Hi again,July has come and gone leaving a trail of damp days, some sunshine and heat and a load of great memories. The title gives slight clue to our wanderings but does indicate highlights which we will expand on now.
ABBA. Despite the protestations and glums I meekly followed Gail to our little Wetherby Cinema to watch the latest travesty that was the Mama Mia movie.... You may suspect that Peirce Brosnan cannot sing or dance (no album, no christmas CD) and he proves that admirably not once, not twice but three times .... But this is a minor whinge and quite beside the point. The point is, I never expected the crowds.... yes crowds.... imagine my astonishment at having to queue for our little 170 seat Wetherby theatre, not only did we have to queue but we were turned away from the 7:20pm session due to a full house and asked to return for a previously unplanned late night session.... Thankfully this provided time for some Abba impact reduction therapy at the local pub.
Anyway, on to more picturesque events this month. 
THE GREAT YORKSHIRE SHOW was held just up the road from our place in our big sister town of Harrogate. It is sort of like a Yorkshire Sydney Easter Show, but with more pomp. All the show stewards (pictured) wore morning suits with tails and bowler hats and gum boots (Wellington boots, to use their local descriptive). Very classy! 
Lots of horse and hound action, racing fox terriers, pigs, sheep and cows. Cars, tractors, food fashion and games all in 250 acres of stunning Yorkshire countryside. The photos do not give the day its due presence. 
I will tell you that The Queen of England visited the Show as did lots of other really important people, like us. We spent hours looking at livestock and wandering the rural and trade exhibits, sounds like watching grass grow I know, but you will have to believe us that it was a day full of delights.
Of course we have to fit in all this excitement on Gail's days off. She has been working up to six days in a row away from home and these days off are used equally for resting up and for getting out.
It was Gails XXrd Birthday this month and although she was working on her birthday she had the next one off and we decided to go to Tan Hill pub. It is the highest Inn in the UK , up near ANGRAM in the north
Yorkshire dales. Quite a quirky pub, good Yorkshire pub grub and a fair selection of real ales. But it is in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Stark and lovely though.
The trip home through little villages and arty towns like Reeth was a delight too,The ABBEY in the title is Fountains Abbey, a huge Cistercian ruin not too far from us and where we took Les and Kiyoko, UK friends from our Tokyo days. The place is massive, the site well managed with great grounds and good tours. There was even a working mill on the river and a troupe performing Regency era music and formal dances in full velvet and silk regalia on the water garden lawns. It is so nice to be able to take friends to such special places around here. And as there is such a huge history to England those special places are limitless and we never seem to go anywhere twice.
Gail has two weeks holiday now and right at the end of July we decided to rent a boat
and sail to Belgium for the day. 
Well, for two nights and a day. We boarded our little tug at Hull (about an hour's drive from Wetherby) around 5pm and landed Zeebrugge early the next day, a quick bus for a full day in Bruges and back on the boat that night. So nice to have a mini cruise with all the meals and entertainment and such a stunning place like Bruges as a target.Again the photos don't do justice to the place, it calls itself the Venice of the north, was untouched by the WWs I & II, the industrial revolution and as a result is a delightful medieval city now with great food, chocolate, lace, chocolate, nice local people, chocolate, magnificent squares and buildings, chocolate, galleries, museums,great beers, chocolate and chocolate.
We took a guided walking tour for a few hours that showed us great places and gave a good cultural and historic background, Our guide had done similar tours for the rich and famous but his experience with the Australian Governor General was interesting to us .... 
Among other snippets apparently a visit to see H.M. Liz was on the GG's agenda when he went to the UK and he asked for a good chocolate shop where he could buy some ginger coated chocolate for Her Maj., her favourite. ... Just in case you ever have to entertain her.As we are now in the middle of Gail's hols we are off to Scotland to see Erica, Gail's distant cousin and we will be dropping by Newcastle-on-Tyne to see the Hadrian's Wall fort museum, staying in Edinburgh to get a taste of the Festival and a couple of nights in Arbroath where Gail's remnant Scottish family reside.... But as all that will be in August I'll sign off now and close the July update.
