Raspberries and Squirrels!
Just a reminder for myself peoples.
Oh and mosquito fairies and grocery shopping!!
xoxoLeah
Monday, 29 September 2008
A Childhood Dream - Rabbits!!
I discovered rabbits on Thursday afternoon last week. They were frolicking in a field somewhere between Starbeck and Knaresborough at sunset. They must have been big critters cos the train weren't slow and the field, it were large.
I have to walk past a pet shop to get to the local Sainsburys (do not be fooled - Knaresborough is very small - this is a small 'local' Sainsburys - like my ol' IGA in Rosalie) and they have been advertising their new series of DWARF rabbits. Sunday afternoon I accidentally entered the shop and while there decided to view the new line of bunnies.
They are soft and small and brown with black tipped ears. I think several of them were trying to telepathically communicate with me - We know you are from Queensland and that our bouncy little furry ways are incredibly seductive to you....Come closer.... Touch us.....Love us........
Hutches are pretty pricey but I am willing to foot the bill - apparently rabbits are a little like goats - they will chew on anything. I've offered to bunnysit any rabbits but word got out in the office this morning that I had rabbit for dinner on Saturday evening. All holiday bunnysitting offers have now dried up.
I have to walk past a pet shop to get to the local Sainsburys (do not be fooled - Knaresborough is very small - this is a small 'local' Sainsburys - like my ol' IGA in Rosalie) and they have been advertising their new series of DWARF rabbits. Sunday afternoon I accidentally entered the shop and while there decided to view the new line of bunnies.
They are soft and small and brown with black tipped ears. I think several of them were trying to telepathically communicate with me - We know you are from Queensland and that our bouncy little furry ways are incredibly seductive to you....Come closer.... Touch us.....Love us........
Hutches are pretty pricey but I am willing to foot the bill - apparently rabbits are a little like goats - they will chew on anything. I've offered to bunnysit any rabbits but word got out in the office this morning that I had rabbit for dinner on Saturday evening. All holiday bunnysitting offers have now dried up.
Pernicious Vertigo
I am not sure whether it is my ear canals still recovering from the horrendous flight over but i have some pretty bad vertigo.
Sure, its amusing for other people to see someone just instantaneously walk into a door, wall or statue (I can say things like that now, because there are such things like that commonly lying about the place) but for the victim its embarrassing, painful and disorientating.
Living in a converted attic space with skewed angle floorboards and creaky aligned showercage does not help my case. Showercage: a small glass cage for a shower. Locally set on an angle of about 3 degress to the horizontal from crude estimates. I thought Casa Beck was bad - I have been corrected and found somewhere much much worse.
Sure, its amusing for other people to see someone just instantaneously walk into a door, wall or statue (I can say things like that now, because there are such things like that commonly lying about the place) but for the victim its embarrassing, painful and disorientating.
Living in a converted attic space with skewed angle floorboards and creaky aligned showercage does not help my case. Showercage: a small glass cage for a shower. Locally set on an angle of about 3 degress to the horizontal from crude estimates. I thought Casa Beck was bad - I have been corrected and found somewhere much much worse.
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Arrival in Yorkshire
Knaresborough - in not so rainy and not so dismal and not so cold Yorkshire.
The 3 flights here were probably 2 too many for me. I was a zombie in Singapore and by the time I reached Heathrow I was a recruiting memeber of the living dead.
I arrived in Leeds with all my luggage which was a great relief.
Knaresborough - the internet does not do it justice. With the gracious help of my driver i was shown the high street with all the shops, the rail station (he even got out and checked the times for me) and a quick run over the local castle. I was lucky that he was a local, because being a proud member of that small and tight knit community he was eager to show me its charms and conveniences.
After a glorious longer than 4 minutes and NO RELATED GUILT shower, I hiked up from the Waterside into the heart of the town. I was able to source my essentials - porridge, milk for coffee, apple juice for my swamp powders, fruit, meat and veges for dinner.
As a treat I had a late and delicious hot salad lunch in the cafe opposite the driveway to my apartment. Firstly it would have been delicious anyway because it was the first real food i had eaten in 24 hours. My trip is to not ever fly with BA cos the food is BS. Secondly, the meal was truly delicious because it was all local fresh produce. Strawberries, melon, salad greens, mushrooms, potatoes, green beans and bacon.
I was suspicious of the coffee but it had cream on the top so it was delicious too. Ha ha - my dietician will be having fits! Over the froth and cream of my capuccino I became firm friends with the owners Ron and Julie. I had carefully ordered a cappucina because i had made the mistake of ordering a flat white in the airport which almost killed me. 500mls of strong black coffee and a splash of cold milk.
Marigolds, the waterside cafe, flys an Australian Flag by their boatshed - and a helpful little reminder that Oz is only 16 000km away...
I have spectacular views from my little roof top apartment. The trouble with great views however, is that they are often preceeded by extended hikes up steep driveways, spiral staircases and narrow attic stairwells. My quick afternon nap lasted from 3pm until 5am the mornign after. Oops.
The first morning's sunrise across the viaduct was breathtaking. Where am I? Is this place real?
Along the Waterside, a building or two, is one of King John's (ie Robin Hood's arch nemesis) hunting lodges. The opposing bank of the River Nidd is luxuriated in thick green leafy forest - the last vestige of a royal hunting grounds - does that make it Sherwood Forest?!?
