Neighbours and protestors...

First day of a temporary new way of living. Sorted out internet connection, central heating, Tilly.... Was about to launch myself on the town when window cleaners arrived - which in turn led to my meeting neighbours - Trevor from one side and Maggie and Don from the other. Trevor (a gent of mature years) offered to walk me into town so we made our way down Clifton Road and Bootham, past Clifton Green, past St Peter's School (founded in the 7th century) and Bootham Park Hospital, past a Quaker school and the house where WH Auden was born to Bootham Bar and into the walled town. I had been here in 1980 and 1993 and remembered mostly the Minster and the wall, not much else.

We parted ways and I concentrated on finding basic food supplies (which I could also carry in my back pack). Kept losing my way in the maze of streets and alleys that comprise central York. The most striking image? - a group of Quakers standing in silent protest, in the bitter cold, to one side of the Minster (see photo). Their presence was all the more powerful for the silence and I found their fortitude moving. Appropriately the Minster towered over us all, an indescribable feat of faith and engineering stark in the winter landscape.

Later I walked back to Greencliffe Rd and was invited in for a coffee with Maggie and Don (who works at the National Railway Museum). Met William the Cat who bullies Tilly apparently. Lovely couple.