored a goal by the time we took our seats. Luckily that wasn’t the only goal scored, but the remaining two would also come from Chelsea, so we clearly chose the wrong side to support.
Regardless, it was neat to see some well-known players such as Sam Kerr (pictured above), who is an Australian considered to be one of the best in the world right now. She scored a goal during the match, but the Chelsea mustard-colored uniforms were off-target and an own-goal at best. We were pleased with our burgundy and light blue Aston Villa kits.
It was a decent sized crowd for an English women’s league game. They said there were 3835 people in attendance. That filled almost half the stadium, but the stadium was also small. The popularity of the women’s game in England has yet to reach the levels that the United States NWSL league is currently witnessing. Los Angeles sold out their home opener last week at the same large stadium that the men’s team uses. The English league game we saw seemed a bit sad in comparison, but the NWSL wasn’t much different than this just a few years back.
Thanks to the hat, gloves, and four layers of clothing I was wearing, I was able to stave off most of the chill in the air. The match finished 3-0 in favor of Chelsea. Aston Villa, by comparison, looked not too dissimilar from Nicole’s middle school soccer team. We made our way back to the car after the match and to the Swan Hotel in Stafford, a small town north of Birmingham. We did our best to thaw out and get some rest. They claim the sun will be out tomorrow. I am skeptical.
passports & pepto bismol 