Life with Robin – England, 2018 (Part: 1)

Tues, Apr 24, 2018, 8:18 PM

Hello family and dear friends

I know I promised pictures but this first email won\’t have any simply due to the fact the journey took about 27 hours total, so I was just too exhausted to care about the camera. I did, however, want to pull out the camera in Piccadilly Square in Manchester Train Station to take a picture of the policeman patrolling the area. Robin said it would draw too much attention so I didn\’t do it.

This was the area where the Terrorist attack happened at the Ariana Grande concert. The police were in twos and carrying automatic assault rifles. Robin said they were AK-47s or something like it. Nasty looking things. I felt like I was in a war movie. A bit surreal.

They also had side arms, Kevlar vests, and actually looked a bit military in the way they dressed and carried themselves.

Also, walking around was the traditional English policeman with the \’bobby\’s\’ helmet that looks rounded at the top. This helmet goes back to the Victorian style of a helmet which has been worn for Centuries. The term \’bobby\’ is slang for the head of a Penis and these helmets look just like a circumcised penis so you can\’t say the British don\’t have a sense of humor.

The trip started easy enough with a 5 AM wake up and Ronda and mom taking me to breakfast before catching the shuttle at 10 for a 2-hour drive to Las Vegas where I battled 3 suitcases, a laptop backpack and a purse so large it was a suitcase all to itself. Another 2-hour wait got us loaded on the plane to sit at the airport an hour while they fixed the cargo hold door. I was a little concerned we would take off and I would see bags of luggage flying out the back but all was well in the end.

Landing at Manchester 10 hours later to rain and fog, it was beautiful to me. Customs has changed a bit and now you have to fill out a separate card which repeats the information on your passport. I was surprised to find that even British citizens had their own customs line to go through. It\’s been 14 1/2 years since I made this journey and things have definitely changed.

After going through customs (which was surprisingly easy) I collected my luggage and waited for Robin. He arrived 15 mins later and we had coffee before starting out into the cold and damp to what was to be a 4-hour journey home in total. The pilot had announced it was 6 degrees in Manchester and I believed it when I went outside. With only a long sleeve T-shirt and a very light sweater to keep warm (coat was packed and I was too stubborn to dig it out ) I was welcoming of the hot flashes at that point, lol, and only got a chill waiting for the taxi ride to the house after trams, and 3 trains through small little towns called names like, Brough, Surrey, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Cottingham, Leeds, finally ending in Beverley where Robin lives, all cold and wet, green with moss, all the rock walls and tressels some built centuries ago were a trip back in time and I loved every minute of it. It was fascinating to see structures built in the Norman times dating back to 1066 AD alongside modern bustling shopping malls in the same square of town and ALWAYS a church, very old with discoloration from the local mills that used to run there, covered in moss, green bricks from centuries of standing still holding services all of them with the \’spikey\’ tops and most with huge clocks so everyone knew if they were late for services.

Finally arriving home after lugging 3 cases, that huge purse and the heavy backpack I was exhausted. I had been awake and working hard with that luggage for a total of 27 hours by then. Thank God I had Robin to help me but even with teamwork, it was a lot of work.

By the time I was settled in and had a cup of coffee, some toast, (which was all my stomach could handle) drank a bottle of water took my pain pills (believe me I needed them) I was wiped out so when pain pills finally kicked in I went right to sleep. Slept for 10 hours and woke to the sound of a symphony of birds so loud I was certain the Lord had sent them to welcome me to the morning.

I woke at 6:30 AM England time so it was 10:30 Arizona time. The weather is foggy outside. I can see the road and the houses beyond but nothing more. It\’s drizzling rain and I\’m in heaven. Writing this in flannel jammies with hot coffee, toast and strawberry jam, looking out the window at the fog and rain on a cold English Morning. Ask me if I\’m in Heaven on earth? Go ahead, ask me. lol

I want to say that I was concerned that my arthritis would flare up in this weather but so far my hands feel great. My feet are loving the temperature and the only aches I\’ve had are my knees from crawling around hooking up plugs and such for laptop and phone etc….. Also crawling around looking up passwords on routers wasn\’t fun but necessary so there it is.

