Weekend in Durham - Day 1

On the 21st of March we headed off to Durham for the weekend. It's where Lee is from originally so we do go and visit his family there, but we hadn't been into the city centre for literally twenty years. Maybe longer! Then I read Cuddy by Benjamin Myers for my book club in January which is about St Cuthbert and Durham cathedral and I wanted to visit the cathedral and his shrine, so we made plans to go. 

We set off from home around 10am and easily made it up the A1 to Belmont Park and Ride. We got on the bus which only takes a few minutes into the city centre, and got off by the market place. There was an outdoor market on as well as the indoor one, so we looked at that before heading into the indoor market. I had read that there's a queer bookshop there so I obviously had to buy some books from there, and then we looked at everything else. There's a ton of cute stalls! There's a record stall and a really cool place selling upcycled jewellery - I bought some earrings. We went back outside and got an ice cream from a van in the market place. The sun was out so although it was a bit cool, it was lovely to be in the sunshine.

We walked up Saddler Street and up the very very steep bit to where the cathedral and castle are. We looked at the castle but had decided to not go in, so we just headed to the cathedral. We looked round that, which you can do for free, and which includes St Cuthbert's shrine behind the altar. That's really cool, but you can also see his treasures in the museum, which is £7.50 each which I felt was reasonable. The person who sold us the ticket told us that the cathedral was closing at 3pm for a service at 4pm so we looked round it first and then went up to the museum. 

By the time we had finished it was about 3.30 and we had walked a long way and were tired, so we decided to go for a drink in a place called Tango on Saddler Street. I had a peach melba cocktail which was nice, and Lee had a hot chocolate. 

When we had finished that we went across to Turkish Kitchen where we had decided to eat. Turkish food is always good for vegetarian so I was happy to go there. I had cheese filled filo pastry things, and then falafel with hummus, and Kir Royale. It was all so good and arrived in double quick time so we were done by about 5pm! We walked back to the bus stop and got back to the car and then went to Lee's dad's house where we were staying for the night.

Lee's dad was in but his stepmam was out, she had been in Sunderland at the theatre, so Lee's dad went to pick her up. Everyone was back by 8pm so we just sat and chatted which was nice! 

I walked bloody miles and up really steep hills too, so I was impressed with myself. Here's ten thousand photos: 

Sitting in the sunshine in the market place while Lee went to get ice creams

Lee has a sundae but I had a traditional cornet

And here we are, aren't we cute

We went into a pop up museum thing and there was an old sign, which I love

And some information about Cuthbert

And a scale model of the cathedral! 

And Durham bricks

This sign was on The People's Bookshop which was also a really cool bookshop, although I didn't buy anything in there

And then, the cathedral! Looking stunning in the sunshine

Looking towards the castle

This is a replica of the sanctuary knocker which is really old, it was cool to see this one anyway! But then the original turned out to be in the Treasures of St Cuthbert exhibit which was amazing to see

One of the shrines, I liked the sculpture

And there was info about the Venerable Bede too. His head is in St Cuthbert's shrine, because of course it is

Looking up into the tower

And I thought this embroidered hanging of the gospel writers was cool too 

The rose window, which is amazing but hard to photograph 

The shrine of St Cuthbert himself! I loved seeing this

I also loved this rainbow window, of course

And I can never resist a mining banner...

And loved this memorial to the miners, which had a book full of miners names, too 

Looking out on to the cathedral lawn 

And out over the River Wear

This is the St Cuthbert exhibit, the first part was in what had been the monks' dormitory and is now a library. It had a lot on the history of Durham which was interesting too

This is an effigy of Cuthbert himself

Love a bit of bookkeeping

We went downstairs into a special archival airlocked room which has what is left of Cuthbert's coffin, and his necklace which is a cross of gold with garnets in, which was so cool to see. But you can't take photos in there, so I didn't

This embroidery was SO cool though, made by a local artist. It was amazing in person! 

Back out now on the cathedral green

Drinks in Tango

And a Kir Royale, which was delicious

My food

And here are the books I bought in the queer bookshop!

Valentines Weekend

On the 13th of February I went across to Huddersfield to see "Wuthering Heights" with Sam and Jodie. We knew we were going to hate it but wanted to see it anyway just so we could get really annoyed about it. We were going to the 4.30 showing so I set off about 3.30 and parked, then went to Wetherspoons where Sam and Jodie had been having a drink. We headed across to the cinema and I got a Tango Ice Blast and we had each taken sweeties. 

The film was in fact dreadful. If you want me to care about Cathy's sexual awakening she needs to be around 17, not 35 like Margot Robbie is. And I love Margot Robbie! But she wasn't right. Martin Clunes was good but in general it was terrible. We all felt the same. 

We walked up to TJ Thai for food. I've been before and it's always nice in there. I had tofu tempura, which there was loads of, and tofu and vegetable massaman curry. It was delicious and I was really full! I drove home and was freezing when I got home so just got into bed. Lee was in Leicester seeing Ross Noble with my cousin Rob (a Christmas present for Lee and birthday present for Rob) so I was by myself until about midnight when Lee got home. 

