A Day in Durham ...

The weekend arrives, though the concept has less significance for a pensioner than a nine to fiver ... nevertheless, a trip out calls ... no buses on winter Sundays and Saturday has its own energy on public transport, conversations of fellow travellers entertaining to observe and small dramas enacted, touching the heart though not disrupting the equanimity ...

Durham is a small city, so called thanks to a very impressive cathedral ... its size suggests town status ... Bill Bryson, the writer, was a fan ... so much so he stopped awhile and became Chancellor of the ancient university ... it is two buses from Stanhope, with a change in Crook or Bishop Auckland ... and an aimless wander produces some bread from the market, three new books for the library from the Oxfam bookshop and an unplanned and very deep connection with Andreas from Ciao Ciao cafe ... giving energy to the Stanhope Retreat Centre and potential links with similar activity in Crete ... and a promise of some books for the library ... which is in its third iteration since 2011, when visitors to the circles at no. 7 were invited to bring books which inspired them and take books which attracted them ... there were maybe 150 on the shelves and a similar number circulating before the first dispersal in 2014 .... you may have come across one in a cafe or on a train, with an inscription inside from A Place to Be .... books, like money, only working when in circulation .... and the right book at the right time so often taking us up a step on our journeys ...

So, whilst the library was not explicitly explored in Ciao Ciao, other things were .... meditation, food, therapies, exercise .... and authenticity in all of it ...

Returning from a long, early wander over the fells this morning, another cafe .... the Everyday Cafe in Stanhope and another deep connection .... this time with Venita, the owner and previous owner of the local care company ... updating on progress with the Residential Home project ... another opportunity to practise patience, though word from the Council is positive ....

All that, a Friday evening visit from a returning goddess and this afternoon's Celtic Hearth gathering making a very fruitful Spring weekend ...