On Wednesday I hopped on a train, sailed through the Sheffield station (where I usually get off the train) and sallied on forth up to York, where I was going to a meeting. A meeting at the National Railway Museum!!!
It really was a meeting. It was a gathering of the University Site Representatives for Digimap, which provides electronic Ordnance Survey mapping data to Higher Education Institutions. It was a very interesting day and I'm glad I went. I am also glad that the NRM is only a five minute walk from the York Railway Station so there was plenty of time after the meeting finished for me to go for an amble around the Great Hall and to admire a few trains. Must come back one weekend with The Builder and have a proper look around. We've been before, but some years ago and there have been a few changes. Plus, of course, York is a nice city to visit even without the trains. In the meantime, Digimap had put on a well-run, well-organised, informative day and the NRM had provided a VAST quantity of delicious food for us all. It is possible that my trousers might now need letting out slightly :-D
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| NRM. Click on the photo to reach the train pictures |
We had expected to have an entirely quiet weekend. No plans at all. Then Tabitha got in touch and asked if we could staff Bishops' House on Saturday afternoon as there was no one else available and they really didn't want to have to close it if they could avoid it. Now we usually go on Saturday mornigns but decided we could probably manage an afternoon. And I have to say it was rather more fun than the mornings often are. The mornings are usually very quiet. We kicked off the afternoon session with The Builder trying to unlock the toilet door, which had mysteriously locked itself from the inside, and a group of 5 people trundling in just after we arrived for a look around. (Toilet door successfully opened, most disappointingly did not reveal a body slumped behind the door!!!) We had 20 visitors during the afternoon - loads more than we ever get in the mornings. We were also visited by one or two doggies that stuck their noses in through the front door to say hello. And we had an, erm, entertaining visit from a gentleman who really had just lobbed in to find someone to talk tol. The Chair of the BH committee says he's well known locally for being a bit eccentric and very lonely. We had clocked the eccentricity and loneliness quite quickly after he wandered in - but neither of us had ever encountered him before. We quite enjoyed our afternoon at BH. We might move to afternoons - but our next visit is already booked for a morning so after that, then. The biggest advantage of doing an afternoon shift is that we got loads and loads done at home in the morning before heading out! Including - CLEANING THE FRIDGE!!!
Sunday was largely given over to watching sports. We did get out to do some shopping (I have a LOVELY new pair of slippers :-) ) but The Builder spent the afternoon watching the Grand Prix and the evening watching England playing Italy in the European Cup Final (soccer) and I just pottered about. The sun came out and the weather warmed up on Sunday afternoon so I also did a bit of gentle pottering in the garden. I spoke to Austin for his birthday, and had my usual Sunday morning natter with Tony and Stella. Tony is not recovering from his shingly attack as quickly as he would like, which is inconvenient and a bit disappointing. I hope he's better by the time we lob in in December! December is closer than you think, you know!!!
And now we are all waiting patiently for the arrival of Austin and Kaori's baby - which is due pretty much now. I think Kaori is probably waiting more impatiently than all the rest of us put together. She's been in lopw level labour for ages now!!!
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