.

Re the second photo, we sat outside the Pitcher and Piano (a chain, but a nice one) for about an hour and a half and watched Harrogate roll by. It was the right weather and the right setting and we laughed a lot.

Debated having something to eat, but decided we were better off saving ourselves for Bettys. See next and next and next posts!

Bettys Tearoom is a national treasure.
Harrogate is the original, but there are a few scattered about. Mostly in t'North.
It turns out this was the sole reason Mum wanted to come to Harrogate. I moaned about it earlier in the thread, but really it's less than 30 minutes away on a reliable bus service, so I'm so glad she twisted my arm.

The whole town is lovely and Bettys...
Well.
I can't tell you what we (and by we I mean Mum) spent. Is not cheap. But it was an occasion, and we both enjoyed it enormously. Mum says she needs new knickers and can't afford to buy them. We had a Pink Champagne Afternoon Tea. I am my mother's daughter.

She also said she probably couldn't do this with anyone else. And even if she could there is no way she would enjoy it so much. She said I'm so self-assured she can relax anywhere she goes with me because I carry it all off so well (hahaha, me! a bundle of neurosis!) and I have the spend-it-now-worry-later attitude that makes a luxury a pleasure.
Okay she did follow it up saying that attitude also caused me a lot of problems
Yes I accept it's true

Ma with menu, waiting in the queue.
We already knew what we were having thanks to a handy little thing called the internet, but as they were polite enough to hand out menus Mum was polite enough to read it.

Not me.
I skipped about taking photos.

It was about a ten minute wait.
On a Monday. On a schoolday.

Here we are!
4 x tiny sandwiches. Very plain.

But sweet FSM they were good.
The ham was just ham. No mustard, no tomato, nothing. But it was the best tiny expensive ham sandwich I have ever had. It didn't need anything else, and it knew it.
Ditto chicken. Chicken to the power of ten. Stuffing is for chickens that aren't chickeny enough.
Egg mayo (well okay, but sliced egg doesn't really work) that was eggy and creamy.
Salmon that would make a bear weep.

My only minor disappointment was the scone.
It was good.
But only good.
In that I have had better.
Maybe nothing could ever live up to those sandwiches.
Cream and jam of course.

Then the top tier had three little cakes.
A cappucino one, a mini fruit tart and something choux. How awful to have forgotten!

Oh, these are our individual portions, not for us to share.
Photo shows only chicken sandwich left - fallen apart because of my greedy fingers.
Second shows a good strong cup of tea (poured by me to my taste) and little cakie from the top tier.

Looking down into the tearoom where we sat - the table behind the lady in the apron.
And the upper seating area, which we didn't think was as nice :blush:

Shop and take-home counters.

I never understood the going to tea thing, but looking at Betty's, I get it. I'd like to eat there.

I don't mind the art itself, it's when people try to keep using them as a functional vehicle that they get annoying. They're a road distraction, and you never know when some piece is going to come unglued at high speeds and fly back at you. Plus they inevitably get tattered and gross from being out in the elements, so they're not respecting it as a car OR as real art.

I'm probably just bitter because we have a ton of those things in this hippie, free-expression, prove-your-uniqueness-quick-before-it's-too-late city.

Do take the time to win the Lottery first...
It's not like having tea at Claridges or the Savoy, but it isn't cheap.
As I say though, what it does it does exceptionally. Everything except the scone was the best example of its type I've ever had.
Good point well made. I saw it parked and was just :eyebrow: and :eek: and :rolleyes: by it.

Sorry, I am still going.
Off to Leeds to say bye-bye to Mum.
I waited at the barrier to wave her off. She saw me when her carriage went by and waved back. I should've mooned her. Instead I cried when I knew she was properly out of sight. How stupid at my age.

Then I wandered around Leeds looking for a bus. Because Leeds is shit bus-wise.
The only nice things I found were Tour related.
Got a free Miffy keyring from a lovely Dutch lady who was part of a team promoting Utrecht, where the Tour starts next year.
The Black Prince looking less severe than usual in his cosy new jumper.

There are many worthies in City Square.
Statues of worthies I mean.
All male. All clothed.

