Lord & Lady Cavendish get Snatched & Showered w/Chocolates

Warrington, England is one of those stops that makes no sense to me. I mean, it wasn't in our plans to stop there
but it was on the way to Scotland and it was damn cheaper than spending the night in Liverpool which is just
16 miles west. What could possibly happen in Warrington in the few short hours we are there? As it turns out, plenty.

We arrive, backpack through town on yet another unusually warm day and arrive at our hotel which doubles as a pub.

We head out to explore and Andrea decides to get a haircut by a French woman who had moved to England some years
ago. Across the street is a realtors office and I notice that the homes in the area are rather inexpensive compared to
the other UK towns we've been to. Incidentally Americans can stay up to 6 months in the UK. Warrington properties
include a nice 3 bedroom house around $70klbs and rents hover around $1000k USD a month. The
Wifi is much better here and there is plenty of good, free signal to be had. I then enjoy a pint in a virtually
empty bar around the corner and continue more research.

I pick up Andrea and she shows off her new haircut which looks great. We stroll for a bit and decide to celebrate
the new look by having fish and chips, a burger and a pint at a local pub.

We ate what turned out to be a large dinner and finished our beer and decide to head back to the hotel to catch up on some needed rest
before going off to Edinburgh, Scotland. As we walk out, a gentleman held the door for us. After walking
a few steps he asks, "Where you from?" I turned around and walked straight up to him which is something
I don't ordinarily do. "I'm from California, the United States.", I said pleasantly but firmly. This large
man's vibe was not at all threatening but here we are in a strange town surrounded by strangers so I am
always on guard. He began to ask questions rather quickly about where we were going, where we were staying
and eventually led to him saying that he could "show us how to get to Edinburgh for about 5Ls". I was
intrigued enough and didn't sense this to be a negative experience so we followed along with him and his
friend to another bar just down the street.

I quickly remembered the past'kidnapping'which started with the same question in Merida, and now I am feeling
and thinking the same thoughts and going with the experience more openly.

As we walked in the bar, the song 'Hotel California' was playing on the jukebox of all things. However, I felt my eyes widen and my
inner voice again asking, "What the hell is going on here??"

Bill and Harry offered to buy us a beer. We declined since we already had our fill and were tired from the days travel. But we lingered
Bill continued to talk to us and we had a friendly chat for about 30 minutes about ways to travel to Scotland cheaply and
where the Amy Winehouse statue is located in London. Bill (like our friend Maria in Merida) seemed adamant in talking
to us as quickly and as much in as short amount of time as possible. The fact was, I was pretty
beat and ready to head back to the hotel but needed to find a polite way to exit but they bought us some
peanuts and once again offered to buy us drinks! I must have said, "It was nice meeting you but we need to go"
at least 5 times. It was soon clear that Bill must have had a tremendous time in America when he visited because
he seemed hell bent on giving us everything including his reading glasses.

As we started to leave, Bill says he has "something for us" and before we know it we have a box of chocolates to
take with us. I make the mistake of remarking, "Oh how nice! My wife loves chocolates." After that, he reached
into his bag and pulled out yet more chocolate goodies and was handing them to us like a possessed Santa.

I think Bill just wanted to show appreciation to us two Americans for the apparently great time he had visiting
New York and Boston recently. I think, in his own way, he was passing that experience forward by
giving us all the chocolates he had on him. I tell Andrea later that the idea Bill was really expressing was that
we too should "pay it forward" by helping those from places that have been good to us. Warrington, England is now
on that list. So what will we do with all these treats now dear readers?