Greetings and felicitations....

Penultimate

The Man and I arrived back in our little flat in Crystal Palace after a lovely week away.
It didn't take long to get thing stowed away.
Come wednesdy I've blogged every day for two years.
I wont say that it hasn't been a huge commitment because it has.
Tomorrow will be my last post of the year and the last of my daily musings.
I will continue to blog, but once a week rather than once a day.

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.