IMS_Blog

A recent weekend brought a relatively quick return to York, on the way to a celebration in the north.

York

Having last time gone to York having seen a funny man in Newcastle this time we saw a funny man first in York on the way to Newcastle. We started off in York in the same way as last though, with a trip to The Wonkey Donkey, where a man in a hat stared in quite a scary way as we hid from the downpour. After refreshing ourselves we had a bit of a wander round York, seeing a one legged pigeon and visiting the little shops. This included another stop at Give The Dog A Bone for a pacman to match my ghost and Shared Earth for some more scary dolls to replace the ones which she gifted away. It probably would have been an idea not to leave the bag of goodies in the pub on Gillygate. Still, at least they’d kindly kept it safe when we got back to look for it (though I had to leave half my pint in the Maltings on our realisation). Eventually we had to rest up in the hotel to get ready for the night’s entertainment though.

Dylan Moran

The real reason for our being in York was that we’d realised that if we stopped off there on the way up north we could catch Dylan Moran at York Grand Opera House. Very good, very funny (possibly not quite as good as last time but still brilliant). Even the crazy walk around the venue in search of first the toilets and then the bar couldn’t distract.

More Around York

We’d arranged the next day to have most of it in York, so having dropped bags off at the station we wandered round the little shops some more (mainly looking for a present for the next day). Talking of which, off we went to Gateshead.

Happy Day

The real reason for going north was to see my mate Gary (who I’ve known a scary number of years, since school) get married to his glowing bride Gemma. His two (yes, two) best men did an amazing job, and captured Gary perfectly in their speeches. I was honoured to be one of the official witnesses, signing the register (four signatures actually) at St Mary’s Church, Whickham. And a family came together. I’m not sure what else can be said about a wedding, other than congratulations.

Photos: York and Gary and Gemma’s wedding