So that was my trip. I\’m sorry I don\’t have pictures yet but they will be forthcoming I promise. I have to get dressed and go downstairs to clear some room for this luggage etc, then unpack and get settled in. By the end of all that will have to rest I\’m sure. The laptop clock says it\’s 12:54 AM in Arizona now and I\’m sure you\’re all snuggled in.

Sleep well and sweet dreams. Will write again soon as I plan to document this trip.

I love you all. Write back with any news. Hugs and Smoochies XO

Sat, Apr 14, 2018, 8:40 PM

Yesterday was a treat out and about in the town.

We took a bus to town and walked through the plaza where all the NEW shops are. There is also a cinema which looks nothing like our Harkins and coffee shops, toy stores (which were surprising) a subway sandwich shop, some scattered overpriced clothing boutiques galore. Then we walked down to the old part of town, across the train tracks and literally felt as if we had transported back in time.

The streets are all cobbled with brick and the storefronts were musty and older than Moses. The old bookstores looked straight out of Harry Potter and I am eager to go back and take some time to go in each one.

The bakery shops had all the baked goods in the windows with people lining up to purchase fresh loaves of bread and pies, and by pies I mean meat pies. The smell was just too overwhelming so after having my nose pressed to the window deciding what I wanted, I sent Robin in to brave the crowd while I waited outside people watching and listening to the street vendors singing and playing guitar. There were 2 of them and both sounded in fair voice.

Robin bought a Prawn sandwich (prawns are small shrimp, in this sauce that tasted like a spicy thousand island dressing, surprisingly delicious) and I had a chicken pie which is basically a flakey pastry with creamed chicken inside. It was hot and Yummy and I savored every morsel of it. We sat on a Bench outside listening to music and enjoying the dry weather, The sky was grey but I was running around in my short-sleeved T-shirt and quite happy to be in 50-degree weather.

He also bought some Devon creme scones which are an English tradition. We had them with REAL butter, strawberry jam and whipped creme on top. (Pictures coming shortly)

I can safely say my taste buds were dancing.

Dinner was sausage rolls but I found them bland. I was hungry so I ate them anyway of course. lol

After lots of pictures taken in between bites of chicken pie, and a pleasant talk with an elderly English lady who sat on the bench beside me, we started around the Marketplace which is all open air. Vendors set up every Saturday and I was excited to see it.

We entered the market on the food side (of course) and the English version of a Taco Truck had homemade sausages grilling with fresh onions and various mustards/condiments, also burgers with cheese and an egg on top which I knew David would have gobbled up quickly esp with the fried onions and bread rolls made that morning. Besides that, there was some sort of rib type meat but I didn\’t linger to ask. I took pictures of them and you will see those in the mix.

We were walking through the rows of foods, the cheese vendors were especially cordial and so were the bakers. We bought 2 half cakes, a classic English sponge. One was chocolate with chocolate creme filling and the other was vanilla with raspberry and vanilla creme filling. I mean English cream, not the American sugar crap that Safeway passes off as a creme filling.

We bought some Black Grapes which are really so purple they looked black and the size of Pecans that exploded in your mouth with sweet juice and tasted like candy, YUM (Sounds sexual doesn\’t it? that\’s what you substitute for hanky-panky when your MY age) lol lol

After some tomatoes and lettuce grown local in the fields, some freshly dug potatoes that still have dirt caked on them, Spanish onion and Chinese garlic I was ready to go.

