Friends and singalongs at Scarborough...

We had yet another adventurous weekend, fortunately Ryan has regained the ability to walk without a limp , and even the odd jog over short distances is now becoming a reality post half marathon last weekend.

So this weekend marked the one year anniversary of Mr Paul Andrewartha's arrival into this british homeland... and so it was celebrated in true kiwi style with a BBQ at his house in Northhampton. Unfortunately I was working for the morning so we didn't arrive till 3ish but it was a cool time - he has some crazy christian friends, great multicultural mix though with a few kiwis there, a few from the states, a german, and of course some brits for good measure.

Following that we decided to go for a wee drive to Cambridge - which i've got to say is a beautiful wee city - would be a great place to go to university, though expensive - costs around 30 thousand pounds a year to stay in some of the hostels there! craziness! We went for a wee guided tour on a punt on the river Cam which was cool - starts from the middle of the city, just near Jesus Green - (a big park). Had quite a funny guide who was taking the piss a bit... ok a lot - rammed another bunch of punters (I wonder if that is the origin of the word 'punter'??) who were far too drunk to be driving, but such is life in a student town at 8.00 at night!! And of course learned some interesting facts.

In Cambridge one of the bridges across the river is known as the bridge of sigh's - it is an exact replica of a bridge that was first built in Venice, and so named because it lead from the free world to the courthouse and the walk across the bridge was often the last glimpse of that free world that those convicted would get... The bridge is slightly out of focus behind Paul... but you get the idea.

There is the Mathematical bridge which was originally built without any nuts or bolts, but stayed strong for (a long time, can't recall how long) untill it had to have some rot repaired - and then they couldn't put it back together properly so they put about 75 nuts and bolts in it to hold it together!

Then there was a bridge known as the 'Orgasm' bridge, so named for it's steep up on one side, and steep down on the other, such that students puff and pant their way up it and then it's all over rather too quickly as you descend the other side. There you have it. History.

Most famous scholar from Cambridge was Sir Isaac Newton, but there have been a few other reasonably interesting members of society past and present who have gone there, in fact Cambridge boasts more Nobel prize winners among its ranks than the entire country of France!! Prince Charles went there and was noted to say he wanted to be treated just like any other student. But he accepted an entire wing of the hostel (the top floor of course!) including 8 bedrooms. Interestingly enough his bodyguard (who attended all his lectures with him) was allowed at the end of the year to sit the exams as well and got a better pass than the prince himself!!

And then there were the piss takes... for the american tourists (apologies to any americans reading this... but it's not my material, I only laughed) 'Cambridge boasts the only building to have been built from the top down - a new model of architecture that never really took off, but is impressive all the same don't you think?' "oooh yes, wow that's so clever!" 'This building on the left is where Shakespeare wrote Star Wars...'

Some really cool buildings though - impressive is a bit of an understatement. And lots of Jesus things - not only do they have a Jesus green (So named because Jesus actually planted the Oaks there...) but a Jesus lane too! But the Cambridgian indians don't make good curry, so i doubt if we'll return!!!

Sunday's mission was to get to a beach, something we rarely see being in the middle of the country... So we went for a drive to Scarborough - most famous for it's place amid the many great hits of Mr Paul Simon and Mr Art Garfunkel!! Quite a quaint wee village really, beautiful but seemed to have a multiple personality disorder: on the one hand it's a fishing village and then also a bling tourist destination, then there is the stylish (Edwardian/Baroque) style buildings, and the pleasant parks, and even a medieval castle thrown in - a bit of everything I guess!!

Not much to say really cos we were only there a few hours - but a picture paints a thousand words, so here's a few thousand.

Scarborough has a biggish looking castle on the top of the aptly named Castle hill, which sits deftly between the largely residential North Bay, and the very Bling touristy South bay. This is from the top by the Castle.

And then we have some photo's of... Scarborough Fair... well the only fair we could find - there was actually a Jazz festival on but we arrived too late to see any which was a shame. So we had to resort to eating some Fish and Chips (in the Tackiest restaurant we could find - fresh fish though which is a pleasant change!!!)

We both got a bit excited by the Lighthouse... and then got hooked and wasted a tenner on the skill tester - clearly neither of us have the particular skills that the skill tester tests. But it was fun for an hour or so.

And then we drove home. Great weekend. And a nice lazy start to the week for both of us - though Mez has a week of nights starting tonight. And i'm off next weekend to a Pilates course in Bradford (and I get to stay at the Novotel!)

Have a good week wherever you are!