Cavegirl Goes South: York

Today was York.

Today was heavy, heavy rain! Although the weather fairy did favour us for about 90 minutes, it was dry and even 'bright' whilst we walked around the city and looked at the buildings.

It is now heavy rain, again. The campsite is awash. Hoorah for Elly, had we been in a tent we'd be back home by now!

The National Rail Museum was excellent, and free, although we did make a donation. Unfortunately the Mallards are no longer being displayed together; that was the end of last year (to celebrate the steam speed record a century on), but there was one Mallard to view in all its Art Deco glory and a whole host of other engines too, along with the Royal Trains from days gone by. Boy how the other half lived!

The most fascinating exhibit was probably an old Royal Mail coach complete with some video footage of on-board sorting. I knew this was done (and may still be, not sure) but what I didn't know was that the bags of mail were dropped and delivered as the train sped along. I'd always assumed the exchanges happened at the station stops. It took Mr G back to his childhood; he had a model train which included the mail carriage and knew all about the capture system.

York City is a real mixture of eras and architecture and easy to navigate and largely pedestrianized. Yet another place with endless shops, tea rooms, chain stores and places selling 'stuff', lots and lots of 'stuff'. It really has me wondering about humanity and how long this consumerism can survive. And looking around at the general public, mmm, their state of health is poor, metabolic syndrome for many is headed their way, the choices they are making re eating is so sad. Especially when you look at the children and the foods they are being fed, and the weight issues that are already apparent in the young. What will it take to turn around this madness?

We purchased a replacement leather coin purse for Mr G in an Inca Fair Trade Shop. The shop-owner was a small Bolivian lady who explained the importance of the symbology of the tooling in the leather (a picture of llamas and the rising sun). She launched into the importance of the sun in her culture, and rain, and earth ... Connie you can see where the conversation then went! Serendipity at work. We talked about the elements, her culture recognizing 4 but everything being within the whole (essentially, dare I say, quintessentially, the fifth). She showed me the circular wheels (actually 'stepped' circles) divided into elements and months etc. So similar to Taoism, and wheels of life etc, etc.

We head further north tomorrow ending up opposite Holy Island via a brief stop to an RSBP reserve near Middlesbrough. The weather forecast isn't great but the centre has hides and an indoor viewing space so hopefully the birds will still be going about their business for us. Be interesting to see if we can add to our growing tally of 'spots'.