We caught the bus home with our wares which I was thankful for the rest. We headed back out to the German market about 3/4 mile up the road. I was wiped out so every step was a chore. The market was supposed to be the English version of Trader Joe\’s and I spent a long time looking at basically, well EVERYTHING lol. With shopping finished we headed back home and walked down garden paths (not streets) with names like Ashmole Walk, and Storkhill Road and Wickwane Road which weren\’t roads at all but paved little paths through peoples back gardens. Pictures of these to follow also lol

I forgot to tell you about English public bathrooms. There are toilets in the marketplace off around this brick building in an alley built for the masses (Thank God). The toilets are strange but I\’ve seen similar in the rest areas in California so not THAT strange I guess. It was the handwashing basins that got me. They are built into the wall. It\’s one bowl with an electronic way of washing your hands. If you put your hands under the left side and press the button with the drops coming down then you get the soap, then you press the button with the wavy lines you get the ice cold water to rinse and finally to the right is the dryer. It\’s a bit like getting your soda at the Jack in the box in Apache Junction where you can press to select your choices. The air in the dryer was FREEZING and it was warmer to just dry them on my jeans, which I did!

So that was yesterday!

Sun, Apr 15, 2018, 8:20 PM

It\’s Sunday morning in England and I\’m having coffee while listening to the church bells calling the townspeople to worship. The Minster is over a mile and a quarter away and I could hear them ringing. I opened the windows to get a better listen and the birdsong joined in. So Beautiful. I had Christmas Eve service in that church when last here and I plan to go back and take lots of pictures. Will also attend a Sunday morning worship soon. The beauty inside is breathtaking.

I\’ve done too much and walking without a coat yesterday and it was not a good thing. I woke up with a sinus infection. Good thing I brought these meds. Except I took out the cough drops and left them home which was stupid.

Doing nothing but resting today. Will try to feel good enough to at least get the pics downloaded but right now I have a fever and throat hurts, and voice is hoarse and hurts to talk. I really didn\’t do myself any favors there. I became too exhausted and just did too much without proper food and without rest. I knew better but was too excited to be here.

The sky is grey and damp but looks like it will try to clear off. Forecast says it\’s going to rain in a nearby town called Hull so we will see. Sun is trying to come out and there are patches of sunshine already shining through. Either way, I\’m not leaving the couch except to shower and cook so it doesn\’t matter.

Will make spaghetti for dinner today, but that\’s not much effort. It\’s been 15 mins so I can have coffee now. Think I will do that. It will help my throat.

2 hours later:

I made a pot of rice and had hot rice cereal for breakfast, which settled my stomach and felt good on my throat.

Update on weather, the sun is out and the birds are singing and I have the windows open airing the place out a bit.

Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 8:22 PM

I wasn\’t going to go into town yesterday but decided last minute to throw on my jeans, flannel shirt and ball cap, (no makeup and hair a mess) and go. We only had 25 mins to catch the bus so I didn\’t have time to do any more than that.

We dashed off and caught the bus which went a different route than last time and my butt puckered every time we narrowly passed through the Arizona bicycle lane this country calls a road without taking off every single parked car\’s side mirrors which I felt certain the bus would do. I promise to video a portion of a bus trip one day just to show you what I see as a passenger and then you will understand the stress of riding buses in England.

After walking down a bricked pathed alley this country calls a \’snicket\’ we came out opposite the department/drug store called Boyes, which is our equivalent to Walgreens only this place has a huge section of clothing. The area or \’square\’ it\’s in is called the Wednesday market vs the Saturday market I spoke of in the earlier email. This goes back to the Old Medieval market days when the farmers would set up in different locations on different days with the Wednesday market being smaller of course. After gathering our needed items it was time to check out.

The woman who was the cashier sounded exactly like Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, which meant she was 100% complete cockney. This means she was born in the East end of London. The English say..\” If you were born within the sound of the Bow Church Bells in London\” only THEN can you call yourself a true Cockney. I urge you to get on YouTube and pull up a scene from the movie and listen to her speaking at the beginning of the movie. This will give you an idea of how she sounded.