All the houses along the Waterside are snug against one another and neatly fitted into and around the vertical limestone cliffs, atop of which the remainder of Knaresborough is found. Most of the houses here have 'bricked in' windows, a leftover from window taxes of 1700 or so. I love how locals refer to bricked in windows as being a real marker for the 'older houses' in the village. Ha ha!
The oldest chemist in England is in the Market Square in Knaresborough. I can't remember when it first opened but the door comes to just below my shoulder and the ceiling is not much taller. The age of things in this part of the world is simply astounding, DangerMouse. Harrogate looks like quite a modern city in comparison.
The people here are so lovely I just don't believe my luck, or them, or here. The office here are all lovely friendly clever and very quirky people. The big boss earlier called the office a bunch of misfits who wouldn't fit in anywhere else. My heart sang to hear this - I knew that while I was a looong way away from Brisbane, I had found a home of sorts.
I think I may have been adopted by the practice manager here. She is SO lovely. Lovely lovely in fact. We took a spin around Harrogate last night, followed by a fruit beer in an 'old men's bar' before having a proper dinner at her family home. Dinner was a beef casserole, yorkshire puddings and veges. First proper meal in Yorkshire and I am into the puds already! And I hate to admit it but they were delicious. Again, my dietician will be in a pink fit.
Food here is crazy. I have a local shop dedicated to selling breakfast batties? Have I got that right? Deep fried chunks of bread with stuff in it. I could smell the fat from a block away.
The smells here are very different. When it doesn't smell like green, it smells like burning green. Green smells like english water, fist-sized round stones, rich black soil with grass and moss and wildflowers mixed in. I'm not sure what they burn here but it doesn't smell quite as aromatic as wood. It is a sharp smell, which i imagine is what happens when you burn the sweet green.
The 3 flights here were probably 2 too many for me. I was a zombie in Singapore and by the time I reached Heathrow I was a recruiting memeber of the living dead.
I arrived in Leeds with all my luggage which was a great relief.
Knaresborough - the internet does not do it justice. With the gracious help of my driver i was shown the high street with all the shops, the rail station (he even got out and checked the times for me) and a quick run over the local castle. I was lucky that he was a local, because being a proud member of that small and tight knit community he was eager to show me its charms and conveniences.
After a glorious longer than 4 minutes and NO RELATED GUILT shower, I hiked up from the Waterside into the heart of the town. I was able to source my essentials - porridge, milk for coffee, apple juice for my swamp powders, fruit, meat and veges for dinner.
As a treat I had a late and delicious hot salad lunch in the cafe opposite the driveway to my apartment. Firstly it would have been delicious anyway because it was the first real food i had eaten in 24 hours. My trip is to not ever fly with BA cos the food is BS. Secondly, the meal was truly delicious because it was all local fresh produce. Strawberries, melon, salad greens, mushrooms, potatoes, green beans and bacon.
I was suspicious of the coffee but it had cream on the top so it was delicious too. Ha ha - my dietician will be having fits! Over the froth and cream of my capuccino I became firm friends with the owners Ron and Julie. I had carefully ordered a cappucina because i had made the mistake of ordering a flat white in the airport which almost killed me. 500mls of strong black coffee and a splash of cold milk.
Marigolds, the waterside cafe, flys an Australian Flag by their boatshed - and a helpful little reminder that Oz is only 16 000km away...
I have spectacular views from my little roof top apartment. The trouble with great views however, is that they are often preceeded by extended hikes up steep driveways, spiral staircases and narrow attic stairwells. My quick afternon nap lasted from 3pm until 5am the mornign after. Oops.
The first morning's sunrise across the viaduct was breathtaking. Where am I? Is this place real?
Along the Waterside, a building or two, is one of King John's (ie Robin Hood's arch nemesis) hunting lodges. The opposing bank of the River Nidd is luxuriated in thick green leafy forest - the last vestige of a royal hunting grounds - does that make it Sherwood Forest?!?
All the houses along the Waterside are snug against one another and neatly fitted into and around the vertical limestone cliffs, atop of which the remainder of Knaresborough is found. Most of the houses here have 'bricked in' windows, a leftover from window taxes of 1700 or so. I love how locals refer to bricked in windows as being a real marker for the 'older houses' in the village. Ha ha!
The oldest chemist in England is in the Market Square in Knaresborough. I can't remember when it first opened but the door comes to just below my shoulder and the ceiling is not much taller. The age of things in this part of the world is simply astounding, DangerMouse. Harrogate looks like quite a modern city in comparison.
The people here are so lovely I just don't believe my luck, or them, or here. The office here are all lovely friendly clever and very quirky people. The big boss earlier called the office a bunch of misfits who wouldn't fit in anywhere else. My heart sang to hear this - I knew that while I was a looong way away from Brisbane, I had found a home of sorts.
I think I may have been adopted by the practice manager here. She is SO lovely. Lovely lovely in fact. We took a spin around Harrogate last night, followed by a fruit beer in an 'old men's bar' before having a proper dinner at her family home. Dinner was a beef casserole, yorkshire puddings and veges. First proper meal in Yorkshire and I am into the puds already! And I hate to admit it but they were delicious. Again, my dietician will be in a pink fit.
Food here is crazy. I have a local shop dedicated to selling breakfast batties? Have I got that right? Deep fried chunks of bread with stuff in it. I could smell the fat from a block away.
The smells here are very different. When it doesn't smell like green, it smells like burning green. Green smells like english water, fist-sized round stones, rich black soil with grass and moss and wildflowers mixed in. I'm not sure what they burn here but it doesn't smell quite as aromatic as wood. It is a sharp smell, which i imagine is what happens when you burn the sweet green.
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