Weekend in Saltburn: Day 4

All too soon it was time to come home from Saltburn, but we had had such a lovely weekend. It was honestly just nice to not be in my own house looking at my own four walls! We packed up and left around 10am. My mum and stepdad went straight home, but Lee and I stopped off in York on the way home.

I mentioned in my post about Kelly, who died of Covid back in February, that she collected ghosts from York Ghost Merchants. I don't know if you've seen them, but they're handmade little ghosts with different patterns on them. I think they're made of jesmonite. I know quite a few people who really love them - my friends Laura, Leanne, and Bettie all collect them, and Kelly had lots, including some really rare ones! I hadn't really been bothered about them, but since Kelly died I had been thinking about getting one in her memory. I asked Laura about them, who told me that the big ones (which are about three inches tall) are £15 and the little ones are just £8. That seemed really reasonable to me, so I asked Lee if we could pop to York.

We parked near the bottom of the Shambles and walked up to the shop. The Shambles is the old meat market, and it's tiny and narrow, and the shops nearly touch each other up above. It's now full of weird and wonderful shops, and is worth a visit if you're in York. Laura had warned me that sometimes there's a queue outside the ghost merchant shop, so I was prepared for that to happen. 

There were two sets of customers already in, so we did have to wait for a few minutes as that's their limit under Covid, but it was fine. We went in and the salesperson asked if we were familiar with the shop and how it worked. I said no, but explained that my friend had died and had lots of the ghosts, and that I wanted one in her memory. She said that was lovely, and said that a lot of people have reasons like this for buying the ghosts. I liked that, it made me feel welcome. 

We looked at the shelves, chatting about which we liked. As it was two years last week since our Reweddenning, we had said we would buy each other some little gifts while we were away. Lee got a Toy Dolls vinyl in Whitby, so he said he would buy me a ghost as a gift. I had already thought that I would like a purple one for Kelly, and Lee liked the black and white one that he bought for me. There were lots of patterns I liked though - I would probably get another! 

You pay for the ghosts and the salesperson wraps them in York map paper and puts them in boxes, and then she puts them on a little train that goes to the front of the shop, where you pick them up! You can also take a photo of the ghosts before they're wrapped up, in the photobooth, which I of course did. It's a very cute shop and I like the attention to detail. It makes buying a ghost feel like An Event, which I like. 

I've put the ghosts on one of the sets of drawers that live on my desk. I am so happy to have something to remind me of Kelly, who I really miss, and to have a gift from Lee too! Every time I look at them they make me happy

I love York and it was so nice to be back there, even if it was very briefly. Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate is said to be the shortest street in York which is probably true as it's not much longer than this sign!

Here's my wee ghosties in the photobooth. It's cute eh? The purple one has a veil over its face, which I like, and I love the swirls on the black and white one - at the bottom they almost look like people in a fog ridden city!