I was wanting her to break out into the song \”Wouldn\’t it be loverly\” from My Fair Lady. I loved her accent and listened closely while pretending I was checking out the stuff at the checkout. She was talking about her husband not waiting up for her when she got home and just her words and the way she pronounced them made me smile. I thought to myself \”Yep! I\’m truly in England now.\”

We then headed down to the Bakery for a Steak pie which I didn\’t really enjoy and a chicken pie which was delicious but cold so I saved it for home so I could microwave it. We also picked up a traditional English \’Maid of Honour\’ tart which was delicious. It was vanilla flavored cheese curd tart in a little round tin with a dollop of icing in the middle. Robin picked up a Berry tart which was a like Plum flavored jam and was yummy but you know me, I was improving it in my mind and thinking this needs some roasted almonds in the crust and whipped creme on top. We ate our picnic on the benches outside St Mary\’s church ( pictures below).

St Mary\’s has a rabbit statue that was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, along with this beautiful clock tower which I snapped a pic of but not sure it came out. Will include it anyway.

A nice gentleman stopped to say hello that had such a heavy accent I couldn\’t tell a single word he said, It sounded a bit Scottish to me but Robin said it was actually Liverpool. They are called Liverpudlians. Isn\’t that a hoot? He could have been telling me he wanted to kick me in the knee and throw oranges at the Vicar and I would have nodded my head and smiled like a dork because I had no clue at what the man was saying. Turns out after Robin translated for me that he was telling me to go look at this sculpted chair down in the town center that dates back to the age of dirt. I was still trying to process what he had originally said when he and Robin had a conversation and said their farewells while I sat stunned like a goober. A tourist goober at that lol. He walked down the street and all I could make out was \”I love America\” …… I\’d like to go to Liverpool ( where the Beatles come from) but I fear I would stick out like an Elephant in a china shop so might be best just to stay where I can at least understand people. I was impressed with Robin though. Listening to him speak Liverpudlian was like him speaking Russian. Made about as much sense to me. He will speak \’American\’ to me but when he walks into a shop he instantly reverts to his roots and uses slang and terms like you would see on an old movie. Sometimes I cant tell what he is saying. It\’s extremely quaint.

After finishing our tarts in the England sun, which, by the way, is entirely different to Arizona sun, which shouldn\’t be surprising, we made our way to the bus station to catch the bus for home. On the way, I stopped to take some pictures of the back of The church, the War Memorial Gardens, and the White Pony Pub where, when I was here last, I had the most delicious warm spiced rum I have ever tasted in my life. I plan to go back inside soon and have another, but for now, I just wanted to get back home.

We finally made it to the bus station and while waiting for our bus to arrive snapped a few more pictures and generally just enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air. There is an all-girls high school close by and all the high school girls walking by in their respective \’cliques\’ wearing their school uniforms were popping around the bus station, some for home, some after ice cream, some for the slushies around the corner, were all chattering about issues only interesting to a 15-year-old girl. It DID, however, put me in mind of Harry Potter and I could easily understand where JK Rowling got her ideas from. I pictured Hermoine and her friends all walking out of Hogwarts in three\’s chattering on about the latestt spells and which boy is cute and who\’s cat ate which instructors canary. Again, it made me smile to myself.

Back to home and after resting a bit I finally unpacked. I still have this throat thing going on which I have decided is probably as much allergy as anything. All the tree\’s have blossoms and the wind blows a bit every day here so who knows what has been blown straight up my sinuses.

Love you all very much and wish you were here to see it all for yourself. No picture could ever do it justice.

More to come!

Hugs and Smoochies

Robin

: Our Coach Arrives!

: "Our Little Alley"

: Outside Boyes Department Store, Beverley

: St. Mary's Church, Beverley

: Robin in St.Mary's Church, Beverley

: "The White Rabbit" from Alice in Wonderland

: North Bar, Beverley

: "The White Pony" as Robin called it

Apr 24, 2018, 8:24 PM

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope this finds you all well and having a great day. The weather took a turn and was cold and grey this morning so naturally, I had to get out in it and as Robin would say \”potter off into town\” As I informed him quite matter of factly, \”I never potter…I\’ve been known to sachet, possibly saunter, stroll maybe or even meander, but Western girls NEVER \”potter\”. They all mean the same thing of course, which is the joke isn\’t it?

