Losing it[1]

I went for a walk along the North Tyneside coast today. More pictures will follow[1], but I thought I’d share this one straight away. It’s quite a common thing for people to sponsor a bench in a park, or other public place in memory of a loved one. It’s a nice thing to do, and it can be quite interesting, coming along years later and wondering who some of the people were. Every sponsored bench has a small plaque with some brief message, usually along the lines of “In memory of….”. But this one was different.

And for anyone who doesn’t get it, some reading[2] is called for. Or you could start with a sample.

[1] Just as soon as I’ve finished the ones from York on Monday and Durham on Wednesday, anyway.
[2] Like this:

Another day, another fine northern city. Durham is about ten minutes from Newcastle by train, so naturally I hardly ever go there . However, as part of my plan to do more with my time off, I decided that an afternoon there was in order. Not a bad way to spend my birthday .

Durham is dominated by the cathedral and castle, built on high ground overlooking the River Wear. Here are some pictures I took while wandering around:

  
 
 
 
 
 
In case you’re wondering, the white elephant belonged to the “No” campaign in the referendum on the proposed regional assembly for north-east England. It was probably the best thing in the whole campaign from either side…

I went on a little day trip to York today. I’ll be posting a proper report with lots of pictures later, but I just had to get this uploaded.

It seems the fancy display screens are running Windows NT 4. This one seems to have a slight technical problem. Fortunately, the highly trained staff are on hand to fix it:

Yes, that’s a broom he’s using. I’d never thought of using a broom to reset a PC before. Just goes to show that you can learn something every day. But what’s this?

This picture isn’t all that clear, but my professional diagnosis is that either the computer has a floppy left in the drive, or the hard disk is ever so slightly broken.

While that was going on, the screen to the right seemed to be stuck in a never ending reboot cycle.

After the Museum Gardens, I walked across the Lendal bridge, looked over to the old building where my company[1] used to have an office, and got this picture of the tower at the end of the bridge:

Finally, I walked back across town to Mickelgate[2], another old street which features lots of old shops, which I didn’t have time to really look at. I took a couple of pictures of the Mickelgate Bar before heading to the station for my train home.
 

There’s a lot to see in York, and I only had time for part of it. There are a few more museums, an art gallery (well, that’s closed for refurbishment at present) and much more. I’ll be going back - stay tuned for the next York visit!

[1] That’s the one I work for, not one I own, I hasten to add
[2] Note to anyone who doesn’t know York: anything called “Somethinggate” is a street. The gates in the city walls are called “Bars”, even though you can’t get a drink in any of them.

For the next part of my York visit, I decided to go to the Yorkshire Museum, located in the spacious grounds known as Museum Gardens. The first things I saw was this fragment of the old city fortifications:

Then I came across some of the sculptures that are spread around the site (I missed a couple, I think):
 

After a look around the museum, I strolled around to the rear of the buiding where these abbey ruins can be found:

After having a good look at the ruins, I wandered down to this lovely old buiding, known as the Hospitium. It’s not open to the public generally…

After a quick lunch in this rather elegant branch of Caffé Nero - a tasty Panini and an excellent espresso[1], I wandered around York for a bit. There are lots of interesting buildings, old streets, a quite lively market and a shop selling some rather nice handmade chocolates[2]. Along the way, I saw this rather lovely item on a street corner:

And there is a quite tasteful fountain in the city centre, which was quite calm when I was there. Some years ago, on another visit to York on a rather windy day, the fountian was spraying over a very wide area…

On the way to the Museum Gardens, I spotted this Boer War memorial, which struck me as being very much in keeping with the older buildings in York:

[1] They do a very good espresso. The sooner Caffé Nero open in Newcastle the better…
[2] Not that I’d indulge in such things, of course, oh no….

No visit to York would be complete without at least a look at the magnificent Minster. I had a wander around it, and tried to get some at least moderately interesting pictures:

Just outside the Minster is this statue of the Roman emperor Constantine, who was proclaimed as emperor while in York:

Before moving on, I took a couple more pictures:

After Clifford’s Tower, I strolled round to Coppergate (quite close by) and the Jorvik centre. I hadn’t been before, and it’s been on my mental list for years[1]. A few warnings: it’s not cheap (£7 or so for adults) and in the summer it’s very busy, and it’s probably worth booking in advance.

Anyway, the Jorvik centre is basically as accurate a reconstruction of York (or Jorvik[2] as it was then known) in the ninth century, based on the results of a huge archaeological dig on the site of what is now a shopping centre[3]. You enter at ground level, then go down to the level of the dig. There’s a moderately silly “time machine” ride with a bit of video showing your progress[4] into the past. Then comes the main event. You sit in a simulator-style seat, with speakers behind your head[5]. This then takes you on a tour of the recreated town. You see the houses and workshops of the Viking residents of Jorvik, with models of some of the people. The faces of the people are based on reconstructions from bones found on the site. The last stage shows some of the actual excavations. Your ride then comes to a gentle stop, and you can then look at an exhibition of some of the artefacts found in the dig, before going upstairs to the usual shop.

Jorvik is definitely one of those things you should see at least once. It’s fun (if a little smelly[6]) and moderately informative.

[1] Before it was redone and relaunched in 2001, even
[2] Hence the name
[3] See the Jorvik website for details
[4] Regress?
[5] The helpful staff warned me not to hit my head on them. Oh, and a choice of languages is available
[6] Yes, they try to recreate the smell of the Viking town

Having taken the week off[1], I decided to actually do something with the time rather than just the usual drifting between home, Newcastle and the MetroCentre. I managed to get out at a reasonably civilised hour[2] and took a train ride to York. York is a lovely place to visit, with lots to see, including the wonderful National Railway Museum, which I’ve visited a couple of times. However, this time I wanted to see some of the more historical parts of the city.

First stop was Clifford’s Tower, the last remnant of the old Norman Castle. The tower stands on an imposing mound:

and it’s just a short walk from the main part of the city centre. If you happen to be in York, be sure to have a look. Be careful though - the tower is on top of that steep mound, accessible only by a steep flight (55 steps, I think) of stairs. And inside:

there are a load more stairs - of the narrow spiral kind. But they’re worth climbing for the superb views over the city:

Inside the tower, there’s the inevitable shop selling soevenirs, a few small displays and this nifty model of what the tower and the adjoining castle may well have looked like in the past:

Leaving the tower, I looked back to take one more picture:

before moving on. But that’s a story for another post.

[1] I generally take the week my birthday falls in as holiday. Makes it a little easier to deal with getting yet another year older
[2] Before noon, even!