Is only ladies who get their titties out.
Because they're water-nymphs and it's art, okay.
I don't mind a bit of nekkidness, don't get me wrong. It's just every now and then it's one of those things that make you go hmmm...
Oh, I signed up for a life drawing class on Mondays. No word yet but they said they will call me when I am needed. Yeah, I'm not actually doing the drawing.

From when I went to pick Mum up.
The chap played the fiddle very well, but the dancing devil was what swung it for me.
Had to have a photo, but he'd have had some change put in his hat regardless.

Ladies when déshabillé, in statue form or otherwise, are generally more aesthetically pleasing than the male form.

Apart from anything else, the lack of naked male statues probably has something to do with the Great Fig Leaf Famine of the 1870s.:D

Don't you bring the Iron Duke into it, or I'ma have to come back down to Bucks and give you a paddling!

I very nearly went to Apsley House just to have a gander at Napoleon's cock.

:):):)

Thanks for the photo tour, Sundae. I always enjoy your great picture threads.

Harrogate seems to be a similar place to Southport if somewhat grander.
That sentence alone is probably enough to have me declared persona non grata in that small corner of Merseyside that is forever Lancashire.

I believe that Southport was the home of wealthy industrialists, merchants and shipping owners who made their money in Liverpool.
Just guesswork, but in the case of Harrogate I suspect that mill owner wealth was behind the development of the town.
It certainly looks a prosperous place but, as we all know, where there's muck there's brass.

It's a spa town.

Thanks for that, Dani. I'm grateful to you.

(Note to self: Never assume).

Mind you: many of the wealthy visitors to the waters and other entertainments no doubt made their money from textiles and the like.

I looked it up and apparently, after a bit of a decline after the first world war it got its second wind as an administrative centre during the second world war, with lots of government offices evacuated there from London.

As promised, the Tour de France hit Otley with a great big French oui today.
I was out and about early, because my chat problème wanted and demanded his usual cat-milk breakfast, which I had stupidly run out of.

So.
Couple of shots of closed roads and empty supermarket carpark.
The shop was open but inaccessible to cars (the two in the picture must have been there since before 05.00). Shop consequently empty of the usual Saturday shoppers. Good news for me of course.

The Bowling Green which I think was open.
No-one outside at that time of day, hard to tell.

Oh and it was definitely still raining at gone 05.00, hence the wet streets.
Dry by 08.00 though.

Some hardy souls had already staked a pitch by the side of the road.

The large screen in the Market Square earlier in the day.
Great for people from outside the area who wanted to be in the middle of things, and great for those without a TV!

Her Maj was happy to stay inside the office downstairs from me.

Great town Sundae!

I came back from my cat-milk mission to shower, change and have a wee.
Back out for the passing of Le Caravane (Cellar post).

People were watching from every possible vantage point.

The sun was out by then.
And the crazy Canucks.

So having watched them set off on screen I went back home briefly.
Photos from my front room window, up and down the street.
Was back in place for the actual Tour to come through although I got no useable photos - didn't honestly expect to.

It was more about the sheer pleasure of the day.
Feeling like a part of something I have followed for years.
And still being able to eat and drink at home and go for a wee when I wanted to :D

From beginning to end the crowd cheered everything that went past.
Police on motorbikes, ambulances, Tour cars.
A huge roar went up when the Yorkshire Tea vehicle came through as part of le caravane, and an even larger one when McCains Chips came through. And then we all dissolved in laughter at the idea of cheering a promotional chip-van. They weren't even throwing out freebies! Although given my experience with the inflatable pillow from Ibis Budget hotels I think that was just as well.

I felt like crying sometimes. The crowd mood was so positive and everyone - even when they were asking eachother daft questions I longed to respond to - felt involved. People here don't even need to be asked if they are proud of being English (although they are Yorkshire first, English second).

When the national anthem played on screen in the Market Square as part of the opening ceremony, people joined in spontaneously. This is not British at all, at least not my experience of it. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had previously been applauded - for being on TV, not for being in front of us. When Otley was mentioned as being part of the route there was another cheer.

People wanted to clap and cheer and whistle and shout, and anything would do and did.
People had their faces painted, silly hats on, damn near every person had some yellow on somewhere. It was like being back at the London Olympics.

