York 2
Spring Day in South Africa ...Autumn Day in England. Nights are moving in ....time for us to move on.

Learnt a few new words :
On BBC-R4 - refusenics ...refering to people who just say NO to anything out of principle
From Toby (young musician who stays in our BnB) when referring to a club he would not go to because it is CHAVY - council housing and violent !
Bap - a breadroll in Scotland
Bothy - a cottage in Scotland

And then ...York lingo is out to confuse every tourist :
BAR is a GATE to the city - from the time of the Normans
GATE is a STREET - from the nordic language of the Vikings
PUB is a BAR ...if you are looking for a Pint

Enjoyed a river tour and city bustour today, to get as mich info as possible on the city, its inhabitants and its history. Very worthwhile.
We eventually got off at the Racecourse (famous landmark in York) as there seemed to have been an old VW Campervan convention in town - just caught the last few vehicles packing up.

The afternoon we spent ...in true English style...in the Slip Inn Pub, listening to some local York live music. One young lady - 16 years old - really blew us away. Her name : Beth McCarthy - I am sure that we will be hearing if over the next few years. Quite remarkable.

A very interesting town this - it can easily be said that the history of York is the history of England. Founded in 71 AD by the Romans - who stayed until the 400s, then the Anglo Saxons, then the Vikings came to conquer and settle, then the Normans under William the Conqueror in 1076 until about the 15th century when the Tudors took over. With every change and conquest, the ordinary folk really went through incredible hardships. Happy I was not around then - and can look at what remains instead. It did cross my mind, that it would be very interesting to zip 400 years ahead in time and hear what the tourguides have to say about our lives at the beginning of the 21st century - and how information from our daily lives and beliefs will be interpreted and explained.
Tomorrow we are off to London for our flight to Venice - for the Mediteranean Cruise on the Norwegian Jade. Time to find some sun and heat ...although London seems to be having more than enough of that over the next few days.