My hand is hurting as I write this ( see Picture below). I gave myself a hell of a steam burn last evening ( like a dork) putting a hot frying pan into some cold water. This morning it was blistered with fluid. The blister peeled back while getting dressed so now I have this huge area of tender exposed raw skin.

Then, to add insult to injury, when I sat down to upload the pictures and write this email I spilled scalding coffee down the front of myself. My shirt caught it all thank goodness so I missed getting burned by it. *sigh* Sometimes I think I need a keeper! or a padded bodysuit! lol

I managed to get dressed and out the door in time for the bus and took a couple pictures for you. One from the inside of the bus and one looking out the back window.

The bus was full of elderly women, getting on and off at their respective destinations and all knew each other from years of living in the same place and riding the buses together. All cheerily chatting, toting their colorful shopping bags some with flower patterns and others with pictures of summer scenes, some fruits, some random designs. Yes, I DID notice each one as they got on the bus or got up to leave, each bag as individual as the personality of the one carrying it. All the ladies greeting each other, repeating \”Oh hiya\” as they looked side to side at each passenger while they found their way down the aisle to the nearest vacant seat or \”cheers\” repeated over and over, looking left and right as they

The bus took the alternative route today, which I quite liked. It goes through an intersection with 19 traffic lights all sat in this one circular type area. I\’m not exaggerating. There are 19 of them, all with green arrows taking turns directing the traffic. It\’s a bit like putting a schizophrenic in a round room and telling him to go sit in a corner! You don\’t know where to look or where to go. Paranoia quickly sets in and you become suspicious of every vehicle around you.

Should I stop? Should I go? Should I start sobbing uncontrollably? Should I read War and Peace while waiting my turn to get out of this intersection? My son David would call that Indian Corners with so many randomly flashing arrows! lol

Random thoughts started going through my head such as…\’If I die here, tell my family and friends I love them\’ and \’someone got PAID to design THIS?\’ and \’ what if we just stay stuck on here forever….then I\’ll NEVER become a teen model.\’ It had begun to occur to me that navigating this intersection should be an episode of Survivor when the bus began to move again and I looked at Robin and said \”We\’re saved!\” hahaha

Robin tells me this is the most lights/traffic signals anywhere else in the country. I commented, \”the guy who designed this must have been drunk.\” Robin said matter of factly, \”Oh He\’s just an IDIOT\”, then added \”silly sod!\” under his breath to avoid offending the older folks within earshot. Silly sod is England\’s nice way of saying Crazy F%#@ker! lol

Making it safely through the intersection we drove on streets with names like Home Church Lane, Blucher Lane, Beckside, ( which is where the canal is) Armstrong Way, Railway street, then Walker Gate where we get off the bus to walk into town. Flemingate, which is on the side of town, that in the Very Old Days was the closest to the main docks either from Hull or from Bridlington with a mini port on Beckside. So when the Seaman came into town after pulling into port they would go down Flemingate street to one of the 12 pubs all along the way there.

They named it Flemingate because of what was imported and again, would come to that street to bring wares into town. here were \’gates\’ (also called \’bars\’ not to be confused with our modern bar you drank in. Those are pubs.) or Arches all around the town at one time before the wall was tore down. These Arches were the \’gates that different merchants would pass through, sort of like a toll road area that was specific to what was being brought in and what you would do with the goods. So besides Flemingate, which was for bringing in Wool from Flemish Sheep used for cloth and associated products, there was a Walkergate where you would find the shops for actually walking on the wool to soften it. It\’s a bit like walking on and crushing grapes for making wine. The wool would be treated with something, I have no idea what they did here but in Scotland they used warm urine and then it would be walked on to soften it, There is also a Dyer lane, where, as you probably guessed they would dye or color the wool. Today, this street is where the public bathrooms are. Also, other shops varied and assorted. SIDE NOTE* Here, they are called \’toilets\’ or \’public conveniences\’ and you go for a \’piddle\’ not a pee.

Each skill set would be found at a different location after passing through a particular gate, all with a customs toll of course because the Crown must have its share in everything. All this at least 1000+ years ago and since King Henry VIII reigned about 700 odd years ago give or take you can get an idea how old a tradition and town this is. This town was given a \’Royal charter\’ which meant it was allowed to have a market center.

Finally exiting the bus we passed the Fish Merchant where they had freshly caught fish the size of an XL kitchen cutting board. ( sorry I forgot to take a picture) Staring through the glass I was imagining all the things I could cook with it and visions of Baked with onion and lemon slices on a bed of fresh spinach and steamed asparagus drizzled with Hollandaise came to mind. At that point, we decided to go to the Fish and chips place for our big meal of the day. Screw cooking I\’m hungry NOW!

Robin had the fish and chips and I had the Halibut Steak and a side of mushy peas. Yes, they are called mushy peas and look pre-chewed but taste out of this world. We had to try a side of the brown gravy because, well, to be honest, everyone ELSE was and it smelled so good. I soon found out why everyone would order it. Because it was damn good that\’s why, and we dipped our fried potatoes in it. Something like a Salisbury steak sauce with onions but thicker. So yummy!

The lady taking orders would call out \”Yes, Please\” instead of \”Can I help you?\” or \” Next!\” I noticed the people at the market on Saturday was saying the same thing but forgot to mention it in my last email.

The cook was a young kid in the back who was dancing around and singing to the radio, songs like \’Can\’t stop this feeling\’ from Trolls, and \”Shut up and dance with me.\” You could hear him singing (very well I might add) while his cooking utensils banged around, drawers slammed shut and general noises of Clang, Whap, and Kadush of something landing on what I imagine to be the porcelain sink all while preparing orders.

The boxes the fish and chips are served in are about 9 inches long so look at the pictures and you can get an idea of how big the portions are. I brought half mine home. While eating, the purple clouds overhead began to sprinkle at first then a heavy sprinkle Britains have the nerve to call rain.

Of course, I did NOT bring my coat to town with me, only a flannel, because in Arizona we don\’t need such things. My umbrella was already in my backpack ready for Whitby (hanging in my closet back at the house) so I got wet! lol. Ask me if I minded?

Making our way to Tesco\’s grocery store I collected the bits and pieces ( another English turn of phrase) that were on my list. The only funny thing to happen in there was a little woman who must have been 75 to 80 and the size of what I imagined to be a leprechaun as she was 3 ft nothing. Carrying a hand-held shopping basket, in a blur of earrings and sparkly shoes, she whizzed around me to grab a bottle of some strange brand of Irish Creme off the bottom shelf (probably because it was all she could reach) grabbing her prize she looked straight UP AT ME and smiled. I\’m 5 ft tall so when this little hobbit looked straight UP at me and smiled, she melted my heart and I wanted to pick her up and kiss her right on her little tiny forehead. lol. She had hair dyed blonde and dark liner all around her eyes, false teeth, and bright pink lipstick! She grabbed that bottle with hands dripping with diamonds dressed to the nines. Must have been Mr. Keebler\’s wife…or Mother! Nothing so queer as folk as they say!

We made it back to the bus depot and on to home, passing streets called Goths Lane, Cherry Tree Lane just like Mary Poppins, Sample Ave, and finally Burden Road where Robin lives. Finally, in the house, I put groceries away and made a pot of coffee. I\’ve written this letter while eating a lemon tart and a maid of honor. Will have my leftover fish later! It\’s Noon there which means its 8 PM here.

P.S. I colored my hair

Love, hugs and smoochies to you all

XOXO

More to Come

Robin

: Waiting for the Bus into Town

: Exiting the Bus on Flemingate

: Station Square, Beverley

: Robin Loved Fish 'N' Chips

Apr 26, 2018, 9:53 AM

So I wanted to drop a note about something that happened yesterday. There is a store here called Wilko\’s, the UK\’s answer for a smaller version of Walmart. MUCH smaller! However, they do one special thing. They deliver!

