Relax, we are still alive

I know it has been forever since I updated this blog and I have no excuse other than slovenliness.   Well thats not quite correct.  The other reason is that we have been distracted and although there have been no overseas trips or amazing adventures we have been doing, well, lots of things.

I have started a new job, a few days a week working for a council funded scheme right here in Wetherby.  I walk to work and am having a right good time.   Gail has started to do some contract MRI work for an agency and has replaced her overtime with Alliance with the agency work which she enjoys much more.  I managed to sell out of the commercial property in Singleton NSW which took some doing but has meant the stresses of long distance landlording are a thankfully receding memory.  Not to ever be out of the woods, Gail started buying little homes in Middlesbrough to let to uni students.  We now own three little multi lets one of which is fully let, the other two just finished with the builders and furnished.   If I never see another flatpack screw it will be fine by me.  

But, as usual this is a picture-driven blog and even tho we have been without camera there are things we took.  

This is a view from one of the windows in our room in the Cleveland Tontine a 16th century roadhouse where we often drop in on our way to or from Middlesbrough.  They are a nice bunch of people and do a good food spread.   It is also very close to the Mt Grace Priory.  We went to the priory to see an outdoor play.  A Sherlock Holmes adventure.  The Tontine provided us with a hamper of grand proportions with all the trimmings, and champagne, the chairs are ours.

Some attendees got more into the spirit than others.
Everyone was in fine mood and good humour.  The cast and crew spent time among the audience prior to, during and after the play.

The Priory  presents rather well on approach

and expands to the ruins once through the side gates.

The ruins were the ideal backdrop for the actors and the show was a rollicking harbour-side mystery that borrowed cleverly from the stones and mortar.

Another day saw us re-visit other ruins, well we really returned to visit the pub opposite the National Trust's Byland Abbey ruins.  I object to paying to walk into a field of stones so we have never walked the abbey ruins.  The menu regrettably has returned to a National Trust level of service and food as the previous excellent restaurateurs failed to negotiate an ongoing commercial deal with the Trust.  So the great food has left the great place.  Shame.

Middlesbrough is known as Captain Cook's birthplace, and is home of the design of the Sydney Harbour bridge.  It shows this history by its own collection of fine river crossings.  This one is the Transporter Bridge.  You drive on to a road platform which lifts you up and tracks along the overhead rails, lowering you again to land on the other side of the river.  It is back in service after a lottery funded repair and overhaul.  Looks amazing and as soon as we can we are taking the ride.

House guests John and Sara took advantage of us in October and among the many places we visited was the Timble Inn ,  Sawdays recommended eatery in the Yorkshire moors , about 30 minutes from Wetherby.  It was our first visit but nice place and good food..

I said we were now landlording in the UK.... This is one of the houses Gail found to buy for student letting.  It now has a sparkling new front door, all new walls and a glistening kitchen, new carpets and furniture, glistening bathroom and fancy lights throughout.  With its new paint outside too, we can't wait for the happy tenants to move in.

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To close off this little update I'm including a few shots of a side trip we took from Middlesbrough to Helmsley along the North York Moors escarpment.  Oh, did I say I'd bought a toy car, its a little Msport BMW and yes, a convertible, takes me back to my MGB days... We have been grinning stupidly, top down,  at the countryside all this summer which has allowed us many a fine day's tootling.

 The destination was not Helmsly but a stop a few miles before it, a three hat Michelin restaurant specialising in game cooking.  It is a restaurant in a residential pub perched in a tiny town called Hawnby.  Hawnby comprises ten homes, a B&B, a post box and phone booth.  And an amazing restaurant.    We had the grouse.... if we have now had the world's best grouse, then I am no fan of fresh killed local grouse.

Still, the surrounds were spectacular, and the service was low key Yorkshire country friendly.


I will try really hard to post more of our adventures and to remember to take the camera out more.  Maybe when we both upgrade our phone contracts we may have easier access to capture images, if we remember to do so, the blog is often the last thing on our minds.


See ya soon.