On Valentine's Day Lee and I swapped presents. He had got me some Lush goodies and some sweeties. I had brought him cake from Slatterys the weekend before but I also had Slatterys chocolate for him which he liked. So we were both happy! We then went into Barnsley. 

I had a ruby ring that I bought myself way back in like 2014 or something, but the ruby was damaged and I must have banged it more recently because the fracture was showing badly. I had talked to Lee about going to the vintage jewellery stall on Barnsley market to see what they had. They had tons of ruby rings and I tried a few on, but I ended up really liking this one, which was actually the first one I tried on. Once I had traded in my old ring for the gold, I only had to pay £50 for this one. Lee was like, yes that's fine, pay it. So I did!

We went in the Lounge for lunch. I really wanted an iced coffee so had one of theirs, which was nice. I had a buddha bowl with Turkish type of flavours; I wasn't particularly hungry so this was perfect for me. It was delicious! We walked back through the indoor market and the Young Makers Market was on again. We've been a few times and it's just so good - there are so many enthusiastic young makers and I like to support them. We bought some curry and samosas from two tiny kids (helped by their mum and grandma) and Lee bought some artwork from a teenager, it's really freaky artwork but Lee loves it! 

We just relaxed for the rest of the weekend but I was glad we had gone out together during the day. 

I wore my new T shirt on the Friday night, I decided I wanted one of these slogan t shirts and picked it up pretty cheaply online. It was made in a factory that is NOT a sweat shop, it is certified and proclaimed on the label, so that's pretty cool! 

Wearing my Sometimes Antisocial Always Antifascist t shirt, it's soft and comfortable too, I love it

Sign in TJ Thai

Tofu tempura 

And my delicious curry

Valentines presents from Lee

The new ruby ring, I've worn it loads since I got it

Delicious decaf iced coffee

And my buddha bowl! 

My Birthday and Tuesday 20th

My birthday was the 19th of January and it was a pretty low key day. On Monday mornings I go to a craft club in Penistone that I've attended since 2018 and am now leading, so I didn't want to miss that. So I took a chocolate cake to share with people and headed off. I was working on a Christmas cross stitch that I've been doing for months, but I finally finished it at the beginning of February I think. Ready for next Christmas! 

Lee had been working from home in the morning but he finished at 12.30 just as I got home so we headed out to Wentworth Garden Centre. We went to the Bothy for lunch; I had a chickpea sandwich thing I think, it was nice. And chunky chips! Lee had a margherita pizza and skinny fries. Once we'd eaten - which took a while because service was a bit slow - we walked round the pet shop and bought some new toys for the cats. We walked round the shop and the garden centre bit but didn't go into the farm as it was really cold. Then we went into the cafe about 3.30 and had a cup of coffee and cake. I had a Victoria sponge bun which was lush! 

When we got home we just chilled out for the evening. Poppy was being cute so I took a photo of her. We watched Oliver! which I haven't watched in forever. I'd forgotten how long it is. Lee was not too impressed with it but it was cute and I liked it.

We both also had Tuesday off as I wanted to go to Slatterys in Manchester. It isn't open on Mondays or we'd have gone then. No matter, we headed off there for midday. I had some kind of toasted sandwich with goats cheese and something else. It was fine, not too exciting. Then I had the wicked chocolate sampler which is four pieces of cake and two chocolate pots - one with melted chocolate in and one with cream in. I never eat all this when I order it, so brought it home. I had a hot chocolate too. It was so good as always! Lee always complains I never take him to Slatterys so he was glad I did.

When we had finished we went into Manchester itself, to the Northern Quarter. We parked on a street and wandered around, going into a bunch of record shops and other shops. Lee got a couple of records. I don't think I got anything. Oh, I lie, I did get some presents for people on Fred Aldous. 

It wasn't too long before we set off home, and got home in good time over Woodhead Pass. We just chilled out again in the evening. I was wearing this Hell Bunny dress though that I got off Georgina a couple of years ago. I have to wear a top under it or it's too low on my chest, but I love the colour and look of it! 

Lunch on my birthday itself in the Bothy at Wentworth Garden Centre

Cute little Victoria sponge bun in the cafe a bit later

Poppy looking very cute. This is one of the new sets of bedding I bought, she's been sleeping there loads

The two little tins I had got from Elsecar Heraite Centre the day before my birthday. The bottom one is a pill box which is always useful to have. I love vintage tins like the top one, I have a similar tobacco tin that is slightly bigger

Hot chocolate in Slatterys the day after my birthday

My main course. Lee had a jacket potato with tuna

Lee went and told them it was my birthday and I got this sparkler, it was cute!

My wicked chocolate sampler - from the top there's chocolate fudge cake, raspberry brownie, cup with melted chocolate, chocolate orange something, and a piece of caramel shortbread, then the chocolate cup with cream in. It's all so good but rich!

Some blue skies in Manchester! Hasn't the weather been miserable? It's just past the middle of February as I write this and I swear it's been raining since New Year's Day 

Cute little map of Manchester I saw in one of the shop windows

And here's my outfit when we got home