Just chilling..

Today The Man and I got to spend the day with one of our sons. Nothing on in that you might think.
But today is his birthday. Haven't done that for a long time, even back in New Zealand .
What a lovely lazy day we've had. The Man and I, The Son and his Lovely Lady.just chilling.

A little bit of Peterborough

It is so very nice to be with family here in Peterborough.
This afternoon we, all four of us, went for a bracing walk at Ferry Meadows Park.A beautiful clear sky day, but with a chilly wind.We walked around the little lake and of course fed the ducks and swans.
Parks often have fallen trees, but here they have been given a creative touch.
What do you think of these creations.

With family now...

Strong winds made for slow speeds and road works slowed us down even further. Adding an extra two hours plus to our trip.
Suffice it to say that we are now comfortably seated in Peterborough, well fed and watered by family.
and that is all i have to say about that

York and the Minster

I've been reading a book by Ken Follet called The Pillars of The Earth. One of the main characters is a stone mason who dreams of building a cathedral. He describes the building of it in his mind, naming the different parts and their function. This afternoon The Man and I visited York Minster and the book came to life. In my minds eye I saw Tom, the mason, sketching out the plan on a plaster tablet, using multiples of his rod to create the perfect dimensions. Each structure a multiple of a single measure, thus making it pleasing to the eye.

Our modern buildings go up at breakneck speed compared to the years and manpower that it took to build a masterpiece such as The Minster.

There are many many tombs within the great building, some with dates as early as 1740. The beginning parts of the church are much older though dating from the mid 1100's

Outside proud of countenance, is a statue of a Roman conqueror call Constantine. He declared York was Roman back in AD746. Hows that for age. It continues to astound me that people just like you and me lived worked, laughed and loved all those thousands of years ago. 

York is a nice place, but boy did we notice the cold, it must have been all of five degrees there today, good thing the wind wasn't blowing or it would have felt a good deal colder.

Christmas Day in Scarborough

Some in England will have had a very wet one. And may still be without power.

There is also the threat of more rain for some.

We've had a lovely day, a light brekky was followed by a very pleasant walk along the beach and around the headland. There's a castle up there, I wonder if we can get up to it.

Following the directions of a couple of locals we found the steps and soon were admiring the view across the bay. It was a good thing we were well wrapped up 'cos it was a very cutting wind.

Down through the back streets of the town our steps took us past St Mary's church. In the grounds were a couple of ruined columns that lined up with the end wall and on the ground were what must have been the bases of several isle pillars. In the well kept graveyard some of the stones we read were dated in the mid 1700's.

On the side of one of the pretty steep streets was a well weathered column about eight feet tall and protected by railings, but we couldn't find any plaque to tell us what it was for. But good ole google solved the problem.

The Butter Cross now stands at the junction of Low Conduit Street and St Mary's Street, but would once have stood, complete and with a carved head, in Cross Street. A butter cross would have stood in the market square and derives its name from the produce that would have been sold near it

Back at the hotel we enjoyed a traditional lunch complete with Christmas crackers, silly hats and silly jokes, not forgetting the pud with brandy sauce.

The Man and I hope that not matter where you spent the day and who you spent it with that you had a very merry Christmas Day.

Scarboriugh is grand

Tuesday 24 Dec 2013

Oh dear it looks like the weather men were right, at lest for some parts of Britain.

Heavy rain and flooding in Surrey, strong winds in Manchester and Rail lines in Devon obstructed. Airports Gatwick and Heathrow are also affected by high winds. One airport had a power supply failure affecting luggage belts and departure boards.

And are The Man and I affected, thankfully no. We arrived in Scarborough last night, just in time for tea at The Grand Hotel where we are staying.

And grand it certainly is.

The 300 plus room hotel dominates the seafront.

After a very nice breakfast we were on the coach and off to Whitby. The Man and I visited here in 1998 when we stayed in a youth hostel up at the old abbey. The ruin was the inspiration for Brahm Stokers Dracula. The James Cook Museum that we were hoping to visit was closed. Undeterred him and me had a fossick on the beach and a walk around the town before out time was up and the coach took us on to Goathland. That mightn't sound familiar, but if you are a fan of Heartbeat then the town of Adensfeild might. It is the tiny town where the TV series was set.

We called in at the only café in the town and when I went back for a second coffee and a scone the very helpful (not) woman serving said we're not serving any more food, we're closed. She did make the coffee tho. We couldn't understand her turning down paying customers at half past two in the afternoon. And she didn't only turn us down, there was a another whole coach-load of tourist pulling up as ours left. Oh well, I guess the business must be thriving if it can turn customers away.

It was still early when we got back to Scarborough so after a comfort stop The Man and I put our warm gear back on and went for a walk into the town.

We were attracted by what sounded like live Christmas music. There in the main shopping precinct was, not a band but a huge electronic music maker. In the back of a special truck played piano accordions, pipe organs and drums all controlled by a computor. The chap with it said that it can play continuously for seven days without repeating itself.

Scarborough is a pretty place, even more so in the evening. We spotted a very pretty view over the harbour. What do you think

Weather woes...for some

The weather forecasters have go their doom and gloom hats on. They may well be right, but they do seem to relish the thought of a bad storm, something to worry, like a dog with a bone.

That is an odd expression isn't the worrying bit I mean, though I suppose it relates to the way the dog gnaws and chews at it. So when you look at it like that it makes more sense. The newscasters do like a good 'bad new' story to get their teeth into.

The headlines claim that it couldn't happen at a worse time of year. I would have thought that there is no time of year that is better than any other.

OK, it is very close to Christmas and lots of folks could be heading away,in fact I would think that a lot of holiday makers will have already gone,

The 2010 winter, the one before we came here, was I have to admit pretty bad. People got snowed in and lots of folks couldn't get to work.

It amazes me and The Man too that a country so far north is so ill prepared for bad weather. In fact the bad stuff can bring the country to a halt. Others we've talked to who come countries with much harsher winters shake their heads incredulously at the way the a bit of bad weather affects the country.

OK enough of that.

And now for something completely different.

For some reason the words of an old nursery rhyme popped into my brain and do you think I can remember the rest of it,

Off to bed said sleepyhead

Tarry a while said slow,

I started out with the weather and I'll finish with it too. The Man and I are, as I write, on a coach ( have you noticed that I don't call them buses any more?) being driven northwards. The other day at work someone asked me if we were going somewhere warm and sunny for Christmas. They were almost incredulous when I said no, that where we were would be cold. But The Man and I are after a different experience, warm is what we will get when we get back home to New Zealand