Half a percent

Sunday. York. I went down with my brother - he was going anyway, for a model railway show (I have mentioned that he's into model railways, haven't I?) so he suggested I tag along. I did.

We met Andrew Hewitt's brother John at the station just before nine and rolled south through the deepening snow until the towers of the cathedral appeared in the distance. We passed Durham on the way, and as usual I wondered why I've never been there. I should. Soon.

The show was at the racecourse, and we wandered round it for a couple of hours and had some dinner. Some of the layouts were very good, but a lot of them didn't have much going on. My favourite was a very small one on a turntable a couple of feet across.

After lunchtime, we walked back into town and wandered around the centre admiring the buildings until about four, then went (in spite of my slightly unfortunate history with pubs of the name) to the Maltings to watch the snow start pouring down again, and then to the station for the train back.

There was a beer on sale in various places called Kwak, which is just begging (especially if you've heard Beyond the Fringe) to be described as "a bit duckie", and slightly too late I noticed a board advertising strawberry cider. Intriguing. Maybe next time. They like their churches down there - hundreds of the buggers, there are. The big one was a bit busy, it being Easter Sunday and all, so obviously I'll have to go back at some point.