Dad is in very poor health at the moment.
I am so very worried about him, and not being able to go back because of work and finances and because I have to accept I've moved away. This morning was a blessed release from all forms of worry and I deliberately put everything out of my mind for a few hours.

Thanks, hon.
I didn't reply in the other thread as I saw you'd made your way here.

What am I going to do now the town isn't Tour-crazy?
It will be weird.
Y'all have to start visiting to cheer me up.

My old friend and co-worker, from like 10-15 years ago, was just reporting on the Tour going through her town on Facebook! and I was like WTF!!! I didn't even know you moved north, and apparently you've moved very close to where my e-friend has moved.

Harrowgate I think. I'm just checking.

Harrogate. Yes. How about that, ten miles away.

The internet shrinks the world!

Attached is a BBC link which includes a photo from someone far more handy with a camera than I am (credit: Holly Crabtree - not copying the photo just in case) showing the Tour going through Otley.
Okay it's the other side of town to me, but it shows what I saw going past in very similar surroundings, and that the people out to cheer were not simply an anomaly.

2.5m people were estimated to have turned out over the weekend.
And there is another Stage in England to go tomorrow.
Pretty amazing given that the estimate for the whole Tour is 12m spectators during 22 days riding. Okay - have to be fair and say that most of the route is much more sparsely populated!
Damn I wish I had a TV. Nothing compares to watching the Tour in terms of geography, countryside, tactics and blood sweat and gears. Or at least nothing legal and televised. And it goes on for so long you can afford to just catch up on highlights some days when you really have to do things like earning a living. Or time trials.

Looked to me like the best view was from your window. How long does it take the actual race to go by... a minute? less? I'm thinking of the people who were staked out when you came back from shopping... that's dedication. I hope those people had a party or something to go to after the race blows through.

I would have had a better view from my flat, but I went down for le caravane for the sheer fun of trying to catch freebies, and the spectacle.
As previously mentioned, I did. And gave them all away.

Then I walked into the Market Square to watch the big screen as I have no TV.

Both experiences made it so clear to me that watching it with other people would make it so much more worthwhile. I spend far too much time on my own. to the extent of being isolated, The leaders and the peleton would have gone through just as quickly if I'd been alone in my flat, I'd have had maybe an extra five seconds.

But I'd have missed being part of a huge celebration of something I've loved and followed for over 20 years.
I'm not a sports snob. I don't care if most people were there for Otley, for Yorkshire, for England. I don't care if they don't follow the rest of Le Tour. They were there and they shouted and cheered and cheered and laughed and blew whistles and cheered and it was massive. Word.

Although I avoid it like the plague, I can understand you wanting to be part of crowd, most people do. It's the reason people go to Times Square on New Years Eve, Mardi Gras in Rio, or large sporting events when they would get a better view(with replays) at home on TV.
The obvious compromise would be to invite a couple dozen of them up to your place for a better view. :haha:

So. I said in another thread that I would be going out today.
And I did.

Decided to give Leeds another chance.

Me on bus.
Leeds market (lots of photos of Leeds market)

Details of covered market building.

What's the difference between sparkly and gaudy?
Tigers.
YMMV

This building is beautiful.

If you's offended by fish, look away.
I like fish and can deal with and photograph them dead, raw, bloody and/ or laid out in amusing fashion. I even like the smell.

Indulge me. I'm posting a two or three.

General photo & detail.
Now I did not expect to see game on a fish stall.
And the babbits are a fraction of the price you pay for them in Aylesbury.
Given a freezer and some £ (and world enough and time) I'd proper stock up on them.

I'd love some pigeon pie too.

Busted. Yorkshire lad in the process of giving me a thumbs up when he saw my camera. And I were quick too!

Limes, have you been holding out on me?!
Will expect some Scottish squid next time I come to visit. I'll cook it of course. Then again, we may need a passport to visit by then...

Last fishy post, promise.

Lookit them prawns! No wonder Merkins are puzzled by the tiny little things we call prawns generally.

And lookit them crabs!
Last time I saw crabs like that I had to break out the petroleum jelly.

I love the fishy pics! Strange to say we don't get that fabulous array of fishy loveliness on my little island ....


Sent by thought transference

Don't worry, I know that.
Gosh I fancy a gumbo now...

