Eats plants
We just finished watching The Mandalorian with the kids and loved it. Who'd have thought a baby version of Yoda could be so cute. It reminded me of the time Daniel had his photo taken with a Stormtrooper in York back in 2013. I went looking for the photos on my blog but couldn't find… Continue reading Stormtrooper
The UK-based Automatticians got together last night for an ugly jumper Christmas dinner in York. Last year we went to Keswick which was really nice. This year we went to one of my favourite cities, York. Dinner was at the Guy Fawkes Inn which is very old and characterful and supposedly the birth place of… Continue reading Christmas dinner in York
I have been longing for some snow but there has been none. We haven't even had a proper frost, that is, not until this morning and the first real frost did not disappoint me. I used to love frosty mornings when we lived in Christchurch with the sound and the sensation of crunchy grass beneath… Continue reading A beautiful frosty morning
I spent the morning wandering around central York today. I took my last walk down the Shambles, sat and enjoyed a pot of tea at one of the cafés there and generally felt a bit teary about saying goodbye to my fair city of York. Then I transported our living Christmas tree to a friend's… Continue reading A few things: York, the bicycle and the IPCC
My last precious days in York are flying by. We have a crazy couple of weeks in store as we must now pack up six months of our lives and condense them into three suitcases. This is not going to be easy. On top of that, we have to empty our rental property. We could… Continue reading Falling in love with inanimate objects
The photo below is an exact replica of a 1000-year-old Viking poo found beneath the city of York, or Jorvik as the Vikings called it. This poo and real ones (not replicas) can be sampled (held rather than eaten) at the Archaeological Museum in York, called Dig. We took the children there today and it's an… Continue reading Viking poo
I stacked it (stack it = Aussie phrase for fell over) big time at the outdoor skating rink today which is at Yorkshire's winter wonderland. It's a superb rink by the way and much fun was had by all. But I got a little bit overly confident in my abilities and tried one of those… Continue reading Yorkshire’s Winter Wonderland
The Festival of Angels was running in York this weekend and we went to have a look today. There were sculptures made of ice, outdoor entertainment and some fake snow. I'm still waiting for some real snow but the fake stuff was enough to get three Australians very excited. The city centre seems to be… Continue reading Festival of angels
Finally, after almost all of November on my own, I have my husband back and I'm very happy about that. I have a lot of respect for single parents and for parents where one of the couple spends much of their time travelling. I will only be on my own for about a week this… Continue reading Clifford’s Tower
I thought I would write about my experiences with the UK state schooling system now that Daniel has been at school here for a good three months. Note that my experience relates to just one school in the UK which may or may not be representative of others but I think it's still worth talking… Continue reading State schooling in the UK
I'm the first to acknowledge that spelling and grammar are not my strong points but before anyone corrects the spelling of 'city' in my post title please know that this is a direct quote from Kind Richard III. Evidently this is how the word city was spelt 500 years ago. You could easily argue that… Continue reading My fair citie of York
People in York are shocked when I tell them how much I love living here. Why is that? There's an assumption that life is better in New Zealand and Australia so I'm going to challenge that assumption with this blog post. Quality of life is partly subjective and so the things I love about York… Continue reading Quality of life in York
Our lovely niece, Frances, came to visit us for the weekend. She is studying in Winchester and she arrived in York by train on Friday evening. I did what any proud bakfiets owner would do: I picked her up on my bicycle and she rode in the box with her luggage all the way home.… Continue reading Busby the Bakfiets
Last week the river Ouse looked very full. Yesterday I thought, wow, it's even fuller. This morning it is double WOW! Here's a photo of the river, taken from the bike path, yesterday afternoon. Here's a photo taken from the same spot this morning. And here in portrait mode so you can see… Continue reading River Ouse
We finally got around to venturing inside York Minster today with two small children in tow. Yes, it is beautiful and magnificent, but unlike other cathedrals we've been in, York Minster has hands-on activities for adults and children. There was this thing inside (called an orb apparently) that looks a bit like a cancerous growth,… Continue reading York Minster with kids
Every Saturday morning, Daniel plays soccer. He is 6 years old, mildly autistic and has Tourette's syndrome. We have tried many extra-curricular activities for him before, including soccer, but he never enjoyed any of them. But he loves the soccer coaching in York because it's run by the mother of someone in Daniel's class who… Continue reading Soccer and cycling in York
We went to Leicester for the weekend. Leicester, I have learned, has something of a bad reputation in the UK. When I tried to find out why this is the case, it is simply that there is a large immigrant population there. This is certainly true but I did not feel unsafe there, the people… Continue reading Leicester
We cycled to the Museum of Farming on Sunday. It was just outside York so a fair distance for me on the bike but easily manageable and very, very enjoyable. I feel truly alive at the moment with all this physical activity. The museum itself was a great deal more than just a museum. There… Continue reading Yorkshire Museum of Farming
I have great legs. Is it a bit conceited of me to say this? I don't know, but I do know that cycling around for a month on Busby (my bakfiets) has given me really great legs and I don't ever want to say goodbye to them. Why, oh why do the politicians of Auckland… Continue reading I have great legs!
The Tour de France in 2014 will start from North Yorkshire and the people of York are starting to get excited about this. When I first heard about it I was puzzled because I thought this famous French cycle race was always held in France. It is called the Tour de France after all. And… Continue reading Le Tour de York
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