Selby

I'm going back a while here, a week last Monday actually when it was May bank holiday. Eleanor had gone off to her friend's house, five of them were meeting up to rehearse the scripted play which they were performing as part of their Drama GCSE later on that week.

Mick and I decided we'd have a couple of hours out of the house so I suggested that we go to Selby. It's about fifteen miles away from where we live, but I know that Monday is market day, and on bank holidays, the market attracts more stalls than usual and spreads along the streets. I enjoy wandering around a good market and seeing what each stall has to offer. If you don't already know, it's Love Your Local Market fortnight May 14th to 28th 2014, a celebration of our market culture here in the UK, with lots of events scheduled. There's a link on the site to find your nearest event.

Selby has a beautiful abbey which is open to the public every day. It has a lovely coffee shop which is open most days, and on the day we went, there was a craft fair in the abbey too. We browsed the various craft stalls as well as taking a look at the inside of the abbey.

Back outside, we carried on strolling around the market and came to a book stall where I couldn't resist purchasing books two and three of The Midwife Trilogy, Shadows of the Workhouse and Farewell to the East End. I know I haven't read Call the Midwife yet but it's good to have these other books ready to follow on when I do. Another two books to add to my reading pile then.

Archie had been left at home, I didn't think he'd appreciate being dragged around a market whilst we kept stopping at every stall, so we decided to buy him a treat of a pig's ear. I should imagine that pig's ears are quite a delicacy to dogs, Archie takes his time when given one, sniffing it for quite a while before licking it and eventually giving it a good chew. I have to tie his ears up in a scrunchy to avoid them becoming a slimy, matted mess when eating anything like this.

After a while, he took his lovely pig's ear outside to eat in the sunshine whilst he watched Mick cut the grass.

You'll be pleased to hear that all the rehearsals for Eleanor's performance paid off. We were allowed to go in to school to watch the exam performance and it was very good. Afterwards, her teachers presented each of the students with a dvd of the performance as a keepsake, a lovely touch.