Yorkshire ... Sorry there have been no uploads of my stunning videos yet but I've been away! I went home to the town of my birth to celebrate the family matriarchal birthday: sister Carol, that is. There is a video for that too and that is being uploaded as we speak. It's DVD quality and is large. It will only be there for a while as I don't have an infinite amount of web space to go at unfortunately. An interesting diversion came when 1 the car overheated 2 son Andrew arrived at Todmorden railway station with a Buddhist priest in tow The car is losing coolant at a rapid rate now and is in need of repair. By the end of my 185 mile drive from Abingdon to Halifax (where sister Susan and her family resides and where I lay my bonce!) the engine was overheating a little bit. Andrew trotted over from Salford (where he is at University) for the birthday party and we'd arranged for me to collect him from the railway station. He called to say he'd arrived and asked if I could take someone to Dobroyd Castle. It's not a bother so I said yes. It turned out that he'd met a Buddhist priest at the exit to the station who'd just arrived from Malaysia and was going to Dobroyd Castle for a retreat. Now, I didn't know that Dobroyd Castle was a Buddhist centre and has been for at least 10 years apparently. Still, I got to drive up to the castle (engine overheated again as I had failed on two separate occasions that evening to top up the coolant) and, more than that, got to go inside, something I had never done before: an impressive building that is still in good repair as far as I can see and was warmer than I thought it might be given the size of the hall way and the rooms. I should point out for anyone who has never spotted this sort of thing but these old mansions have fire places all over them: in this case, a fire in the entrance lobby; another one in the hall; at least another one would have been in what is now the mediation room ... Hence the need for a fire place maid. Keeping as many as 20, 30 ... 60 fires going must have been necessary at some times and that would have been a full time job! Had a marvellous time and the following day we took another walk round Halifax and the Piece Hall. Andrew needed a hair cut and we trolled him off to the £3 hair cut barber where they did the decent thing for him. There is an ice rink in the Piece Hall at the moment. What's the Piece Hall you might ask ...It's where weavers and traders would take their pieces of wool and worsted cloth for sale towards the end of the eighteenth and into the nineteenth centuries. If ever you're near Halifax, it's worth taking a detour to take a look round it. The original building is still there in its entirety as far as I know and the various rooms are now home to all sorts of diversions. Thursday evening saw me visiting sister Fiona and enjoying a good cup of tea with her and her family. Then on to Kipling's Indian restaurant in Bradford for an excellent curry with sister Susan and her husband Neville. Another winner, recommended by Andrew who had to return to Salford as we tucked in! We turned up without a reservation and had to wait around 45 minutes but it was worth it. It is a small and popular place to eat. Ready for new year now although I've got to file my income tax return today and have to catch up with lots of other things too. DW