York

So we took advantage of the few days off I had from work last week, and we (me, my mam and Melanie) went camping! Haven't been camping in ages and I'd forgotten how much I love it; everything about it is just so great. The tent, the sounds, the camp sites, the weather (hopefully)... just everything. Even when our tent (which is a grand 19 years old) nearly fell down after one end of the top pole snapped, we managed to fix it; even if we did have to resort to melting the plastic end in order to remove it from the pole!

We camped in a small town not far from Ripon called Bishop Monkton, and it's quite possibly the most idyllic little village I have ever seen. It was just so beautiful, with some amazing houses that I can't even begin to guess how expensive they must be. It was only a short trip; we went on Wednesday and came back Friday, with the focus of the time away to go to the beautiful city of York, which we did.



Isn't it just fucking awesome?

We got to York just after lunch after a lazy morning in, around (and repairing!) the tent. With no real goal in mind we started by wandering up to the Minster, gazing at its gothic fantasticness, and grabbing and ice cream before walking part way round the city walls. For the rest of the afternoon we pretty much just explored what York has to offer; not really going anywhere in particular but, then again, York is just pretty awesome wherever you go. Especially here, in the Shambles...



Later on we went to sit by the river, and rather beautfiul it was too; what with the sun going down and everything...



For tea we found a wonderfully cozy little pub called The Hole in the Wall. I had the Lamb and Dumplings; and it was delicious. A little more chilling was done but come 8 o'clock, it was time for the Ghost Tour.

We've been on one of these before (there are many different tours on offer) the last time we were in York, and it was really dramatic; very much street theatre. This tour was very different, just a guy (Tony) leading us round and telling us stories. It was really intimate and personal, not to mention entertaining. As the tour went round, I decided that a black and white picture of the Minster was appropriate.



It's just mint, really.

White Rabbit

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small

When men on the chessboard
get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen softly dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the doorknob said.
Feed your Head, feed your Head!

Now do one (or all) of the following things connected to these awesome lyrics...

a) go and listen to Jefferson Airplane.

b) go and watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

c) go and read, of course, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Butterflies

Here are some pictures of butterflies feeding on our Buddleia (or 'Butterfly Bush') in our back garden; most of which I took this morning. There was loads of them!

A Large White Butterfly.

A Monarch Butterfly.

A Peacock Butterfly.

Another Monarch.

My favourite picture that I took; taken early afternoon. All four eyes of a beautiful Peacock Butterfly.

Wedding and Wings

Grrr. I'm frustrated that I've been so poor at posting the past few weeks (or months...) Sorry to anyone logging in and continually seeing no updates. Since I'm a working man now (at the Brewers Fayre pub/restaurant at Moor Farm), it's hard to find the time when I can properly write about some of the cool stuff that's happened lately; since I want to do it properly instead of just writing "This week I did this, this and this...". Alas, I don't have much time now either, so I'm just going to write a bit about two really cool things, and hopefully I can get into a routine of fitting regular (and hopefully nice and short) updates around my work hours. That's the plan, anyway.

First really big thing that happened recently was my uncle Darrell and his fiancee Sarah (who happens to be a former teacher of mine!) got married at the fabulous Wallington Hall last Saturday. It was a really beautiful ceremony, with some fantastic readings including the poem The Owl and The Pussycat! After the ceremony there was a gathering at Darrell's house in Bellingham, which is in awesome countryside, and in the evening we all went to the village hall for a dance and general revelry. The night was topped off with some awesome fireworks outside Darrell's house, and then over the local hotel for some much needed rest after a looong and exhausting day. The weather had been beautiful to match the occassion, but standing around in the burning sun and drinking alcohol can take it out of you!

On the Sunday it was back to the house for a BBQ, and lots of fun and games on the hired bouncy castle! This involved me and some of the lads from the village attempting numerous front and back flips (some of us more successfully than others!) and culminated in two of the lads grabbing my little brother James (who is light as a feather) by the legs and arms and hurling him spectacularly onto the bouncy castle. Brilliant fun; there should be more bouncy castles just dotted around the place.


Then, a week ago, I flew a plane! Courtesy of Darrell and Sarah buying my a Air Experience Flight voucher for my birthday last year, and the lovely people at St George's Flight Training at Teeside Airport. It was again a really sunny day, although the heat haze made it difficult to see the horizon once I was up. We flew in a 4-seater Piper Cherokee, and it was bloody unbelievable. It was such a great experience; I enjoyed it immensely. Big thanks to my instructor David who was just the coolest guy on the planet. He really put me at ease without me even realising; I'm there flying along at 2,500ft, and he's singing and drumming on the control panel! Possibly the best thing about the flight was that we flew back up the coast to Cramlington, and we saw my house! Many other landmarks were spotted, some of which we caught on camera by Melanie who bravely came with me as my passenger. She really enjoyed it too, which was great.

Me and Dave in the cockpit.

Marsden Rock.

Crammy!

A fantastic shot looking back over Newcastle.