What a Busy Day!

The alarm went off earlier than Rosemary would have liked.....the alarm is always too early for her. We were soon out on our bikes on the bright and windy morning and the roads of Yorkshire.

As usual, Rosemary had carefully planned and memorised the route. Unfortunately, a bridge between Collingham and Linton was closed, possibly because it was damaged in the floods but certainly because a gas main needed repaired. Our first attempt to circumnavigate it was a failure because I thought it unwise to follow a muddy bridleway on road bikes. The alternative was a busy road to Wetherby, in which I was 'buzzed' by an idiot in a Lexus, leaving me slightly shaken.

It was a fun ride, despite Rosemary getting a bit annoyed with me by taking the lead too often. Hmmm.....she had complained of a poorly knee and I was only trying to reduce the work for her.

We got back to Mummy Byde's 40 minutes late and had just enough time to eat lunch and get to the railway station to catch the train to York. I was so excited because we were going to the National Railway Museum, my first time since my dad took me when I was very small.

It was quite emotional as my Dad worked for British Rail and I became a childhood expert on the railways as a result. My granny lived in a flat backing onto the main East Coast line into Edinburgh Waverley and I spent many an hour hanging out her window watching all the different trains passing. 

I was like a kid in a sweetie shop at the Museum and especially enjoyed seeing The Mallard and the Royal carriages. Our tour of the carriages was interrupted when a nice gentleman had asked a lady to keep her children quiet so we could hear the talk. He got a mouthful of abuse, with the chavvy parent telling him to stay away from her. Weirdo!

Our time was soon up, with 2 hours not being nearly long enough to see everything. We had beyond last minute Xmas pressies to buy! The trek to the TKMaxx home store at the other side of town took much longer than expected and we got caught in a monsoon on the way. 

Before heading home, we needed a snack and popped into M&S. I decided to have a quick look in Jones the Bookmaker sale as Rosemary paid for our snacks. "We're just closing in 5 minutes" the shop assistant said....clearly wanting to be somewhere else. 

I saw a pair of boots I liked......I needed a new pair for work and these ones were an utter bargain, down from £110 to £33. They fitted....albeit a little tightly but I had been on my feet all day and was confident they were fine (they are). Rosemary found it funny how I paid for them with one shoe on and one shoe off!

We were both shattered by the time we got on the train. 3 hours on the bike  and then 4 hours of walking about had taken its toll! It was great when we got back to Mummy Byde's as she had made veggie stew and dumplings!