Saturday 27 March 2010

Day Tripping

I've just spent the past hour falling madly in love with Professor Brian Cox. Is there anything sexier than brains?


Brains and swishy black hair, perhaps.


Finally today I got out into some green space, far enough away from busy city life for there to be no hum of traffic in the background or crumpled Starbucks carton in the gutter.


My friend Nick phoned this morning to let me know that he and some friends were taking a 2-car convoy to Aysgarth for the day; a village towards the west of the Yorkshire Dales with what is probably quite a lovely waterfall. Once I overcame a need to stay indoors and work on my assignments, I packed marmalade sandwiches (perfect picnic grub), waterproofs and sunglasses and headed out of the door into some perfect spring sunshine.


Due to the current speight of intense roadworks going on in York, we were still fringing the city after listening to the whole of Chuck Ragan's new album, and so we consulted maps over a phone conference between cars to decide on a closer destination. My suggestion was lunch in Masham followed by a visit to Jervaulx Abbey, a beautiful, privately-owned monument I've visited twice before, which is certainly overlooked by many visitors to the Dales all too often.

We had a really lovely day in all, fuelled by some proper pub grub and some great music. I finally got a (very small) dose of some fresh air, and feel ready to head on with some intense study tomorrow. Catching up with old friends always leaves me with that warm, mushy feeling; a recognition of belonging to something bigger than myself. I hope this was only a taster of more country adventures to come: maybe we will make it to Aysgarth one day after all! (I've now attempted to see the waterfalls twice, and failed both times...)

6 comments:

  1. Catherine!

    First of all, thank you SO much for your sweet comment on my weigh-in post. It's comments like those that help me keep going and keep me grounded in what I'm doing. :)

    Second, I love these photos you've posted. I wish my little city had more green to escape to. I could jump into my jeep and head out to a pretty green scenery some place, but with my tight schedule of school and work, I can't. :( But hopefully I'll find that time soon. I work at Starbucks, and it's one of my biggest pet peeves when I see my customers littering. So when you said "crumpled Starbucks carton in the gutter" I almost shuddered in my skin. Starbucks says they work towards being "green" but so far I don't see much of that happening. :( So I personally do my best to stay green even if I'm one tiny person in my own big city. :)

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  2. Hi Belen :-)

    I also find it hard to find time for green escapes, which is why yesterday was such an amazing treat! I guess it makes it even more special when you do get enough time!

    I try and be as green as possible too, so that makes at least two of us! I think (or hope?!) that young people are leading the way for a greener planet - if we shout loud enough, Starbucks and everyone else will have to listen! Go us!

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  3. Ahhh....Brian. I wondered if it was just me who stares at the screen and actually thinks he is just talking at me and me only! There's just something about the slightly geeky smile, and his absolute enthusiasm for the subject. Trouble is, I was SO tired yesterday I fell asleep and missed half the programme...I need to catch up on i-player now :)

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  4. You can't miss a whole hour of Brian and not catch up!

    I love how real he is - not some handsome chump chosen to present other people's ideas. He's smart and handsome and sweet and smiley and totally geeky, with just a slight belly...swooooon!

    Thanks for the kind words on my other post, too; there is always sunshine at the end of a grey patch, and it's always welcome when it arrives :-)

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  5. I just got shown this spoof of our lovely Professor on YouTube. Made me smile :)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhn8j7S4uKU

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  6. Hehe awww! He's still so lovely, even with such harsh language ;-)

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