I have been off my blog since my mother-in-law, Veronica, died a couple of weeks ago. But it is time to start up on it again. A week last Wednesday I had a really nice day out walking around York with my youngest son Clifford. Fiona and Miles had bad colds so stayed at home. It was really nice just me and Clifford going out and on the way down to York he quietly read his book about Stalingrad.

Because it was a day out we parked up at Clifton Green and then walked a mile into town and had biscuit break pretty immediately because we both fancied a coffee and a huge cookie that they do at our favourite cafe right next to Bootham Bar. When walking around York Minster I popped into the prayer Chapel as I often do and said some prayers for my mother-in-law as well as Simon Hoban my good friend from the 80s and early 90s. Clifford was asking all sorts of questions about the structure of the Minster and he took a particular interest in the organ pipes wondering why they were there and how they linked up to the keyboard so we had a good discussion about that. He also had a good look at the imitation East Window because the real thing is being renovated at the moment. God at the top: Creation in the middle: the Apocalypse at the bottom. Very good stuff!

Onward through the town and over the new footbridge across the River Foss and we walked around the University. Parts of the lake still have ice on them which was surprising because how warm it had been but also indicated how cold the Vale of York had remained because of the low mist which lays over it at this part of the year locking in the cold. The Yorkie Bars as I confectionately know them most of the time cannot see this because they are too close to it that is they are in it but every time we travel into Teeside which is at the head of the Vale of York and slightly above it we see the thin mist about 100 m high lying over the valley and nearly always comment on how cold it must be in York .

When we got back into town we had our statutory Cornish Pasty and another great cup of coffee and then just did a couple of circular walks around the town looking at anything that interested us in the buildings. The new York Council extension near the railway station was very interesting. Clifford is such great company a delightful young man and in the melee and cut and thrust of the discussions that we have as a family when we go out I tend not to notice him as much, so this day was a great opportunity and reminder of what a nice kid he is, a quality I have found through talking to many young people over the years. God bless him and God bless them! And God bless Joe James for getting me to write in paragraphs. He is totally right: it is easier on the eye and reads better. Thanks Joe!