Anyway, on with the market.
Fruit & dragons.

Do they actually sell wild rabbit or is that a label for "organically raised?"

I did say this place was beautiful, right?

You have to have a special licence to sell "game". They must have one to sell pigeon.
Given the price, my guess is that they are shot, then inspected.

Supermarkets price rabbits about the same as pork, so they are definitely farmed. We ate rabbit as children because it was cheap.

Leeds is a multi-cultural city.
Coming from all-white, alright Otley it's weird to be back in the real world.
More of this later.

Oh yes, there's more.

There were a fair few Afro-Caribbean stalls, but like the fruit stalls I have to say in photographic terms if you've seen one you've seen them all.

Sweetie stall.

I do not even know what language this is written in.
I promise I am not disrespecting Lola Bunny by suggesting she might recognise it; I worked with a lady from Hong Kong who could pick out words in Japanese. In the same way I can tell French from Spanaish from Italian form German etc (no, don't even ask about Scandanavia).

So just for shits and giggles anyway, and in the mild hope Lola Bunny could pinpoint the region beyond simply Asia.

Oh and it smelled gorge.
If I hadn't had two vouchers burning a hole in my [purse I honestly would have.

Looks Chinese.

I think it almost definitely is, I was just interested in why they specified "Chinese Roast Duck".
Like we (over here) might say "American style pancakes".

There are effectively two makets. One inside, where the stalls are miniature shops which don't change, and the more traditional pitches outside. Yesterday was apparently the Asian market.

Some standard food fruit stalls, run by typical white British traders, "One bagee banana one pound come on one bagee banana!"
Some sweets and technology stalls. And lots and lots and lots of clothes, 90% of which were unpriced. Uh-huh.

Two things I would have bought if it had been payday/ I'd been earning overtime this month.

I love me a kaftan. Inside the house only, but they're so easy to throw on, modest and yet light. Going to pick up the post from downstairs, to hang washing up to dry in the window, to generally walk around with the windows open before getting dressed. Can't get them for less than £25 in Aylesbury, although I suspect the Indian/ Pakistani population have their own sources.

I also loved these cover ups. Hide flabby arms without actually wearing too much.

Moar.

Why didn't I find shops like this when I was young and svelte?
Oh yes, because I lived in Aylesbury at the time and was scared to express myself :rolleyes:

We're away from the market now.
And into the world of creepy dolls.

Yes, you do know they want your eyes, and will gouge them out with their tiny cold plastic hands as soon as you are asleep.

Only slightly less creepy dogs. And a cow.
Creepy because I saw the prices. The chihuahua is £129. And no, I didn't miss out a decimal point there. When I win the lottery I still will not buy a £129 toy chihuahua.

I can't speak about the whole of West Yorkshire, but certainly the places I have been so far look after their arcades. Beautiful, functional and conducive to both small independent traders and very high-end fashions stores (where they have no intention of piling them high and selling them cheap).

Slightly less grand arcade.
And a real dog.

I was all over the internet on Tuesday night, looking for vouchers and freebies.
Turns out some students were graduating on Wednesday so there were plenty of deals available all expiring that day. Suits me!

So first, off to the Cornmarket to Primo's Gourmet Hotdogs, which even before the voucher would have worked out a similar price to McDonalds, and was so much nicerer.
You queued at a canteen style counter, picked up your own cold drink from a chiller, placed your order and were given a painted marker to place on your table. The only form of waiter service was when your meal was brought to you.

I chose to eat outside.

Had a Route 66. With the deal it was worth the money, but I can't say it completely lived up to my expectations given the description.
Large beef hotdog topped with spicy chilli beef, Monterey Jack cheese, mixed peppers, jalapenos and Frank's Hot Sauce.

Primo's is in the old Corn Exchange.
Another great example of Leeds treating old buildings with respect rather than just bulldozing them.

Thanks for the great travelogue, Sundae. Keep 'em coming.

By the way, you look much, much better. I trust that you feel that way?

Ditto!

Great set of pictures.

I love the old ornate stuff. Like those cast iron dragon brackets. Very cool.

Yes, your personal travelogue is the most excellent adventure since Bill and Ted's. :cheerldr: