Awake in York with a gentle start to the day. Meeting Andy for breakfast and then plan to mosey to a shop called Sostrene Grene that THG likes in order to make a purchase. Never eard of it but they appear to have branches all over the country. Fingers crossed they have the item that I seek.
I rarely go to shops but this morning is different. My southbound train leaves at twelve fifty five. The shop is en route to the National Railway Museum which is next to where I pick up the twelve fifty five. A relaxed morning looking at some magnificent engineering in prospect.
This stroll in York has been made possible by surgery. The new hips are a game changer. The shop is a ten minute walk from the hotel. I wouldn’t even have considered it before. Musta walked around three miles yesterday, in between pitstops obvs. Verily twas raining cats and dogs, forsooth. They talk like that in York. It’s an old city. Thanose.
They’ve given me a suite at the hotel. Doubletree. Paid something like £103 for the night. Barg though I did book it well in advance. Seems to be a curious hotchpotch of buildings but it is fine. Has a bit of character to it.
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Spent the morning ambling through York. I’ve been here a few times but tbh I’ve always been going somewhere and not really had time to take it in. York is much bigger than Lincoln with lots more quirky shops. Mind you it is mostly touristy stuff and there were lots of tourists. I guess Christmas is an atmospheric time to come here. At the end of the day there was nothing in any of the shops that tempted me in. Apart from Sostrene Grene of course. My visit there was fruitful. They were sold out of the item I was seeking except the one in the window display which I persuaded them to sell me. Not much point having something on display anyway if that something that is out of stock innit.
Stepped in to a church, I passed along the way. Don’t remember its name. I could find out if I really wanted to but there were no hymn numbers to show, no list of pat vicars and most of the space had been turner into a shop. Still had a few what seemed like relatively modern pews at the front. Also visited the Guildhall. Impressive enough gaff but also turned into a market for the purpose of the Christmas festival. There is rarely anything I want to buy in such places.
Coming out of the Guildhall I passed a young woman cuddling a baby in a nice warm woollen blanket, bloke in tow. Very evocative I thought. Homeless guy wished me a good day. I said ta. Saw a single spectacle lens on the pavement. Hard to understand how someone could drop it without noticing but I guess they might have been putting the specs away. Earlier in “the Shamples” I passed a long queue of people. Pondered what they might have been queuing for. At the front it appeared that they were forming an orderly line for the Monk Bar chocolate shop, or similar. Gosh. There were other chocolate shops in the same street which suggested that this one must be the dogs. I opted not to jump on the bandwagon.
Didn’t make the railway museum but turned up a few mins early at the York Tap to meet andy for a sherbert. V pleasant couple of pints and the late arriving train worked in my favour. Didn’t have to rush the second beer and it cut down my waiting time for the connection in Newark.