Holiday to Yorkshire!

Hello Everyone!

Its August now and the time left to finish my thesis is becoming quite short... yikes. I'm working hard on that despite all the set backs. As I think I mentioned before, Steve and I are officially going to Australia, flying out on the 1st of September! I'm getting really excited about that. New hobbies I've picked up is cross stitch, I'm loving it, its like paint by number except with thread. Steve and I just got back from St. Andrews, where we both had meetings with advisers and such, it was nice to see friends, but so nice to be back home in a real bed with clean bathrooms and good food. I guess thats it for totally random updates, other than Steve's sister and I went to see Harry Potter which was amazing. AAAmazing. :)

Anyway, on to what we most recently did! For a week, we went away with Steve's family to Yorkshire on the coast where we did all sorts of relaxing and fun things. We stayed in a cottage in a little village right near the sea where we could easily drive to the beach. We went on a steam train one of the days which took us to different towns on the route. It was really pretty, and although she was nervous at first, Steve's sister Suzy's dog Flo ended up being perfectly fine on the train. She was hilarious though, it pulled into one of the stations and she was barking like crazy at it baring her teeth and everything haha big dog I guess! We stopped at a station where they filmed Harry Potter, the first movie where they get on and off the train! So I've officially been to Hogsmeade station! Anyway, we went to a few beaches which was nice, explored a few towns too. The whole coast there is known for its fossils and holy moly, you could find them so easily! Lots of shells and things, but also amonites which are really cool too. We found loads of interesting things. It was really so much fun spending hours on the beach looking for fossils, or just playing with Flo who was only just experiencing the sea for the first time. She was such a character playing in the waves, half scared half excited. It was so beautiful on the coast. I had to stay in two days though to do work, but that was okay. The region is also known for the semi pressious gem Jet, which is black and suprisingly light, I think its an organic material that fossilized or something. Anyway, it was beautiful, and the industry for Jet jewlery is spectacular. Looking at some broches in a shop I realized that this was the area the poets go to in the movie/book Possession. (love that film). There were lots of sheep and ponies to be seen as well in the countryside. We also went to Scarborough where Steve Suzy the Dog and I went on a short boat ride up the coast and back looking at the wonderful cliffs and coastline. It was nice to drive to little towns to explore. Whitby was nice and it had a neat old abbey that was in ruin. The streets were small and it had an old feel to it, really neat. We went to a few other towns which I totally can't remember the names of now. In one of the towns though I went into a church with a few wall paintings from the 1400s. They were neat, and there was a hell scene too. It was a lovely time. I'll post pictures when I have a bit more time.

Guess thats really it for now, i'll update again when I think of something!! :)

cheers!
Tori