Yorkshire - my heritage

 More solid life contentment from me. I did find out that the bone in my neck hasn't healed yet and so I'm still not allowed contact sport, re-scan in 6 months. But after a little cry about that I got on with feeling happy. 

After the strangeness of the night before I woke up to normal sounds and sat on a bench in the sun reading a play I bought in anticipation of teaching it. A little too much swearing for my new school, which is ironic as we know. Once up, BigA set up the induction hob outside for our first glamping breakfast of our break and, courtesy of the owners I drank some good strong Yorkshire tea. I forget how good that tea is. A dear friend stocked our kitchen when we turned from Malawi and that tea made coming home feel a little better and yesterday I bought myself a box as a treat. 

We got the bus into York town center and without any particular plan we wandered around happening upon places, ancient and new. Great street food and a few purchases to treat ourselves made it a delightful day. The town did not disappoint it is beautiful and interesting, busy but not painfully so. We enjoyed the little shops and sudden moments of 'ooh, look at that really old thing' We walked the wall and almost hit our Japanese walking step count. We did a mini pub crawl we didn't realise we were doing and ended up inviting an American group of travellers, a 20 something year old and her parents who had never left their side of the world before. I encouraged them to try the ploughmans complete with pork pie. They were very grateful.  I drank a mild drink called O'Donnell with tonic and BigA sampled beer he very much enjoyed too. Then the last bus home to a very cosy cabin and sleep. 

We started Sunday with some hot tub relaxing, eating more of the cakes BigA had ordered, listening to music and chatting about internet subscriptions and I began a book I've wanted to read for a while. I encourage those of you into theatre to look up Aphra Behn. Fascinating woman. We headed to meet up with M at the Yorkshire Sculpture park.  Really great place to go. I recommend it and I'm sure it's just as lovely in the rain. We however had bright sun. After a delicious lunch and more meandering through the grounds we parted ways. That evening we went to see a film. Which was so disappointing in it's dialogue and the story line was painfully obvious that it made us laugh and we talked about why it was so bad all the way back to our hut. 

Our York adventure continued the next day by visiting the Minster and climbing the 275 steps to the top and then on our descent to the crypt. Before reliving a separate but treasured childhood memory by going to the Jorvic viking centre. The poo is evening older now. We pottered about a bit more before heading back for an evening of relaxation. The last full day was extremely hot so we rose relatively early and took a walk in a little wood with an extraordinary number of rhododendrons. Such beauty and at first peace, until the parents arrived with excited children so we headed to a little cafe for brunch before agreeing it was really bloody hot and a not hot, hot tub was a good idea. Once cooled we went the other direction out of the drive and went on 2 more forest walks and then a pub for our starter and a different pub for our main then back for one last hot tub before bed. No more drama. 

It was a delightful break away together, romantic and relaxing. We both found it a little strange at times that we didn't have A with us. She's been deep in show week and poor thing has not been able to enjoy the heat wave. She's done her shift now so she's got essays to complete and other projects before her term ends. 

On our way back at toll a little detour to have lunch by a large lake which we then walked around, well some of it. Legs stretched and bellies full we headed home eeking out our relaxation time. Once back in London we got the full force of the heat, scorching in London. BigA headed off for his frisbee tournament (that lasts 10 weeks) and I tried to cool the house and water the plants. The next day, our 15th wedding anniversary, we opened our cards and then I set off to visit one of my uni friends who lives by the sea for the day and BigA worked until he went to frisbee. 

I spent the day at the beach and then enjoyed a BBQ before a fairly early night. I journeyed home yesterday and completed my week with getting some stuff done. It's been so lovely to enjoy my half term so much. I highly recommend York for a break. 

Have a lovely week
I hope it rains while you sleep. 

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