This merry month of May has offered us challenges in the shape of the weather, technology, the economy and news of widespread rorting of taxpayer funds by seemingly every member of the UK Parliament. I'll cover the last of these briefly if you are in anyway interested in political stuff... The UK Members of Parliament (MPs) wrote their own guidelines for claimable expenditure many years ago, set the self regulated audit process, made it self governing without public review and have proceeded ever since to suck as much money from the public purse as they could dream up for things like moat cleaning, personal property mortgages, investments, floating duck houses, home decorating, bogus travel and accommodation. The Telegraph newspaper received a few discs full of MP claims from an insider and has been exposing an MP or two every day for about a month now. MP resignations and political posturing are rife. If it wasn't so appalling the daily exposures would be getting boring but there is a morbid fascination at just how endemic it is. The disclosure of this vast MP greed is especially galling in a time when the UK economy is suffering, banks and businesses are failing, job losses endemic and public hardship increasing. Joe Public is justifiably angry and the mood sour. But that is enough about the real world. Here in Wetherby Gail and I have been experiencing all that a British May can offer. It started monumentally cold and relentlessly wet with a couple of alright sort of days but right at the end of May the sky cleared, the sun burned our skin and the shorts and T shirts were donned in 20+ degree days. You will have to excuse the quality of the photos this month as our faithful little camera had a digital fit and started to produce arty effects.... I think I have fixed it but some of May's shots are a bit iffy. As for our activity, Gail has been kept very busy all over the country and has been staying away many nights, She did enjoy another night out with the girls for a Hen's night in Nottingham which was fun if a huge bit too noisy. Greg has been occupied with not so pleasant investment problems and has been doing a short course in Leeds.. There has also been structured exercise sessions twice a week which have bought some friendly encounters. 
I did say last blog that we would be doing a walk of 
Malham Cove, in the middle of the Yorkshire National Park and the photos here show some of the scenery. 
It was recommended as a favourite place to go and we picked the one fine half day to attempt the walk in early May. The walk was fantastic, if a bit steep in places, with scenery from valley stream and waterfall (foss),
to rolling stone walled pastures, to craggy limestone pavement with fissures(grykes) and huge flat stones (clints). 
The whole stroll took only a couple of hours and there is a great pub with super if simple meals at the end where we sat warm and watched the rain pelt down. http://www.malhamdale.com/
Because Gail's schedule was so tight this month we only managed one day out in Wetherby but it was a stunner. 
A local brass band was playing in the rotunda by the Wharfe River and the locals always gather for a relax. We enjoyed a nice cafe lunch by the river and later spent a pleasant hour in the pub garden nearby sipping and listening to the band playing jazz, blues and some big band numbers. Idyllic. I took the opportunity to go to Newcastle with Gail as she was working there and I needed to look at properties for a group who are looking to invest there. It was a good day out for me and I am much more familiar with this town now, there are some lovely, some not so lovely suburbs but Newcastle on the whole is a nice city. 
I went out to the mouth of the Tyne River (Tynemouth, go figure) and was surprised to see the size of the beach, it was a cold windy day but on a good day like today, it would be a beauty. The night life for the under forty's in this country seems to revolve around consuming large amounts of alcohol and standing jambed together in venues where music and general noise defeats any conversation further than two inches from your ear. Newcastle is well catered for such activity and the streets are always crowded with revellers. No harm, little foul and it feels more party than loutish. Of course it s a two university, three training hospital city so the number of students and medical newbies is huge. As we said last time we were there, the Gateshead side of the Tyne has great cultural venues with theatre, galleries and Newcastle itself has three great public galleries, museums and theatres so there is a good supply of venues and events for whatever takes your fancy. The Geordie accent does take some getting used to and a group of local revellers in good cheer is impossible to interpret by any other than a born and bred Novocastrian. Towards the end of May Gail's holiday of two weeks started and we decided to grab the forecast fine day and head off to the 
Yorkshire Moors for a recommended lunch at Byland Abbey in Coxwold. 
The lunch was in the Abey Inn and the food was worth the drive. 
The Abbey is just over the road and while we didn't go in to look around I can tell you it was the first Cistercian Abey to be built in England, follows most closely the layout of the original Abbey design and has the largest in situe floor of 12th Century monastery mosaic tiles in the whole world, or so we were told by the guy trying to sell us entry tickets. It would be a great place to take a picnic and a good book and spend the day but as we were eating in the pub and heading off to Helmsley later we declined the invitation. Helmsley is about six miles from the Abbey and is a beautiful little Market town with many shops, a vibrant market on Friday's (when we were there) 
and a fantastic castle partly in ruin, partly restored. All surrounded by lush pasture grazed by sheep and highland cattle which Gail couldn't resist chasing for the perfect shot. Camera being creative as you can see. 
Anyway, that is about as much as I can recall of in May, we are packing up now to head off to the Cornwall Coast with Peter and Ann for two weeks and will drop in to see Clare H. in Padstow on our way. All about that adventure next month in the blog. Do keep letting us know if there are Yorkshire places you want to know bout or if there are things you want to see.
