rachel.blog

Tag: York

  • Cycling makes me happy

    Something I knew all along turns out to have some evidence to back it up: cycling to work makes you happier. Urban Studies Ph.D candidate Oliver Smith surveyed 828 commuters in Portland Oregon to determine commuter well-being among different modes of transport including cycling, walking, bus, rail and car. Here’s what he found. I am…

  • Jorvik and the Vikings

    York was once a thriving Viking city called Jorvik. Archaeologists in the 70s and 80s discovered the houses, workshops and backyards of these Vikings as they were 1000 years ago. They are now on display at the Jorvik Viking Centre in York. I took the kids there to have a look and it was fascinating…

  • Cycling the Solar System

    Not often in my life, never actually, have I had people proclaim, “COOL!” just at the sight of me but when I go cycling on the bakfiets, it happens all the time. Ok, so they’re referring to the bike rather than to me but I’m not going to let the facts get in the way…

  • York Museum Gardens

  • Possible practical applications in pure mathematics?

    The place we’ve rented in York is unfurnished so we’ve had to find things to sit on, lie on and eat from. Most of this stuff has come from second-hand furniture shops. In one place, I found a cool old trunk which I immediately decided should be our coffee table/toy box. Here it is: I…

  • Cycling in York

      The ease with which we can cycle around York has surpassed all of my expectations. Perhaps this is because we have come from car-dependent Auckland where bicycles are not catered for very well, so I really didn’t expect much. In York, however, there are many completely off-road cycle paths like this one above which…

  • Rowntree Park

    York’s Rowntree Park is an absolute gem. It is public green space which was gifted to the city of York by Rowntree (the chocolate company) in 1921 in memory of employees of the company who died during the war. It’s now a huge park with children’s playgrounds, bowling and putting green, skate park, tennis courts,…

  • We’ve got a bakfiets!

    We have been very busy here. So busy in fact, that I’ve neglected my blog. But I have some great news to report today: we have wheels! Just two, completely carbon-neutral wheels. This is an original Dutch bakfiets, a second-hand one, built especially for lugging children and shopping around town and countryside. I have wanted…

  • An English pub lunch

    Something missing from Australia and New Zealand is the cosy and characterful village pub. I have fond memories from when I used to live here of visiting English pubs on Sundays for a pub lunch. Today we enjoyed a Sunday lunch at The Black Swan in York, a 15th Century haunted house. It was wonderful.…

  • York…WOW

    I visited York briefly many years ago and saw the city centre, the Minster and the Shambles. I can remember thinking at the time, WOW. Coming back again now it is all just as WOW as it was back then. Here are some of the things we saw today.

  • Marvelous Freud, should he visit the Queen?

    We are going to spend the latter half of this year in York, England. It is a trip we’ve been planning for a couple of years but we’ve only just booked our flights. I am very excited about the prospect of living in York for 6 months but my excitement is marred because it meant…

  • 2013 – what's in store?

    2013 has begun with the loss of two good friends. One has returned to Australia and the other has returned to England. I will miss both of them very much. It is not just a loss for me but also for our children who have formed friendships with the children of my friends. Elizabeth in…