The Day of Rest

Waking up this morning took some time. We did not rush it. In fact, today we did not rush anything.

Having an extra day in York that wasn't on the original itinerary was absolutely liberating. There was no pressure to "do Yorkminster," or "do Jorvik" or "do the Shambles." We could just live.

Moving from a hotel to our Walmgate AirBnB felt like really moving up in the world. The slick white lines and wide open spaces of the AirBnB with its view of a duck-patrolled canal were nothing like the mouldy peach storage box of the Pavilion Hotel. In fact, once we had undergone the tribulations of getting keys and navigating the car park, we realised that we had hit the jackpot with this AirBnB. It is so central, so large, so well appointed in a way that Vauxhall was not.

We went for morning coffee and anything-but-a-Bap in the old part of town. Then came back home for a shower and a nap. We were unconscious for quite some time.

When the evening came, we rushed to Waitrose for some achingly perfect comestibles, then we walked back down into the old part of town for some tapas and beer. I had an Estrella which I learned from the waitress is pronounced "estreya" and that sounds exactly to me like "austraya." Dinner was arancini balls, pomegranate salad, and squid. We toasted to Betty Edser on the anniversary of her death (this is the new meaning of 9/11 for us now) and strolled home.

Tonight we watched the first episode of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power because our AirBnB has all the streaming services available to guests. It was hard to watch because our building is directly facing the student accommodation's windows and I felt like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, hurty leg and all. (That makes Stuart Grace Kelly, not Barbara Bel Geddes) When a shirtless guy closed his blinds I was determined to pay attention to the TV, and I'm glad I did because Lord of the Rings is the best looking TV fantasy I've ever seen. And I already loved Morfydd Clark after seeing "Love and Friendship," "The Personal History of David Copperfield" and "Saint Joan," but I'll be damned if she didn't equal Cate Blanchett for superb narration and unmatched pronunciation of the Tolkienian language.

I caught up on some writing while I supped on Fentiman's Rose Lemonade and some white chocolate morsels I bought at Hotel Chocolat in Nottingham. Life is peaceful. And York is being very nice to me indeed.Read more