the brontes make gtg sad

hellooooo it's me, it's cathy i've come hoooommeee ooooh etc. *wails*

haha guess where i am??? england is still cool though i am everybody's favourite asthmatic again *squeaks* i forgot about smoking in pubs and restaurants.

currently staying with the lovely caroline (who is currently checking her blog) and went on a nice drive today round to historical sites in the peak district including a prehistoric stone circle, several stately homes (though closed cos new years but fab views) and eyam, which is that plague village _the year of wonders_ is based on. that was a little sad/creepy, but it was a very pleasant day and i feel all sort of settled in time now, y'know.

had lovely chrissie with tofu and the hard farmer which consisted almost exclusively of eating masses of wonderful food and reading the huge stack of books we had between us. v. g. books for christmas. had some very nice rambles round the lake district and had a quick tour round dove cottage (william wordworth and his harem lived there). very small and dark. huzzah for that romanticism subject i did last year.

went to haworth and stayed in a YHA which was this enormous mansion-style building built in 1884. and went to the parsonage. oh it was so sad. so sad. but wonderful to be there and see charlotte's tiny dress and their writing boxes and keeper's collar and all the old manuscripts. oh it was lovely. did my only souviner shopping (england is *expensive* plus). the parsonage is sort of stuck in the graveyard, and all the gravestones mossey and off on angles. we went for a bit of a wander on the moors and i feel over and got genuine haworth mud on me. very atmospheric. we tried to have lunch in the pub old bramwell drank himself to an early grave in but it was so smokey we turned up our snotty noses and left. tofu and HF also crook, poor things. hope they are feeling better for their big day.

had another quick day in york. oh, i didn't write about the first one, did i? oh, yorkmister is *fabulous*, just stunning. we went on a tour given by a little nun and learnt such a lot. it took them 200 years to build it and you can see all the different styles of architecture. beautiful carvings and stained glass. we stayed for evensong, which was good.

lots of photos, will do later. good to see all commentors, sorry i don't have time to reply individually. but am still alive and stuff and having a fabulous time. not really looking forward to getting back to work, i'm enjoying this history, literature, eating, rambling, gazing-in-awe business far too much.

love to all