Weekend

What did we do at the weekend you ask? Why didn’t I update? Very simply we had guests. On Saturday we took them round York in the rain. On Sunday we took them around Richmond and Easby. In the rain. In between, we huddled in the house and listened to the rain. Occasionally we hurried out to the car or for firewood. In the rain. Hmm, a theme…

But on Sunday I thought “Ah screw it” and took the camera out with me anyway, despite the fact that it would take an owl to see where they were going at times and we really should have taken a dinghy just in case. We stopped in a pub in Richmond that has made my top ten strangest pub experiences. Half of the place was decorated like a pub. The other house was a cross between ‘Little-old-lady cafe’ and someone’s front room. The two guys who ran it (both only in their early 20s at most) seemed a little short of the old IQ power. One was obviously trying to point out that he was the food man, as he had a tea towel draped over his arm that he kept dropping. The other (bar)man arranged our drinks and snacks. I ordered a pint of beer. Fine. And D-man’s cider? Well the cider was off, but ‘we do have bottled’. Ok, D-man will have a bottle of cider. ‘Well, it’s perry really’. Ok, so D-man will have a Perry. Wifey gets her soda and G-Girl orders a Diet Coke. The guy shuffles to the end of the bar and turns his back on us, hunched over doing something. Then he turns back with a Guinness glass with the flattest coke ever seen in the Western world, while he puts away the 2ltr bottle. And I ask for crisps (chips for you Americans) and he produces one packed of Ready Salted. They’re the only ones he’s got. And when I get back to the table it turns out the crisps are from L*dl. For you Americans again, L*dl is where the vagrants and bag ladies would shop if they ran out of dumpsters. And while we drank and chatted, the two odd guys argued over the tv station and wrestled for the remote control. All in all a peculiar place. So to conclude, here’s a few photos of the weekend:

This is the Premonstratensian abbey of St Agatha at Easby. The destination of our several mile walk out from Richmond centre. It’s an abbey with a very unusual plan and this photo was taken at the driest and warmest and brightest moment in the day. 

I believe this gives you an idea of the weather. This is the usually calm, glassy and pleasant River Swale.

But the one really good thing about this time of year is the colours:

Here are wifey, D-man and G-Girl bumming around the abbey. Note the position of wifey’s arms (on the left.) This is a common position for the arms when holding the leashes for both of our dogs. They are busy walking around her in opposite direction in a double-helix fashion, mummifying her slowly with red leads.

And I saw a car sticker that made me chuckle in the town.

But the highlight of the day, and my last offering for you, was the marzipan piggie that wifey bought me from the little confectionary shop. Just how cool is this?

Ciao folks and have a good one.