It sure does get hard using a laptop for an extended period of time when lying or sitting on the bed. A desk would be much appreciated, but my B&B does not even have a sitting area, much less a work space. They left a white plastic chair out on the tiny front patio tonight, apparently, and the little wall in front of this rowhouse works just as well -- so long as it's not raining. Heh -- a little 3-wheel delivery truck just buzzed by. Reminds me of those times in Scotland when I carved cheese blocks into various vehicles. But I digress.

First thing Saturday morning I marched off to hire a car for the weekend, but none of the three companies in town had any left. So having to change all my plans, and given that rain looked imminent, I bought a ticket to the Yorkshire Museum and spent a few hours in there looking a local artifacts. They had a special display called "Dust Off the Dodo" containing a few usually unshown items, including dodo bones, that sometimes were given to the museum because people couldn't figure out what else to do with them, such as this thing -- can you guess what it is? (See answer at the bottom of the page if not.)


An unusual item in a museum. What is it? (Perspective: you're looking straight down on it, and it's about 1.5 feet long. )

Rain continued all day, so I also did the Jorvik Viking Museum, which takes one on a hanging cart through the reconstructed city of Jorvik in the 9th Century. The various animitronic people and animals and their living and working settings all take their representations from actual finds on the archaeological remains unearthed in the very spot they appear. In addition to authentic sights and sounds, the carts whisk riders through clouds of smell, and gosh, some aren't too appetizing.

After Jorvik, more wandering the snickelways and shops of this medieval street town. For dinner I bought both sheep's and cow's versions of Swaledale cheese, plus another local type whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment although it was tasty. But even better, I found a place selling Moniack mead, from Scotland. The project leader recommended it over the Lindisfarne brand, and I agree with that sentiment totally. Lindisfarne was nice, but Moniack is heavenly -- I *really* like it. I hope it can be obtained in the States, otherwise it's going to get expensive coming over here to buy more every month or so.

Despite all the above, I ended the day feeling pretty down, because of not being able to do as much as I had hoped, and it's no fun wandering town shopping and buying interesting foods alone. So I found a phone that takes Visa and called Shelley and we talked until the nice automated voice said the credit limit for the call had been reached. (Yikes.)



These Egyptian items are not from the museum, but from a tourist shop on The Shambles. Quite a few tourist shops here carry Egyptian things amongst their English (and Scottish) kitsch, which seems strange to me. I bought an identical papyrus in Egypt.




Mystery item: it's a basket made out of an armadillo; it's semi-balled up, such that the head is biting the tail to form the handle, and the hollowed-out belly forms the container area. Is that what you guessed?