Sandbach and More

Why Sandbach? Where the heck is that, anyways? Well, it turns out to be a delightful market town, close to Manchester and Chester, with a proper high street, a market square, many classic pubs, and a fair amount of people I wanted to see after all these years away.

I used to work for a company based in Cheshire, not far from Sandbach, which is how I got to see a lot of England and know some locals. The company is long gone, but those friendships remain. I wanted to catch up with those people, especially my good friend, Susie, who used to fly over to Dublin for the weekend when I was visiting the office there of the smiley-box company I worked for.

Susie lives in Sandbach, so last winter, I made plans and rented a cottage on airbnb. I showed up (finally!) in June for my four nights, finding the cottage was, as the Brits say, lovely. Big rooms, big bed, big shower, and a car park beside the house that was also where the dedicated anglers fished in the small lake there (see the cover photo). The pleasant surprise was how much I loved the little village of Sandbach. Very walkable, to pubs, to good food in restaurants, shopping, and with lots of interesting buildings and other things to photograph. I thought more than once that if I was to live in England, I could be quite happy living in Sandbach.

There’s a beautiful old church, very well maintained,  and a graveyard filled with stones, from ancient to not so old, surrounded by trees and foliage to make a respite from the everyday rushing around we do in our lives. I even got to hear the church bells toll one evening, as it was the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and the town was sponsoring a remembrance event in the market square. (The 80th anniversary of D-Day got huge attention in Britain, with at least two channels broadcasting every minute of the ceremonies in France. It was clear to me that the British have not forgotten the sacrifices, both of soldiers and every citizen in the country, during World War II. I don’t think the anniversary got such massive attention in the US, but I could be wrong.)

A Day Out in Manchester

Sandbach just a short (30-45 minute) train ride into Manchester, which is way better than driving into that city and trying to park. Susie and I did a little retail therapy for our respective beach vacations coming up the following week, then stopped by a pub for a pint to rest our tired feet and get out of the rain. It was a lovely local pub, just look at that bar. And as per usual for me in a pub, I got teased by friends and the barkeep for not instantly knowing what kind of beer I wanted to order. I’m really not a beer person, but I’ll have a pint or a half-pint to go along with the group.

Our goal in going to Manchester wasn’t shopping or pints, but meeting up with Luise. We all worked together, back in the day (2000-2005 for me) at SurfControl. We had dinner and talked and talked, until we realized that Susie and I had a train to catch to get back home before we turned into pumpkins. Luise made sure we got on the right tram to get to the train station, saying our goodbyes before she ran the other direction to catch her own tram home.

Exploring Chester

I’d been to Chester once before, for a quick visit, but that was nothing compared to going with someone who actually worked there and knew the place, and that would be Susie. We took the train from Crewe, a short ride with an absolutely packed-full train, and then grabbed a bus to the downtown area. (They don’t call it the downtown area, that’s my American brain speaking.). To someone who grew up with 1950s architecture and the “let’s tear it down and build something new” mindset that was (and most is still) Los Angeles, the streets of Chester feel like a movie set. Honestly, so quaint, so old, so completely unlike anything where I grew up.

The weather was perfect for strolling around town, which is exactly what we did after having a bit of lunch at an odd little tearoom where the wait staff couldn’t seem to manage delivering cutlery, our orders, or our check without reminders of which of the dozen tables we were sitting at. It was the one bit of bad service I had the entire trip; overall, the UK dining experiences were stellar and the service was attentive and friendly.

We stopped by the cathedral, which was as stately as I remembered from my long-ago visit. Again, I felt a bit like I was trespassing on a movie set. When we rounded the corner to the entrance, it was clear something was going on, with crews constructing some kind of green arbor arches at the entrances. Turns out the “richest man in Britain under 40” (wow, that’s a very specific claim right there!) was getting married in two day’s time and so the cathedral was being readied for that big event. How big was it? Well, Prince William was an usher, so pretty darned big.

The cathedral interior was also being prepped for the event, with the usual chairs removed, so it really gave a sense of how big the space is. Lovely construction and stained glass, although with the workers rushing to and fro, not the most relaxing visit I’ve had to a cathedral.

Visiting Jodrell Bank

One place I never managed to visit in all my trips to the area was the big radio telescope at Jodrell Bank. My friend Paul suggested it as a good destination after we met up for lunch north of Congleton at a relaxing garden restaurant. We had a great catch-up, two hours of exchanging news and stories and agreeing that high-tech burnout is real, and we’d both survived it in our careers. Paul is also notably the person who taught me to put my camera body face-down when removing a lens, a tip I still follow and I think of him every time I do that.

Jodrell Bank has other interesting things, like a ceiling-mounted orrery, but the obvious attraction is the Lovell Telescope, a huge radio telescope that is visible for miles. Built in 1957, it has been upgraded several times since and is still contributing to the science of exploring the universe. It’s still the third-largest steerable radio telescope (76 meters in diameter) in the world after all these years.

I could feel a cold coming on, so I didn’t stay long in the windy weather, just long enough to admire the brilliance of people who can imagine and then design and build telescopes like this.

Night Out in Sandbach

My last night in Sandbach was such fun, one for the ages. Susie and I met up at one of the many pubs in town, and were joined by Joanne and then Darren, two more friends from the SurfControl days. And as we were talking, who shows up but another ex-coworker, Jon! We had another pint (well, they all did, I was nursing my half-pint like the lightweight drinker I am, knowing I had to get up at 5AM to get to the airport). and swapped updates until time to head to our dinner reservation at an Italian place. We ended up closing that place down and headed up the street to The Military, yet another pub in town. Pretty typical night out in England, from what I can tell: pub, dinner, pub.

I realized a few days later that the photo I had snapped on the way to the first pub, showing the narrow lane to my rental cottage had actually captured Jon and one of his daughters. Now that’s a small town!

Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be 70

Paul Simon, Old Friends