So I ordered a soup pot, an egg poacher, a splatter screen and whats called a \’milk pan\’ which we call at home a small saucepan. There were other various and assorted things ordered as well, like laundry soap and cleaners and other things that no one wants to cart around town or haul home on the bus.

So I had told Robin what I ordered and what was coming. I didn\’t explain it, I just said I got a couple pots I needed to cook with. When this big box arrived I was doing something else so he opened them and put the items away. Now, when I went downstairs to the kitchen to look over my prizes he started to make comments about what I had ordered giving me all kinds of shit which I found HILARIOUS!

SIDE NOTE* I had also ordered a Corn Broom from Amazon UK as they don\’t sell such a thing in stores, much to my disappointment as we could have just driven THAT home and foregone the bus.

Now, this is a guy who does NOT cook because he asked me \”WHY would you order a large metal fly swatter?\” and \”here is your witches cauldron\” about my dark grey non-stick soup pot.

He gave me about a half hours ration of crap about \” mindlessly adding things to the basket online\” and something about my eyes glazing over sort of trance-like when I am looking at things, \”Ohhhhh THATS pretty,\” click the add to basket button….. and how \”no one needs 2 milk pans\” ( which I honestly don\’t remember ordering), and other one-liners I can\’t remember right now.

What I DO remember is I was laughing so hard I had to cross my legs and beg him to stop because my diaphragm was freezing up and I was going to piss myself right in the kitchen.

Maybe you would have had to be there to understand just how funny it all was.

Laughter is healing, isn\’t it?

I have a new bandage on my hand this morning but my burn is getting better each day. The wind is howling outside and it has a bite to it in spite of the sun being out.

Whitby tomorrow!!!!!! Up before dawn grabbing a taxi in the dark, catching a very early train for an hour and a half, then bus ride for an hour. We have to be back at the bus station by the last bus out or we are stuck walking the streets all night in the stinking cold. Won\’t have any time to do all the things I\’d like to will stick to looking at the parade of costumes and climbing the extreme steps up to the Abby and out to the graveyard to see Dracula\’s grave……

I was going to try and dress a bit goth like but with this cold wind I think I will concentrate on just being warm, so forget the hair because I will have my stocking cap on, a turtleneck sweater, and boots. I was painting my nails and thought why am I doing this when I will have gloves on???

I think I will go use my NEW non-stick egg poacher and make poached eggs on toast for breakfast. BTW I LOVE the bread over here. It\’s almost the size of what is called Texas Toast back home. Bread is life! Even the Bible say\’s so, so I\’m eating it and enjoying every bite.

Have some good beef so will make some soup in my new cauldron! I\’m thinking of tenderizing the shit out of that beef and making a thin gravy for it and putting it one of the baked potatoes! Wish I had it for breakfast because that sounds good to me!

I\’m writing this listening to Jen Kirman comedian on Netflix. Laughing my ass off. Go watch her show I\’m gonna die alone and ( and I feel fine) It\’s freaking hilarious worth a watch!

So, that\’s the crazy shit going through my mind first thing in the morning and just wanted to share!

Love you all

Bye for now!

Robin

Sat, Apr 28, 2018, 4:09 PM

Just a few pictures of the trip and day. A few from the train to Scarborough, then from the bus to Whitby. I was fortunate enough to sit on the top level of the bus in the very front so could get some good pics from the large window. That is when I could stop taking in the visual feast of landscapes of Scarborough, and all the little boroughs and very small towns we drove through including Robin Hood\’s Bay and the moors which were covered in last years Heather. They weren\’t purple yet so I didn\’t bother with pictures.

The pictures below are of Whitby, the stairs we had to climb to get to the Abby (199 of them) the bay, a few of the houses, the cemetery, and some people dressed in costume. Just a preview, there is more to come. We took almost 500 pictures in all.

Robin