On my recent trip south I spent Sunday in York. I'd planned to go to York's Chocolate Story in the morning but when I got there I wasn't feeling 100% and thought that a tour which included the smell and taste of cooking cocoa and sugar wasn't the best thing for me. As I walked past the Minster I noticed that it was only 20 minutes to Matins and it occurred to me that all the years we lived in Yorkshire, and all the times we had visited the Minster, I had never once attended a service there. It was Choral Matins with a visiting choir so I thought I would go and I did.
I quite enjoyed it. A lot of the music was what I call 'spiky', although there was a very beautiful anthem by Charles Stanford, and I had also forgotten how many things you are expected to stand up for in a Church of England service. Far too much frantic bobbing up and down. But it was an experience.
I was slightly self indulgent during the rest of my time in York. I stocked up on John Bull liquorice fudge, as York ad Whitby are the only two places you can buy it, I treated myself to lunch at Betty's, although even this early in the tourist season it was crammed, I bought a new bag in the Cath Kidston shop (in the sale) because I had travelled with a small bag and then bought stuff (sigh), and I finished off with a very enjoyable meet up with a friend over tea and cake. Well, not very nice tiffin as it turned out, but the cake didn't really matter, as the meeting was the thing.
The daffodils were out on the city walls
although I almost had a heart attack when I turned round from taking the picture and found myself face to face with this -
I had forgotten that geese have taken to colonising the centre of York! but he/she was friendly without being pushy so no harm done.
So good to see you! Sadly, as you know, you can’t say you’ve “done” York until you’ve encountered one of the damn geese. Luckily most of them are quite OK with people, but I still wouldn’t trust them....and their poo is a massive and revolting problem.
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